Responding to a post over on the Book II forum:



I love the fact that there's a bigger brightness adjustment in Book II. My crappy eyes couldn't deal with trying to play in low light before and I'd quickly get a headache.

On the other hand, once I crank the brightness all the way up I find I don't really need a torch/lantern/gravedigger's flame/cat's eyes. I feel kind of like I'm cheating, but not nearly enough to go back to the old way.

Maybe there's another option? Maybe instead of dimming the whole screen in darkness, the game could draw only a small radius around your character and around light sources. Anyone have any ideas or feedback?

One thing that was cool the way Book II worked is that no matter how bright you made it, on a dark, stormy night it was still completely pitch black until lightning struck. And, the light adjusting spells and equipment were still extremely useful in terms of your character's ability to hit things, especially early on before you get your first weapon feat. Also trying out the different light sources (and combinations thereof) gives you an opportunity to spot things that you can't see as readily with just the brightness adjusted.

I love those pitch-black stormy nights, including how your torch keeps getting extinguished / damp.

Agreed.

while i haven't had an issue with the brightness level in book 2, the extreme darkness in book 1 really turned me off.

I have not experimented with all of the light sources, but I know that the magical light spell is weaker than a torch, and I very much dislike that.
Perhaps make things darker but instead of spell level only affecting how long a light spell lasts, it should also increase the strength and radius. If I am casting a L6 light spell, I should be able to SEE more than vague shapes and walls