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Divinity 2 Gameplay Thread

Deuce Traveler

2012 Newfag
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Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
I've been playing Divinity 2: Developer's Cut for a few weeks now and I'm a bit on the fence about the experience so far.

Pros:
The Lore: I actually really like the lore in this game. The setting seems to have a deep history, and there are books you can find throughout the game that reveal more of the background as you play.

The Characters: The main characters are pretty cookie-cutter. However, the general population are filled with interesting personalities, such as charlatan merchants, soldiers that have different quirks and moral codes, and love triangles and all the drama that comes with such a thing.

Skill Trees: There are some worthless skills in the skill trees, but there are also enough of them to make leveling something you have to really ponder about. You should determine early what you want your character to be like and focus skill points into those fields, so a melee warrior focuses on special attacks and weapon proficiencies while a spellcaster seeks to increase mana regeneration and spell power.

Exploration: The world is full of places to explore, many of them underground. There are dungeon entrances spotted all over the place, and just some really odd stuff laying around such as levers whose purpose is not always evident, and quirky characters who will throw quests your way, trade with you, or dispense with plot information. Some of the scenery is actually quite pleasant to look upon.

The Side Quests: I really enjoy the side quests and find them to be the best part of the game. Some quests lack a clear cut solution, so you sometimes have to choose which citizen to side with. There is also a lot of humor in these side quests, such as the one time the one time a bandit I was hunting asked me to choose my money or my life, and instead I hurt his brain with a philosophical speech on which I should value more. Good times.

Mixed Bag:
Character Generation: So I went along and created my character, choosing a male portrait and a male voice. The problem is that every one of the portraits made my character look like a punchable douche-bag and most of the male voices were quite annoying. The game actually allows you to change all this in the introductory town, and so I gave up my normal inclination to play a male, and made a tough melee warrior named Red Sonja. She doesn't look punchable.

Mind Read: The game has this very cool ability where you can read the minds of others. Unfortunately, it's mostly shit in implementation. I was hoping to use it in disputes versus citizens so I could better choose who to support on some of the side quests, or to find out what a possible bandit was doing loitering around the woods, but instead mind read typically gives useless information for an XP cost. It is sometimes helpful, but rarely in moments when it makes logical sense to employ.

Cons:
The Controls: I think this game would probably have played better as a console RPG. Walking uphill is harder than it should be and I find it sometimes easier to walk up slopes by mashing the jump button. I still haven't gotten the mouse sensitivity set-up right in this game to make it more playable. On top of all this, parts of the game are meant to be played as a platformer, whereby I have to jump from elevated platform to elevated platform with crappy controls. You all should know how I feel about this shit, but I'll reiterate once more for the newbies. Platform controls and RPGs do not fucking mix. They didn't work out for Ultima 8 and they don't work out for this game.

The Combat: Fighting is merely a click fest, as this is an action CRPG. I screwed myself early playing a melee fighter, as ranged combat is far superior. When I get surrounded by ranged attackers who flee upon my character's approach, I know I'm in for a bad time. I think I should have went with a spellcaster with a ranged magical attack and a circle of radius magical defensive attack. Spell points and hit points regenerate quickly anyway. Also, the enemies aren't that diverse and simply increase in levels to match your own advancement.

The Main Quest: Oh man, this is all over the place and hardly any of it makes sense. At first you are to join an organization. Once you do that you are asked to ask the villagers to help locate a monster. When you finish doing so, you are told go beat up a ghost instead of helping chase down the monster. That done, you are told you can't help with the monster hunt and to just hang out. When you run out of things to do and ignore that order, your game goes into a completely new direction where you meet a generically evil character who has every reason to kill you but decides to leave you alive for no good reason at all. Then you run into a second exposition-laden NPC who tells you to seek another character who can explain what is really happening. Why Mr. Exposition can't help you isn't really explained. When you go to seek out this other fellow, you find his place of residence is sealed and you have to fight through armies of undead to get to him.

And that's where I am right now. There are a lot of things I enjoy about this game, but I find myself unsure if I want to continue. The main plot feels like a series of dungeons strung together by a writer who had no fucks left to give, and the enemies have all been variations of goblins, bandits, and skeletons. So here I am having an internal debate over whether I should see this game out until the end, or whether to play a more tactical game that will have me thinking a bit more. After all, I still have the Realms of Arkania trilogy, Knights of the Chalice, Betrayal at Krondor, and two Jagged Alliance games still waiting for me.
 

Hobo Elf

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Mind Read is actually a lot more important than what you are let on at first. Mind Reading certain NPCs gives you bonus stats and skills as well as powerful loot.
 

btbgfel

Scholar
Joined
Nov 10, 2014
Messages
111
Like Might&Magic 6+,this game can only be enjoyed in the right mood
The main plot is a troll, not that compelling indeed. You will have more motivation in flames of vengeance(quite an improvement compared to main game) after finishing main plot, however.
 

Ausdoerrt

Augur
Joined
Nov 16, 2006
Messages
217
FWIW, I think the expansion is better than the OC.

Certain portions of the game are quite difficult, so the "ranged is always king" does not necessarily always hold true. Thankfully, you get an option to reroll in late-game.

If you like the wacky story and exploration, go for it. The game gets lots of criticism - some fair, some brutally unfair - but it's one of my favorite aRPGs around. It's also dang beautiful.
 

T. Reich

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Apr 15, 2013
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not even close
All I can say is about your early opinions about mind reading and the main quest is that you're wrong because SPOILERS.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,656
Roguey will have you believe Rhianna Pratchett saved Divinity 2's story.

Judging from Original Sin, seems she was right.

I didn't dislike D:OS's writing as much as I thought I would. :P

I think they can make do without her since they recognize that the corner cutting generic dialogue system they had wasn't doing them any favors.
 

Mastermind

Cognito Elite Material
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Bethestard
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Apr 15, 2010
Messages
21,144
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I think you will be pleasantly surprised with how the story turns out. As it has been said, mind read is also quite useful and it might be worth to invest in the skill that reduces the XP cost especially if you plan to play the expansion as the cost, if I remember right, goes through the roof in that one.

Also, I found the game to become a lot more fun somewhere around the halfway point.

Mind reading XP cost is pretty trivial. The lower level you are the more xp you get. So in the long run it balances out.
 

Old One

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
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Location
The Great Underground Empire
I grabbed this game in a sale and ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. The Diablo-style character and loot system doesn't really fit with the rest of the game, which is much more closely related to an actual RPG than Diablo. In particular I can't stand any system that has your character finding a heaping pile of random magic swords, then requires him to examine their nearly identical stats in order to pick the best one so you can throw the rest of them away. It could have been quite a lot better if it had been given better mechanics in those areas. I also can't give it full marks when it doesn't have climbing and diving for exploration.

Otherwise it was mostly good fun.
 

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