Divinity Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

[Luckmann]

Meanwhile, just flipping the switch and implement an initiative-based turn-order would immediately improve the game immensely

That would take much, much more than just flipping a switch. Say high Wits (30+) could make my Ranger go several times a turn.

Are you retarded? Genuine question. The D:OS2 system is based on rounds, and you get one turn per round. The fact that you'd have silly high initiative wouldn't mean that you'd get to go several times per round. I mean, I absolutely think that that should be possible, but implementing that kind of system would take a lot more work than to just change back to the system D:OS2 was actually made for.

Without some massive changes to damage, enemy HP and so on the game would be completely broken due to the utter OPness of archery in this game. I'd basically kill off the entire gaggle of mobs even without using expensive source skills before they could begin.

Yeah, nah, you're retarded.

The only issue would be the prospect of stacking initiative on the entire party in order to try to curbstomp enemies immediately in an encounter, but with mild initiative randomization (or rebalancing encounters, but that'd take more work than we're considering here) that would be greatly mitigated, and it still means that you'd have to prioritize that over other aspects of your character(s), provided enemies actually have a meaningful level of initiative. Also, in the (many) events where you fail to take out the entire enemy group in one go lol, you can look forward to the prospect of the entirety of the enemy team moving one after another against your Initiative-focused party.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Are there any GUD and balanced youtube reviews yet? Some that doesn't shill and slurp Larian cock.

Basically you mean reviews that agree with your opinion, right?

No, I mean balanced, objective and fair reviews. The good and the bad. Most in this thread, seems to be oblivious or blind to the apparant flaws of the series.

Cars have the apparent flaw that they don't fly. Planes have the apparent flaw that you can't drive them on highways.

The Divinity:OS series (of two) are games with basic narrative, infantile style and relatively simple turn based combat mechanics. Anyone looking for something else is bound to be disappointed.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

I don't understand the armor complaints really. So the enemies have a "break" bar that has to be worn down before they are vulnerable to other effects. Big deal. It's not like the game doesn't give you the tools to manage exactly that. Anything that adds tactical utility to skills makes the combat more interesting. The complaint seems to be players are mad the same strategies from the first game aren't as viable; they can't just lock down every fight in the first round anymore. Toughen up, buttercups.

I agree the game's mechanics are overly kludgey in some ways and defy logical systems. The initiative thing is a good example; I don't think it's a bad thing that the turn order varies enough so one side or the other isn't able to completely dominate one turn. Lots of good RPGs allow plenty of strategy with random turns. However they could have achieved the same thing without forcing alternating turns. Just make initiative a large random number, like oh, I don't know, maybe a d20 or something, and make Wits a bonus to that roll, so the stat still provides an advantage but turns are still jumbled up to a degree.

 

[Prime Junta]

The complaint seems to be players are mad the same strategies from the first game aren't as viable; they can't just lock down every fight in the first round anymore. Toughen up, buttercups.

The complaint is that the armour + nerfed status/environmental effects mean that combat becomes monotonous. It's all about direct damage now, with status effects a nice little side dish.

Yeah sure maybe DOS1 went a bit too far with chaining debilitating status effects -- that was one of my main criticisms of the combat from the mid-game out -- but they wayyy overcorrected and are now tits-up in the ditch on the other side of the road.

 

[Grunker]

It's all about direct damage now, with status effects a nice little side dish.

that's not really true. My most succesful strategy right now seems to be peeling off armor from one foe at a time, attempting to keep them CC'ed once that's done and then mop up once everybody's armor is down or I run out of CC

 

[Grampy_Bone]

It's all about direct damage now, with status effects a nice little side dish.

that's not really true. My most succesful strategy right now seems to be peeling off armor from one foe at a time, attempting to keep them CC'ed once that's done and then mop up once everybody's armor is down or I run out of CC

Yeah, the tide usually turns in a fight when you remove enough armor to freeze/stun/knockdown enemies and start denying them turns.

 

[Grunker]

The problem is more that it kills the zanyness of the first game's combat since effects are more or less useless until you peel off armor, so you're left wondering what the point of all the environmental shit and other effects is if they're going to make the combat into a more ability-based ordeal a la more traditional turn-based combat systems.

The new system is trying to have its cake and eat it, fixing one problem but adding another. Dunno that it's inferior to the first game, but it is definetely a let-down for anyone who liked the chaos and diversity of the original.

 

[Immortal]

Again - Agreed.

Armor and Magic Defense hasn't added that much depth, just reduced viable party comps and thinned down viable strategies. You are basically encouraged to nuke down single targets instead of micro managing multiple opponents.

I'd be happy with a more difficult combat system that had enemies who could also CC me back ect.. While nerfing how powerful Armor / Magic defense is (or at least put more thought into the mechanic)

Also Lone Wolf is way too powerful. It's actually easier to play with 2 Lone Wolf Characters than 4 Normies.. Because of the fact that nuking down enemies before your armors are gone is the optimal way to play and because of how the turn system works with Initiative..

