Game News Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter Update #64: The Companion Update

[Infinitron]

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

Today's Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter update, the first since the game's release back in June, announces the release of the long-expected companion update.

We may have been a bit quiet over the past two months, but you'll be happy to hear we've spent the time not only recovering from launch, but also preparing improvements and new content for Divinity: Original Sin. We figured: how better to break the silence than with an exciting update chock full of much-asked-after features?

Today, we're launching a content-heavy update to D:OS players, featuring two totally new companions, each ready (if you play your cards right) to help save Rivellon. Also included in the newest update is a big quality-of-life improvement and another coat of polish.

Below, Swen discusses more about the added content, as well as future updates and what the team's been up to since our last update (hint: Divinity: Original Sin isn't the only game we're working on!).



Read the update's full change list here.

Download this free additional content!

As promised, we're ready to launch two more companions into Rivellon, both of which you can meet in Cyseal. Bairdotr, a curious and loyal ranger, has gotten herself into some trouble at the Legion barracks, while the silent rogue Wolgraff has found himself a nice hustle stealing coins from the wishing well in the Cyseal hinterlands (accessible through the graveyard tunnel).

If you convince one or both to join your party, you'll learn more about their histories and missions for the future.

Download "The Bear and the Burgler" DLC via Steam, or simply update your game on GOG to receive the new content. Note: The new companions will appear in Cyseal once you start a new game after downloading the update.

Follow the Dialogue: A significant improvement for co-op players

It's no secret that the old system for following other players' dialogues in co-op needed a makeover; fortunately, the latest update will do just that.

Now, instead of reading lengthy dialogues displayed over your teammate's head or in the journal, you'll be able to see the conversation in its own dialogue box with the toggle of a button.

What's next?

This certainly will not be our last update on Divinity: Original Sin. We're still working on a slew of new skills and a variety of difficulty modes to ramp up the challenge-- keep an eye out for those in the coming weeks!
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Check out the full update for concept art and descriptions of the new companions, plus a nice shout-out to the soon-to-be-released Wasteland 2.

 

[jdinatale]

I don't understand why there is an American girl in the video. WTF

 

[Athelas]

I'm pleasantly surprised by how extensive the post-release support seems to be.

I don't understand why there is an American girl in the video. WTF

Is she new? She seems like she may be a competent writer.

 

[Ramireza]

Everytime i see Sven and his team i think : "Where the fuck is the hook?!"

And everytime i came to the same conlusion : There is no hook, they are that good!

 

[Volourn]

But, gamers hate females so why did a male run company hire a female!?! wut?!?

 

[Amasius]

So this is how happy RPG devs look like, nice - and well deserved.

 

[Gord]

I think they mentioned at some point after the Kickstarter that they had wired an additional (female) writer, not sure if it's her, though.

 

[Roguey]

Sarah Baylus isn't a good writer.

Congratulations to Larian for finally becoming feature complete. Too bad the picture of Bairdotr is one of the stupidest things I've seen. The other guy doesn't seem all that interesting either.

 

[Scroo]

Follow the Dialogue: A significant improvement for co-op players

Finally. Now I might actually be able to play it co-op properly

 

[mikaelis]

So, does it mean that Inxile, Obsidian and Larian are building some sort of blood-bond?

 

[Infinitron]

So, does it mean that Inxile, Obsidian and Larian are building some sort of blood-bond?

They already have. The Bro Circle.

 

[tuluse]

So, does it mean that Inxile, Obsidian and Larian are building some sort of blood-bond?

They already have. The Bro Circle.

Help us crush popamole!

 

[4too]

Google Presents A Happy Misdirection



Might have "L33t" mode, or phonics hooks switched off.

Bairdotr … B-air-do-t-r? Wha-?

So asked Google.

Google reply: Did you mean: …

Bardot

… ah … hour or so clicking through images arrays, yes, maybe I did?

Bairdotr? Bear Daughter?

No Bare Daughter! :D



4too

 

[himmy]

Sarah Baylus isn't a good writer.

If this statement came out of the blue from almost anyone else on the Codex I would have put it down as the usual Codex/gaming scene sexism that I grew tired of fighting against, but since you're saying it and you made it obvious that you didn't play the game yet, I must ask: How do you know that?

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Sarah Baylus isn't a good writer.

If this statement came out of the blue from almost anyone else on the Codex I would have put it down as the usual Codex/gaming scene sexism that I grew tired of fighting against, but since you're saying it and you made it obvious that you didn't play the game yet, I must ask: How do you know that?

Is game she's working on in any way related to Sawyer? No? Then you have your answer.

 

[Jaesun]

If this statement came out of the blue from almost anyone else on the Codex I would have put it down as the usual Codex/gaming scene sexism that I grew tired of fighting against, but since you're saying it and you made it obvious that you didn't play the game yet, I must ask: How do you know that?

Hello! Welcome to the codex, please click here to improve you Codex Experience™.

