Divinity Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

[ilitarist]

Skyrim's somewhere between real games and MMOs/Browser games when it comes to how it gets people to keep playing, so I'm not surprised. From a business standpoint that would be one of the datapoints showing them why they've got a golden goose in their formula, and why it's better for them to do that instead of real RPGs.

Do you know any other way to determine if people really like the game? To me it sounds more reliable than score because too much of it is full of "0 for bad DLC/raped lore/microtransactions/etc". As Fairfax stats show people really do care about Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins and those games will probably remain in people's memory just as we all know, say, Alexander Dumas who was considered inferior to nowadays unknown writers by the contemporary public. Not saying inventiveness is not needed but I'm much more mad about bad and mediocre games than about boring but polished "not true RPGs" which are entertaining and inoffensive.

Too bad we can't see proper Morrowind stats on completion. Most of people completed it in CD era and probably only bought it on Steam/GOG to play around with it. Though I think many problems with game completion where due to specific quest design, not the whole philosophy. Like finding that Nerevarine cave.

 

[Elex]

How is Original Sin 2 dialogue / plot-wise? The first looked interesting but the terrible unfunny jokes bombardment just turned me off completely.

plot is basically "well i realized it 60 hours ago BUT WITH DRAGONS" same unfunny jokes.

 

[ilitarist]

DOS2 is certainly more serious. It's still Prattchetesque but not to the extend of DOS1. And there are much more of genuinly funny scenes in sidequests.

Dialouge is much better in general in DOS2.

 

[Darth Roxor]

How is Original Sin 2 dialogue / plot-wise?

dialogue is about constantly getting licked by plot device characters who refuse to tell you things that are obvious to everyone except player_character

plot is largely standard larian plot recycling but this time for some reason also with an inexplicable focus on a c-grade unimportant character from dos1

 

[Mark Richard]

Finished. That was so not worth the trouble.

Spoiler

I sacrificed my soul to repair the breach between my world and the void, knowing it would leave me an empty husk and prevent entry into the afterlife. A minute later the consequences were reversed. When asked how I was restored, the game had the audacity to say 'it doesn't matter.' Is this ringing any bells?

 

[LESS T_T]

Get ready for an announcement, I guess?

 

[Cyberarmy]

Switch release?

 

[Black]

More jerking off big twitch streamers!

 

[LESS T_T]

Looks like they're showing usual PC version with controllers, on Steam Machines (they've been using them for these events). Well, at least to public.

And it's crowded with a long line of people despite the game's already released? Gee.

 

[Infinitron]

Well, looks like no announcement at PAX.

 

[LESS T_T]

Yeah, looks like Swen wasn't there.

GDC maybe?

 

[LESS T_T]

PAX interview with Kieron Kelly (game designer/writer):



No new things but some interesting tidbits:

(3:00) According to Kieron, Swen thinks D:OS 2 is not even close to "the RPG that will dwarf them all."

(4:28) There's a sign on the wall of Larain HQ: "why can't I move plant pot?" Interactivity matters to them.

(4:50) They have 9 writers now? (IIRC it was 8 the last time I heard.)

 

[AwesomeButton]

Swen thinks D:OS 2 is not even close to "the RPG that will dwarf them all."

On this we are in agreement.

 

[LESS T_T]

Gosh, this game is so mainstream:

Oh, Lawbreakers.

 

[Andhaira]

I've tried playing this for like 4 or 5th time, but armor mechanic and seeing happy dudes running around on burning surface with ' burning blocked by magic armor' made me rage quit. Pity, everything else other that core mechanic seems excellent

I also restarted the game a bunch of times. I really want to like this game but just like the previous entries I start getting bored from the moment I open the character creator and I'm asleep by the time the tutorial section is over. Maybe I should just accept that the Divinity series isn't for everyone, cause they're cool games and all, there's just something almost supernaturally boring about them for me. It's a shame because environmental interactivity and all that bullshit is the sort of thing that's missing in other games like this.

It's the bad writing, the non sensical attitude, the fact you cannot generate your own party (only 2 PCs) from the get go, and the fact that the char gen system is too haphazard. The game would be great with all the above as well as a class system with rigid classes.

