Divinity: Original Sin 2: Definitive Edition

[Aotrs Commander]

If youre having trouble, you can actually skip phase one and enter phase two with Lucian and Dallas and co fighting as your allies against Team Void, and then betray and fight them later after Team Void is defeated. Just agree with Lucian to give up your source, and it wont actually commit you to that until after the fight, where it gives you a chance to confirm or change your mind.

Also, what difficulty are you playing on and what level are you? Its a nasty fight, but I rarely get killed before I even get a turn unless im severely under leveled or botched Phase 1.

Classic, I think?

I'm level 20, which is the maximum I could get without killing all the NPCs in the game - I've done basically every quest.

I've not had too much trouble with the last fight either. You can't group up or you'll get AoEed to death.

Except, of course, phase two automatically bunches you up and lets the enemies have one to two goes before you do. Sallow got off TWO rounds of his cheap, stacking plague effect before Fane got a single go.

Fane, is of course, my primary damage dealer and the one member of the party I can't afford to have die, and the game seems to be specifically targetting him for being hit by that effect, as it ALWAYS puts him where he can be hit by it instantly, regardless of what order I put the party in, or where he was standing before the phase two starts.

Frankly, if it wasn't for that utter bovine excrement stacking plague, I'd possibly be less annoyed, but that's just fracking terrible game design on the basic conceptual level of the most petty, Nintendo-hard varity. It's t sort of thing that if I knew how to do so (or this was a Paradox game) I'd have gone in a fricking modded out myself as a frack-you to the devs.

(I'm still fracked-off as hell after a nights meditation (the double-whammy of this and then watching Steins:Gate pulls some narrative bull-crap really did my temper no favours.)



So, I can see, for a kick-off, the difficultly is going right down, if it can, and I guess I will have Lucian and company not hostile (against what I acually wanted to roleplay) because I am no longer interested in playing fair, because DS:O2 isn't.

[Keltest]

Classic, I think?

I'm level 20, which is the maximum I could get without killing all the NPCs in the game - I've done basically every quest.



Except, of course, phase two automatically bunches you up and lets the enemies have one to two goes before you do. Sallow got off TWO rounds of his cheap, stacking plague effect before Fane got a single go.

Fane, is of course, my primary damage dealer and the one member of the party I can't afford to have die, and the game seems to be specifically targetting him for being hit by that effect, as it ALWAYS puts him where he can be hit by it instantly, regardless of what order I put the party in, or where he was standing before the phase two starts.

Frankly, if it wasn't for that utter bovine excrement stacking plague, I'd possibly be less annoyed, but that's just fracking terrible game design on the basic conceptual level of the most petty, Nintendo-hard varity. It's t sort of thing that if I knew how to do so (or this was a Paradox game) I'd have gone in a fricking modded out myself as a frack-you to the devs.

(I'm still fracked-off as hell after a nights meditation (the double-whammy of this and then watching Steins:Gate pulls some narrative bull-crap really did my temper no favours.)



So, I can see, for a kick-off, the difficultly is going right down, if it can, and I guess I will have Lucian and company not hostile (against what I acually wanted to roleplay) because I am no longer interested in playing fair, because DS:O2 isn't.

Something else to remember is that all of your enemies in this fight are undead, except Lucian and the magisters if you choose to fight them. If you drop a mass healing spell, its going to hurt everybody in range, and blessed surfaces are going to give them a lot of trouble. I want to say that bless also cures the stupid plague, but im less certain in that regard. Either way, you have unlimited source points for this fight, so don't hesitate to bring out all your big guns.

Also, if you have rez scrolls to spare, you can actually recharge the idol while in combat for like one AP. Its much cheaper than using the scroll, with the only down side being it doesn't reset your cooldowns like an actual scroll does.

[Aotrs Commander]

Something else to remember is that all of your enemies in this fight are undead, except Lucian and the magisters if you choose to fight them. If you drop a mass healing spell, its going to hurt everybody in range, and blessed surfaces are going to give them a lot of trouble. I want to say that bless also cures the stupid plague, but im less certain in that regard. Either way, you have unlimited source points for this fight, so don't hesitate to bring out all your big guns.

