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Hawkey
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If you have read any Harry Potter books, I am sure people will reckognise it;

 

Could we have a spell added that makes the day begin anew? Like when you use it on sunday evening the game will progress as if it is sunday morning again. Without loosing the skills gained/things done.

 

Off course there are great drawbacks;

* Huge amount of Stress

* Very difficult to use, (at least 3 classes at level 10/maxed out?)

* Only twice a week/ once a week?

* With every use your maximum vitality is lowered by 1 for a week

 

 

Inspiration:

I got the inspiration from one of the HP books. In there Hermione is allowed to use an item/spell (can't remember) that reverses time for a day. She uses this to be able to follow 2x the many courses each day, thus allowing her to study even more. This was granted to her because of her brilliance and the urge to learn even more but not having enough time.

 

Thought it might be cool to implament something like that. :)

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New column Scholar Report (or some similar)

 

I'd like a new column along with the Context, and Relation column

 

Group together all the skills, subskills, research topics into one , sort by the skill group, and list their level.

 

Example:

Name------------------------Skill--------------Level

Negation Methods----------Negation---------0

Negation Methods---------- ---------0

 

War--------------------------War---------------1

Command-------------------War---------------2

War-------------------------- ----------0

 

This is so we can sort skill according to name, skill group, or level, same way as we sort relationship to name, college, or level.

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I'm a new player (just got the game yesterday), but I've been playing quite a bit. I really love the game, but I have some suggestions (maybe for future games, or if this one is updated at some point). I made up a list of suggestions as I was playing, and I think I've seen some of these on the boards already. Sorry for any repeats, in that case.

 

Exams: I can't figure out how to know what exams are scheduled for a particular time; perhaps allow them to be clickable, so you know which exam to prepare for? The same goes for classes, although that isn't nearly as important; I'd just like to know quickly (without having to check previous days histories) what classes I'm going to be skipping if I do something else in that time slot.

 

Locations: Having locations listed in the lore section is fine and dandy, but what would really be helpful is to have their abilities show up when you're selecting locations for particular activities. (not necessarily the whole description- just, for example, +1 Innuendo, etc.)

 

Phemes: Same goes for phemes, as locations; having them off to the side is fine - but when actually adding them to a spell, you have to close out the entire box to go and check which ones do what. Some way to see what the phemes do when you're trying to add them would be very helpful.

 

Random Events: These are fun, but my only problem is that sometimes - especially when I first started playing - I had no idea where to find the skill that was added. For example, say I chose an acrobatic path, so that skill was added. I had no idea what category the acrobatic skill was under, so I had to go through each individual one and find it. It's ok to do that once or twice, but then you also have to memorize which one it falls under, and doing a lot of searching, even after having located it. Many of the skills are self explanatory (such as theory of enchantment under enchantment), but others could fit more places (like memorization, patience, artisan, etc. etc.). So what I would really love is this: after a random event (on the last page of it, after you've made your choices) say what was improved. (for example: Rimbal - Endurance +1). In the history section would be ok, but having it right there would be nicer.

 

Detentions: This is like my suggestion with exams and classes...honestly, I've gotten my character a lot of detentions. Enough so that it can be hard to remember how I got them - I'll peek ahead and see more detentions and wonder "where on earth did those come from?" So my suggestions here is to make it possible to see exactly what each detention is for. (skipping classes, etc.)

 

Schedule: It can get a bit monotonous having to click through each individual day and set it up. If I'm doing different things every day, it's fine - but when I'm just cramming for exams, or trying to work on a particular skill, I'd like to be able to use another day's schedule.

 

That's all I've got for now; might think of some more later. Great game ;)

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Aletea;

 

The Exam suggestion is something we plan to answer- I like the Class suggestion too (only, don't Skip too much, or else...Detention!)

 

A Location Roll-Over (actually, a new kind of a selection menu) is something we are looking at doing as well.

 

The same is true of Phemes- in Patch 3 (due this weekend), there will be a roll-over for Phemes.

