To makers of game, my five cents and suggestions...

[petri]

I often see the argument that there's no reason why this and that feature couldn't be added as an opinion for those players that enjoy that feature. What is often forgotten is that games are works of art by game developers who have certain preferences and want the players to experience the world and story the developers have in mind. This is not unsimilar to how books and movies work -- in Return of the Jedi you can't choose whether Darth Vader or Luke dies at the end. Vader dies because it's part of the story Lucas had in mind. Sure with games it is technically possible (but not always feasible) to leave these kind of decisions to the audience, but if you take away the power of the story teller to make decisions what is left for them?

[Isaac]

...but if you take away the power of the story teller to make decisions what is left for them?

A reactive sandbox, and the PR tagline... Do whatever you want; be whoever you want!

[petri]

Yeah if you go to the extreme. Sandbox games are in a way ultimate games where you can build your own experiences. Thankfully there is still room for other kinds of games. btw. why the ':(' ?

[Isaac]

Yeah if you go to the extreme. Sandbox games are in a way ultimate games where you can build your own experiences. Thankfully there is still room for other kinds of games. btw. why the ':(' ?

Because it sometimes it can seem like a design crutch... No need to bother with a good story if the player is expected to amuse themselves with the sand; or worse... if they expect the player to resent having any story imposed on them. It seems like one can just get away with making the sandbox as an end in and of itself; which isn't bad if that's how it's marketed.

[1varangian]

Sandbox waters down the storytelling for sure.

The best thing for devs to do is create a solid core game system (classes/stats/abilities/magic) and a powerful toolset for players to build their own modules with.

Grimrock has a very solid foundation for a combat system with its 4 stats and accuracy/damage vs. evasion/armor. But the abilities and especially the magic system could be made deeper. Combat effects like Stun should come from abilities instead of equipment and generally the points put in skills should unlock more new things to do instead of just numerical advancement.

As for magic, the 9 runes or domains are a foundation for a great system. It just feels like the life/death/spirit/physical axis are really the major ones instead of the elements. I can see why the elemental spells are the majority in a game like Grimrock but even the elements are poorly balanced with eachother. Maybe there just needs to be a lot more spells and probably some way to also focus on the life/death/spirit/physical axis to create a cleric/necromancer/illusionist/forcemage kind of caster.

[trancelistic]

I've enjoyed reading it all.
I still think LoG 1 and 2 is very awesome. Sure it has its up and downs in a players mind. It always will be for each person.

I for 1 missed only 1 element that is kinda RPG like. That a party is allowed to go to places ( e.g a boss room) But then it is for example impossible to beat them unless you got some short of secret weapon or armor set. Things like that makes it more worth to explore arround and get a rewarding feeling finding it before entering certain area's.
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 Take for instance Dungeon master. You could go to the end boss without the Zokathra staff, no idea what to do in the begin

All in all. A.H did an amazing job.

If I have to give my 2 cents about LoG2, it would be: The ending castle was quite small and rather easy, while the roof top and fight was simple amazing
The castle itself looked so amazing and I did expected alot of this, knowing the big dungeon or the pyramid ( somewhere) was facinating and scarey to explore, yet the castle was quite.. well. meh:P

I also expected more dungeons in the open world but yeah, thats a players mind.

[Azel]

My suggestion: The next Grimrock Game needs to be in Virtual Reality

[Xeuster]

Hello all: I've recently bought the game and have played about an hour so far. This tread's original premise, to make "improvements" as the OP suggested, worries me. The idea that a new version would be "better" with more monsters to kill, well that would have me looking for another game to play. The fact that this is not yet another "twich" game, full of endless baddies to dispose of - is WHY I bought the game. And how refreshing that is, to have a slower more deliberate, thinking experience.

So please don't make it like all the others. Aren't there enough games like that already?

THe only thing that I personally might enjoy in a sequel, is co-op play, where perhaps one person controls two Heroes and a buddy controls the other two, perhaps even allowing separate tile occupation and independent movement? But it's best to be careful about ruining what has made this game so good and unique, with good intentions.

The is the first game in years I've enjoyed. Borderlands one was decent, but they ruined it completely but non stop hordes of things to constantly have to kill and re-kill. Few companies have catered to different preferences - thanks, Almost Human.

[Isaac]

Welcome to the forum Xeuster!

The fact that this is not yet another "twich" game, full of endless baddies to dispose of - is WHY I bought the game. And how refreshing that is, to have a slower more deliberate, thinking experience.

This is why I like the games as well.

Did you play LoG1 before (or yet)?
LoG2 is a fantastic sequel, and far superior from a modding perspective, but I still seem to favor LoG1. If you get a chance, the first game is worth playing ~for reasons you've mentioned...but also for user created maps. LoG1 has more published maps for it; including the 'One Room Round Robin' 1 & 2 maps; which I think you'd like.

SpoilerShow

Steam:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =127828110
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =241880858

Nexusmods:
http://www.nexusmods.com/grimrock/mods/193/?
http://www.nexusmods.com/grimrock/mods/368/?

[Halluinoid]

but I still seem to favor LoG1

yeah CUBES! awesome LOG1 monsters we still have Cube keys in LOG2 but not the actual CUBES