Divinity Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

[IncendiaryDevice]

It certainly was/is something more. The first half, up to level 10, in and around Cyseal, was all top-notch entertainment with oodles of novel and interesting content. The second half, levels 10-20, once you've left Cyseal, are a different kettle of fish & while it's the same game it just feels so much less of itself.

 

[anvi]

I think it is a good game, but it drags a bit and is repetitive. I agree with the "it is only worth playing for the combat" point of view, mostly because I hate stories in games and exploring is not interesting, nor is the loot or character building. All there really is for me is blowing stuff up with the elemental shenanigans. Once that starts to get repetitive, my interest can wane. But I still completed it just fine, first time anyway. Also if you start to get bored mid way, remember that there are some fun big battles nearer the end that make pressing on worthwhile. Also Incendiary, stop being a completionist, it is bad for you.

 

[DavidBVal]

As a completionist myself I've learned not every game is worth being thoroughly explored, some are good games just for a regular playthrough. D:OS is a perfect example.

 

[Orobis]

As a completionist myself I've learned not every game is worth being thoroughly explored, some are good games just for a regular playthrough. D:OS is a perfect example.

Yep, i love exploring in RPG's but when the world is just not that interesting and with the horrible itemization there's just no real incentive to do it in D:OS.

 

[Cyberarmy]

As a completionist myself I've learned not every game is worth being thoroughly explored, some are good games just for a regular playthrough. D:OS is a perfect example.

This

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

This screeny I think sums up what people have been complaining about regarding the game's itemisation:

The difference between a lvl 14 and a lvl 20 item? 5% Tenebrium Resistance. Yeesh.

For the first ten levels it didn't really concern one what the bonuses on each item had, one was too busy getting used to it all. I realised belts were one of the only items to regularly offer Body Building, so I made sure each character had a belt with Body Building on it. My expectation was that, at some point, the Belts would improve by offering +2 Body Building. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As a result two of my characters (not the one above) were still using single digit levelled belts until character level 20, because the game never offered any improvement on Body Building +1 and Initiative +2. So if you try to make loot a part of your character build then the loot kinda shafts you the longer you play. I guess if you played for loads more levels then you'd have enough skill points to be able to abandon gear adds like these & then appreciate gear that just gradually increased resistances each level, but as it is, it's kinda boring, as you don't get far enough for that to happen & in the early stages these kind of adds make a difference. This whole span, from level 12 to 20 though, it's a nothing ground.

 

[Strange Fellow]

If you want a game where the level of a piece of loot has a real impact, look no further than the sequel. I promise you that you will not be disappointed with the significance of level on an item's usefulness.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

So I've heard.

 

[anvi]

The loot in this game was terrible. I want to play through it again with some mods but the loot is the thing that made me quit my second play.

 

[SniperHF]

The thing about the loot is, despite it being terrible you can actually almost ignore it. If you're into power gaming or whatever it might drive you crazy, but don't constantly re-equip until you actually need it.

I think the way level is implemented in D:OS 1 is sort of a relic from prior games. On items that handle damage/armor it has more impact as it directly affects the range on the drop. But stuff like rings that don't deal in outright damage have a much more limited range of options in their generation tables. That's how you end up with a few extra %. And also it being substantially more valuable in the store for not much more effectiveness, "level" is essentially scaling. Very few weapons have their own damages entered in the tables, they are all based on "level" + a small modifier for type.

There was also a time in one of the early alphas where level was a requirement not just a modifier.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

The loot in this game was terrible. I want to play through it again with some mods but the loot is the thing that made me quit my second play.

What pains me is that every time the topic happens to come up, Larian seems too be absolutely satisfied with their system and they aren't even considering switching to unique itemization for their sequels/future games.
Hell, D:OS2 was in many ways far worse than the first when it comes to this aspect.

