Mark the area that will be affected by a spell.

Ingwarr23

Mark the area that will be affected by a spell.
It is very annoying to intuit where to cast a fireball spell to not hurt your allies.
Sorry for my bad english!

Kore

I think that I actually like not being able to see the area of effect. It adds an element of skill to the game. It's slightly more annoying for web though, we should be able to see where a web is once it's been triggered.

Ingwarr23

Kore, even if you are very familiar with the game, it would be difficult to know the exact area that will be affected by a spell. (It isn't tactical)
Am I right ?

Kore

I can do it with decent accuracy most of the time, and allowing some margin for error without leaving too much of a margin is skill.... that said, maybe it could be implemented as an advanced option.

Ingwarr23

If I am not wrong one of the goals is to attract new players. The lack of this option or if it is hidden would be a big problem. (My opinion)

HeroicSpur

I agree, this would definately be a helpful feature, removeable perhaps on higher difficulties.

Seldar

We could add this option but I prefer know spells by myself by using them

Ingwarr23

Seldar, for me is very hard to know where is the exact limit of a spell that effects a big place.

Seldar

Yeah I understand that, but it's part of the game, you have to deal with it.

Ingwarr23

Why do you think it's a part of the game.
There so many spells and grenades that I don't think it is possible to know them all. Even with a lot of experimentation you will not acquire exact informations.
I think it is not a part of the game , but it is a difficulty that exist because of technological lacks of that times.

Seldar

Players in 2012 want assisted games...


I know all spells of BG1 and 2, I know exactly their area of effects, simply by playing the game

It's a part of BG because it's why BG is difficult

Tanthalas

I personally, would prefer to be able to see how much of an area a spell would hit. I think not having this feature is more annoyance than difficulty.

Coriander

I think it's funny when I fireball myself. The lack of a fully tactical HUD makes the game feel more immersive to me. The imprecision feels more realistic(?).

Space_hamster

How about not allowing munchkin tactics such as launching fireballs off of the side of the screen?

Ingwarr23

When I played for my first time BG 1 I did not use fireball spell because I was afraid to not kill my companions. I learnt a little how to use it in Icewind Dale. New players will be very confused.
And again it is not tactical.

Space_hamster

The real fun with fire ball is when you get enough fire resistance, then BBQ everyone around you

Aliteri

If you read this post before I edited it, you should know that it was full of rubbish:

I remembered how in Dragon Age: Origins, a game with similar combat (Real time strategy with Pause), I'd target my area of effect spells with milimetric precision - undermining the most important tactical aspect of the game, positioning conditioned by friendly fire.

Currently on Baldur's Gate I can't, and seriously doubt most people can, do the same thing. Strategically, one must/should position its party with some room for error while prioritizing more ranged confrontation. Sound like a very good way to deal with it to me.

BlackRazor

Those circles are too WoW... I agree with seldar, looks quite dumb those circles of effect, just calculate it... Sure this is a game, but were you a mage and you would get no circles, you would trust your instinct.

Kore

Also, food for thought; how would you calculate skull trap and glyph of warding? They spread out randomly. How would you track the path of a lightening bolt? Good luck with that.

Tanthalas

How would you track the path of a lightening bolt? Good luck with that.

And this is why I don't use Lightning Bolts. Got tired of zapping my own party members.

Aliteri

How would you track the path of a lightening bolt? Good luck with that.

And this is why I don't use Lightning Bolts. Got tired of zapping my own party members.

Globe of Immunity + corridor + Lightning Bolt = happy player.

Dee

I get what people are saying about immersion, but when you get right down to it, this is a game based on D&D, and in D&D, if you're using a battlemap (which the isometric view represents), it's really easy to gauge the distance between objects, because everything is laid out in hexes and/or squares. It allows the wizard, who has a high enough intelligence to know the size of his own spells, to cast those spells with precision without worrying about which of his friends is going to get hit by mistake.

The other thing to consider is that even if you know exactly where your spell is going to go off, you don't know where exactly the enemies or even your own party is going to be at the end of the casting time. Enemies might move - and your friends might move too.

I think having a "limit of effect" graphic would be a very useful thing, and it would actually bring the game closer to its D&D progenitor.

technophobe

The AI is already gimped in using AoE spells. Unless they can code an entirely new mechanic where the AI can get targeting feedback from the overlay, all this will do is make player AoE spellcasting more imbalanced.

Dee

I say again, it's no different from playing D&D with a battlemap. The players each have to control a single character, and there's nothing that says the player has to make the decision quickly where to cast his fireball. The DM, on the other hand, has to be able to make those decisions quickly - partly because he doesn't want to slow things down for the players, but mostly because the players are supposed to be better than the NPCs.

The AI in Baldur's Gate is no different from a Dungeon Master looking at a battle mat. The only difference is that there are more of them, and they think faster. Letting the player have a slight leg-up isn't a problem to me, especially when it ultimately comes down to UI and functionality. To me, it's the same thing as the green/red/blue circles around the characters that tell you who's on your side and who's an enemy.

Ingwarr23

There is not a real good and strong argument for not implementing this feature.
I think it is important.

Kore

While I can appreciate that some might want BG to be more true to AD&D I instead simply view BG as a game that uses the D&D ruleset through convenience. This might be heresy to some I know, but keeping it true to D&D doesn't matter to me as long as gameplay is compelling.

For me the AoE display would break immersion and as BlackRazor said, it would just feel too much like WoW and not like BG.

Dee

I don't see why it couldn't be an extra "notch" on the Feedback slider. It wouldn't break immersion for me any more than a red circle around my enemies - or a Pause button, for that matter.

Ingwarr23

Kore, no offence, but what you said is not an argument , it is more like to stubbornness.
This feature is a decent one.

Kore

I'm not saying its not a valid argument, your opinions are just as valid as mine, but it doesn't bother me is what I meant.

@Aosaw, I'm fine with it being optional, as I said earlier in the thread.

Tanthalas

There's no point in going back and forth with this.

Some people would like the feature (like me).

Others don't care for it.

If Overhaul chooses to implement something like this they'd probably make it optional, so both sides can be happy.

Ingwarr23

Kore , I only meant that people have to bring some arguments related to what they speak about , not only to say : "it is bad" ; "it is not necessary"...
I meant no offence to you.