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Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Oh gawd stop saying item fever. You're just encouraging them.
 

deama

Prophet
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I've finished my playthough:

Speedhacking works fine, no obvious problems (I tried 1.5x and 2x).

The story is better than DOS in both execution and writing, it relies less on the constant nostalgia from the previous game, which I very much like. I believe it's also set after divinity 2, so at least we're progressing.

The writing is interesting...
I think I like it. There is a problem though with you having to constantly switch between the styles, so it confuses you and you end up forgetting wtf is going on, but with more work put into it I think it can be fairly good; or at least something different that works.

The power progression is kinda crap. Apparentely when you level up you get weaker some how? Kinda like what they did in dragon age 2, though here only your melee damage and the worth of attribute points gets weaker (apart from the memory stat). So the only way to increase your melee damage is to keep on finding better and better gear, disgusting!
Also, I hate the fact that you can only have a max of 6 AP and there's no other way of increasing it.

The design of the map is definitely better than Cyseal from the first game; it feels less linear. I can't say anything more of the other maps, since it's in early access...
but I hope it's not gonna get sloppy.

The loot isn't THAT bad, but it could definitely be more interesting. There's new combat animations, they make the combat smoother.

I think that's about it.
 
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agris

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veevoir DraQ imweasel

So what do you guys get out of DOS or DOS2 if you've played it? The dumb writing, the shitty loot and awful World of Warcraft-inspired color palette made it so that I couldn't even progress very far into Cyseal in DOS1. When the IE games were used as their original touch-stones for inspiration for DOS1, I didn't assume it was IWD2. The loot system compared to BG1/2 is probably the biggest offender. Loot in those games allowed for manifestly different gameplay while items felt unique, even if you did have 4 different Ring of Princes.
 

DraQ

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veevoir DraQ imweasel

So what do you guys get out of DOS or DOS2 if you've played it? The dumb writing, the shitty loot and awful World of Warcraft-inspired color palette made it so that I couldn't even progress very far into Cyseal in DOS1. When the IE games were used as their original touch-stones for inspiration for DOS1, I didn't assume it was IWD2. The loot system compared to BG1/2 is probably the biggest offender. Loot in those games allowed for manifestly different gameplay while items felt unique, even if you did have 4 different Ring of Princes.
Combat is pretty much the single thing that keeps D:OS afloat for me (do note that I still haven't finished it).
I mean writing is - surprisingly enough - bad, premise is boring, humour is both too ubiquitous and dilute - which is also an unpleasant surprise, art style is bad and WoW-esque (though the game manages to make it look almost gorgeous at times), itemization is bad (as usual), exploration is about as good as it gets in an effectively 2D game, but damaged by bad itemization, character and party building is uninteresting (largely due to little customization - no races), anything involving character interaction is ghastly, courtesy of bad and uninteresting writing and Rock-Paper-Scissors which is a typical time waster minigame.

Combat, though is fun. More than that, a lot of things about it are brilliant and most others are at least solid (though it's blemished by nasty UI deficiencies and unnecessary disconnection between mechanics and its presentation - particularly for Man-at-Arms skills). Other than that the game shows a lot of systemic depth but it's rarely of any effect outside of combat. As far as I have seen you could bend crafting system to some interesting use when making quests, but I don't think it's used to anywhere near its full potential in game.

As for D:OS2, I know it will have races, including lizardfolk I tend to prefer playing as and interesting sounding undead and cannibalistic elves (a bit of a TES rip-off, but I can't say this idea is overused and it certainly has potential), so party building is guaranteed to be better, z-axis in actual gameplay, better art direction and I believe, with first opinions confirming it, that Larian took enough flak for D:OS' writing to markedly improve it in the sequel, so there go the worst things - I can probably live with awful itemization.
 

SniperHF

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Aug 22, 2014
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The story is better than DOS in both execution and writing, it relies less on the constant nostalgia from the previous game, which I very much like. I believe it's also set after divinity 2, so at least we're progressing.

It's post Divine Divinity, but before Beyond and Divinity 2.

I think I like it. There is a problem though with you having to constantly switch between the styles, so it confuses you and you end up forgetting wtf is going on, but with more work put into it I think it can be fairly good; or at least something different that works.

Same reason I dislike it.

The power progression is kinda crap. Apparentely when you level up you get weaker some how? Kinda like what they did in dragon age 2, though here only your melee damage and the worth of attribute points gets weaker (apart from the memory stat). So the only way to increase your melee damage is to keep on finding better and better gear, disgusting!

My assumption is this is a GUI problem more than an actual problem. It's reflecting the under the hood calculations that the game has with the -% on damage. If they stopped increasing that negative % hit your damage would grow to crazy ends based on how the D:OS 1 sheets work. They just need to find a better way to display that information.
 

deama

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Also, I hate the fact that you can only have a max of 6 AP and there's no other way of increasing it.
wut?
Too much balance for me.

The story is better than DOS in both execution and writing, it relies less on the constant nostalgia from the previous game, which I very much like. I believe it's also set after divinity 2, so at least we're progressing.

It's post Divine Divinity, but before Beyond and Divinity 2.

Ah...
 
