Loadaddict639

Greetings, all!
I'm liking Divinity: Original Sin. As of this writing, I'm not done with the main campaign. Far from it! I'm near the end of Cyseal at level 3.5ish. Because I love this game so much and want to see it be even better, I present you with this list of suggested improvements.
These are minor interface tweaks and bug fixes that would make Divinity: Original Sin and any games using this engine slightly - or significantly - better.
I purposely changed the labels of some things. For example, all words on buttons are capitalized. I use the term Exit Game on all buttons instead of Quit Game.
* *Main Menu and Submenus* *
-Please make the ESC key return to the previous menu. If there is unsaved data (like unsaved settings in the Options menu), notify the user there is unsaved data and prompt them to save or discard changes.
-At the top of the main menu, put the current profile in very a noticeable font. For example, make a gray button with white text (where clicking has no effect) with the current profile name. Right now, it's too small, even when bolded!
-At the bottom of the main menu, put the game's current version in very a noticeable font. For example, make a gray button with white text (where clicking has no effect) with the game's version. Right now, it's difficult to read against the sandy, ocean background.
-Please add keyboard shortcuts, with the hotkey highlighted in yellow:


* *Load Game* *
-Allow us to sort our saved games by any of these filters - date saved, party level, module name, alphabetically.
* *Options - Video/Audio/Controls/Game* *
-When mousing over something, give a tooltip as to what it does. What is 'Bloom?' What are 'God Rays?' What are 'Peace Highlights?'
* *Options - Credits and Kickstarter Backers* *
-Add a Back to Main Menu button to each screen.
* *Mods Screen* *
-Add a note on this screen above the mod list, 'Generally, only the topmost enabled mod will take effect in game. If you're using a newly-activated mod with an existing save, things may not work correctly. Please see each mod's description for details.'
-Add a toggle, 'Automatically enable all newly-added mods.' (When I installed my first mod, I thought I had it active, but then I played for many hours without realizing it was off!
-Explain what the Main dropdown menu and 'Main story' window do. Is this the default Divinity: Original Sin campaign?
-Add the buttons, 'Activate All Mods,' and 'Deactivate All Mods.'
* *New Game Menu* *
-Above the buttons for Single Player and Multiplayer, put this note, 'Saved games started in either mode (single or multiplayer) will work in both modes. In a multiplayer game, all saved games are on the host's computer (or, if applicable, the Steam cloud).'
(Then explain how clicking single player differs from multiplayer.)
* *Game Menu* *
-Change the background color of the usable buttons to the same red used on other buttons. Keep unusable buttons grayed out.
-Use the following hotkeys, with the hotkey's text highlighted in yellow:
Assign Characters
Save Game
Load Game
Options
Main Menu
Exit Game
* *Yes/No Dialog* *
-Make the 'Yes' button have a blue background, like 'Activate' on the Mods screen.
-Use the following hotkeys, with the hotkey's text highlighted in yellow:
No
Yes
* *New Game - Character Creation* *
-If I remap the Game Menu key and type that character in a name, the Game Menu window pops up. For example, if I remap the Game Menu key to 'O' and name my character Avadon, the game menu pops up slightly after I finish typing the 'n.' Fix this.
-Add a Back to Main Menu button to this screen and allow me to push ESC to quit back to the menu!
-Change the text on the 'Customize' buttons to have the same font and font size as the 'Accept' button. Right now, the 'Customize' buttons are slightly inconvenient to read due to their small size.
-Add a 'Random Class' button to each class. It chooses a random class from the presets, such as Knight or Witch.
-Add the ability to save and load customized presets in-game! I've made a variety of similar characters due to a bunch of restarts. It would have been a notable time saver if I could just change my preset to 'GEC Custom 1' and 'GEC Custom 2.' This preset applies to my character's apperance and stats.
-Add the ability to customize my character's starting equipment (armor and weapon) from the currently-available options. Give me a warning message if I lack the needed stats to equip/use an item. This way, if I want to start a character with a Fire staff but I want a Cleric's, I don't need to start as a Wizard and change everything else.
