I have a question for the thread that I genuinely want to hear out, think about throughly about, and answer. If you were in Savco's shoes and u were given the plot point, lore, and characters up to this point how would you develop CoC2?
You have put yourself in their shoes, so no fantasy budget or fantasy writers added. Just you and their own reality and have to dev it with their resources and tools.
1) The first step would be to obviously put a hold on pumping out new characters and focus on old ones instead. It doesn't have to screech to a complete halt, but toned down significantly. I fully understand from firsthand experience how tiresome writing can be at the best of times, especially when you're not invested in the content you're writing, but I believe the people paying for the game's development (or the lining of the creator's pockets) deserve a certain standard of quality and consistency. This also tackles the issue of outdated busts since a lot of them are in dire need of a facelift.
2) Fix the goddamn typos and the syntax errors holy shit. It's not like nobody's reporting them. You can go to the forums right now and see the sheer number of typo reports that haven't been addressed. The line referring to Garth as Garret has been in the game since the introduction of the character and apparently it's going nowhere, that and more egregious errors like swapping the default and Bimbo dialogue, making me wonder why my pc is suddenly giggling like a schoolgirl for no reason. This could also include getting rid of out-of-place euphemisms like "Jeez" and the like, since you know... fantasy setting and all.
3) At least try to do something with the corruption mechanic... it's in the name ffs. I would genuinely consider revising the entire game to bring this aspect to the forefront. It wouldn't be an entire upheaval of the foundations, just adding options and appropriate reactions from the NPCs, instead of essentially treating them like mindless drones who barely react to your actions. The original had more robust examples of this where followers for instance could leave you temporarily as a response to your actions, and I believe this could be something worthwhile to consider given the game's name. The foundation is already there, where corrupted or demonized NPCs (which are irreversible decisions) could add to an irreversible corruption counter which could be utilized to reflect these changes for example.
4) Make TFs matter
again more. I'm not suggesting anything "impossible" like introducing different body types, but introducing new options and dialogue just like the little acknowledgements you get for becoming a dragon, which I believe is a cool example because it shows that the player's choices and the thought they put into their PC's creation matters. This would include bringing back racial abilities because I still have no clue wtf Savin was smoking when he nuked them.
5) Iron out some of the plot holes like the 7 sitting with their collective thumbs up their asses with demons and an evil cult on the loose.
6) Do something about adult Kinu. Might even go as far as nuking the entire concept and keeping her as a child since that's what most people have suggested instead of the slop we've been given. This one might seem a little personal but it's literally the writer antagonizing the players for something they had no part in.
7) Get rid of the companion limit. Always felt weird that Savin limited the writers to one when he has 3 himself. If the writers want to write them then let them do it, given they're able to at least deliver a bare minimum, within reason of course.
8) Implement Environment art like the image pack did for CoC1, if only to break the monotony of the endless text when exploring the game world. Even just one or two images sprinkled between every three tiles or so would make a world of difference, I believe.
9) Optional Survival mode, with the need to eat and sleep. It isn't like the precedent isn't set with the blue ball status, and it wouldn't really be that difficult to implement.