I prefer a small number of key binds. Simply put, pressing shift-G to cast Fireball isn't as cool to me as drawing the Fireball spell symbol in the air with your cursor or putting bat guano and sulfur from your inventory into your spellcasting hand and hitting a "cast" button. The symbol-drawing is a cute mini-game that makes you feel kinda how hard it is to make those mystical passes correctly every time. The material-component is a neat little puzzle that allows you to experiment and discover new spells with cool reagents you find. Both also slow down the spellcasting and require concentration from the player, two things that help put you in the shoes of your wizard.
Of course, the first thing anyone will do is (1) go to the wiki and find all the info, and (2) download the macro program some guy wrote so you can just press shift-G to cast Fireball. People do this because they don't want to learn the system, or the wiki and macro are easier, or to compete better against other players.
I think making the game more gamey and abstract pulls you out of the game and makes you realize you're just fumbling around on your keyboard. If it's a flight sim then a lot of keyboard-work is a lot of fun and it feels like you're doing your little pre-flight checklist or whatever. But RPGs are supposed to be visceral and intimate, organic and (illogically) analog.
Which is why I like FPS style RPGs where you have to aim and hold back your axe and swing it where you want it to go. You have to draw back the bow and figure out the arc and lead your target on your own. If your player skill or luck results in you getting a hit on a vital area, or bypassing armor because you hit him in the visor-slit, that's a lot cooler than clicking the target and waiting for the attack animation, the computer generating a result of 96% which is a crit doing double damage.
I'm even on board with melee combos, especially resulting from weight distribution from leaning and rocking, timing your swing properly to get a quick second hit, or a bounce off an effective block, or a redirect from an effective deflection. I'm NOT a fan of fighting-game-style attack combos resulting in funky special moves that have nothing to do with the individual components. I want to be able to swing high, getting the enemy to raise his shield, then lunge in to stomp his kneecap and pop him on the crown with my pommel when he drops to his knee.
I think that's possible with WASD, doubletap and hold forward to sprint, doubletap to juke/roll any direction, QE leans, mouselook and attack mousebutton R/L, hold R + mousebutton to throw. I think that involves a lot of player skill but it's intuitive and can be learned by the player through swinging his sword at a post or sparring with friends. If it were me, I would have no hotbar whatsoever.
Equipping items from inventory should take some time, so it's understandable that you actually have to go into your inventory screen and change things out. You want to grab a potion from inside a pouch (among all your potions), uncork it, and drink all by pressing a button? How about going into inventory, equipping potion in hand, and looking up so the potion drains into your mouth. The same mechanic would work for throwing dangerous potions like acid, poison, smokebomb, etc. except you probably don't want to try to drink those. Again, it makes sense in the game instead of putting the item on your hotbar and clicking the related key. I mean, who carries around a hotbar? What exactly is a hotbar? It's sure not a belt, since you put any dang thing on it including spells.
I know people are going to just say "that sounds stupid and I would never play a game like that, it's a good thing you don't make video games" but I think a lot of it is just that we're so used to the convenience of hotbars and macros that a game without them seems too clunky.
BTW I hate the idea of a mini-map too. If you wanna find someplace, ask a local (like in Daggerfall) or get up high to get a better view. Again, does every scruffy murderhobo in the entire world have a magical psychic supermap tattooed on the inside of his eyelids?
Gripe3: How is it that any murderhobo can pick up a nondescript +1 sword from a corpse and instantly know exactly what it does? It's like a gruesome Antiques Roadshow. How about requiring some kind of appraisal skill or else bring it to someone in town to identify?
Gripe4: Loot. A person's items should exist on his person. If you keep your wand in a pocket someone should be able to pickpocket it. Likewise when you die, someone should have to strip off your armor rather than "opening your corpse" and "picking up the armor from inside your body". Also monsters who don't have money shouldn't give money (like in Morrowind).
Again, it's all just crap we deal with in every game so why complain about it and it's fine the way it is and it's never gonna change and you have bad ideas Leo etc etc.
Author
Topic: Next Elder Scrolls (Read 8339 times)