Divinity: Original Sin Pre-Release Thread

[Haba]

Wait. I just realized... You'll probably be able to romance yourself, if you play single player.

Not only that. You can also fight with yourself, break up and then come back together again.

I predict some awesome video LP's of guys speaking with different voices to act out the dialogue...

 

[Arkeus]

Maybe I should go with a dual-female setup and call the girls Xena and Gabrielle.

 

[RK47]

I foresee my pants down with my left hand on my joystick while furiously clicking on the right playing this game.

 

[Minttunator]

I love the Sim/Manage-y aspects of Dragon Commander but am still skeptical that Larian can into RTS, and in particular, the terrible, boring dragon combat in Div2 turned into anything enjoyable. I like Larian too much to write it off though, looking forward to Gragt's preview.

I agree with this - the dragon combat was probably my least favourite part of Divnity II. I'm certain they've improved it somewhat, but I'm not sure if it can be improved to be something I'd enjoy.

 

[MicoSelva]

I agree with this - the dragon combat was probably my least favourite part of Divnity II. I'm certain they've improved it somewhat, but I'm not sure if it can be improved to be something I'd enjoy.

They had a complex physics-based model for the dragon flight but it was scrapped because it did not work well with the RTS part. Right now, it's rather simple and the flight works similarly to a helicopter.
[/larianstalker]

 

[Gord]

I consider going for the 65$ tier to get Dragon Commander as well, but so far DC seems like the more risky game to me - it's a whole lot of ambitious components mixed together into one big hotchpotch.
I guess that if it works out it will be a very cool game - better than the sum of its parts and all that, but I see a rather big risk that it will be a little bit of everything but nothing really good. Not sure yet what to think of it.

 

[Angthoron]

I'm in the $65 tier myself.

 

[Robcat]

TL;DR - Larian and their kickstarter for Original Sin deserve your support, perhaps more than any other RPG studio. Here's why.


An open letter to all RPG fans,

I would like to make the following argument, in particular to anyone who would hesitate to back this game on the basis that it is already funded of doesn't 'need' the money. Moreover, I feel this needs to be said...

Larian have self-funded the game to this point. Just think about that for a moment. For sixteen years they have worked, sweated and fought their way out from under the yoke of publishers, to the stage where they are successful enough to self-fund a dream RPG project. They have EARNED it. They have not needed to come cap in hand, asking us to fund their dreams, unable to do it on their own. I do not mean to disparage other companies, or projects that would not have been possible without Kickstarter, far from it. Indeed, it is worth noting just how hard it has been (and still is) to actually produce quality, deep cRPGs. I am simply putting things into context so that Larian may get the recognition they deserve. Again, they have earned it. They have been working away at it for years, and have produced some quality RPG goodness along the way in their Divinity series, despite all that comes with the current mainstream publishing model.

Throughout the many years of trials and tribulations beholden to publishers, Larian's integrity has remained, to be in my opinion, a beacon in the gaming industry. As a relatively small studio their community engagement is outstanding, and their responsiveness throughout the kickstarter to date has been nothing short of exemplary. The ethics and vision behind Larian Studios is especially revealed in the refreshing candour of Swen Vincke (Larian's founder and CEO) in his blog about successful independent game development. His disapproval of DRM and distaste for DLC is a matter of public record, as is Larian's genuine commitment to their fans.

So, for years now Larian has been striving, learning and growing, and upon gaining their freedom from publishers what is the very first thing that they do? Begin creating a classic isometric turn-based game with Ultima7-like levels of reactivity, well before the Kickstarter revolution had even begun. At the time people called them crazy. They didn't care, and have now freely produced what looks to be an already excellent game. I believe it has the potential to be one of the all-time greats, never mind an important milestone towards the company's stated objective (and the very reason it was founded) to create an RPG that overshadows all others. Larian exists simply to scale the heights of RPGs, as high as they can go. I say, this is a company worth supporting.

Like any RPG fan, Larian yearns for more features, more content, more reactivity, more, more, more. They understand that RPGs are never really finished, that is part of their allure, their magic. Why do we get so excited about stretch goals? And now here they come, fresh from over a decade of hard work following the RPG dream with a kickstarter that is essentially all stretch goal.

Larian have been able to follow their dream, create it and show it to us. They have even included a very comprehensive modkit, essentially the same tools they used to make the game. Not as a stretch goal, but simply because they believe that this is how things should be.

My point, if not already abundantly clear, is that if you believe in supporting the development of RPGs and you have any interest in Original Sin whatsoever, then I urge you to be an RPG fan and back this game.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin



* I am a fan of the RPG genre and wish to see it flourish. I am in no way associated with Larian apart from backing their kickstarter and participating in their forums.

 

[MicoSelva]

You can ignore the RTS parts if you want to.

Is it really a viable approach to this game?

If so, do you mean focusing on the TBS part and auto-resolving all battles or treating the RTS battles as action sequences (i.e. killing everything with your dragon, and not bothering with any unit control)?

EDIT: Hi, Robcat. I've seen You in the Kickstarter comments section.

