Incline AoD wishlist

[Eyestabber]

Now that I clocked almost a hundred hours into the game, had tons of fun and finished it 3 times, It's time to do my little wishlist for future updates (since there will be some, according to VD). So:

- Fleshing out the Arch. Right now it seems broken, since the "god" gives you the location of Al-Alkia, but you can't visit.
- The flying airship. No reward for making it fly, pointless options. Maybe it could be used to drop soldiers into Ganezzar? Who knows!
- More stuff to do in Ganezzar. Also, I was hoping for more with the whole "chosen one" thing, but...eh...
- A way to teleport into the Ziggurat. Using Meru's knowledge to "unrestrict" the Zamedi's teleporter seems like the intended path, but it doesn't work. Or am I missing something?
- Some better insight into Meru's mind. Meru seems like a very interesting character, but his appearance is rather...short.
- Neleos and Coltan. I never saw them again :'(
- The mountain monastery. It's pretty clear that MM and Medical Facility are the same place. It's also clear that those vats have the tasty green goo used in the healing machine but, alas, we can't use them, even if we KNOW what the green liquid is (reading MF's lore).
- Inferiae. Even at max charisma + social skills there doesn't seem to be ANY way to bring those people around. Can't we make some kind of deal? MUST we either sneak away, fight or fry them with the defense mechanism? Isn't there ANYTHING that Lord Gaelius/Antidas/Paullus/Meru can offer them that would make them, well, stop being a bunch of assholes? :D

The point is, the game is already awesome AS IT IS. It certainly is a strong contender for Codex GOTY. But, you know, we can ALWAYS wish for more

Anyway, that's MY wishlist. What's yours?

 

[Vault Dweller]

- Fleshing out the Arch. Right now it seems broken, since the "god" gives you the location of Al-Alkia, but you can't visit.

It's on the list.

- The flying airship. No reward for making it fly, pointless options. Maybe it could be used to drop soldiers into Ganezzar? Who knows!

You can use it to break the siege.

- A way to teleport into the Ziggurat. Using Meru's knowledge to "unrestrict" the Zamedi's teleporter seems like the intended path, but it doesn't work. Or am I missing something?

You are. You can remove the restriction and use the portal.

- Some better insight into Meru's mind. Meru seems like a very interesting character, but his appearance is rather...short.

It's split between different questlines.

 

[AbounI]

Anyway, that's MY wishlist. What's yours?

A boxed edition to complete my own coming soon physical content

 

[Slimu]

Increasing the game speed to 3x or 4x should be great since replaying the same fight starts to get tiresome after a while

 

[Goral]

Increasing the game speed to 3x or 4x should be great since replaying the same fight starts to get tiresome after a while

Open the console and copy-paste:

$pref::Video::animationSpeed = "2"

Replace 2 with a desired number. Keep in mind that going above 6 might break things.

I'm using 4 and it's perfect. Such useful console commands should be included in game's help.

 

[Eyestabber]

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot in the OP.

In the Youth/Bomb quest in Maadoran, high alchemy should allow you to spot that the package is a bomb. I mean, it makes sense, no? It's a bit silly that my alchemist guy can't spot a bomb when he sees one, despite being capable of making awesome bombs of his own.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Makes sense.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Chest to your Room in Antidas, Gallenus, Meru Palace and IG Fort same as you got as reward for Kingslayer path.... More reward for your faction rank like adding more Men to fights etc... For Consuls and Legates at-least.... Option to take Flying ship to Teron or IG HQs... for a thing which requires hard fight, Lore 9 and ancient relic to unlock it its a bit meh to just park it... It should be used for final battle at least the way rebuild B-29 was in FNV.

 

[Shadenuat]

The whole ship thingy is just too lolrandom since no faction seems to give you any quests related to finding ancient machines of war - they should.

Game should implement these smaller locations into it's main quest lines. At least if it is known that great houses work in these locations, like Hangar.

As for Arch and stuff, I think it should be a logical stop on your search for secrets and power as Loremaster, leading to easter-egg ending. I don't think it should be exclusive to characters who got small metal ball lol. I think prospector in the beginning selling his merchandise should be avaible for most characters with high Lore.

However, I always thought that only a character with good understanding of the deficiencies of all avaible Lords, danger of Agath/other gods should have actual reasons to believe he'd end up better. Which means you should be a character well versed in both lore and politics.

