Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Divinity: Original Sin 2

Naraya

Arcane
Joined
Oct 19, 2014
Messages
1,513
Location
Tuono-Tabr
Solid review, thanks. Additional points for mentioning the glory of GW <3
 

Israfael

Arcane
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
3,580
So, in the TL;DR gist of it, it's either Divinity: "Git Gud" Edition or Divinity: "Can't see 3 turns ahead" Edition. It's actually hilarious how it's the same problem that arose when Diablo 3 came out (probabalistic Armor/AR combo vs pure DPS/eHP), or nuXcom (all the boardgame crap), but in this case I don't really care since I never played DOS1, and I played a lot of WoW raiding and pvp (and that's what combat reminds me off - anticipate the moves and counter them. If it weren't deterministic, it'd be very ineffective and virtually impossible to do). Not sure how tactikool difficulty can be 'autistically impossible', all the hard fights were on the Schutzstuffel Island which you already passed. Acts II, III and IV are basically a steamroll even if you do the zones in a reversed way like I did (mines at two levels below the intended level - that's what I remember the most about the game, and I can't say I did not enjoy the challenge (and I was fully aware that I created the difficulties myself).
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
Hard-hitting critic and teleportation enthusiast Darth Roxor does it again. :salute:

I lost the will to continue playing D:OS2 right around the time someone explained to me how the initiative system worked, just a few hours into the game. I'd only participated in a few simple combats by then, but since I was playing a ranger, even those few were enough to alert me to the retarded "armor confers debuff immunity" system.

At the moment I can't recall who reassured me that the problems with D:OS2's combat weren't that bad, but once I do, they're going directly onto my "disregard this person's opinions always" .txt.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,660
Shields Up Swen has read the review and disagrees with its assessment.
https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/971433328078413824

Proud of D:OS 2 so I disagree with most of it. But you can’t create without making mistakes/compromises so there’s room for improvement.

Larian's games aren't going to cost less to make any time soon so this is what they're doing now. :cool:
 
Last edited:

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
That's going to be my go-to rebuttal from now on.

"Blaine, you're an incorrigible chronic shitposter, you're tactless and abrasive to your own detriment, and on balance you add nothing of value to the community."

"Proud of myself and I disagree with most of that."
 

Valky

Arcane
Manlet
Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
2,418
Location
Trapped in a bioform
Shields Up Swen has read the review and disagrees with its assessment.

Proud of D:OS 2 so I disagree with most of it. But you can’t create without making mistakes/compromises so there’s room for improvement.

Larian's games aren't going to cost less to make any time soon so this is what they're doing now. :cool:

The shitty armor system even gave Swen protection against 'dex criticism.
 

Lambinou

Novice
Joined
Jun 17, 2015
Messages
17
Location
France
What's he going to say, "yeah, I thought our game was pretty good, but now I realise it is total shitballs"?

i would agree, he hasn't said anything specific, it sounds pretty much noncommital. I think even if he agreed completely it would be a bad move for him to say so, that would among other things be kind of like throwing the reputation of some of his employees under the bus.

Now that doesn't meanin itself anything will change for DOS2, but if they make different IP in the future, I have a small hope they can do a good combat system for one of those.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
Internal face-saving is one of the biggest problems in the entire industry.

Someone designed something and it's garbage? Can't fix it or even acknowledge that it's bad. Someone's feelings will be hurt.
 

Sceptic

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
10,871
Divinity: Original Sin
That's going to be my go-to rebuttal from now on.

"Blaine, you're an incorrigible chronic shitposter, you're tactless and abrasive to your own detriment, and on balance you add nothing of value to the community."

"Proud of myself and I disagree with most of that."
You should add "but there's room for improvement" at the very end :lol:

Of course he disagrees with the review, it's the game that finally made them rich. One could try to argue that it would've still been a success even without the armour system, without the changes to the character progression, without the steep item scaling, with a different initiative system, etc, but trying to make the case for this will be an uphill battle.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
One could try to argue that it would've still been a success even without the armour system, without the changes to the character progression, without the steep item scaling, with a different initiative system, etc, but trying to make the case for this will be an uphill battle.

Well, yeah. They dumbed down the game mechanics and were rewarded for it.

That's been the basic success story of computer RPGs since the turn of the century.
 

Nael

Arcane
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
11,384
Location
Indy
I still can't believe you motherfuckers bothered to play D:OS2 after D:OS.

What a shit game. I admire that Belgian halfwit's enthusiasm though.
 
Self-Ejected

Sacred82

Self-Ejected
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
2,957
Location
Free Village
I still can't believe you motherfuckers bothered to play D:OS2 after D:OS.

