Divinity: Original Sin Beta Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Perkel]

I just watched that 1 hour interview/gameplay gamespot video.
I could masturbate to that gameplay.

And i can't wait for fucking tool set and also i hope they will add features to engine after they release game.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So, will there be an option to customize the spells/abilities and the gear you start with, or will we have to rely on modifying the existing classes?

 

[Gord]

Anyone else having issues with the Larian forums? I have not been able to enter them since friday.

 

[Perkel]

So, will there be an option to customize the spells/abilities and the gear you start with, or will we have to rely on modifying the existing classes?

They said in update that you will be able to choose abilities.

Their forum is currently down.

 

[pakoito]

So, will there be an option to customize the spells/abilities and the gear you start with, or will we have to rely on modifying the existing classes?

You can create your own char too.

 

[Kaldurenik]

Anyone else having issues with the Larian forums? I have not been able to enter them since friday.

same problem here

 

[mikaelis]

Shit, I am sad for the night cycle canned for the release (or more likely forever). I thought it was an important one. Now it is gone. Hmmm.

It is not an absolute bummer for me, but it does diminish a SP experience to me a bit. The other features that were added (or always have been an important feature) are nice, but I don't necessary find them compelling (e.g., I don't give a fuck about co-op - my girlfriend doesn't play games, and I will not be dragging my work-buddies to be a part of this).

Another problem is, that the lore itself is shit in this franchise (at least for me). Not only, it doesn't take itself seriously, but also makes some really awkward interconnections between the comedy and "serious business". It tries to play on some stuff from the history of cRPG games, then mixing it with some funny nonsense in-between, and then adding some serious questions and answers also in-between. Kind of like jRPGs but less subtle.

Fuck, almost like this Marvel nonsense that we have in the cinemas right now, AKA: Spiderman, Superman, Captain Planet (or fucking Amerikwa - who cares), Batman, Hulk and all this ubershit. Why is it even consider to be put in cinemas as a blockbuster? It is such a shit on all levels...
(BTW "The Punisher" is the only HOPEFUL franchise worth mentioning in this chain of turds - and it is dead of course).

 

[Perkel]

Shit, I am sad for the night cycle canned for the release (or more likely forever). I thought it was an important one. Now it is gone. Hmmm.

It is not an absolute bummer for me, but it does diminish a SP experience to me a bit. The other features that were added (or always have been an important feature) are nice, but I don't necessary find them compelling (e.g., I don't give a fuck about co-op - my girlfriend doesn't play games, and I will not be dragging my work-buddies to be a part of this).

Another problem is, that the lore itself is shit in this franchise (at least for me). Not only, it doesn't take itself seriously, but also makes some really awkward interconnections between the comedy and "serious business". It tries to play on some stuff from the history of cRPG games, then mixing it with some funny nonsense in-between, and then adding some serious questions and answers also in-between. Kind of like jRPGs but less subtle.

Fuck, almost like this Marvel nonsense that we have in the cinemas right now, AKA: Spiderman, Superman, Captain Planet (or fucking Amerikwa - who cares), Batman, Hulk and all this ubershit. Why is it even consider to be put in cinemas as a blockbuster? It is such a shit on all levels...
(BTW "The Punisher" was the only HOPEFUL franchise worth mentioning in this chain of turds - and it is dead of course)

To be fair i also would like to see larian doing new world/lore/characters/design instead of using divinity stuff.

Frankly i don't know anyone that would miss "old world". They could as well name it the same and completely change lore and so on and most of people would be happy instead of asking questions and rage about it.

But i guess for now it will do. It's not like they swim in money. Another time maybe when they will have succes and funding after release they will think about new game with different world.

 

[hiver]

Shit, I am sad for the night cycle canned for the release (or more likely forever). I thought it was an important one. Now it is gone. Hmmm.

It is not an absolute bummer for me, but it does diminish a SP experience to me a bit. The other features that were added (or always have been an important feature) are nice, but I don't necessary find them compelling (e.g., I don't give a fuck about co-op - my girlfriend doesn't play games, and I will not be dragging my work-buddies to be a part of this).

Quoting this for posterity - and future use as PR material for Larian.

Once you talk your girl into trying to play it with you. Do it. Incline commands it.

