Divinity Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

[AwesomeButton]

Setting big parts of an area on fire by throwing barrels of oil on the ground in advance isn't very believable in general. Combat is indeed gamey. But the game allows for roleplaying, more than any recent RPG I can think of actually.

There is nothing wrong with the dialogue style. If anything, it promotes roleplaying your character, be that an Origin story- or a generic character.

I didn't quite get how from a rant about the combat system, you got to "So stop approving the shit dialogue style".

The armor mechanic isn't great, but it mostly seems to be cheese protection. I used to wreck everything in DOS1 with Rain and a measly wand. It only takes one round to bring down armor, and then all your CC options are back and useful.

Same here.

Oh! If you don't mind pissing off the magisters, you can sneak the cat out of the fort at level 1.

I didn't have to piss off anyone, just protected the cat from the guy who shoots it. Now that I'm out of the fort, I got an achievement for keeping the cat, and a skill for "call familiar". I don't know what use it is yet.

Edit: Er, what do you mean "at level 1"?

 

[Notorious]

I enjoy the game a lot. The only major gripe I have as stated before is the new armour system. I created an elemental mage who and added another and two melee guys. This made the game excruciatingly difficult because I constantly chipped away at two different armour types.

I then started anew and went with a bow guy. Then I added the stabby stab stab elf and a warrior + a cleric for support spells. The game is now way too easy, making want to restart with the Tactician difficulty, but then I would lose 10h of progress... really annoying. Also I can't use 90% of the spells, which is just idiotic design.

But exploration as always with divinity games is fun and the choices are great. And I love when a game doesn't hold my hand a refreshing change from "modern" design.

 

[toro]

If you lead with a high wit character with the haste spell while the rest of your party is chilling on a patch of high ground a screen away, you can draw enemies into an ambush. You can beat overleveled packs that way on Tactician, and if you do it right you'll usually do it on your first try without having to burn any res scrolls.

If you walk around as a blob of 4 and eat the full brunt of the enemies AoE attacks at the start of every fight, yeah you have to be the mouse in the maze.

You do realize this is meta!?

If Larian thinks this is how it should work then this game is a bigger failure than I imagined.

 

[AwesomeButton]

You do realize this is meta!?

Wait, people actually don't play it this way? For fuck's sake this is a game that paradrops enemies on you like it's Operation Market fucking Garden. By the 2nd time it happened, this is almost the only way I play.

If you lead with a high wit character with the haste spell while the rest of your party is chilling on a patch of high ground a screen away, you can draw enemies into an ambush. You can beat overleveled packs that way on Tactician, and if you do it right you'll usually do it on your first try without having to burn any res scrolls.

If you walk around as a blob of 4 and eat the full brunt of the enemies AoE attacks at the start of every fight, yeah you have to be the mouse in the maze.

You do realize this is meta!?

If Larian thinks this is how it should work then this game is a bigger failure than I imagined.

"Meta"? Have you, in your playing so far, noticed that you have a (pretty elaborate BTW) game feature for arranging the party formation?

 

[toro]

Even if it's not a bug, the journal should reflect that you're not done with him yet.

This. Plus ofc if you don't encounter him in the Necromancer's Tower and go to the next chapter the journal says "You have left the island without helping Lord Withermore." Derp.

Has anyone found out why the entry about the Elf Amyro fails?

My bet is on sloppiness. There are four quests that are bugged just on the first island - the missing kid (no option to tell the mad woman her kid is dead), Withermore, Amyro and Call to Arms (journal says you have left the island without the Seekers' help for some reason). Plus if you free Emmie the dog and she happily runs away and you then report back to Buddy the only relevant dialogue option is "Sorry, Buddy, but Emmie died."

I could tell her. Maybe you need high enough INT or Persuation. Idk.

 

[cvv]

Guise any idea what are all the toy things for? I got Toy Chair, Toy Barrel and Toy Dressing Screen. Do I have to keep lugging this shit around?

 

[Quillon]

Setting big parts of an area on fire by throwing barrels of oil on the ground in advance isn't very believable in general. Combat is indeed gamey. But the game allows for roleplaying, more than any recent RPG I can think of actually.

There is nothing wrong with the dialogue style. If anything, it promotes roleplaying your character, be that an Origin story- or a generic character.

I didn't quite get how from a rant about the combat system, you got to "So stop approving the shit dialogue style".

Dialogue style is purely for co-op gameplay, trying to replicate table top experience in a series of independent linear quests. I guess its what they were going for anyway but I hate to see it in other games where they take it more seriously; creating(or trying to create) interwoven story lines and shit. There are fucking boundaries in a vidya game unlike table top which is why they've been able to write actual dialogue; third person style is just cheap but I can understand that its not their focus with this game.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I am carrying the toy barrel, I don't know what for. Toy chair, I must have missed. I have a red ball and a leather ball. So far only found a use for the red ball.

