Magic System

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Bruenin

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Nov 9, 2011
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What game would you say has the best magic system? So far I really like Skyrim but it's still not what I would really want. I kinda want one with hundreds of spells, multiple uses, and staves that can be used differently. Every game I've played the staff is a spell itself, but why cant we just use it to empower the spells we already have? Why does it have to be charged up and restricted to whatever spell was bound to it to start with? Why can't we get D&D spells that let us conjure up dimensional rooms and flying discs that hold our stuff? But you know, in a more action open-world kinda game.
 

jthwilliams

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Sep 10, 2009
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Magic is tough. It is hard to make a magic system that both makes magic feel magical and is ballanced. Also, any truely expansive system then causes inventory management (spell management) issues.

I honestly can't think of a system that springs out to me as really good.
 

Buggbyte

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Oct 6, 2011
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I think the closest I've seen to real flexibility with magic was in Morrowind, where you could make your own spells. It didn't drastically alter the game, but it let you tailor magic to your gameplay style. But I would LOVE to see a more inventive D&D approach to magic some day.
 

Limecake

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May 18, 2011
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I really like how they did Magic in the Magicka series (available on steam) you choose 'elements' of spells and depending on which elements you selected your spells will change.

It actually works pretty well, and there are some strange spells you can make. It's a lot of fun the experiment and see what you can create.

I'd also like to mention Morrowind's magic system, I remember making a spell that would launch me several miles forward. I had to level my acrobatics to 100 so I could still land safely.
 

LookingGlass

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Jul 6, 2011
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I'm not sure if this is what you want because you mentioned open-world games, but the spell system in Magicka [http://store.steampowered.com/app/42910/] is awesome. You have eight different elemental spells (earth, fire, ice, water, shield, lightning, arcane beam, life) and you combine them in combinations to produce new spells.

E.g. Earth + fire = fireball, lightning + arcane beam = a beam of lightning. You can also use area effect spells and do things like create mines that explode with ice and arcane damage.

Definitely the most flexible and inventive magic system I've seen before. Love the game.