Magic system is.....

[ErrolBrown]

First let me say how impressed I was with the games take on magic. The sigils and expressions form a pretty awesome system of spell crafting. A spell for every occasion.

However, there's something missing, something...lacking. It becomes a little flat after too short a time.

In character creation you can choose two cores of magic to start with. Cool. I chose Ice and Atrophy. I had an idea about my character and those fitted well. And with continual use the corresponding skills went up.
But I was soon picking up other core spheres and there was no limit to the different types of spells my character could use.
And that, I felt, was the problem. I soon became a practitioner of all and had no sense of becoming a Master of any.
The cool effects, like stunning, bleeding, marking and boosting the power had no limits to them.
I could do everything, and if my skill wasn't so high in that core, well, the spells extra effects made them effective

So where's the sense of mastery? The perfecting of a core and becoming a Master of Ice say?
Seeing as Lore limits your spell power, get enough Lore, become master of everything, perfect it all.
A bit bland imho.

The skill level of a core should limit your ability to use the most powerful spells, not just your lore. And if you concentrate on a particular core you should feel the others waning as your power waxes in other cores.
So, one play-through become a master of Atrophy but lose your power over Life, or fire versus ice etc.Lose your access to good Stone spells but unlock the higher Illusion spell combos.
Specialisation. Variation.
Instead, I've got all magic unlocked and can experience everything in one playthrough and never desire to play a mage again, unless you count Eb, firewalled behind a wall of being a companion.

[Lightning]

I believe Lantry gives the group a lore buff I thought

[Cether]

I agree. Going through on my second playthrough, both times as mage. It's playing exactly like my first. Also mages are incredibly OP (especially once you get the bounce accent). But part of that OP comes from the fact that I can make an insane bounce spell, then switch my element and have essentially the same spell twice.

Having to actually focus on leveling an element would make it so I can't just duplicate spells with a different elemental effect attached. Just kidding I have the frostfire accent, so my fire/frost spells are basically the same spell with a different animation attached.

I do love the system though, it's really cool and in depth and a great take on magic. Just gives the player *too much* freedom, letting us become stupidly powerful very easily.

[ErrolBrown]

Its such a good system but frustrating at the same time in regards to what it could have, should have, been.

[Amigo]

They could add school specific restrictions for spells combined with current lore requirements. That's what you want? Maybe they will. It's just there are not so many spells in the game. Like really few compared to PoE. My guess is they didn't want to impose this restriction because of this.

[Takkik]

The spell crafting is cool, you want get all the sigils (well the special ones at least) and always interesting to unlock new things. But at same times spells feel really similars, it's mostly direct dmg & buff. havent finished the game, but look like you don't have summons, no weapon summon, no wall, teleport etc...
But what is the most annoying, is how spells are superior to other abilities. I've made the mistake to do a rogue (+spellcasting), all the spells do better than agility talents. You want inflict bleeding? can make any spell bleed, +aoe + decent dmg. The prone attack? can do it to! The mark upgrade for thrust? any spell can mark with aoe. Raise your dodge/parry? mirror image is for you, far better than agility talent!
The game is like Dragon age origins, make a team full mage and nuke every thing around. And since no FF no point to not take the aoe spells.

It's a great idea, but I think the big mistake they done it's they should have designed the player skill trees around the fact that you're a MAGE, all talent are here to determine you're type of mage (pure glass canon, warmage in heavy armor, stealth etc...) and support you as spell user.

About specialisation, they could have designed talent that give you bonus in specific sigils, increase some effect (like frozen) or perhaps add special effect, like when casting ice spell you frozen ennemis around you etc... Talents that incite you to use specific spell school.
perhaps unlock some specific expressions for specific sigils, to give flavour and unique spells when you specialize.

[ErrolBrown]

@Takkik some nice ideas there about spellcasting features in your last paragraph.

Maybe you could add Core specific expressions that only unlock when you have reached a high enough level casting skill in that core. Like the Bounce should only be available to use if you have reached 100+ skill level in that core etc...
The cross class redundancy of many abilities is very naff I agree. Like Landry can silence on hit with thrown weapons, which totally renders useless the expression of the same power. I would like to see diminishing returns on this ability.
Mage party is also more viable due to the ability of spellcasters to wear any armour they like. Perhaps you could double the recovery penalty of metal or leather armour types for spells only.
Although I must add here, my first play-through is on normal difficulty, maybe that's why core skill levels aren't so vital to my party's sucess