Divinity Original Sin

[Icezin]

Why no one created a thread to discuss this turn-based rpg? Let´s start!

[Krade]

Why no one created a thread to discuss this turn-based rpg? Let´s start!

I'll say that it looked neat and possibly fun, but at $40 and no demo I don't feel it's worth the risk. Maybe at some point in the future when I can pick up for $20 or less.

[Flickerdart]

It's pretty neat (although I hate the camera controls). I have a warrior and blaster mage setup - comboing Bully with Slow Current for +50% damage, and Divine Light with Flare for burning. I've only just doused the ship, though.

[Gralamin]

I'll say that it looked neat and possibly fun, but at $40 and no demo I don't feel it's worth the risk. Maybe at some point in the future when I can pick up for $20 or less.

It was pretty cheap during the Steam sale, I forgot how small it got.

I'm slowly going through the game as an enchanter / fighter combo. It works pretty well, and teleport is quite effective in a number of encounters.

The UI is definitely a bit awkward. I'm having some issues in combat getting close enough to use abilities in short ranges, such as the whirlwind ability. I'm also constantly annoyed that switching the selected character while the inventory is open doesn't switch the inventory interface.

[factotum]

When I finish my current Thief 2 playthrough I shall move on to this game, I think--always like a bit of turn-based RPG now and again.

[warty goblin]

After my exams, and the GoG version finally appears, I'll be all over this.

[factotum]

Should I be concerned that I just sat down to play this and found it needed to download a 1.4Gb (!!) patch? If it's either (a) that badly broken or (b) is still getting so much extra content added I'm not sure I want to play it until it's stable.

[Flickerdart]

It's never crashed on me, but it runs kind of choppy on a rig that runs Bioshock Infinite on max settings no problem. I think it's not triggering the dedicated card for whatever reason and chugging along on the Intel alone.

[factotum]

No, I think it's just poorly optimised--it chugs on my Radeon 5700 as well, which runs stuff like Saints Row 4 without the slightest issue. Played for a couple of hours and got to Cyseal--so far, there hasn't really been much in the way of combat (the entire tutorial dungeon had 2 creatures in it) and I'm still not sure where the plot is going; hopefully that will get cleared up soon, because I like to have a solid idea of what I'm doing in a vidya game!

[UPDATE] Either I'm missing something, or there's something up with the balance in this game. I've got to a point where I have two level 4 dudes and a level 3 (she died a couple of times and missed out on some XP), and everywhere I go I find enemy groups that I really have no chance of beating--bunches of level 5 undead, or one place where there are no fewer than 7 level 4 undead (three of them archers) that all pop up at the same time. There has to be somewhere else I can earn some XP to level my dudes (and dudettes) up, but darned if I can find it!

[ANOTHER UPDATE] Heck, is anyone else actually reading this thread? Anyroad, I found my issue--basically, I'd refused to recruit the warrior woman in the bar for roleplaying reasons (because she seemed dangerously deranged, frankly), but the game is balanced on the assumption you have her. With four people around the fights get a lot more do-able. How the heck you'd ever do the first bit as a Lone Wolf (not able to have companions) I have no idea!

[GolemsVoice]

I'll definitely check it out after my birthday, or after my next paycheck! So far I have loved Larian's work, and I think I'll continue to support them.

[Flickerdart]

[ANOTHER UPDATE] Heck, is anyone else actually reading this thread? Anyroad, I found my issue--basically, I'd refused to recruit the warrior woman in the bar for roleplaying reasons (because she seemed dangerously deranged, frankly), but the game is balanced on the assumption you have her. With four people around the fights get a lot more do-able. How the heck you'd ever do the first bit as a Lone Wolf (not able to have companions) I have no idea!

I assume that "Lone Wolf" is supposed to be a challenge, rather than a balanced way of playing.

[Mudpitmissfit]

I assume that "Lone Wolf" is supposed to be a challenge, rather than a balanced way of playing.

You are correct sir!

Game play wise , the loss of a turn (character slot) has a much bigger impact than the relatively minor bonuses from lone wolf.

I have finished the first map , but have restarted due to a desire to actually use the crafting system ( glorious mess that it is)

If I could offer any advice , I would say to avoid multi classing until you have a firm understanding of the game mechanics , and to loot like there is no tomorrow in the starter town , get one character with the scoundrel indivisibility ability and enjoy the 5 seconds of free looting to fund your journey - you will need it!

Pladin-y types can dip into the crafting system to compensate for lack of 'foraging'

[Psyren]

It looks good, but having missed it during the Summer Sale I'm just going to wait until it goes down again and get the complete deluxe pack or whatever.

