Game News Divinity: Original Sin 2 Kickstarter Update #25: Character Creation Preview

[Fenix]

Well, this update definitely interested me, and I'm surprised, because I thought that despite D:OS was fun game, the combat in late- and possible even midgame become not much interesting, and the story, when you came to winter world is.... soporific, so I thought I'll never play something dos-like anymore.
But - Swen, your game have my personal attention, changes in combat system at least looks promising.

PS Btw, who know to which Zodiac sign Swen belong to? I have a fellow of mine, which look almost identical (something in-between Swen and Henry Cavill), have same charge of charisma, he is Leo so it isn't surprising.

 

[Jestai]

All I'm sure of is that your friend/gay crush isn't talking about you or your Zodiac sign on some random internet forum.

 

[Fenix]

I always wondered what causes these sudden outbursts of aggression when someone splashes out their aggressive sexual fantasies based on the innocent question.
But... this is Codex isn't it?

 

[Drakortha]

i hope there's less puzzles. those things were shit.

 

[ROARRR]

I hope we can see that singing seashell again....This time I want to stuff him with rice and lemon so I can have a good time with it. That´s goofy right? Because I expect such funny shit in Larian games. I played DO:S and I couldn´t finish it because of the blood stones. I hope there is something like that which again will torture my sinfull gamer heart.
Whatever, I am still gona play it!

 

[Ismaul]

I'm thinking Memory is a balancing thing because of the skill crafting. You can make exactly the skills you want, combine effects form multiple base skills, but you're limited in how much you can bring to a fight. Pretty sure crafted skills will be more versatile and tailored to your build than in DOS.

It's basically a reintroduction of Vancian magic, preparation before fights, etc. I usually hate that shit unless you have some way of finding out what you need to prepare for; some way to gain that information in-game by recon/research, like in The Witcher 1.

 

[SniperHF]

I
It's basically a reintroduction of Vancian magic, preparation before fights, etc. I usually hate that shit unless you have something to go on to know what you have to prepare; some way to gain that information in-game by recon/research, like in The Witcher 1.

One of the Developers on the Larian forum (though it's not clear who) said this:

I had two questions, if you're kind enough to answer them:

1- What is the new role of the abilities, if they don't serve anymore as gates in the skill learning process? Honestly I liked the way they worked in the EE edtion.

2- Are you 100% sure that in a game like DOS - where immunities and resistances play a huge role, and where cooldowns last for several turns - it's wise to limit the number of skills available at any given moment?

Keep in mind that we are still in Pre-Alpha, and all the usual caveats apply.

1. Skill abilities now improve corresponding skills, but there's a twist to it that I can't talk about yet.

2. We are testing a few tweaks to the rules of skill activation that make it unnecessary to reload after every ambush (including some inspired by backer comments).

1. was pretty obvious.

2. Goes right to what you were talking about though it sounds more like its something you can do mid fight. So speculating: going along the same D&D lines, that kinda sounds like spontaneous conversion in 3.5. Or potentially all the way down the decline line of a pre-fight skill selection thing.

 

[Ismaul]

Interesting, we'll have to wait and see I guess.

But spontaneous conversion was a way to prevent a Cleric from wasting his slots preparing cures, and allowed him to spend any prepared spell as a cure (or inflict if evil). It was basically a "all your spells can also be this one other spell you're specialized in", which wouldn't do the job for DOS, since you have to prepare different combos vs different enemy defenses/resistances and attacks. The pre-fight skill selection sounds more likely.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

The art style is so god damn ugly. Hope the story is at least better now.

 

[Lyre Mors]

he art style is so god damn ugly. Hope the story is at least better now.

I feel the art has greatly improved from D:OS, which I know isn't saying much. That being said, I kind of like where they've gone with the art direction. I would have a difficult time calling it "ugly." Maybe not ideal to what I'd like to see from Larian, but far from ugly.

As for the story, I don't have huge expectations for the main storyline, but I'm hoping they really come through with the sidequests and overall atmosphere.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

he art style is so god damn ugly. Hope the story is at least better now.

I feel the art has greatly improved from D:OS, which I know isn't saying much. That being said, I kind of like where they've gone with the art direction. I would have a difficult time calling it "ugly." Maybe not ideal to what I'd like to see from Larian, but far from ugly.

As for the story, I don't have huge expectations for the main storyline, but I'm hoping they really come through with the sidequests and overall atmosphere.

Ugly for me. Some may like it. I just personally dislike too much high fantasy unless its Sigil or something out of a French comic book.
Wish every crpg had art style from Larry Elmore and Justin Sweet.

But Larians thing has always been like this since Divine Divinity. At least its not DragonAge levels of puke.

 

[Kev Inkline]

[
Ugly for me. Some may like it. I just personally dislike too much high fantasy unless its Sigil or something out of a French comic book.
Wish every crpg had art style from Larry Elmore and Justin Sweet.

