Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Lambach]

I also like that the combat encounters in D:OS 2 are relatively rare, obviously handcrafted, and quite distinct from each other.

Oh god, this sounds like heaven. I just hope it doesn't completely break like the endgame of the original, where only a small handful of tactics were actually viable due to the insane resistances/immunity/whatever of the enemies.

 

[Black]

Are there any advantages for going with a smaller party? Haven't seen Lone Wolf in talents either.

 

[Bubbles]

Are there any advantages for going with a smaller party? Haven't seen Lone Wolf in talents either.

 

[veevoir]

Oh we're doing this again...
"Character poses seem a bit ridiculous - esp female"

I've always been of two minds regarding this topic. On one hand, I love sexy people (who doesn't?) and there is a place for all kinds of fantasies in all mediums, but on the other I feel a little creeped out when they are too obviously tittilating, kinda like Bioware romances. More cringe than creeped out maybe. It's also about how seriously you want people to take your whatever. If I see an almost-nude chick spread-eagle on a cover/char-gen I'll immediately not take it seriously. It's about trust-worthiness (of the creator, not the chick) and context, it's kinda hard to explain. Can you imagine Kreia (imagine her younger) parading around in Leia's slave girl outfit on the cover? Yeah, no. Not to mention that it will be completely out of character.

I'm not saying sexy people can't be taken seriously or be competent/intelligent, I'm saying it depends on the context and presentation.

I get one of the points raised there - "that pose would break ones spine".

This truphs all sjw talk. Cause immerison and such.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, I'm also not into anatomically impossible humans :p Maybe these people haven't seen other (sexy) people? They seem, to be completely honest, to be fairly mediocre artists (judging from screenshots, I'll see what the final product will be) and you know how they are, so that wouldn't surprise me :p

 

[Black]

Are there any advantages for going with a smaller party? Haven't seen Lone Wolf in talents either.

Thank you.
Shame to see "incompatible with x" making a return.

 

[SniperHF]

Not too far in, quickie impressions:

It seems their environment design for Fort Joy is following the JAM LOTS OF STUFF IN THERE school of thought. In Divinity that works reasonably but I kinda prefer the little more understated object placement of Cyseal. Overall it's an improvement though because all the objects have substantially more detail, texture resolution, and there's less repetition. I also like that you can now walk more structures and there are ladders and stairs and such all over. When modding D:OS 1 this was a huge pain in the ass so it should work a lot better in 2.


I'm reminded almost immediately how much I prefer the earlier Divinity lore to the post Divine Divinity lore of name off random names and gods no one knows what the hell they are method. It's not as bad here as it was in Divinity 2 but it's not that much better.


I think I've drilled down exactly why I dislike the this particular implementation of indirect dialog. When you're reading the indirect responses your brain is in a different mode of interpreting vs reading. The constant shift is jarring. It flows a lot better when the narrator is talking back to you vs lines of dialog from NPCs.

So far I've had 2 combats and both I won without even taking a hit. There were a few combats I avoided but it wasn't because it looked challenging, rather it just didn't seem prudent so in that respect its a good thing.

Writing wise I really like that so far NPCs don't seem to react exactly as you'd expect so you can't just mindlessly press the nice dialog option and expect happy results. The characters seem to have a ton more personality and react accordingly.

Corpses being lootable is nice as compared to D:OS 1 where their bodies just blasted items everywhere on death.

Alpha is alpha performance complaints:
Someone earlier mentioned that performance seems actually better in 2 than 1, well I've got the opposite experience but that's expected. Perhaps that person was comparing classic to 2, 2 does run better than classic.
All the item sounds seem bugged out or just really quiet, I can hardly hear them.
Anytime there's fire on the screen my FPS craters.

Not too big on the civil / combat split either.

I do at first glance like the attribute scale compared to D:OS 1, seems to have much more range in terms of point spread for a more granular approach. Though this seems a bit undermined by only getting 3 attributes in creation. Perhaps they were afraid of giving people too many choices to make since now you have tags/origins and such in addition to the old talents/abilities.

