Divinity Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

[Jarmaro]

Somebody might play the game in a manner I dislike.

It's not even the worst, somebody may like the game I dislike.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

I musta missed the turtle. Classic Larian.

The bear cub though. Poor fella will probably starve next to mom's corpse, or maybe get eaten by the void maggots.

 

[Kem0sabe]

So Witcher 3 still gold standard when it comes to writing, quests and characters? Also why not... C&C.

 

[Malpercio]

OS beats witcher 3 when it comes to quests by a landslide, since you are actually playing the game and not following the quest compass.

 

[Malpercio]

Anyway, another thing about the content I forgot to ask about: atmosphere, world design, area design.

Speaking only of the 1st act - Fort Joy, I would say the atmosphere is non-existent. The idea of an oppressive, inquisitorial regime which turns people into mindless zombies to "cure" them of magic, the grey moral area that they might not actually be wrong since transdimensional demons are attracted to said magic is quite interesting in theory. In practice, there is no feeling of oppression, the void creatures are pretty much a joke, which is not helped by the fact they are literally overgrown bugs, there is never anything that would make you feel you are in a prison - you can openly carry weapons, there are people selling magic books and you have a constant feeling that in the event of an uprising the magisters would be wiped out fast. Add to that the "secret" arena which is literally a trap door in the middle of the fort where you get crowned Neo teh One, the fact that the optimal way (and on non-nerfed tactician, might be the only sane way) to solve the area is literal genocide and that the only ones who are actually expressing anything realistic emotion-wise in regards to being trapped for life by a brutal inquisitorial force are the animals, I would say atmosphere is shit.

Yeah, Fort Joy kinda feels like a summer camp more than anything. I also found weird how no one comments on the fact your ship crashed and you just kinda walk into the place. There are kids around doing their shit, etc.

I understand it's less Auschwitz and more.... uuh, Hospital with an hidden side? But jeez.

 

[Dwarvophile]

you have to explain death to a crying dog, then 5 minutes later you have to save burning pigs that are running around screaming.

You forgot helping the turtle to have sex with the rat .

You mean while the cat is watching ?
No, thanks. And it would just make the dog jealous.

I wonder what the ants are thinking ?
I suppose, that's what a reviewer meant by "Larian's amazing attention to details".

 

[imweasel]

Writing, lore and character design are definitely far superior in The Witcher 3. Quest and general world design is better in D:OS 2.

 

[DeepOcean]

So Witcher 3 still gold standard when it comes to writing, quests and characters? Also why not... C&C.

I don't think following the red fart line counts as good quest design so any game can really beat the witcha 3: wild quest compass in this department.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Fuck no, the world design in the Witcher 3 is beautiful and with an amazing attention to detail...

In regards to quests, Witcher 3 has some of the best quests in any rpg, bloody baron, the blood and wine dlc main quest line.

Original sin 2 quests are just the same shit larian half assed in the first game.

Also... Divinity red fucking flags everywhere is suddenly more hardcore than quest compass.

 

[toro]

Last Island. Level 17. Each fight takes 10+ minutes. Stupid puzzles. The game is a mess. I'm close to burn out but I want to finish it because I assume I'm close to the end.

Has anyone finished it?

 

[DeepOcean]

Fuck no, the world design in the Witcher 3 is beautiful and with an amazing attention to detail...

In regards to quests, Witcher 3 has some of the best quests in any rpg, bloody baron, the blood and wine dlc main quest line.

Original sin 2 quests are just the same shit larian half assed in the first game.

The writing of the Red Baron quest is excellent, the gameplay however...

 

[DeepOcean]

Last Island. Level 17. Each fight takes 10+ minutes. Stupid puzzles. The game is a mess. I'm close to burn out but I want to finish it because I assume I'm close to the end.

Has anyone finished it?

So the verdict is the game is a mess of bad design where Larian trying to fix what didn't need to be fixed made the good parts worse and the bad parts like the shit writing continue there but just more verbose and with Belgian quality voice acting on top? I still can refund this game, is there a reason not to?

