Small suggestions. Easily implemented ideas, quickfire thoughts.

[rjshae]

^^^^ Yeah, journal annotations would be nice. Not sure how implementable that is though, given the way that journal entries change up as you finish tasks.

[TRX850]

Map free-drawing would be nice, too. Maybe even tie the annotations to the quest (only the currently-selected quest's scribbles would appear at any given time... unrealistic, I know, but immensely valuable to gameplay. Maybe the map bears the soul of a cartographer, *shrug*). You could mark paths/routes and areas, and maybe draw little treasure markers (or whatever kind of markers you want) in areas you need to leave for now but wish to come back to later for some hidden door or currently-unreachable loot, etc.

 

What if we had the option of displaying the local map as PnP style on graph paper?

 

 

A fitting nod to the tabletop era, because a game should never forget its roots. And you could annotate it in "faux pencil" too.

 

(btw: why do my attachments never embed themselves in the message properly? <mumble> <mutter> )

 

 

[Lephys]

^^^^ Yeah, journal annotations would be nice. Not sure how implementable that is though, given the way that journal entries change up as you finish tasks.

 

Shouldn't be too much of a problem. They're usually cumulative. Or, if you finish a task, it's fine if that part changes, because you no longer need to reference the information from before completing it.

 

For example: "Billiam Tharper has unearthed a peculiar mask in his farm plot and has given it to you, suggesting that someone in the Livington district of the city of Blarg might know more about it." ...

 

... would change to...

 

"Upon receiving a strange mask from a farmer in the village of Squeep, you have taken it to the city of Blarg, where you discovered its origins from Philton Carras, a renowned historian and loremaster."

 

If you underlined bits in the first part, you don't really need them anymore. You could still underline bits in the new journal text for that. The journal would now tell you what Philton said about it, or any locations he mentioned or directions he gave. Such a feature would be especially useful with directions to things, rather than simple instructions to go to named, readily-findable locations like settlements, cities, and landmarks.

 

 

 What if we had the option of displaying the local map as PnP style on graph paper?

 

A fitting nod to the tabletop era, because a game should never forget its roots. And you could annotate it in "faux pencil" too.

 

YES!

Edited January 23, 2013 by Lephys

[TRX850]

          

 

Apocalyptic Boneguards.

[TRX850]

We need a better Lightning Bolt spell.

 

For too long, this spell has had a description similar to this from NWN2:

 

Range :            Straight line extending 100 feet

Target/Area :    Chain of targets in a straight line

 

 

Now, the above image is merely one example of real lightning, and most AoE spells are likely to out-perform "straight line" spells because a straight line of enemies is a comparatively rarer event in a modern CRPG, as opposed to the old PnP game where a good DM would "line up the enemies" to appropriate squares.

 

I don't recall using Lightning Bolt very much at all in IE games because it always felt somewhat wasted. So perhaps use the image here as inspiration to tweak the target area into something more like a tapered rectangle or cone shape.

 

[Osvir]

More quick-fire:

* Descriptions being "toggle" able.
- ON: Get Obsidians Spell/Journal Descriptions
- OFF: Get none, manually write & edit your own Journal & Spell Descriptions

-> Make Journal -> Make easy to Edit in-game (Baldurs Gate, edit your own Journal) -> On/Off

Sounds easy to implement. Gives slight PnP experience within the game.

[Chippy]

Happy and prosperous new year folks.

 

In light of update 39, I was thinking about a penalty to weapon type depending on enemy/monster you're attacking.  So; it's 2013 and we're still seeing characters with daggers standing a step away from dragons and stabbing them with daggers. 

Finishing moves/Ninjas climbing up a forelimb, summersulting over a horn and stabbing them in the ear with a dagger aside ... what if each weapon had a unit range (like 10 for a spear) with no penalty, and 1 for a dagger.  So wielding a longsword (that has a reach of 5) meant you were still 5 units away from the dragons soft bits - and suffer a 5 penalty to hit.

 

Or something like that.  I really like the move towards making weapons a choice worth thinking about, so great news/update.

