What's missing??

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Gosh, I started playing book 2, so careful of my nooby comments. NOt missing, but the movement seems a bit annoying. I like when I click on an object and the character will move to that object. Would also have been nice to navigate via up-down-left-right arrow keys vs mouse (i'm sure there must bea way and im just a dolt).

For the PC, the number keypad may be used to navigate. I'm not certain about the Mac.

The number keypad also directs movement on the Mac, yes. Somebody around here also posted how to edit the cfg file to set that to a different set of keys, like the arrow keys (though they'll only handle 4 of the 8 possible directions).

[Arkos]

Gosh, I started playing book 2, so careful of my nooby comments. NOt missing, but the movement seems a bit annoying. I like when I click on an object and the character will move to that object. Would also have been nice to navigate via up-down-left-right arrow keys vs mouse (i'm sure there must bea way and im just a dolt).

For the PC, the number keypad may be used to navigate. I'm not certain about the Mac.

Really? I never knew that. Does that work for Book I, too?

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Gosh, I started playing book 2, so careful of my nooby comments. NOt missing, but the movement seems a bit annoying. I like when I click on an object and the character will move to that object. Would also have been nice to navigate via up-down-left-right arrow keys vs mouse (i'm sure there must bea way and im just a dolt).

For the PC, the number keypad may be used to navigate. I'm not certain about the Mac.

Really? I never knew that. Does that work for Book I, too?

Not on the Mac, at least. Book II yes, Book I no.

[IJBall]

For the PC, the number keypad may be used to navigate. I'm not certain about the Mac.

Really? I never knew that. Does that work for Book I, too?

Not on the Mac, at least. Book II yes, Book I no.

I believe the keypad should work for a Mac keyboard that has one. Obviously, there's no keypad on a Mac laptop though...

[Samurai Drakon]

I'd say it bugged me that it weren't possible to explore further when you could reach the border of the map. I'll understand when it tells you there's just snow and emptiness, but the rest of the time...
1- Barrea - Ok, I've got and issue here. There was this tiny hole in the mountains on the path to Edon, which (looking on the map here) would of let me reach the sharptooth mountain and possibly explore Barrea beyond the rift. But it just said my fate was needed elsewhere. Ok, I guess you guys didn't feel like working on that area since it didn't concern the main storyline, but it could of! [SPOILERS] the guild tells you that one of the crux is in Barrea, held by a warlord. Why get the crux held by the enemy WAY in the south when you can just get one in Barrea? I dunno, fighting the taurax all over again seemed like a bit of a unsavory challenge. Could of gave us the choice to go either path, which would of in turn added replayability.

2- Dragundun - Um... Why can't I visit it? Too far is it? Well ok then, you damn wall of darkness. I wonder how other people don't talk about you.

3- Pomedore - A town on the east coast of Amireth. "Sigh", this reminds me of books that have big huge maps full of places that remain unvisited along the series. But I understand that unless you're an obstinate guy like me most players won't give a toss about it.

4- Ok well, there's plenty of other limitations, while the game tells you that you can freely go anywhere. You can't. It seems a bit contrived that you can't cross a forest for the trees will block your path, or that you can't cross a river because all bridges (save one) have been blown apart. Oh and Broken Blade is broken , haven't we been here before?

It's really not that big a world you guys have created, but your story is good enough to make me not notice. But for Book 3 : more places to explore, more quest to undertake, more npcs to talk to/interact with/train under. I hope you guys have a good future ahead of you, like Spiderweb. They had almost too much content back in the day, but had crappy graphics. But as time passes, they work on their weaknesses. I'm sure you guys will too. But don't block our way like that

on a side note... damn that ranger was hot. I wish that password would of made her join your party, instead of making her kill you... Oh rite this ain't Avernum :3. Sorry for the lenghty post.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

I'd say it bugged me that it weren't possible to explore further when you could reach the border of the map. I'll understand when it tells you there's just snow and emptiness, but the rest of the time...
1- Barrea - Ok, I've got and issue here. There was this tiny hole in the mountains on the path to Edon, which (looking on the map here) would of let me reach the sharptooth mountain and possibly explore Barrea beyond the rift. But it just said my fate was needed elsewhere. Ok, I guess you guys didn't feel like working on that area since it didn't concern the main storyline, but it could of! [SPOILERS] the guild tells you that one of the crux is in Barrea, held by a warlord. Why get the crux held by the enemy WAY in the south when you can just get one in Barrea? I dunno, fighting the taurax all over again seemed like a bit of a unsavory challenge. Could of gave us the choice to go either path, which would of in turn added replayability.

