Divinity Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

[Stavrophore]

So many bugged quests, so many bugs, i wonder what they were doing during that 3 years.

 

[Murk]

So far only bugs I've encountered are quest entries not leaving the log (which apparently was addressed in a recent patch but doesn't retroactively fix them, just makes them not show up) and that I never found the gloves of the tyrant in the area they're supposed to be in (unless they were moved and old info from EA is outdated.)

There are busted moments of line of sight and pseudo invisible walls where a tiny fence post blocks way too much, but I'm not sure if that's a bug or just janky LOS.

EDIT: Anyway, I've played enough that I think my thoughts have coalesced and unlikely to change much.

The good:

More skills, more combinations, more effects -- especially with magic. Inclusion of things like summoning, polymorph are definite pluses as are some of the new skills added to other preexisting disciplines. Also, I like that a point in each discipline also gives you a passive buff. The undead aspect is legitimately fun to me, even if it means you have to run around with suboptimal gear for parts because it exposes your bones. I do wish there was a way to see if you are exposed other than aggroing enemies, but oh well. Similarly, I like the cannibalism and racial abilities you get. The cannibalism could be a bit more fleshed out (hur hur), like a lighter version of pet pal where it plays a more relevant role in solving quests. I also like the inclusion of source based super abilities though often they aren't as amazing as one would think -- this could be rebalanced more, but the concept is good. The premise is also better, I'll take "desperate apocalypse" over "evil person is evil with evil dragon" -- tho it's limited and you basically return to big bad evil for a big chunk of the game.

The bad:

Initiative, complete removal of resistance stats like willpower and body building, and basically inclusion of regenerating health; these are major points of decline and it's bizarre that it went like this. I blame normies' input being overvalued to grognards' and so things were made more friendly and accessible. Fucking casuls, etc. Perks are more limited with less of them altering the game in major changing ways -- 'zombie' was basically fleshed out more as undead race, but it'd be nice if there were more things like that. With how many different effects there are, you'd think they'd explore this more (some ideas below). The 3rd person dialog also triggers me, and I'd much more prefer if we just had normal dialog options. As a personal aside, the larping *s also trigger me.

Overall compared to the first: System and mechanics wise, inferior to the first. Build/spell and combination wise, superior to the first. I'd say, good game and well worth the money, but is not as hugely a refreshing as the first -- though this is in part because the first casts its own shadow in many ways.

I am hoping an EE or expansion is released and addresses some of the things that can easily be fixed.

*Thoughts on talents/perks: The capstone perks are kind of janky -- executioner and the pawn are neat, but others are a bit of a bust like just plain resistance for one or the other. I think they could have easily added a few skill based ones like if you have 5 in polymorph it extends the length of the beneficial effects or at 10 you gain passive bonus (+1 to all stats). Similarly with necromancy it should give you a passive bonus when in blood (vampirism effect is enhanced when standing in blood), two handed could give you passive cleave damage with all 2handed swords and axes, thievery could give you a dodge bonus when using 1 dagger with no shield or 2 daggers, etc. Just more stuff that gives you functional differences instead of just adding 5-10% to whatever secondary stats. My ideas aren't good and I'm just pulling them out of my ass right now, but the point is there's so much more potential here that they just didn't want to explore. As of now there's only a few talents worth taking.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Ok, Alexandar fight, my experience. This is the most-faggot battle I've seen in the game so far. What's the stupidest of all things -- you barely have a chance if you cheese and are level 7, which level you can only reach by completing nearly every side quest. This is complete shit, it means there is hardly any content in the whole Act 1 which can be considered optional. Simply moronic. Whoever designed this combat apparently had no idea what party is supposed to fight it. It's amazing how this combat passed QA.

Are you playin on tactician ? I chose clasic and 3/4 party members where just standing below in cursed fire , blood and other crap , taking hits , burning and decaying alive , one of the died on the last turn though , had no problem with that fight at all . But may be that's because I chicken'd the worm 2 times in a row , which again proves my point about usefulness of CC in the post above .

I'm playig on Classic.

I wonder what sort of mental illness befell the "writer" who wrote Malady and her dialogue.

Was it the same "writer" responsible for the questline "Our ship won't start - please find the car keys"? Or the equally cretinous "plot twist" "Alexandar alive, was not killed hard enough, says eyewitness"?

I get it, it's a kiddies' game, ok, but this is lazy even by Sesame Street standards of plot creation.

