Divinity Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

[Cadmus]

Sorry for the double post, I would like to say some more things about the game now that I'm done with it.

The good things about it:
- the combat system TOGETHER with the spell system and environmental effects is one of the best things I've ever seen. fuck RTWP after this. This game's combat was so goddamn comfortable, fun, overpowered imbalanced mess that I don't want to go back to the prehistoric rtwp shit of IE games.
- the talking quests are fun for the most part and I enjoyed the cyseal part the most (obviously, it's the best fleshed out area)
- sometimes the game actually manages to be funny
- I have learned that many cheeses get me more friends
- now I know the imp of the year contest is probably rigged if the same person gets it every time
- the skill system is ok to good, probably depends whether you're a fighter or a mage
- pet pal is really useful and fun, I loved this skill, they worked hard on making it viable throughout the game

The bad things about it:
- boring traits with not enough explanation to them
- shitty long animation in real time, making it annoying to pre-buff before a battle
- shitty art style, I don't like this cartoony crap
- no more talking quests after cyseal and maybe silverglenn
- the enemy AI isn't bad but this combat system needs a really strong AI to help balance it out
- horrible vendor trash everywhere, the itemization is boring and annoying
- when I pick up a recipe book, I expect it to write down a simple to read recipe for me in my journal, I dont wanna be reading 2 pages of fluff every time I want to craft something + I would like there to be actual recipes for stuff
- I didn't really like to go check every vendor after lvl up for the missing spells. I never found many low lvl spellbooks, had to craft ice wall which I didn't even know existed until I read about it on a forum and about lvl 16 picked up the scroll, that kinda sucks. The game could make a little more sure that you get the basic stuff.
- the story itself is p. banal but at least there's something to uncover about your characters, not only a straight forward save the world shit
- I don't like the homestead. It's cluttered with stupid rooms I don't care about and only visited each of them once except for the teller of secrets.
- the music, for all the hype it received during the kickstarter, was kinda bland, undeveloped. I liked a few tracks but that's it. Yeah I know the composer got sick, but who cares. Even the menu theme could use tons of work.

Overall this game rocks and it's really what you call a flawed gem. If it sang blues, I would listen. What I found problematic that it really introduced me to how people are fucking retarded, asking questions on reddit like "OMG THIS GAME SO HARD I LIKE RPGS LIKE MASS EFFECT, HOW TO PLAY?????I TRIED 10 MINUTES ITS TOO HARD" "OMG WHY CANT YOU CUSTOMIZE YOUR CHAR MORE WTF THIS IS NOT RPG IF I CANT CUSTOMIZE MY CHAR"

I have never actually seen this much retardation (because I dont follow the gaming scene at all except for the codex) but now I have seen people are fucking stupid, lazy and this simple game gives them hard time.

 

[Crane]

Is there an ETA on those new companions? The game runs really well now that I have a better gpu, but I'm thinking if those new companions are going to be added soon I should delay the start of my playthrough accordingly.

 

[Mangoose]

Sorry for the double post, I would like to say some more things about the game now that I'm done with it.

The good things about it:
- the combat system TOGETHER with the spell system and environmental effects is one of the best things I've ever seen. fuck RTWP after this. This game's combat was so goddamn comfortable, fun, overpowered imbalanced mess that I don't want to go back to the prehistoric rtwp shit of IE games.
- the talking quests are fun for the most part and I enjoyed the cyseal part the most (obviously, it's the best fleshed out area)
- sometimes the game actually manages to be funny
- I have learned that many cheeses get me more friends
- now I know the imp of the year contest is probably rigged if the same person gets it every time
- the skill system is ok to good, probably depends whether you're a fighter or a mage
- pet pal is really useful and fun, I loved this skill, they worked hard on making it viable throughout the game

The bad things about it:
- boring traits with not enough explanation to them
- shitty long animation in real time, making it annoying to pre-buff before a battle
- shitty art style, I don't like this cartoony crap
- no more talking quests after cyseal and maybe silverglenn
- the enemy AI isn't bad but this combat system needs a really strong AI to help balance it out
- horrible vendor trash everywhere, the itemization is boring and annoying
- when I pick up a recipe book, I expect it to write down a simple to read recipe for me in my journal, I dont wanna be reading 2 pages of fluff every time I want to craft something + I would like there to be actual recipes for stuff
- I didn't really like to go check every vendor after lvl up for the missing spells. I never found many low lvl spellbooks, had to craft ice wall which I didn't even know existed until I read about it on a forum and about lvl 16 picked up the scroll, that kinda sucks. The game could make a little more sure that you get the basic stuff.
- the story itself is p. banal but at least there's something to uncover about your characters, not only a straight forward save the world shit
- I don't like the homestead. It's cluttered with stupid rooms I don't care about and only visited each of them once except for the teller of secrets.
- the music, for all the hype it received during the kickstarter, was kinda bland, undeveloped. I liked a few tracks but that's it. Yeah I know the composer got sick, but who cares. Even the menu theme could use tons of work.

