Divinity Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

[Prime Junta]

In the Immaculate Cathedral basement. "Pixel hunt, the game." This is not fun, this is stupid.

 

[Modron]

In the Immaculate Cathedral basement. "Pixel hunt, the game." This is not fun, this is stupid.

Doesn't the game have a key you can press to highlight all items (well most some junk items that you can't use but can pickup don't highlight).

 

[SausageInYourFace]

He is probably talking about the buttons on the wall he has to take thirty seconds to find, which appears too be too much patience to ask for from a player these days.

 

[Prime Junta]

Am wondering if the fight in the Cathedral basement was bugged. It felt a little off. Checked the walkthrough after beating it and it might be.

Spoiler

That high priest and the demons showed up as I was entering the chamber, not leaving it, as per the walkthrough. The Void Whatsits and the grand demon it summoned would ignore Knight blocking the door, and just walk right through him and each other, like their collision boxes weren't on. They also didn't trigger or weren't affected by AOOs. This made the fight pretty damn tough as they just swarmed me, overlapping each other. I eventually beat it by first casting Smokescreen to stop them from using their ranged attacks and wasting time on movement; when they were all in a clump, Knight did the whirlwind attack which took out two of the void whatsits right away and severedly dented the rest. The rest was mop-up.

I don't like the "puzzles" in this game at all -- the trap complexes, the tiny switches you have to trip in a particular order, the teleport dungeon etc. They feel extremely contrived, most are solved just by tedious, rote, meticulous actions like teleporting, casting the right immunity and walking through, or, well, pixel-hunting. It's just dull busywork.

Again, I'm really puzzled how Darth Roxor likes this but not Battle Brothers or Pillars. Most things that are good in this one are better in one or both of them, and a ton of things are worse or completely missing.

Edit: and this loot system. There was a tiny little lockbox on a desk. Guess what I found inside? A full plate armour.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

One mans dull is anothers diversion, one mans busywork anothers change of pace.

Which RPG do you think has really great puzzles, Pj?

 

[Prime Junta]

Which RPG do you think has really great puzzles, Pj?

Planescape: Torment.

 

[Darth Roxor]

In the Immaculate Cathedral basement. "Pixel hunt, the game." This is not fun, this is stupid.

someone forgot to up his percepshun

Again, I'm really puzzled how @Darth Roxor likes this but not Battle Brothers or Pillars. Most things that are good in this one are better in one or both of them, and a ton of things are worse or completely missing.

the fact that this:

You realise you can start the offensive with one char while the other's in dialogue, yes?

was some kind of super-surprise to you makes me wonder how exactly are you playing the game in practice

that you are even comparing this to bb or pillars gives me some insight however

 

[Prime Junta]

someone forgot to up his percepshun

Yeah I didn't push it past 10 on any of my chars. And it doesn't matter even if I had -- those switches are small and hard to spot even if they get that little glint on them. Place is full of little shit like that. Do you actually /enjoy/ scouring every corner of the map for hidden switches? Or interacting meticulously with every interactable in case one of them will drop a clue or do something? Shit is just completely random. Like sometimes lighting coal baskets opens a door.

was some kind of super-surprise to you makes me wonder how exactly are you playing the game in practice

It wasn't a super-surprise. Just not something I had thought of for that battle. I had beaten it easily, you see -- I just was aesthetically displeased by having to spend a resurrect scroll.

Snipe at my gameplay all you want, but the fact remains that (1) I'm on my first playthrough, (2) I'm playing at the hardest non-Ironman difficulty, and (3) I'm finding it pretty easy going. If I'm playing it badly, I can't imagine what a yawn it is to play it well.

that you are even comparing this to bb or pillars gives me some insight however

Yeah I know, this is clearly not in the same class at all.

 

[Roguey]

Perception doesn't help at all with the "pull this hidden switch" polygon hunts. They want you to to hunt for those switches on your own.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

those switches are small and hard to spot even if they get that little glint on them. Place is full of little shit like that. Do you actually /enjoy/ scouring every corner of the map for hidden switches? Or interacting meticulously with every interactable in case one of them will drop a clue or do something? Shit is just completely random. Like sometimes lighting coal baskets opens a door.

I do /enjoy/ these kind of secrets. Seriously, in the cathedral there is literally a book thats lying around telling you where to look for switches. Same with most secret doors, switches, teleports and whatnot. It usually takes a few moments to think about what the solution could be, a little bit of spatial awareness, of perception, patience and maybe a good guess for good measure. It doesn't involve 'scouring every corner of the map' at all.

 

[Raghar]

Perception doesn't help at all with the "pull this hidden switch" polygon hunts. They want you to to hunt for those switches on your own.

At least some switches have small flash around them with sufficient perception. I had massive problem because I didn't looked around entrance, just around that symbol on floor.

 

[Prime Junta]

I do /enjoy/ these kind of secrets. Seriously, in the cathedral there is literally a book thats lying around telling you where to look for switches. Same with most secret doors, switches, teleports and whatnot. It usually takes a few moments to think about what the solution could be, a little bit of spatial awareness, of perception, patience and maybe a good guess for good measure. It doesn't involve 'scouring every corner of the map' at all.

