Divinity or Eternity?

[Commissar Draco]

D:OS is worse than Wasteland 2 let alone Pillars, It's not even worth playing past cyseal.

DoS was letdown but so was PoE the only game which delivered its premiss and not ended up as dull task you were forcing yourself to play at the finale was W2.



Best Song ever.

 

[Ninjerk]

'K' game strong

 

[subotaiy]

I found them both pretty bland and didn't finish either. That being said, DOS is clearly the better and more memorable game.
Still waiting for the ultimate Wasteland 2 edition.

 

[markec]

All three games are underwhelming.

I once had a argument with a silly person who thought Arcania is worth playing. During that argument I said that in my opinion you can split RPGs in three categories, those that have main focus on combat, storytelling or exploration. My point was that since Arcania is shit in all three departments what exactly is point of playing it.

Now lets see how these three games stand in those categories.


COMBAT:

DOS is a clear winner here and its not even a competition. While there are grindy moments overall the combat is fun, there is an actual diversity in enemy encounters and tactics you need to employ in order to win.

W2 is a mix bag. I played lots of tactical games with better combat but also with worse. While I would like more options to use while in fight I still find present mechanics overall acceptable. Problem on the other hand is enemy encounter design which features few nice combat scenarios but in most cases its just simply uninspired. This is connected with world design which is mostly bunch of corridors which greatly limits tactical options.

PoE combat is just shit. Both mechanical wise and encounter design wise. Biggest problem is that its a game where majority of time is focused on combat, so having such a mess from people who has huge amount of experience working on RTwP combat is inexcusable.


STORYTELLING:

PoE is the winner here but seeing the competition its not really an achievement. I found the entirety of PoE writing just mediocre. The main story line just like side quests and companions jump from interesting to bland and boring. There is little dialog options based on your character choices and even when you get one its mostly just cosmetic. While I would rate writing better then your average RPG I expected much more from Obsidian.

W2, a game for which official Codex review says "The writing ranges from good to great". Well in my experience the writing ranges from good to Fallout 3 level of derp. While W2 has some interesting characters, plot points and side quests I found myself way too many times wondering "who the fuck wrote this shit". When my memories of the game writing is mostly of me facepalming its a not a good sign.

DOS, honestly I cant really say much here because I forgot pretty much every bit of story and characters fromr the game. Overall writing is just serviceable and not memorable in a either good or a bad way.



EXPLORATION:

DOS is also a clear winner in this category. The point of exploration is to find interesting enemies, items and storylines. In DOS there is lots of secret places, interesting non mandatory combat encounters and decent loot system. All this makes exploration of the world both interesting and rewarding even if there are certain areas which are rather a chore.

W2 is not much better then PoE in this regard and it actually manages to be worse in some ways. One of the biggest problem of W2 is corridor based world design, which not only limits combat but also exploration. Only thing of value you can find while exploring are some secrets but they are underwhelming to say atleast. In Fallouts finding a locked chest usually means you will get something useful, in W2 you will probably get few bullets and random junk no matter how well defended or hard to get that container is. Also nothing beats wasting time opening chests that hold nothing but junk, first choose a char to disarm an alarm, then other one to remove a trap and then third one to unlock the chest and all you get is shit. Doesnt help that unlike Fallout chests are few in between, in W2 they are everywhere probably to make those skills useful, too bad there is nothing useful inside them.

PoE, there is no point of exploration since there is no interesting enemy encounters and enemies give little xp while loot is horribly bland but then again there is some nice vistas to look at, thats something right.


CONCLUSION:

DOS has a good combat and in most areas good feeling of exploration but is underwhelming in story/quest design/writing department.

W2, simply a mediocre game which is not really good at anything.

PoE, an action heavy game that has horrible combat, game featuring large open spaces for exploration but with nothing worth exploring for and on top of that a mediocre writing from company famed for great writing.

 

[Ramireza]

All three games are underwhelming.

I once had a argument with a silly person who thought Arcania is worth playing. During that argument I said that in my opinion you can split RPGs in three categories, those that have main focus on combat, storytelling or exploration. My point was that since Arcania is shit in all three departments what exactly is point of playing it.

Now lets see how these three games stand in those categories.


COMBAT:

DOS is a clear winner here and its not even a competition. While there are grindy moments overall the combat is fun, there is an actual diversity in enemy encounters and tactics you need to employ in order to win.

W2 is a mix bag. I played lots of tactical games with better combat but also with worse. While I would like more options to use while in fight I still find present mechanics overall acceptable. Problem on the other hand is enemy encounter design which features few nice combat scenarios but in most cases its just simply uninspired. This is connected with world design which is mostly bunch of corridors which greatly limits tactical options.

