Ok, a few early notes because I've got to go now:
First, its great
. Both the skills system and the command UI are great additions to the game and feel fundamentally
just right. The dynamic objective capturing seems especially amazing thus far, it makes true the principle of maximum control with minimal effort like no other mechanic. I also love the new fighter behavior and the iron mode and many other things that I won't list here.
But I've got a few negative things/ suggestions as well. Some things are probably placeholders anyway, but I will just act as if anything is supposed to be final.
- The graphic representation of the skill menu is sub-par. And I'm not talking about aesthetics (the symbols are wonderful, good looking and comprehensible) but about the arrangement. The symbols have too little space between them, they blend into each other and make it hard to discern them. You have a lot of space there that you could use. Why not align the aptitude indicator with the associated skills?
- There is too much information (and choices) at the beginning of a new campaign. First you get a low-information, high consequence choice with your characters history. After that you get the reverse, a damn lot of information
(you basically have to read 19 skills description) and a half-as important choice. Makes no sense to me.
How about a suggestion system like in fallout 3? You can decide on your history and the game selects a meaningful combination of skills based on that. You can just go with that for an easy introduction. Or you can view in detail what apts/skills are selected and change all of them.
Alternatively limit the choice of skills at level 1, maybe just three per aptitude.
- Reaching a new level is much to subtle. I often don't notice. Level progression should be a reason to rejoice, so give me fanfares and light shows!
- Please add keyboard support for the tutorial text messages, its annoying to have to click them. Also, they are somewhat oddly placed in the upper left corner. I think good tutorial design is important because it's likely the first thing a new player will encounter and can thus decide if he will proceed with the game.