They often claimed to have Baldur's Gate 2 as a reference point for the second game, so it's baffling that they never noticed how embarrassingly superior that game's itemization was compared to their own solution.
Not just because of unique items (which DO matter a lot) but also because it had a fundamentally better understanding of how to increase power over time without escalating things so comically at each level, and how to let the player enjoy any item conquered for a decent amount of time before pressing him for a replacement.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

It never ceases to amaze me just how little effort is put into itemisation in an awful lot of games. I guess in Divinity's case it's still a remnant of them being more of a Diablo-Clone line of inspiration than a D&D line of inspiration, something for which the Diablo elements have long since slowly faded away in most regards except the loot system. I guess if you've had a habit for 20 years then it's doubtful you can just change overnight.

Well. After 154 hours, according to my last save file, but after 172 hours according to my Steam page, and after about three months according to my calendar, the moment is finally upon me, all tee'd up and ready to go:

Hey, maybe this enemy can last long enough for me to finally see what happens when someone's Infected status finally reaches zero... still haven't seen the outcome of that special attack since I was able to perform it a third of a game ago!

Oh well, guess not. C'mon Madora, the final blow is all yours!

Closest I've ever got to seeing what it does though, soooo nearly there.

I saw some chatter in one quarter that suggested that levelling up your skillset to level 5 was pointless and a bit of a waste as it only provides one extra Master spell, most of which are fairly useless. In the case of my Scoundrel classed character I would tend to agree, however, in the case of playing a Witch it's an absolute necessity IMO, with both Invulnerability and Soul Sap proving to be the most excellent game changers time and again. Overall I felt the Witch was a great character, well designed all round and a pleasure to play at all levels. Likewise the Scoundrel was tons of fun, but suffered the usual issues with such a character, that of having too many skills to aim for & having to rely too much on armour adds to compensate, and the problem of all their level 5 active combat skills being relatively pointless.

Overall, I think I made the right choice by going with a Witch and a Scoundrel, they both seem like perfect fits for everything the game offers.

As per usual with Larian, once the final credits roll its hard to stay mad at them for too long. The game got progressively worse the moment I left the peak perfection of Cyseal, to the point where it was very nearly unplayable at points and had I not taken to walkthroughs for most of the latter-game obtuse puzzles then I probably would have just quit, but as it was I just broke the finish line ribbon in time before I lost all hope. I'll take with me in memory all the good stuff & gradually forget all the nonsense so that, maybe in a year or two, I may be refuelled enough to risk getting into DivOS2. Maybe in a couple of winter's time.

A very difficult game to rate all things considered. At it's best it's 10/10 perfection, at its worst it's 2/10 retarded. The final battle is very satisfying though and a good antidote to the horrors that precede it.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The final battle is very satisfying though and a good antidote to the horrors that precede it.

you should have seen it before it got nerfed to hell in the "enhanced" edition

 

[anvi]

I thought the final battle was boring and too easy. Like most of them.

 

[agris]

I just tried to play this again given the BG3 news. I thought Larian deserves another shake, maybe I was being too hard on them.

I'm treated an art style reminiscent of OG World of Warcraft, purple prose, and a CNP Icarus dead on the beach.

I can't. Why do you people like this game?

 

[Strange Fellow]

Why do you people like this game?

The combat and interactivity.

 

[Lacrymas]

The combat, which gets extremely repetitive and unrewarding very fast, especially due to random loot. What interactivity? Picking up all the shit from people's houses?

 

[agris]

Why do you people like this game?

The combat and interactivity.

That's fair. I will press on and get some fights under my belt.

 

[Strange Fellow]

The combat, which gets extremely repetitive and unrewarding very fast, especially due to random loot. What interactivity? Picking up all the shit from people's houses?

Yes. The ability to use one character to turn an NPC away while you rob them of all their furniture. Throwing teleport pyramids/teleporting your party members to otherwise inaccessible areas. Rain making your characters wet (ie more susceptible to stun), campfires making them warm (more susceptible to burning), etc. Poison healing zombies but hurting living creatures, and vice versa with health (at one point this worked with all elements if you had >100% resistance). I could go on. I know though that you don't care about any of this so I dunno why you'd ask. Okay, that's not true, I know why.