Nah, actually is only patience.

How do you come across the book? By meticulously interacting with every interactable. Same thing with bloody everything. Consider that teleporter dungeon.

Spoiler

I spent a while teleporting around. Figured out the order must matter. Then spent time meticulously scouring the dungeon. Interacted with every interactable, including a rat. Rat said there's another rat who has the solution but is hidden. Kept meticulously scouring the dungeon. Found a side room with another teleporter. There was another rat there. Talked to it. Got the solution. Applied it.

There was nothing requiring perception or spatial awareness there, just meticulous, patient, rote application of a repetitive action -- interact with everything, scour every map.

Now that dungeon was a particularly bad offender but there are tons more like it -- some off the crit path, others on it. There's no rhyme or reason to the solutions; you don't learn anything from solving a previous puzzle that'll help you solve another one later, other than "interact with every interactable." You need to get through a door? Interact with every interactable. On one map, they're pressure plates. On another, they're wall switches. On another, they're levers. On another, the key is inexplicably hidden in a mound of dirt in the opposite corner of the map (yes I have pumped enough perception to find it Darth R). On yet another, they're fucking coal braziers you need to light.

This is the very definition of unimaginative, boring, rote pseudo-puzzles that simulate a feeling of achievement not by rewarding actual intelligent problem-solving, but mechanical clicking on everything clickable. It's utter garbage.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Again, you do not need to interact with everything or scour the whole map if you know what you are doing.

Case in point:

How do you come across the book? By meticulously interacting with every interactable.

By pressing alt.

Case in point:

Spoiler

I spent a while teleporting around. Figured out the order must matter. Then spent time meticulously scouring the dungeon. Interacted with every interactable, including a rat. Rat said there's another rat who has the solution but is hidden. Kept meticulously scouring the dungeon. Found a side room with another teleporter. There was another rat there. Talked to it. Got the solution. Applied it.

There is no need to talk to the rats as there is a scroll with solutions lying around in the room. Furthermore, I don't know what meticiously scouring the whole dungeon in this context even means because if you had just a tiny bit of the patience and spatial awareness I am talking about you would have found the 'secret' room with the other rat and teleport really easily. What more does it take than a moment to turn the cam and a close look at the surroundings?

Sorry mate, but at this point I think you are just terrible at this game; at the very least, you approach it the wrong way.

 

[Iznaliu]

I'm on level 12 and apart from that one annoying ambush, haven't had a single genuinely challenging fight since... Pontius Pirate I suppose; all the other bosses in Cyseal were pretty easy, and so far so has everything on the next couple of maps. I have had to try some of the boss battles twice to know their defences and vulnerabilities, but I've taken them down on the second try with nary a scratch. Does difficulty spike again later?

You are pretty much right. The final boss is the only really challenging fight because you have to protect an ally character.

 

[Prime Junta]

By pressing alt.

Yeah, and then clicking on the book. Such exciting, so intelligence. I.e., that's exactly what I'm talking about -- you scour the map, look for things to interact with, interact with them, check if they do something or tell you what you need to do. Rinse, repeat. It's really fucking boring.

Sorry mate, but at this point I think you are just terrible at this game; at the very least, you approach it the wrong way.

If I'm terrible at this game, then how come I'm coasting through it at highest difficulty? The only thing that's giving me real trouble is boredom.

If I'm approaching it the wrong way, then what is the right way to approach it?

 

[Efe]

PJ, maybe try going at it with coop? i never did but people kind of praised that functionality a lot.

 

[Darth Roxor]

PJ, maybe try going at it with coop? i never did but people kind of praised that functionality a lot.

for that one needs to have friends

 

[Efe]

why not have you two play with each other?

 

[Prime Junta]

why not have you two play with each other?

We're not friends.

 

[Efe]

and if you play with him you would prove this statement

for that one needs to have friends

wrong.
what more incentive do you need?!

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Speaking of which, can one just jump into a running single player game or do you need to start a fresh coop run?

 

[SniperHF]

Speaking of which, can one just jump into a running single player game or do you need to start a fresh coop run?

It's drop in, no new game needed.

 

[Prime Junta]

Sorry, not interested. It's tedious enough as it is, no need to make it more so by playing with someone I don't like.

 

[Prime Junta]

Bugged quest.

Spoiler

Had to do some rat extermination, so I did the obvious thing: poisoned some cheese and put it next to a rathole. Game says "You killed one and the others ran away, you need to find some subtler way of doing it," and quest gets stuck. Reload. Splat one. Get that message. Then poison the cheese and put it next to the rathole, and the quest proceeds as it should.

As if it didn't occur to them that some players might actually be... you know, thinking, rather than going after rats with a battleaxe. And I'm the one who's playing this wrong?

 

[YES!]

I started playing this last night with the epic encounters and the mod is really, really good. I am playing a lone wolf (just the two main people) without crafting as it is way too OP and having a good time. Most battles are actually really difficult and I have to burn through consumables, which is keeping me broke. Also, all the CC really hurts when you only have a two person party. I get frozen and stunned and knocked down a lot. Great mod, and made specifically for tactician mode.