Divinity Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

[Doesn'tmeananything]

Any interaction with an in-game system ultimately boils down to a certain layer of abstraction; that wasn't the point, though. It is with persuasion where this gap is the largest not only in terms of quantity but quality as well.

Probably unhappy with the rather static nature of dialogue skill checks, they implemented a more involving, if abhorrently inelegant, solution. I wish they'd have used their new writing resources to introduce various states of persuasion checks for each quest with thoroughly diverse outcomes (to justify putting points into something that is more often than not a simple non-combat way of getting experience and items), and remove the mini-game entirely.

 

[Perkel]

Because human interaction is too complex for video games to simulate correctly it has been often replaced by either a dice roll (classic RPGs) or a dumb fucking minigame (Oblivion). Larian is merging the past and the present by making a luck-based minigame.

It is not entirely luck based. You have skills and the more skill you have the easier it is for you to win.
Some NPCs later have like 5-6 points of headstart and can win in one round if you didn't invest in skills.

Is RPS dumb ? generally yes. But you can hit space and you have in summary diceroll which is based like RPS game on skills.

Idea isn't entirely dumb though. It only popup in conflicting opinion not in general gameplay for players it is quick to solve problem which way players will go and still takes character skills into play.

Still would love to see other solution for problem above than dumb RPS.

 

[Infinitron]

Extended version of GameSpot preview:

 

[Rivmusique]

He misclicked trying to attack and made his character move instead. Ah, memories .

 

[ArchAngel]

He misclicked trying to attack and made his character move instead. Ah, memories .

I was hoping that shit would be fixed, that was one of the most irritating parts of gameplay.

 

[Perkel]

He misclicked trying to attack and made his character move instead. Ah, memories .

I was hoping that shit would be fixed, that was one of the most irritating parts of gameplay.

You can't fix people being dumb as fuck.

 

[DraQ]

Can't believe that interviewer was calling Swen, Kirill.

He wasn't, there's someone from Larian whose name is Kirill (or maybe Kiro) with them at E3 (he's in the Larian E3 behind-the-scenes videos).

I'm sure someone named Kirill will always be with Larian.

When I want to fight, I fight.

I didn't know fighting is using "action points" and pressing buttons, in fact, is almost like "fighting" in the game is nothing like actual fighting, but some kind of abstract representation that is as close to real fights as rock, paper and scissor. Next time, in a fight, I'm gonna ask the other guy to wait for his turn.

Umm, nope.
The act of fighting is still clearly identifiable as fighting. You position your party, execute individual attacks, etc.
Turns are just an abstraction of continuous flow of time for the sake of control and APs represent quanta of this time.

RPS, OTOH is not in any way identifiable as the act of persuading someone as opposed to anything else.

Also,

Spoiler

 

[DraQ]

Is RPS dumb ? generally yes. But you can hit space and you have in summary diceroll which is based like RPS game on skills.

Except that's not a real option as the diceroll seems to be weighted in opponent's favor and you can generally beat the AI at minigame as it uses identifiable patterns. So you are stuck playing derpy minigame all the time, because to do otherwise would be to willingly fail.

Still would love to see other solution for problem above than dumb RPS.

Coin toss option if players can't resolve the conflict verbally outside of game's mechanics.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Watser]

Larian streaming with IGN in 1½ hours (21:00 CET)

http://t.co/EWYV1z26NC

 

[Stabbey]

Except that's not a real option as the diceroll seems to be weighted in opponent's favor.

It depends on the way you try to persuade someone. A lot of the time, an NPC will be more susceptible if you pick the option that's right for the situation. For instance, Roberto the gravedigger is much more willing to listen to reason than anything else, so if you select the "Reason" dialogue option and hit space, you're highly likely to win the argument. (It's not 100%, as there is still a dice roll and so a chance for failure remains.)

Even situations which seem weighed in an opponent's favor are not guaranteed. Once I even managed to Charm the lady in the bath by hitting the spacebar, and that's normally a really hard argument to win.

