Thoughts on the game and what I think its missing

[Trogdor]

Completed the game about a month ago after waiting for some of the early patches. Thought I'd wait a few weeks before giving my thoughts on the game. Sorry if the following text is a bit random, I was writing down my thoughts as they came.

 

Overall, I rather liked it. Its strong point is certainly the myriad of quests you get at Neketaka, and you almost feel a bit overwhelmed like we all were way back in Baldur's Gate II. That forces the completionist in me to take a rest and I go around doing whatever attracts me at the moment.

 

A sense of urgency

However, here comes the problem. I was really struggling to find justification for staying off the critical path of the game and just mess around doing all manners of quests. Every passing moment more and more lives are sucked dry to keep big man Eothas going, and I am busy saving some dwarf on a remote island, allowing weeks to pass? The game should have more breaks in the critical path. Maybe the player doesn't know right away where Eothas is headed, giving us time to mess around. I kept putting off the Ashen Maw quest, even though I knew it was "time critical". Once I finally did it, yet still having lots of stuff to do around Neketaka, I felt like I was entering the end game and that I had "rushed" the game. So... if one of the future DLCs can nudge this part of the game slightly, that would be cool.

 

The ship navigation / pirate part of the game.

The ship. First of all, I just kept making a beeline for the other ship as boarding right away saved my ship from unnecessary damage and potential crew injuries. There should be more incentive to defeat them with yer cannons our outmaneuver them?

 

Anyway, the ship part of the game reminded me of Sid Meyers the Pirates, I still got the remake installed and play it from time to time. However, I think this part of the game should be greatly expanded upon. You should be able to be a trader, pirate hunter or a nasty pirate. The way see it, there should be a whole economic minigame here, where civil ships from various factions trade and affect local port prices. If you are a nasty pirate and board these trading ships, your reputation should take a severe hit, removing your ability to run your own trade venture. Yes, thats right, you should be able to set up trade routes and become an economic power when you start owning multiple ships. This would be the "peaceful" way to earn money if you feel like boarding every ship in sight is wrong. This trading consortium could become  a local power in its own right, an extension of the Lord of Caed Nuas reach into the Deadfire :D

 

Taking control of the Principi

This is another more far out idea, but IMO you should be able to take control over the Principi one you kill/force/convince the other Princes that you are the right person for the job and they should do things your way. This would open up a more "neutral" victory in the game where you have gone your own way without really siding with anyone. This could also be combined with the Merchant Guild idea mentioned above, where you reform the Principi into a trading consortium. This is iirc touched upon in one of the endings if you kill off the two warring Principi leaders.