 

We are also planning this exact request on Feedback, so you can see the Parent Skill as well.

 

In your daily Feedback, it will tell you what the Detention is for- looking ahead will show you all the planned Detentions, but don't worry- they don't last the full year. They last until you test out of them, which will occur eventually. You can hasten this process by Training the Skills that the Instructor who gave you the Detention likes- but it's not at all clear right now. This is something we hope to get into Patch 3 as well.

 

There is a new save/copy feature for Action planning that we are working on. I can't say that this will be out in Patch 3, but if not then, then Patch 4.

 

Thanks, and please keep the suggestions coming. ;)

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I went to a shop recently that had the 'small quartz' item, which I also had in my inventory but not identified.

 

Reading the info at the shop, I had full knowledge of the thing, but the item in my inventory remained unidentified.

 

I think if you see an object in a store that's identified, the identification of the object should stick with you and travel over to the item in your possession.

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I think saves should be sorted by date with the newest one at the top. Otherwise all kind of problems appear.

Also the load game menu at the start of the game does not show dates (even though the one in game does) so there is no way to tell what is your most recent game from there.

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Also I'd like a prevention button when deleting a safe game.

 

Just this morning I accidentally deleted a safe game with at least 5 hours of playing on it as I pressed X instead of V. Perhaps the X button should call up a screen and ask if you really want to delete it.

 

Just a thought.

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Could you please change the Buttons or change the Mouse to a sandclock as soon the Buton is clicked?

The reson is that one can see that he realy have hit the button and the computer just takes its time to processing.

The real Problem right now is that if you click again its counts already as a click at this position for the next screen!

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shin;

 

I agree. If you purchase an Item at a Shop, you should have Information on it.

 

Fhoenix;

 

We plan to institute sorting by date. The load screen is a good suggestion, though.

 

Vegejor;

 

I think we can create a Confirmation Window there.

 

Schwarzbart;

 

An 'on-click' graphic? We'll see what we can implement. Previously, another Academagian asked for sound there.

 

Laclongguan;

 

Soon, you will be able to see this in game, under the Class Skill.

 

Thanks, and keep them coming. :)

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Tiavals;

 

I am glad you raised this, actually: originally, Studying did not give you any bonuses at all, and the Attributes may be too much to encourage Studying. While Studying is or can be Stressful, simply adding Stress would only delay players rushing to the Attribute. I like the suggestion of limiting it to once a month- I will think what can be done.

 

For the time being, we will review the Attribute increases in Content Patch 1.

Regarding the Studying. A possible alternate route to encourage it than permanent attribute bonus could perhaps be making it somewhat logically affect the class performance? I mean, if you have the theoretical base which comes from the Studying, then you're more likely to 'get' what exactly it is that you're "training" during the class and get the most out of it -- so in practice having the Study level higher than the level of actual, master skill could increase slightly the chance of the class session being successful (just a simple 'more than' check rather than effect scaling up with level difference, so people don't feel forced to study too much ahead) And even vice versa, if the Study level was neglected to the point it falls behind the level of the associated skill, the 'training' in the classes could become slightly harder to pass since you're more likely to just sit there all "huh?" and lacking the clue why you're doing what you're supposed to be doing...

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jc315;

 

It's a good thought, and it follows in the context of the game, but the trouble here is that this would serve to further the need to Study first, above all else.

 

I believe that Study Perks need to be overall less desirable so that it's (mostly) relevant to the intent of getting good grades, rather than as a means to an Attribute.

 

I don't think we will change this in Content Patch 1- probably CP2.

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jc315;

 

It's a good thought, and it follows in the context of the game, but the trouble here is that this would serve to further the need to Study first, above all else.