 

[DalekFlay]

They're not allowed to delay it because I'm waiting on the actual release and I can't wait much longer.

 

[mikaelis]

Once you talk your girl into trying to play it with you. Do it. Incline commands it.

Problem is, sometimes it can be pears and apples...

"Do you want to play?"
"Sure sweet, should I wear black or red stockings?"
"Ekkkhmm.... I meant... the computer game... Divinity: Original Sin... ekh, ekh, hmm?"
"Oh, you nasty little drake... "Sin" is such a nasty word. Should we call for threesome?"
"Waaaaiit! NO!, I just meant...."
"Ohh, I know what you meant!!!!"


.
.
(awkward moment)
.
.

FUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!!! I just wanted to play a co-op with my girlfriend!!!!

 

[Gord]

Yeah, don't we all hate it when that happens?

Women, always just wanting sex from us...

 

[Davaris]

(Who the fucks care, not even about day/night cycles, but "npcs reaction to day/night cycles" ? Seriously ?)

One example, NPCs finding a player in their home or place of business, the reaction and dialogue would be pretty different, depending on time of day. Almost like scripting a second game, from what David said.

 

[Abu Antar]

And the fact that different enemies could be encountered during day or night.

 

[MicoSelva]

This is somewhat disappointing, but by no means a deal breaker. I wish they left the day/night cycles and weather changes in at least as a cosmetic feature (with no NPC reaction), but I will be fine with static enviroments too.

Good to know they're moving into beta now. I was avoiding the game because of the constant systemic changes. Now that it will be feature complete I might give it a go, just to scratch that itch a bit.

And I'm really hoping they release the editor soon, I want to start playing with that thing already!

 

[Perkel]

sooo tomorrow is beta patch ?

 

[Raze]

More likely Thursday. Larian is doing a Twitch.tv beta preview and Q&A session in a little over an hour, so depending on how that goes they may update the ETA.

 

[Stabbey]

Okay, here's what I got down from the Stream. I might have missed some things, I'll watch it again later once it's up on the Twitch site.

Recording of Q&A session

Preset classes:
Wizard – Focuses entirely on magic.
Battlemage – Crossbreed between a wizard and a warrior. Melee attacks and spell-weaving.
Cleric – Har-hitting healer.
Enchanter – Control mage - Crowd control spells.
Fighter – Straight-up fighter.
Knight – A Fighter who can heal and inspire fellows. has the Courageous talent (Cannot be Feared).
Ranger – ranger, focuses on ranged weapons
Rogue – backstabber (starts with invisibility spell, lockpicking, sneaking)
Shadowblade – Rogue/assassin who knows magic.
Wayfarer – a ranger/mage hybrid
Witch – focuses on darker magic, curses, necromancy


These Talents may be renamed, but this is probably the full list.

Talent List:

• All skilled Up – Get 2 extra ability points
• Anaconda – Increased crushing damage
• Bigger and Better – get 1 primary attribute point
• Bully - bonuses against enemies slow crippled knocked down
• Comeback - Chance to automatically revive if you get killed.
• Courageous - Immunity to Fear status effect
• Demon - A chance to Burn enemies on contact if they hit you
• Elemental Affinity – Standing in surfaces decreases the AP cost for that kind of spell. (Eg: When standing in fire and cast fire spell it costs less AP).
• Elemental Ranger – When an enemy is standing on a surface, a normal arrow attack has a chance to inflict the appropriate elemental status or elemental damage on the enemy
• Escapist - You can escape from combat at any time. (There are new rules) Since this is a Talent, I think it means that YOU and companion can escape from combat, not you AND your partner.)
• Far Out Man - Increases range of all skills
• Five-Star Diner - Doubles the effects of food.
• Guerrilla – Doubles your Attack Damage while sneaking
• Ice King – Chance to chill enemies who strike you in melee range, but you suffer a penalty to fire resistance.
• Know-It-All - You gain +1 Int, but people like you less.
• Leech – standing in blood surface sucks them up to heal you.
• Light Stepper – Lets you detect traps more easily.
• Lightning Rod - increase your resistance to stunning (electrocution).
• Lone Wolf - Your character gets a heap of bonuses, but isn't allowed to recruit companions. This only applies for your character, not the other guy. Any extra companions you have will have to go to the Hall of Heroes (or whereever), leaving you with a max of 3 party members.
• Morning Person – You always resurrect to full health (resurrect now brings you back with only a part of your health.
• My Precious – Fecreased degradation rate of equipment. The rate at which things degrade was slow before, it has now been increased.
• Opportunist – Allows you to perform Attacks of Opportunity. This is no longer available for all characters by default, you need the Talent to use it.
• Pack Mule – Increases carrying capacity.
• Politician – You get a bonus point to Charm and Intimidate, but lose two points in Reason.
• Rastling – Doubles your recovery AP, but halves your health. (Will probably be renamed.)
• Scientist - A point each in Repair and Crafting.
• Sidewinder - Decreases your penalty when flanked.
• Speed Creeper – move at full speed while sneaking.
• Stench – Decreases everyone’s attitude by 25, but melee opponents will avoid you.
• Voluble Mage – Grants you Immunity to Silence (I might have got the name wrong on this one).
• Walk It Off - Makes you less prone to status effects (if you move around, I think.)
• What A Rush – increases your Starting, Recovery and maximum AP if your health is below 30%.
• Zombie – When standing in poison, it heals you instead of damaging you, regular healing potions and spells will damage you.
• More talents (the ones removed from the alpha) are behind the scenes in the modding tool.

