Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pre-Release Thread

[Roguey]

Also wasn't one of the complaints about D:OS EE that they overbalanced it

Not so much overbalance as nerfing some things too hard while adding other things that made it even easier.

 

[Lycra Suit]

 

[Infinitron]

Late Gamescom preview: http://wccftech.com/divinity-original-sin-2-preview-interview-perfecting-an-already-great-game/

Divinity: Original Sin 2 Preview & Interview – Perfecting an Already Great Game

Larian Studios is finally going big with Divinity: Original Sin 2, after the success enjoyed with the first game. The Belgian developer found its breakout game with Original Sin and now RPG fans are very much looking forward to the sequel, which received over twice as much in crowdfunding via Kickstarter.


At Gamescom 2016, the developer presented some of Divinity: Original Sin 2’s new features. First of all, character creation is now set to be much deeper thanks to the ability to choose different races such as elf, dwarf, lizard, undead and of course human.

This will determine how NPCs in the world react to your player character, but there are also racial skills and talents to consider. For instance, if you pick an elf you’ll get Corpse Eater – anyone in the game can eat corpses, but they’ll just get sick unless they are elves. This race is not only able to heal by eating corpses, but they can also sometimes remember something about the dead person and even possibly inherit one of their skills, such as a magical spell.

During character creation you may also choose a musical instrument, which will dynamically change the musical score during your game, for example when you score a critical hit.

Going back to how the world reacts to your character, Divinity: Original Sin 2 adds a tag system. For instance, you could choose two tags like outlaw hero (if you dig the Robin Hood archetype) or even noble villain.

The biggest addition in character creation may just be the ability to pick an origin story, though. This was added by Larian to address a specific critique often brought upon the previous game.

While players can still decide to have a generic background and roleplay their character, the origin stories will add a personal quest. For instance, Lohse has been possessed by a demon which will sometimes emerge and force her to say or do things; the Red Prince was supposed to be the next emperor of the lizard country, but he was framed and kicked out, so he’s eager to right this wrong and reclaim his throne; Sybille is an elf who was a slave to lizards, rebelled and ate her masters. This allowed her to remember other lizards who have elf slaves and she decided to tattoo their names on her body, setting forth on a quest to kill them all.

What’s more, in case you go with the generic background you’ll still find NPCs with those origin stories in the world. You may choose to ignore them, kill them or add them to your party; if you ignore them, they’ll progress in their personal quests on their own.



Divinity: Original Sin 2’s Early Access release, due in ten days from now, will throw player characters in a rather thorny situation: as Source wielders, they are among those imprisoned by Bishop Alexander on the island of Fort Joy. That’s because creatures from the Void are being attracted by the Source and Bishop Alexander thinks he can find a cure, once all Source wielders are confined on the island. Except the Source isn’t something to be cured of…

In the very beginning of the game, it will be rather hard to find useful items (but there’s a black market somewhere on the island). Of course, the main goal is to remove the Source collar (which blocks your character’s powers) and escape the island; there will be multiple ways to do that.

During the presentation, a dialogue between the right hand of Bishop Alexander and a soldier was showcased. The soldier, believed to be helping prisoners escape the island, is questioned and ultimately executed. At that point, we can pick up the soldier’s severed limbs and eat them (if our character is an elf) or look for an elf that would eat them; by doing so, we’d learn that the soldier was actually helping prisoners and thus we’d receive a hint towards a possible escape route.

Finally, the folks from Larian clarified that the engine also received a significant overhaul thanks to the introduction of PBR, higher texture quality, cloth simulation, improved animation and particle effects systems.

After the presentation, we were able to ask a few questions to Executive Producer David Walgrave.

During the presentation, you said that the writing team has increased in size.

Yes. The first game was written by two writers, but one took a really long Holiday so I usually say it was written by 1.5 writers. We now have eight writers. Just like I said during the presentation, I also believe in quality over quantity, but the way we are working now with the origin stories makes it easy to distribute these guys over the origin stories. We have a couple of writers taking care of the main story while the rest help on the origin stories, but they all criticize each other’s work which also helps.

I know you said that it’s not about quantity, but with the additional writers can we expect a larger game in Divinity: Original SIn 2?

I don’t think it’s a longer game. It’s approximately the same size, but there is more content. In just one playthrough, you will experience only one story. Now, when you restart the game you can get different stories as well.

So we can say that the game is more replayable than the first one.