Hmm i was thinking it'd reduce the focus on Studying actually -- since you'd effectively need just one study session per subject per gain of 'main level' of the subject which seems to take between 2-4 game weeks if things are left to run its own course, and even neglecting that study wouldn't be that much of a deal. So that'd be more evenly spread over time activity than a stacked rush to get the attribute bonus and such. But granted, i could've just gotten wrong impression how much studying people do in their games :)

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jc315;

 

Bookworm Students rush to Study, but an extra Attribute Point is also a very good thing if you are skill focused.

 

We've toyed with the idea of linking Study Max to certain dates, or milestones in the Class Skill, but I think overall we probably won't touch this system until Year 2, when there is some mingling with Research.

 

Thanks!

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When I 'do' something in this game, usually I do a bunch of it. When I study, I usually study 20-60 times in a row, unless something very tantalyzing distracts me. Same with skills, I usually take one after another to whatever point the step jumps get harder, then move to the next. When I adventure, I do one after another steps of the same one... in any case, it's not uncommon for me to have my studying done by the end of the second month unless I'm exploring another part of the game specifically.

 

 

One way to inspire me to 'slow down' my study (if that was a desired goal? for whatever reason) would be to make certain times more or less advantageous to study one thing or another, or nothing at all.

 

Study groups are popular and sometimes more effective than solo study (not for every student, but still it's true for some).

 

If there were occasional group studies (like study hall, but voluntary? Maybe joining the involuntary study hall, and studying with the punished?) that offered some advantage to studying, especially in combination with a delay (increased step penalty, most likely) or other drawback to studying at other times and in other ways, then I would be very likely to pace my studying to adapt to the new rules.

 

That said, I'd also be inclined to just take prodigy:curiousity for the work til you drop RR study+chosen subskill step, which is how I handle most of my studying about half the time anyway. Unless that was tweaked too, of course.

 

Right now, the order and efficiency you do things (or the consistancy with which you roleplay your character) is kinda the core of the game for most players, I think. Discovery is the early core, of course, but once you start to understand how to play a bit and figure out how things are working together, that probably ceases to be a real goal. Even when a later-stage player is looking for a specific set of discoveries, I'd bet their focus is on speed and which technique might find it the most efficiently, or else on how to look for it like their character would. That's kinda 'what this game is and allows' for now, least to me.

 

Thus, study doesn't really seem much more or less 'needing adjustment' than anything else, really. Each playstyle is going to follow its priorities, but study doesn't seem inbalanced or broken to me.

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Schwarzbart;

 

An 'on-click' graphic? We'll see what we can implement. Previously, another Academagian asked for sound there.

 

On-click graphic or sound, or a "wait" cursor. Since there are no other interface sounds, graphic would probably be best. But I strongly agree that it needs some form of feedback.

 

(The Validate Orders button has an on-click status change, which is helpful, but the confirmation button in the sidebar which actually launches the actions for the day doesn't.)

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One thing I've been sort of thinking about is the Rimball system. I didn't see much about it when I played a female character, but when I played a male character, all of a sudden I was on a Rimball team, and kept having Rimball random events pop up.

 

This is interesting and all, except I really think something like participation in organized sports should be a bit more structured, and a bit more open to player choice. Not everyone would imagine their character playing on a team, and characters who don't take Athletics, and have poor Strength and Fitness, don't make obvious choices for the team.

 

First off, are Rimball teams created by student choice, or are the house-associated? Does every year have its own Rimball team, or group of teams? Basically, how is the game supposed to work in the lore? Is there any gender connection, or was that just random luck?

 

If it's ad-hoc teams that play of their own volition, then I think a simple modification of the Clique mechanics could work to form Rimball teams. These ad-hoc teams would train and practice together, maybe as a scheduled event or something. Depending on the players on the team, their skills, and their abilities, you could have a set of Team Skills/Attributes, and then another score, like Study, representing how much the team practices together. Maybe certain more athletically or competitively minded characters could bring special Rimball-specific bonuses or negatives to the team. Finally, the players should have the option of joining a team, or trying to start one on his/her own.

