Tweaking or revising the atrribute system won't save it. It needs to be salvaged, just like everything else in this game (other than the writing and beautiful art assests), because the the fundamental design of the mechanics and systems is pitiful.
This is meant to be constructive criticism, because I really want this to be a good game.
It won't happen.
Really, it's like
Elemental: War of Magic all over again.
I'm sorry for bringing this example back one more time, but I was one of those who pre-ordered it before release, and I'm witnessing exactly the same pattern here.
- The project banked on nostalgia over an old, fantastic game (Master of Magic).
- People supported it despite the signs that it would be a different beast, what with Wardell promising to "improve" on the formula, providing "balance" and everything
- The Yes-Men on the team never challenged Wardell's "vision"
- When the Alpha (and later the Beta) was released, a big portion of the testers raised the alarm over the blandness of the system (while others wanted to believe Wardell that it was all a matter of "fine tuning")
- Those testers were either underestimated, belittled or flatly ignored. Of course it was the only possible thing to do at the time, since they basically were saying that the game needed to be re-thought from the ground up.
- Wardell and his team charged on, until they finally smashed into a wall.
It's all there, with the same symptoms too (a controlling Lead Designer, the obsession for balance leading to Hopeless Blandness everywhere, and so on).
At least Wardell got the lesson after the debacle, he stepped down, and appointed a new Lead Designer to re-think the game
from scratch.
[Eventually Derek Paxton succeeded in bringing some life into the third iteration of the game. He had to follow many of the users' suggestions while indeed adding good ideas of his own. But basically, what he did was making stuff matter. Instead of giving silly and unnoticeable "bonuses" to the different kinds of weapons, he made them WILDLY different, each providing UNIQUE abilities that changed the tactical approach on the field. Heroes were given recognizable paths, the civilizations Leaders were given totally peculiar strenghts and weaknesses, and so on]
Now, as some are saying, maybe the story part will be enough to offset the system's evident blandness.
But I doubt it since, if I'm not given a valid reason to create a party of characters I care about and start adventuring and treasure hunting with them, I won't even be interested in going through the story to begin with.
Also people argue that the direction of the game was made known from the beginning.
It won't matter.
The larger audience doesn't read every tidbit of information.
They see a game which
looks exactly like BG2 and they will expect something similar.
Even if they
don't expect it, they'll still compare the new game to it.
It's unavoidable, it's what will happen.
I'm glad I didn't back this game, even though I was tempted.
I did back Torment though, and I regret it now.
These guys look like they don't know what they're doing, and unless I'm mistaken, the team is more or less they same...