Questions and Answers:

• You can now start the game in multiplayer, and character creation works for both.
• (I think) New dual loading bars for co-op?
• Starting area looks different (lighting)
• Crab fight is gone, real tutorial fight is added.
• There's a new dungeon in starting area which acts as an optional tutorial. The tutorial is a work in progress and not final yet.
• New UI which shows which char you are, health bar above skill bar
• Mac version is coming soon, there’s a problem with middleware.
• New Skill: Staff of the Mages – upgrades staves to launch projectiles. It only works with staves. It was added to give mages something to do in combat instead of just skipping turns to save AP. It doesn't do a whole lot of damage, but it's something.
• All staves now do some kind of special (elemental) damage type
• Are Day/night cycles and NPC schedules going to be patched in or are they completely scrapped? They don’t know yet. Their budget is finite and they couldn’t afford to work on it on top of everything else. There are No plans to add it in yet, but will try to support modders to add it in. It would cost 30-40% of the price of the game to do it as it was originally envisioned. It’s a shitload of work. Getting all the triggers and scripts to work with the cooperative multiplayer is a big enough headache already.
• Why saved-game incompatibility? The saved games are deactivated between patches because that makes tracking bugfixes far too difficult.
• Will gear requirements be based on abilities versus primary attributes? It’s all on attributes. Skill books are based on abilities.
• Why are gear requirements necessary? That’s a long story and had a lot of discussions before deciding on it.
• Is the editor ready? The editor is ready, but the documentation/tutorial is not.
• Will there be a retail collectors edition? Yes, it’ll be announced soon.
• New feature: Flare on poison now produces fire surface and vision-blocking smoke. (I think the smoke is the new bit).
• Traps are weight-based. A rat won’t trigger, but people will. Some traps won’t trigger without (for example) 100 units of weight, so if you aren't carrying enough to trigger it, it won’t go off.
• Walking in oil slows you now.
• Dice rolls are shown in combat log and you can see the saving throws and why it succeeded or failed
• Have there been changes to make ranged combat better? Arrows are a bit less expensive now, treasure tables are altered, you can find ingredients to craft your own a bit more often.
• General graphical/lighting improvements.
• The shovel has animations and is more intuitive to use.
• In beta, desecrate graves at your own peril. Danger danger.
• Blonde afro + Stalin mustache.
• If you open gate to dangerous area, the guards will hint and warn you about trouble ahead and say you may want companions.
• Shapeshifting has been cut
• Relation between characters is tracked through dialogues, there's no on-screen "points" indicator tp let you know how it's going.
• Mac version is native, no porting tools have been used.
• There are no interruptions of spells.
• Autosaves are new and in.
• The host has his saved game and can save anytime, and if you load the coop player will join that loaded game.
• Other weapons besides staves exist that will give you boosts appropriate to a mage.
• Will a full support-oriented character buffing a Lone Wolf be viable? "I guess so, but no one’s tried it."
• The backstories of the player characters will be revealed as you play the game.
• Will you turn Stabbey into an NPC? Don’t answer that. (He’s already a dagger. Maybe an NPC as well?) StabbeyNote: Blame Phlegmish for that question.
• The orchestral tracks have just started recording. There are new tracks in the beta though.
• Descriptions of stats like DD was cut. Maybe they’ll mod or patch it in.
• Difficulty levels will be in. You will be able to tweak the game mid-game. They are balancing the game to be challenging.
• Will there be an In-game debug console? With the editor. (I think that this was asking about the tilde key console, so I think this might be a no to that. Maybe ask this again.)
• Can you avoid all combat with people? You can avoid a lot of combat but there are characters you need to kill.
• Will there be Fully AI-controlled summons? No. Well... if they join you through story and don’t come under control, they’re AI. Wulfram is an example.
• Pickpocketing can get quest items as well. That adds a dimension to the game. It can only be done while sneaking and replaces the “talk to”. You have to choose who to pickpocket, it’s hard to Pickpocket those with int or high perception.
• High enough resistance can heal you with elemental damage. There is no max resistance on player characters.
• They hope to release the beta on Wednesday (April 2) or Thursday for beta.
• You will not be able to finish story in the beta state. The percentage of final game is hard to estimate. Cyseal is a little larger than some other places. They guess at about 25-30% of the final game. The New the beta added is significant, but there's not as much there as there was on the alpha side.
• Is the maximum AP 18? Probably not, it may scale up with your level.