Also, if you have rez scrolls to spare, you can actually recharge the idol while in combat for like one AP. Its much cheaper than using the scroll, with the only down side being it doesn't reset your cooldowns like an actual scroll does.

Dropped to explorer, offered up source and stomped throguh the figth. Probably could have done in classic doing that, but I was, at that point, no longer interested in doing that.

I had plnety of res scrolls spare, but a couple of times, it killed Red Prince twice in a round before he was allowed an action.

Bless does cure the plague, and the main advantage of allying Lucien is that his first action was to lob of a blessign that cured everyone. (And, because FRACK HIM I focus-fired Sallow Man to death immediately. Apparently the other advantage of doing that is that the phase doesn't start mid-round, so I got a go with everyone before the Sallow Man got his second one.)



Worked through all the available endings:

Spoiler

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Starting with Lohse Divine, which I thought was, on balance, probably the best ending. Sure, Driftwood carked it which was a random "screw you," but overall, I felt "and the adventuers continued" was better than the others, though the "sacrfice all cource" was debatably "better." (Except all but Lohse Divine screwed poor Malady.)

Kind of odd the the choice not to become divine wasn't the one that gave your source to Lucian - which is what I thought when I did that option, and that to do that, you had to become Divine first and then give it to him. You'd be seriously peeved if you hadn't saved and thought that, 'cos that was the defnite Worst Ending (possible with Lohse, anyway).



Credit where credit is due, the endings were, crappy last fight aside well-executed, and as this is often the point where games drop the ball, they didn't do that, at least. So a bit of a reverse Neverwinter Nights 2, then.



But, seeing as they explictly told me to go make up my own ending (bit of a copout, lads), okay then:

Lohse Divine went around with Sebille, doing Hero Stuff (occasionally assisted by Fane, Red Prince, and I guess, since they said nothing about her to preclude it, Dallis (making sure she didn't get up to any more mischief), and Lohse continued to level up and eventually max allher stats out and then in the course of Bkeabane's D:OS 3, solved Malady's ills (also making her a full part member) along with Sir Lora, Jahan and Han (ditto, because Lohsa is divine so frack four-person party limits) and together with Red Emperor's dragon kids, they entered the void itself, vivisected the God-King, got Tarquin to figure out stuff and cracked the Void good and proper; they were aided at the last moment in the battle by a nameless, heavily scarred, grey-skinned fighter dude of ridiculous level from another dimension - apparently he gotten bord after single-handedly ending some "Blood War" by killing all of the participants single-mace-dly. Als, Fanbe, who had a riculous Int at this point, worked out how to make resurrect work on non-party peopel, so thy ressed everyone who wasn't evil in Driftwood.

And then they lived happily ever after.

So there.

Fane playthrough for next time thought as this run-through took 150 hours, not gonna rush. Cant complain about the length, though, that's got to be the second-longest single RPG I've ever played, second only to Witcher 3. (But I was starting to feel I'd about had enough by the end, which is why I wanted to push on through.)

[Keltest]

Dropped to explorer, offered up source and stomped throguh the figth. Probably could have done in classic doing that, but I was, at that point, no longer interested in doing that.

I had plnety of res scrolls spare, but a couple of times, it killed Red Prince twice in a round before he was allowed an action.

Bless does cure the plague, and the main advantage of allying Lucien is that his first action was to lob of a blessign that cured everyone. (And, because FRACK HIM I focus-fired Sallow Man to death immediately. Apparently the other advantage of doing that is that the phase doesn't start mid-round, so I got a go with everyone before the Sallow Man got his second one.)



Worked through all the available endings:

Spoiler

Show

Starting with Lohse Divine, which I thought was, on balance, probably the best ending. Sure, Driftwood carked it which was a random "screw you," but overall, I felt "and the adventuers continued" was better than the others, though the "sacrfice all cource" was debatably "better." (Except all but Lohse Divine screwed poor Malady.)

Kind of odd the the choice not to become divine wasn't the one that gave your source to Lucian - which is what I thought when I did that option, and that to do that, you had to become Divine first and then give it to him. You'd be seriously peeved if you hadn't saved and thought that, 'cos that was the defnite Worst Ending (possible with Lohse, anyway).



Credit where credit is due, the endings were, crappy last fight aside well-executed, and as this is often the point where games drop the ball, they didn't do that, at least. So a bit of a reverse Neverwinter Nights 2, then.



