Grimrock

- more NPC's and side quests

- enemies fighting with others creatures, for example orcs defending their camp from undead attacks

- bodies don't magically disappear but stays on the ground

- less puzzles more fight, puzzles should be mostly for secrets

- XP for finding secrets

Dregor wrote:- more NPC's and side quests

- enemies fighting with others creatures, for example orcs defending their camp from undead attacks

- bodies don't magically disappear but stays on the ground

- less puzzles more fight, puzzles should be mostly for secrets

- XP for finding secrets

That last one is already in there.

I've read quite a few posts in this thread. Some good ideas, some ho-hum. I'd like to throw in my comment towards the Healing Crystal. It really should be removed and replaced with resurrection circles where, when you stand on the tile, your dead heroes resurrect with low health, like in Dungeon Master and CSB. The Healing Crystal makes it so when I'm low on health, I can just run back to the HC to heal unless I'm somehow trapped, meaning I never make use of the Rest feature, and thus never get low on food. Food is never even an issue to worry about in LoG, which is a disappointment because in other games with food (and water where applicable), the balance is truck between wanting to improve your character in a given area, or delving deeper into the unknown for much needed supplies because not even resurrection can help if you don't have enough food! The HC is without doubt the worst feature of this otherwise rich game, cheapening the experience of the whole dungeon delving process by giving too much away in terms of health. I'd be utterly flabbergasted it was brought back in its current state. In addition, I suggest these resurrection circles be placed few and far between. Just my 2-cents.

I kinda agree with Taem about the crystals.. Though it doesn't matter wether the revive happens via crystal or "resurrection circle", thats just an aesthetic thing. But the crystals should (in my opinion) be used in resurrection only, restoring full health to everybody helps too much in combat..

But it is really hard to balance the amounts of food the players have in hand. I didn't have problems with food, but I know some people actually stopped playing the game, because they were always starving and couldn't proceed in the dungeons. When I was designing something with the dungeon editor I realized, that the level design and finding a good middle road in difficulty are both damn hard challenges. Some people (like me ) love when the game is rock hard, gives no hints and kills you on every twist. And then there are those, who want a satisfying experience, rather than blood, sweat and tears. And everything between.

Maybe there could be even a checkbox in the options for less effective healing crystals? That and all th other optional hardcore options would be nice, like PERMADEATH option!

Also, about the start of the game. You *must* give the party some rags right on the start because.. you know.. It was pretty awkward having to deside who gets the first pants

uggardian wrote: It was pretty awkward having to deside who gets the first pants

Yeah, I know. Should pants be a 'ladies first' type thing, do you award them based on merit, or do stop that minotaur from making you feel reeaallly self-concsious....

Here are some thoughts for improvements and additions:

- Reduce the effectiveness of the kiting tactics. Speed up spell projectiles, missiles and creature initiative so it won't be as easy to kite around monsters and never get attacked. Square kiting encounters turns combat into a chore where character stats don't matter.

- Remove crystals. They're too powerful, diminish the feeling of danger and make sleeping much less important. Crystal areas could be simply designated as "safe rest" areas. The crystals feel very "gamey" to begin with.. like they don't really belong to the dungeon and are just there for the waypoint/resurrection mechanic. For resurrection have something that makes sense such as an Altar of Rebirth in a temple.

- Add an unconscious state before a character dies. So being reduced to 0 HP doesn't always mean instant death. Have unconscious party members slow down party movement and provide means to revive them (potion / spell). I dare say characters going down but not necessarily dying would be a nice touch for immersion - and someone going down in a tough fight wouldn't mean automatic reload every time. Unconscious characters would earn no XP. Would balance out the lack of frequent all-powerful resurrection crystals.

- Lockpicking for Rogues and bashing / blasting doors. There's nothing quite like an ogre busting through a door you just closed on it.

- Control and utility spells. Walls, stuns, charms, holds, confusion, slowing, shields, creature summoning and teleport (draw a glyph on current square to teleport back to it to quickly escape or save time). Spell deflection for Mage duels.

- Equal focus on Life, Death, Spirit and Physical magic compared to Elemental magic.

- Better combat feedback for Evading or blocking an attack or Armor completely absorbing incoming damage. So you know what's working well against what.

- Dual wielding and 2-handed weapons.

- Multiplayer mode for LOG 3. If only with human characters. Multiplayer + Dungeon Editor = Infinite replayability and fun. Bloodwych on the Amiga was brilliant with co-op and the experience needs to be recreated. Thanks.

1varangian wrote: Add an unconscious state before a character dies.

Maybe the character would temporarily lose strenght the lower their health goes (fighters could have a skill that negates that effect(pain resistant))?

And a store for starting equipment.

Not all mods have to begin with a naked unequipped party.

2nd 1varangian's ideas! The whole kiting thing really takes away from the immersion and believability factors of the game.

I would actually add thieves should be able to detect traps as well. I think this might be script able in LoG1, but I haven't tried yet. It would be fairly complex though, having it as a feature of the thief class would make them more tempting too.

Also, definitely agree with u ugguardian on the food side. I got to the beginning of level 4 or 5 and ran out of food. There was no recovering from that, and I didn't want to start over. Running out of food doesn't just put you in a bad spot; it ends the game, which is no fun for the player who's just lost several hours of their time.

chaoscommencer wrote:Also, definitely agree with u ugguardian on the food side. I got to the beginning of level 4 or 5 and ran out of food. There was no recovering from that, and I didn't want to start over. Running out of food doesn't just put you in a bad spot; it ends the game, which is no fun for the player who's just lost several hours of their time.

IIRC, running out of food simply causes you to stop healing. You can still play that way.