• You will have some kind of log, but no commitments.
• The shelter plane has changed. Before it was version 0.1, not it’s 1.0. For storage options, you have containers you can take with you, and you can eventually send items to the shelter plane.
• There are new combat options on the right-side of the screen, like Escape and Wait turn, which should let you delay your turn.
• Will hiding behind a barrel increase your defense? No. That's something they wanted to add, but they had to stop.
• Have you considered some more polarizing talents such as Always hit, never crit, or converting all of your damage to one type and only being able to deal that kind of damage? It was considered, but they stopped because they have so many things to do.
• The target selection AI is improved.
• There won't be an in-game manual, but there will be one through the start menu.
• Is D:OS bigger than Divine Divinity? In interactivity yes. High density, but maybe not in area.
• There will be some story developments that were not in the alpha.
• Can we now fully see the entire dialog that our partner has with NPCs? That’s coming soonish.
• There's a new Haste spell with nice new effects, (but it crashes the game).
• You can use modded stuff in the original campaign.
• Nice new main menu
• The Final game's release date is in their heads, but they don’t dare say it anymore after having to move it once already.
• Will there be indications of items you recently picked up? Good idea, it's on the list.
• Will Quest items be given a special indication? Maybe, it depends, there are many ways to solve some quests, so that could just be confusing.
• Will there be indication of unread books in your inventory? It’s a must on the list.
• Will items stay as small square icons? Yes, no Diablo-style "tetris" inventory.
• Will there be A tab for crafting? Maybe. They’ll try to put some extras on it, if they have room.
• Will there be dynamic cameras for combat? They’d like it, but that's a major feature, so no.
• Will there be shortcut keys for identifying and repairing? Good idea.
• Two handed weapons have larger range, 1 handed have small, unarmed is touch range.
• Will unique weapons have unique appearances? There are different models, but they can’t make 40 swords, you’re going to see a certain model for a few levels as they increase in power, then switch to another model which is used for more powerful weapons.
• Is there a level cap? The level cap is soft, not hard, based on the amount of total experience you can get in the game. You can reach level 9-10 in beta. Maybe even 11 if you do everything in Cyseal, but that’s 20-25 hours.
• The AI will improve as the beta continues.
• Will you be able to stack on a bunch of small mods from different authors that touch different things in the base game, like you can in Skyrim, for example? Yes.
• Roughly how many AI personalities will be in the final game? To be determined.
• All the Primary Attributes seem useful – which is good - but after character creation you only gain 9 PA points throughout the entire game, which makes it hard to spread them out for a single-classed character, and a hybrid is impossible. Have you considered giving a primary attribute point at every single level?
  We discussed it, but there are more points that will be given to you throughout the game, and there’s gear. You’ll have a little bit more. If people are getting frustrated with lack of points they’ll change it, if they’re overpowered, they’ll also adjust it. We’ll see it in the beta.
• Skill books seem to come in different flavours – warrior and Survivor, which require points in different abilities. Will “Survivor” skills aimed for the melee-range rogue build still require points in the “Way of the Ranger” ability?
  That’s still the case right now, but there are a couple survivor skills not for archers but are for assassins, and they can change that. I think Some higher power skills may actually require a bit less points to aid hybrid. (Implication is that this may not be final, things are still to be determined in this area.)
• There was mention of a minigame being added to the dual dialogues. I actually liked the idea of the dice rolls because it added an element of unpredicatability to how things will go. If there’s a minigame you can win every time, that means I’ll have to lose on purpose randomly. Will there be an option to use the dice rolls instead of the minigame? Thomas: I can already say that there's quite some RNG in the minigame! Swen:It’s pretty cool and a thing that makes sense, it’s not a thing you can win every time.
• Will crafting get a more refined user interface? Will your journal keep track of crafting recipes you’ve learned or read from a book? That was intended, but it’s put on hold. Not a high priority 90% of recepies can be found in a book. You have to read books and figure out what they’re trying to say. The interface will probably stay the same.
• Will there be an Inventory Sort button? That’s a usability feature which will be added, a lot of those usability things will be added.
• Have you considered renaming Constitution to Endurance, and then re-ordering the attributes – Per, Int, Spd, Str, End, Dex – P.I.S.S.E.D.? No, that's not happening.