When it comes to fantasy aesthetics, for me, it'd be 90s-00s Simon Bisley.

Spoiler

 

[Roguey]

It's basically a reintroduction of Vancian magic, preparation before fights, etc. I usually hate that shit unless you have some way of finding out what you need to prepare for; some way to gain that information in-game by recon/research, like in The Witcher 1.

Given that it's D:OS, there's loremaster for that.

 

[ortucis]

but after chapter 1 I'm sure everyone was bored with the story

Yeah. Dropped it then.

I hope they're going to be serious about the story this time.

Original Sin is one of favorite RPG's in a long time. But one day, I took a breather from playing it after reaching Chapter 2 and spending few hours progressing story in it. Never went back to the game after that breather.

It just felt.. tedious. The lore is just not that interesting (not bad though). But at least it's better than POE crap where I lasted 2 hours before boredom set in.

Anyway, during my break since it was released, they release enhanced edition so now I will replay it from start. Maybe create two lesbian heroes this time. Glad they are working on the sequel. This game and Wasteland 2, I like them both (despite the break I took from OS).

 

[Kem0sabe]

2 biggest flaws were the narrative and combat system. First off people either hated the game right away with the detective story or enjoyed it but after chapter 1 I'm sure everyone was bored with the story. Combat lasts way too long and becomes a bore later in the game because your heroes scale into gods even on the hardest difficulty because of how stats like AP work.

Exactly, those were the two biggest flaws.

The combat became so slow, the animations and turns taking so long, that even if you disliked the story and wanted to play for the encounters and exploration, you just ended up quiting.

The videos they have shown, combat speed still needs to be much much faster for this to be bearable.

 

[Orobis]

Hopefully, it's not fully voice acted.

 

[Drowed]

Original Sin isn't about the story - this doesn't mean that stories don't have an important role in RPGs (it's obvious they do), but that's not the strong point of the game. The game is all about the ambiance/humour. It's like watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail expecting to see a complex and well established plot, that's not the point. However, like all humor, it's something that doesn't work for all people. I wouldn't say that the game is funny, but that it's entertaining.

Sadly, the turn-based combat system unfortunately didn't show its full potential, although it has a good base there. My problem with the combat isn't that it's slow (though an option to speed up the animation is very welcome), but that it's pointless for being too easy. You have lots of spells and skills to use, but in the end you're just always using the same ones, and the interactions between the different elements ends up being something rare in most encounters. Because of that, it becomes just a timesink, and as the game doesn't have an interesting story to motivate you, what is left when the fighting itself isn't that interesting?

But I still like the game, Cyseal alone makes me like it. But I expect more from OS2, no doubt about it.

 

[Ismaul]

Played as a co-op game, there was too much story in the way of the gameplay, especially since it wasn't any good.

I don't know if the same amount of story with better writing would make for a better co-op experience. A better single-player experience for sure, though.

 

[nikolokolus]

The only problem I have with D:OS's story elements are that when it stopped being a murder mystery in Act I, it turned into (mostly) bog standard fantasy, paint-by-numbers, linear slog. Also, I suspect that I'm just beyond bored with the "savior of the world" trope they latched on to.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It's a bit surprising to me that people are asking for a "more serious story", when D:OS was actually at its best when it was light-hearted and fun (i.e. the wishing wells, the speaking animals, the annoying idiotic imps, etc) if a bit silly at times, while every time they tried to introduce some dramatic/epic turn in the narrative that came off as very weak and cheesy as fuck.

 

[DeepOcean]

It's a bit surprising to me that people are asking for a "more serious story", when D:OS was actually at its best when it was light-hearted and fun (i.e. the wishing wells, the speaking animals, the annoying idiotic imps, etc) if a bit silly at times, while every time they tried to introduce some dramatic/epic turn in the narrative that came off as very weak and cheesy as fuck.

Silly stuff can take you to a point, after a while, it gets annoying and you expect more to keep you entertained.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Silly or serious, larian simply can't write a single interesting character in any of their games.

They truly are mediocre writers, maybe with the slew of new hires they can muster something better for the sequel.

 

[imweasel]

Larian only had two writers working on D:OS, before that it was just Swen and one or two other guys IIRC. They just didn't have the time or money to create a fleshed out world with deep characters. That will change with D:OS 2.

 

[Jedi Exile]

Larian only had two writers working on D:OS, before that it was just Swen and one or two other guys IIRC

D:OS was written by Jan Van Dosselaer. I think he was the only writer the game had.

 

[Infinitron]

Larian only had two writers working on D:OS, before that it was just Swen and one or two other guys IIRC

D:OS was written by Jan Van Dosselaer. I think he was the only writer the game had.

Him and Sarah Baylus.