comments and gameplay q's: look, inventory commands

[tomeaddict-T4]

I was addicted to T2, so much so that I needed step away for quite a while. When I was in a place where I thought I could play again, T2 was gone and T4 was in the first Alphas. (seemed like a kind of sign, but I had a hard time getting in to it---part of it was that the game was a bit immature and it was too easy to feel spoiled. Another issue with the T.o.M.E. 4 is that it doesn't really want to run on one of those old PII (or maybe even PIV) computers some of us have thrown in the corner.

Anyway, a few years later I've had the opportunity to be able to play a little again. The game is incredible. I am really looking forward to seeing more of the plot and making a reasonable effort to not get spoiled. T4 might one of the best games ever---I'm just getting started.

Congratulations on an amazing game and thank you DarkGod

I've been playing for a week or so and my best effort is that I've gotten an alchemist to level 14. I'm not the best player---on T2 I think my best character got to around 35 maybe a little higher. The beginning part of the game in 2 started to feel a little tedious (and I saw that part a lot!) It feels like some of the tedium that might have existed in the early game in 2 has been mitigated in T4---plus Z is pretty great. Being forced to press on without the repopulation of monsters is a good thing.

I have a few very minor issues with the gameplay. Perhaps some are solved by things I just don't know about---others may be answered with questions I don't know how to ask. Mostly these are my initial impressions of the game.

(If I could give stage directions, these would be read kindly, grateful, and without malice)

1. The inventory screen is one place where I feel like I'm not yet at home. It would be great if I could just type 'd' when an item is selected to drop it or 'w' to wield. My fingers keep trying to do things like this and it doesn't work. (meanwhile, I haven't played 2.3.* in years so I'm not even sure why my fingers want to do that or if it was how that worked!)

2. In the inventory/ equipment screens there are letters next to each listed item, but typing those letters doesn't highlight them. I am tempted to do that. Seems like it would be easier than clicking down through the list. (Might be cool if there were dedicated letter combinations assigned to the items in your equiptment list? Shift-A for weapon through Shift-N for hats or something like that?) A lot of up and down buttons are required now.

3. A kind of related issue to these first two is that the stores have some unintuitive features. The description of an item in the store pops up in a box, but that stays there when I scroll down the store's inventory. Need to push down then right then left to see get the description of the next item on a list.

4. I remember being able to use the 'look' command to manually move the target from square to square. The arrow keys will move from one target to the next, but I can't figure out how to switch to the square specific targeting that I remember. (I think I would use ctrl-l or x or something for 'look' in tome2?)

5. This one might be a bit picky, but on the stats/talents screens it would be nice if the pop-up we get when we try to add or take away too many didn't require a confirmation click or return. Is there any way the warning could just fade away? I admit that I could check the prereqs. before trying to add the next point, but after the first few times I know what the box is going to tell me and clicking return again doesn't stop me from making the box pop up again.

6. Perhaps this isn't a separate question exactly, but are there commands players are relying on that are mouse driven? Right clicking or otherwise, but are there things the moused are doing that aren't obvious to those of us who are mouseless?

Thanks again.

T.A.

[Grey]

Wow, some nice suggestions there. Fresh players always give the best UI tips!

There's no functionality loss from using keyboard alone, but I suggest trying out mouse alone for a bit to see some of the fun from its gesture shortcuts and handy menus or tooltips. I prefer a mixture myself, but playing mouse alone for a while forces you to find the good parts.

[tiger_eye]

Yeah, good post, tomeaddict-T4.

1. The inventory screen is one place where I feel like I'm not yet at home. It would be great if I could just type 'd' when an item is selected to drop it or 'w' to wield. My fingers keep trying to do things like this and it doesn't work. (meanwhile, I haven't played 2.3.* in years so I'm not even sure why my fingers want to do that or if it was how that worked!)

Makes sense to me, but there is an issue with this: the player may have bound one of these keys to directional movement or as a hot key.

2. In the inventory/ equipment screens there are letters next to each listed item, but typing those letters doesn't highlight them. I am tempted to do that. Seems like it would be easier than clicking down through the list.

Yeah, letters in the main inventory/equipment screen don't mean a whole lot. Pressing a hot key while an item is selected is how you bind the item to that hot key. For example, suppose you bind the Summertide Phial to 'L'. Pressing 'L' will equip the phial if it isn't already equipped. Pressing 'L' while the phial is equipped will activate its talent to "banish all shadows". I suppose one could do what you suggest with an alphabet that excludes hot keys and movement keys.

(Might be cool if there were dedicated letter combinations assigned to the items in your equiptment list? Shift-A for weapon through Shift-N for hats or something like that?) A lot of up and down buttons are required now.

The function keys can be used to select tabs, such as F1 for weapons, F2 for armour, etc. This is relatively new and not well-documented.

3. A kind of related issue to these first two is that the stores have some unintuitive features. The description of an item in the store pops up in a box, but that stays there when I scroll down the store's inventory. Need to push down then right then left to see get the description of the next item on a list.

Aha, this is a bug that I keep forgetting to post about. This is an oversight. The item tooltip is supposed to update as you scroll to new items. The inventory and shop dialogues were recently updated, and this must have gotten lost in the process.

4. I remember being able to use the 'look' command to manually move the target from square to square. The arrow keys will move from one target to the next, but I can't figure out how to switch to the square specific targeting that I remember. (I think I would use ctrl-l or x or something for 'look' in tome2?)

Hold down "shift".

5. This one might be a bit picky, but on the stats/talents screens it would be nice if the pop-up we get when we try to add or take away too many didn't require a confirmation click or return. Is there any way the warning could just fade away? I admit that I could check the prereqs. before trying to add the next point, but after the first few times I know what the box is going to tell me and clicking return again doesn't stop me from making the box pop up again.

Agreed.