 

[Infinitron]

Larian streaming with IGN in 1½ hours (21:00 CET)

http://t.co/EWYV1z26NC

 

[Rupuka]

Umm, nope.
The act of fighting is still clearly identifiable as fighting. You position your party, execute individual attacks, etc.

In a real fight you don't mind control your "party", "execute" powers (and moves having cooldowns makes zero sense outside of balance) nor survive a arrow to the head because of remaining "hit points"

Turns are just an abstraction...

So not like actual fights? Glad that we agree

The idea that a turn-based RPG is anything like fighting is completely ludicrous, is like saying chess is similar to an actual war. But more importantly, it doesn't need to be. The crafting system is anything but real crafting, you start with the materials, do a couple of clicks, and get the resulting item; literally skipping any actual crafting, but you are perfectly fine with that and not asking for something like this because crafting is boring as hell and you don't really want to craft, and you don't want to fight, real fights are boring, chaotic, not flashy and normally end really fast.
What you want is to play a video game, but outside of simulators, video games are nothing like the activities in them, and that's great because we can have interesting mechanic instead. So why persuasion in game should be like persuasion? If you don't like the RPS minigame because is not an interesting mechanic, that's fine, but saying is bad because is nothing like real persuasion, unlike the crafting system (in which you don't craft), or the (turn based, "gamey") fights, is a really inane argument.

If you want to fight, you fight
If you want to to craft, you craft
If you are playing a video game, you don't want either of them

 

[Infinitron]

E3 is over, and it's competition time! To be in with a chance to win one of the 5 completely unique, hand-illustrated t-shirts that the guys were wearing at E3, all you have to do is watch the video below and guess how many times Farhang said "Divinity" while rampaging through E3, trying to convince people to play our game?

Just send your entries to info@larian.com, and make sure you mention "T-Shirt Competition" in the email subject.

This update also includes Angry Joe's thoughts on Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition and Farhanging out with Kratos!

 

[Cnaiur]

That Farhang looks like an awesome bro to drink some beers with.

As a colleague I'd probably kill him within a week though.

 

[Ivan]

00:20
it was very rewarding, ya?

baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh

 

[DraQ]

Turns are just an abstraction...

So not like actual fights? Glad that we agree

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction
I'm not wasting my time debating an illiterate ignoramus.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Ninjerk]

Just fucking release it already

 

[Athelas]

If they change all the character portraits to animu faces, they can market it as a jRPG.

 

[pippin]

I don't think they can "lose" too much if the console port does not perform as intended. I'd say it's just extra money at this point, which can only be good. I'm wary about all this "one rpg per year" and opening studios in other countries stuff, though.

 

[a Goat]

It's just extra money. Probably they're developing some features for engine at the same time.

If they change all the character portraits to animu faces, they can market it as a jRPG.

Didn't Japanese made their fan-translation of it anyway?

However considering that Japanese have complained that FFXV demo is too hard, too long and they have no idea what to do - Divinity has poor chances to succeed there. Unless "core" JRPG fans in Japan treat Final Fantasy just like we treat Bioware or Bethesda games.

 

[Jimmious]

Larian deserves a subforum more than Bethesda

 

[Morality Games]

Larian deserves a subforum more than Bethesda

Pretty much anyone does.

 

[Perkel]

Just fucking release it already

Fall 2015 lol.

I don't think they can "lose" too much if the console port does not perform as intended. I'd say it's just extra money at this point, which can only be good. I'm wary about all this "one rpg per year" and opening studios in other countries stuff, though.

Only question now is: Will they succumb to consoleretardation.
Right now they are doing two separate UI and game which was made for PC first with it's controls ported to consoles.

If they will do DOS2 as multiplatform title from start then you can say bye bye for proper controls because i somehow doubt they will again do different UI.

"Why split pipeline for UI when we can make it cheaper making it one UI for all versions !!!"
Right now they have my trust but that trust rides on fickle horse.