[Cespenar]

I'm having some consistent save/load problems with it despite the patches, but the game itself seems pretty good when I can get to play it.

[factotum]

I'm away from home for a few days, but when I last played I'd got to about halfway through the final area of the game. Been having a lot of fun with it. I will note that it's relentlessly old school--you will never see a greater challenge than the first area, because you get so powerful by the time you leave Cyseal that the rest of the game, while not a cakewalk, becomes a lot easier. I've even got used enough to the interface that I can generally attack an enemy rather than accidentally moving somewhere near them because they started an idle animation and moved out from under the mouse cursor just as I clicked!

[Flickerdart]

I'm away from home for a few days, but when I last played I'd got to about halfway through the final area of the game. Been having a lot of fun with it. I will note that it's relentlessly old school--you will never see a greater challenge than the first area, because you get so powerful by the time you leave Cyseal that the rest of the game, while not a cakewalk, becomes a lot easier. I've even got used enough to the interface that I can generally attack an enemy rather than accidentally moving somewhere near them because they started an idle animation and moved out from under the mouse cursor just as I clicked!

This seems to be something of a trend with Larian games, and European games in general. Divinity 2 was brutal at the start, but once you got your dragon castle, suddenly you could wreck face every which way. King's Bounty is also like this, especially Armoured Princess.

[factotum]

I don't have a problem with it. When I start a game I like to be able to finish it, and getting stuck halfway through because the difficulty ramped up past my skill ceiling is frustrating, especially if the game doesn't let you change difficulty partway through.

There is one thing I find annoying about Divinity: OS, thinking about it: too much reliance on puzzles which basically come down to "Can you see the tiny switch on the wall or the lever artfully hidden in a shadowed area in order to proceed?". This is an RPG, not a LucasArts graphic adventure from the 90s!

[GolemsVoice]

These puzzles or secrets have been a staple of the divinity series since the very first game. Whether that is good or bad is up to you, it's certainly traditional.

[mangosta71]

The Source Abomination is a lot easier if you teleport it to the other side of the door that it can't get through, then sidestep into view, snipe, and sidestep out during your turn so it can't attack.

[BRC]

I've been playing up a storm of this game, and I like it a lot, but I have some complaints.

First of all ,Transparency. A lot of the systems (like the crafting system) are imprecise. I wish there was a better "Recipie List" rather than just a log of the crafting books you have seen (I want something that says "HEALING POTION, [INGREDIENT] + [INGREDIENT], not a paragraph of text).
Plus, it's far too easy to misclick in combat and have my archer run halfway across the battlefield.

Also, I think it was a mistake for them to have the game open in such an undead-heavy area. Undead are immune to stuff like Bleeding and Poison, so rather than having players explore a wide range of tactics early on (When it's easiest to decide your focus), they don't get a chance to use Bleeding or Poison effects.

Also, the Loremaster Skill. I hate the Loremaster Skill, because it's basically a tax. Other skills open up new gameplay opportunities, or make you better at things. Loremaster is equal parts essential and boring. Every so often, things will require another level of Loremaster to identify, so if you don't have that get it or you miss out on all the good loot. So you're basically forced to sink points into Loremaster.
Meanwhile, I made the mistake of having my Loremaster character and my Barterer character be different. My Barterer ALSO has better luck, so I like to loot with her.
So, the pattern is
1) Barterer/looter loots "Ooh! Magic item", sends it to Loremaster
2) Loremaster identifies it, nine times out of ten I don't want to use it, so it gets sent back to the Barterer to sell when I get back to a shop.

That said, I REALLY wish they had a combined inventory, or at least combined gold total. I get it for co-op play, but it gets really annoying, especially since switching which character is bartering undoes the trade.

"OOH! I want these scrolls, but I don't have enough gold on this character, wait another one had some vendor trash items, time to back out of the trade" ect ect.
The result is that my Barterer becomes the packmule carrying everything so I don't need to switch around my stuff. A combined inventory would make things so much easier.


All in all the game is very fun. I especially like how they've thrown out the idea of "Trash Mobs', easily winnable fights that exist to slow down the player or just absorb resources (Since its easy enough to get healing magic, you can full heal after any fight by waiting long enough). It seems like every fight is hard enough that It poses some sort of challenge. I never get the sense that i'm "Grinding" through fights by repeating the same tactics until the bad guys fall down.

[Cespenar]

I agree with many of your points, but the "recipes" one I very strongly disagree. It's stuff like that, the removal of quest markers and how even the "highlight" key doesn't highlight the hidden items because your perception is too low that make the game shine in my opinion. It's very refreshing how the game gently pushes you to give that extra effort, not in bland repetition but in actual thinking. It's "old school" without having to resort to ultra-hard battles and 30-hour grinds.