 

[Lacrymas]

Sounds gimmicky and not enough to hold up an entire game. And it isn't, especially when every other aspect of the game fights with your attempts to enjoy it.

 

[Falksi]

I just started this last night for the first time. Barely into it yet, but so far so good. Hasn't grabbed me by the balls, but solid enough, and the combat seems fun.

 

[Sjukob]

Rain making your characters wet (ie more susceptible to stun), campfires making them warm (more susceptible to burning), etc. Poison healing zombies but hurting living creatures, and vice versa with health (at one point this worked with all elements if you had >100% resistance).

All of these mechanics and similar things are nigh useless past first act, you get abilities that are so busted that they make your party pretty much godlike (elemental shields) and turn any combat encounter into: knockdown, debuff, burst; elemental resist gear is easy to find and soon you won't care about your party members swimming in the oceans of shit even if they don't have a shield on them. It doesn't help that most of the enemies are cannon fodder and those that are dangerous are clearly highlighted, and even then your warriors/rogues take away something like 80% of their health per one turn thanks to abilities like flurry or daggers drawn. DOS has good combat system on paper, but developers really failed to deliver good encounters and proper balance, in the end game the difficulty is done by giving enemies retarded damage and healthpool (like those black knights you have to debuff to take away their invincibility or battle with demons in the chapel, or the horrible slog through something like 5 bosses before you can enter dungeon that requires you to collect enough bloodstones).

The ability to use one character to turn an NPC away while you rob them of all their furniture. Throwing teleport pyramids/teleporting your party members to otherwise inaccessible areas

Exploration is killed by shitty itemization, you won't find cool things by sticking your nose into stuff. You won't be excited for any possible events either (Are there any ? I honestly can't even remember) because writing is atrocious.

 

[Ninjerk]

It has many cheeses.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Rain making your characters wet (ie more susceptible to stun), campfires making them warm (more susceptible to burning), etc. Poison healing zombies but hurting living creatures, and vice versa with health (at one point this worked with all elements if you had >100% resistance).

All of these mechanics and similar things are nigh useless past first act, you get abilities that are so busted that they make your party pretty much godlike (elemental shields) and turn any combat encounter into: knockdown, debuff, burst; elemental resist gear is easy to find and soon you won't care about your party members swimming in the oceans of shit even if they don't have a shield on them. It doesn't help that most of the enemies are cannon fodder and those that are dangerous are clearly highlighted, and even then your warriors/rogues take away something like 80% of their health per one turn thanks to abilities like flurry or daggers drawn. DOS has good combat system on paper, but developers really failed to deliver good encounters and proper balance, in the end game the difficulty is done by giving enemies retarded damage and healthpool (like those black knights you have to debuff to take away their invincibility or battle with demons in the chapel, or the horrible slog through something like 5 bosses before you can enter dungeon that requires you to collect enough bloodstones).

The ability to use one character to turn an NPC away while you rob them of all their furniture. Throwing teleport pyramids/teleporting your party members to otherwise inaccessible areas

Exploration is killed by shitty itemization, you won't find cool things by sticking your nose into stuff. You won't be excited for any possible events either (Are there any ? I honestly can't even remember) because writing is atrocious.

All fair points, but they didn't detract significantly from my enjoyment of the game. I don't think exploration is bad either, in Cyseal that is. There are interesting encounters and secret areas all around, and even though the loot system isn't particularly good it's still fun to find a powerful new item.

 

[Valky]

I just tried to play this again given the BG3 news. I thought Larian deserves another shake, maybe I was being too hard on them.

I'm treated an art style reminiscent of OG World of Warcraft, purple prose, and a CNP Icarus dead on the beach.

I can't. Why do you people like this game?

Your problem is that you played the enhanced edition. There is a remarkable drop in quality from D:OS that it brought, might as well be a different game.