Spoiler

As for now, it just feels very lolrandom. As long as you know where Al-Akia is and passed that one check in Saross, some random crazy bum in Hellgate just says "yea lezz do it" and bam, you're a God.
You can almost become one by accident.

Here's how I think Arch story could progress:
- You meet prospector/trader, he says he bought some thingie around Maadoran. He says he doesn't know where but tells maybe loremaster of Maadoran knows about ruins around Maadoran.
- You go to Abukar, ask about it, he says well there's Saross and it may contain other locations.
- You repair stuff in Saross, find hidden room, get instruments. You learn they may have come from secret places gods were healed, and there was a network of portals to these places. You learn locations of Inferiae & Arch.
- Player will need some leads now on where to find portals that would lead him to healing machine. And there he learns that he must travel to Al Akia, and that Arch might be the key.
- We go to the Arch and talk to Oracle. Instead of jibberish he expands on the 3 Signs. He says that ancients who came here had glowing eyes, hands of metal and used knowledge of stars to communicate with gods. Or whatever.
So we need eye, ghosthand & astrolab.
If oracle is enslaved by raiders you can still talk to him after dealing with raiders.
- Finally we get to Al Akia and do Al Akia stuff, and have to somehow pass through Crassus men maybe.
- The last problem is Benny. Cause who the fuck is Benny? And how do we connect all the pieces and know that we need to get to Hellgate and make him our friend? Something in Al Akia or other places should give us a hint that we need Hellgate and we need that guy. I mean, specifically that guy, because there are many non-lunatics who might be a better choice. But maybe another trip into the Arch with space helmet on could give us a hint?

Perhaps you becoming God can even be absorbing giant space monster from Arch and thus allowing him to live on earth through your body. Suddenly, supah sexy ending is not so sexy anymore since you won't know who is really in control - that's much more in AoD style.

As for player character's reasons to go through all of that, I am not sure what game could do to make you believe you want to (politics and stuff).

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

The whole ship thingy is just too lolrandom since no faction seems to give you any quests related to finding ancient machines of war - they should.

Actually that's the exact reason Antidas sends you to find the temple. Of course, you can't bring the ship to Teron...

 

[Shadenuat]

Yea well, everyone wants you to find the temple for some reason or another, even if it's not really a natural thing for many player characters to do and they gain absolutely nothing from it.

For example, for Thief siding with guy in Ganezzar, game should automatically end with cool vignette - you got your share and became lord of local ghetto and stuff, your life goal as a character was achieved.
With Levir it might be different since he was more into ancient tech, buuut then you can betray the guy so again, temple, whatever, I want to be crime lord not fight Cthulhu.

 

[Tigranes]

Oh god yes animation speed. And alchemy suggestion for Neros makes sense.

The general shift from politicking to the Gods stuff is kind of awkward, though I don't think there's a single solution to it. I do think it's nice to have all these ruins to explore and these various artefacts to uncover, but I think going on from that to have the entire ending revolve around awakening a God and bringing about a literal deus ex machina to world politics is very uninteresting, and the loredumps of captains of ships etc etc is also not very engaging to read. I don't think AOD setting's charm is in actually uncovering a fascinating past history. I think AOD's charm is in navigating a world which is remembering and also forgetting that history. To be blunt, many of the various logs that give you lots of detail about what happened back then is the most boring writing in the entire game. Much more interesting are the bits about how the player struggles to make some tiny bit of it work; how other people have built up various myths and fantasies about the unknown. I would have preferred the player to find no clear answers in the Temple, only another set of vague mysteries - and then decide how to spin it to his/her desired outcome back in the world of intrigue.

Anyway, back to realistic wishlists:

