Divinity Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

[Ninjerk]

The writing in D:OS just grew tiresome because it never lets up.

 

[Tom Selleck]

Yeah, it's not an uneven sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit kind of bad writing, it's an unrelenting shit avalanche.

That being said, play it on Tactician or Honor and put on an audiobook in the background and it's a mildly thoughtful combat experience.

 

[anvi]

The story and dialogue is annoying as fuck and you can't really progress beyond the first town without suffering through a lot of that shit. I did it all with a walkthrough to save myself but it still required clicking through a ton of shitty childish dialogue and doing a lot of fedex bullshit. Beyond that it gets better. The combat is fun at first, but shallow. Boss fights are fun but it gets too easy and it is also really repetitive because you are doing the same thing for most of the game. Your characters don't progress much so early game or late game, it is still about blowing shit up with fire and acid or whatever. Maybe worth a single play through though, but don't play the EE, and the sequel is worse.

 

[Lacrymas]

I've started playing it again to try to finish D:OS1 and 2 until BG3 comes out. I'm playing it in German and have explored a bit of Cyseal now. I must say the writing isn't as terrible in German, although it still has its moments of wtf, like that fantastic five group or whatever they were called. I also muted the voices and it's so much better, they aren't squealing into your ears constantly. That + combined with Kirill's music makes for a relaxing experience just walking around Cyseal trying to find out how I can start a fire to cook. We'll see how much I can take before it becomes unbearable again. The way you talk to yourself in dialogues is really bizarre too.

 

[Reality]

So apparently a fast animations mod was released this week.

http://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=664494#Post664494

Can someone confirm if this is a "nice but not fast enough" or if this is fast enough to get people to actually replay the game.

It' Is supposed to come with a multiple settings from 1.3x to 3.1x, with increasing numbers of warnings on what higher speeds will do to the game.


Also unfortunate EE only - no support for classic version.

 

[Kirkpatrick]

So apparently a fast animations mod was released this week.

http://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=664494#Post664494

Can someone confirm if this is a "nice but not fast enough" or if this is fast enough to get people to actually replay the game.

It' Is supposed to come with a multiple settings from 1.3x to 3.1x, with increasing numbers of warnings on what higher speeds will do to the game.


Also unfortunate EE only - no support for classic version.

It's pretty fast. Installed the fastest options (32%/47% for player and 32%/55% for NPCs) and it feels just great playing, massive improvement. Installed also +50% movement for both player/NPCs as well.

Thanks for this.

 

[Lacrymas]

So, after playing a bit more and talking to almost everyone in Cyseal except the mayor and the librarian, I'm not sure how this game became so popular. Not because it's bad but because it has pacing issues. You want to explore the whole of Cyseal because you can get to lvl 3 that way and get enough hp to reliably survive on Tactician, but it's a bit too much even though the dialogues aren't as lengthy as PoE1's. The only way I get through this is by playing other games in between D:OS1 sessions. People don't feel like people but random lulzy ideas someone had. I'm also trying to get into the mindset of someone who would find the "jokes" funny but I just don't see it. Why is it funny that you find stinky panties? Why are the fantastic five funny?

The other issue I see is how artificial everything feels, just having any invisibility skill breaks the economy and the suspension of disbelief because you can steal a painting while the guy is still painting it and nobody bats an eye, as well as get into all kinds of rooms you aren't supposed to in plain sight. It's uncanny, it's strange, and it feels fake. The alt key showing you all the keys for everything breaks the intended pixel hunt, but that's a weird situation to be in. The pixel hunt isn't good because you don't know for which chest there's a key, or where to search for it because there are no hints. In that context it's good that the alt key shows you the keys, but it makes it feel kinda pointless in the process. The game is overpopulated with chests that need keys and that repetition contributes to making everything feel fake.

There's also crafting. I'm trying to find a way to use a fire to make meals but I can't, maybe I'm dumb. I know you can make makeshift cooking stations, but how? That's my other problem, how do you know which items to combine with which if you don't find a book that explicitly tells you? Sometimes it's obvious, like arrowheads with arrow shafts, but most of the time it isn't because you have a bajillion assortments of knick-knacks that clog your inventory for no reason and I'm not going to randomly combine stuff to find what works, sorry, game. Crafting being a skill that shares space with other, more valuable combat skills is also a bit worrying.

 

[V_K]

invisibility skill breaks the economy and the suspension of disbelief because you can steal a painting while the guy is still painting it and nobody bats an eye

You don't work as a QA tester by any chance, are you?

 

[NJClaw]

There's also crafting. I'm trying to find a way to use a fire to make meals but I can't, maybe I'm dumb. I know you can make makeshift cooking stations, but how? That's my other problem, how do you know which items to combine with which if you don't find a book that explicitly tells you? Sometimes it's obvious, like arrowheads with arrow shafts, but most of the time it isn't because you have a bajillion assortments of knick-knacks that clog your inventory for no reason and I'm not going to randomly combine stuff to find what works, sorry, game. Crafting being a skill that shares space with other, more valuable combat skills is also a bit worrying.

Ignore non-combat skills like Crafting, Blacksmithing and Loremaster: you will find enough items with +1 to each one of them that you won't need to waste any skill point. Just remember not to sell them and equip them when needed.

 

[jackofshadows]

People don't feel like people but random lulzy ideas someone had.