 

[Bubbles]

Not too big on the civil / combat split either.

AoD did it, so it must be good.

 

[Zarniwoop]

The Moscow Conservatory might not be the most ...progressive of academies, but they are going to educate you extremely well in the more conservative side of music.

That's why it's called a Conservatory and not a Librultory.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ugh, the new composer is such a fucking generic hack, it's simply unbearable. After Pokrovsky's brilliance, it's simply impossible to stomach this shit. Sure, Kirill is a tough figure to replace, but surely they could've done better than that. European neoclassic scene is pretty solid and, as the Revenant's distant experience shows to us, they can be quite willing to work in the games. So yeah, they could've gone to Ronny Moorings or they could've gone to, say, Peter Bjargo. To some actually talented people, not this shit.

They should've hired that Derivière fellow from Spiders.

Fucking generic hack was not the descriptor I'd apply to the guy who did Two Worlds 2 music, wonder what changed.

 

[imweasel]

I finished the early access version in classic mode. The best combat tactic is: Use teleportation on enemies to gather them up in a pile, then AOE them to death. Works almost every time. I also like to let my rogue teleport behind an enemy and backstab him. Critical backstabbing does crazy amounts of damage.

Best skills in the game are teleportation, tactical retreat (or similar skills; you can essentially warp around the battlefield) and anything that does good AOE damage.

I also like that the combat encounters in D:OS 2 are relatively rare

I disagree, the game needs more combat and better pacing.

 

[Abu Antar]

Is the combat as fast/slow as the first game? I can live with that.

 

[norolim]

While I'm waiting for my GOG "In Development" key to arrive, I hope Codexers with a bit more time on their hands are monitoring the Steam and Larian feedback threads and countering any idiotic requests and complaints... like this one or this one

 

[Fry]

No, thanks. Reading Steam threads kills brain cells.

If Larian fucks up the game to please retards, then Larian are the retards.

 

[imweasel]

Itemization in D:OS 2.

 

[Infinitron]

Action point cost for equipping? You gotta love the detail.

 

[Roguey]

The old RPG tradition of replacing heavier armor with something that's lighter because the latter is of a higher tier and protects more or an equal amount.

Usually not a simple shirt though.

 

[veevoir]

The old RPG diablo tradition of replacing heavier armor with something that's lighter because the latter is of a higher tier and protects more or an equal amount.

Usually not a simple shirt though.

Not even DnD is that retarded. Rotating equipment most of the game because it is 1% better is skinner box from hack'n'slash, not prestigious rpg tradition. Not in pnp at least, but rpg doesnt get more prestigious than pnp

 

[Roguey]

Not even DnD is that retarded.

You'd be wrong. You don't even need higher tier armor to get something's that lighter and protects better. http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Armor

In addition to that, I remember a few games where I replaced something heavier with a magical lighter armor.

 

[imweasel]

The old RPG tradition of replacing heavier armor with something that's lighter because the latter is of a higher tier and protects more or an equal amount.

Usually not a simple shirt though.

There is always better equipment to find until you reach the end game in RPGs. The point here is that D:OS 2 still has this shitty level scaled loot system, although it is supposed to be an RPG and not a hack'n'slash Diablo clone.

There is really no excuse for such lazy design after Larian sold 1.8M copies of D:OS.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

There is really no excuse for such lazy design after Larian sold 1.8M copies of D:OS.

Yes there is, they sold 1.8 M copies of D:OS.

 

[Rivmusique]

So the "minutely upgrade every slot 1000 times" loot/gearing system is still in? Shame, I hate that.

 

[DraQ]

Equipment and level progression has always been beyond awful in Larian games.

Sadly.

 

[Roguey]

There is really no excuse for such lazy design after Larian sold 1.8M copies of D:OS.

Swen is a huge fan of what he describes as "item fever" and he'll tell you its presence helped sales.

 

[Delterius]

In addition to that, I remember a few games where I replaced something heavier with a magical lighter armor.

"Get off my lawn, you realist fag kids!"