Divinity Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

[Cyberarmy]

Nope, not in Diablo 3. torchling has a pet that goes town to sell&buy things though.

 

[Jasede]

Ah! Good idea either way! Maybe I should try Torchlight again.

 

[Jools]

Ah! Good idea either way! Maybe I should try Torchlight again.

It's not too bad. Torchlight 2 is actually quite nice, I did like it more, especially when played co-op with my gf. It occasionally feels more "Diablo-ey" than Diablo3 itself.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

This kind of reasoning is why games today are dumbed down popamole shit Roguey

Automating a routine is not dumbing down.

I would disagree for cases when the routine is really more of a ritual. Ritual brings powerful connection and agency.

 

[Mangoose]

Again, Roguey raises a fair point...

Roguey raises a fair point that's been rehashed and rehashed over and over again. And I was making a joke.

It is the first time Roguey makes a valid criticism about the game though, so I'll give her that. I definitely think the game has issues, but some of you guys (mostly) raise completely incorrect issues.

But yes it is a hassle to heal with no resource management (at least just give me an active ability full party) heal. Lack of resource management is also a valid complaint.

 

[Roguey]

As I understand it, every battle in the Cyseal area is tuned with the expectation that you're coming into it with full health, so adding resource management would make it a different, and not necessarily better, game.

 

[Waterd]

What RPG actually has resource managment though? other than KOTC all modern RPG you have infinite rests, even kotc does it once you find a fireplace. I would like RPG to have strategy, but they do not, and people seem happy about it, so suddenly it´s a concern?

I agree you should be able to auto heal in DSO instead of making you wait, it´s just so stupid that is otherwise, but again RPGs have had stupid design for ages and they sell well, so why suddenly this is a concern again?

 

[Mangoose]

What RPG actually has resource managment though? other than KOTC all modern RPG you have infinite rests, even kotc does it once you find a fireplace. I would like RPG to have strategy, but they do not, and people seem happy about it, so suddenly it´s a concern?

I agree you should be able to auto heal in DSO instead of making you wait, it´s just so stupid that is otherwise, but again RPGs have had stupid design for ages and they sell well, so why suddenly this is a concern again?

I guess it depends on the whole of the game. If the game in general is too simple, you might want to add another complex layer. If it's already finely balanced, or not the type of game that resource management improves much (or is already too complex of a game), then you probably don't want to add it. Agreeing with Roguey again, it just makes things different and not necessarily better or worse.

-From my impressions (general impressions - too lazy to deeply think out), the game has more important issues. Like having more variety of balanced skills. The way loot and shopping for skill books works. Rock paper scissors minigame.
-Secondly, the game does have some resource management depending on your character builds - you may have several Marksmen (or Marksman hybrids) that all have uses for special arrows. You may not have too much healing spells so you need more health pots. You may not have high resistances so you need resistance pots for certain fights/areas.
-Thirdly, there is very unorthodox resource management within battles. Cooldowns usually don't provide much management, but with many abilities having really long cooldowns, you do need to decide well when to use them. Being able to reserve action points (haste) is also interesting.
-Finally again I am half concluding that Divinity is very much an whimsical adventure game with RPG elements. By whimsical I mean you will find the most fun by experimenting, exploring, trying to "break" the game, etc. (as opposed to the Gothic(s) where it's more about realism and survival). So I don't know if more resource management would be significantly beneficial to the type of game Divinity is.

Now the issue with no auto-heal is not so much that it's stupid, but that it is plain annoying. Especially the way the hotbar works - having to scroll rather than having all your hotbars displayed with the ability to assign hotkeys to every slot (e.g. using Alt/Shift/Ctrl+#... dare I say it... like an MMO).

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Adventure with RPG elements? You can't be serious. What does an RPG with high adventure have that DOS doesn't?

 

[Bubbles]

Adventure with RPG elements? You can't be serious. What does an RPG with high adventure have that DOS doesn't?

In the modern Codex school of thought, RPGs tend to focus on the story, while adventures are all about finding combinations in gameplay (bread + stick = breadstick, water + cold = ice, etc.).

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Adventure with RPG elements? You can't be serious. What does an RPG with high adventure have that DOS doesn't?

In the modern Codex school of thought, RPGs tend to focus on the story, while adventures are all about finding combinations in gameplay (bread + stick = breadstick, water + cold = ice, etc.).

Then the modern codex school of thought has gone full retard.

