Sorry, but isn't it a bit... weird? You can become a Complete Jerk of Utter Destruction in-game and the world will still threat you in a neutral way? Isn't it a step back in terms of, for lack of a better word, realism in games if there's no way of tracking your karma?
I also wanted to mention Witcher and it's delayed, branching consequences but you already mentioned Witcher and sex in the same sentence so it's cool.
@hismastersvoice: I definitely don't think it's a step back, or negative in ANY way, least of all realism.
1) this is a world with technology around medieval levels. News travels, at fastest, via messenger pigeons, or more often by dudes on horses. Barring magic in the game world, the odds of anything about you being known more than a mile from where you did it are close to zero, realistically. Even with magic, unless we're shown signs of an advanced magical media/communications network, it'd still be stupid for news of minor events to travel at all (ex: a farmer whose house/family you save will have less than 100 acquaintances, all in his town within a mile of him, and few will even really CARE about the story; it'll realistically spread almost nowhere in a human lifetime). World changing events, maybe a bit more, but anyway...
2) I've worked as a cashier before, and NEVER felt an "aura of evil" off of anyone, regardless of whether or not they tried to/did shoplift, try to buy tons of allergy meds to make meth with, or whatever. People who seemed shady most often seemed that way due to reminding me of people who WERE shady, not due to doing anything/having done anything.
@hismastersvoice: I don't think the real world follows karma, or has good and evil. This is all based on what religion you believe in though, but you can't make a game that appeases them all. It's already blasphemous and unrealistic already to some, because there are dragons and magic and stuff. Even if there really is karma, it usually affects the afterlife and what you are reincarnated into. (cough, depends on what religion) The newgame+ could turn you into a cockroach for being a meanie.
@Bloatus: You're not playing a random dude in those games. You're playing the big guy in shiny armor. That kind of persona tends to stick out in the muck and dirt of your normal medieval setting and, as a consequence, tends to attract a certain aura. By the end of the story, you're usually the saviour of the nation or whatever there was to save. It's not like you're keeping incognito about those things, right?
And, while it might be okay that a little brush with some remote farmland people won't affect your reputation, because there wont be anyone to tell about it to the whole wide world, doing something like that in a city, even a medieval one, should affect how people treat you. Rumor spreads faster than wildfire in relatively small communities. And there's always someone watching.
I'm waiting till someone comes up with a location based system where you have a more or less clean slate whenever you approach a new location (unless of course you burned the previous one to the ground or saved it from the dragon, since that kind of stories tend to carry around), with your reputation arriving in delay, as people tie your name to stories from merchants or travelers. That would not only be cool but also somewhat realistic (as far as games can or should be realistic)
From what I've read about the game (and without going into spoiler territory), the morality choices in Divinity II have even less of an impact than in BioShock, so I wouldn't get too excited about big moral choices that shape your adventure in any significant way.
@Antiterra: I think that's the whole point though. Most games with morality choices have a linear story with set forks in the road where you can pick one of several options and get locked into another linear path until you come to another fork which leads to another linear path.
The way the morality decisions are described for this game it sounds as if there are no specific forks so no single decision dramatically changes the gameplay but several dozen decisions build up and alter the world in certain ways over time. I could be wrong but that's what it sounded like.
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
I also wanted to mention Witcher and it's delayed, branching consequences but you already mentioned Witcher and sex in the same sentence so it's cool.
10/14/09
1) this is a world with technology around medieval levels. News travels, at fastest, via messenger pigeons, or more often by dudes on horses. Barring magic in the game world, the odds of anything about you being known more than a mile from where you did it are close to zero, realistically. Even with magic, unless we're shown signs of an advanced magical media/communications network, it'd still be stupid for news of minor events to travel at all (ex: a farmer whose house/family you save will have less than 100 acquaintances, all in his town within a mile of him, and few will even really CARE about the story; it'll realistically spread almost nowhere in a human lifetime). World changing events, maybe a bit more, but anyway...
2) I've worked as a cashier before, and NEVER felt an "aura of evil" off of anyone, regardless of whether or not they tried to/did shoplift, try to buy tons of allergy meds to make meth with, or whatever. People who seemed shady most often seemed that way due to reminding me of people who WERE shady, not due to doing anything/having done anything.
10/14/09
10/14/09
And, while it might be okay that a little brush with some remote farmland people won't affect your reputation, because there wont be anyone to tell about it to the whole wide world, doing something like that in a city, even a medieval one, should affect how people treat you. Rumor spreads faster than wildfire in relatively small communities. And there's always someone watching.
I'm waiting till someone comes up with a location based system where you have a more or less clean slate whenever you approach a new location (unless of course you burned the previous one to the ground or saved it from the dragon, since that kind of stories tend to carry around), with your reputation arriving in delay, as people tie your name to stories from merchants or travelers. That would not only be cool but also somewhat realistic (as far as games can or should be realistic)
10/14/09
10/14/09
The way the morality decisions are described for this game it sounds as if there are no specific forks so no single decision dramatically changes the gameplay but several dozen decisions build up and alter the world in certain ways over time. I could be wrong but that's what it sounded like.
10/14/09
Lots of gameplay material on youtube of it, btw, if anybody is wondering. Even though it's from July, it looks pretty polished already.
10/14/09
10/20/09
But really, Germany? That's a little ironic. #divinity2egodraconis
10/14/09
Now we will see if it's sucks or not.
06/08/09
06/08/09