 

[Kem0sabe]

I'm honestly surprised by a lot of you. I haven't been on the Codex for very long, and this way of acting baffles me. It's as if some of you people actually WANT the game to be bad for some reason... if you actually relaxed for a mere moment, instead of trying to look for bad things in every nook and corner, you probably enjoy yourselves a lot more. Does this game have its flaws? It certainly does, as with everything else, but it's also an incredibly fun piece with a vibrant soul. It's quite clear how Larian poured their hearts out to make it.

And it shows. If you haven't bought the game, do yourselves a favor and play it.

You are surprised that consumers demand a decent bug free product? Especially after so long in early access.

Larian has the obligation to the buyers and backers of the game to do much better.

 

[Fenix]

Also I have found Buddy's Key near Buddy. But probably you all did it.

 

[CRD]

That's why you never play a game just released and wait at least 3 months, if is an rpg probably a year until everything is bug free, the gameplay balanced and some things modded.

day 1 is only for multiplayer games you want to play but don't know how many time the mp community will last before the game is dead.

patience is a virtue.

 

[dragonul09]

Why the hell do I need to earn the [EVIL] tag,why couldn't they just include the damn dialogue options from the beginning.I mean you can't be evil or just an asshole in this game without some sort of retarded tag or some other shit.I'm talking with people and I can't be an asshole without a fucking retarded tag.

Why would you change something so normal and needed since the beginnig of times,god damn I'm pissed

 

[AwesomeButton]

Setting big parts of an area on fire by throwing barrels of oil on the ground in advance isn't very believable in general. Combat is indeed gamey. But the game allows for roleplaying, more than any recent RPG I can think of actually.

There is nothing wrong with the dialogue style. If anything, it promotes roleplaying your character, be that an Origin story- or a generic character.

I didn't quite get how from a rant about the combat system, you got to "So stop approving the shit dialogue style".

Dialogue style is purely for co-op gameplay, trying to replicate table top experience in a series of independent linear quests. I guess its what they were going for anyway but I hate to see it in other games where they take it more seriously; creating(or trying to create) interwoven story lines and shit. There are fucking boundaries in a vidya game unlike table top which is why they've been able to write actual dialogue; third person style is just cheap but I can understand that its not their focus with this game.

I agree it must be necessitated by the coop multiplayer, but I think it also functions well for singleplayer with origin stories, where you have a small number of really thoroughly developed characters. It would be sort of a downer and "immersion-breaking" for a player with little RPG experience if he starts a second game and sees that Ifan uses the same lines as his Red Prince for example. A new to the genre and casual player wouldn't be used to this practice and would probably consider it "lazy".

Also I have found Buddy's Key near Buddy. But probably you all did it.

I thought Buddy gave the key to me directly. But I may be wrong.

 

[Infinitron]

So, we're all amazed by D:OS 2's player count, but how many Codexers own it?

Right now, of my 415 Steam friends, almost all of whom are Codexers, 118 own D:OS 2. A decently high number for a new game.

For comparison, 241 own the first game.

 

[Dwarvophile]

There are a few irritating design decisions, but the fact is the more I play this game, the more I enjoy it. Which is the exact opposite of what happened with all contemporary isometric RPGs I played (DOS1 included and yet I'm a sucker for TB combat system). Actually, it's been decades since I had as much fun playing a RPG.

 

[Fenix]

I thought Buddy gave the key to me directly.

I didn't talk to him, and don't know what is all about, I just saw secret near him, dug it out and found Buddy's Key.
Wits 20.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I thought Buddy gave the key to me directly.

I didn't talk to him, and don't know what is all about, I just saw secret near him, dug it out and found Buddy's Key.
Wits 20.

Ah, yes, you are right. Though I don't have that kind of wits on any of my characters. I think after the conversation he points you to the key.

Regarding tags, the second thing that disappoints me so far is that acting in a moral and "good" fashion seems to be better rewarded than being the stereotypical "evil" character.

For example, The Red Prince would have outright ignored the wrongly imprisoned elf's fate and chosen to see the prophecy of the Dreamer lizard, and this would have been completely in line with the Prince's character. But then the player would miss out on a lot of XP and another option for escape.

Choices and consequences, I guess. You roleplay your character, you have to pay the price at times. That's why it's a good RPG.

 

[Mark.L.Joy]

Played some 10 hours, others have already commented on tactical sponginess and teleporting enemies, I think I'll restart on a lower difficulty, not sure how I feel about the armor system, the rest is fine, the writing is larian but I'll take it over the contrived stuff of PoE, choices seem abundant and I still like I have to use skills outside combat even if it's just blessing and throwing pyramids around most of the time.