Lone Wolf is ez mode. They done goofed.

 

[Grunker]

You are basically encouraged to nuke down single targets instead of micro managing multiple opponents.

I agree on the rest you say but I don't really get this criticism. On the contrary, I don't think I can remember another game where I juggle attacking/using abilities on so many different enemies instead of using focus-fire. Since CC works when armor is stripped, often I start with one target, strip off the armor, then CC him with something. I go to the next guy, strip off armor, then try to CC him too. Big fights then end with me trying to manage CC'ing 3-6 different opponents having dealt with their armor to make sure they can't fuck my guys, then killing them once the fight has reached that stage.

 

[cannondwarf]

Lone Wolf may be ez mode but I find it more fun than a full party

 

[Luckmann]

I don't understand the armor complaints really. So the enemies have a "break" bar that has to be worn down before they are vulnerable to other effects. Big deal. It's not like the game doesn't give you the tools to manage exactly that. Anything that adds tactical utility to skills makes the combat more interesting. The complaint seems to be players are mad the same strategies from the first game aren't as viable; they can't just lock down every fight in the first round anymore. Toughen up, buttercups.

The fact that you think that this has anything to do with difficulty shows that you have not read or understood the complaints, or followed the discussion, and your opinion is to be immediately discarded like the garbage it is. Every time I see a pleb going "Hurr durr is it too difficulty for you durrr the game is easy I'm so hardcore why do you think it's so difficult play on explorer lmao loool" it just reminds me that our mental health care institutions are in shambles and we need to start locking up and care for the mentally challenged again, restricting their general access to overall society, where they may be mistaken for normal human beings.

Jesus Christ, it's not that fucking hard to wrap your head around the issues. The fact that every fucking CC and effect automatically succeed once that armor is stripped down is just as much of an issue as the fact that you fully resist everything with even a smidgen of armor, and what penetrates armor and what targets which armor is the opposite of intuitive. But don't let discussions on the issues stop you from your baseless assumptions and your paste-eating, you casualized piece of shit.

I bet you'd have just as much fun if we just gave you a happy meal and rolled your drooling ass into the ball pit at McDonalds, anyway.

 

[Immortal]

You are basically encouraged to nuke down single targets instead of micro managing multiple opponents.

I agree on the rest you say but I don't really get this criticism. On the contrary, I don't think I can remember another game where I juggle attacking/using abilities on so many different enemies instead of using focus-fire. Since CC works when armor is stripped, often I start with one target, strip off the armor, then CC him with something. I go to the next guy, strip off armor, then try to CC him too. Big fights then end with me trying to manage CC'ing 3-6 different opponents having dealt with their armor to make sure they can't fuck my guys, then killing them once the fight has reached that stage.

Most CC lasts 1 or 2 turns and on Tactician they are almost always healed immediately. This is especially true because you are generally outnumbered and because of the you them you you them them turn order.

You Cast a CC
They Heal CC
CC'd Target Attacks You.

I mean yes sometimes you can have a person get skipped on their round, but it's usually a question of "do I do a little damage and CC for a round, or just kill them"
It's almost a waste of AP depending on the fight. CC has some viability but it's greatly reduced compared to DoS 1.

 

[Grunker]

Not my experience at all, I'm also on Tactician

 

[Murk]

Same; CC is absolutely paramount to me, and a big portion of my strategy for survival is well paced 'knock down' effects from my solo fighter and power infused incarnate.

In other builds, it was mostly focusing on freezing and spacing with tele/netherswap/phoenix dive etc. or putting up a lake of fire and poison blasting/exploding them to death.

 

[Immortal]

Not my experience at all, I'm also on Tactician

Could be party composition. I find CC to be a waste of an AP when I can usually chain abilities like Blood Letting / Adrendaline / Haste and just nix targets instead.

If A target is missing their armor, they are usually ready for death (not including bosses, who usually are immune to CC anyways)

 

[Grunker]

Could be, yeah, which I suppose is a point in favor of the game.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

You are basically encouraged to nuke down single targets instead of micro managing multiple opponents.

I agree on the rest you say but I don't really get this criticism. On the contrary, I don't think I can remember another game where I juggle attacking/using abilities on so many different enemies instead of using focus-fire. Since CC works when armor is stripped, often I start with one target, strip off the armor, then CC him with something. I go to the next guy, strip off armor, then try to CC him too. Big fights then end with me trying to manage CC'ing 3-6 different opponents having dealt with their armor to make sure they can't fuck my guys, then killing them once the fight has reached that stage.

Indeed, in what RPG is direct damage/focusing attacks not an ideal strategy?

Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_concentration

 

[Jimmious]

We also play with a CC heavy strategy. Hunter with arrows and stuff, Warfare dude constantly knocking down, Rogue with some extra polymorph is sleeping/chickening targets and so on.
We only have Fane as a pure damage dealing/buffing spellcaster.

 

[Daedalos]

Finally got that Anethema sword thing from Tarquinn, finally a proper weapon. But it breaks after 1 use? Anybody know how to not make it brittle? aka. have more durability?

