The upcoming Divinity: Original Sin apparently has a very interesting take on a karma system- it’s got two systems known as “attitude” and “reputation”. One governs the world’s attitude towards you (individually and as a whole) and the other governs your reputation.
Larian Studios’ producer David Walgrave describes it better.
“Attitude is personal, individual: everyone in the world has a different attitude towards you,” Walgrave said in an interview with us. “You can have a direct impact on that depending on your actions. Everyone has an initial attitude which defines whether they will fight you or help you in a fight, or whether they’re simply neutral.
“For instance, merchants are neutral. If you trade often with one specific merchant, he will start recognizing you as a returning customer, and he will start liking you. That affects his prices. If you tick him off, you can offer him more money or trade something for less money than it’s worth, and that will raise his attitude towards you again. If you steal from this merchant a lot, or you did something else to him to make his life miserable, he will ask a lot of money for his goods, will not pay you good money for your items, and if you really messed up, he may even start fighting you.”
He then went on to describe what reputation is.
“Reputation on the other hand, is global,” he explained. “The more stuff you do or don’t do, and the choices you make in the world, no matter whether they are good or bad, gives you more renown. At the start of the game, people will not know you, but after a while, they will start recognizing you, and in the end, you’ll be a hero, famous or infamous, it doesn’t matter.”
Our full interview with David Walgrave will be up soon. Stay tuned.