There are (if I recall correctly) three places in Book II where you get a "Your fate lies elsewhere" message. I believe BW will be adding these three places in an expansion (free add-on) over the summer. The place you mention on the road to Edon is actually a cave, by the way, not a mountain pass. There's a boulder with a sign on it outside. Yoma Springs Cavern.

Yes, there is a certain amount of forced direction in Book II, because BW is setting us up for Book III, which is likely to have a lot in Barrea. We may even get to see those dragons like that skeleton in the basement of the library.

[IJBall]

Yes, there is a certain amount of forced direction in Book II, because BW is setting us up for Book III, which is likely to have a lot in Barrea. We may even get to see those dragons like that skeleton in the basement of the library.

I'm pretty much expecting Book III to take us to the remaining three provinces: Barrea, Wylderan, and Mirland (I think it's quite likely that the 4th "lost" Crux will turn up somewhere in the latter two provinces...).

But the cool thing about Book III, assuming it uses much of Book II's engine (which I expect it to) - especially its 1024 x 768 native resolution - is that we may also get to revisit areas we saw in Book II.

IOW, I don't think it's a coincidence that the stairs up to the Chancellor's palace are right there near the entrance to Port K. - I very much suspect that we might get to see the Chancellor of Mistfell (finally!) in Book III.

It's also possible (likely?...) that Book III may take us to other areas that Book II touched on - namely the rest of Amireth, and the Rift Zone area.

Guess we'll see...

[Samurai Drakon]

Ah, I see! Very good explanations from both of you! Don't have any more nitpicking about the size of the game, knowing this. Expansion?! YAY!

But heck, I noticed this little thang, just after visiting the forbidden area in the Farrock range. It's possible to spot hidden gems in the rocks! Hell, and I thought the spot hidden skill was virtually useless!
Here's what's missing : add this ability in the landscape. Let us find our food and alchemical reagents/etc in the trees, rocks and more! Even the soil, maybe?
Brimstone : soil/rock
Apples : tree
Willowbark : tree
Mellowleaf/other leafs : plants/bushes
Gems : Rocks/mines
Shroom : shroom patch
Toadis pollen : grass/flowers/ground
The list goes on!
This would give spot hidden it's rightful place as well-balanced skill with the rest of the gang, plus it would give reason to trudge through the wilderness. This would go hand-in-hand with forage though, must-have for rangers!

Waddaya think you tricksy basilisk?

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Ah, I see! Very good explanations from both of you! Don't have any more nitpicking about the size of the game, knowing this. Expansion?! YAY!

But heck, I noticed this little thang, just after visiting the forbidden area in the Farrock range. It's possible to spot hidden gems in the rocks! Hell, and I thought the spot hidden skill was virtually useless!
Here's what's missing : add this ability in the landscape. Let us find our food and alchemical reagents/etc in the trees, rocks and more! Even the soil, maybe?
Brimstone : soil/rock
Apples : tree
Willowbark : tree
Mellowleaf/other leafs : plants/bushes
Gems : Rocks/mines
Shroom : shroom patch
Toadis pollen : grass/flowers/ground
The list goes on!
This would give spot hidden it's rightful place as well-balanced skill with the rest of the gang, plus it would give reason to trudge through the wilderness. This would go hand-in-hand with forage though, must-have for rangers!

Waddaya think you tricksy basilisk?

Foraging skill lets you find reagents when you camp. I agree though (and mentioned earlier) that I think some of these skills should interact more. I just don't know how hard that would be for BW to program.

Also, one tricky bit for mages looking to spot all those hidden things, Supernova at level 1 doesn't cost that much mana and makes hidden caches smoke so you know where to look.

[Oshkell]

Just thought about something for archery. It was mentioned earlier that one should be allowed to make their own arrows, but as with Forage-spam, I'm thinking that could get... well... spammy.

How about if you have no arrows in your quiver, you can shoot an ubiquitous 'default' arrow, which has penalties to hit and damage? (Representing that you made it yourself out of, say, sticks and flint, or something)

What do you guys think?

[Samurai Drakon]

Weapon crafting has been something that's been left out in the series. You haven't been able to create weapons via alchemy nor can blacksmiths do requests, and the imbuing is quite limited (if not useless). I'd like to see more possibilities, but how would you create weapons? Would it be possible to implement, if so, would it have it's own skill? Forging?
Also, at the beginning of the game, I conserved the gems I found, thinking they could come of use. But, hey, weapons don't have sockets .
Oh and I do wish I could of added fire resistance to my armor! Would of come in handy in that volcano . As I came out of there, finaly, had to quick travel with 6 hp left (had to kill the spider first though).

As for forage spam, I guess it would get annoying to keep looting trees only to find apples and rocks only to find pebbles . Every idea has a flaw!