 

The next part gets more difficult, though. I think it would be really cool to have a system wherein the different existent Rimball teams challenge each other to matches, and then use a variant of the Dueling system to resolve the match. I guess you could have a series of plays or whatnot to choose from that would shift the momentum of the game in one direction or another, and this, modified with the Team Attributes and Practice Level, might give each team a greater or lesser chance of scoring in that round. Maybe have 4 or 8 rounds to play.

 

Finally, you could tweak all those Rimball-match random events to only take place if you're involved on a Rimball team, and then adjust the results accordingly so that they have team effects as well as individual effects.

 

Thinking about it, similar modifications of the Dueling mechanic might be cool for other contests, like crafting contests, debate contests, insult contests, etc. Then you could add the chance of starting a contest to several random events, making particularly aggressive event choices lead to real consequences.

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EN I;

 

That was random luck. There are Rimbal teams as sketched out in the Design Document (and a nearly-playable version of Rimbal already exists in the code), but we pulled that system about a year ago. I'm not sure if it will make its return in DLC, or in Year 2- but definitely, it will return.

 

Another Academagian has suggested contests, but a real implementation of them won't come until Year 2. That said: Insult Contests? Fantastic. ;)

 

Thanks!

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Some of these are more suggestions for years two+, but tossing all of them out at once is good for me...

 

I already said a Jackal familiar, but I think we also need a few others animals! What came in mind to me was a Fox- because stealing from all sorts of mythologies is fun and a fox would be great fun to write familiar adventures for. ;) I know that there are Owl and a Hawk familiars... how about a Raven and a Crow? In my thoughts, Owl would be about the finding of knowledge, Raven about the finding of secrets, and Crow about the finding of items (Hawk's about being awesome! ...I read too much Animorphs as a kid). Wolf comes to mind, too, but Wolf might be getting a bit big/dangerous for a familar. Er, if any of those are already familiars in the game and I simply haven't gotten one of them yet, I apologize.

 

(I agree with whoever suggested it that having 'Familiar: commons' and Familiar: Exotic' available as one point choices would be great, and then having 'Familiar: specific exotic thing' as an option for two points would be cool.)

 

Something 'more' to the familiars would be appreciated, as well. As is, there's two cute stories involving them, and... that seems to be it. It's hard to figure out what exact advantage they give to you: the 'you get half of what they have' doesn't seem very clear, and the whole Bonds system just confused me... the words were pretty, but I wasn't sure how they connected to what I should or should not have been doing. Right now, they seem to be too much work for too little payoff: having to basically train them the same amount you train yourself, plus an extra 30 trainings, mean that ignoring them and casting spells to raise your abilities instead isn't just a good choice- it makes training the familiar an actively bad one.

 

(Similarly, it's noted that your clique having high skills might help you in adventures, but I can't figure out how that one works, either. It would also be nice if, after sacrificing a party member to overcome a trial, you were clued on what exactly happened. That screen being skipped is very confusing for continuing on with that adventure, and surely you'd see what happened if someone was sacrificed.)

 

In the Family options, how about an option to have a sibling (or close cousin) who attends (or likely will attend) the Academagia? That could mean, for an older sibling, in early levels having something of a Bully defense ('If you keep picking on me, I'm going to go tell my older brother and he will magic your teeth out! :(') and maybe someone who might help with tutoring or the like, but in return occasionally having useless stuff dumped on you or being expected to cover for when your sibling sneaks off campus or the like. Having a younger sibling might just mean you get a few letters the first year, but in latter years have a kid sibling following you around, whining at you to tutor them, or to get someone to stop tying their shoes together, or to help them find this professor's class and and and they didn't finish this project and and you need to help them figure out how to tell the processor that they didn't finish that project pleaseeeeee and such, and they want a cool magic item oh can they borrow that c'mon just for a week pleaseee~... but then you'll have someone to dump some chores on, or to lie for you to get you out of trouble, or to get some more favor with your parents from. Hm, maybe the idea was more amusing in my head then it is on paper.