-If I've already customized a preset then click on an arrow to change which preset I use (like from Witch to Wizard), give me a warning dialog box telling me, 'You are about to change your character's preset and lose all your changes. Continue?'
-For the character's portrait, put a number under the picture (like '#3 of 16'). That way, I know how many clicks away I am from my favorites. In addition, put a 'Random Portrait' button near the portrait.
-For the character's voice type, skin color, and hair color, put a number at the front to tell me where I am. For example, [3] Honey Glow or [3] Wizard Voice or [7] Jet Black.
-For each appearance part (hair color, skin color, voice type, underwear, head type, hair type), add a Randomize button.
-When I mouse over the AI Personality box, please explain it! What does it do? Is it important? Is it toggleable in-game? How? Is this meant for newbies to the game? Experts?
-Mousing over the Toggle Undewear View button should display what the button is and does.
* *Character Creation - Preset 'Classes'* *
-Battlemage: Its STR and INT are too low to avoid penalties to its skills. Boost STR to 8 and INT to 7. Swap out the talent What a Rush for Know-It-All. Fixed.
-Cleric: Same problem as Battlemage. Start it with 8 STR and 7 INT. Change My Precious to Know-It-All. Get 8 INT. Done!
-Enchanter: Change the talent Escapist to Know-it-All. Better. Now it needs some sort of Charm ability to fit its class flavor text. What about adding a Hydrosophant ability (for all characters to learn) like Blood Control from Dragon Age: Origins? Someone else already modded it in.
-Fighter: -1 PER, +1 STR. Yay!
-Rogue: -1 PER, +1 DEX. Set.
-Shadowblade: Its starting DEX and INT are too low to avoid penalties on its default skills. Changing the default DEX to 8 and swapping one trait for Know-It-All (probably Guerilla) fixes this.
-Wayfarer: Suffers from too low of an INT. Needs 8 INT for its spells, has 7. -1 DEX, +1 INT. Deal.
* *Character Creation - Skills* *
-Hydrosophist and Pyrokinetic have only two pickable skills each at character creation. All other skill schools (Man-at-Arms, Witchcraft, etc.) have at least 3. Why?
-If I have the skill (such as Geomancer level 2), why can't I start the game with a level 2 skill of that school?
-On a related note, why are certain skills available from skill books (but only require 1 point in a skill school), but are unavailable to me at character creation?
* *Skill Targeting* *
-I'd like the ability to target a party member with a skill via keyboard. For example, if I want to cast Minor Heal on the first party member, I could select Minor Heal then push F1 to target him, assuming he would be a valid target in that context.
* *Inventory* *
-Add the Split Stack option to the right-click menu of the inventory - character inventory, container inventory, shop inventory and so on.
-Let's assume I'm clicking on an equippable item and holding down the mouse button. Allow me to change characters (such as with F1-F4) and directly equip this item on another character. For example, if I wanted to give a belt worn by Guy 1 to Guy 2 and directly equip said belt on Guy 2, I could click and hold the mouse button to unequip the belt from Guy 1, push F2 to switch to Guy 2, and equip it on Guy 2. (Currently, trying to do this does nothing.)
* *Character Sheet* *
-Let me change my character's portrait mid-game.
-I'd like the option to toggle character equipped slot backgrounds to the colors used in this mod, 'Small changes to the UI' by vito740.
-If I have a talent (like Know-it-All) that boosts my attribute, list that. For example, if I have 8 INT due to the Know-it-All talent, list that as 7 base INT + 1 <Talent Name>.
-What are my Offense Rating and Defense Ratings and why do they matter? What are the formulas? How do my Defense Rating and Armor Rating differ? If my Defense Rating is just a flat chance to avoid attacks, rename it, 'Evasion %' or somesuch.
-Blocking: Is this my chance to negate a hit? What sort of hit? Does it apply to area effects? Elemental effects? For example, if blocking only affects effects that specifically target me, tell me that: 'Blocking negates the listed percent of attacks that target you, be they physical, elemental, or otherwise. It does not affect area effects.'
