Divinity Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

[Abu Antar]

 

[Jimmious]

I don't know what you guys are so whiny about but DOS2 is the title that will be remembered as the one which brought turn-based RPGs back in the spotlight.
But sure, it sucks, I guess. ELEX and stuff

 

[Lacrymas]

Brought it to somewhat mainstream attention =/= quality game.

 

[Jimmious]

Brought it to somewhat mainstream attention =/= bad game.

ftfy

 

[Lacrymas]

Nobody is saying it's bad because it got mainstream attention, lololololol.

 

[Jimmious]

Nobody is saying it's bad because it got mainstream attention, lololololol.

Nobody is saying that because its not easy to admit that this is the main issue..
And honestly, we cant be seriously discussing if DOS2 is a quality game. Does it have issues? OF COURSE. Was there any game ever without?? But if this is not a quality game with crazy amounts of content then I really don't know what is. Or I guess there simply are no quality games, everything is shit, codexed

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't think the issue is whether it is good or not in general. I think the KKKonsensus is that it's passable. The problem is they didn't learn a thing from D:OS1 and slapped on the same kinds of obnoxious design decisions that undermine the whole game, but also sloppily bolted on additional systems that nobody wanted and only serve to further sour the experience, like the armor system.

 

[rado907]

I'm still not quite sure how I managed to beat the fight in the most difficult setup. That kraken alone can probably kill any level 20 character per round.
With some help in the easier setup of the fight, I could see this working out well - more cannon fodder to target for the kraken and the... real boss.

Failed to beat the tough version of the fight in my solo game, but did beat it in the game with my brother. Both games on Tactician. The difference was that in the game with my brother, the leadership companion was tankier and had higher leadership. With 17 leadership, gear bonuses and the protective bubble, you can reach very high resists and then the big mofo barely damages you - except for the leadership character who doesn't get his own leadership bonus and has to tank hard.
Without the leadership resists, the big mofo just downs characters left and right as you say and the fight becomes very stupid very quickly.
Not the greatest fight. And the endgame sequence could have used a little bit more content. Also the two puzzles preceding the final fight were horrible. And also I got the same last fight bonus in both games even though in one of the two games multiple major NPC's (e.g. Malady& Gareth) had bugged out and died ignominiously earlier on.

 

[Jimmious]

I don't think the issue is whether it is good or not in general. I think the KKKonsensus is that it's passable. The problem is they didn't learn a thing from D:OS1 and slapped on the same kinds of obnoxious design decisions that undermine the whole game, but also sloppily bolted on additional systems that nobody wanted and only serve to further sour the experience, like the armor system.

But that is not a fair judgement...because they did learn from the past on various issues. The story/writing is far better from the first, the content has more consistency in quality and doesn't do a massive drop after the first act and it's generally more polished all around - especially compared to the initial release of DOS1. Also the voting in the codex showed that in general people consider it good-very good not "passable". That's only a vocal minority.
Anyway I've defended it too much already, enough

 

[LESS T_T]

Will Larain get another journalist-to-writer?

 

[MWaser]

I don't know what you guys are so whiny about but DOS2 is the title that will be remembered as the one which brought turn-based RPGs back in the spotlight.
But sure, it sucks, I guess. ELEX and stuff

Turn based RPGs weren't really something that needed to make a large comeback, after we designed systems to let this stuff be done strategically and in real time simultaneously (like Pillars of Eternity)

That being said, turn based can still be the preferred system given certain situations, but certainly not in the way DOS2 did them, with the arbitrary and unreasonable AP (both amounts possessed and costs of such for various actions)

 

[Murk]

There are improvements from the first in the current game, but unfortunately the steps back overshadow them. The main positives are 1) smoother interface (right licking, hotbar, companions not needing to swap items in inventories to use them, and swapping items in inventories being easier, etc.), 2) more spells/abilities to play around with, and 3) the writing being less terrible (despite the stupid *larping* style).

The negatives are that the system is simplified to the point that it's half of what the original was, there's little build uniqueness since you can afford to be a master in nearly every skillset, the armor system is godawful and actively ruins builds (can't have a melee grenade thrower, many special arrows are counterproductive, etc.), and finally the way everything scales off level is too much. I'm all for beefgating content but here even gear and shop items scale by level. It's just a weird way to approach it and makes itemization a bust.

One step forward, two steps back.

Still, so far, OS 2 is my game of the year... though that really isn't saying much tbh.

Maybe if the Elex magic takes hold I'll retract that.

 

[Payd Shell]

I think the combat could be vastly improved if armor made certain disables weaker instead of nullifying them entirely, more disables worked through armor like slow and there were more immunities to deal with so everything couldn't be solved with physical damage spam to knockdown loop.

It's very salvageable in my opinion, but I fear that Larian is way too happy of what it is in this flawed condition.

Yes, absolutely. Or instead of weakening, allowing chilled, burning, poison and shocked through armor, but not frozen or stunned.