My hope is that the ship was left to interns. Get me to Driftwood already!

EDIT: BTW, you dumbasses, if Alexandar is still alive, Ifan's contract is formally still on! You think he comments on that, you get any reactivity? Think again. This smells like it was pulled out of a writer's delicious asshole.

 

[Shadenuat]

The funny thing is, game won't use Alexander as an NPC after that before a very very late part of the game. And during that part, you can kill him without listening to him right away, and then he would be perfectly dead. As such, killing him in Act 1 would mean very little for the course of the game. It's not like he begins to follow you around or fight magisters or live through crisis of faith there where you could see him.

It is another part of the game writing that shows that game did not get enough editing and writers did not know what they were doing sometimes, and which character would be important for the story and which not.

You can count amount of times important characters show up without needing second hand.

Surprisingly, Malady who has NO PART IN THE STORY is always there. But super important characters like --

fuck, forgot her name

-- hey that ...proves my point better than any other arguments really.

Ahem, super important character like that chick who tries to blow up your ship, you'll only meet her about twice before endgame. I counted one of the times just now, it happens after prologue.

There are other characters who don't act in the game but are important too. Windego, who is game's narrator - you barely meet her two or three times (and her personal quest is bugged); The Robed Guy, and so on.

 

[Murk]

The fix for it would have been very simple too -- just have him do some "not like this" source shell BS where he rips the collar off and puts himself into an unkillable catatonic state and gets imprisoned by Malady after the fight. Permafrost is even a skill in the game and there's already some precedent with galvanized enemies/objects.

 

[dragonul09]

Alright I heard there is a Demon out there that trades talents for ability points and whatnot,where is he? Or I'm confusing this part with the Demon from the OS 1

 

[Freakydemon]

Was listening to the soundtracks of D:OS 2 & 1 again and remembered having saved this image years ago. Sharing it with all of you to reminisce on the good old times.

 

[Shadenuat]

First, the party:

Don't forget to respec and remove all wasted points in constitution and such and put everything in damage stats.

 

[fantadomat]

The game is ok but it have a lot of bugs and problems.I am at the island(3rd chapter if i remember correctly) and until now i had around 10-15 broken quests that can't be finished.The biggest problems i how slow the game is,especially when you have to fight 25 enemies.Still the game is nice divergent until the DIVINITY comes to earth aka ELEX!

 

[Reapa]

Ok, Alexandar fight, my experience. This is the most-faggot battle I've seen in the game so far. What's the stupidest of all things -- you barely have a chance if you cheese and are level 7, which level you can only reach by completing nearly every side quest. This is complete shit, it means there is hardly any content in the whole Act 1 which can be considered optional. Simply moronic. Whoever designed this combat apparently had no idea what party is supposed to fight it. It's amazing how this combat passed QA.

First, the party:

Spoiler

The skills/spells equipped:

Red Prince

Battering Ram
Battle Stomp
Crippling Blow
Enrage
Whirlwind
Bless
Summon Cat Familiar
Demonic Stare
Dragon's Blaze
All In

Lohse

Armour of Frost
Hail Strike
Restoration
Winter Blast
Blinding Radiance
Electric Discharge
Teleportation
Bless
Maddening Song
Encourage

Ifan

Elemental Arrowheads
First Aid
Pin Down
Ricochet
Sky Shot
Tactical Retreat
Fossil Strike
Bless
Encourage
Soul Wolf
Restoration
Chameleon Cloak
Purge

Fane

Mosquito Swarm
Infect
Searing Daggers
Fireball
Fortify
Bless
Worm Tremor
Fossil Strike
Poison Dart
Impalement
Play Dead
Time Warp
Electric Discharge
Uncanny Evasion

Tactics:

Map

Following others' advise, I stood on this side of the battlefield, and baited the enemies to come through the collapsed fortress wall, blocking the doorway leading from the wall to the small square. I was able to kill the Magister Knight before the Void Worm showed up. I started the combat by showing up with Lohse on the wall. I tried to teleport the Marksman but got spotted before I could point to a destination.

Initial Area Screenshot

On the square I had made sure to give the worm enough room to appear (the red circle with an X on the map). I was also able to set the whole fortress wall on fire by a combination of earth spells and breaking the oil barrel. By the time the Void Worm emerged, everyone but the Silent Monk and the Metamorph were either on the fortress wall or in the small square where my party was.

