Divinity: Original Sin Pre-Release Thread

[Azrael the cat]

It's all clear to me now. The NSA computing network has developed self-consciousnessness and now calls itself Roguey. No human could net-stalk that obsessively.

Come to think of it, the whole 'MUST....BALANCE...THE....NUMBERS.....WHAT...IS..THIS...THING...THE...HUMANS...CALL...FUN...ANYWAY?' makes a lot more sense in this light.

 

[Stabbey]

A dilemma from Larian's Facebook page

We're discussing how we'll present character creation in Divinity:Original Sin & there is one stubborn person in the office insisting that we do something similar to the gypsy in Ultima VI - good or bad idea ?

Here's a quick recap for those who forgot how it worked back in the days:

Ultima-style character creation

Larian is asking if they should do something like that for character creation?

My vote is: "'No' to mandatory and 'maybe' if it's optional". Morrowind and Fallout 3 had this kind of system as well. It does add to roleplaying value, but it takes so much time that after about one or two times, I stopped using it.

I tend to have a character in mind already, and I build them on the stats screen that way instead of fooling around on the questions and having to correct them if my guesses did not match the developers guesses (which is really often, because when you have like 30 skills, you can't get a lot of specifics from just 10 multiple-choice questions.

Plus, there are two characters to do this for, possibly making it even longer and more complicated, although smart interface design could make it so that both characters do the test at once.

 

[Xeon]

Games should really make the introduction and tutorial optional or short if its a must.

Morrowind and Fallout New Vegas had a pretty short and sweet character creation so no complaints. Fallout 3 the first time I saw the introduction to Fallout I was amazed to be honest but on replay it really sucks especially in a game like Skyrim since there is no last checkpoint to change things for a new game.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

As long as it optional. Besides, with all the stats and skills, I wonder how easy it would be to fine-tune a character using ultima/morrowind style intros. You end up redoing the damn thing anyway.

 

[hiver]

No thanks. I find all of those questions contrived, utterly simplistic and not applicable. My usual answer is "none of the above".
Im not sure if its worth the time, money and effort to create something like it anyway.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Classless system with free skill/stat attribution at the start, makes perfect sense. If you want added flavor, add some options for moral/social backgrounds, like Arcanum had, but with some real consequences ingame.

 

[felipepepe]

Classless system with free skill/stat attribution at the start, makes perfect sense. If you want added flavor, add some options for moral/social backgrounds, like Arcanum had, but with some real consequences ingame.

Cool idea, I'll post it there.

 

[Sacred82]

The problem with these things is 1) the questions are silly and 2) they're not gamey enough. Therefore they don't really reflect player behavior. They'd need to be more like:

"You see someone killing a fearsome monster far above your level. Do you steal the loot y/n"

 

[LeJosh]

I've never used those systems out of choice. They're useless, I feel.

Arcanum's is interesting as above, great for making unique characters.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

if well done, could add to the atmosphere...but it needs to be optional, if it is there at all.

 

[Saduj]

The gypsy thing made sense in Ultima IV because it fit in well with the overall theme of the game. But I generally don't like the idea because I associate it with being stuck with the default attributes/stats/skills of my starting class. I guess it wouldn't be bad if you could still make changes after the Q&A is over and before the game starts. But seems like a waste of time.

 

[cvv]

No and no, waste of developer resources.

Stop assing around and finish the game already.

 

[Cosmo]

Dear Larian, Roguey thinks your method is to slap together systems taken from other games without rhyme nor reason.
Please don't prove him right.
And that means I sincerely hope you planned something that fits mechanically and thematically into the D:OS world : I want a true game feature, not a quote.

 

[MicoSelva]

I feel this would be quite pointless in a game with two protagonists by default. Such a thing needs to fit the story/setting/feel of the game.

I want standard character creation with the ability to choose premade characters (Roderick and Scarlett) for a quick-start option.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

I feel this would be quite pointless in a game with two protagonists by default. Such a thing needs to fit the story/setting/feel of the game.

I want standard character creation with the ability to choose premade characters (Roderick and Scarlett) for a quick-start option.

This sounds p. reasonable.

 

[Infinitron]

The funny thing is that Ultima VII didn't actually have the "Ultima-style character creation"...or any character creation at all other than choosing name and sex.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

The funny thing is that Ultima VII didn't actually have the "Ultima-style character creation"...or any character creation at all other than choosing name and sex.

IIRC Swen adores all the ultimas (till 7) and 7 was his favourite. ForkTong ?

 

[ForkTong]

Ultima Online too I guess.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Pre-pussification Ultima Online was very good for its time.

Zep--

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Pre-pussification Ultima Online was very good for its time.

Zep--

IT WAS VERY GOOD PERIOD

 

[Jaesun]

Classless systems are still the best to me and what I like.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Classless systems are still the best to me and what I like.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Mandatory Gypsy system for char gen is pointless. Most people are gonna figure out what answer gives which stats and then use a chart to see what they need to say in order to create their ideal character. As an optional thing to mess around with it would be alright.

 

[Gord]

In games that use it, but give the possibility to adjust the character afterwards, I usually just find myself changing about everything in the end, since those Q&A sessions never seem to give me the char I imagined before.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Use that system where you have to keep clicking "Re-Roll" for like 2 days until that one magical time you get all 18's...but you were so used to clicking Re-Roll you fucked up and Re-Rolled over your all 18's with like 3's and 5's.

Spoiler

Zep--