Quick spellcasting

[budweiser]

In Legend Of Grimrock many ppl were frustrated over the spellcasting system, where you have to click several spell icons (runes) to cast a spell. To compensate for this repetive process, some felt forced to play without a mage, or with max 1 mage.

I recognise the runes in pictures of LOG 2, and got shocked that nothing seem changed. Can you make an alternative quickcastsystem, for those ppl who prefer it that way?

This is important for some gamers. There have been dozens of complaining threads, and I have seen reviewers who dislike this. If ppl want the runes, they can have it- but we others want an alternative option! This is really a gamebreaker for me, and wont buy it if I cant configure or mod otherwise.

[uggardian]

Dude, what you're suggesting is waaaaay too mainstream.

No but seriously, the runesystem gives the game more realism, a nice touch of oldschool atmosphere and feels much more epic than normal "click a spell on a list" system (common in many RPGs).

[budweiser]

Of course many old school gamers and some other will disagree with me. That is the reason I hope this can be a choice, either in options, or in the configuration file.

I think this game can sell some extra copies with this possibility, I honestly cant believe that I should be forced into repetitive pushing the same runes time after time. I played Grimrock with 1 warrior, 1 rogue, 2 mages, using a laptop. And I personality think the experience was awful, just because of this.

[Neikun]

Well the screenshot definitely suggests some things have changed with the spell casting system. I'm still not sure where the actual cast button is. But them seem to have addressed the issue in some form or other.

[uggardian]

I hope they did what JohnWordsWorth suggested in the "Spell ideas" topic: spell system where the order of the runes matter. That would be so awesome. Can't wait to read about skills and magic system on their blog.

[Komag]

It's hard to say how much offering a streamlined easy method would affect sales. I wonder if maybe a lot of Grimrock fans and old-school fans in general would be offended that such an option even exists, just knowing there are players out there "cheating" their way through the game or that the developers had to "waste" any time developing and balancing the alternate easy method. So there is a possibility that it would help some sales and hurt some others at the same time.

[budweiser]

I hope for an optional change- in console or ini file if you want. I collected 3 far different negative quotes from the internet, since it looks like this forum is more positive to the rune system than some other places (more old school gamers here?).

game over online review:
"For the mages, clicking on a hand brings up a spell casting menu. (..)This is a phenomenally cumbersome system, far worse than anything I remember from my old Ultima Underworld days, and there is, as near as I can tell, no way to hot key these things. It is really hard to get the right spell out quickly in combat. Remember, I said combat is in real time, so while I’m fiddling with the spell casting menu, other characters in my party are standing around with their thumbs up their buttocks and getting swacked by the enemy. Whenever a character attacks, there is a recovery time during which they cannot attack. The best way to handle combat is to swoop in on the enemy, make your attacks, and then back off while everyone recovers initiative. I realize a lot of other RPG games play like that too – I sometimes do things that way in Skyrim – but somehow in the framework of this game it feels very artificial and awkward. "

gamefaq forum:
I'm just going to come out and say that they ruined mages by making you have to select the ruins manual, EVERY GOD DANG TIME you want to cast a spell. Warrior's, rogues all get to spam crap when their timer comes up, but not the mage.

What was so difficult about leaving the last highlighted ruins selected active all the damn time? Completely stupid decision by those jokers that made this game. Up yours.

modding section of this forum:
[EXSP] Extended Spells Framework v1.4.4. Extended Spells is a script framework which expands the Legend of Grimrock spell system (..) - Provide a function library which automates spell scripting tasks, such as areaOfEffect, changeSpellDirection, getCollisionAhead...

Havent tried this script myself, but there are lots of ppl in that thread who likes this idea, and tried to contribute making a better game for somebody

[Asteroth]

Remember the problem for many (I admit to some extent me) would be: why am I using the runes if I can just skip by? And yet you want the runes. Yes it's irrational; why should everyone have to use your system for it to work. But it feels wrong to use the hard way when there is a better, even when you want the hard way.

[JohnWordsworth]

A new suggestion to add to the mix...

Allow entry of spell runes through the numpad.

Pros:
1. This allows for quick entry of spell runes.
2. You will get quicker entering similar patterns through muscle memory (unlike when clicking squares on a mouse).
3. Equally, it can be quite tense when tapping very fast as you will make mistakes.
4. It maps the way I like to remember spell patterns (as a sequence of numbers).

Cons:
1. Cheeky gamers will use this to macro spell casting.
2. Flip-flopping between keyboard and mouse - you would probably need other keyboard controls as well to use this effectively.

Sure, clever gamers that macro spells will get the 'quick casting' system they always wanted. But as it would be a bit of effort for them to use, to me it wouldn't feel like cheating or something I *should* be using as it's a game option. However, it would allow the gamers that really want quick casting to have a solution.

[petri]

Can you make an alternative quickcastsystem, for those ppl who prefer it that way?

I'm not sure what you mean by "alternative quickcastsystem" but if you mean choosing spells from a list, then the answer is no. We just happen to prefer rune based magic system over spell lists.

Generally speaking, I don't like options for major gameplay elements (magic system, turn based combat etc.). We'd rather create one good system (even if it's not preferred by someone) than several bad. Optional systems are also a lot of work and ultimately would water down the vision that we have in mind.

That said, we have made some changes to the magic system, but I'll talk about them later in the blog.