But, seeing as they explictly told me to go make up my own ending (bit of a copout, lads), okay then:

Lohse Divine went around with Sebille, doing Hero Stuff (occasionally assisted by Fane, Red Prince, and I guess, since they said nothing about her to preclude it, Dallis (making sure she didn't get up to any more mischief), and Lohse continued to level up and eventually max allher stats out and then in the course of Bkeabane's D:OS 3, solved Malady's ills (also making her a full part member) along with Sir Lora, Jahan and Han (ditto, because Lohsa is divine so frack four-person party limits) and together with Red Emperor's dragon kids, they entered the void itself, vivisected the God-King, got Tarquin to figure out stuff and cracked the Void good and proper; they were aided at the last moment in the battle by a nameless, heavily scarred, grey-skinned fighter dude of ridiculous level from another dimension - apparently he gotten bord after single-handedly ending some "Blood War" by killing all of the participants single-mace-dly. Als, Fanbe, who had a riculous Int at this point, worked out how to make resurrect work on non-party peopel, so thy ressed everyone who wasn't evil in Driftwood.

And then they lived happily ever after.

So there.

Fane playthrough for next time thought as this run-through took 150 hours, not gonna rush. Cant complain about the length, though, that's got to be the second-longest single RPG I've ever played, second only to Witcher 3. (But I was starting to feel I'd about had enough by the end, which is why I wanted to push on through.)

I have to say, there is a certain satisfaction with having a "screw the puny mortals" playthrough as fane. I recommend doing a Lone Wolf run as Fane and either solo the whole game or with an undead partner. Really embrace the "I am a man in a society of rats" attitude that he has and just burn everything to the ground.

As far as endings go, you actually missed two (arguably three) that you need to go out of your way a bit.

Spoiler: Lohse has problems

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The first one has you make a deal with Lohse's demon who's name I cant spell, letting him possess you when you become Divine.

Spoiler: Fane is a special snowflake

Show

The second and third-ish ones are only achievable with Fane. You can choose to bring back the Eternals, as they were, with or without bringing back the God King as well.

[Aotrs Commander]

I have to say, there is a certain satisfaction with having a "screw the puny mortals" playthrough as fane. I recommend doing a Lone Wolf run as Fane and either solo the whole game or with an undead partner. Really embrace the "I am a man in a society of rats" attitude that he has and just burn everything to the ground.

As far as endings go, you actually missed two (arguably three) that you need to go out of your way a bit.

I figured, but the latter will be for a second playthrough (as/when/if) and I wasn't gonna go that far to not spifflicate the individual in question just for that former ending...

[Anteros]

Having Ifan in the party also unlocks a unique ending where

Spoiler

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instead of taking the power of the divine you share it with EVERYONE. It's probably the most classically good ending.

[Keltest]

Having Ifan in the party also unlocks a unique ending where

Spoiler

Show

instead of taking the power of the divine you share it with EVERYONE. It's probably the most classically good ending.

I wasn't aware that was Ifan exclusive?

[Aotrs Commander]

I wasn't aware that was Ifan exclusive?

It isn't. I did that one too.

[Anteros]

They must have changed it then. Which is certainly possible. Are you sure though? The "make everyone a source user" ending is not the same as the "remove all source" ending that everyone can get, although they're superficially similar.

[Aotrs Commander]

They must have changed it then. Which is certainly possible. Are you sure though? The "make everyone a source user" ending is not the same as the "remove all source" ending that everyone can get, although they're superficially similar.

Considering I did both, I'm absolutely positive.

[Anteros]

Considering I did both, I'm absolutely positive.

Fair enough. They must have changed it.

[Ninjaman]

If you can kill Vrederman before he gets time to begin stage two then it won't happen and the fight will be a lot easier.

[Lord Torath]

I found the Genie's lamp. What did you guys wish for?

Spoiler: Wishing for more wishes

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I wished for knowledge, first, and got a useless book of nursery rhymes.
I reloaded my game, and this time I wished for power, and got a decent 1-handed sword.

[Aotrs Commander]

I found the Genie's lamp. What did you guys wish for?