 

[deama]

Alright, I've spent about 30+ hours on it and here are my thoughts, but first:
I was really hyped for this, I remember playing the EA around the start of this year and got really excited, sure it had some minor problems, but I'm sure they would have ironed them out when it got released right? Hmmm... not really. Tbh, I don't remember much of the EA I played, I just remember enjoying it, so I must have been drunk or in some sort of haze now that I've played the real deal, whatever, let's get to the opinions of the systems and stuff:

Ok, so let's start with the armour stuff. I like the concept of it, but I don't actually like how they've implemented it, it just puts too much emphesis on damage. Actually, maybe not, maybe their implementation isn't all that bad, but the problem lies more on the fact that you get shit damage increases: "pick your +5% damage flavour". Maybe some sort of "save" system like in DnD would work better? No, probably not, because it's a bit too RNG for me. What if every combat encounter, each character recieved 1 CC block, so they could block any CC that got flung at them only once per combat encounter? Hmm, I think that would be interesting, but perhaps a bit too straight? What if there were some (source) spells that could restore this "CC block" thing? I think that would work better, maybe; at least you wouldn't be forced to spend a lot of points into damage.

The second problem I have with this game is that it doesn't seem all that interesting compared to DOS1. The elemental effects don't seem all that powerful (burn, poison...), most of the time I find myself just walking through fire ground without a care, the AI too. I don't really like how this game feels more conservative in its approach to combat. I remember in DOS1 doing some ridiculous combos, I can't really do anything interesting in DOS2. I really wish they would have just upped the damage that the attributes gave you, and then add even some more effects, such as the AP increase stuff from DOS1 that for some odd reason they removed? Wasn't there also a talent that doubled your AP but halved your vitality? Where's that? That one was pretty interesting.

The other problems I have with it are just weird stuff like how levels work in the game. I think they should just make character creation a lot more powerful (as in, give you more attribute points, skills, talents) and make leveling take much longer; but keep the levels consistant between groups, e.g. humans have a level range of 5-15, undead have a level range of 6-12, beasts 2-15, voidwoken 10-20...
Otherwise it ends up being really stupid when you're fighting some sort of famed hero, but 4 levels later you encounter some guy that has higher stats than the supposed "famed hero" you fought before.

I think that's about all I got, the writing I kinda like, maybe with more time it'll get even better for me. The loot seems a bit better than in the EA from my memory, though I wish it was more interesting, like having unique armour that gives you immunity to fire, but you take double damage from water. Also, it's kinda annoying have to buy/get new loot every level just to keep up.

 

[Ventidius]

Anyone else beaten the Troll on the bridge west of Driftwood? Bastard was tough, but I managed to defeat him at level 10 and it gave me something like 40k exp or so. He also dropped some phat loot, including a ring with 279 magic armor. Rocking 471 magic armor with my avatar despite having underleveled equipment(barring chest), feels good.

 

[deama]

Anyone else beaten the Troll on the bridge west of Driftwood? Bastard was tough, but I managed to defeat him at level 10 and it gave me something like 40k exp or so. He also dropped some phat loot, including a ring with 279 magic armor. Rocking 471 magic armor with my avatar despite having underlevelled equipment(barring chest).

I didn't encounter the troll, but I managed to beat some group of magisters 3 levels higher than me and found some nice chest 2 levels higher than me.

 

[imweasel]

The second problem I have with this game is that it doesn't seem all that interesting compared to DOS1. The elemental effects don't seem all that powerful (burn, poison...), most of the time I find myself just walking through fire ground without a care, the AI too.

Yep. Poison and fire were deadly in D:OS, but both suck really hard in D:OS 2, which is why I also had to reskill my pyrokinetic wizard. Fire just doesn't do much damage and by setting everything aflame you just cuck yourself by burning up oil or removing chill as well as frozen statuses from enemies, which are all great for slowing them down.

 

[Ventidius]

Anyone else beaten the Troll on the bridge west of Driftwood? Bastard was tough, but I managed to defeat him at level 10 and it gave me something like 40k exp or so. He also dropped some phat loot, including a ring with 279 magic armor. Rocking 471 magic armor with my avatar despite having underlevelled equipment(barring chest).

I didn't encounter the troll, but I managed to beat some group of magisters 3 levels higher than me and found some nice chest 2 levels higher than me.