 

[Mangoose]

Adventure with RPG elements? You can't be serious. What does an RPG with high adventure have that DOS doesn't?

In the modern Codex school of thought, RPGs tend to focus on the story, while adventures are all about finding combinations in gameplay (bread + stick = breadstick, water + cold = ice, etc.).

Then the modern codex school of thought has gone full retard.

A plethora of puzzles, riddles, subtle secrets/secret areas/hidden items described in books found in corpses, alternate paths through a quest that you don't find out unless you talk to somebody on the other side of the map, a lot of which aren't based on stats but just plain exploration.

RPGs are games that for the majority of the time use a stat/skill based layer that separates the player from the game. So yes there similar elements to the above but often they're much more limited by your character/party build.

I suppose you could call Divinity an Adventure-RPG.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Meh, I'll just take RPG. I see what you are driving at with your description now.

 

[groke]

In the modern Codex school of thought, RPGs tend to focus on the story, while adventures are all about finding combinations in gameplay (bread + stick = breadstick, water + cold = ice, etc.).

fuck right off, narrative-fags are strung up frequently for being heretical degenerates whose tepid feelings toward gameplay precipitated the Great Decline. I'm pretty confident Codex has aggressive simulationist/gamist leanings.

If Codex has a hivemind, it's a hard-on for Fallout and Fallout-like games.

 

[Rake]

In the modern Codex school of thought, RPGs tend to focus on the story, while adventures are all about finding combinations in gameplay (bread + stick = breadstick, water + cold = ice, etc.).

fuck right off, narrative-fags are strung up frequently for being heretical degenerates whose tepid feelings toward gameplay precipitated the Great Decline. I'm pretty confident Codex has aggressive simulationist/gamist leanings.

If Codex has a hivemind, it's a hard-on for Fallout and Fallout-like games.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9453
Keep dreaming fag.

 

[Mangoose]

Meh, I'll just take RPG. I see what you are driving at with your description now.

I can't bother to disagree, genres are genres. My point really was just to say that if you don't like the whimsical adventure parts of Divinity (or other Larian games) you're probably not going to care much for Divinity.

Which, btw, is very understandable. But a lot of criticism - while right - is missing the point of what Larian tries to do. Like my most major complaint is how shitty the "find the tiny button" puzzles are. Haha.

 

[Riel]

I recently bought this game and I have to say it's been a very pleasant surprise: great atmosphere, above average encounter design and simple yet solid game system.

 

[Waterd]

People keep talking about ¨what brought the great decline¨ what was the incline? RPG history was to me an history of a game genere with a great concept, a great idea, and terrible terrible execution. From all the generes it was one of the most poorly generes of all time.
Was there an Incline era to start with? There was traces of rpgs that seemed to start an era of good game design (darksun shattered lands comes to mind) that were still extremly flawed, but had good intentiones, but i never saw a good follow up (even the following Darksun 2 was a terrible disaster)

 

[groke]

People keep talking about ¨what brought the great decline¨ what was the incline? RPG history was to me an history of a game genere with a great concept, a great idea, and terrible terrible execution. From all the generes it was one of the most poorly generes of all time.
Was there an Incline era to start with? There was traces of rpgs that seemed to start an era of good game design (darksun shattered lands comes to mind) that were still extremly flawed, but had good intentiones, but i never saw a good follow up (even the following Darksun 2 was a terrible disaster)

dnd/Rogue/Adventure --- Ultima 1/Wiz 1/Phantasie --- Ultima 4/Wasteland/Goldbox/Phantasie III --- Dark Sun/Wizardry 6-7/Might & Magic 3-4-5/Ultima 7/Eye of the Beholder/Jagged Alliance/Star Control II/Betrayal at Krondor/Ultima Underworld --- Stonekeep/Fallout/Diablo/Baldur's Gate/DOOM

This is just me being a dickhead off the top of my head, but CRPGs get progressively more developed (for better or worse) until 1994 and then it turns to shit.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

1990-1995 were the CRPG glory years.

 

[Waterd]

What are the game design features those games have that make them good?

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

1985-1993 were the CRPG glory years.

Fixed.

 

[Roguey]

What are the game design features those games have that make them good?

Grognardia.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

1985-1993 were the CRPG glory years.

Fixed.

I can accept 1985 if you can accept 1995. A lot of good came in 1994 and 1995. Besides, a decade is a nice.

 

[Nikaido]

What are the game design features those games have that make them good?

A picture worth a thousand words.