Spoiler: Wishing for more wishes

Show

I wished for knowledge, first, and got a useless book of nursery rhymes.
I reloaded my game, and this time I wished for power, and got a decent 1-handed sword.

I found an empty one, but not one that worked... Where'd you find that?

[Lord Torath]

I found an empty one, but not one that worked... Where'd you find that?

Spoiler: Wishing for more wishes!

Show

Near the statue of the "non-burning" prophet near Driftwood in the Definitive Edition. I did not find any clues at the statue for how to get the torches to stay lit, so I checked out the surrounding are. The lamp was on a low beach to the east (I think) of the statue (which is on a somewhat high bluff). Also, the genie offered to teach me to handle more Source before granting the wish; all I had to do was eat some rotten, void-infused "something". I declined.

[Anteros]

The genie actually requires a specific set of tags as well as high persuasion in order to get a real wish. Otherwise he perverts your wish into something useless or negative. One example is that he can strike your entire party permanently blind. You must have picked made the right persuasion option to get the sword and the wrong ones when you got the nursery rhymes.

[Ninjaman]

I found the Genie's lamp. What did you guys wish for?

Spoiler: Wishing for more wishes

Show

I wished for knowledge, first, and got a useless book of nursery rhymes.
I reloaded my game, and this time I wished for power, and got a decent 1-handed sword.

The real trick with the genie is that he scales of your level, and nothing he can give is better than the XP, so just save it until you're ready to leave act 2 to summon him on the ship in level 17/18, and take him out with the help of the seekers. You can possibly kill him later too.

[Spore]

I am hopefully faster than the necro time limit. So I just found this gem in the Wintersale and after having it stew amongst the dozens of other games I have never played I tried it.

First with a Lizard Warrior, and I quickly found out Lizards are capable wizards, and that the Red Prince is also canonically a warrior (I like staying with the canonical class). Then I tried a Wayfarer Summoner, and I settled on a male Elven Enchanter.

Gameplay is wonky to solid thus far, my group doesn't really come together. I got the Red Prince as a Warrior and tank whom the AI constantly ignores because his armor makes it almost impossible for them to CC him. They regularly manage to make him burn though which is gladly amended with Geomancy. Ifan as a Wayfarer is very decent though I think I'll remove the standard Geomancy from him in favor of some more precise damage because sniping enemy wizards and weakened warriors is his job. Beast is a very decent offtank and warrior as a battlemage, but he is often targetted instead of the Red Prince. I need to find a way to bolster his defenses while keeping his offensive power (and a way to make sure the Red Prince actually does something other than running after teleporting and CCing wizards). Finally my Enchanter Elf is actually a very decent healer now but the Rain/Shock combo doesn't work more often than it does. Rain is situationally useful but much of the early game is funnily built around poison, oil slicks and explosions. I figured I sorta shouldn't have switched out Hail Strike for Regeneration and now I cannot figure out where to find an Enchanter vendor.

[Keltest]

I am hopefully faster than the necro time limit. So I just found this gem in the Wintersale and after having it stew amongst the dozens of other games I have never played I tried it.

First with a Lizard Warrior, and I quickly found out Lizards are capable wizards, and that the Red Prince is also canonically a warrior (I like staying with the canonical class). Then I tried a Wayfarer Summoner, and I settled on a male Elven Enchanter.

Gameplay is wonky to solid thus far, my group doesn't really come together. I got the Red Prince as a Warrior and tank whom the AI constantly ignores because his armor makes it almost impossible for them to CC him. They regularly manage to make him burn though which is gladly amended with Geomancy. Ifan as a Wayfarer is very decent though I think I'll remove the standard Geomancy from him in favor of some more precise damage because sniping enemy wizards and weakened warriors is his job. Beast is a very decent offtank and warrior as a battlemage, but he is often targetted instead of the Red Prince. I need to find a way to bolster his defenses while keeping his offensive power (and a way to make sure the Red Prince actually does something other than running after teleporting and CCing wizards). Finally my Enchanter Elf is actually a very decent healer now but the Rain/Shock combo doesn't work more often than it does. Rain is situationally useful but much of the early game is funnily built around poison, oil slicks and explosions. I figured I sorta shouldn't have switched out Hail Strike for Regeneration and now I cannot figure out where to find an Enchanter vendor.