See, now this is a good review. Not "I played for 10 minutes here are my random judgments on the game."

I can't disagree with anything except I liked the noncombat stuff in Hunter's Glen (though can't say the same for the rest of Phantom Forest). Also I think prebuffing was intentionally prohibited. Agreed with the rest, though I still think that on paper/theoretically it's possible to make a good RTWP system.... someday... eventually... (until then just play RTS).

 

[Mangoose]

Is there an ETA on those new companions? The game runs really well now that I have a better gpu, but I'm thinking if those new companions are going to be added soon I should delay the start of my playthrough accordingly.

Sounds like they're adding companions along with a bunch of other stuff in the next patch. Twitter links somewhere in the last page or so of this thread said some things about "something big coming." I assume balancing along with companions.

But there's a good chance I'm wrong, so feel free to shoot me if I am.

 

[Tytus]

Is there an ETA on those new companions? The game runs really well now that I have a better gpu, but I'm thinking if those new companions are going to be added soon I should delay the start of my playthrough accordingly.

Sounds like they're adding companions along with a bunch of other stuff in the next patch. Twitter links somewhere in the last page or so of this thread said some things about "something big coming." I assume balancing along with companions.

But there's a good chance I'm wrong, so feel free to shoot me if I am.

Yeah this what prevents my from playing. I have around 4-5 in the game, I enjoyed it really much, but with all the content coming in the patches it feels like playing an early acces game or a Witcher game before the enhance edition.

I wonder how many months will take them to implement all the planned features. Plus it's great they are not sold as DLCs. Yet...

 

[Mangoose]

Is there an ETA on those new companions? The game runs really well now that I have a better gpu, but I'm thinking if those new companions are going to be added soon I should delay the start of my playthrough accordingly.

Sounds like they're adding companions along with a bunch of other stuff in the next patch. Twitter links somewhere in the last page or so of this thread said some things about "something big coming." I assume balancing along with companions.

But there's a good chance I'm wrong, so feel free to shoot me if I am.

Yeah this what prevents my from playing. I have around 4-5 in the game, I enjoyed it really much, but with all the content coming in the patches it feels like playing an early acces game or a Witcher game before the enhance edition.

I wonder how many months will take them to implement all the planned features. Plus it's great they are not sold as DLCs. Yet...

Actually from inference it sounds like they're gonna do one or two big patches and the companions and probably not much more. I say this because they talk about doing "their next game" every so often. I do believe they are committed to the new companions and doing a good big bit of.. well.. something (balancing probably) but I don't expect constant smallish patches/hotfixes after that.

So after they release their "big patch" I'd say start playing from there.

But again this is a big guess relying on completely faulty intuition.

 

[Cadmus]

I forgot to mention the puzzles.
They are stupid, mostly. I don't like puzzles. I watched a video how to get through the source temple without doing any puzzles at all. I tried to do the secret immaculate chamber puzzle with the butens east west north south or what and it didn't seem to work like described in the book you find, so I found the solution online. Dunno, I'm not a puzzle guy so maybe somebody who likes this shit can tell me if it's up to the RPG puzzle standard. I only really liked the chessboard with animals and food, that was fun.

 

[J_C]

I forgot to mention the puzzles.
They are stupid, mostly. I don't like puzzles. I watched a video how to get through the source temple without doing any puzzles at all. I tried to do the secret immaculate chamber puzzle with the butens east west north south or what and it didn't seem to work like described in the book you find, so I found the solution online. Dunno, I'm not a puzzle guy so maybe somebody who likes this shit can tell me if it's up to the RPG puzzle standard. I only really liked the chessboard with animals and food, that was fun.

Really? Because I found that the chessboard puzzle was the most awful one in the game. The others were fine.