Yeah, keeping up equipment-wise becomes far less problematic once you hit Driftwood. If anyone wants to try their hand against the troll, it is weak to fire; and you can really do a number on him if you teleport the poison bulb near him and blast it at the beginning of the battle. Fire-infused summons and arrows, fire nukes and keeping him burning should do the trick if you can survive long enough. He also seems to be immune to a lot of things like teleport and turning into chicken.

 

[DeepOcean]

The second problem I have with this game is that it doesn't seem all that interesting compared to DOS1. The elemental effects don't seem all that powerful (burn, poison...), most of the time I find myself just walking through fire ground without a care, the AI too.

Yep. Poison and fire were deadly in D:OS, but both suck really hard in D:OS 2, which is why I also had to reskill my pyrokinetic wizard. Fire just doesn't do much damage and by setting everything aflame you just cuck yourself by burning up oil, which is great for slowing down enemies.

They nerfed this too? Half the amusement I had on the previous game was just filling the screen with area of effect spells just for the kicks. Guess Larian catch the NO FUN cold, a pity.

 

[Roguey]

With each passing day this sounds more and more like Dragon Age II with a lot more time: streamlined character system, controversial combat system changes, somewhat different art style, edgy polarizing companions (but without a universally-liked bro like Varric), enemies popping up out of nowhere encounter design, everyone-is-bisexual romances.

Right down to people who prefer this one over the first.

 

[Mark Richard]

In regards to quests, Witcher 3 has some of the best quests in any rpg, bloody baron, the blood and wine dlc main quest line.

As good as The Witcher 3's writing is, you're interacting with each quest the same way. The extent of the investigation phase is following highlighted tracks. The preparation phase is all but negated by instant potions/oils, so finding the identity of a monster before engaging isn't the high priority it should be. That just leaves combat. Here's some options to escape Fort Joy, one of the first main quests in DOS2:

Spoiler

- Storm the gates
- Piss off the guards and get sent to jail, then break out
- Bypass the guards with a teleportation glove earned from an optional sidequest
- Learn of a secret underground passageway through at least two other sidequests and find a shovel

There might be more. Point is I'm being encouraged to think about it.

 

[Shadenuat]

The second problem I have with this game is that it doesn't seem all that interesting compared to DOS1. The elemental effects don't seem all that powerful (burn, poison...), most of the time I find myself just walking through fire ground without a care, the AI too.

Yep. Poison and fire were deadly in D:OS, but both suck really hard in D:OS 2, which is why I also had to reskill my pyrokinetic wizard. Fire just doesn't do much damage and by setting everything aflame you just cuck yourself by burning up oil or removing chill as well as frozen statuses from enemies, which are all great for slowing them down.

Necrofire does good damage though.

And compared to other mages, Pyro just does most damage. They have most straightforward blowemups, and Pyro source powers are friggin bonkers, especially higher source cost ones. You can just annihilate whole encounters with Meteor Shower, suck all their bodies for Source (or replenish at source sugarsoda fountain) and do it again. Summoner's Etheral Storm is also okay, but it's random and works strange.
Due to pyro buffs and using correct staff, Pyro also hits in melee hard or even harder than dedicated fighters. You can just literally beat them with the stick and I don't even have 2-handed. With that Pyrostaffer could probably remove 1000+ armor/hp per hit from enemy EZ.

Only thing I dislike is that if I leave something alive, unlike fighter who can finish turn with stomp(best control skill in game eh)/bullrush easy, dedicated damage long range mage doesn't have that luxury since pyro just has no controls and others would have to use control spells for damage.

And not all spells/skills are good. People who like lotsa skills you should check what they actually do. Like, Fire Whip - sounds awesome, until you realise that using 3 ap to do 100 more damage means losing doing twice the amount of regular damage. Same with melee skills like crippling strike and other crappy stuff. That's why I don't put many points into Memory btw - too often it's better to use regular attack than some skill. Especially when your dual wielding fighter has like 20% silence 20% cripple 20% freeze 20% bleed on hit from 2 magic weapons. At that point if their armor is down they're already fucked. I could probably scrap 1/3 skills I actually never use but just keep on bar because maybe I will.

I think for Tactic once game will be patched enough I will try 4 Planets 4 Mages, 3 split into Summoning, 1 into Necro, just for level 1 cheapest summons and bone spider, all with shields and shield throw. Maybe, if I won't hate game too much at that point.