 

[MicoSelva]

I do not know who wrote what exactly, but I would agree with Roguey that writing is one of the weaker parts of Divinity: Original Sin.

[/agreeing with Roguey]

I mean, Div:OS writing is serviceable enough that it does not distract you from the good parts most of the time, but especially dialogues are not great. As verbose as they usually are, they manage to convey surprisingly little information with large amounts of text and are not entertaining to read by themselves. Sometimes they are even hard to read, with convoluted sentences, flowery metaphors, dancing around the subject, etc. My wife, who is pretty proficient at English gave up on the game because of this (she is waiting for Polish translation to get finished), as have a few of my friends. I have been learning English since 1993 and I still had to read some dialogues many times to understand everything, even though I usually have no problems with articles, books (both fiction and technical manuals) or anything else, really.

There is also stuff like all Cyseal citizens sharing the same generic lines, making them not feel like actual people at all. 1998 Baldur's Gate got this right by having a huge pool of 'generic folk' lines, which were randomly selected when you talked to peasants, etc. Why are all these Cyseal people even in the game? Give me more rats instead - rats always have something interesting to say...

Granted, all these feel off to me mostly becase they contrast so much with the great stuff that is in the game. It is like eating a delicious cake and suddenly encountering a piece of stale bread between layers.

EDIT: On topic. Good to see so many good changes to the game, even though I will not encounter the new companions since it requires starting a new game. But the coop dialogue listen feature is great.

EDIT: BTW, Wolgraff sounds suspiciously similarly to Walgrave.

 

[The Bishop]

Honestly, I think D:OS would be better off as a dungeon crawler with minimal dialogue, which is why I'm not particularly excited about the companions. Better to focus on further improving good parts of the game (combat and elemental effects) instead of making bad parts less bad (but bad nonetheless).

 

[Infinitron]

Honestly, I think D:OS would be better off as a dungeon crawler with minimal dialogue, which is why I'm not particularly excited about the companions. Better to focus on further improving good parts of the game (combat and elemental effects) instead of making bad parts less bad (but bad nonetheless).

Nah. Don't underestimate the effect of "greater than the sum of its parts". It might not work for you, but plenty of other people get value from that stuff.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

I think it's fairly easy to tell who wrote what in D:OS; the more flowery and elaborate parts are Jan's (the majority of all text in the game), the more straightforward and down-to-earth lines are Sarah's (most animals in the game; the grieving dog is a good example). The problem in my opinion is not so much in either of them being bad writers but in that

a) Jan has a tendency to overindulge in all sorts of ornamental devices (e.g. alliteration), literary references and allusions (e.g. to Shakespeare). This can be effective when used with discretion but becomes annoying and repetitive when it gets out of hand. It was already a problem in Dragon Commander where basically every single character displayed some sort of over-the-top speech mannerism -- which instead of making them stand out made them all blend together in a haze of outlandish adjectives. I don't know what the actual extent of Rhianna Pratchett's involvement was in editing and doctoring the Dragon Knight Saga script, but it apparently worked, and I'd say Jan really needs someone to rein him in in any case.

b) it feels as if Jan was spread really thin on the project in the first place -- which he likely was, given the amount of text he had to work on for DC and the amount of time he had between it being finished and the release date of D:OS (and if I remember the KS videos correctly, Swen mentioned Jan having spent a month in London writing scripts and overseeing voice acting for DC shortly before release and there having been very little writing done on D:OS at that point). Now if you factor in that they allegedly had to "dump more than half of what [content they] had" at "some undisclosed point in development" (likely post-KS), it's little wonder if the quality of writing suffered as a result.

c) Sarah might be a good counterbalance to Jan's style but what she did write was a relatively minor portion of the game's text found in places that were not really that important to the overall impression (even though most people seemed to really like the rats' dialogue).

d) the actual plot is fairly by the book. I'm not sure whose responsibility it is at Larian, but a good storyline is more likely to inspire good writing than a mediocre one. (I believe Swen has already said they were going to hire a narrative designer.)

All in all, if they manage to get at least one more (less flamboyant) writer, distribute the work more evenly, use a good editor and a dedicated narrative designer, the next game should do much better in this respect (without losing Larian's trademark whimsical charm).

 

[Irenaeus]

All in all, if they manage to get at least one more (less flamboyant) writer, distribute the work more evenly, use a good editor and a dedicated narrative designer, the next game should do much better in this respect (without losing Larian's trademark whimsical charm).

 

[;]

I like the flowery prose. Ophelia, Corvus and Edmond were great. I got the sense they tried to tone it down in DOS, or maybe they just didn't have time. Either way I want more characters written like that!

 

[Morality Games]

Honestly, I think D:OS would be better off as a dungeon crawler with minimal dialogue, which is why I'm not particularly excited about the companions. Better to focus on further improving good parts of the game (combat and elemental effects) instead of making bad parts less bad (but bad nonetheless).

I'm not excited because they're all human. All of the interesting beings that live in the Divinity universe.