After playing Grimrock 2 for about 3 days, and after having played the original Grimrock to 2/3 of the way through before running out of enthusiasm for it, I had some expectations, and people offline seemed to have some expectations which weren't really out of the boundaries of possibility for Grimrock 2, well I think they are going to have to wait for G3, so here are my, and my few friends who know/have played, elements which would have really made Grimrock 2 even more outstanding plus some additions for the next iteration
Expected of Grimrock 2:-
It was tried in G1, but people failed due to a lack of elements available, and that is, to recreate the game, fully within the Editor. It wasn't quite technically possible at the time, with cut-scenes and such if I remember correctly? It would have been nice and perhaps it should have been made possible due to feedback originally, to be able to fully construct G1 within G2, but using user generated cut-scenes etc.
The monsters and items from G1:-
I was sad when I found an absence of snails in the editor for G2, and the chance to add the original skeletons. There are other creatures too which would have been wonderful to add, to be able to complete a recreation of the whole G1 dungeon. So the item we need is an asset importer. To import G1 monsters/items to G2, or failing that, to G3 from 1 and 2.
NPCs - store/shop and an economy.
Again, it would have been very nice if there had been a small village or some such that the player could find respite at, and be able to talk to people, hear rumours of buried treasure (without finding notes) or plot leads, and also a store NPC or two, even if it's one buying, dungeon jetsam, and another selling new items. A place of civilisation could provide so many further adventure leads and help the player, even if the player decided to do the bad thing and attack the villagers... Within the editor this would have allowed the placement of people and to build towns/villages/hamlets, or even the lone hut in the jungle that a crazy old shipwrecked guy lives in, but is desperate for human company/rescue/adventure...
Specifically for G3:-
movement keys WASD still moving straight forward, backward, and sidewards, but having the rotation keys turn through 45 degrees, so it would just enable the world to have more angles but still be 'tile-based' as has been mentioned by other people here.
Custom races for custom dungeons/maps/adventures.
To create Kobolds, or Goblins, or whatever else the creator requires, but to allow stat modifications, along with portraits, and talents/natural abilities both negative and positive within the game engine, so that as an example, you could have 'Bilbo-samwise of the furbiefeet creatures' who had whatever stats like +3 Dex, but also to select elements from 'Can't use' and 'Heavy weapons' With options being positives or negatives to damage/accuracy/crit, or whatever, even adding abilities, like lizard folk based on poison lizards where they lick their arrow heads, so they'd get a chance to inflict poison damage with the appropriate weapons. This whole thing would have allowed the creation of endless races within Grimrock, only limited by the creator's imagination/lifespan.
A biggy here.. Magic:-
I really like how the selection of runes to cast spells looks in G2, compared to G1, but of course it still limits the type and number of spells used, but in different ways now as the runes all need to be connected to each other by the traceable path. I'd imagined an extra set of 3 (or more) runes to add even more spells/options within spell casting so that the player could cast more powerful spells by adding additional runes while sating, for example shock... A new rune in the mix could have made it change so that perhaps it could have been shock strike, to work over the course of the next melee strike or two instead of being an explosion, or being 'Heavy shock' or some such.
Perhaps having areas that would allow concentration within each area of magic, and so the opposite element to the first one learned would be impossible to learn as it would require (some magical reason) like... they are imbued with fire, so water spell magical energy is repelled by them and can't be manipulated, with other spells having modifiers for the first chosen type of magic and how they are arranged on a wheel laid next to each other like a clock, perhaps, or something that would allow a lot more magic to be learned while preventing certain things being learned because of logical reasons within the world setting/magic system rules.
So we could have extra schools like necromancy / angellic / spirtual / nature, or whatever else, which we could also tie to race if we chose as creators, and wouldn't have to rely solely on plants for healing, though the 'nature' realm of magic could be so much more beneficial to an alchemist of course and many things that could be achieved through potions/skills can't be bought about by spells, like the ability to change into bears or whatever it is that they presently do.
So there's still a distinction between spells and professional skills etc, and it doesn't mean that the dungeon(s) that the original engine revolves around don't necessarily have to have these spells included as playable immediately, but can be available fully via the editor for play choice and variation. I'd even be willing to pay a little extra later for some extra professions and spells, and also for the custom races, all as dlc. to add to the editor so that I could create 'stuff' that isn't in the main game adventure. So the game would be complete as is, but to use the Editor would open a can of serious adventure creation tools that, again, would only be limited by the creator's imagination.
I have other thoughts on this and how it could be used to improve the game, but I'll stop there right now, as I'm not sure if any of this is terribly clear in reading.