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imweasel

Guest
The power progression is kinda crap. Apparentely when you level up you get weaker some how? Kinda like what they did in dragon age 2, though here only your melee damage and the worth of attribute points gets weaker (apart from the memory stat). So the only way to increase your melee damage is to keep on finding better and better gear, disgusting!
You don't get weaker when you level up you just stay about as weak. Pumping up your attributes etc. on level up only increases your damage output by 2 to 3% per level depending on what you choose. Finding a new weapon is what drastically increases your damage output, e.g. the last bow (lvl 6) I found for my archer was 200% more powerful (50 dmg vs. 150 dmg) than the last bow (lvl 5) I found, this last bow also happens to be a whopping 900% more powerful than the first bow (lvl 1) that I found in the game (15 dmg vs. 150 dmg)... Compare that to the damage output increase of 2 to 3% on average from leveling up. Not to forget all of the gear on top of that which also increase your attributes etc. pp.... This game is truly all about the "item fever".

And now that I think about it, this system is also quite forgiving if you happen to make a shitty build.

Also, I hate the fact that you can only have a max of 6 AP and there's no other way of increasing it.
Balance fever because of multiplayer (Arena mode) I guess.

So what do you guys get out of DOS or DOS2 if you've played it?
The only thing that D:OS really had going for it was the fun combat. Everything else was mediocre (writing, exploration, art direction) or pure shit (itemization), but I am a combat fag so I still enjoyed D:OS quite a bit despite its obvious faults. My expectations for D:OS 2 are much higher and I will be disappointed if Larian doesn‘t deliver.
 

veevoir

Klytus, I'm bored
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong BattleTech
agris
honestly combat gets it going. Addition of Z axis is welcome. Enemies seem to be a tad smarter, but thats a subjective thing (maybe exactly because of Z axis).

Exploration in DOS was actually fun and it seems it continued to be so in 2. Writing got better except for that indirect talk thing.

In general DOS2 is an improvement all above the board. With the exception of item beaver and stats being a bit more Sawyer school of design (as mentioned here - level up gives you +X% something while better items give a lot more).

Disclaimer - I couldnt get myself to finish first DOS due to shitty, cringy writing for pre-school kids and plot so bland it hurt my eyes. What I see in DOS2 is much improved in that regard.
 

Black

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So far these balance changes are putting me off the game more than anything else is attracting me to it.
 

Smashing Axe

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Divinity: Original Sin
Are there any stat or skill checks in dialogue? If I pump up loremaster am I going to get options related to that?

It sounds as if memory is the best stat to pump up currently. Especially for an AoE focused character.
 

Alienman

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
veevoir DraQ imweasel

So what do you guys get out of DOS or DOS2 if you've played it? The dumb writing, the shitty loot and awful World of Warcraft-inspired color palette made it so that I couldn't even progress very far into Cyseal in DOS1. When the IE games were used as their original touch-stones for inspiration for DOS1, I didn't assume it was IWD2. The loot system compared to BG1/2 is probably the biggest offender. Loot in those games allowed for manifestly different gameplay while items felt unique, even if you did have 4 different Ring of Princes.

For me co-op saved this game. I had a great time with my co-op partner. Combat was fun to plan out. The whimsical story got pretty tolerable when you have a friend next to you joking about shit :)
 

Jedi Exile

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Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I've seen only stat checks so far. And you get special dialogue options for each character.
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

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Aug 7, 2013
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All of the stats are checked, but I don't think any of the skills are. Persuasion just makes all stat checks in dialogue easier.
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

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Diminishing returns are an overarching theme in this version of the character system. Check out how steeply the Armor and Vitality abilities are diminishing right now; putting more than 1 point into them seems barely worth it. All of that stuff will surely be fine tuned in the months before release.
 

Lacrymas

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Sep 23, 2015
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Pathfinder: Wrath
I hate item systems that are more powerful than your character, what's the point of building a character if that's the case? I think D&D's system is better, where better items are only marginally better than the ones before (yeah a +5 sword is a lot better than a non-magical one, but there's ~15 lvl difference between the two). That puts more focus into character builds than items. Seriously, the Swordflight module for NWN should be required playing to learn proper leveling and item design.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
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I prefer them e.g. with Fallout you can be level 12 but if you only have a vault suit and a pistol you're not getting anywhere at all with those super mutants. :M
 

Lacrymas

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Pathfinder: Wrath
But that's not a 900% increase from level 1 to level 6 :p Items should be meaningful and probably even define some builds, but it shouldn't be such a massive spike as to feel that only higher lvl of items are worth it and everything else is secondary (like your whole character). This item-centric power progression is MMO-design, where it makes sense because the game doesn't end at max level and you need that incentive, and doesn't really have a place in single-player RPGs. Items should complement power progression/build diversity, not *replace* it.
 
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imweasel

Guest
I prefer them e.g. with Fallout you can be level 12 but if you only have a vault suit and a pistol you're not getting anywhere at all with those super mutants. :M
Power armor and a plasma rifle won't do much good against Super Mutants either if you are only level 1.

Pump up perception by one point and energy weapons by 20 points in Fallout and you will definitely feel the difference.

IMO itemization is at its best when, replacing a weapon, you feel as though you are also retiring it.
In D:OS 2 that is about once every level on average.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
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Power armor and a plasma rifle won't do much good against Super Mutants either if you are only level 1.

The One Weird Trick to Break Fallout 2 involves savescumming your way to Navarro to get Advanced Power Armor so nothing can touch you. :M
 

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