To those who played D:OS 1 & 2 solo: were you able to get over the cognitive dissonance of "talking to yourself?"

[Forest Dweller]

Curious how people felt about this and if they were able to get past it.

I'm not sure I can.

 

[Roguey]

Talking to yourself is really only a thing in the first game. You just make one character in 2.

I'm on the spectrum so it didn't matter to me. If you want, you can make one of the companions controlled by an AI personality so it automatically makes decisions based on that.

 

[Forest Dweller]

I'm on the spectrum

 

[lukaszek]

no better person to talk to than myself

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Nothing compared to the cognitive dissidence of talking to NPCs and trying to come up with reasons why I should keep playing.

 

[Spectacle]

Neither character is "myself", I just control them as part of the party. The conversation duels did feel like an awkward and pointless mechanic, but not dissonant.

 

[easychord]

These days, you can hire egirls to play games with you.

 

[Maxie]

dumb motherfucker assumes i read larian writing

 

[processdaemon]

I heavily disliked it in DOS1 and didn't get over it for my whole playthrough, and as a result will never replay it despite otherwise thinking the game was fine. It feels like a silly thing to have such a strong reaction over but I genuinely couldn't help how much it grated on me.

 

[jaekl]

It's probably a lot better than playing with real people, for me the game was over in around an hour after my friend and I got into a fight because he was (IMHO) cheating at the rock paper scissors.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

"Were we able to get over the cognitive dissonance, The Brazilian Slaughter ?"

"Sure we were, The Brazilian Slaughter . That's because we are very intelligent and cool."

"Yes, we are indeed. We might be the next step in human evolution?"

"Or are we merely the most perfect man?"

"Yeah, well, we have a disagreement."

"Let's decide it through the tried and true way!"

"Duel at ten paces? SMAX 1v1?"

"No, let's play Paper-Rock-Scissors!"

"You're on!"

 

[Abu Antar]

No issues for me.

 

[Zlaja]

you can make one of the companions controlled by an AI personality so it automatically makes decisions based on that

Yes, this is how you should do it. I actually gave them both a specific AI personality, cause I didn't know if I will always control the same character in a conversation.

 

[Frozen]

dumb motherfucker assumes i read larian writing

Maxie is here for the romance.

 

[Yosharian]

I wasn't able to get over how shit the armour mechanics were

Or how fucking terrible the writing is

 

[Spike]

I wasn't able to get over how shit the armour mechanics were

Or how fucking terrible the writing is

Eh writing is fine.

I have been trying to beat OS 1 for years at this point. I'm not stuck, I just keep falling off a cliff with it. I actually like the writing and it was fun to see Larian grow as a developer through Divine Divinity, Divinity 2, and now OS 1. Maybe the main plot is making me drag? I love the encounters, really fun. Skills are fun. I want to play Baldur's Gate and NWN (especially modules) and I am going insane putting it off but my autism will not let me move on until OS 1 is DONE so I never have to play it again even though it's been fun overall but my goodness it's just been an on-and-off slog. Looking forward to OS 2. Thank God my single-character RPG stints have been nothing but net (right now on Enderal which is going on forever in a good way). There is certainly something about OS 1 just missing something though. Don't mind the dice stuff so much and I certainly prefer to play alone.

 

[whydoibother]

Curious how people felt about this and if they were able to get past it.

I'm not sure I can.

The characters talk to themselves. I am not the characters.
Honestly, you need to be autistic to be bothered by it.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

It is like when as a kid you play with toys that talk to each others.

 

[Zlaja]

It is like when as a kid you play with toys that talk to each others.

My toys never talked to each other when I was a kid. They were too busy shooting at each other.

 

[Drowed]

Or how fucking terrible the writing is

Eh writing is fine.

The issue with Larian games, not only the recent ones but going back to the Divine Divinity era, is that they have a very particular style of humor. And like all forms of humor, it can either hit the mark or miss terribly. It's not so much that they are funny, but more like entertaining. It's not something you should take too seriously or everything falls apart.

I think the most applicable comparison would be certain cartoons/stories from the 80s-90s. Most of them make sense in a vague way, but if you start looking too closely, everything unravels. If you're the type of person who can't take a story at face value and roll with it, you're unlikely to enjoy the game. But if you want to have fun with a story in a carefree way without overthinking it, you might end up liking it a lot. Personally, I really enjoyed both games, but I can understand why so many people hate them. And if you're on one side, you'll probably never be able to see it from the other.

 

[Axel_am]

To me their studio logo implies exactly that. This serious knight with a goofy arrow on top of him. The more you look at the art style the more you get the feeling that the guy isn't menacing at all but just barely slightly dangerous to pass as cool looking.

 

[Zlaja]

The issue with Larian games, not only the recent ones but going back to the Divine Divinity era, is that they have a very particular style of humor

I just crafted myself a Crab Helmet. So, now my main Source Hunter fighter guy is wearing a helmet with crab feet sticking out on each side.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

The "whole talking to yourself" thing is weird, until you realise that most conversations are pointless and you can just ignore them, or treat them as stat-buffing opportunities without caring who "wins". Since different attributes are assigned based on your responses, rather than any roleplaying you are basically just min-maxing.

 

[Doktor Best]

It is like when as a kid you play with toys that talk to each others.

My toys never talked to each other when I was a kid. They were too busy shooting at each other.

"And this was the moment little Zlaja found out he is a combat fag"

 

[thesecret1]

That was the least of those games' problems. Godawful armor mechanics ruined combat, incomprehensibly awful itemization ruined exploration, and terrible writing ruined the story. That you are asked to roleplay two characters who get into arguments was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things