-Action Points: Also include the AP formulas in the tooltip.
* *Skill Tooltips* *
-In general, tell me exactly what the current and next rank of a skill does. I've read a bunch of wikis on this game just to find out what Skill X does because the in-game tooltips aren't clear.
-If I have a bonus success chance or/and a lowered skill cooldown from a high stat, tell me on the tooltip! For example, Blitz Bolt has a 35% base chance to set the Stunned condition. If I have instead a 45% total chance to stun, tell me I have a 45% chance to inflict the Stunned condition (35% base + 10% from high INT).
-Likewise with my skill cooldowns. Summon Spider normally has a 6 turn cooldown, but with a high enough INT, that decreases. For example, if I have a 4 turn cooldown on this spell, tell me I have a 4 turn cooldown (6 base - 2 from high INT).
-Boost: What is this 'boost?' Does it apply to cooldowns? Damage? Success chance? Other?
-If a skill can inflict a status condition, fully define that status in the tooltip. For example, Malediction inflicts the Cursed status. One wiki visit later told me the Cursed status is a -30% to hit. (I list some examples below.)
-Resistances: If I have a 25 Poison Resistance, what does this mean? It would help to see a 25% Poison Resistance instead, if that's what the number truly means. I've also heard that a resist over 100% becomes healing, such as having 150% Fire Resistance making people invincible in lava. If this overresistance becomes healing, also list that in the tooltip!
{SPECIAL}
-Staff of Magus/Staff of the Tempest: In the tooltip, tell me if my Two-Handed skill affects this damage. If I can score a critical hit with this ability, tell me. (I'm used to Dragon Age where a staff will always hit but can't crit.) Finally, mention that using this skill doesn't decrease the staff's durability, unlike attacking with it normally.
{WEAPONS}
-Two-Handed: If this skill's bonus applies to staff shots (via Staff of the Magus and Staff of the Tempest), explicitly list it in this skills' description. Also, explicitly state that this skill does NOT affect spell damage.
{DEFENSE}
-Armor Specialist: Give me a rank-by-rank breakdown of how much defense and movement speed penalty reduction I'm getting. For example, if I have 0 ranks, show me in the tooltip that at rank 1, I'd have 5% more armor and a 20% movement speed penalty reduction. If I have 2 ranks, show me in the tooltip that I have 10% more armor and a 40% movement speed penalty reduction with the appropriate values for the next rank as a teaser.
-Bodybuilding and Willpower: These add a 10% chance per rank to prevent the listed effects. Tell me this.
{SKILLS}
-Each rank of these skills (Man-at-Arms, Expert Marksman, the spell schools) lets a character learn and use skills/spells of that rank or lower, and know a maximum number of skills/spells from that school. For example, having 2 ranks in Pyrokinetic allows a character to learn and use level 1 to 2 Pyrokinetic skills and know a maximum of 5 Pyrokinetic skills.
-Headvice (Aerotheurge): What's the Blinded status do?
-Slow Current (Aerotheurge): What's the Slowed status do?
-Teleporation (Aerotheurge): A better description is, 'Warps a target creature or object anywhere within range, causing X-Y crushing damage. You must have line of sight to both the subject of this spell and the destination.'
-Fortify (Geomancer): How much armor does the subject of this spell get? If the wikis are correct, a better description is, 'Grant the subject +65 armor rating. This bonus does not stack with itself.'
-Midnight Oil (Geomancer): The spell creates an oil surface, but what does that mean? Can people slip on it? Be knocked down? Be slowed? A better description is, 'Create a flammable oil surface. Any creature standing on or moving through this oil slick may be Slowed.'
-Minor Heal (Hydrosophist): Change the description to, 'Restores X Vitality at the start of the subject's turn for 3 turns.'
-Bloodletting (Witchcraft): What does the Bleeding status do? If it's damage, how much damage, and for how many rounds?
-Oath of Desecration (Witchcraft): Does this damage boost apply to spells? Weapons? All? For example, if it applies to spell and weapon damage, change the description to, 'Increases an ally's weapon damage and spell damage by 50%. This bonus does not stack with itself.'