The blue lizard in Fort Joy who wanders around the back camp area sells hydrosophist books. The lightning vendor is actually the guy who tries to convince you to get the teleporter gloves for him.

Skill books are sold by school rather than class, although some vendors will sometimes sell complimentary schools at the same time.

[Anteros]

As you've discovered, tanks are pretty much worthless. There's only one skill to force enemies to attack you, and it's not worth building a character around at all. Shields are a lot more useful on mages than they are on warriors.

[Spore]

The blue lizard in Fort Joy who wanders around the back camp area sells hydrosophist books. The lightning vendor is actually the guy who tries to convince you to get the teleporter gloves for him.

Skill books are sold by school rather than class, although some vendors will sometimes sell complimentary schools at the same time.

Thanks a bunch! It is still an odd feeling that every NPC has some story or gear to buy rather than one central merchant.

As you've discovered, tanks are pretty much worthless. There's only one skill to force enemies to attack you, and it's not worth building a character around at all. Shields are a lot more useful on mages than they are on warriors.

Thanks a bunch for the info. Dished out almost 1k gold for a good sword and shield. I guess the shield gets sold, Red Prince takes Beast's spear and Beast gets to buy another sword for two weapon fighting. I assumed the skills whose damage is dependant on armor are better.

[Keltest]

As you've discovered, tanks are pretty much worthless. There's only one skill to force enemies to attack you, and it's not worth building a character around at all. Shields are a lot more useful on mages than they are on warriors.

I would suggest rather that tanks work by being bruisers. Warfare has a number of AoE hard CC effects and in general has the easiest time of any school at keeping people off their feet, IMO.

[Anteros]

I would suggest rather that tanks work by being bruisers. Warfare has a number of AoE hard CC effects and in general has the easiest time of any school at keeping people off their feet, IMO.

They're definitely good at that. It's just not what I would traditionally call a tank.

[Ninjaman]

I got the Red Prince as a Warrior and tank whom the AI constantly ignores because his armor makes it almost impossible for them to CC him. They regularly manage to make him burn though which is gladly amended with Geomancy.

Most people will tell you that tanks aren't good, and I agree, but that doesn't mean shields can't be good on fighter characters. Shield bounce is one of your most damaging abilities, and as you say enemies tend to ignore him because he is so durable, use that to stay right in the middle of the action.
Or just switch to using two handed, which is definitely also an option.

Ifan as a Wayfarer is very decent though I think I'll remove the standard Geomancy from him in favor of some more precise damage because sniping enemy wizards and weakened warriors is his job.

Alternatively if you want him to do something other than just shooting things you can also throw some points into summoning, which will also make his source ability better.

Beast is a very decent offtank and warrior as a battlemage, but he is often targetted instead of the Red Prince. I need to find a way to bolster his defenses while keeping his offensive power

If he has just a few points in strength he can use strength armor, that should make him more durable against melee attacks.

(and a way to make sure the Red Prince actually does something other than running after teleporting and CCing wizards).

I don't know what level you are at now, but pheonix dive, the warfare teleport ability, unlocks from vendors at level 9. Blitz, which lets you jump 8 feet and jump between two enemies is also sold at around the same time I think.

Finally my Enchanter Elf is actually a very decent healer now but the Rain/Shock combo doesn't work more often than it does. Rain is situationally useful but much of the early game is funnily built around poison, oil slicks and explosions. I figured I sorta shouldn't have switched out Hail Strike for Regeneration and now I cannot figure out where to find an Enchanter vendor.

I don't know if you are aware of how shock/wet/frozen works, because I know I weren't when I first started using them. Most status effects, wet is an exception, can only be applied after the enemy has been stripped of their armor, magical armor in this case. If you use lightning on someone and they end up with no magic armor, you shock them if they become shocked again, or are/become wet, they are stunned instead. Wet is good because it makes them take 20% more damage from air spells, along with 10% more from water, if you can strip them of all their magic armor then they are stunned. With both Beast and your Enchanter slinging lightning effects this shouldn't be too difficult to do.

Thanks a bunch for the info. Dished out almost 1k gold for a good sword and shield. I guess the shield gets sold, Red Prince takes Beast's spear and Beast gets to buy another sword for two weapon fighting. I assumed the skills whose damage is dependant on armor are better.

