Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pre-Release Thread

[Bubbles]

No, I mean where/when did they say you can create a full party.

I don't know. Searching Kickstarter update comments is a pain in the ass. I've been asking about this since the beginning and everyone has been telling me not to worry, of course I'll be able to effectively play multiplayer without other people.

I can tell you that we asked specifically about these concerns in our at-some-point-to-be-released fulcrum-shifting interview.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-2/posts/1661691

Kickstarter Update #26: Early Access Announced - 15th September!

You look around the tavern. It's getting crowded in here…

In one corner you see a dark-haired stranger, sharpening a blade. You've heard whispers about that one. They say he lost something. They say he's a lone wolf on a rampage.

By the bar, a tall, crimson lizard in regal armour is demanding a sherry. He'll be disappointed; in this place you're fancy if you ask for your water to be rat-free.

Sitting by the fire, a young girl's staring at the flames. She's talkin', but there ain't no one else there to hear her. Whatever she sees in the flickering light, it's beyond you.

And by the door there's a tall, beautiful elf entertaining a line of suitors. But through the strands of her hair, you can see her mark. A mark that twists and moves - a living scar. Beautiful she may be, but she smells of trouble.

You take another sip of your beer, and notice the fifth stranger. He's been staring at you through all of this. You nod as you meet his piercing blue eyes, and he stalks over to your table. You shift on your stool as he pulls up a chair, leans in close, and whispers-

Welcome to Kickstarter Update #26! We’ve had a hectic couple of weeks, but it’s all coming together today. Here’s Swen to tell you what we’ve been up to, and what’s coming next.

Early Access is Coming!
We are incredibly excited to announce that you’ll get your first taste of Divinity: Original Sin 2 on the 15th of September. We’re giving all Kickstarter backers access to the first act of the game: Fort Joy.

We’re going to level with you - it’s not a nice place. Think Alcatraz, but if Alcatraz was a leper colony. And the island was haunted. And the bay around it was full of sharks. With tentacles… It ain’t pretty, is what we’re saying. But we’re sure that a resourceful Sourcerer like you will be able to find some new friends. Or useful enemies…

We’ve been working on this for a very long time, and seeing it go out into the world is an amazing experience. We’ve already had some incredible feedback from the press but of course it’s your voices that we can’t wait to hear. You were all here with us when we started this journey, and we can’t wait to show you how far we’ve come. And we’re not done yet!


So how do I get my hands on Divinity: Original Sin 2?
You won’t be able to play the game until the 15th September, but we will be sending out instructions on how to claim your game codes later this week. However, if you want to get ahead of the game, you can always link your account to the Larian Vault. To do this:

1. Log in or create account on larianvault.com.
2. Click on "D:OS2 Kickstarter" (Make sure it’s the D:OS 2 Kickstarter, and not the original D:OS Kickstarter)
3. Fill in the email address you used to log in to Kickstarter or Paypal when you backed D:OS 2 and click the "Link" button.

You won’t be able to claim your code just yet, but you’ll get a great overview of your pledges. And once the codes are available: that’s where they’ll be.

We’ll have more information later this week, but we do need to stress a couple of important things:

• The key that you claim is going to be the same key that applies to your game. You can’t play Early Access on Steam and then get the game on GOG.
• We can not swap Steam keys for GOG keys in the future.
• We’re working with GOG to get let people who claim GOG codes get early access ASAP, butfor now early access is available through Steam only. We'll let you know once the GOG versions are available.

So, if you want to play your copy of Divinity: Original Sin 2 using GOG, DON’T claim a Steam Key just to get into Early Access faster. We can’t swap it for a GOG key later.

Gamescom: A whirlwind week in Cologne!
As you’ll have seen in the video above, Swen and the gang had a jam-packed few days showing our game to the press last week at Gamescom. You can read some of the wonderful feedback we’re getting by following the links below:

Rock Paper Shotgun

“The smartest twist on cooperative multiplayer that I’ve seen since Dark Souls... And what characters there are in this game. From the superbly pompous Red Prince, an aristocratic reptile, to the rambling host of a hundred demons, a possessed lady who explains her attractiveness to demons by comparing her mind/soul to a pleasant inn that they’re all spending their vacation time in. The writing for all of them is fantastic, skipping between world-building and witticisms with ease, and sometimes within a single sentence..."

PC World
“Divinity: Original Sin II is horrifically funny, in co-op... Original Sin II raises the potential for mayhem. It seemed like no matter what Avellone and I did, hell was bound to break loose.”

PC Games N
“[It] feels more ambitious and inventive than any other RPG out there right now ... After having played a good few hours of it, it’s hard not to be as excited as a kid at Christmas about it. Thankfully you won't have until Christmas though, as Divinity: Original Sin 2 goes into early access September 15.”

… and there are many more articles across lots of languages! If you speak German, be sure to pick up the latest issue of GameStar, as there’s a 7-page spread on Divinity: Original Sin 2!


Fascinating reading...


Not to mention the bastions of RPG knowledge online: RPG Watch and RPG Codex, who both enjoyed their hands-on time with our game:

Up Next: PAX West



Our next big engagement is PAX West, where we’ll be showing off the game to as many of you as we can. We’ll have a great booth (#6011), competitions, goodies, and our team will be on hand to answer your questions about the game. And of course, we want to get as many of you sitting down and playing it as possible ahead of Early Access.

Shout Out




While he was at GamesCom, Swen found a great way to enjoy all the fun of crashing your drone into a tree at 100km/h without making his kids cry: LuGus Studios’ Liftoff. This program isn’t just a fun game that lets you customise your own drone, and fly it through a variety of courses - it also perfectly maps the way real drones react in the world. It’s so accurate, one quarter of all real drone pilots use it to practice their skills.

