Game News Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter Update #58: Beta Released!

[Infinitron]

Tags: Divinity: Original Sin; Larian Studios; Swen Vincke

Last night, the Early Access release of Divinity: Original Sin received a major update, officially bringing the game into beta. Today's Kickstarter update announces the news formally and reveals the lovely trailer Larian produced in honor of the occasion:

The beta is live!



First of all: as promised the beta is now Steam Early Access. Grab your keys from the Larian Vault, and go try it out. The game isn’t finished yet; we still have a lot of balancing, bugfixing and tweaking on our plate, but it’s a big step up from the alpha and there’s plenty of new stuff for you to discover.

As per usual, we’re eager to hear your feedback and our excel sheets are at the ready to tweak and balance the millions of stats that define your RPG experience behind the scenes.

If you’re curious what’s in the beta and don’t have the time to discover them all on your own, there are over 400 improvements and a host of new features:

• 28 exciting new talents, including fun things like the Lone Wolf perk, which gives an avatar super abilities, but makes it impossible for him or her to hire a companion(s)
• More than 60 new skills, allowing for a new brand of synergies, such as combining Invisibility with Pickpocketing
• A new Witchcraft skilltree that can be combined with other skills to deadly effect • New areas to explore, new foes to fight, new items to find & new secrets to discover
• A brand new character creation screen with new presets such as Shadowblade and Wayfarer, and an enormous amount of customisation options.
• More environmental interactions – you can smash or burn doors, pickpocket characters & use staffs to electrify pools of water. Or how about burning wooden chests to get the loot inside?
• Improved AI, user interface, graphics, loading times, performance and stability mean playing Divinity: Original Sin has never been this smooth
• A truckload of new sound effects & music tracks

If you want to see the full report, go and have a look at the changelist.

Can’t play the beta but want to see what’s new and the trailer is too short?

Then you may want to check out the Twitch session David & Swen did. They spent a few hours answering questions and showing off features in the beta last Monday.

A transcript of the answers they gave is available here. (Thanks for that, Stabbey!)
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Excellent!

 

[Infinitron]

Updated OP.

 

[Outlander]

I dig the Beta Announcement Trailer, very well done

 

[nikolokolus]

I think I logged something like 5 hours with various builds of the Alpha - that was me being good and trying not to spoil the game - but dammit I don't think I'm going to be able to fight it this time.

 

[mindx2]

What, no quote from the Codex (prestigious magazine) but one from that RPS rag?!

 

[hiver]

The prestigious magazine is too busy shitslurping and screaming an masse - but through the forums here, on some female - disabled fan of some kicstarter new project or other.

Thats some prestigious level scaling to some level indeed.

 

[Delterius]

What, no quote from the Codex (prestigious magazine) but one from that RPS rag?!

Indeed, I was expecting a codex quote all the while. My expectation only grew even after I saw IGN's quote pass by. But in the end it was all for nothing.

Not looking forward to D:OS anymore.

 

[Monty]

What, no quote from the Codex (prestigious magazine) but one from that RPS rag?!

Perhaps they thought "more generic shovelware - Roguey on the RPGCodex" wouldn't provide much of a sales boost. Still think it was worth a try though.

 

[Outlander]

The prestigious magazine is too busy shitslurping and screaming an masse - but through the forums here, on some female - disabled fan of some kicstarter new project or other.

Thats some prestigious level scaling to some level indeed.

(Don't be mad )

 

[hiver]

nah, i find it laughable.

 

[Disgruntled]

So is now a good time to buy?
How beta is the beta?

 

[ZoddGuts]

It's great. It's not a mess like Wasteland 2 was.

 

[Contrite]

Great news, but the Lone Wolf perk sounds like shit. What is the point of playing a turnbased game if you are going to play just one character, assuming your spouse/friend plays the other via multiplayer? Or even just playing two characters if you play by yourself.

If I want to play a 'Lone Wolf' with 'super abilities' I can just go play any version of Diablo.

 

[MicoSelva]

I think I managed to balance my inner lust for this game and will be able to wait a bit more before diving into it. I think I will break when they ensure saves compatibility with the final version, as I don't think I will be able to resist any longer than that.

 

[Delterius]

Great news, but the Lone Wolf perk sounds like shit. What is the point of playing a turnbased game if you are going to play just one character, assuming your spouse/friend plays the other via multiplayer? Or even just playing two characters if you play by yourself.

One of the cool things about D:OS's multiplayer seems to be you can actually get separated.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Great news, but the Lone Wolf perk sounds like shit. What is the point of playing a turnbased game if you are going to play just one character, assuming your spouse/friend plays the other via multiplayer? Or even just playing two characters if you play by yourself.

If I want to play a 'Lone Wolf' with 'super abilities' I can just go play any version of Diablo.

Even with Lone Wolf you can play with at least three characters in single player. Nothing's stopping your companion from hiring people now, innit?

 

[Contrite]

Great news, but the Lone Wolf perk sounds like shit. What is the point of playing a turnbased game if you are going to play just one character, assuming your spouse/friend plays the other via multiplayer? Or even just playing two characters if you play by yourself.

If I want to play a 'Lone Wolf' with 'super abilities' I can just go play any version of Diablo.

Even with Lone Wolf you can play with at least three characters in single player. Nothing's stopping your companion from hiring people now, innit?

Good point, but I think they may limit that as well. I'm downloading the beta right now, but as with the alpha I won't play for more than 15-25 minutes because I don't want to spoil the full game.

What is the max amount of companions you can have overall, in addition to your two main characters? They made the stretch goal that gave companions personalities, so I am looking forward to it, because I don't think this has really been done before. A turn based RPG with companions that have personalities and hopefully their own agendas. The Infinity Engine games were RTwP, and Wizardry 8 had a great system with personalities, but they were superficial with no real game effect.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I think you can have one summon+ one henchman, so that's six, overall. I think. Stabbey, confirm pl0x. Much oblique obliged.
And yeah, henchmen personality, I didn't use them at all, but the ones I encountered demanded upfront that some condition or the other was upheld- one wanted nothing to do with Source Magic, and the other wanted no deals with Demons. Stuff like that, and I don't think that stuff is just for show.
Also,

Spoiler

mods will fix it.

 

[Stabbey]

2 main characters, 2 companions, and a total of 2 summons, I believe. I could try experimenting and seeing if you can have more summons, but it'll have to wait for a while because I think my installation has gotten corrupt.

 

[Brayko]

I really wish I backed this game.

 

[Infinitron]

I really wish I backed this game.

Just buy it, man: http://store.steampowered.com/app/230230/

 

[Contrite]

stabby Does having henchmen and summons affect the experience gained at all? And I don't get why they didn't allow for a larger party in a TB game. It's begging for it.

 

[MicoSelva]

stabby Does having henchmen and summons affect the experience gained at all? And I don't get why they didn't allow for a larger party in a TB game. It's begging for it.

That's Stabbey, not stabby.

 

[Stabbey]

I believe it works like this: If a monster gives 250 experience to Source Hunters "Roderick" and "Scarlett" when you kill it without companions, it will still give "Roderick" and "Scarlett" 250 experience if Jahan and Madora are in the party as well, and they will also get 250 experience.

 

[Infinitron]

I believe it works like this: If a monster gives 250 experience to Source Hunters "Roderick" and "Scarlett" when you kill it without companions, it will still give "Roderick" and "Scarlett" 250 experience if Jahan and Madora are in the party as well, and they will also get 250 experience.

hiver wept.