I got 9000 dmg with it on my warrior ;D

 

[Murk]

Typical process for knockdown -- AOE two enemies with whirlwind + throw shield then knock both of them down, wasting their next turn. If other enemies recover/heal their knockdown, then they have to burn some of their AP to do so, all this while damaging them with the skills (including the ones that do knockdown.)

This was similar to when I was playing a wizard too, but with emphasis on freezing via winter blast, hail strike, global cooling, and ice fan (after setting rain/wet first).

The winning strategies always seem to be synergy of damage + effect, and you'll notice that enemies do this to you anytime rangers with knock-down arrows or fighters with warfare skills are around.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying combat so far and remaking characters is pretty fun. Only one I haven't tried so far is a ranger type which I think I may want to hold off for a bit to not risk burning out (and because I just did a finesse character anyway.)

For melee, I really like the 'cleave' aspect of weapons and wish it was a passive talent instead of item enchantment.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Jesus Christ, it's not that fucking hard to wrap your head around the issues. The fact that every fucking CC and effect automatically succeed once that armor is stripped down is just as much of an issue as the fact that you fully resist everything with even a smidgen of armor, and what penetrates armor and what targets which armor is the opposite of intuitive. But don't let discussions on the issues stop you from your baseless assumptions and your paste-eating, you casualized piece of shit.

I bet you'd have just as much fun if we just gave you a happy meal and rolled your drooling ass into the ball pit at McDonalds, anyway.

Other people provided me with reasoned answers but you respond with autistic screeching. Okay guy. Maybe don't try to derive self-worth from a videogame?

 

[KateMicucci]

The complaint seems to be players are mad the same strategies from the first game aren't as viable; they can't just lock down every fight in the first round anymore. Toughen up, buttercups.

The complaint is that the armour + nerfed status/environmental effects mean that combat becomes monotonous. It's all about direct damage now, with status effects a nice little side dish.

Yeah sure maybe DOS1 went a bit too far with chaining debilitating status effects -- that was one of my main criticisms of the combat from the mid-game out -- but they wayyy overcorrected and are now tits-up in the ditch on the other side of the road.

I can't go back to DOS1 because the armor improves the game so much. DOS1 was all about elemental manipulation because status effects were random and unreliable. In most fights the whole battlefield would turn into one big fireball. Now that was monotonous. It was fine for the first game because that sort of gameplay was fresh and original, but for the 2nd I'm very happy that environmentals were toned down and the strategy is more focused on applying CC.

I don't get the complaints that the armor system requires you to do damage either. You'd have to do that anyway.

 

[Prime Junta]

that's not really true. My most succesful strategy right now seems to be peeling off armor from one foe at a time, attempting to keep them CC'ed once that's done and then mop up once everybody's armor is down or I run out of CC

Well it sure isn't right now.

I took your advice and attempted to deal with the Trompdoy fight that way, and promptly got mugged. Reloaded and switched back to the usual tactic of clobbering them one by one, and won handily.

 

[Luckmann]

The complaint seems to be players are mad the same strategies from the first game aren't as viable; they can't just lock down every fight in the first round anymore. Toughen up, buttercups.

The complaint is that the armour + nerfed status/environmental effects mean that combat becomes monotonous. It's all about direct damage now, with status effects a nice little side dish.

Yeah sure maybe DOS1 went a bit too far with chaining debilitating status effects -- that was one of my main criticisms of the combat from the mid-game out -- but they wayyy overcorrected and are now tits-up in the ditch on the other side of the road.

I can't go back to DOS1 because the armor improves the game so much. DOS1 was all about elemental manipulation because status effects were random and unreliable. In most fights the whole battlefield would turn into one big fireball. Now that was monotonous. It was fine for the first game because that sort of gameplay was fresh and original, but for the 2nd I'm very happy that environmentals were toned down and the strategy is more focused on applying CC.

I don't get the complaints that the armor system requires you to do damage either. You'd have to do that anyway.

• OK with armor and completely binary outcomes.
  
• Claims environmentals are toned down.
• Implies that fights in D:OS2 do not turn into one big fireball.
• Says that D:OS2 is more "focused on applying CC".

I refuse to believe you actually play D:OS2 or D:OS1, at this point. I really do.

 

[KateMicucci]

Again - Agreed.

Armor and Magic Defense hasn't added that much depth, just reduced viable party comps and thinned down viable strategies. You are basically encouraged to nuke down single targets instead of micro managing multiple opponents.

I don't think so. Full phys, full magic and 50/50 splits are all viable, at least on Classic. Even on tactician, nuking single targets is not a given. I do that on some fights, but on most I try to juggle multiple enemies with knockdowns, petrifys and blinds while wearing them down slowly. And the fact that all of my guys carry both phys and magic save skills to use against whichever armor the enemy doesn't have is already depth on its own. In the DOs1 system there would be no reason to give my spear warrior Chloroform when she has two knockdowns already, for example, but with the dos2 armor its been very useful.