Divinity Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

[Jinn]

Seems like reception is negative. However, you can fuck a lizard, so I will get it at a discount. Sigh. The things I do for tail

I don't know about that. There has been a fair amount of positivity for the game around here as well. If you are really concerned, blast through the tutorial area and get to exploring Fort Joy. You can always refund within 2 hours on steam if you don't like what you see.

Despite some of the combat changes, I've found the experience to be a noticeable improvement to the first (which I finished at 85 hours) in my 50 or so hours with D:OS 2 so far.

 

[Murk]

I dunno, I am just guessing, I haven't played it yet.
D:OS had stupid goofy Belgian humor.

It's reasonable to assume this one will be goofy as well.

Seems like reception is negative. However, you can fuck a lizard, so I will get it at a discount. Sigh. The things I do for tail.

I think you'd enjoy it for the most part because of how whacky you can get with builds and combat, there's a lot of combinations of things to play with. I don't want to get into a "you can't criticize my game" situation, but I enjoyed OS2 (I thought OS 1 was better, for reference) and I think some people were disproportionately negative to it due to... uhh... well, I'm not sure. But whatever, codex is a very diverse place.

Still, if you care what my 0.02 is worth, then I'd recommend it with the forewarning that the armor and initiative system is butts, and that you should focus on one damage type (magical or physical [note, there is magic that does physical damage, like necromancy]).

I put 100+ hours into it and was happy with the result. The game could have been much better if they had just stayed true to what they did in OS 1 in some cases, but there's enough here to make it enjoyable. I give it a 7/10, "good but not great".

 

[Iznaliu]

Despite some of the combat changes, I've found the experience to be a noticeable improvement to the first (which I finished at 85 hours) in my 50 or so hours with D:OS 2 so far.

Could you explain how it is actually better, since I've heard nothing to make it worth playing?

 

[Jinn]

Despite some of the combat changes, I've found the experience to be a noticeable improvement to the first (which I finished at 85 hours) in my 50 or so hours with D:OS 2 so far.

Could you explain how it is actually better, since I've heard nothing to make it worth playing?

Well, if you've been following this thread from the beginning, I don't think you're going to find anything worthwhile from my words, but here we go.

For me the things that D:OS II executes better than the first for me have be exploration, world interaction, atmosphere, art direction, writing, character interactions, and (ostensible) C&C. I have my issues with the armor system and initiative for sure, but it hardly ruins the combat for me. I've had fun in pretty much every encounter, and have been consistently challenged. I really wish they would have improved/changed the character progression and attribute/skills system, but it works decently enough for me. It could certainly use a lot more complexity, though. I find class synergies to be a fun approach, but as mentioned before, it can end up seeming pointless when between your 4 characters you can have most of the skills in the game, if not all. Itemization is definitely weak, and actually the only thing in the game that kind of pisses me off. The stubbornness with which they adhere to this atrocious approach to itemization is absolutely ridiculous to me. That being said, I didn't find equipment as useless and interchangeable as a lot of people here. I've had equipment stick with a character for a good 3-4 level ups before I decide to switch it out. The more unique items are decent enough, and I've actually been excited at finding something quite a few times.

So those are my current feelings on the game. Keep in mind, these are my impressions at about the halfway mark of the game, after a couple week break from the game, and with some time to reflect on my feelings about it so far. As for a number rating, pretty much wavering between a 7.5-8/10, where as D:OS 1 would be around a 7/10. Less than I was expecting, but still a solid and enjoyable experience for me, and one of the best RPGs released this year.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Seems like reception is negative.

Food for thought: Those who like the game are still playing the game; everyone else is complaining on the forum

Still, if you care what my 0.02 is worth, then I'd recommend it with the forewarning that the armor and initiative system is butts, and that you should focus on one damage type (magical or physical [note, there is magic that does physical damage, like necromancy]).

I still don't get this, btw. I played through the game with the same type of party I had in DOS1 (fighter, ranger, fire/earth mage, air/water mage) and didn't have any problem with the armor whatsoever.

I guess most people posting here are part of the "thou shan't playeth on Normal" crowd, and I hear the higher difficulties are basically number bloat, but I found the system worked okay* on Normal difficulty.

Also, didn't they tweak the initiative a bit with one of the early patches? At least I had that impression. At launch it was basically alternating turns between you and enemy, and later on it resembled more how the things worked in DOS1.


*Okay means "okay", not "perfect". Pointing out just in case, before someone decides to work up righteous rage or whatever, because I'm not hating enough on the armor system.

 

[Jasede]

I've decided to get it so I can cuddle a lizard.

However I'm finally playing Witcher 3 so, uh, talk to you guys in 300 hours.

 

[Luckmann]

Seems like reception is negative.

It's quite the opposite. I know it's unreasonable, but if you take the time to read the thread, I think it's obvious that reception in general is very positive, apart from some glaring flaws that have been discussed a lot.

Also, as for the advice on focusing on a single damage type, that advice is butts. Yes, the game does become a lot easier, and it is one of those obvious flaws, resultant from the armor system as-is, but there's actually no need to do this at all, and I personally find that the game becomes a lot more boring if you do it.

 

[Sjukob]

At this point the only good thing that can come out thanks to this game is Darth Roxor's review and possible reaction to it .

Darth Roxor please ?

 

[Darth Roxor]

I'm afraid ELEX takes precedence over declined shitgames.

 

[Luckmann]

I'm afraid ELEX takes precedence over declined shitgames.

But how does that work out when Elex is a declined shitgame itself?

 

[Grunker]

 

[Luckmann]

One day that horse will get up, and it'll all be because of our vigorous CPR.