-Unlock Magic (Witchcraft): If I can't turn this into a skillbook via crafting, tell me in the tooltip.
{PERSONALITY}
-Bartering: What's the formula? Also mention that, point-for-point, Bartering gives a better discount than Charisma, though their effects stack.
-Charisma: Again, show me the forumla. Tell me that certain quests and quest rewards require a certain Charisma to obtain - dependent upon the quest.
-Leadership: The tooltip should tell me the specific bonus by rank. For example, Leadership rank 1 grants 5 initiative and a 10% damage bonus. See my Armor Specialist writeup for how to format this. In addition, list in the Leadership tooltip that rank 4 and above give a 10% bonus to armor rating.
-Lucky Charm: What's the formula? How often is Lucky Charm likely to trigger on a container at each rank?
{CRAFTING}
-Blacksmithing: Let people know that Blacksmithing rank 5 permits repairing gear without losing durability. Lower ranks reduce maximun durability. Beyond that, include whatever info is prudent regarding what people can create with this skill.
-Crafting: Tell people that this is generally a more handy skill for creating items than Blacksmithing. Include whatever info is prudent regarding what people can create with this skill.
-Loremaster: What's the formula?
-Telekinesis: What's the formula?
{NASTY DEEDS}
-Lockpicking: What's the formula?
-Pickpocketing: Notify people that, unlike many skills, a character needs at least one rank of Pickpocketing to use this skill at all. Also, if I mouse over someone I'm not skilled enough to pickpocket, I'd like to know how skilled I need to be to succeed.
-Sneaking: Tell people how NPC field of vision works, and how they benefit from a higher Sneaking skill. Again, what's the formula?
* *Boosting Items* *
-Before I try to apply a boost to an item, if doing so would replace some of the currently-active effects with others (like boosts on a boosted item would be replaced), give me a dialog box showing me the before and after with the ability to say No or Yes.
-If trying to boost an item would have no effect (like trying to sharpen an already-sharpened axe on a whetstone), give me a text pop-up that says doing so would have no effect and prevent me from doing it.
* *Item Modifiers* *
All the following just make logical sense to me. I fail to see the point of wielding a dagger that gives me a bonus to my Two-Handed skill.
-Allow bonuses to the Bow skill to occur only on bow-category weapons.
-Allow bonuses to the Crossbow skill to occur only on crossbow-category weapons.
-Allow bonuses to the Two-Handed skill to appear only on two-handed-category weapons.
-Allow bonuses to the Single-Handed skill to appear only on shields or single-handed-category weapons.
* *Action Point Display* *
-I like how vito740 in his 'Small changes to the UI mod' (here), puts a smaller divider on the action point bar every 2 AP. It makes things easier to calculate. I also like how it has the + on some AP icons to indicate how much AP I have left from previous turns.
* *Character Movement Speed* *
-Various mods exist to boost out of combat player character move speed. May we get PC move speed increased by about 33%, like how Source Difficulty does it?
* *HD Textures* *
-Vito740 made some spiffy HD texture replacements here. Whatchya think of including these, if only as an option?
* *Item Highlighting* *
-May we get the ability to toggle item highlights with ALT (default key), like how this mod does it?
* *Status Effect Names* *
-Willpower Loss: Currently, this status effect also equally applies to Bodybuilding. A better name for this is Bodybuilding and Willpower Loss.
* *Game Font* *
-The current game font works. Someone, however, made a mod to change the default font to Trebuchet MS which feels cleaner. What do y'all think of adding an in-game option to change the game's font?
* *Companions* *
-I like how Source Difficulty changes the companions' default skill arrangements. Madora has 3 ranks in Man-at-Arms. Jahan has 2 ranks each in Aerotheurge and Hydrosophist. Remaining skill points and talents are unassigned. May we get this included in the unmodded game?
* *Craft Recipies* *
-I heard of item recipes not fully implemented the game, or otherwise not available except via mods. (I'm not sure which ones these are.) May we get these avaiable to us in-game? The Fixed and Missing Recipes Mod explains more.