COMPREHENSIVE Book III 'Wishlist' (List form)

[CrazyBernie]

(Note: I do not promise to add every suggestion to this 'wishlist' - anything that I think would damage the gameplay of Book III, or which I think is beyond the scope of the Eschalon series (or the Book III engine), will not be added to this list. But I'll try to get most recent 'wishlist' suggestions added to the list soon..)

Good form, although I would argue that your opinion might not match with someone else's in regards to gameplay modifications. Just for the sake of arguing, not because I would actually disagree with you...

I have a fairly large wish list of my own, but I shall decline to share it with the general public (some of the testers have access to it, but I trust them... or do I?? ^_^). "Why would you do something silly like that, CB?" some might ask. Some of the ideas I've suggested are that which I'd prefer to see revealed without prior knowledge (assuming any sort of implementaion)... like engine features/graphical enhancements, etc. I think they'd make for nice "unveiling" surprises. Also, I'd like to see how many ideas that I've had match up with those that others come up with.

Besides, I'd hate to take credit for *all* of the awesome ideas that end up in Book III....

[SpottedShroom]

At some point, it might be nice for BW to go through all our suggestions and draw up a list of ones he considers plausible - good effort/results ratio, in character for the game, etc. - and then have everybody pick their top X most wanted features.

[BasiliskWrangler]

At some point, it might be nice for BW to go through all our suggestions and draw up a list of ones he considers plausible - good effort/results ratio, in character for the game, etc. - and then have everybody pick their top X most wanted features.

I can do this, but I'd also love it if IJBall could somehow mark the suggestions that have notable group-wide/long-term support. Meaning: if there is an idea that many of you have been asking for since the days of Book I, that suggestion is more important to me than a more recent suggestion that is less enthusiastically supported by the rest of you.

The bottom line is: all suggestions will be reviewed, but I'd like to begin implementing the ones that people have been asking for for a long while.

[IJBall]

At some point, it might be nice for BW to go through all our suggestions and draw up a list of ones he considers plausible - good effort/results ratio, in character for the game, etc. - and then have everybody pick their top X most wanted features.

I can do this, but I'd also love it if IJBall could somehow mark the suggestions that have notable group-wide/long-term support. Meaning: if there is an idea that many of you have been asking for since the days of Book I, that suggestion is more important to me than a more recent suggestion that is less enthusiastically supported by the rest of you.

Yik-ee. OK, I'll give marking the most long-term and "popular" ones a shot (I have a pretty good idea on which ones some of those are) and moving them to the top of every section list, but I'll probably want to double-check those which may take a while, so that may not happen before Winter Break (December-ish).

The bottom line is: all suggestions will be reviewed, but I'd like to begin implementing the ones that people have been asking for for a long while.

The ones "people" have been asking for over a long time, or the ones I have been asking for over a long while?! Ha!

[Asgard The Elder]

Overhaul the system For the Alchemist and Mage vs Fighter.

In the real world a fighters have to practice their skills with wepons and have to keep practicing least they loose their edge. During Rest Periods fighters must also maintain the armour and wepons they use and forage for bits of food or items to sell or trade or use in Alchemy. Doesn't leave much time to spend on magic

Magic users must spend time meditating least they loose their skill in magic. A mage must also spend time foraging forfood and ingredients for Alchemy.

The effects of armour and weapons on magic Any Iron (steel) on your body and magic will not work. Any Bronze on your body, magic -75% effective. Any Copper on your body, magic -50% effective. Natural items: Fur; Processed Skin (Leathers); Stones; and cloth no penalty. Diamond studed dragon armour +9 would be ideal for a Mage if it were available or could be made.

The upshot is that the Mage casts spells uses quarter stafs or clubs to do damage and the fighter uses metal weapons to do damage.....!

Alchemy A five ingredient system ie Demon Oil -Brimstone,Sulfer,Noximander Venom, Auriflex, Spider Web.A cumulative effective for imbuing armor or wepons: Alchemy Level x .01 = effect. Alevel 5 alchemist imbuing a grade 2 quarter staff (5 x .01)+2 would yield a 2.05 quarter staff If I imbued it again it would be a 2.1 quarterstaff. The same for hardening armour or imbuing types of damage to wepons. Would use a lot of resourses but would be interesting. You might even think of using gems in this system. Put 5 small diamonds along with a quarter staff would raise the staff 5 points of base damage and change the name to diamond studed staff. You would have to put a celing on the wepon or armour equal to what ever is the highest grade wepon or armour available in the game.

Alchemy ingredients Should be area specific. Mandrake root should be found in boggy areas. Ectoplasm should be found in grave yards, closr to piles of bones that I have seen scatered around the landscape or by eliminating a ghost. etc.

