Editorial RPG Codex Report: Gamescom 2017 - Divinity Original Sin 2

[JarlFrank]

Tags: Divinity: Original Sin 2; Gamescom 2017; Larian Studios; Swen Vincke

Like every year, I went to Gamescom again to report on some currently in-development RPGs. This time, I only went to see Divinity: Original Sin 2 at Larian's booth, and Starpoint Gemini: Warlords at the Croatian game developers' booth. At least the low amount of presentations and interviews means we'll actually get to see all the Gamescom 2017 articles in 2017, so hey!

At Larian's booth, Swen Vincke presented some new features of the game to me - mostly features connected to undead player characters and the Mask of the Shapeshifter (which was a Kickstarter stretchgoal). Once the presentation is over, I assault Swen with a bunch of questions and he proceeds to give me answers that are confusing even to himself.

“Let’s just say it’s complicated, eh?”

“It’s not! Not when you’re playing it.”

“I mean from a designer’s standpoint.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s super complicated. It’s insanely complicated. The discussions that we have about these things can sometimes take very long since you always find edge cases, but it’s not that because those edge cases exist we shouldn’t do it. Sometimes you might find things that don’t make a hundred percent sense, but essentially our attitude to that is, eh fuck it.” He laughs.​

Larian certainly have the right attitude when it comes to implementing features into the game, don't they?

Read the whole interview and my write-up on the presentation in the article!

Read the full article: Codex Gamescom Report 2017 Part 1: Divinity Original Sin 2

 

[Wild Slop]

I enjoyed that, thanks.

A nitpick that stuck out to me

So even if I’m wearing the mask I’ll still have my Iphon options if I’m Iphon, for example. Cause I am Iphon, so I can say an Iphon thing.

"Iphon" here should be "Ifan"


Now general bitching

Blessing and cursing, those cost source points

Well shit. It wasn't this way in the EA. Sure they are powerful skills but source point powerful?


The shape-shifting mask sounds great but I find it going further than gaining cosmetic advantages by also granting racial abilities (elf flesh eating) unappealing. This is a point I may come around on - have to wait and see.

 

[Tigranes]

It's like I'm reading some random Codexer's drunken ramblings about their ultimate RPG, but it's coming out tomorrow.

Guess the good old e-peen is rising

 

[Bohrain]

I enjoyed that, thanks.

A nitpick that stuck out to me

So even if I’m wearing the mask I’ll still have my Iphon options if I’m Iphon, for example. Cause I am Iphon, so I can say an Iphon thing.

"Iphon" here should be "Ifan"


Now general bitching

Blessing and cursing, those cost source points

Well shit. It wasn't this way in the EA. Sure they are powerful skills but source point powerful?


The shape-shifting mask sounds great but I find it going further than gaining cosmetic advantages by also granting racial abilities (elf flesh eating) unappealing. This is a point I may come around on - have to wait and see.

You'll have access to bunch of them anyway if you aren't running with human protagonist + Fane, Ifan and Lohse. There is stuff in the early access like the mental mommy who refuses to speak to lizards about her daughter, but you can circumvent this by talking to her with a companion. The mask requires jumping through hoops to some extend, so I don't really see it as much of an issue.
Being able to interact with party members does raise the question what the replay value will be, since you can essentially have every race and someone with pet pal perk so there is basically no locked content beyond skills.

 

[himmy]

like if you didn’t save the cat you’d never have that cat skill that I showed you

As if there was a chance I won't save a cat in a video game.

 

[Darth Roxor]

A nitpick that stuck out to me

So even if I’m wearing the mask I’ll still have my Iphon options if I’m Iphon, for example. Cause I am Iphon, so I can say an Iphon thing.

"Iphon" here should be "Ifan"

inb4 apple lawsuit

 

[Cyberarmy]

Just one day before release? Larian bought the site didn't they?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[LeStryfe79]

Let's use this thread to discuss sexual orientation.

 

[Lexxx20]

That was AWESOME, Jarl, thank you!

Looks like they have lots of un-tested interactions with that mask... Need to prepare ourselves to catch a lot of bugs using it then. Lots of manual saves then to prevent fuckuping the game.

 

[Iznaliu]

Let's use this thread to discuss sexual orientation.

Your signature is proving to be pretty accurate.

 

[JarlFrank]

I guess I unlocked a gaming journalist achievement by getting a developer to ramble on until he says his answer is confusing to himself just by asking an innocent gameplay-related question.

 

[a bear named spigot]

t JarlFrank

good job

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Let's use this thread to discuss sexual orientation.

Your signature is proving to be pretty accurate.

No shit, Shirley.

 

[Ruzen]

Good read.

 

[Iznaliu]

Swen is such a loveable urchin

Somebody should tell this straight to his face.

 

[Van-d-all]

Great game, but the amount of bugs in the area that's been in early access for a year is stunning.

 

[Iznaliu]

Great game, but the amount of bugs in the area that's been in early access for a year is stunning.

All those Kickstarter updates take time to produce that takes away from bug-fixing.

On a more serious note, I get the impression that the release was somewhat rushed.

 

[JarlFrank]

So now that it's out we can compare Swen's interview answers with the actual game

 

[Iznaliu]

“I’ve always said you can play the game with killing everybody. There is a… well, I’m not revealing it yet but there’s a thing for the Codex to do in Act III that you guys are going to love. I think. Some of you are gonna love it. At least one will love it. I think.” He laughs.

Does anyone who's played that far into the game know what that thing is?