[JFSOCC]

Warcraft 3's chain lightning was a nice spell, would that be good?

[Lephys]

We need a better Lightning Bolt spell.

 

 

What if it was a hybrid... sort of...? What I mean is, I kinda like the fact that the straight-line lightning bolt spell can do like, OODLES more damage, because it's actually difficult to hit more than a couple of enemies with it (thus, the OPness of the damage is balanced out by the difficulty of hitting, as opposed to an AOE radius/cone spell).

 

What if you kind of hybridized lightning bolt and chain lightning? You fire it at whatever target you wish, and it then arcs from that target to the next. BUT, at each jump, it can only "turn" so far (like an AOE cone range at each jump). So, it's still kind of difficult to hit a lot of enemies "in a row," but it allows for a much greater margin of error in that "line," without running into the friendly-fire and damage-reduction-from-balancing issues you'd get from converting it to a purely AOE spell.

 

You could even (if there's a spell customization/improvement system tied to character progression) upgrade its arc range, OR its damage or jump distance.

 

Blarg, I really need to go make some visual examples in MSpaint or something...

[Lephys]

Grr... couldn't edit by the time I finished with paint!
 
VISUAL AID:

 

 

The AOE cone for determining if the lightning can jump to another target would always be centered on the direction the lightning was already traveling when it hit the current target (Hence the dark line through the center of the cone, above.)

 

Necessary? Not at all. Just a potentially interesting implementation of a lightning spell that I thought of, then felt compelled to illustrate in glorious HD graphics.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Lephys

[TRX850]

It's actually not a bad idea. It takes care of "random forks" from the main bolt path, effectively allowing the odd ~5ft jump either side as it continues (roughly) in a straight line.

 

Statistical damage has always scaled with fireball, 1d6 per caster level (capped at 10d6), but in IE games it was almost always less useful because it was carried over from the PnP days where enemies aligned to a grid. So back then, you could take advantage of casting lightning bolt down a hallway for example, because everyone conveniently lined up for that round. Now with free-form AI that tends to "cluster", the old school advantage is lost. So, uh, yay to random forks!

[Lephys]

Yeah, I just thought it might be interesting to still allow for some amount of added effectiveness to the aiming/positioning of the initial bolt. You could even have the actual distance-range be much greater than typical Chain Lightning spells as seen in RPGs, because the bolt simply will not strike an enemy in front of you, then turn 170 degrees to the right and come almost right back at you to hit another enemy, even if he's only 2 feet from the first enemy.

 

Kind of a hybrid from the "Ha-HAH! When things are in a line, this is WAY better than a radial-area spell!" flavor of Lightning Bolt, but without becoming full-on "as long as things are pretty much within a certain radius of each other, this will jump to all of them" chain lightning.

 

Kinda gives it a unique behavior, I think. Makes you pick your targets and position yourself beforehand, like I said. *shrug*. It's a pretty rudimentary idea, really. It would need some hashing outing, and I don't know if it would really be all that great in the grand scheme of things.

 

BUT, I just want to say (on the small list of suggestions) that I hope we get more than like 3 types of spells for each element. It saddens me to no end when I can make a wall of fire, but not a wall of ice or lightning. It's as if the game's like "You've got Fireball for a radial AOE... why would you need any other spell if it's just going to do what Fireball does, but in different and exciting ways?"

 

That's one thing I like about the style of Guild Wars 2's Mage abilities. Like Lightning Whip... your auto-attack with a dagger is A FREAKIN' WHIP MADE OF LIGHTNING! It even strikes multiple targets, as long as they're within a very close range! (It reaches about 3 times that far, but it only strikes a single target if you're not quite close.)

 

I don't want to just do things science and nature do with the elements. I don't want to be a liquid nitrogen tank, or a flame thrower, or a thunderstorm... I want to WIELD them! Another super-creative example is one of Captain Hitsugaya's attacks from the anime Bleach. He basically summons a peaceful-looking snow storm, but every little snowflake that floats down and touches something explodes (like popcorn!) into a large flower of solid ice! If they land on someone's arm, they spread from the center of contact in all directions, so they freeze straight through the arm.

