~ Suggestions & Improvement ~

[Svinik]

Hi, while I'm giving suggestions and all that - I've got one more:

 

At the moment items can be unidentified, but I don't think this works very well in Y1. The best items mostly come pre-identified as adventure rewards anyway so it generally isn't worth a time slot to identify items. How about just removing this feature and making all items identified by default?

 

 

Shopkeepers don't seem to charge a mark-up, and pay full whack even when you have no idea what an item does (very generous of them I must say) - so I just save up all the accumulating random stuff and flog it off 2-3 times as the game progresses. If the item fits my character I buy it back - the only item that approach doesn't seem to work with is the unsent letter (which presumably has a Yr 2 effect as I've not noted a Yr 1 effect).

[Legate of Mineta]

Nodergak;

 

Yep!

 

hdghg;

 

Identification still has a role in Y2, although that cost issue was dealt with (thanks, Svinik!) You can now more easily identify Items, however, if you care to spend.

[Meliethel]

How difficult would it be to allow the game to roll a 'random' character for you?

 

Or, better yet, how about allowing the player to 'lock in' certain options (like starting with an exotic familiar) and let the game roll the other traits.

The motivation behind this suggestion is twofold:

First, character creation is more than a bit tedious the first few times one does it. I think the first time I played, it took me at least half an hour to read everything AND THEN MORE to pick some or other traits. Having a few preset characters at the ready or allowing the game to generate one would, quite possibly, remove the steep barrier to entry that is Character Creation.

 

Second, it would enhance replayability by allowing 'challenges' where one has to make the best of what skills/attributes one has. Could be fun. That is, it could be more fun than simply going out of one's way to select the worst traits possible...

 

 

Perhaps these suggestions are too late to implement in Year 1, but I think it'd be nice to do something of the sort for Year 2...

[Schwarzbart]

In year 2 there will be templates because doing all the learning you should have gained from year 1 is a bit to much to be done for a new Year 2 char.

[Legate of Mineta]

Aerith;

 

As what Schwarzbart said- I don't think we'll do anything truly random, although it would be fun!

[Leoshi]

Random? I usually change a few things or just keep clicking the random until I find a satisfactory build...

 

Also, that name. *Sniff*

 

Also also, welcome to the forums!

[hdghg]

Hi, I've finished my somewhat powergamey morvidus playthrough. I'll probably wait for the next DLC before playing another character, but I was having a poke around on the wiki thinking about what to do with them.

 

My morvidus char studied Revision/Glamour/Negation/Incantation/Music/Zoology which is not the "best" selection of classes because I foolishly took music instead of astrology, but is close. Initially I thought for the next character I'd swap out Astrology for Music and Botany for Incantation so I could do more adventures and also try Contu's school. I was also planning to try a different house - though from a balance POV morvidus seems to be the clear leader.

 

However, there is no college aside from Morvidus that allows that selection of classes. While I could just change things about a bit, that runs into a bit of an issue with some classes being dramatically less useful than others. To a certain extent that's unavoidable because it doesn't make much sense for say arithmetic to be as useful as magic to an adventurous student. After mulling it over I think there's a few reasonable colleges such as Durand, but there's others I can't see myself taking unless I'm looking to deliberately challenge my character.

 

I had some ideas for balancing it out below. I'd also be interested in hearing people's opinions about why class X is better than I think - especially for the ones right at the bottom of my ratings. Here's my approximate rating based on the information on the wiki:

TOP: Revision, Glamour, Negation

SECOND TIER: Incantation, Astrology

VERY GOOD: Zoology, Music

GOOD: Botany, Athletics

OK: Calligraphy (haven't tried it - doesn't rate higher than "ok" unless formal invitation is really amazing I guess), Enchant (somewhat useful in adventures)

POOR: Dialectic (attribute from study mastery), History (some useful passives from skill level, sphinx visitation rights although the sphinx is not as amazing as it used to be)

BAD: Arithmetic, Geometry, Grammar, Rhetoric

 

There are some things that could even out the balance a bit. Here are what I consider when choosing a class (from a balance/gamer perspective - obviously you can make a case for anything from an RP perspective):

 

- Usefulness of skills in events & adventures: this is probably unrealistic to change. The magic skills are way ahead here, along with astrology, zoology, botany, music and athletics.