So if you don’t have several hundred dollars to invest in expensive drone equipment, maybe throw a few bucks their way on Steam Early Access!

 

[Alienman]

https://www.larianvault.com is down hehe

 

[Roguey]

Ugh they kept the dumbed down minimap from the enhanced edition

What's the difference between the two? I can't tell at a glance.

 

[Fry]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-2/posts/1661691

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-2/posts/1661691

Who's that shill at 5:12?

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

Now that I think about it, choosing a theme instrument for your character is a really clever idea. It's subtle, and it reminds me a bit of Prokofiev's _Peter and the Wolf_:

(Yes, there's narration in this version.)


I wonder why no one's really taken this approach before in a game...

 

[imweasel]

This game looks really great.

The new and less comicy art style is so much better. I also just love the darker and more epic tone to the game. September 15th can't come soon enough. :D

^
Unique and intricately designed structures like this give me a huge boner. They really improve the atmosphere and give the world so much depth.

 

[Vibalist]

What I really want to know is if the soundtrack will be as good as in the first one now that Kirill Pokrovsky is dead. That OST was fucking orgasmic.

 

[Lacrymas]

I doubt it, there are very few composers in the video game industry who are as good as him.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The composer they got did music for Two Worlds etc., and that's some good shit.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[pakoito]

Does anyone else see an altar to :russiastronk

 

[Sacred82]

So backers get access to the "early access" i pressume

it was that way with D:OS

also all RPGWatch fundraiser backers will get their key on EA release


BTW did anyone inquire or hear what they'll do to make hybrid characters viable this time? I disliked this a lot about D:OS. The Divinity series is traditionally classless and allows for interesting characters, but with such a rigid system D:OS might as well have been class-based.

 

[Vibalist]

I doubt it, there are very few composers in the video game industry who are as good as him.

Maybe. There more I think about it, the more I come to realize that 50% of my enjoyment of the first DOS was due to that amazing score. Is it completely bonkers to lose interest in a video game due to the soundtrack of all things being different and/or sub par? Because I think that's what's happening here. I just can't imagine getting the same enjoyment out of exploring the world in DOS 2 if Pokrovsky's tunes aren't coming out of my speakers. He was so integral to the setting and atmosphere. His music gave DOS an emotional depth it had absolutely no right to have.

 

[Zombra]

Is it completely bonkers to lose interest in a video game due to the soundtrack of all things being different and/or sub par?

Certainly not. Music and sound design are just as important as any other part of the package. Full Life Consequences.

 

[Lacrymas]

Music and sound design give "weight" to the gameplay. Not only in a kinesthetic sense, but the overall "depth" of the process of gaming. I kinda can't put it into words ;d

 

[Fry]

Is it completely bonkers to lose interest in a video game due to the soundtrack of all things being different and/or sub par?

Certainly not. Music and sound design are just as important as any other part of the package. Full Life Consequences.

Eh... I've never stopped playing a game because I didn't like the music. I've given up on many games due to gameplay, story, dialog writing, etc.

 

[Zombra]

Eh... I've never stopped playing a game because I didn't like the music.

I bet you have without being conscious of it, even though it's not as easy to point to as "That jumping puzzle is stupid." There have been plenty of games where I go "I'm just not excited to go back to it." A crap soundtrack can contribute greatly to this, and a great one can prevent it.

Of course there are people with no ear for music, and you may be one (no offense), but this is really no different from someone who can't appreciate good writing or gameplay.

 

[Fry]

Of course there are people with no ear for music

No offense taken, but I wouldn't say that's the case. It's mostly that game music/movie music/TV music/soundtrack music in general is deliberately calculated to be benign. It's often nothing but background, so unless it's obviously bad it's easy to ignore.

To be fair, I have deliberately turned the music volume slider way down on several games. Mostly because of frequently repeating tracks.

 

[Sacred82]

Is it completely bonkers to lose interest in a video game due to the soundtrack of all things being different and/or sub par?

Certainly not. Music and sound design are just as important as any other part of the package. Full Life Consequences.

Eh... I've never stopped playing a game because I didn't like the music. I've given up on many games due to gameplay, story, dialog writing, etc.

Music simply intensifies whatever feelings already exist.

This is why no amount of Pokrovsky music could make me play D:OS any longer after I realized how shallow it was

 

[V_K]

I bet you have without being conscious of it, even though it's not as easy to point to as "That jumping puzzle is stupid." There have been plenty of games where I go "I'm just not excited to go back to it." A crap soundtrack can contribute greatly to this, and a great one can prevent it.

Thing is, you can always turn music off if you don't like it (as I do 99% of the time, I'm just not into soundtacks). No such luck with gameplay, or writing, or even visuals.

 

[Zombra]

I bet you have without being conscious of it, even though it's not as easy to point to as "That jumping puzzle is stupid." There have been plenty of games where I go "I'm just not excited to go back to it." A crap soundtrack can contribute greatly to this, and a great one can prevent it.

Thing is, you can always turn music off if you don't like it (as I do 99% of the time, I'm just not into soundtacks). No such luck with gameplay, or writing, or even visuals.

Sure, and you can go to the movies and put on a blindfold ... but if the camera crew did their job, you are missing out.

 

[Bubbles]

Sure, and you can go to the movies and put on a blindfold ... but if the camera crew did their job, you are missing out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_(1993_film)

 

[Jedi Exile]

Kirill's music was marvelous and I have hard time imagining a Divinity game without it. Still, as others already pointed out, music isn't essential, gameplay is. Music is just a cherry on top of the cake.

 

[Grotesque]

sound editing > music