 

[YES!]

With each passing day this sounds more and more like Dragon Age II with a lot more time: streamlined character system, controversial combat system changes, somewhat different art style, edgy polarizing companions (but without a universally-liked bro like Varric), enemies popping up out of nowhere encounter design, everyone-is-bisexual romances.

Right down to people who prefer this one over the first.

I had to look up who Varric was but what kind of fucking degenerate would like him? Stupids and kids only with console sensibilities. The only good character in any of the DA games was the arrow/rebel lady in DAI. The demon lady in this game is an actual normal and likable character for non-degenerates, non-stupids, and non-kids.

The character development system is far better than in DOS 1 and not streamlined (but not good in my opinion and needs a mod like epic encounters to eventually make it actually good, but it is still far better than DOS EE), and the only controversy over the combat system is that it is actually has some difficult battles on tactician difficulty and stupids don't like to have any indicators that they are stupid, so they whine about difficulty instead of turning it to easy difficulty so their monkey child minds can handle it. I picked the three companions that seemed the most reasonable and less annoying and so far they haven't bored me to death with talking and too much content like in all the DA games. I have the dwarf, the demon lady, and the elf lady. The elf lady is the most annoying and least believable character but the male elves all look like skinny down syndrome people with metrosexual haircuts only so I need here to eat body parts in case that is important.

 

[Salvo]

Spoiler

A friend we have all missed.

 

[toro]

Last Island. Level 17. Each fight takes 10+ minutes. Stupid puzzles. The game is a mess. I'm close to burn out but I want to finish it because I assume I'm close to the end.

Has anyone finished it?

So the verdict is the game is a mess of bad design where Larian trying to fix what didn't need to be fixed made the good parts worse and the bad parts like the shit writing continue there but just more verbose and with Belgian quality voice acting on top? I still can refund this game, is there a reason not to?

I cannot defend the game and I cannot tell you what to do. I'm close to 50h in the game and there are good parts but the overall experience is nowhere near 'exciting':

No tactical layer - I don't know what other people are smoking but it's nowhere near tactical or at least nuXcom,
UI is idiotic - containers are not highlighted and there is a constant need for pixel hunting,
Generated loot is retarded - I got two-handed swords, spears and wands for which I have no use but the game thinks otherwise,
Enemies Level scaling is retarded - Don't engage +1 lvl enemies unless you can bottleneck them somehow,
Encounter design is bad (pure garbage) - the same ambush pattern is copy-pasted all over the place,
World Design is a mess in my opinion - too much content without breathing space,
Useless talents and even useless attributes like Wits,
Armor and Initiative mechanics are fucked up,
Most fights devolve in an entire field on fire and most of the time I'm pixel hunting for the enemies,
Almost never used 2-slot spells and so on,
Crafting is retarded - There are ingredients like used panties and I never found recipes for actually useful stuff,
Bartering is a pain in the ass - You have to mark your items as ware before entering trading screen,
Lockpicking is almost non-existent late game,
Potions are useless as well as an entire range of items which only clutter the inventory,
The music is so good I'm listening to some utube radio,
Story and dialogues are mediocre but less obnoxious than PoE,
There are talents synergies which can obliterate anything,
It looks good and it gives the impression of a good game

Bottom line: It feels like playing a single-player MMORPG.

To be honest there is probably a good game hidden somewhere under so much bloat but it's hard to find it. I played the game because (1) I backed the KS and I got a key and (2) I wanted to see how good the Turn-Based combat was. I thought that it will be a challenge but for half of the game I've used the same strategy. At the moment, I no longer care about any party member or the story. I just want to finish it and move on.

So, it depends. If you are someone who can enjoy a dull experience as PoE then you might like it. Otherwise not really.

 

[Iznaliu]

Yeah, Fort Joy kinda feels like a summer camp more than anything. I also found weird how no one comments on the fact your ship crashed and you just kinda walk into the place. There are kids around doing their shit, etc.

I understand it's less Auschwitz and more.... uuh, Hospital with an hidden side? But jeez.

In the original Early Access version, they tried making Fort Joy dark and stuff, but 99% of people complained.