What a shit game. I admire that Belgian halfwit's enthusiasm though.

D:OS2 is a clear example of lack of focus. Shit is out of control.

Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good. Single player, very complex multiplayer with GM mode, different background stories with in-game reactivity, destructible environments, lots of isometric turn-based combat, a classless character system with attributes, skills, abilities and talents in a 4 person party, lots of synergies between spells, slightly non-linear gameplay, a shitton of text and reactive dialogue, lore out the ass, puzzles, and a motherfucking editor, as if that had ever been a good idea that totally not backfired.

People still haven't realized in this day and age that a war on several fronts is not a good thing, apparently.
 

Nael

Arcane
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
11,384
Location
Indy
Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.
 
Self-Ejected

Sacred82

Self-Ejected
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
2,957
Location
Free Village
Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.

well yes that's the point isn't it. Every part is going to suffer from that individually, and a game made of a lot of shit parts is still shit, just very impressively so.
 

Valky

Arcane
Manlet
Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
2,418
Location
Trapped in a bioform
Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.
Not for lack of trying, with how much he sold out to the casual shitters with marketing the origin stories and narrative focus.
 

Nael

Arcane
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
11,384
Location
Indy
Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.
Not for lack of trying, with how much he sold out to the casual shitters with marketing the origin stories and narrative focus.

He should've just made a procedurally generated isometric roguelike with the systems they designed. It would've been infinitely more enjoyable. No story. Just... Run around and drop barrels on orc heads and light them on fire. I would've gladly shelled out cash for a sequel to that.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
It's not "internal face-saving". In any company or team you don't respond on twitter to some random review saying "yeah our designer really fucked up there". It's about as basic as walking on two feet.

I don't really expect any more incline from larian, because as much as I like them, they have never really shown special talent in either (1) writing, or (2) gameplay mechanics with depth. Their strength has always been whimsical settings holding together decent/mediocre features, and with DOS1 they added some Ultima-inspired finagles to the formula - I think that's as good as it gets and that's not the worst it could be.
 

Valky

Arcane
Manlet
Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
2,418
Location
Trapped in a bioform
My only complaint that I experienced through my playthrough of Original Sin was that it wasn't very clear where to go after you finish the first map, because I was in the final map before I realized that I had missed the entire snow world and couldn't continue until I played it. Needless to say that whole reordering of gameplay segments led to what felt like pacing issues at the time.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
It's not "internal face-saving". In any company or team you don't respond on twitter to some random review saying "yeah our designer really fucked up there". It's about as basic as walking on two feet.

It's both. PR is one thing—but the internal housecleaning almost never happens, either.

Anyway, they don't need to worry about or respond to Codex reviews, because the only ones that matter in terms of making cash are the mainstream reviews. This is especially true since Codex reviews don't appear until weeks or months after release. Even Steam reviews have more impact than Codex reviews.

Still, many Codexers labor under the illusion that Codex reviews and/or Codexian opinions actually matter or make a difference.
 
Last edited:

conan_edw

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Dec 3, 2017
Messages
846
Grab the Codex by the pussy Pathfinder: Wrath
While I agree with most of the criticism (Armour system and resistance, HP bloat, Initiative, Attributes, and Loot) I still enjoyed it more than anything that came out last year :dealwithit:
Hopefully they realize some of these problems should be addressed and they are not what made the game a success.
Anyway waiting for the expansion :smug:
 

Eyestabber

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
4,733
Location
HUEland
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
What's he going to say, "yeah, I thought our game was pretty good, but now I realise it is total shitballs"?
Yes. That and committing sudoku would be a good start.
Not for lack of trying, with how much he sold out to the casual shitters with marketing the origin stories and narrative focus.
Which is something I always saw as a red flag. Tons of resources were poured into "improving writing" (whatever that means) which is a massive waste. You can't improve a talentless writer's work by shoving more money up his ass. They could've just ignored the "issue" and focused on their game's real strength: combat. Yet they always glossed over combat on the updates and now we know why...
He should've just made a procedurally generated isometric roguelike with the systems they designed. It would've been infinitely more enjoyable. No story. Just... Run around and drop barrels on orc heads and light them on fire. I would've gladly shelled out cash for a sequel to that.
Now there is an interesting idea. I read that after writing the above so...nice, I agree.

While I agree with most of the criticism (Armour system and resistance, HP bloat, Initiative, Attributes, and Loot) I still enjoyed it more than anything that came out last year :dealwithit:
Hopefully they realize some of these problems should be addressed and they are not what made the game a success.
Anyway waiting for the expansion :smug:

So you realize the game is shit, but you can't wait to have MORE shit? Wow, 2017 gave us shit AND coprophiliac newfags it seems...
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom