Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[veevoir]

I like this flowchart.

How did you find out about it "on reddit" - ok, no adventure for you, fuck off.

 

[SniperHF]

What the diff to before? Looks like a doubling of the effects?

In the previous versions the point increases were a little more similar to pre-D:OS Divinity games where you had more points to spend in each area and the effects were more granular. It wasn't quite all the way to something like Divinity 2 levels where you're points would end up in the 100's, but you could easily have double digit point buys in combat abilities by the end of the 8 levels in the alpha. Now it looks a lot more truncated similar to D:OS 1 but with a few more levels of granularity, 1-10 instead of 1-5.

The automatic memory increases on level are clearly an attempt to both nerf memory and make memory a choice instead of a must-have. I'd just chuck the whole memory system but who knows maybe it works fine in its new form. Haven't played the patch yet.

Though I didn't think memory was as overpowered as some did either. You could certainly gain a lot of extra skills in the previous version of the alpha with more memory. But given the cooldowns and having a party of 4 it wasn't strictly necessary to pump memory up to be effective. Focusing on critical hits for example is just as lethal if not more so than having skill versatility.

One of the other problems of the original alpha's point buys were that the initial investment was often worth so much more than the incremental increases that you just never had any incentive to spend more.

 

[Sneaky Seal]

So if I'd rather wait a while for a polished version then jump in on a buggy one - how soon should I get the game? Basically, how raw is it in it's current state?
I guess buying it and playing it later is always an option (pretty sure Larian will deliver)

 

[anvi]

Wait for several months. The later the better.

 

[Ivan]

let the egg cook you savage

 

[Aenra]

I applaud their listening, both in regard to attribute changes and reworked animations.
I'm just not sure if i accept the reasoning; i mean so far, if i gave you two words, 'complain' and 'animations', what would you make of them? Something to do with their being slow as fuck surely, it being the complaint of pretty much everyone. Apparently however the complaining was centered on their not being visually realistic enough? Are we joking here?

Likewise with attributes. Now in this i am only guessing ok? Haven't touched D:OS II. But i know they are not going for hardcore levels here, game will be pretty much in line with the prequel, difficulty-wise. Would it not have been better if they reworked the skill acquisition? Or progress? Too MMO-ish as it is.

edit: maybe expressed it wrongly.. applaud as in appreciating their adding extra fluff in that they didn't have to (animations) and had no fear re-working a core system at this stage.

 

[anus_pounder]

So if I'd rather wait a while for a polished version then jump in on a buggy one - how soon should I get the game? Basically, how raw is it in it's current state?
I guess buying it and playing it later is always an option (pretty sure Larian will deliver)

Very raw, they've basically only just finished cracking the egg. All the playable races (i.e. the most important one - Undead) aren't even released yet and a lot of stuff like party dialogue is still in the placeholder stage. Definitely wait a few more months, minimum.

 

[HoboForEternity]

but i am afraid they will rise the price like they did with torment numa numa

 

[anvi]

You can buy it and not play it. I kickstarted it but haven't played it yet. Also even when it is released it is often better to wait another month for all the inevitable patches and maybe some mods.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Wulfstand]

Wasn't this supposed to be out by now?

 

[Zanzoken]

I feel like if you deliberately insert a "fetch quest" into a quest chain then you are just being a pain in the player's ass. Probably the second worst type of quest design there is, only slightly better than "kill 10 random mooks".

Complexity for its own sake doesn't usually end up being meaningful.

 

[Lacrymas]

Quest design as a whole should be seriously considered and scrutinized internally, MMO quests are easy to mass produce, but staining single player RPGs with them is a sin. It's much better to have fewer meaningful quests than a bajillion fetch quests alla DA:I. Serious quests are concrete structures that hold a game together, you need them to build a coherent "form" of the game. Like I always like to repeat - nobody has ever said that making games is easy.

 

[anvi]

I hate ever having multiple quests of any type. The only way I like it, is when it's done like say NWN1/2/BG where you are sent on a quest, and that's all you do. Each step can be varied, like at the start in NWN2 they do some mundane crap for a tutorial, but then you have to rush off and save your village from a big attack, then your quest is to go and recover a relic from a cave, then you have to take the relic to Neverwinter which is a long journey and requires lots of exploring, chats, and battles along the way.

Occasionally you get some small side quest but they are few and far between and mostly you are focused on the one big storyline which is the only real quest you have. That's how RPG's should be. The whole idea of "side quests" is bad. As is having lots of quests. It should be like a movie, like Indiana Jones or something. His quest is searching for the Arc, and it might take him to lots of different places and require lots of different little quests like getting info from a guy or locating the circle thing etc.. But it is all part of his one main quest.

 

[anus_pounder]

Wasn't this supposed to be out by now?

Apparently not. We haven't even gotten all the origin characters. Looks like mid 2017 at the earliest.

 

[LESS T_T]

They're starting to posting lore stuff on their site: http://www.divinity.game/divine-order

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DIVINE ORDER

In the mists of time...
After becoming the Divine, Lucian defeated the Black Ring, a cabal of dark wizards intent on the chaotic end of the world. In response, the Black Ring incarnated the Lord of Chaos as a human child. Lucian had a chance to end the war forever, but he couldn't bring himself to kill a child: he opted to raise him as his son. He called him Damian.

The foundation of a global power...
To ensure that the weakened Black Ring and other agents of the Void never again regained ascendancy, Lucian founded the Divine Order. The Divine Order was a military order dedicated to enforcing the ideals of the Divine, and soon became the ruling power across much of Rivellon. The Order’s main goal was clear: to combat the Void, in whatever form it took.

When the Void did return, it did so with a vengeance. Damian, Lucian's adoptive son, led a Black Ring army against the Divine Order in a war that engulfed all of Rivellon. A war that neither Lucian nor Damian survived.

A dangerous balance...
Leadership of the Order naturally passed to Bishop Alexandar: a dynamic but authoritarian leader, and Lucian's only son by blood. But ever since Lucian died, Voidwoken have been appearing wherever Source magic is used, terrorising the populace. With no other way to slow the increasing numbers of Voidwoken, the Divine Order forbade the use of all Source magic, leading to a deep rift in society.

Order reborn
Of recent, Sourcerers have been rounded up and interned into camps, where they are collared with devices that disallow the use of Source. This is done for their own safety (and the safety of everyone around them). Even Alexandar chose to collar himself, rather than let the darkness of his Source corrupt him.

While some Sourcerers have yielded of their own free will, many more were snatched away and collared.

 

[anvi]

Zzzzzzzzzzz I fucking hate game stories. It seems less childish than the first one though.

 

[anvi]

After the Fourth Great War, the world was peaceful for a while, but then the evil forces of The Lord of Badness went to war with The Divine Being and it was really bad. This era was known as The Dark Times in the history of Derpia. The war lasted 1000 years and much blood was shed, and after The Dark Times were over, The Divine Being set up a special council to make sure that The Lord of Badness could never return again. But a corrupt Wizard by the name of Lucifercer The Lord of Naughtiness, he had been expelled from the Council of Righteousness, and he started his own sect called The Dark Order of Emö. This evil sect wanted to take over the world so they were casting a spell that would rip open the catacombs of "The Dark Place" and then resurrect The Lord of Badness. They captured all of The Council of Righteousness in a forcefield and the world was helpless. Then a farmboy by the name of Player_1 finds a magical ring under a turnip, and it imbues his body with the mystical and convenient power of Source, and he goes on quests with 3 other people and get super strong and then save the world. But will the power of the Source corrupt him?! Or will he overcome the temptation. Like Frodo and every other fantasy story ever.

 

[Lacrymas]

Like I also like to repeat, game writers have read only 1 book (LotR) and seen 1 movie (Aliens). You can't be surprised that everything they churn out is a variation of those two things. When they start reading something else, then maybe they'll realize that they shouldn't have been writers in the first place.

 

[anvi]

It is at this time of year I feel like donating money to a Books for Games Writers program.

 

[Aenra]

Lacrymas i'd disagree. I know you're probably exaggerating for emphasis, so not just in regard to the volume read. I'd disagree in regard to the issue.
Read LoTR or a hundred, two hundred fantasy books. The problem lies/arises when a game writer decides, today, that what -should- be iconic is something like LoTR, ie that two centuries later and in some form or other, we're still stuck to Grimm's fairy tales (didactically and narratively) for a good reason. That's what the problem is.

Meaning you're effectively complaining that third and fourth rate writers (game writers) have not become the exception, providing deeper, more verisimilar and intellectually engaging fantasy narratives? Seriously? Dude it's 'gaemz'. Pegi 12, spastics, pew pew. You cannot demand what you are from game writers. Even IF some are capable of it, let us be honest, the audience just isn't there yet.

 

[anvi]

^ I kind of agree that the gaming audience is a bunch of stupid little shitty kids. But I also think that it is a perfect time for someone with good stories for a change, could stand out from the crowd and show how it's done. Witcher 3 is the nearest I've seen to that, at least in terms of dialogue. I still think if someone builds it, they will come.

 

[Lacrymas]

Aenra, I'm actually quoting Ken Levine, who was also probably exaggerating for emphasis. Pop culture, especially writing, is still stuck in the Romantic period in general, that's why everything looks like Grimm's fairly tales, LotR is an extension of Romanticism as well, Tolkien just delivered Coleridge's aesthetic principles to their logical extreme (by creating a different world entirely, governed by its own logic). Tolkien, however, was a good writer, 99% of gaem writers aren't, so they can't even copy his work properly. I.e. I agree that the problem is deeper than just a lack of sources and reference material. I don't agree that the audience is not there though, this whole forum (some of it at least) have been ready for a while, so there is an audience, but devs don't cater to us, they cater to the subhuman masses.

Writing is something completely different than what vidya gaem writers treat it as (those that actually do want to be writers, like Larian's 7-man cuck squad), it's not simply words on a page, sometimes even forming coherent sentences, that's why I mentioned that if they get a little bit more educated they'll probably realize that they shouldn't be writers at all.

 

[anvi]

I would bro fist if I could. I'll just give you a jacko.

 

[imweasel]

Glad to hear that they are scrapping the old attribute system and making attempts to improve the loot system.

Looks like mid 2017 at the earliest.

Yep. Judging from the latest video I'd say the game will be released late 2017. They are still adding tons of stuff to the game and fixing/improving stuff.