 

[Lacrymas]

I puked in my mouth a little when I saw that Nvidia ad.

 

[Luckmann]

rigid classes.

Get out.

 

[unfairlight]

(4:50) They have 9 writers now? (IIRC it was 8 the last time I heard.)

Quantity over quality, I suppose.

 

[Black]

(4:50) They have 9 writers now? (IIRC it was 8 the last time I heard.)

Quantity over quality, I suppose.

That's DOS 1 and 2 in a nutshell.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

by the second map i grew bored to tears of this. every fight is a struggle, 30 minutes to get out of it barely alive or be utterly crushed, because even if the exploration is free most of the fights are supposed to be taken at very specific levels, some classes are overpowered while some others are completely useless which is even more frustrating considered the difficulty level, there's no "having fun", you either exploit the system or suffer. also skill interactions feel fewer than in dos1. companions are puppets, the whole "let me speak with him first and then have zero consequences" gets old fast, i wish i went for a whole hand-made party which would have covered all the needs. yes, there's plenty of quests and dialogues, and 99% of them are just boring stuff.
maybe i had too high expectations, this game has been introduced to me as ultima's second came... i don't know, it's not bad, it's a decent, solid game, it's just that any decent aspect has been already done and it's been diluted in hours of filler.
i want to uninstall it but i'm sad for the missed chance, wishing it would improve but after so many hours i doubt it will.

 

[unfairlight]

Believe me, it doesn't improve. It's just downhill after Fort Joy.

 

[Jimmious]

I disagree, the second "city" has more interesting quests and battles.
But sure, if you don't like the style of the game early it won't change your mind later

 

[Murk]

This thread hasn't changed much, though apparently there's quite the silent majority of people who liked the game just fine.

Since Swen was not particularly enthralled with OS2, this gives me some hope that the next game will in fact fix some of the issues (and make new ones, I'm sure).

Oh well. Love the past, hope for the future.... and hate the present 8).

 

[PEACH]

Second map is paced like total shit, which is exacerbated by the sheer size of it and the way the game discourages you from fighting anything higher level than you. I think I must be almost finished with it by now but it's insanely tedious to hunt down level-matched enemies that are spread out in wild jackson pollock patterns across the map. I think at one point I looked up a map to see where some specific encounters at my level were, and there were like three in total, all in completely different quadrants of the map. My girlfriend's characters are awful though (main one being a necromancer which seems useless as fuck compared to DOS1) so I think that's been limiting our potential exploration even more than larian intended.

Quests are whatever, I don't think they're an improvement on either fort joy or D:OS1 in any identifiable way. Oftentimes even when I think there'll be a meaningful decision it turns out the speech check is cosmetic only and I have to fight some dumbass even after passing it because of an epic betrayal. Most shit comes down to Find X, Bring to Y which is bog standard if you ask me, but I guess serviceable enough.

Battles are hit and miss and (like everyone else) I think the combat system is a huge downgrade from the first game, but from time to time it impresses me with encounters like the big battle at black pits or the cemetery fight with the fallen heroes, or even the huge wolf-abomination which all felt distinct and unique. Other times I see enemies traversing half the map in a single turn before laying me out with 3 spells and im rolling my eyes like crazy because the initiative and armour systems ensure I can't get a cool combo off or, oftentimes, even initiate combat in a satisfying way that doesn't drop me to the bottom of the queue and ensure i'm in for an assfucking of a lifetime.

Aside from design choices, the bugs and optimization are nuts. Using controller, as is unfortunately required in local co-op my cursor flips through the menus at top speed for 30 seconds every dozen times I touch the menu (an issue I dont have in dark souls 2 / any other game). Gear disappears from view, sound cuts out at random intervals, enemies climb ladders mid-combat only to fall down and attempt to climb them again on loop. Load times are horrendous compared to DOS1 / PoE, frame rate pretty shitty, and the longer we play the more frequent and severe the technical issues have gotten. Fort Joy went nearly without hitch at a solid frame rate and without any of the aforementioned issues but ever since we left it's been a downward spiral.

Eagerly anticipating what the final act has in store.

 

[Jimmious]

I'm 99% certain this text is copied from somewhere