request: use scrolls like weapons

[Jack Dandy]

Have to agree with Wickermoon and Disasteriffic- the spell system was made that way for a purpose.

Only thing I could hope for is more variety of spells, but I think it works great as it is.

[Loktofeit]

While the suggestion as presented - a way to circumvent the spell system - is a bad one for multiple reasons, the basic idea does have some merit.

I think being able to use the found scrolls as a consumable casting item would not only add more value to a found scroll but would also add more purpose and use to them beyond being the simple fantasy world post-it that they currently function as. Find a scroll, learn the spell and then use it once to do a quick cast... poof, scroll gone.

However, with such a mechanic in place, once modding starts out completely expect mods that actually do circumvent the spell system with larger inventories and loot drops being a cornucopia of scrolls pouring out left and right.

[Horrorscope]

Put it this way, if you could use scrolls then you would be able to use them exactly once per spell as that is all there is. Enjoy.

If I had a suggestion it would be spell rune sequence are randomized at the start of each game, so I just can't go on the internet and get them all and use them asap in game.

[Crashbanito]

Put it this way, if you could use scrolls then you would be able to use them exactly once per spell as that is all there is. Enjoy.

If I had a suggestion it would be spell rune sequence are randomized at the start of each game, so I just can't go on the internet and get them all and use them asap in game.

This creates a problem as the runes' symbols reference their function.

[pi4t]

well, swining a sword also makes ppl swet. do you want me to work out barbels if i play to get the right feeling?
if there is a balancing issue, id say balance it by the cooldown of the spells and let the virtual guy do the work.

I've never heard of 'ppl swet'ing, 'swining a sword', or several other things in your post. Leaving that aside, no I wouldn't. Nor would I expect you to memorise the latin phrase for the arcane chant, while moving your fingers dextrously into the magical gestures, all the while remaining in your magic circle drawn with the blood of a snail...

You just have to use a simple combination of nine runes.

Anyway, that point was a very minor comment on realism, while my main post was about the game balance issues your idea would cause. As I was afraid, you've naturally focussed on what was possibly the least defensible part of my argument. That's good technique, but I think we should draw a line under it now and go back to the main point.

I'll therefore not reply to any arguments about what I said, because though they may or may not be valid, we're already got too bogged down in those details. I'll be happy to reply to anything you have to say from the rest of my first post, though.

[motorbit]

ok, im a bit disappointed about the course this discussion had taken. not because ppl disliked my suggestion: thats fine to me. just, very few arguments have been written, and some folk outright trolled. imo "i like it as it is" realy is no argument... if it qualified as argument, you could demand a single (your) difficulty mode as well, or disabled automap for everyone etc.

however: i agree now that using scrolles like weapons would suck. if it was possible, one just could make the whole group mages, spamming aoe + freeze + poison + spells and no cooldown would be able to balance it. because if the cooldown would be balanced to prevent such partys from roflstomp everything, a single mage would be complete useless.
so, rightclick spells just would not work with this game.

@ the grammar nazi:
what bout we talk in my native language and i spellcheck your writing?

[Horrorscope]

Put it this way, if you could use scrolls then you would be able to use them exactly once per spell as that is all there is. Enjoy.

If I had a suggestion it would be spell rune sequence are randomized at the start of each game, so I just can't go on the internet and get them all and use them asap in game.

This creates a problem as the runes' symbols reference their function.

Well then I would make those variable and adjust their visual accordingly.

Perhaps a pure old-school hardcore mode. Add that and well this game needs perma-death no doubt. We need to find the first person to make it through on hard, with perma-death.

[rossman86]

Don't know why some people are so quick to grab their pitchforks at the slightest suggestion of change. While I don't agree with the op's suggested solution, I can understand some people's desire for a simpler casting system. This game can demand a fair bit of manual dexterity when your trying to circle strafe a monster, avoid pits, keep you're melee attacks on cooldown and punch in a rune combination on that little pad in the corner of the screen. I'm pretty young and I've been gaming since I was 6 so I didn't have any trouble. But if a non-gamer like my dad or even my gf played this I could see them getting overwhelmed during the more heated battles.

I don't think the op should be vaporized in a torrent of flames for pointing out something that could be improved. If there was no auto mapping and this was about adding an option to have the game map out the areas for you, people would probably be up in arms over that too. But here we are with optional auto maps and nobody's head has exploded yet. Would it really kill anyone if there was a similar game option for one-click spell casts?

[seebs]

To some extent, I think the casting system is intentionally hard.

I wonder if it might make sense to add a Slow Casting system, where you can pick a spell, and it'll be runed up... slowly. Like, say, if you pick icebolt, then two seconds later the first rune lights up, and another two seconds later the second lights up. Maybe three seconds, even. So if you really, really, cannot handle clicking while moving, you can have the spells cast for you, but it's not as fast as an experienced player who can do it, so it's not nerfing the game too badly.

The other thing I'd love to see would be some way to intensify or weaken spells. I bet no one's ever heard of it, but there was this old Amiga dungeon crawler where you picked a power level for each spell to cast it.

And... MOAR SPELLZ!!! I loved the flexibility and variety in DM. (Trivia point: You could use ZO KATH RA to bypass an early puzzle.)

[Halk]

While I completely agree with you on every point without exception, it wouldn't hurt to show some tact and be a bit more polite.

In a world of limitless potential is the best feature the OP could come up with 'one-click cast'?

If noone will speak out in support of good immersive game design then developers will only ever cater to the loudest. This isn't a feature 'request' by any imagining, it's a far more insulting affront to hard work than anything I could pen in response.

Ah get off your high horse.

Fighting the interface is not the point of the game, the interface should be invisible and the game should be about the decisions you make under pressure, not how fast you can work a mouse.

Why aren't you calling for the game to have buttons to swing a sword back before it goes forwards, and to wipe the blood off afterwards and to sharpen it. Why aren't you calling for the characters to need toilet breaks.

The 'immersion' excuse or magic is difficult is an utter red herring.

If you want to simulate spells being difficult then sellotape three of your fingers together and play the game that way.

I think it stinks of elitism when people decry any suggestions that the designers might have overlooked something. "Well *I" don't need it changed, you must be deficient".