 

[Murk]

Seems like reception is negative.

Food for thought: Those who like the game are still playing the game; everyone else is complaining on the forum

Still, if you care what my 0.02 is worth, then I'd recommend it with the forewarning that the armor and initiative system is butts, and that you should focus on one damage type (magical or physical [note, there is magic that does physical damage, like necromancy]).

I still don't get this, btw. I played through the game with the same type of party I had in DOS1 (fighter, ranger, fire/earth mage, air/water mage) and didn't have any problem with the armor whatsoever.

I guess most people posting here are part of the "thou shan't playeth on Normal" crowd, and I hear the higher difficulties are basically number bloat, but I found the system worked okay* on Normal difficulty.

Also, didn't they tweak the initiative a bit with one of the early patches? At least I had that impression. At launch it was basically alternating turns between you and enemy, and later on it resembled more how the things worked in DOS1.


*Okay means "okay", not "perfect". Pointing out just in case, before someone decides to work up righteous rage or whatever, because I'm not hating enough on the armor system.

I got used to it fast -- even on tactician. I think for some it may be that their first attempt through the game was poorly optimized (in part because they are learning the game as they are playing it) and so they find their efforts not working as well as they expected, especially given what worked in the first game.

I made elemental, physical, and mixed characters and parties and found that the game works just fine. I personally would prefer to not have armor work the way it does, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the game.

I don't think the number bloat is so bad, to be honest, because your own also goes up quite dramatically. Mechanically speaking, the issue is that character level determines far too many things and at too great of a magnitude. Functionally, you just ding up from 19 to 20 and suddenly your magical attack that did 1800 damage now does 2500 damage.

I do think the dual armor system succeeds in changing how you play the game, and for many (myself included) this wasn't as good -- in part because of the expectations I had.

I will say again though, having played on tactician and then started on normal -- normal is too easy, even without Lone Wolf characters.

 

[Xeon]

I played little of this last night and combat is kinda great still, I hope it will continue, really like the elements manipulations or something.

Don't like the dialogue, IIRC I kinda liked the dialogue in DOS1 even tho it felt a little cheesy or something but feels like they went max gear on this one, feels pretty cringy. Also I am not completely sure with this one but it feels like zooming out is the same like in DOS1, it feels nice when you at sea or ground level but it feels close the higher you go or something, that shit was in DOS1 IIRC.

 

[Lacrymas]

Did they officially address the number bloat and the armor system at all?

 

[Luckmann]

Did they officially address the number bloat and the armor system at all?

Not that I know.

The fact that the numbers bloat is what it is is so weird to me, though, because the entire game is built to be scaled automatically. It's trivial to fix and it results in such minor issues that it's pretty shocking that they settled on it consciously. I can see the rationale behind the armor system, even if I consider it a bad solution, but the numbers bloat is just daft. The only thing I can imagine that it's there for is as a band-aid to fuel gear turnover and that they simply didn't test that shit beyond level 10 or so.

 

[Lacrymas]

Well, the game has been out for more than a month and a half, so they should've gotten to at least the number bloat by now. Not to mention that it's trivial to fix. What gives? I suppose the armor system is here to stay, but initiative is also fucked.

 

[Roguey]

Well, the game has been out for more than a month and a half, so they should've gotten to at least the number bloat by now. Not to mention that it's trivial to fix. What gives? I suppose the armor system is here to stay, but initiative is also fucked.

Working as Designed, they want people to buy new items after every level up. I imagine the official response might be "If you don't like it, use the mod."

 

[Luckmann]

Well, the game has been out for more than a month and a half, so they should've gotten to at least the number bloat by now. Not to mention that it's trivial to fix. What gives? I suppose the armor system is here to stay, but initiative is also fucked.

But.. that'd mean they'd have to admit that they were wrong to make it that way in the first place.

I don't think that's happening. The same, unfortunately, goes for the armor system and the fucked initiative. The absolutely best we can hope for at this point, since they're obviously unwilling to address issues post-release, is an "enhanced edition" or "director's cut", because that could be considered a new product and a proper re-release, but Swen has said that they probably don't want to do that this time around.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Luckmann]

number bloat is like loot system, not changed from dos1.
Not sure if its worse, stuff like bully were replaced by new multipliers.

Bull. Shit. D:OS1 didn't have anywhere near this much bloat in terms of numbers. There's even mods specifically for tuning it down to D:OS1-like numbers. I can't vouch for D:OS:EE, because I never finished it, but D:OS1 didn't have anything nearly as bad as this.

And yeah, there's also specific changes that are pretty shit, such as the removal of Bully, etc. It's understandable in view of the systemic changes, though, but if you have to fuck up so many minor things and make them worse, maybe they should've considered not making those systemic changes.

It almost feels like they made the systemic changes first, and then just accepted them as good, and then tried to tune everything in the game as according to that, but didn't have time to iterate or come to the conclusion that shit, these changes are bad.

 

[Lacrymas]

It almost feels like they made the systemic changes first, and then just accepted them as good, and then tried to tune everything in the game as according to that, but didn't have time to iterate or come to the conclusion that shit, these changes are bad.

It feels like a first draft of the system changes tbh, it's obvious combat mechanics wasn't, and still isn't, their priority. At all. They feel and probably are forced in the most grotesque and unsubtle way possible. Initiative is certainly like that.

 

[Jimmious]

Honestly though after all this time the only thing that really bugs me in D:OS2(as well as in D:OS) is the Diablo-ish itemization. I hate it when in an RPG I don't even remember one item I used because I swap them up every 10 minutes for better stuff. Everything else I can live with or I just got used to - but that just annoys me

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[unfairlight]

lol game sucks