[IJBall]

In thinking it over, and playing more, I think the most obvious thing that's missing is Trainers for a number of Skills:

• Still no trainer for either Armors, or Shields
• Still no trainer for either Piercing Weapons or Unarmed Combat
• No trainer for Skullduggery (I can't believe that Zelbin doesn't do this one!)
• No trainer for Dodge (this is another one that would be incredibly useful...)
• No trainer for Spot Hidden (I'd especially like one of these, so you wouldn't have to waste Skill points on Spot Hidden)
• No trainer for Lore (see above)
• No trainer for Mercantile (I actually think this one wouldn't be a good idea...)

But there should be trainers for most of these, especially the first four in my list.

The other thing that I find I'm missing is more characters from Book I - I thought for sure Garrett (the Cartography drunk) would show up in Book II, and I thought a few others like Father Michael would as well. I'm still hoping Father Michael shows up in Book III so we can slaughter his ass!!

[CrazyBernie]

But there should be trainers for most of these, especially the first four in my list.

Why? I never even used the trainers other than cartography and alchemy. I can see the advantage for min-max'ers, but I don't see the need for having trainers for every skill. It would also defeat the purpose of the Jack of All Trades challenge.

The other thing that I find I'm missing is more characters from Book I - I thought for sure Garrett (the Cartography drunk) would show up in Book II, and I thought a few others like Father Michael would as well. I'm still hoping Father Michael shows up in Book III so we can slaughter his ass!!

I already took care of Father Michael. =P

[Farwalker]

In thinking it over, and playing more, I think the most obvious thing that's missing is Trainers for a number of Skills:

• Still no trainer for either Armors, or Shields
• Still no trainer for either Piercing Weapons or Unarmed Combat
• No trainer for Skullduggery (I can't believe that Zelbin doesn't do this one!)
• No trainer for Dodge (this is another one that would be incredibly useful...)
• No trainer for Spot Hidden (I'd especially like one of these, so you wouldn't have to waste Skill points on Spot Hidden)
• No trainer for Lore (see above)
• No trainer for Mercantile (I actually think this one wouldn't be a good idea...)

But there should be trainers for most of these, especially the first four in my list.

Availability of trainers/books makes a big difference in some cases, there are only so many skill points to go round after all.

Lack of trainers for the armors (Lt/Hvy/Shield) is fine as far as I'm concerned. Dodge I could go either way on. Lore could use training/more books (see my comment below), would be a nice complement to the game but not a big deal. Lack of trainers for Medicine and Meditate is fine, adding a book for Meditate might be a nice touch but a trainer is not needed. I wouldn't add a trainer for Mercantile either. Adding a book for repair would be a nice touch (there's that collector urge to get a full set... grin...). Skullduggery - meh, doesn't matter to me either way. Spot hidden doesn't need a trainer.

Having said all that, I do think unarmed and piercing should have trainers, and throw should get a book. Nothing wrong with making them hard to find though.

There's an alternate way to do some of this - there could be multiple books that each can only be used once, but the benefits to the same skill stack. This would be a nice touch for Lore, and perhaps for Unarmed. You could do that instead of having a trainer. Makes it fun to search around and find all those volumes too...

Besides, someone's been doing a great job of writing the text for those books, I'd love to read a few more.

[IJBall]

Lack of trainers for the armors (Lt/Hvy/Shield) is fine as far as I'm concerned...

I just find it inconsistent that there are no trainers for defensive skills like Armor and Shields. (And, yeah, I know - under the current implementation, Armor isn't particularly useful. But I still think their should be trainers for it...)

Skullduggery - meh, doesn't matter to me either way. Spot hidden doesn't need a trainer.

Sure it does - Spot Hidden is an incredibly useful Skill that, practically, you really can't afford to spend Skill point on, even though it would be quite beneficial for spotting traps (and the occasional cave jewel! ), especially for melee fighters who need to eschew points in PER.

Ditto, Skullduggery - in fact, I'd make the argument that I'd rather have a Skullduggery trainer than a Move Silently trainer (the latter you can do quite well on your own with, esp. with decent DEX...).

I could also make the argument that where you need trainers the most is in "secondary" Skills like these. Why? - Because people are going to pump points into Primary skills like Bows and Elemental Magick regardless. It's the Hide in Shadow, Forage, Skullduggery, Dodge, Spot Hidden, and Repair skills of the world where trainers would be most useful!

There's an alternate way to do some of this - there could be multiple books that each can only be used once, but the benefits to the same skill stack. This would be a nice touch for Lore, and perhaps for Unarmed. You could do that instead of having a trainer. Makes it fun to search around and find all those volumes too...

Besides, someone's been doing a great job of writing the text for those books, I'd love to read a few more.

Now this is a good idea that I could support!

Book I almost had something like this with the three-part Alchemy recipe books. But putting the same idea towards training books is kind of a cool idea...