The Silent Monk does not climb ladders. It tried to take the long way around, shown by the single yellow arrow. The other five enemies, including Alexandar climbed the ladder and came through the wall. Once the Worm showed up, I teleported away, ran away with all the party from the square into the adjacent square area, marked with purple.

Worm Combat Area Screenshot

Once there, I think the trick was to stay away from the Worm's field of vision, in order to make sure he will only attack Alexandar's party. With that done, it was a matter of clicking End Turn until the fire surface (which eventually became Cursed Fire, and then Blessed Fire, after I blessed it in order to harm the Worm) and Alexander wore down the Worm.

The real combat was between the Worm (my biggest ally really) and Alexandar's party who got completely killed off. The worm had lost both its armors which left it at around 600-something HP which I had no trouble reducing to zero with my party of four. The Worm had killed Alexandar (with some help from me), the Magister Assasin, the Magister Marksman (who spent much of the combat running up and down the wall, over cursed/blessed fire), and the Silent Monk (which was nearly dead by the time it reached the combat area 1). The Magister Knight was the only one I killed myself.

After combat with the Worm was over, it was a simple matter to hunt down and kill the Magister Metamorph which really never moves from her place on top of the east fortess wall.

you defended this piece of crap till page 89 and pretended to know what you were walking about only to suddenly reveal that you haven't played shit and only now had to fight the boss of act 1. i thought you were just some retard. turns out you're actually a retarded shill of a fanboy. way to fool me

 

[fantadomat]

Spoiler

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH

HHHHNNNNNNGGGG

This was one of my favorite fights in the whole game. It's such a clusterfuck and I was laughing the whole time. A pretty neat attrition fight for my squad as well.

I liked the one with the terracotta army more.

 

[fantadomat]

Ok, Alexandar fight, my experience. This is the most-faggot battle I've seen in the game so far. What's the stupidest of all things -- you barely have a chance if you cheese and are level 7, which level you can only reach by completing nearly every side quest. This is complete shit, it means there is hardly any content in the whole Act 1 which can be considered optional. Simply moronic. Whoever designed this combat apparently had no idea what party is supposed to fight it. It's amazing how this combat passed QA.

First, the party:

Spoiler

The skills/spells equipped:

Red Prince

Battering Ram
Battle Stomp
Crippling Blow
Enrage
Whirlwind
Bless
Summon Cat Familiar
Demonic Stare
Dragon's Blaze
All In

Lohse

Armour of Frost
Hail Strike
Restoration
Winter Blast
Blinding Radiance
Electric Discharge
Teleportation
Bless
Maddening Song
Encourage

Ifan

Elemental Arrowheads
First Aid
Pin Down
Ricochet
Sky Shot
Tactical Retreat
Fossil Strike
Bless
Encourage
Soul Wolf
Restoration
Chameleon Cloak
Purge

Fane

Mosquito Swarm
Infect
Searing Daggers
Fireball
Fortify
Bless
Worm Tremor
Fossil Strike
Poison Dart
Impalement
Play Dead
Time Warp
Electric Discharge
Uncanny Evasion

Tactics:

Map

Following others' advise, I stood on this side of the battlefield, and baited the enemies to come through the collapsed fortress wall, blocking the doorway leading from the wall to the small square. I was able to kill the Magister Knight before the Void Worm showed up. I started the combat by showing up with Lohse on the wall. I tried to teleport the Marksman but got spotted before I could point to a destination.

Initial Area Screenshot

On the square I had made sure to give the worm enough room to appear (the red circle with an X on the map). I was also able to set the whole fortress wall on fire by a combination of earth spells and breaking the oil barrel. By the time the Void Worm emerged, everyone but the Silent Monk and the Metamorph were either on the fortress wall or in the small square where my party was.

The Silent Monk does not climb ladders. It tried to take the long way around, shown by the single yellow arrow. The other five enemies, including Alexandar climbed the ladder and came through the wall. Once the Worm showed up, I teleported away, ran away with all the party from the square into the adjacent square area, marked with purple.

Worm Combat Area Screenshot

Once there, I think the trick was to stay away from the Worm's field of vision, in order to make sure he will only attack Alexandar's party. With that done, it was a matter of clicking End Turn until the fire surface (which eventually became Cursed Fire, and then Blessed Fire, after I blessed it in order to harm the Worm) and Alexander wore down the Worm.