- Useful abilities/spells from the skills. The front-runners are probably Zoology (imp. familiar handling), Music (perform etc), Athletics, maybe calligraphy

- Skill points from classes. Magic classes train 4 subskills, 1 of which typically needs more skills steps than usual to increase. This makes them better than the likes of zoology or music that only train 3. Given that even the magic classes max the skills out with several months to go, it would probably be possible to train 6-7 subskills in class and still get them to max or near max. I've only played with 7 classes recently so I don't know about how many subskills the more academic ones train though. Is there a resource that tells me this?

- How many adventures they unlock and how useful these are

- How good the study bonuses are, in particular whether the "study mastery" gives an attribute. Typically study mastery improves rolls as well so it's going to be more useful for skills that get checked a lot than for the likes of history or arithmetic.

- How easy it is to increase without taking it in class. Athletics is a skill I consider important, but it isn't one of my essential classes because I can improve it by working out.

 

 

The problem is that a lot of the more academic skills fall in the "bad" category for most or all of these. To a certain extent that makes sense, but I think there's some things that could be done to improve them even in Y1:

 

- Make all the study masteries give an attribute point. Especially the ones from less useful courses

- Add adventures to weaker classes. The main reason I want to try botany is for the adventures. If the more academic classes came with a 3 adventures each like botany or astrology I'd be more tempted.

- Don't know how hard this would be to implement, but consider increasing the trained skills for some classes. I think I already mentioned this on the forum somewhere - Music and Zoology stand out among the classes I've taken as they have 7 and 6 subskills respectively, but both only train 3 of them in class. This puts the magic skills yet further ahead. Actually writing this I'm tempted to drop music down to "good" in my ratings...

- Of course with year 2 out soon, I don't expect you to be putting a lot of developer time into Y1 so I'm certainly not insisting on changes. Also, will some of these less useful classes or skills be pre-reqs for more useful courses in Y2? If maxing my skill with grammar/history/geometry/whatever will unlock interesting Y2 content then that'd be an argument for taking those classes.

 

And a few questions on skill training:

 

- For an adventurer, Negation and Glamour are really important skills that don't as far as i know have a good way of training them outside classes. At a pinch I could skip Revision and use the library of manetele (although with a point of finesse from study mastery that's not happening), or skip incantation and use contu's school. Am I missing some action somewhere for those two?

- From looking at the wiki, Zoology also lacks a good training method other than one step at a time via libraries or the sphinx. I haven't found a decent alternative to Improved familiar handling (preferably combined with Numerology) for familiar training. This means skipping zoology is potentially painful if I want to complete the familiar adventure. The wiki has plenty of gaps though - am I missing an action somewhere?

 

 

Edit: Just realised that the useful sleuthing subskill is part of dialectic, so I'd be tempted to push that up to "OK" if it's one of the ones trained in class

[Schwarzbart]

The Secret Background have a nice way to train Zoology for 5-10 SS level depending if you use Selective Focus or not.

But Cobblestone Path to Nowhere is also your friend if you don't have Zoology as class.

 

Your right Glamour only have the classroom but if you somhow get the classroom even if you not having this class ...

 

For Negation I don't know any good ability to train it so its usualy one of my class skills.

 

Revision on the other hand is so easy to train with the library that I only have Revision as class when I play a Morvidus char.

 

Incantation also is dead last for me to pick as class because you easy can train it as soon you get a bit Theory of Incantation and have some money.

 

Year 2 dont care at all what you haved in year 1 in class as long the skill is high enough according to my infos.

So only what you gained trough Study make the difference in year 2 if you haved a skill as class or not.

[Svinik]

Incantation - my current game doesn't have it as a class, and from random events and classes its nearing max even without Contu, Durand or training. Admittedly I have the Vanishing dorm key and every oyther random booster i can get my hands on, but still class would be over-kill.

 

Botany - study the fields will give you this if you want the skills aside from roots.

 

Otherwise I usually want 2 or 3 magic classes - it's a magic school so magic is a must, but I don't use spells a lot and there are lots of chances on adventures and randoms to raise these skills anyway.