• Is it possible to have 1-9 hotkeys automatically correspond to all the weapon attacking options? E.g. for 1 Fast 2 Normal 3 Power is what we have now, but then 4 Aimed:Head 5 Arterial Strike 6 Aimed:Legs.... or with a crossbow 1 Regular 2 Aimed:Head....
• The flying ship is definitely anticlimactic. I suspect many players will never realise that it can break the siege of Ganezzar, because they'll do it afterwards. It makes sense that Meru is the only person with the infrastructure and willingness to take something like that off your hands, though. But maybe you can fly it to the Temple... even if, due to the lack of proper runways and whatnot, it's the last flight that ship will ever make? This would also make sense on the level of Balance, for high Lore / Talker characters who do not have 6 Lockpick for the Hellgate door or the Gem to fix the lightbridge.
• Add a [Sneak] 4? option to slip away if you follow the merchant and thugs at the start of Maadoran. It makes sense because you are still tailing them hidden at that stage, and this gives an option for non-fighter/talker character which still doesn't let them "succeed" / get any rewards, but is still better and more interesting than reloading and never following them.
• Add an option to concoct a similar explosive package to get back at Calvus, a very AOD-like and satisfying solution. Probably a fairly high set of checks, so that it's an interesting easter egg without making the situation easier to solve. E.g. craft the bomb [Alchemy] + [Traps] + [The bomb powder reagants], and then either [Sneak] + [Lockpick] to get in and leave it in his bed, or even [Streetwise] to distract them while you speak to them and then [Steal] to leave it under their sofa as you leave.

And some bugs, because why not:

• Let's say you have a bomb equipped on your hand. Then in combat, you drag and drop your hammer from the inventory onto the bomb. And then, you take the bomb on the inventory list, and put it in your belt which is where you meant it to go. If you exit inventory, what happens is the hammer ends up in the belt, and the bomb stays in the inventory. Weird, and quite common if you swap stuff around all the time.
• Fire vials to the face do zero damage if enemy is already standing in fire. Given that the fire doesn't do DoT anyway, it's a bit odd.
• Yet more places with walls that archers can fire through include Senna's villa (the Westernmost guard can fire projectiles through the Southern wall), the Raiders fight inside the Amaranthus vault (the bowmen can fire through the walls even if you run to the room to your left).

 

[Fenix]

You need something for crossbowers, because "reload fire repeat" is a bit tiresome. Like options to reload and fire in one command maybe?

 

[Esquilax]

I'd like to see a path in which House Daratan actually reigns supreme without divine intervention if you acquire the flying ship. After all, he did send you to find "ancient weapons of war" and he is in possession of a rare mantra that can activate the ship (a potentially reward upon becoming Consul?). If you find the ship, and given enough time for Antidas' loremaster Cassius to study it and get it working - should give him an overwhelming enough advantage in weaponry that even he can't possibly fuck up. Basically, you need to play things perfect for House Daratan to win.

Antidas might end up ruling over a pile of rubble this way given his megalomania and how many enemies he has, but he'll have thousands of people dying for his ambitions, just like his ancestor before him.

Otherwise, the game could use some more [critical strike] checks in certain places. If you include it in places where it's logical, you can't exclude it in others for the sake of "balance". The places where it could be added are:

Esbenus after you've convinced him to take out the Aurelian Outpost and he is wounded [critical strike = 3]
Daneus at the monastery [critical strike = 6]
Hermon with his Slum Gang [critical strike = 7]

These are the places where it's needed most. Especially with Esbenus. As it stands, if you are a talker, he kicks your ass even in a weakened state, so the choice to kill him is moot anyways.

Next up, a lore check is desperately needed for the gem you get at Silvanus' place. How is the player supposed to know that that thing is valuable? Something should tip you off that it's important and potentially worth even more than what Nazir is giving you after looking at it.

Thirdly, and most importantly, finding the expired canister at the medical center through the portal under Maadoran is extremely unintuitive, Vault Dweller. If I click on the tanks before reading the scroll by the bookshelf, I find nothing. I have to pass a lore check by the bookshelf, then click on the tanks to get the expired canister. There's no way I'd be able to know this on a blind playthrough at all, and it's just extremely unfair to the player given how useful that item can be. It would make more sense to have a check by the tanks, pass it, then pick up the canister there.

 

[Ninjerk]

Vault Dweller, since I bitched about it in another thread and you seem to be paying attention here, would it be possible to have black powder dialogue checks, specifically:

Spoiler

the hidden passage in Levir's quest

be passable with black powder bombs? Is there some logic that says the yield of the bomb is necessarily less than the raw powder because you're, I don't know, having to make a fuse with some of it?

 

[AngryKobold]

Wishlist? There's only one wish that takes precedence over all others. Too bad it cannot be granted at this point!

It's gameplay designed by somebody competent.

 

[Ninjerk]

Wishlist? There's only one wish that takes precedence over all others. Too bad it cannot be granted at this point!

It's gameplay designed by somebody competent.