The real combat was between the Worm (my biggest ally really) and Alexandar's party who got completely killed off. The worm had lost both its armors which left it at around 600-something HP which I had no trouble reducing to zero with my party of four. The Worm had killed Alexandar (with some help from me), the Magister Assasin, the Magister Marksman (who spent much of the combat running up and down the wall, over cursed/blessed fire), and the Silent Monk (which was nearly dead by the time it reached the combat area 1). The Magister Knight was the only one I killed myself.

After combat with the Worm was over, it was a simple matter to hunt down and kill the Magister Metamorph which really never moves from her place on top of the east fortess wall.

Your party is meh,you lack the best class the rogue.Also just attack from higher ground in the right.
Also i agree with Reapa.

 

[Jarmaro]

It is retarded to restrict teleporting to definitely good looking surfaces in your game, if you implement bonus dmg from high places mechanic.
Alexander fight, there's clear space to be teleported and use it tacticly to get better dmg.
Left top of this Awesome's pic:

 

[AwesomeButton]

you defended this piece of crap till page 98 and pretended to know what you were walking about only to suddenly reveal that you haven't played shit and only now had to fight the boss of act 1. i thought you were just some retard. turns out you're actually a retarded shill of a fanboy. way to fool me

Go fuck yourself retard, I've mentioned in multiple instances how far I am into the game. Not my fault you don't read.

Then go fuck yourself again, because I have about 65 hours in my playthrough right now, and I've seen and done everything my party can do in Act I before exiting. None of the points I've made are invalidated by the fact I've just finished Act 1. Linking "knowing what you're talking about" only to how far someone has played is pretty dumb.

As usual, you present no arguments on why this game is "crap", instead preferring to spew shit at random, and I can present enough arguments on why it's better than D:OS. So why don't you just go fuck yourself a third time for good luck.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Your party is meh,you lack the best class the rogue.Also just attack from higher ground in the right.
Also i agree with Reapa.

You are already a certified dumbfuck and a low-effort poster who doesn't know jack shit about RPGs, so no surprises there.

 

[AwesomeButton]

First, the party:

Don't forget to respec and remove all wasted points in constitution and such and put everything in damage stats.

What's definetly worth removing is the points into the magic schools for which I don't have corresponding levels of skills. I have like 6 aerotheruge and I don't have a skill that needs more than 2. I think you're intended to spread among a bigger number of schools this time around.

 

[Shadenuat]

True, you only max elemental skills if you actually want to destroy enemies through stripping their magic armor (you want to use a staff with elemental damage of your school as well). Most skills require about 2 points, best offensive spells require 3, Source-taxed skills require up to 5 - not more. However, to use source skills as much as you want you need a minimum of about level 14-15 to get an ability to replenish them, or level 16+ when you will also max your source points to maximum of 3.

 

[Wened]

Is the story as unfocused and silly as the first one?

 

[Stavrophore]

Is the story as unfocused and silly as the first one?

Unfocused -yes, silly -not like the first one. You don't have a fucking gnome and a magic carpet that tells you what to do.

 

[fantadomat]

Your party is meh,you lack the best class the rogue.Also just attack from higher ground in the right.
Also i agree with Reapa.

You are already a certified dumbfuck and a low-effort poster who doesn't know jack shit about RPGs, so no surprises there.

Well not everyone is good as you senpai,after all you can zealously defend a game that you haven't played yet for a 80 pages.Also judging by your mighty whining about how the first boss have fucked you hard,i must say that you do know your shit about rpgs obviously.I take it that you spend more time shitting on the codex than playing rpgs.

 

[Stavrophore]

65 hours for Act 1 -oh boy you are in a great surprise. Wonder if you will end the game with 200 hours mark then xD

 

[Kruno]

I've spent about 30 hours on Act 1 and 40 on Act 2.

 

[Tigranes]

Have hardly been able to play, is Tactician still the go-to despite the supposed armour bloat? And I guess focus the party on magic damage or physical damage? I only want to run 2-3 characters but going Classic might prove too easy even then?

 

[toro]

Have hardly been able to play, is Tactician still the go-to despite the supposed armour bloat? And I guess focus the party on magic damage or physical damage? I only want to run 2-3 characters but going Classic might prove too easy even then?

The last fights are probably close to "impossible" on Tactician. Be aware that you cannot switch back to Classic once you start on Tactician.

 

[Roguey]

You can always mod it though.

Like if you feel it's too much for you but Classic would be too easy, use the Sawyer Method and half the values.