PoE combat is just shit. Both mechanical wise and encounter design wise. Biggest problem is that its a game where majority of time is focused on combat, so having such a mess from people who has huge amount of experience working on RTwP combat is inexcusable.


STORYTELLING:

PoE is the winner here but seeing the competition its not really an achievement. I found the entirety of PoE writing just mediocre. The main story line just like side quests and companions jump from interesting to bland and boring. There is little dialog options based on your character choices and even when you get one its mostly just cosmetic. While I would rate writing better then your average RPG I expected much more from Obsidian.

W2, a game for which official Codex review says "The writing ranges from good to great". Well in my experience the writing ranges from good to Fallout 3 level of derp. While W2 has some interesting characters, plot points and side quests I found myself way too many times wondering "who the fuck wrote this shit". When my memories of the game writing is mostly of me facepalming its a not a good sign.

DOS, honestly I cant really say much here because I forgot pretty much every bit of story and characters fromr the game. Overall writing is just serviceable and not memorable in a either good or a bad way.



EXPLORATION:

DOS is also a clear winner in this category. The point of exploration is to find interesting enemies, items and storylines. In DOS there is lots of secret places, interesting non mandatory combat encounters and decent loot system. All this makes exploration of the world both interesting and rewarding even if there are certain areas which are rather a chore.

W2 is not much better then PoE in this regard and it actually manages to be worse in some ways. One of the biggest problem of W2 is corridor based world design, which not only limits combat but also exploration. Only thing of value you can find while exploring are some secrets but they are underwhelming to say atleast. In Fallouts finding a locked chest usually means you will get something useful, in W2 you will probably get few bullets and random junk no matter how well defended or hard to get that container is. Also nothing beats wasting time opening chests that hold nothing but junk, first choose a char to disarm an alarm, then other one to remove a trap and then third one to unlock the chest and all you get is shit. Doesnt help that unlike Fallout chests are few in between, in W2 they are everywhere probably to make those skills useful, too bad there is nothing useful inside them.

PoE, there is no point of exploration since there is no interesting enemy encounters and enemies give little xp while loot is horribly bland but then again there is some nice vistas to look at, thats something right.


CONCLUSION:

DOS has a good combat and in most areas good feeling of exploration but is underwhelming in story/quest design/writing department.

W2, simply a mediocre game which is not really good at anything.

PoE, an action heavy game that has horrible combat, game featuring large open spaces for exploration but with nothing worth exploring for and on top of that a mediocre writing from company famed for great writing.

COMBAT:

Classics rock more then this new Shit. Arcanum, Fallout and PST are CLASSICS because of great combat.

STORYTELLING:

Classics all the way! BG1 had such a great Story, lots of c&c, meaningfull characters and reactivity! The new shit cant compare to the classics!

EXPLORATION:

BG2 was so great in terms of Explorations, omg, a real CLASSIC!

CONCLUSION:

Battle Brothers, lets replay the classics until we do our last shit! The time for new classics is over, because... well, because we become old farty hipsters that cant enjoy new things anymore.

 

[markec]

COMBAT:

Classics rock more then this new Shit. Arcanum, Fallout and PST are CLASSICS because of great combat.

They are great games that had underwhelming combat, and rightly so they were heavily criticized for it (Fallout not so much).

STORYTELLING:

Classics all the way! BG1 had such a great Story, lots of c&c, meaningfull characters and reactivity! The new shit cant compare the classics!

BG1 has a good story and interesting characters and some of the best RPGs didnt have many or any c&c and reactivity.

EXPLORATION:

BG2 was so great in terms of Explorations, omg, a real CLASSIC!

BG2 is one of the best games ever made in terms of exploration. You dont need to have sandbox world to have a good exploration. What made BG2 so great is entering a random house in a middle of a city feel like a adventure because no matter where you go you never know what youll find, and according to BG2 youll can find some of the toughest in game fights right from the start by entering random house.

CONCLUSION:

Battle Brothers, lets replay the classics until we do our last shit! The time for new classics is over, because... well, because become old and cant enjoy new things anymore.

You do realize a game can be great even if it sucks at certain element. There is no big problem when you make story focused game and have a poor combat but it is a problem when you have poor combat in combat focused game.

Also I cant enjoy shit thank you very much, you on the other hand are free to do so. Last year I had immense amount of fun by playing great games like MMX, NEO Scavenger and Underrail looks to be one of the best RPGs in the last ten years. Those games are by no means perfect but they are great in the parts they focus at.

 

[Vibalist]

Dude, nobody considers BG1 a classic.

 

[Sykar]

Dude, nobody considers BG1 a classic.

What ?

 

[Ladonna]

Dude, nobody considers BG1 a classic.

That is a Codexian belief, and not even shared by all the Codex. Outside of this website, it is considered a very big classic. Now, back on topic....