If that would extrapolate a bit, then you would have nailed it completely. New Larian's games are suffering from a surplus of ideas. There was clearly no that guy who's like "stop, that is utterly retarted, it's shit, let's cut it, ffs!". No. Let's just leave it. It's better than nothing, right? And it's fine for the most part, especially since they were trying to make a game for a quite broad spectrum. But for a guy who was waiting a *muh true roleplaying experience* - fuck off! You're not welcome here

 

[Murk]

There's also crafting. I'm trying to find a way to use a fire to make meals but I can't, maybe I'm dumb. I know you can make makeshift cooking stations, but how? That's my other problem, how do you know which items to combine with which if you don't find a book that explicitly tells you? Sometimes it's obvious, like arrowheads with arrow shafts, but most of the time it isn't because you have a bajillion assortments of knick-knacks that clog your inventory for no reason and I'm not going to randomly combine stuff to find what works, sorry, game. Crafting being a skill that shares space with other, more valuable combat skills is also a bit worrying.

Ignore non-combat skills like Crafting, Blacksmithing and Loremaster: you will find enough items with +1 to each one of them that you won't need to waste any skill point. Just remember not to sell them and equip them when needed.

I slightly disagree, since you can only get a few points for crafting/blacksmithing specifically (I think gloves and belts are the most common and I've only seen them giving +1 each; supposedly boots can have some too). You may need to invest 1-2 points, depending on your personality choices since you can get skill points from those.

Crafting 5 especially can give you some really great stuff in the form of stat enchanted gear so it may be worth it to get a natural 2 in crafting then bump it to five through all the other stuff.

Lacrymas not sure if others answered you, but part of it is experimentation, part of it is books, part of it is if you're willing to just look up formulas online. Still, experimentation helps a lot.

As for cooking station you need a bonfire + cooking pot; you right click the bonfire in the gameworld and go to 'combine' through there instead of the inventory menu.

 

[Lacrymas]

Is 5 the highest everything can go?

 

[Murk]

I don't remember if all skills are like that, but yeah they cap out at 5 for most things like crafting and the main combat skill trees.

Not sure about say Telekinesis for example.

 

[Reality]

The game will register bonuses for over 5 with equipment bonuses, but you can only put 5 "hard" points in

(actually if you hold off on levels when you have a skill at 4 until you have enough points to level twice and mash fast enough you can put 6 points in, but this causes really bad negative glitches... eg at 6 Pyromancy you have no spell access whatsoever)

 

[Murk]

Does going over 5 with gear even grant any benefits tho? Do you get more spell slots or higher quality gear?

I've gone over 5 in crafting skills but I didn't notice a difference in the quality of the items being made.

 

[Reality]

RE" Going over 5 with Gear -

I think this is only fully supported with mods (eg the Epic Encounters mod) - without mods, I think it only works properly with equip weapon skills (one handed, bow, 2 handed, etc)

As far as I know it has no harmful effect with social skills (above 5 still acting as 5). Spells are the only where above 5 will act as 0.

 

[Lacrymas]

When I saved the game now, it told me I've been playing a total of 7 hours and 15 minutes (I overwrote the same save the previous times, so I wasn't aware). I haven't even left Cyseal yet and have had a total of 3 fights, all of them before entering Cyseal. Talk about pacing. I did steal everything that wasn't nailed to the ground and managed to get into the warehouse in the docks, something I don't think I did the previous time I played this, but still.

 

[V_K]

It's a very slow game with terrible pacing. What else is new.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Instead of staying inside the city and doing things you dislike all day long, consider going outside the city walls and enjoying the stuff the game's actually good at

 

[Lacrymas]

The reason I'm saying this is because I'm not sure how this got popular. As RPG connoisseurs, we are used to a slow boil, but the normies aren't. So I'm at a loss, I'd have thought they would quit before they got to Jake's murder scene. And there are so many pointless books (in-game) that I'm reading to practice my German, so I'm feeling the full brunt here.

Instead of staying inside the city and doing things you dislike all day long, consider going outside the city walls and enjoying the stuff the game's actually good at

Oh, this is my 4-5th day I'm playing this, these aren't 7 consecutive hours. My hair would've started falling off had they been.

Maybe we are conditioned to meticulously go through every zone and hub to vacuum up quests, while normies do whatever they want and they don't care. That's absolutely a possibility, but I feel like I wouldn't care after I go outside of the walls if I do that. Here's the thing with that, though, this game actively encourages us to stay in place in order to get all the items in the hopes of getting a good random. So many design decisions are contradicting each other it's absolutely terrifying.

What about the perks you get from roleplaying (with yourself)? Some of them are useless, some of them give you immunities.

 

[Strange Fellow]

"I dislike this game's non-combat gameplay!", says man who has spent 4 days avoiding combat

gg

Here's the thing with that, though, this game actively encourages us to stay in place in order to get all the items in the hopes of getting a good random.

So you're saying you're the type of person who compulsively rummages through every barrel, and you're saying that's the game's fault

gg

I'm starting to think that by "normies" you mean "people who play games with the intention of having fun."

 

[Lacrymas]

This entire forum is full of people who rummage through every barrel. And I think I'm being entirely fair and not overly negative about this, I haven't said I hate it or anything of that sort. I'm just pointing out that it could've probably been done better and many design decisions contradict others.

 

[Strange Fellow]

This entire forum is full of people who rummage through every barrel.

And each and every one of them is an idiot.

 

[Efe]

he is right the city plays out like an adventure game and has you playing a detective to solve a murder.

 

[Vorark]

The story and dialogue is annoying as fuck and you can't really progress beyond the first town without suffering through a lot of that shit. I did it all with a walkthrough to save myself but it still required clicking through a ton of shitty childish dialogue and doing a lot of fedex bullshit.

Agreed. The need to read and piece information together to find out where you're supposed to go next is great and something I initially enjoyed but what is the point if the dialogue is terrible, to such a degree you don't want to bother with it? No wonder the EE had quest markers.