While the runes thing was interesting for a change, I ultimately don't like it too much. I played Arx Fatalis too, it had a number of innovations for its time.

How many Heal spells does a game need? Surely there is some other way of handling growing a Spells power in tandem with the players Level. Insofar as magic, another thing that's a little annoying about TES3 and TES4 is the number of spells in the game. Certianly giving NPC's more depth would involve a lot more programming and planning. It must be the same for the Dark Brotherhood. For example some of them respond to me as Gray Fox, so they must be flagged as part of the Thieves faction. TESIV goes someway toward giving ordinary NPC's more depth. I remember in Might n Magic V (iirc) they introduced colour-coded NPC's, so the player could easily tell which NPC was connected to something greater, apart from the ones that were just bland. Yeah i think you're right about the 2 types of RPG's.Д¬ookie-cutter type NPC's are quick n easy and provide a level of familiarity since we are accustomed to it. But the magic was really awesome, and I would like to see it again. *Maybe the name of the category isn't optimal, since, to be honest, story in Arx Fatalis was rather weak, and didn't seamed to me it was a top priority for the devs.ДЄll this said, since Dungeon Hack aspire to be in the first category, I don't think that it can benefit much from general design of Arx Fatalis. Story-driven* games with the small area packed with small number of deep and well developed characters (as in a novel).Д®xamples: PS - Torment, VTM - Bloodlines, The Witcher, Arx Fatalis. Simulators with a big open-ended worlds with hundreds of towns where you can have the feeling that you are freely walking in a real world, but with a lot generic content and thousands of bland, generic NPCs (as in a real world).Д®xamples: TES games, Might and Magic games, Krondor series.Дў.

This is also true for any other insanely detailed (story-driven) game (like PS - Torment or VTM - Bloodlines).Д«asically you have two types of RPGs - I am excluding hack and slash games (Diablo & friends), since I don't consider them to be RPGs:ДЎ. But, that had its price - their needed to confine their world to a small volume, so the illusion could work. It main strength is its atmosphere - it is incredible how the world felt lively compared to its competitors (Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights) back in 2002. It is one of my favourite games - maybe in top three RPGs I played. I also tried to convince people to at least consider it when thinking about the magic In fact, magic in Arx Fatalis was discussed here couple of times. Jman0war Posts: 37 Joined: Thu, 2:01 pm Location: Ireland It also has a very limited number of spells in the game, compared to TES games. This spellcasting system is much more immersive than a point and click approach. It's easy to fire off 3 spells, and then you'll see the player scrambling to try and queue up another one. You have to draw at least 3 rune symbols correctly, in order to have the spell available to cast. You can then learn spells by the sound they make. You can also hear that each rune symbol drawn produces a different sound. Pay attention to the top right corner, you can see the rune being drawn appearing onscreen briefly. You can plainly see some of the rune shapes the character is drawing, the letter 'N', or 'Z' or just a horizontal line, or a vertical line, or a zig-zag. You hold a key combination down, and this brings up your player's arm.ДЄs you keep these keys depressed, you move the mouse and click n hold the mouse button to draw each rune shape.ДЄs you draw, you'll see a bright trail in the air so you can see what you're doing. Spellcasting consists of 'drawing' 3 rune symbols in the air with your hand. If there were group mechanics, like in Baldur's Gate, Might n Magic, and Wizardry, it would be a different story.Д«TW if you're interested in re-inventing the wheel, have you looked at Arx Fatalis for it's spell casting?ДЇor the uninitiated, spell casting works like this. They always get in my way and attack things they shouldn't etc. Without any Group Mechanics programmed in, I find is best to avoid those sort of NPC hangers-on scenarios.

Arx fatalis rune locations