bati
Member
I've been playing Salt and Sanctuary lately and in the spirit of Souls games I of course tried multiple builds, including full magic which, to my surprise, I really enjoyed.It's fairly basic, most of the time you're limited to two active spells (if using a staff) and buffs that are on the same quickbar as your flasks so you have to shuffle through items to get to them (more on that later) but it's still pretty fun, it reminded me of playing a hexer in Dark Souls 2. So as I was enjoying myself setting enemies on fire I thought back to other games where I really enjoyed playing as a spell caster (usually I default to meatheads in rpgs):
Baldur's Gate II: ToB: The one game where the words sorcerer and god are interchangeable. To this day I resent AD&D and some of its rules, especially the per rest mechanic for spells but I'll be damned if the sheer power of and variety of high level spells in Baldur's Gate 2 aren't simply amazing. Nothing like stopping time and making your enemies explode. Saving throw? Not if I set your hands on fire! Other mage subclasses aren't too shabby either, the list of spells in Throne of Bhaal is kinda insane and you'll probably spend days if you want to memorize all of them.
Requiem mod for Skyrim (with hotkey mod): Magic in Requiem is, like many of its other features, very well thought out. Main theme for each magic school is pretty logical - restoration works well versus undead and has great healing spells, alteration provides powerful buffs (mage armor), conjuration is necromancy and summoned weapons/creatures, illusion is great for sneaking or making enemies go crazy. Each school of magic in the mod feels like it's worth taking and there's a large array of spells that you'll be using very frequently if you want to play as a pure mage - for this reason a Hotkey mod is heavily recommended because the default spellcasting system in Skyrim sucks (thanks consoles!).
And...that's pretty much it. I've played spell casters in many other games, most notably some of the latest AAA releases like Dragon's Dogma, Witcher 3 or Dragon Age: Inquisition but the problem is usually the same - gamepad control scheme or console UIs severely hamstring the magic systems - DAI had a good idea by utilizing LT as a switch button for more active skills but it was still only 6. Witcher 3's magic wheel is an abomination and Dragon Dogma required weapon swap to utilize the second set of 3 abilities. I've played a plethora of PC games that had well developed magic systems (like HoMM series) but none were as fun to roleplay a mage as the two titles I bolded above.
I left out ARPGs on purpose because I feel that magic is there more as a flavor rather than an alternate playstyle.
So, what are yours? Try to explain what made the magic system in the game you're nominating good because I'm looking for a fresh spell casting experience and it's hard to decide based on a title alone.
Baldur's Gate II: ToB: The one game where the words sorcerer and god are interchangeable. To this day I resent AD&D and some of its rules, especially the per rest mechanic for spells but I'll be damned if the sheer power of and variety of high level spells in Baldur's Gate 2 aren't simply amazing. Nothing like stopping time and making your enemies explode. Saving throw? Not if I set your hands on fire! Other mage subclasses aren't too shabby either, the list of spells in Throne of Bhaal is kinda insane and you'll probably spend days if you want to memorize all of them.
Requiem mod for Skyrim (with hotkey mod): Magic in Requiem is, like many of its other features, very well thought out. Main theme for each magic school is pretty logical - restoration works well versus undead and has great healing spells, alteration provides powerful buffs (mage armor), conjuration is necromancy and summoned weapons/creatures, illusion is great for sneaking or making enemies go crazy. Each school of magic in the mod feels like it's worth taking and there's a large array of spells that you'll be using very frequently if you want to play as a pure mage - for this reason a Hotkey mod is heavily recommended because the default spellcasting system in Skyrim sucks (thanks consoles!).
And...that's pretty much it. I've played spell casters in many other games, most notably some of the latest AAA releases like Dragon's Dogma, Witcher 3 or Dragon Age: Inquisition but the problem is usually the same - gamepad control scheme or console UIs severely hamstring the magic systems - DAI had a good idea by utilizing LT as a switch button for more active skills but it was still only 6. Witcher 3's magic wheel is an abomination and Dragon Dogma required weapon swap to utilize the second set of 3 abilities. I've played a plethora of PC games that had well developed magic systems (like HoMM series) but none were as fun to roleplay a mage as the two titles I bolded above.
I left out ARPGs on purpose because I feel that magic is there more as a flavor rather than an alternate playstyle.
So, what are yours? Try to explain what made the magic system in the game you're nominating good because I'm looking for a fresh spell casting experience and it's hard to decide based on a title alone.