 

[Infinitron]

Robcat But you're preaching to the choir here, friend.

 

[Angthoron]

Robcat But you're preaching to the choir here, friend.

This. I do hope some of the bigger Youtubers make a feature on Original Sin, it really deserves a proper budget and a proper press exposure.

 

[Zeriel]

TotalBiscuit did some big features on their games back when they were just in normal development. Would be nice to see them hook something up with him for the KS before it ends.

 

[MicoSelva]

Robcat But you're preaching to the choir here, friend.

I think he's already left, to spread the word on other forums. We were just a checkbox on his list.

 

[Jashiin]

Let's hope that list includes every forum on the net.

 

[Mangoose]

Robcat But you're preaching to the choir here, friend.

Yeah, the choir is this thread, just go post it in another thread and you'll actually reach some people lol

 

[ForkTong]

What Gragt means is: in the single player campaign, you can choose to have the AI auto-resolve a battle for a country. (It's the way I played Medieval TW (1/2) and I don't think I'm the only one.) However, if you're good at RTS, you can win battles that normally would have been "impossible" to win through auto-resolve.

 

[Robcat]

Yes, I am aware that I am preaching yet I simply had to express myself. I will be posting this letter all over the net, but could not think of a more appropriate place to start than the Codex. I came out of lurkerdom especially.

For me this isn't primarily about the game. As promising as the game is, it is just an added bonus. I do not know how Original Sin will fare in relation to the Larian Prophecy, it is a moot issue to me. The more pertinent point here is to support such a studio, and its future. It is about the principle of supporting a company who fucking deserves it, and the future of the genre.

Basically, I want people like the champions (in the literal sense of the word) at Iron Tower or Coreplay to get the recognition and support they deserve, lest we lose our champions.

I want justice.




* Inb4 - What Coreplay? look at their previous games numbskull!
My response - What, you would prefer they go back to making those sorts of games rather than producing more like Chaos Chronicles? HobGoblin42 has already stated they have had to work to get to where they are now.

 

[General Maxson]

Too bad kickstarter and all this support didn't exist when Troika was still alive.

 

[Zeriel]

But if it did, Tim Cain wouldn't be working on Project Eternity!

He'd be working on Temple of Elemental Evil 5 and Arcanum 3.

...Okay, that would be way better.

 

[MicoSelva]

What Gragt means is: in the single player campaign, you can choose to have the AI auto-resolve a battle for a country.

Wouldn't that be depriving yourself of half the game You try to play?

I guess, what I'm trying to ask is if the turn based strategy part is enough of the game in itself. What are the gameplay time proportions between these parts, btw? 50/50?

But if it did, Tim Cain wouldn't be working on Project Eternity!

He'd be working on Temple of Elemental Evil 5 and Arcanum 3.

More like Arcanum 3, Tomb of Horrors and Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Bloodlust.

 

[commie]

I love the Sim/Manage-y aspects of Dragon Commander but am still skeptical that Larian can into RTS, and in particular, the terrible, boring dragon combat in Div2 turned into anything enjoyable. I like Larian too much to write it off though, looking forward to Gragt's preview.

Larian's first game was an RTS (The L.E.D. Wars). It was mainly played in multiplayer mode back then. I think I'm one of the few people who have a physical copy of that game.
Swen even once mentioned that he was developing an RTS before Dune 2, but then scrapped it because he thought nobody would be interested in it.

Could have been a revered pioneer of the genre and instead he's hawking low budget generic looking RPG's on KS(based on the spiky pauldrons and ridiculous belts of the Biowarean heroes).....

 

[imweasel]

Too bad kickstarter and all this support didn't exist when Troika was still alive.

Yup. And I would have insta-backed this too:

 

[Roguey]

What Gragt means is: in the single player campaign, you can choose to have the AI auto-resolve a battle for a country. (It's the way I played Medieval TW (1/2) and I don't think I'm the only one.) However, if you're good at RTS, you can win battles that normally would have been "impossible" to win through auto-resolve.

How very Hepler. A button that allows you to skip combat so you can get right back to the CYOA.

 

[Breydel]

Could have been a revered pioneer of the genre and instead he's hawking low budget generic looking RPG's on KS(based on the spiky pauldrons and ridiculous belts of the Biowarean heroes).....

And we should be thankful for it, considering the current state of some of those 'revered pioneers'.

 

[Zeriel]

The graphics style is one of the low parts of the game for me. Never been a fan of the Warcraft3/WoW blocky models and cartoony colors style. DD looked a lot better. But yeah, better performance and all that. Probably cheaper to make too.

Divinity (including OS) art style never struck me as like Warcraft very much at all. Within the "cartoonish" frame of reference, there's a huge variety of styles. Especially with the human male bodies, you can see a pretty clear difference. Outside of armor that tends to bulk characters up, males in Divinity games tend to have fairly realistic proportions. Any Warcraft/Blizzard game makes every male (even the ones who are supposed to be emaciated) have steroid-induced mega-muscles everywhere. I could go on with other aspects, but that's a good start.