My own gripe with the game, however is that the storyline and the characters aren't that good. Or have quality voice actors that say more than just one sentence. I know, not every studio is Obsidian/Bioware, but everything else is so right that one can't help but look out for the rest as well.

[BRC]

I agree with many of your points, but the "recipes" one I very strongly disagree. It's stuff like that, the removal of quest markers and how even the "highlight" key doesn't highlight the hidden items because your perception is too low that make the game shine in my opinion. It's very refreshing how the game gently pushes you to give that extra effort, not in bland repetition but in actual thinking. It's "old school" without having to resort to ultra-hard battles and 30-hour grinds.

Its just a general gripe with the crafting system being very opaque. Its a cool system that I want to explore, but I don't want to spend lots of time dragging things into other things in my crafter's inventory in the hopes something interesting will happen.

[factotum]

I actually completed the game at the weekend. It's a shame an overall good title was spoiled by the bane of RPGs everywhere--a crappy end boss fight.

Spoiler

Show

The Trife went down extremely rapidly, and when the Void Dragon showed up, I at least expected the enemy of the entire universe to provide a bit of a challenge. But no--the main challenge is to avoid falling asleep while slowly whittling down his zillion hit points, amazed at his almost total inability to hurt me in return. I don't think I had a single character go below half health, even when I misclicked and managed to stun two of my own guys for a couple of turns with electrified blood!

I agree the storyline wasn't stellar, but that's never been Larian's strong suit anyway. They're good at the mechanical side of RPGs. What I dream of is them doing the RPG mechanics while someone like Obsidian does the story and world-building--now that would be all sorts of awesome!

[Morty]

It looks interesting, but I seem to be growing increasingly disillusioned with RPGs marketed as "old-school" and "returning to the roots". I suppose I might pick it up whenever the price goes down or I'm less broke than I am right now.

Although BRC's points about the crafting system fill me with trepidation. It seems to hit all the cardinal sins of crafting systems... although, granted, their primary cardinal sin is existing. But apart from that.

[Krade]

I actually completed the game at the weekend. It's a shame an overall good title was spoiled by the bane of RPGs everywhere--a crappy end boss fight.

Spoiler

Show

The Trife went down extremely rapidly, and when the Void Dragon showed up, I at least expected the enemy of the entire universe to provide a bit of a challenge. But no--the main challenge is to avoid falling asleep while slowly whittling down his zillion hit points, amazed at his almost total inability to hurt me in return. I don't think I had a single character go below half health, even when I misclicked and managed to stun two of my own guys for a couple of turns with electrified blood!

I agree the storyline wasn't stellar, but that's never been Larian's strong suit anyway. They're good at the mechanical side of RPGs. What I dream of is them doing the RPG mechanics while someone like Obsidian does the story and world-building--now that would be all sorts of awesome!

I know the feeling. I tend to overlevel in RPGs so this has happened to me a few times. Most notably Blue Dragon. I didn't think I was that highly leveled, but when the last boss died before he even got an action, well...

I fought him a couple other times. Once I let him live for a while just so I could actually SEE what his attacks were like. They didn't do much damage.

[factotum]

Although BRC's points about the crafting system fill me with trepidation. It seems to hit all the cardinal sins of crafting systems... although, granted, their primary cardinal sin is existing. But apart from that.

The crafting system is not necessary to finish the game--I did it while crafting a grand total of one item (a courage potion needed for a sidequest).

[Cespenar]

Crafting is not that bad, really. As said, it's not necessary to finish the game, and the recipes/materials are numerous and organically distributed enough that it doesn't become a "here are the items that you were gonna get anyway, but with a couple extra chores in between". Yesterday, for example, I managed to "craft" a pizza, which, while totally unnecessary in any way, seemed like a pretty fun little detail to me.

[factotum]

I managed to "craft" a pizza, which, while totally unnecessary in any way, seemed like a pretty fun little detail to me.

That actually sounds kind of cool, wish I'd paid a bit more attention to the crafting system now! (I remember baking bread and cooking fish in Arx Fatalis many years ago--there was even a quest where the way to solve the problem was to cook a loaf containing something that made the goblin king desperately need the lavatory. There should be more quests you have to solve with culinary skills).

[Cespenar]

Heh, true, there could be a few "casual" quests, mostly for fun and/or roleplay. Something like an iron chef contest, for example.

[mangosta71]

You could suggest that to the Steam Workshop. I'm sure that someone there would run with it, assuming it hasn't already been done.