 

I hope to cause no controversy in asking this: but could you please consider in say, second year, slipping in two new characters who allow flirting and other romantic actions with characters of the same sex? Or, if that is not possible, at least not having it so hard-coded that a modder can't do that if he or she wishes? I thank you for considering it.

 

I found myself mastering my classes pretty early in the year. Once one's gotten to 10 Study and 11 Ability (with some Subabilties ranging even higher), I find myself uncertain of what to do. Being able to get started on studies that will be useful for year II, or being able to switch to an elective or another class totally would be nice: I find in school, often they'll at least start giving the student harder material.

 

When one's doing part time work somewhere, it would be nice if only for that the Discovery Chance would be ignored. I mean, someone could still go 'Academagia student here! :E' and run off the professors, but I would think the person in charge of the building would be like '...yeah, they're here because I *hired* them. Don't run off with my part-timer!'

 

On the Discovery Chance, one thing this school is lacking is huge assemblies. One when you first start the game (or a few days later, to avoid overwhelming with the note, Oan, and it) that explains the discovery chance and what exactly is happening would be great: 'The Academagia is surrounded by blah blah blah, it is frowned upon by students to...'. Commenting that Teachers don't appreciate it when students are in their classrooms without supervision, that wandering the paths is discouraged for first year students due to dangers, etc etc would help a lot with the "Okay, why did I just get yelled at for trespassing when practicing in the school's ballroom or hanging out on the Rimbal fields' benches?"

 

It would be nice if there were a few more things to do with your cliquemates and other friends. As it is, once you get them to 10, you basically ignore them from then on save for when you need to get them to gossip their relationships up. Choosing a hangout spot for your clique ('this is *our* tree/bench/table/cucible') would be fun, and seems pretty common. Just being able to hangout with them, as I've said before, would be nice- particularly if it helps improve relationships within the clique, as well. And a Best Friend mechanic really needs to exist! :D (And, for young sorceresses, matching socks or necklaces or something, because that is totally the coolest thing ever from ages 8 to 13 or so). Complete with dramatic blowups if you choose to lose ignore your best friend for a while, or if horrors of horrors, you choose a new best friend. Despite all the random events, I kept finding things surprisingly drama free: bullies made a few girls cry, occasionally, but there was a surprising lack of drama for that age. Of course, it just gets worse as you get older...

 

...There are lots of pirates. I must ask, is there anywhere lore appropriate for there to be ninjas? It seems very sad for there to be pirates without their ever known (on the internet, anyway!) arch-enemy.

 

I think I'm just babbling now. As ever, still enjoying the game very much. :)

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Me think the devs just toss all those things out as to make additional contents in later years easier. After all, you cant say "why all of a sudden those filthy pirates appear in my town?". But I must ask for a limitation put on pirate random encounters. please limit them to the town, the wilderness area, and let them not appear in the school area's encounter. I mean, I do everything in school area and I encounter pirates? that's unlikely.

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Mikka;

 

Thanks for the great suggestions!

 

We would love for there to be more Familiars, and definitely we'll be looking at that in Year 2.

 

Also in Year 2 I think you will see a great deal more of Familiar interaction, in the vein of 'Wizard's Helper.' I don't think we'll be able to expand on that too much more in Year 1, however.

 

I love the idea of having younger Siblings come and follow in your footsteps. The answer to this one is a resounding 'yes'. I am not sure if it will make it into Year 2, but we'll try.

 

Romance options won't begin in earnest until Year 4, and will be moddable.

 

In regards to Study, we are going to use a new system for this in Year 2, which I think will answer the concern here nicely.

 

That's an excellent point about Jobs, thank you. ;)

 

I think we can add a bit more to Oan's instructions on Chance of Discovery, definitely.

 

Best Friends are a definite 'in' in Year 2.

 

There are ninjas in Elumia, just not this far west. But who knows? Sounds like an Adventure. :D

 

Thanks!

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