The presentation of Original Sin came to an end, but I still had one lingering question about the affinity system. As I described earlier, various stats track what could be best described as the personalities of the main characters, and these in turn define how well they get along and how their relationship will evolve as you follow the story. That sounds interesting, but what exactly is the impact on the game? Swen answered that it would only affect the story. I saw this as a missed opportunity. Wouldn't it be possible for the relationship between the heroes to influence their performance in combat or other situations? There comes a point if you really know and trust someone that you simply know how that person will perform in a given situation and rely on them that way, and likewise you might also know when to not count on them. One simple way to have this reflect on the gameplay could be for exemple to have the heroes share a bonus to defense if they care for each other, or on the contrary have them deal more damage to vent their aggression because they find it painful to be together. I like good stories in general, and in a CRPG it can be a good incentive to keep going, but when elements of the story have an impact on the gameplay it is possible to create something truly memorable. One recent example I can think of is the spirit meter of Mask of the Betrayer, showing how dangerous the curse that afflicted the main character was and that all that talk of urgency was actually true instead of mere flavour. I described my idea to Swen.
What happened next surprised me. Swen looked very interested and called David Walgrave, producer of Original Sin, and had me explain my idea again. David listened, we discussed it, and it turns out that they had some ideas for various skills that they didn't know where to fit, and tying them to social skills actually made sense. Eventually David turned to Swen and asked why they didn't come up with that themselves. So there you go, the Codex's modest contribution to improving Divinity: Original Sin! Jokes aside, it tells you a lot about the Larian people, that they're open-minded enough to listen to suggestions from any source and consider them seriously.
to all parties involved. That is exactly how one should respond and adapt to criticism.
Good job on the write up mate.