I would like to see a few more alpha type pack leaders or boss type characters to defeat even a ratpack should have a leader.

More & Larger towns/citys to explore.

Dragons...!

There is My 2 copper coins worth of comments regarding what I would like to see in book III

[IJBall]

I think some of your earlier suggestions are probably beyond the realm of the Eschalon engine/game system. But I like some of the following:

Alchemy ingredients Should be area specific. Mandrake root should be found in boggy areas. Ectoplasm should be found in grave yards, closer to piles of bones that I have seen scattered around the landscape or by eliminating a ghost. etc.

Yep - this is getting to be a perennial request. Different people probably differ on the specifics (e.g. I think you should have no trouble finding Ectoplasm in dungeons, as well as cemetery-type places).

More than this, though, I think my biggest issue is that you shouldn't be able to find certain reagents in certain locales, rather than the other way around - e.g. there's no way you should be able to find, say, Willow Bark or Dwarvish Mellowleaf in the middle of a dungeon!!

But, in general, I think most of us would like to see at least some Alchemical reagents be area-specific when it comes to Foraging.

(Aside from that, I'd like to see Foraging 'nerfed' a little bit more anyway, so that you get Reagents and Food while Foraging, instead of just (pricier) Reagents, so that Foraging isn't such a revenue generator anymore in Book III...)

Anyway, the question is whether BW can make area-specific Foraging happen without a major overhaul of the game engine - because if it requires that, I don't think we're going to see it happen. (And I'd rather not see it if it's going to add 6 months on to the development time!)

I would like to see a few more alpha type pack leaders or boss type characters to defeat even a ratpack should have a leader.

I pretty much agree with this, and previously added it to the list.

But the best example of where this should have happened in Book II is in the new Zoological gardens area - you take on, like, a dozen Outlanders, but there's no Jawbreak-esque leader/chieftain in the back?! (And no particularly impressive treasure either?!! )

Anyway, yeah - a lot of areas should have something like a 'mob' boss. (I'd also like to see more ranged-weapon use, from mobs like Outlanders as well - why not have some Outlander archers, along with the generic Outlander barbarians?! )

More & Larger towns/citys to explore.

I haven't added this to the wishlist because I really feel like BW already tried to give his 'all' to this in Book II with Port K. Port K. isn't perfect by any means (e.g. it could definitely use more "unique" NPCs to encounter). But it's pretty big, and takes up nearly an entire map, so I think BW has already tried to give us this.

Instead, I just want to see more NPCs in general. And I think form his comments, BW is going to focus on that in Book III.

Dragons...!

YES!!!

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Dragons...!

YES!!!

I've been drooling for that since I wandered around under Lockston Hall.

[Asgard The Elder]

I think some of your earlier suggestions are probably beyond the realm of the Eschalon engine/game system. But I like some of the following:

Alchemy ingredients Should be area specific. Mandrake root should be found in boggy areas. Ectoplasm should be found in grave yards, closer to piles of bones that I have seen scattered around the landscape or by eliminating a ghost. etc.

Yep - this is getting to be a perennial request. Different people probably differ on the specifics (e.g. I think you should have no trouble finding Ectoplasm in dungeons, as well as cemetery-type places).

More than this, though, I think my biggest issue is that you shouldn't be able to find certain reagents in certain locales, rather than the other way around - e.g. there's no way you should be able to find, say, Willow Bark or Dwarvish Mellowleaf in the middle of a dungeon!!

But, in general, I think most of us would like to see at least some Alchemical reagents be area-specific when it comes to Foraging.

(Aside from that, I'd like to see Foraging 'nerfed' a little bit more anyway, so that you get Reagents and Food while Foraging, instead of just (pricier) Reagents, so that Foraging isn't such a revenue generator anymore in Book III...)

Anyway, the question is whether BW can make area-specific Foraging happen without a major overhaul of the game engine - because if it requires that, I don't think we're going to see it happen. (And I'd rather not see it if it's going to add 6 months on to the development time!)

If that be the case..Let well enough alone.

I would like to see a few more alpha type pack leaders or boss type characters to defeat even a ratpack should have a leader.

I pretty much agree with this, and previously added it to the list.

But the best example of where this should have happened in Book II is in the new Zoological gardens area - you take on, like, a dozen Outlanders, but there's no Jawbreak-esque leader/chieftain in the back?! (And no particularly impressive treasure either?!! )

Anyway, yeah - a lot of areas should have something like a 'mob' boss. (I'd also like to see more ranged-weapon use, from mobs like Outlanders as well - why not have some Outlander archers, along with the generic Outlander barbarians?! )

More & Larger towns/citys to explore.

I haven't added this to the wishlist because I really feel like BW already tried to give his 'all' to this in Book II with Port K. Port K. isn't perfect by any means (e.g. it could definitely use more "unique" NPCs to encounter). But it's pretty big, and takes up nearly an entire map, so I think BW has already tried to give us this.

Instead, I just want to see more NPCs in general. And I think form his comments, BW is going to focus on that in Book III.

Possibly another town the same size as Port K. or possibly ruins with several nasty critters?

Dragons...!

YES!!!

[King_ov_Death]

Maybe BW could work some supply/demand into Book III...
I.E.: One week, everybody bought swords and nobody bought daggers. Next week, swords are a lot more expensive and daggers are a lot cheaper (merchants will tell you what did people buy and what they didn't).
Maybe, some inflation would come in nice (things get more expensive as the game progresses).
I'd make it optional.

What do you think?

[hermitt]

Hi. My wishes for Book 3:
1.More secret place to find!
2.More hard monster (defending some rare items maybe) to fight!

( i only have one hard battle in book 3 and really enjoyed it. It was the assassin leader. I throw some toxic bottles in his room, then close the door. He tried to open the door, i close it again and we spend some rounds like that... )
Thanks!

[severian]

-more epic-battles sites, like arena or something like that

-skill peaks determined by classes (for example archers with limits in melee)

balanced with:

-more 'specials' for each class, gained with each level
(some examples - > archer lvl 10, skill 10 -> range penalty decreases by 20%
multiple arrow shot skill from lvl 15, each additional arrow every 50 lvls
or
swordsman lvl 15 skill 15 -> deflect arrow chance 15%, increasing with each additional skill point
lvl 20 deflect magic strike skill -> 20%,and sword enchantment has to be at least the same level as the spell (no dodging fireball lvl 5 with runic sword +1)

also, trainers could teach special skills, (mixture of M&M and other cRPG and RPG ideas)


crafting, but no McGyverism, please.
skill--> fletchery - allows combinig feathers, sticks and arrow heads into arrows, but all stuff is to be bought, or looted (shooting birds?)
skill--> blacksmith skill allows to make own arrow-heads (but only a master-blacksmith can work on mithril, and needs special gear and place to do this, right ? )
skill--> cleaving weapons allows to cut some trees for arrows, but needs a proper axe and fletchery tools (for making nice straight arrows)

at last some use for metal bars =^.^=

I know it`s kind of ADOM or Dwarven Fortress approach, but if both of these classics had graphics and interface half as good as Eschalon I would not buy any other game for few years ;>

[MyGameCompany]

Maybe, some inflation would come in nice (things get more expensive as the game progresses).

There's already built-in inflation, of a sort. As you go along, the bad guys get tougher and you need more powerful weapons or spells to beat 'em, and those cost more.

[MyGameCompany]

One problem I have when I get into the last half of the game is that I have mostly the kinds of weapons and armor that I want, except for one or two slots. I've got lots of gold, and I would like to beef up those slots, but the merchants and their randomly selected inventories just don't have quite what I'm looking for.

What I would like to see is a merchant that will build you a custom weapon or piece of armor. You walk in, order off a menu (e.g., I want an armor 9 beast plate, lightest weight possible, imbued with armor +4 and +10 element protection for 10,000 gold or whatever), leave, come back in a week and it's ready.

That would help for players who don't happen to have the alchemy skill who are looking for a specific piece of armor or a specific weapon to round out their equipment.

[severian]

apart form crafting, special armour is a nice quest opportunity.like:
1.a moral choice, save civilians or get a hefty sum from slave traders
2.treat civillians good (costs time and money) - or bad
3.good treatment - one of them appears to be a skilled craftsman with sad story
4.help craftsman rebuilding his house and workshop (money,tools and resources)
5.hoard gems, ores, metal bars, furs, items, scrolls, etc for special custom items.


and finally, why couldn`t a hero buy his own house, buy and place chests for hoarding his artefacts and precious items?

[Asgard The Elder]

apart form crafting, special armour is a nice quest opportunity.like:
1.a moral choice, save civilians or get a hefty sum from slave traders
2.treat civillians good (costs time and money) - or bad
3.good treatment - one of them appears to be a skilled craftsman with sad story
4.help craftsman rebuilding his house and workshop (money,tools and resources)
5.hoard gems, ores, metal bars, furs, items, scrolls, etc for special custom items.

and finally, why couldn`t a hero buy his own house, buy and place chests for hoarding his artefacts and precious items?

Not So Much That you can buy a house because you already Own One with Chests to store those items and if you need more storage sleep on the floor and produce a bag which can be use to store extra items 0r camp outside the back door and produce bags for storage. They won't be bothered and they won't go away.