 

[Infinitron]

Great work, Stabbey.

Have you considered renaming Constitution to Endurance, and then re-ordering the attributes – Per, Int, Spd, Str, End, Dex – P.I.S.S.E.D.? No, that's not happening.

No shit.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Awesome. Wish they had enough money to implement everything they wanted to, but the game sounds great anyway.

 

[hiver]

Once you talk your girl into trying to play it with you. Do it. Incline commands it.

Problem is, sometimes it can be pears and apples...
"Do you want to play?"
"Sure sweet, should I wear black or red stockings?"

And your answer should be: "well, funny you should mention it darling... im trying to decide what your sexy, super hot in game version should wear, what do you think?"
"My super sexy game version!!? How about playing with me?1!?!??1!!"
"Thats what im trying to do honey... come here. See? Thats you. What kind of stockings look better? Wanna help? And how about my warrior?"
"Your...warrior? Oh, well... lets see! "

"Ekkkhmm.... I meant... the computer game... Divinity: Original Sin... ekh, ekh, hmm?"
"Oh, you nasty little drake... "Sin" is such a nasty word. Should we call for threesome?"
"Waaaaiit! NO!, I just meant...."
"Ohh, I know what you meant!!!!"
...

If you dont know how to use it to get her to play and have all kinds of fourth wall breaking games - nobody can help you and you should go celibate and become a monk.

ffs... "Playing this without you honey is like playing just a half of it!"
And then all you need to do is show her the first example where her character can argue against yours - and WIN the argument. Thats all.

make a video! With stockings and all.

Spoiler

Not you, damnit.

Submit or link to Larian youtube account.

 

[Roguey]

Why are gear requirements necessary? That’s a long story and had a lot of discussions before deciding on it.

Cargo cultalicious. You know who always has an answer for every decision he makes and you know the kind who don't?

 

[Perkel]

I always like how Dark Souls eq req was put in place. You can put on any gear you want but you will get severe penalties for doing so. For weapons your attack will look wonky and you will scaled a lot back damage, for armor you will be slowed down as fuck which is critical bad thing in this game.

 

[Haba]

Why are gear requirements necessary? That’s a long story and had a lot of discussions before deciding on it.

Cargo cultalicious. You know who always has an answer for every decision he makes and you know the kind who don't?

J.E. Sawyer, the visionary cargo cult leader of Obsidian.

By definition. 'cept that he isn't particularly "charismatic".

 

[tuluse]

J.E. Sawyer, the visionary cargo cult leader of Obsidian.

By definition. 'cept that he isn't particularly "charismatic".

Are you thinking of a cult of personality?

Roguey uses the term like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_science

People who copy others without understanding the underlying reasons for doing things.

For example, including an attribute like charisma in an rpg you're building without actually having a use for charisma. Only doing it because "rpgs have charisma".