I've come to like that you can't just stun/knock down/freeze/charm/chicken/cripple everything in your path.
But I see little reason that the other, weaker effects shouldn't work through armor.

However, it is indeed unlikely to see changes like that being made outside of mods.

I also wish Scoundrel wasn't almost entirely useless without daggers. You can use like 3 abilities without daggers. And in many cases for no real reason.
Makes it far less worthwhile to invest more points into Scoundrel than you need for Adrenaline, Cloak & Dagger, Chloroform and that rather worthless exploding trap.
Of course every character needs one point for The Pawn, but other than that...
At the very least, they should add spears to the supported weapons as they are also Finesse based.

There are status effects that are applied through armor.

 

[LESS T_T]

Something wicked is coming... he has been here before, and the power left him with a taste for more...

https://www.facebook.com/LarianStud...83318.57774.154072634652943/1610097129050479/

 

[thesheeep]

Looks pretty exactly like Fane - but the description doesn't fit.

 

[cvv]

There's just nothing to do but endless fighting fighting fighting

And this is the only reason I didn't uninstall both DOS1 and DOS2 after the first chapter. For me the combat in this series is probably the best TB combat I've ever seen and it's the only saving grace for those two games. Without the combat what's left? The mediocre puzzles, half-of them built around pixel hunting? The run-of-the-mill world with all the standard RPG paraphernalia like castles, swamps and bridges with trolls? The flat NPCs, inane writing, fanfic lore and juvenile jokes?

I rate this game higher than the prequel. Or more precisely - it's less bad. Here I kindda had fun up until Arx. In DOS1 I stopped having fun after Cyseal. So that's progress I guess.

 

[Grunker]

I love dungeon crawlers and RPGs with nothing but fighting - like I said, Blackguards is my best RPG of the last decade.

But the combat in the OS games are not nearly strong enough to carry this much, and the second one has none of the environmental novelty of the first game, because effects rarely matter due to armor.

The combat is totally fine, but not good enough for this little variety.

 

[Grunker]

I said it's going to be more of the same, but with more padding first!

It isn't more of the same. If it was, I probably would have finished it.

 

[Infinitron]

Something wicked is coming... he has been here before, and the power left him with a taste for more...

https://www.facebook.com/LarianStud...83318.57774.154072634652943/1610097129050479/

Halloween DLC?

 

[Lacrymas]

I always cringe when someone brings up that damn cheese vendor.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I always cringe when someone brings up that damn cheese vendor.

this is why nobody likes you

 

[LESS T_T]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/435150/announcements/detail/3013331566478402160

Patch 4 is coming soon!

Hello everyone,

We’re working hard on our next update, fixing issues that have been reported and improving the gameplay where needed. While we don’t have a specific date just yet, it should be releasing sometime next week!

Changes will include:

• Improvements to mod support within the game. Mod sync issues, duplications and situations where mods would not update correctly should now be resolved.
  
• A large overhaul in GM mode Music and Mood panel. Plus we added support for multiple regions on the same level.
  
• The Tarquin bug fix (previously fixed in Patch 3 for new games) will now also apply to existing save games.
  
• A bug which caused the tooltips for inventory items to flash has been fixed.
  
• We added more journal entries that cover some of the more unusual choices you can make during gameplay. (Though we did not cover the killing of Alexandar with a painting)
  
• And lots, lots more!

The full list consists of over 500 items bullet points which is why it’s taking us a bit of time to test. Follow us here or on twitter/facebook to keep apprised of when we launch the patch and remember to leave feedback in the forums! It’s where we get our inspiration from for things to include in the next updates.

The Larian Team

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Onholyservicebound]

The game is still very much a glorified combat simulator, with rpg elements sprinkled on top, but with weaker exploration, quest design, half-assed story and content in general.

Maybe it's just me, but I think the story is a lot more interesting this time around, and by that I mean this time I actually know more than 10% of what's going on.
I have no idea what the fuck was going on in the first one, it was all completely random shit, this story is much more cohesive.(The first few conversations with the Imp in the temple of whatever in D:OS 1 was the worst shit I've endured though, to be fair)
I also think there are more RPG elements then you're giving it credit for, there's a lot more ways to deal with characters/dialogue, and a lot of ways to complete any given objective.(Getting out of Fort Joy the first time for instance.)
Characters are better too, and the co-op is much improved as well.

 

[otsego]

I cannot stand this game compared to D:OS1 or other Divinity games.

The armor. The ambushes. The ambiguous tricks to finish fights. The scaling. The loot. The unrewarding raising of stats. The sloppy level design. The uninteresting environments. The lack of usefulness environmental effects and tactics. The quest compass and buggy quest log.

I'm a Larian fanboy and visited only their booths exclusively during trade shows like E3 and Comicon, but I cannot bring myself to finish this game. I'm at Arx with 90 hours in and I've been forcing myself to complete it since it launched, and I can't play for more than an hour or so before getting fed up. I bought both physical collectors of DOS1 and 2 from Kickstarter.

1 step forward, 4 steps back.

Obligatory butthurt tag.