 

[Cadmus]

I forgot to mention the puzzles.
They are stupid, mostly. I don't like puzzles. I watched a video how to get through the source temple without doing any puzzles at all. I tried to do the secret immaculate chamber puzzle with the butens east west north south or what and it didn't seem to work like described in the book you find, so I found the solution online. Dunno, I'm not a puzzle guy so maybe somebody who likes this shit can tell me if it's up to the RPG puzzle standard. I only really liked the chessboard with animals and food, that was fun.

Really? Because I found that the chessboard puzzle was the most awful one in the game. The others were fine.

As I said, I don't like puzzles at all. This didn't actually seem like a puzzle, just a funny minigame.

 

[Mangoose]

I forgot to mention the puzzles.
They are stupid, mostly. I don't like puzzles. I watched a video how to get through the source temple without doing any puzzles at all. I tried to do the secret immaculate chamber puzzle with the butens east west north south or what and it didn't seem to work like described in the book you find, so I found the solution online. Dunno, I'm not a puzzle guy so maybe somebody who likes this shit can tell me if it's up to the RPG puzzle standard. I only really liked the chessboard with animals and food, that was fun.

Really? Because I found that the chessboard puzzle was the most awful one in the game. The others were fine.

As I said, I don't like puzzles at all. This didn't actually seem like a puzzle, just a funny minigame.

IMo most puzzles were fine. EXCEPT FOR THE GODDAMN SMALL SWITCH ONES. Also, Source Temple was weird. Because (fuck spoilers) Phantom Lady Shereah said there was a secret entrance that appparently took a high Perception to find. Which is retarded, because if you tell me the secret answer I should be able to find the secret answer (especially because I spent many points on perc on two characters).

So I gladly that the puzzles were not always good... sometimes refreshing compared to "conventional" RPGs... But quite hit or miss in terms of evaluating the game by itself. I can't recall any RPGs with similar "adventure" or "puzzle" elements, that's including the Gothics/Risen (which had their own and different ways of "adventure"-like content).

Larian is quite... unique. Apparently some Ultima fans (on other boards) say that DOS is similar in many ways. But Larian has a lot to refine on their "model," though on the other hand their "model" this round his been better than Div2.

Can't say Larian is "best" or anything like that... they are definitely a wildcard in terms of a "great" game, though my gut feeling says they are reliable in providing a "flawed gem" as mentioned before.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

nominating Mangoose for fanboi tag

 

[t]

I forgot to mention the puzzles.
They are stupid, mostly. I don't like puzzles. I watched a video how to get through the source temple without doing any puzzles at all. I tried to do the secret immaculate chamber puzzle with the butens east west north south or what and it didn't seem to work like described in the book you find, so I found the solution online. Dunno, I'm not a puzzle guy so maybe somebody who likes this shit can tell me if it's up to the RPG puzzle standard. I only really liked the chessboard with animals and food, that was fun.

Really? Because I found that the chessboard puzzle was the most awful one in the game. The others were fine.

Now that's weird, I actually enjoyed it even though I failed to save the game later and had to redo it after dying.

 

[J_C]

I forgot to mention the puzzles.
They are stupid, mostly. I don't like puzzles. I watched a video how to get through the source temple without doing any puzzles at all. I tried to do the secret immaculate chamber puzzle with the butens east west north south or what and it didn't seem to work like described in the book you find, so I found the solution online. Dunno, I'm not a puzzle guy so maybe somebody who likes this shit can tell me if it's up to the RPG puzzle standard. I only really liked the chessboard with animals and food, that was fun.

Really? Because I found that the chessboard puzzle was the most awful one in the game. The others were fine.

Now that's weird, I actually enjoyed it even though I failed to save the game later and had to redo it after dying.

I didn't like that it was totally random. The cat/rat/dog always went a random direction if there were several ways. I gave up at the 3rd level.

 

[Mangoose]

nominating Mangoose for fanboi tag

Eh I just tend to talk about games that I'm currently playing. Once I'm done I'll be in another thread.

 

[Mangoose]

I forgot to mention the puzzles.
They are stupid, mostly. I don't like puzzles. I watched a video how to get through the source temple without doing any puzzles at all. I tried to do the secret immaculate chamber puzzle with the butens east west north south or what and it didn't seem to work like described in the book you find, so I found the solution online. Dunno, I'm not a puzzle guy so maybe somebody who likes this shit can tell me if it's up to the RPG puzzle standard. I only really liked the chessboard with animals and food, that was fun.