 

[toro]

You do realize this is meta!?

Wait, people actually don't play it this way? For fuck's sake this is a game that paradrops enemies on you like it's Operation Market fucking Garden. By the 2nd time it happened, this is almost the only way I play.

I agree with you but personally I didn't want to cheese the fuck out of it.

"Meta"? Have you, in your playing so far, noticed that you have a (pretty elaborate BTW) game feature for arranging the party formation?

Pretty elaborate my ass. Party formation is not party positioning before fights. Re-read what Monkeyfinger wrote.

"If you walk around as a blob of 4 and eat the full brunt of the enemies AoE attacks at the start of every fight, yeah you have to be the mouse in the maze."

 

[Niklasgunner]

There are a few irritating design decisions, but the fact is the more I play this game, the more I enjoy it. Which is the exact opposite of what happened with all contemporary isometric RPGs I played (DOS1 included and yet I'm a sucker for TB combat system).

(ready for the stoning)

I agree, despite really dumb changes I'm having more fun the further I get into it

After restarting tactician with a magic damage focus it seems much easier.
Alterntatively the reason I'm no longer struggling is because summoners seem incredibely OP, which seems more likely. I have two in my party and spamming totems everywhere + two champions makes short work of every enemy I've encountered, my other two casters pale in comparison. Maybe my party setup before was simply awful, but this now feels almost to easy.

 

[CRD]

The tag system on any game is crap, just pure and simple crap, not just here. Any rpg should not give the slightest clue or hint to the player about the decissions, and a lot of them should raise later problems associated to the classic morals.

Right now, almost every game is:

- Hey dude, you can save this guy or kill him, but if you save him 3000 will die -> Everyone totally knows that 99% of the games will not punish you for saving him and some bullshit plot twist will make the "good" choice a fake option because those 3000 will not die.

Hiding options or making them only available after you are super duper master of evil or the fucking zen master is retarded. Is bioware crap and every designer should avoid doing it. You are roleplaying, you should choice without knowing that your actions will be always rewarded, sometimes things should go shit pretty fast even if you select the "good", as in real world.

 

[Trashos]

I'm not surprised at how many people can't even play a simple game directed at adolescents, but I'm surprised at how many refuse to read the text or even look at the screen.

And this is supposed to be (have been?) an anti-popamole forum? Which year was that? People can't find an NPC in the center of the town, others are bitching for a "highlight all button" (btw the console controller interface - what a coincidence, huh - has just the thing for you, you press and hold A and it highlights all containers), and yet others need a quest compass to finish their quests and whine when quests are marked as failed.

Revelation for you: quests are not the self-contained fedex shit you are used to doing from your favorite game Skyrim. Get with the game's style already, ffs.

For example, I healed a sick guy, he gave me a playing card, then I went to a few guys playing cards and had the option to play that card, which had me win a big amount of gold from them. Nothing of this was ever hinted in quest log or anywhere. No quest compass either. Explore, improvise, experiment.

I have not had a single bugged quest since the beginning of the game, and we are currently just out of the fort joy and in the wood to the west. I have never opened my quest log for more than to read the text. I have never been confused at what's expected of the party to do.

Also, I really like the music. "Bobby is not a real composer" -- don't make me laugh. Probably that's why he writes music for more and more popular games while you get to be a "critic" on the Codex.

Agreed.
Interestingly, ITT some Codexers voice concerns, disagreements and frustration, but there is almost no drama. Which makes me wonder, could it be that we have a new classic in our hands (well, your hands, since I won't get my hands on it for a while)? What do you think?

Hopefully, Larian didn't fuck up anything too much so that it can't be fixed later.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Pretty elaborate my ass. Party formation is not party positioning before fights. Re-read what Monkeyfinger wrote.

"If you walk around as a blob of 4 and eat the full brunt of the enemies AoE attacks at the start of every fight, yeah you have to be the mouse in the maze."

Either you play or you are one, but I'm not interested in finding out which it is.

The guy says it clearly: you have the option to be stupid and walk around as a blob, and you have the option to create a formation, and there is no "meta" involved in doing so.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Interestingly, ITT some Codexers voice concerns, disagreements and frustration, but there is almost no drama. Which makes me wonder, could it be that we have a new classic in our hands (well, your hands, since I won't get my hands on it for a while)? What do you think?

Hopefully, Larian didn't fuck up anything too much so that it can't be fixed later.

I think for drama we need to have a devoted following coming from D:OS, which seems to be absent.

Nothing like a good RPG to expose the inept players and poseurs.

 

[Fenix]

could it be that we have a new classic in our hands

Yes. New classic, not of that caliber like PST, different tone, different all, but yes.