 

So I'd pick classes based on flavour more than power generally.

[hdghg]

Interesting... I didn't think of the secret history. Actually my last character was "good" - even left the evil book in the woods and forfeited the attribute point. So, an evil character might be on the cards.

[Schwarzbart]

Shouldn't the Marat Deck of the typ Games/Cards instead of Misc as it is now?

[Legate of Mineta]

Schwarzbart;

 

That sounds correct to me- I'll point that out to the Team, thanks!

[CremePudding]

I do think a random button might be fun, given that this is not a CRPG where weird builds guarantee failure.

 

For Year 2 you might want to make an optional, hand-holding tutorial in game instead of videos.

 

And if you guys intend to make a trial version of Year 2 you might want to just make one yourself (i.e. Cut the game off after the second month) instead of Spatula (or Spork or whatever it is called)'s time-based trial.

[Legate of Mineta]

CP;

 

I don't think we plan to use Spoon this time, for the very reasons you mention. I'm not sure what we'll do about a demo, although I'm pretty sure we will do one.

 

Hand holding tutorial is a very good idea.

[Albert]

CP;

 

I don't think we plan to use Spoon this time, for the very reasons you mention. I'm not sure what we'll do about a demo, although I'm pretty sure we will do one.

 

Hand holding tutorial is a very good idea.

Arn't we supposed to be Mentors for the new students in year 2?

Maybe that could be used for the "Handholding tutorial" Your character instructs the new firstyears and new players get a tutorial... Though it might work since we got the summer and summer activities first.

 

There is a fireball option in Simulation testers needed.

 

I got the fire rune, least on my current playthrough, not sure where it's from though.

Maybe a fireball is merely a normal fireblast where you use your "imagination" to manipulate the spread of the spell. To me it sounds like a lot of spells are affected by the intentions of the caster. It would make sense if the spell gets weaker when spreadout over a large area, on the otherhand, this is magic not physics

Which would be one reason that concentration and mental accuity is imporant for a wizard, your thoghts regulates the end effects and if you can't handle it, bad things might happen.

[Schwarzbart]

Summer break is only for imported Year 1 Chars and not for new Year 2 chars.

New Year 2 chars start again with Juvenalia.

 

Legate, can you ask to add a low level fireball spell for incantation?

Maybe just as a duel only spell that do 1 or 2 point of damage?

In many adventures, like in Broken Pines 01 Exit 1, it says you cast a fireball but I dont know of any fireball spell at all learned from incantation.

Even worse incantation not even teach the fire pheme!

Alternative it would need you to replace all the fireball mentions in adventures with a electricity spell like Sudden Strike, a physical spell like Right Hand of Destruction or a Ice spell.

[Albert]

Also, it would be interesting to see more use of Arithmetics. I think it was mentioned it would be more useful on later years.

 

Also, that statue of P'i fixing adventure, the terribly unfortunate ruling. This made me think there should be an adventure which starts by having your character help defend another student in one of those student hearings if they did something terribly wrong that might get them thrown out of school, it doesn't have to be a class mate, maybe an older student. So you represent them as their legal representative and use your Debate skill to get them free and possibly whatever criminal or civil laws that might be applicable.

 

If you win that case you get a new adventure by one of the Regents or the Legate where the citizens of Mineta might have sued the Academagia for damage caused by a magical accident that may or may not be related to the Academagia or your current case.

 

(One of my students who studdied Law as a "weird hobby" just bought legal robes and all the other knicknack)

And you get a new title and visit card, "Legal councel of the Academagia". Maybe the normal representative Quit or got sick or had an accident(considering all the dangers in that school it isn't hard to imagine).

[Schwarzbart]

 

Legate, can you ask to add a low level fireball spell for incantation?

Maybe just as a duel only spell that do 1 or 2 point of damage?

In many adventures, like in Broken Pines 01 Exit 1, it says you cast a fireball but I dont know of any fireball spell at all learned from incantation.

Even worse incantation not even teach the fire pheme!

Alternative it would need you to replace all the fireball mentions in adventures with a electricity spell like Sudden Strike, a physical spell like Right Hand of Destruction or a Ice spell.