Yes! Most certainly.

When Divinity: Original Sin first launched it didn’t have any voice acting, but you added that with the Enhanced Edition. Divinity: Original Sin 2 won’t have voice acting, but are you planning to add it again with another Enhanced Edition?

We don’t know yet if it’s doable, because there’s now so much written content, there are so many words. It might take a long time, be very expensive…We need to decide this, but first we need to have numbers. We are going to crunch numbers, not only for voice recording but also for localization. Translating a complex RPG like this is not about translating 100K words, the previous game was almost half a million words.

It’s not just about costs, it’s also about what you get in return and how long it takes. We want to release everything at once if possible, there are indeed some things that we need to decide on.

In the Kickstarter campaign you also mentioned an improved dialogue system, can you expand on that?

What we meant is the tool that we use in-house to make dialogues has been improved. It’s now more user friendly, which will also help modders since we’ll still have modding tools and you can still create your own RPGs with the editor. It’ll be easier to create dialogues with it.

We also introduced the tag system to dialogues, which improved it immensely.

You talked about some of the tech improvements during the presentation. Are you going to support DirectX 12 or Vulkan?

We’re now running on DX11, but our graphics programmer is indeed looking into those technologies.

Of course, you released the Enhanced Edition on consoles as well and I bet there are a lot of console gamers interested in Divinity: Original Sin 2. Is that something you’ll be making after the PC launch?

Yes, we’re focusing on releasing on PC first. And that means making it run on PC, making the user interface for mouse & keyboard…Once we’ve done that and we’re happy with the game, we’ll start looking at user interfaces that support a controller, be it for PlayStation or Xbox or if only to be able to add controller support on PC.

We’ll look into consoles after the game is done.

So there won’t be controller support on PC at first?

Not initially, no.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Zeriel]

Also wasn't one of the complaints about D:OS EE that they overbalanced it

By plebs, maybe.

 

[Roguey]

Impressive amount of detail on that dwarf. Perhaps too impressive given all the details that will be lost from far up.

 

[Zombra]

Impressive amount of detail on that dwarf. Perhaps too impressive given all the details that will be lost from far up.

Roguey asks for cinematic cutscenes to zoom in on character detail during gameplay. You heard it here first.

 

[SniperHF]

D:OS had a zoom in on character during dialog feature that was off by default. It wouldn't surprise me if they designed around this for D:OS 2 since the reasons it was off by default were the model details were too low and their original semi-fixed perspective didn't allow for a proper view of the character every time.

Unless I missed it though, I haven't seen it in any of the preview videos as of yet.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/0...aise-the-high-bar-set-by-the-original/223449/

PAX: Divinity: Original Sin II Aims to Raise the High Bar Set by the Original

Divinity: Original Sin was met with universal acclaim when it was introduced over two years ago. This should not be surprising, as the title featured a massive world to explore had almost no restrictions on how the player went about completing it. This story driven adventure featured a multitude of side quests that could be handled in a variety of different manners, resulting in a game experience that becomes uniquely tailored to the player’s choices and play style. Creating a worthy follow up to to such a quality game is no small task, but Larian Studios seems to be up to the ambitious task of creating a sequel that doesn’t simply match the quality of its predecessor but also surpass it.

In a departure from the first game where the player assumed the role of a Source Hunter to rid the world of the forbidden magic known as Source, we are now taking on the role of a Sourcerer. Taking place 1000 years after the events of its predecessor, the story begins with the player being held prisoner in Fort Joy, a misnomer if there ever was one. The Divine is dead and the Void is expanding, which will eventually consume this godless world if it remains unchallenged. Sourcerers are taking the blame for this turn of events, with the player being the main target for the Magisters of the Divine Order’s witch hunt. Fort Joy is where you were sent to be “cured” of your powers. While the specific method of “curing” is not spelled out in detail, the self preservation instinct kicks in to send the message the only objective for now is to get the hell out of Fort Joy.


Limited hands on time with the early build of Divinity: Original Sin II can only paint a very limited picture of what will be forthcoming in the sequel, but the information available should assure fans of the original that they can remain optimistic about what is to come. The enormous world and the near limitless freedom to explore it returns, as will the lauded combat system. Veterans of the original will feel at home in combat, though several improvements have been added.

