Styx 3 Ideas?

[ǤɌƗSĦ]

This game is awesome..and I cant wait for the next instalment... definitely one of the best stealth games out there and sadly its very underrated.
I love the lore, the unique fantasy almost steam punky setting (especially the airships XD) somehow its not the same old high fantasy we see all the time ... the maps are huge and insanely detailed you can pretty much get anywhere by whatever route you wish... Stealth mechanics, movement and traversing through the maps is a blast.

I do have a few issues though, somethings don't sit right with me and feel "off" when playing the game, perhaps they can change up the game a bit for the next game.... so lets discuss:

1) Timer... I get that it adds to the score at the end (not that it adds that much)... but I've never understood the point of a timer in a exploration games when its your first playthrough???
Getting the lay of the land, figuring out route/targets/patrols WILL take time... Its adds unnecessary frustration, that in the end I say ♥♥♥♥ it and just disregard the whole time thing anyway...
Psychologically it feels dissapointing seeing a silver time medallion pop up... Not that I could help it, i was exploring! Unless you dont want me to explore and just rush targets?

What would make more sense is unlocking the a "Timed run mode" only once you completed the mission .... not only would that encourage replayability for some people... you could add a slight competitive element, maybe with global leaderboards ...different categories eg: 100% / non 100% with or without kills.

2) Tokens :/ urgh ... collectables are so 2008... personally i hate these lol.. And I'm sure most people use guides anyway... I would prefer adding a few more side quests type targets where we have to steal an object or relic, perhaps add more scenarios where we need to pick pockets?

3) Floating quest Markers :/ Its soooo non immersive and makes the game way too easy. Quest marker appears I make a B-line directly for it... it totally removes the exploration element...Would be awesome if we had to find targets ourselves, maybe buy intel pre mission, find and learn things during the mission (which i guess we do sometimes by listening to conversations but straight after the conversation ends the next quest marker appears).

Would be awesome if quests went something like this: You need to steal a dagger *insert story /lore here (blah blah blah)*. You've heard (Or bought intel which reveals) that the Guard captain carries an old dagger which fits its description. Apparently the Guard captain has been injured in quite a few battles and as such he now has wears an eye patch (on his left eye) and has a bad limp so he needs a walking stick.
During the day he is overseeing things in the watch tower or training new recruits in the barracks...
OK we start the mission, no quest markers...we explore, come across barracks (or read and followed signs?)... search barracks, he is not here, we see a watchtower in the distance...OK so he must be there... on the way there we see a guard looking guy with a walking stick waking in our direction! a ha! We wait till he gets nearer and spy on him... no eye patch or dagger :( its not him... carry on our way to the watch tower... we find the Guard Captain at the top doing paper work and steal the dagger...done
Maybe add a new mechanic or marking targets? Could possibly include a spyglass for this similar to farcry marking?


Theres a few more things I could write, but Ill leave it there for now... they are pretty rough ideas, and maybe not really thought out too well, just been typing as it came to me... again these are just ideas so dont hate on me lol

[Bassilth]

I like these ideas. Here are a couple of my own:

1. An additional insignia dedicated to stealth-killing people. Maybe could be called 'Blood' or 'Assassin'. Styx isn’t just a thief. He is a master assassin as well. There is an entire skill tree and an arsenal of gadgets dedicated to his assassin trait.

Currently, the game asks for a merciful playthrough, which might make some levels a bit more challenging but it still removes the use of a lot of Styx’s abilities and items. Yes, this might allow us to play through the game first with Mercy complete, and with all the skills unlocked, we could always replay the missions and become the assassin Styx truly is. But some people are not happy with having to forsake a lot of interesting features because they need those skill points.

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2. Open World-like area (maybe an entire small town) where Styx can roam between main quests (missions). Here he could get side quests mentioned above and trade items as well as interact with some people, look for fences and generally mess around. It would be nice to just have fun without doing any large missions. There could be rng scenes and sudden side-quests that pop up by chance for a reward.

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3. Perhaps Mercy and the above mentioned Blood insignia could have a global stat, which is tracked by the game. By reaching a specific point, there would be a consequence of choosing this playstyle.

If Styx has a specific amount of points within Mercy, then the non-guard NPCs would not alert the guards once they spot him. The more points are within Blood, the more guards will spawn in a level and within the open world area. After all, with killing so many people, Styx becomes dangerous and this asks for a more thorough defense.

This could also affect the main quest by giving Styx alternative choices. Some more evil, some more merciful.

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4.
If Styx has enough Mercy stat, then he could also secretly trade with regular traders in that open world area. They would be more numerous, easy to find in their shops but would have less money each and you would need to trade specific items to specific type of traders. Unless you have max Mercy, where they would buy everything from you.

If Styx has enough Blood stat, then he could trade with fences that are more rare, can be found tucked away in alleys, would take some time to find but they would have more money on them and would buy everything from him from the start.

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5. The next Styx game should really work on repairing consistency. Explain the following:
Why Styx can remember his past in Shards of Darkness when in Master of Shadows he lost his memories at the end?
Why does Styx in Of Orcs and Men claim he used to be an orc when if we play the clone of the original Styx than he was born a goblin and not an orc?

That's it for now.