[Chilloutman]

I demand ''?'' mouse icon and descriptions all over the world. I dont know how to explain and if this feature have its own name. But I demant text descriptions!

 

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/screenshots/original/2009/10/Crysis-Mod-Fallout-HUD-Alt_091015150256.png

 

I am sure that this worked in PS:T as well but cant find screenshot for it. What I mean is text description if user click on some object in world even if that item doesnt have any other uses. That way you can describe many things (remember F2 when you blow up toilets in Modoc?) and it drives players imagination much more than cutrscenes and great graphics! 

[JFSOCC]

Depending on the type of economy, it would be nice to be able to see what items in the vendor inventory I've sold to him/her in the past.

[locomotron]

A way to turn off buff icons on portraits while still seeing them on the character screen, if buffs are used a lot.
 

[JFSOCC]

And a time indication of how long they will last. Nothing sucks more than seeing a buff you've put on before combat expire 2 rounds in.

[TRX850]

Project Eternity Lego Mod.

[TRX850]

A colour indicator on doors and containers that show which ones I've already interacted with, when I press the ALT key to "highlight ground items". This would be particularly useful for containers like crates, chests, and barrels where:

- Green = Unopened or "opened but not empty".
- Grey = Opened and empty.
- Red = Trapped but not disarmed (if detected).

In NWN, I used to destroy containers to remind myself which ones I'd emptied. But if they could be colour coded in P:E, it'd make exploration just that little bit more organized.
 

Edit:

 

Also, just thinking about BG areas like Beregost. Having the same colour coding for buildings you'd entered (or not entered) would be very useful too, when pressing the ALT key.

Edited February 3, 2013 by TRX850

[JFSOCC]

That's something I've often come across, me backtracking and opening the same crate for the umpteenth time simply because I'm not sure.

[IndiraLightfoot]

I'd like to see some morale check for certain kinds of creatures, and if they fail such a check, they should try to bolt for it or escape in som other fitting manner. However, no morale check on my companions, please. I'd prefer to have them like my PC, i.e., I decide when I should try to retreat or escape.

 

Obviously, you should be able to pursue those fleeing and even kill them. But the outcome of the encounter xp-wise should be the same.

Edited February 4, 2013 by IndiraLightfoot

[IndiraLightfoot]

Another idea: When finding spell scrolls, it would be great if those scrolls that are too high a level for a character still could be something you could risk trying. In AD&D, you had tables for this, with level difference and percentages of total failure and perecentages for reverse or harmful effect. I mean, we need fun role-playing  stories to tell: I would love to reiterate about my crazy Dwarven spell-user that dared reading a scroll seven levels too high and had the amazing luck with it against that horrid troglodyte in the inglenook at Ma Baker's. 

[IndiraLightfoot]

Inspired by the news that they've confirmed it was Richard III that rested beneath a parking lot in Leicester, I'd love to have a nudge to this amazing find in PE: In one of the large cities, underneath a carriage shed, outside a poultry-house, there shall lie a ruler of royal blood that is known for a quote in the same vein as "A horse, a horse, a kingdom for a horse": My suggestion is a queen that died with a forked trident in hand at the battle of Chookmeazle trying to defend her realm. Her name was Galla KFC. It is said that she clucked: "A fief, a fief, a fief for an ostrich!"

[Messier-31]

A thing like a bestiary (like in the Witcher), codex (like in Mass Effect and Dragon Age) or journal (like in Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate / Icewind Dale series) with entries about important NPC's, factions, locations etc. that is developing with your character during the gameplay and choices you make. Also falloutish perks would be nice too... BLOODY MESS anyone? (that's for the lulz)

[JFSOCC]

bloody mess was... interesting.

[rjshae]

A slight variant on Osvir's proposal:

 

Give every spell a brief description and a long description, similar to how it is done in D&D 3.5e. The (line-wrapped) brief description shows up on a mouse-over pause for the spell.

 

Something similar could be done for equipment as well.