Environment will play a more significant role this time around. Height does factor into battle strategy, making the decision to initiate battle from a cliff overlooking your enemies or from a rooftop an advantageous decision, though be warned the battlefield position benefits do work both ways. Areas of the battlefield can receive a blessing or curse, effecting all who enter the area. The ground may be frozen, energized, or set ablaze, making a path to an enemy or ally inaccessible without sustaining damage. The number of available skills and spells have been greatly expanded, and as a Sorcerer the player will have access to spells with unimaginable power, demonstrating why this potent magic has been banned. The action point system has been revamped making planning the next move in battle a more calculated decision. Lastly, if you think you have mastered the battle system, the option to put your money where your mouth is available in the new PvP arena where you can test your combat prowess against another player.


The character creation process has received a massive overhaul. The player is no longer restricted to only playing as a human as Divinity: Original Sin II offers the option of also playing as a dwarf, elf, lizard, or undead. Each of these races has their own unique ability. For example, an elf can gain the memories of another individual through the simple act of cannibalism. So if you happen to stumble across a corpse, grab that severed limb, liberally apply some seasoning and let the elf party member chow down to unlock some of their memories. Dead men do tell tales, and they are also delicious part of a balanced diet.

The player is free to create a custom original character to fit their own design as was the case in its predecessor, but the option of selection a premade character with an origin story is available. These characters come with their own unique background that are closely linked to the main narrative. Origin story characters not selected by the player can still be encountered as NPCs and possible join the character’s party. The origin story will be an evolving element of the character that is shaped through completion of origin story quests. The specific origin stories will influence how the inhabitant of Rivellon react to the player and will provide additional dialog options. There are currently four origin stories available in the Early Access with the plan to add more as the game continues to develop. To give an example of what makes origin stories unique, the character Lohse has an entity that communicates with her, something akin to demonic possession mixed with schizophrenia. It is possible for Lohse to enter a state of temporary insanity if she fails to win a challenge against this thing that dwells within her.


The tag system is a new feature introduced in this sequel, which allows specific dialog options to become available based on gender, race, profession, and origin story. New tags may be gained and current tags may be lost based on character decisions and achievements. Should the player choose to design a character without an origin story, they will have the choice to add extra tags during the creation process to help personalize the experience by giving the character a unique personality and dialog options. There are presets that allow a character to begin the game better suited for a play style fitting a traditional RPG class such as warrior or rogue but there are no character classes, allowing the character to be customized and built as they progress through the game however the player sees fit. The multiplayer limit has been raised from two player to four player, and players may be in direct conflict with each other during certain quest goals based on origin story, making it a spur of the moment decision to play cooperatively or competitively. There is also the new dynamic music system where the player selects a character’s chosen instrument, allowing this instrument to take lead in the soundtrack during crucial moments of combat or story development.

The first Divinity: Original Sin offered almost unbridled freedom to the player, and it looks like the sequel is prepared to offer even more. Divinity: Original Sin II is designed to be played however the player wants. NPC conflicts can be handled by attempting to talk one’s way out of trouble using the tag system, whether it be through charm, logic, or intimidation. Of course, the option to kill anyone in the game exists as well. Killing a quest giver might cause the player to miss out on an interesting quest, but they will still be able to complete the game. Even if every single NPC is sent to an early grave by the player’s hand, it is still possible to complete the game. If a treasure box is out of reach teleportation or telekinesis are viable options. If a locked door is preventing your egress one can hunt for a key or if they have nimble fingers pick the lock. If neither of those options is feasible, bashing it down or setting it ablaze work just as well. This is not a game to hold your hand and instruct you what to do and how to do it. You will be given an objective and goal, and how you wish to achieve it will be determined by you.


While many changes and updates have been discussed, this is not a complete listing of all the new features and improvements present in Divinity: Original Sin. As the game continues to develop, more information will be provided leading up to the release of the final product. For those who cannot wait until its completion, this title will be available on Steam Early Access September 15. Stating definitively that this is an improvement on the original is impossible based on only playing a small portion of an early build, especially since the original set the bar to some lofty heights, but it’s safe to say fans of Divinity have every reason to be excited about Original Sin II.

 

[Mazisky]

I'm really disappointed with Larian. Not only they avoided entirely to add a such basic feature like day\night cycles (it was promised on Divnity OS 1 and never featured, so i expected they'll do it in 2), but they won't even provide a localization in my language after the events of OS: basically a semi-professional team translated the entire game for free and the work was so good that they decided to include it as an official localization (it's even featured in steam page).

Lot of people i know bought the game only after the localization was released .