Lurker King

 

[Lurker King]

I don't think AOD setting's charm is in actually uncovering a fascinating past history. I think AOD's charm is in navigating a world which is remembering and also forgetting that history.

This.

 

[Lurker King]

Wishlist? There's only one wish that takes precedence over all others. Too bad it cannot be granted at this point!

It's gameplay designed by somebody competent.

Our very own troll mascot.

 

[Lurker King]

Otherwise, the game could use some more [critical strike] checks in certain places. If you include it in places where it's logical, you can't exclude it in others for the sake of "balance". The places where it could be added are:

Esbenus after you've convinced him to take out the Aurelian Outpost and he is wounded [critical strike = 3]
Daneus at the monastery [critical strike = 6]
Hermon with his Slum Gang [critical strike = 7].

No kidding. I hope VD didn't forget this thread.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

You need something for crossbowers, because "reload fire repeat" is a bit tiresome. Like options to reload and fire in one command maybe?

Yeah, that's #1 complaint I have about combat.

I get that crossbows are balanced by the reload mechanic, but its really far too tedious to use.

And I know someone is going to say "bohooo its just one click". Hell, if I didn't play the game and just read about it, I would most likely say its whiny people complaining about irrelevant bullshit and they should choke on elephant dicks. But honestly I just can't stand the fucking reloading.

Edit:

Also, seconded about Neleos and Coltan. Man, you wouldn't believe how many times I fucking reloaded my first Asassin playthrough, trying to save them both. And then I never saw them again. That's just...wrong. And no, I don't want to romance them and have gay assassin threesome. Just meeting them somewhere would be nice.

 

[Lurker King]

CON should diminish armor penalties.

 

[Lurker King]

I get that crossbows are balanced by the reload mechanic, but its really far too tedious to use.

It is.

 

[Johannes]

Oh god yes animation speed. And alchemy suggestion for Neros makes sense.

The general shift from politicking to the Gods stuff is kind of awkward, though I don't think there's a single solution to it. I do think it's nice to have all these ruins to explore and these various artefacts to uncover, but I think going on from that to have the entire ending revolve around awakening a God and bringing about a literal deus ex machina to world politics is very uninteresting, and the loredumps of captains of ships etc etc is also not very engaging to read. I don't think AOD setting's charm is in actually uncovering a fascinating past history. I think AOD's charm is in navigating a world which is remembering and also forgetting that history. To be blunt, many of the various logs that give you lots of detail about what happened back then is the most boring writing in the entire game. Much more interesting are the bits about how the player struggles to make some tiny bit of it work; how other people have built up various myths and fantasies about the unknown. I would have preferred the player to find no clear answers in the Temple, only another set of vague mysteries - and then decide how to spin it to his/her desired outcome back in the world of intrigue.

I found the politicking to be the boring side, actually. The archaeology gave me ambiguous detective work to uncover - what actually happened? What do I do with this artefact? Uncovering another piece of the puzzle was usually interesting, be it from a dungeon or from talking to people.

Whereas the ordinary world suffered from quests almost always clearly spelling out your options for you, so you didn't really have to use your head much outside skillpoint assignments. And the worldbuilding / characterizations here is not too interesting or varied.

I agree though that reaching Agathoth is pretty anticlimatic. Biggest problem is the huge disconnect from anything you've done during the game, it's the same shit always, a very linear discussion with him if you wake him.

 

[Shadenuat]

Player's ability to invest into politicking variates depending on your background. Asassin stuff allows for some strong choices in Teron, but stumbles later a bit due to less than optimal skill checks distribution. Praetor's quests may be short, but you have lots of options on how to maneuver around Maadoran. Merchant's story has some of the funniest gotcha moments giving you feel of your guild puppeteering people and events in the game behind the scenes, but mechanically it holds your hand after Teron.
Imperial Guard has a lot of options through the whole game in comparison to other factions. It manages to support pure fighters, hybrids and even something like 30/70% combat/talking hybrids somehow.
So while at some places your choices are obvious skill checks, during some quests you can do proactive things as a player, even things that are not spelled out to you (like betraying your guild for a place at Gaeliuses court).

Proactive stuff as compared to reactive (passing skill checks) is what game is lacking. That's why going easter-egg hunting may feel more fun to most players since you need to actually put some effort into finding every ancient artifact or lore piece + the challenge of constructing a character that can get God ending or Let It Burn ending at all.