Hmm.... interesting stuff.
The bit about enemy placement bothers me though; it makes it sound like more pre-determined content is on the way. I know, ALOT of games use pre-made everything instead of randomizations, and frankly, those are the games I tire of the fastest. Even something really, really good like Super Mario World.... I'll try and give it another go every now and then, but it pretty much just cant hold my attention anymore. I've seen all the levels before, I know how to beat them, I know where everything is going to be.... the challenge is utterly gone, and I simply cant focus on it. The current way that indoor rooms generate already bugs me a bit; no matter how many times rooms are added to the game, they STILL manage to repeat themselves pretty often. I tend to completely lose that sense of exploration when in buildings; the rooms arent what I'm exploring in those, instead, I'm actually ONLY exploring the dungeon map itself.
Also makes me think of, say, Binding of Isaac. Predetermined rooms (randomly chosen though) and monster placement (though the actual monsters that show up are somewhat random). It's a randomized game, and one of my favorites, but I've hit the point where the challenge just..... vanished. I've seen each room before, and know what to do when such-and-such room shows up with specific enemy choices. When the room shows up again, the strategy is merely to mimic whatever I did last time. Which.... yeah, kinda boring. Lost interest in it, I have.
Doesnt bug me TOO much in this game, since the enemies tend to be very random, and the combat is so focused on dodging stuff.
That, and the idea of the game straying TOO far from it's original concepts (or, I should say, what I perceive it's original concepts to be) are my main concerns going into this one. Mostly the combat; the "shoot and dodge" idea is the central thing that keeps me glued to this one. I'll take a wild guess and say that this bit, at least, is likely to still be there.
As far as what I'm hoping to see changed, hmmm......
Number one is probably more strategic worldmap stuff. The current version of the game never QUITE got there. The strategic bits almost entirely consist of where/when you place shelters and buoys. And the ideas behind the worldmap and how things connect to it are so interesting, so hoping to see that part in particular be more of what it should be.
That, and the game making the player want a wider variety of spells more. That'd be nice too, and is another thing the current version never quite reached. Same thing with some of the items. There's some very interesting items in the game, but the only ones I ever actually USE are bear traps. Stuff like the transformation items, the barrels, stuff like that.... never found a need for them.
Hopefully we'll get the announcement on what this all is sometime soon here.... cant wait to see just what you're planning.