Spears use dex, so don't give that to the Red Prince if you used strength weapons before. Don't sell the shield, give it to your enchanter.

With the last sentence I assume you are talking about reactive armor? I found it quite useful when I played a shield fighter.

[Spore]

Not a fan of shield bounce but I use it to damage people before closing in. Oddly my sword and board setup features a lightning sworf now so I can shock and strip magic and normal armor all while hitting normally.

As for summoning I understand there ia a limit of one creature to summon so Ifan could invest in summoner and just slot out incarnate when when we get rid of these blasted collars?

[Keltest]

Not a fan of shield bounce but I use it to damage people before closing in. Oddly my sword and board setup features a lightning sworf now so I can shock and strip magic and normal armor all while hitting normally.

As for summoning I understand there ia a limit of one creature to summon so Ifan could invest in summoner and just slot out incarnate when when we get rid of these blasted collars?

You can also summon elemental totems in surfaces, of which there is no hard limit, but it caps out in practice because they have a timed life.

Also, in general, the incarnate will be soooo much better than his wolf unless you just need a body with taunt to absorb an attack from somebody for a round or two. It takes a few rounds to get up to steam with all the infusions, but a fully loaded incarnate is an absolute horrific monster.

[Ninjaman]

Not a fan of shield bounce but I use it to damage people before closing in. Oddly my sword and board setup features a lightning sworf now so I can shock and strip magic and normal armor all while hitting normally.

Why don't you like shield bounce? I find it's the sword and board ability that deals the most damage, and it is ranged, and can hit to.

The lightning sword isn't going to do much magic damage, but being able to shock along with your two other characters is going to be quite good at CCing.

As for summoning I understand there ia a limit of one creature to summon so Ifan could invest in summoner and just slot out incarnate when when we get rid of these blasted collars?

Depending on how deeply you spec summoning the incarnate ends up being better. It is definitely better when you hit 10, but I don't know at which point it gets better. If you play him as mainly huntsman with just a dash of summoning I think the wolf is going to be better for a long time.

[Aotrs Commander]

Shield Bounce was my bread-and-butter. The only one who didn't have it was Red Prince, who was The Archer. It was dealing ridiculous damage by the end of tge game (especially as my party focussed a lot of physical damage and everyone had scads of Warfare).

[Anteros]

Shield bounce is a good skill, but 2-handers or daggers on your damage dealers will do much more damage overall. It's only worth using a shield on your warriors if you're having trouble with survivability, or you're doing some sort of weird reactive armor build (I've tried it, and it's not that great either.) In general it's a bad thing to have the majority of your damage tied up to one or two cooldowns.

It's absolutely amazing on mages though. It gives them a solid physical damage option that stays relevant all game while also shoring up their defenses. Ironically though, the best mage setup in the game for damage is dual wielding swords (or maybe sword+wand) due to a unique sword that you get

Spoiler: unique item spoilers

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in act 3 that gives 6 initiative, 3 memory, and +20% to crit. The damage on it makes it not worthwhile for your warriors, but it's easily the best mage weapon in the game, and it's not even close.

You can also summon elemental totems in surfaces, of which there is no hard limit, but it caps out in practice because they have a timed life.

Also, in general, the incarnate will be soooo much better than his wolf unless you just need a body with taunt to absorb an attack from somebody for a round or two. It takes a few rounds to get up to steam with all the infusions, but a fully loaded incarnate is an absolute horrific monster.

The incarnate will be better at summoning 10, but the wolf is a powerhouse right away even with no investment. It got a huge buff in the definitive edition and is actually one of the more useful source skills now. In general I consider the wolf the better skill because it's free while the incarnate requires an absolutely enormous investment.

[Ninjaman]

It's absolutely amazing on mages though. It gives them a solid physical damage option that stays relevant all game while also shoring up their defenses. Ironically though, the best mage setup in the game for damage is dual wielding swords (or maybe sword+wand) due to a unique sword that you get

Spoiler: unique item spoilers

Show

in act 3 that gives 6 initiative, 3 memory, and +20% to crit. The damage on it makes it not worthwhile for your warriors, but it's easily the best mage weapon in the game, and it's not even close.

Why is that better than that sword and a shield?