Gamer is worried about casting in real time:
...in a heat of a battle it would be quite difficult to select a desired spell and cast it using the current menu system. This is also the problem (in my opinion) that BG1 and BG2 games had. Spell interface worked fine for low level mages/priests, but when you have MANY spells memorized it would take a long time to scroll left/right to find the right spell
. Assigning a hotkey to a particular spell also got confusing very quickly, because in no time you had to make a list with all the spells and their relative hotkeys, and you ended up browsing through that list instead of scrolling through the menu
.
I think that an ideal interface for spellcasters would be an optional floating transparent window (or a menu) with all memorized spells listed in it. ..There is no need to change the current menu system in any way, but I belive that it would be great to have such option added to the current interface.
While all the answers the others gave you are true, you'll be happy to know that we are considering the possibility of allowing you to cast spells directly from your spellbook, as well. A general rule of thumb when it comes to interface design is that, if there's only one way to do something, it's not enough. If there are five ways to do something, you'll have five times as many happy customers.
There's more than one way to skin a cat,
Rob Bartel
Linear Mode