I am still deciding which of these three to spend money on. It is becoming increasingly more likely all of them will be bargain bin buys. I initially wanted to buy WL2, until I heard it was full of bugs and seemed to get a bad rap...then I was going to buy DivOS, until, again, a large force of people started slinging mud at it and saying how boring it is. Then it was POE, until everyone piped up and talked about the worse-than-bg1-combat, and that there is a lot of that, little to no world reactivity, a boring giant dungeon and a poorly done fortress....and lots of big bugs...

Are there any Wasteland fags in here to dispute all the bad stuff?

Any defenders of the Div?

Any PoE fans who will say, truthfully, that the combat is better than they say and the other problems are non issues?

I have heard Wasteland 2 is a lot better experience if you know the original well (which I do).

 

[Beowulf]

[...]

[...]
Battle Brothers, [...]

Don't bother, it's viral marketing. Check the EA start date.

Spoiler

Spoiler

It's already on my wishlist

 

[Roguey]

Ladonna you should wait until all three have been fully patched. D:OS and Wasteland 2 will have their big rebalance patches within the next few months.

 

[Ladonna]

Ladonna you should wait until all three have been fully patched. D:OS and Wasteland 2 will have their big rebalance patches within the next few months.

Thanks Roguey. I was leaning in that direction, but wanted to play something new for a change. I will go back to waiting.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ladonna you should wait until all three have been fully patched. D:OS and Wasteland 2 will have their big rebalance patches within the next few months.

Thanks Roguey. I was leaning in that direction, but wanted to play something new for a change. I will go back to waiting.

Dude play Realms Of Arkania HD.

 

[Ramireza]

Dude, nobody considers BG1 a classic.

What ?

BG1 is a "classic" because of BG2.

 

[thesoup]

BG1 is a juggling training set (5 CDs ffs)

 

[Vibalist]

Dude, nobody sane considers BG1 a classic.

What ?

Alright then, fixed.

 

[upwardlymobile]

Classics rock more then this new Shit. Arcanum, Fallout and PST are CLASSICS because of great combat.

Arcanum .. CLASSIC[] because of great combat

what

 

[Drowed]

Voted Divinity because I don't have enough money to buy Pillars of Eternity.

 

[Broseph]

I got both for free, legally

 

[VioletShadow]

Hmmm... This is actually a tough choice for me. DOS has better gameplay and combat TB, but the setting and storytelling cannot match PoE even with Obsidian not at their best. PoE also wins on the presentation in terms of both visuals and music. I really like the DOS engine but TOO MUCH YELLOWS AND ORANGES (my memories of Deus Ex HR triggered)... hmmm....hmmm
At the same time some of the design decisions with PoE just me, I just cannot comprehend why?!... and DOS has better crafting and LUT. Fucking Obs making me complete Od Nua for that CRAP ITEM!?
I guess I'd tip the scales in favor of PoE because it was able to keep me interested enough to play from start to finish without jumping to other games in between.

 

[Atchodas]

Wasteland 2 is better than both of these pieces of shit.

Well WL2 atleast got harder while progressing trough the game , meanwhile both PoE and DO:S just stops being challenging after first half of the game , so yeh definitely agree to you WL2 > This garbage games that pretend to be redemption of Old school rpgs

 

[Ninjerk]

Classics rock more then this new Shit. Arcanum, Fallout and PST are CLASSICS because of great combat.

Arcanum .. CLASSIC[] because of great combat

what

The implication being that everyone on the Codex loves those games' combat because they are old games, not that there are myriad, nuanced opinions on all of the games (including that they flat out suck or are overrated). He's a dumbfuck.

 

[Roguey]

Well WL2 atleast got harder while progressing trough the game

Take your armor off.

 

[Atchodas]

Take your armor off , and go to Santa Monica to face some Pistol packin Priests NOT A GOOD CHOICE BRO , your character dont even get knocked down then , they just go from full hp to Died in Wasteland and will always be remembered ( Its not like whole Act 2 of WL2 is only robots , priests are way tougher fights than robots ) ! Wasteland had its tough fights on 2nd part of the game , there were actual tactics to kill some encounters on SJ ( For Example Canyon of Titan DBM Base fight , Dugan , Wither Ambush , Santa Monica etc these all are good fights that you cant faceroll in any way )
Also i only ever talk about difficulties like Supreme Jerk and Path of the Damned and out of those Supreme Jerk delivered what was expected of it , meanwhile on PoE POTD i dont cast spells anymore in act 3 because it consumes too much time semi afk auto attacking does the job ALWAYS . Not even talking about D:OS where after half of the game your characters jut heals from enemy damage spells .

 

[Celerity]

PoE was merely bland and forgettable. D:OS was actively terrible in every way. Therefore I pick option C.