There is a fireball option in Simulation testers needed.

 

I got the fire rune, least on my current playthrough, not sure where it's from though.

Maybe a fireball is merely a normal fireblast where you use your "imagination" to manipulate the spread of the spell. To me it sounds like a lot of spells are affected by the intentions of the caster. It would make sense if the spell gets weaker when spreadout over a large area, on the otherhand, this is magic not physics

Which would be one reason that concentration and mental accuity is imporant for a wizard, your thoghts regulates the end effects and if you can't handle it, bad things might happen.

 

Fire rune must be a new spell from DLC 15 as it is not in the latest Modbase.

Unless your talking about the Fire Pheme what have many different ways to get but not via Incantation or one of the Incantation SS.

For Fire Spells there is one in Duel, a other in Gates and one in a Adventure but I dont know a single one learned in Incantation

[Albert]

I meant pheme, just a typo there.

[Legate of Mineta]

Schwarzbart;

 

Sure, I'll pass that along.

 

Albert;

 

Legal counsel of the Academagia- what a great title to aspire to.

[Schwarzbart]

Shouldn't Frontino 00 become a adventure started at a fixed day, maybe at a weekend in the last 4 months?

Then you can make a special Frontino Festival "Holiday" for each year.

There need to be a extra exit in 00 to just ignore this adventure and the changes you did for The Dance of the Fools 01 to make it autostarting.

 

Maybe also let the player say in Frontino 02 Exit 2 "But deal with it somewhere where we don’t have to dodge spells as we walk down the street and use a Duel Circle the next time!"

[Albert]

Duel cicle seems like a good idea for those two crazy people in Frontino... But, you know, they might actualy work out their differences.

 

At least it seemed like I managed to talk them into cooperating for the sake of the festival and "Big B" Seemed to have calmed down enough about who his daughter was dating to get on with the Festivities.

 

One thing... Frontino is part of Mineta? But there is no Bridge when comming from the Academagia?.... They really must dislike the Academagia kids.

 

So, if my student is Renaglian or whatever the name was, will his/her famility live in Mineta? Or outside it? Or will it depend on the Background?

 

Will they have a shack, farm or mansion/castle outside Mineta?

[Albert]

Also, that event where Flore causes a mess with the book next to where you are studying.

 

You get several options, one of the new ones I noticed yesterday was the Mastery one.

I did like it, it seemed like a fair "punishment" for the mess she created intentionaly, and what she tried to do.... However.. It won't hurt her in the long run will it?

[Schwarzbart]

 

Shouldn't Frontino 00 become a adventure started at a fixed day, maybe at a weekend in the last 4 months?

Then you can make a special Frontino Festival "Holiday" for each year.

There need to be a extra exit in 00 to just ignore this adventure and the changes you did for The Dance of the Fools 01 to make it autostarting.

 

Maybe also let the player say in Frontino 02 Exit 2 "But deal with it somewhere where we don’t have to dodge spells as we walk down the street and use a Duel Circle the next time!"

Duel cicle seems like a good idea for those two crazy people in Frontino... But, you know, they might actualy work out their differences.

 

At least it seemed like I managed to talk them into cooperating for the sake of the festival and "Big B" Seemed to have calmed down enough about who his daughter was dating to get on with the Festivities.

 

One thing... Frontino is part of Mineta? But there is no Bridge when comming from the Academagia?.... They really must dislike the Academagia kids.

 

So, if my student is Renaglian or whatever the name was, will his/her famility live in Mineta? Or outside it? Or will it depend on the Background?

 

Will they have a shack, farm or mansion/castle outside Mineta?

 

There is a Bridge but the player char didn't want to use it to avoid trouble.

[Albert]

Cante Chavils student Adventure, A Girthy problem or whatever it was doesn't seem to work the way it should.

 

I created the potion in the quest before and Iget the option to levitate the potion up to Cante, it works he drinks it and is restored and walks off hapily... But then the Adventure jumps back to the beginning and gives me the option of not helping him and walk of or get a professor for help. It seems liek the exit didn't exit properly or something.

 

If a fix for this could make it into the last DLC it would be great, thanks.