Now with Dos 2, they don't give a fuck

 

[LESS T_T]

Lot of people i know bought the game only after the localization was released .

Well, you can check out an estimation of how many people you don't know bought the game: http://steamspy.com/app/373420

 

[Mazisky]

Lot of people i know bought the game only after the localization was released .

Well, you can check out an estimation of how many people you don't know bought the game: http://steamspy.com/app/373420

Oh, i understand now.

But, is there a reason why they provided Czech and Polish version, then? It doesn't seems they have huge sales

 

[LESS T_T]

But, is there a reason why they provided Czech and Polish version, then? It doesn't seems they have huge sales

Czech version is also a fan translation and CDPR did the Polish localization.

 

[J_C]

I'm really disappointed with Larian. Not only they avoided entirely to add a such basic feature like day\night cycles (it was promised on Divnity OS 1 and never featured, so i expected they'll do it in 2), but they won't even provide a localization in my language after the events of OS: basically a semi-professional team translated the entire game for free and the work was so good that they decided to include it as an official localization (it's even featured in steam page).

Lot of people i know bought the game only after the localization was released .

Now with Dos 2, they don't give a fuck

It's time for filthy westerners to learn some english.

 

[Mazisky]

I'm really disappointed with Larian. Not only they avoided entirely to add a such basic feature like day\night cycles (it was promised on Divnity OS 1 and never featured, so i expected they'll do it in 2), but they won't even provide a localization in my language after the events of OS: basically a semi-professional team translated the entire game for free and the work was so good that they decided to include it as an official localization (it's even featured in steam page).

Lot of people i know bought the game only after the localization was released .

Now with Dos 2, they don't give a fuck

It's time for filthy westerners to learn some english.

It was more a matter of "how decisions in development are made" rather than "i dunno englando plz translate".

 

[Alienman]

Man, I thought day and night was a thing for sure now

 

[Kem0sabe]

High bar set by original sin? Lol

 

[Mazisky]

Man, I thought day and night was a thing for sure now

They abandoned it for the first and completely avoided for OS2. I know there are priorities, but every Rpg since 90 has it, also the engine already has a dynamic lighting system, so it's no other reason than lazyness

 

[Zombra]

Man, I thought day and night was a thing for sure now

They abandoned it for the first and completely avoided for OS2. I know there are priorities, but every Rpg since 90 has it, also the engine already has a dynamic lighting system, so it's no other reason than lazyness

That and the fact that it would add nothing to the game.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Man, I thought day and night was a thing for sure now

They abandoned it for the first and completely avoided for OS2. I know there are priorities, but every Rpg since 90 has it, also the engine already has a dynamic lighting system, so it's no other reason than lazyness

That and the fact that it would add nothing to the game.

People like their atmosphere.

 

[Bubbles]

Man, I thought day and night was a thing for sure now

They abandoned it for the first and completely avoided for OS2. I know there are priorities, but every Rpg since 90 has it, also the engine already has a dynamic lighting system, so it's no other reason than lazyness

Wasteland 2 doesn't have it, and that's one of the Codex's favourite games.

 

[J_C]

Man, I thought day and night was a thing for sure now

They abandoned it for the first and completely avoided for OS2. I know there are priorities, but every Rpg since 90 has it, also the engine already has a dynamic lighting system, so it's no other reason than lazyness

Wasteland 2 doesn't have it, and that's one of the Codex's favourite games.

Bad trolling, Bubbles.

 

[Mazisky]

Man, I thought day and night was a thing for sure now

They abandoned it for the first and completely avoided for OS2. I know there are priorities, but every Rpg since 90 has it, also the engine already has a dynamic lighting system, so it's no other reason than lazyness

That and the fact that it would add nothing to the game.

Atmosphere, like one of the most important things in a Rpg

 

[Zombra]

Atmosphere, like one of the most important things in a Rpg

Yeah, because having NPCs who all behave the same at noon or midnight is so atmospheric.

 

[Bubbles]

Bad trolling, Bubbles.

Torment 2 doesn't have a day/night cycle either. If anything, the industry seems to be moving away from day/night systems.

 

[J_C]

Bad trolling, Bubbles.

Torment 2 doesn't have a day/night cycle either. If anything, the industry seems to be moving away from day/night systems.

I was just taking a jab at you because of the Wasteland 2= Codex favourite part. But yes, day/night cycles are becoming more and more rare. Unfortunately.