Really? Because I found that the chessboard puzzle was the most awful one in the game. The others were fine.

Now that's weird, I actually enjoyed it even though I failed to save the game later and had to redo it after dying.

I didn't like that it was totally random. The cat/rat/dog always went a random direction if there were several ways. I gave up at the 3rd level.

Plan ahead so you limit the ways the cat/rat/dog can go. If it goes wrong way quickly make it go back. Took me like 5 minutes.

 

[HiddenX]

Swen in a Gamespot interview:

Swen about future updates for D:OS

His comment refers to the two new companions and new skills on their way to the game and end-game balances for the ranger and warrior classes, of course. In addition to this, Vincke mentions that the studio is working on bringing out a "much better, harder, difficulty level" in which all encounters will be different, as well as fine-tuning the game's inventory management.

-> cool, D:OS is such a success that the next project needs crowdfunding no more...

 

[Mangoose]

Finally finished the game. My opinion... well.. to drunk and lazy to summarize. But I felt the last battle was very tedious. I guess in other words there was an inconsistency of quality of encounters.

I really enjoyed the terrain/environmental/combo effects. I remember being excited for that for DA:O, but DOS did it really well. Outside of the those elemental effects, the game was again very inconsistent, not sure whether to judge it good, mediocre, or bad.

So if you want my conclusion for now, the elemental combinations were awesome, the rest of the game is hit and miss. On the macro level I think that's best to describe DOS.

Fanboi of the game I am not (though I'm sure you fuckers are trolling me about that, heh). But I was pleased in how they managed to implement an environmental/elemental/etc system that really was more important than level, equipment, etc. (to a certain degree). There are many issues with the game, Cadmus (and many others except Blaine huiehuhheuhuehue) IMO did a good job lightly summarizing them. Since I'm done with DOS, I'm gonna check out POE beta and see if I can provide any important feedback.. if not I actually have a quite a bit of hope for Torment.

 

[Roguey]

Sounds like Larian's going to go straight to early access next time. No more boxes, no more broken promises.

 

[t]

Wasn't one tag enough? It looks just silly.

 

[Roguey]

Probably the point. The red text and avatar made me look evil-awesome. Now I look awesome in a "look how upset I made them" way.

 

[Mangoose]

Sounds like Larian's going to go straight to early access next time. No more boxes, no more broken promises.

Nope. My issues/complaints have to do with quality of implementation. Could say the same about PoE. Only promise not met was the underground dungeon thingie.

I liked you without the tags and new avatar btw.

 

[Roguey]

Nope. My issues/complaints have to do with quality of implementation. Could say the same about PoE. Only promise not met was the underground dungeon thingie.

Don't forget NPC schedules, day/night cycles, weather systems, only 2 very-barebones companions, and Kirill got sick, resulting in less original music.

I liked you without the tags and new avatar btw.

Didn't have a choice with the former, and I've been wanting to retire my Lesifoere-kill-trophy for a while now but didn't have an appropriate replacement.

 

[Mangoose]

Nope. My issues/complaints have to do with quality of implementation. Could say the same about PoE. Only promise not met was the underground dungeon thingie.

Don't forget NPC schedules, day/night cycles, weather systems, only 2 very-barebones companions, and Kirill got sick, resulting in less original music.

There are weather systems , play the damn game - and no, I am not talking about the Rain spell.

NPC schedules, day/night cycles, and weather systems were promised at $1 million. They reached $944,282. Swen said he would do the $1 million stretch goal as a favor.

I covered companions as a quality of implementation issue. Do I agree they are bad? Yes. But stupid to say they were promised to be great.

Kirill getting sick is a retarded complaint. What did you want him to do? Live in a bubble for a year? A different composer would not satisfy the stretch goal either. Again, this is a legitimate quality issue.

The game has many issues and it is not a great game, at best, decent. Broken promises? Nope, except for the underground dungeon. Very good game? Nope, not saying that either.

Quality of game is more important than meeting stretch goals, anyway. That goes for every game. If you want to sacrifice the quality of core features just to get extra stuff then have fun with a shitty game.

 

[dryan]

In a fit of anti-medieval-fantasy rage I deleted this game along with Dark Souls 2 and Blackguards.

 

[SCO]

give me blackguards then (gog)