God DAMN Divinity II is addictive

[DraQ]

One of the things I love about this game is there's not too much handholding.

Yeah, it's largely oldfaggotry in popamole clothing.


There is also much z-axis there, so it's easy to miss stuff.

But you only get it if you mindread the bosses, keep that in mind.

fuck.. fuck... FUCK!!... cleared three fortresses without fucking mindreading... FUCK!!

My somewhat OCD playstyle is paying off in this game.

Getting a bit better, just focusing all my points in strength and vitality for now. Is battlemage even a viable build late-game?

Absolutely. In fact, of the many builds I tried, the most fun is a fighter/ranger/mage. Put heaps of points in INT (by far the most important stat as it affects magic damage of weapons as well as spells). Also, dual wield is better than 2H if you equip 2 weapons with pleanty of magic damage with lots of points in INT and max out DW asap. Coupled with exposive arrows/magic missile spam + wotbm + charge! = fucking unstoppable!

What's the most fun build? Played back when I needed an English translation patch and was bored to death by melee spam. I just started a Ranger but I"m open to change. before I get too far.

See above...

I'm just playing a boring warrior. I've maxed lockpick and I'm working on Wisdom now, to take advantage of those early. I'm not sure if I'm going to go dual-wield (YEAH!) or single weapon (2-hander) yet, but some of the loot I find will probably help determine that.

See above...

Explosive arrows VS fireball depends largely on playstyle - no denying that arrows are just overpowered and much more spammable thanks to short cooldown, but they are unwieldy while fireball can be used without switching from melee weapons. Splitting arrows are also an interesting option due to shotgun effect up close, especially with the way of the ranger. All in all I don't really consider ranger builds or any spammy builds all that interesting, so I would avoid relying solely on high level magic missiles or 1-2 types of arrows. Yeah, it's good to have something like that, at hand, but do you really want to spend most of your battles dodging left and right while mashing the same hotkey over and over again?
In any case, +skill gear is awesome for using skills you don't really want to invest into. I have about +9 to explosive arrow in equippables so I can still use it without worrying about getting pigeonholed into spammy build.

2H weapons may be underwhelming compared to good pair of 1H weapons, but 2H weapons have the advantage of increased range which makes a lot of difference against groups or when the enemy is running away when you just started a thousand strikes or some other powerful melee attack. Charging someone's constantly escaping ass isn't as much fun as it would seem, especially considering that the cooldown may be short but it's still there.
Then there is sword and board which is neither flashy nor very powerful, but you can buy one shield on Sentinel Island (before BT) that gives rather hefty defence boost.

In any case, to make an interesting, rather than just effective build it's good to make it somewhat varied. Sure, some skills (curse, summons) require heavy investments just to stay effective, but there are quite a few skills that are one point wonders because either the first point gives the most significant increase, or one point is enough to open up some new possibilities. For example, hide can pretty tactical skill to have as it allows for covert approach and escape when necessary. The latter is a lifesaver, the former may be pretty effective, for example if you surprise thousand-strike someone, or do WoTBM->Hide->Curse->Firewall->jump away->Fireball combo.

Don't forget, guys, to kill more than 20 rabbits. You'll get nice surprise.

Haha, don't kill your 20th (actually I think it's 24 or 25) rabbit until you're at least lvl 25 you'll get yourself one-shotted in a most embarrising fashion (I'm speaking from experience).

That EE was awesome. Vicious streak a mile wide indeed.

 

[Eyeball]

Alright, I now actually played the demo of this, turning off shadows seems to have done the trick. I now have passable performance.

I like it. Sure, combat is kind of a clickfest, seeing as you can't really block attacks and the dodging is sort of iffy, but I feel that the WoW style skill/spellbar is well integrated. It's fun mowing down goblins with a twohander, then blasting their mages to pieces with a fireball without having to close the distance, all by clicking away and using the toolbar. Game seems to be very hybrid-friendly, as was DD1 before it, and there are so many interesting skills to mess around with. Interface is a bit sucky, though, DD did it better.

Voice acting is also a lot better than I expected - European English ports are usually atrocious in this department, but D2 does a good job and doesn't seem to be switching between English and American constantly.

Graphics look fairly pretty too, even with everything toned down so my laptop can play it, but artistic design is kind of uninspired, in my opinion.

I'll probably buy this game once I have some time to play it properly in and it drops in price, 30 pounds on Gamersgate is a bit steep for me, and I refuse to pirate Larian games since DD is one of my all-time favourite RPGs.

Or I could move it up if anyone has any tricks on how to improve performance - the game seems to be underperforming for me, based on how relatively simple it is and how I've set all graphical options to lowest/off, and it still stutters a bit in towns.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Explosive arrows VS fireball depends largely on playstyle - no denying that arrows are just overpowered and much more spammable thanks to short cooldown, but they are unwieldy while fireball can be used without switching from melee weapons. Splitting arrows are also an interesting option due to shotgun effect up close, especially with the way of the ranger. All in all I don't really consider ranger builds or any spammy builds all that interesting, so I would avoid relying solely on high level magic missiles or 1-2 types of arrows. Yeah, it's good to have something like that, at hand, but do you really want to spend most of your battles dodging left and right while mashing the same hotkey over and over again?

In any case, +skill gear is awesome for using skills you don't really want to invest into. I have about +9 to explosive arrow in equippables so I can still use it without worrying about getting pigeonholed into spammy build.

You don't have to switch gear, just press the hot key for whatever skill and the game automatically switches to the appropriate weapon set. E.g. - if you hit your charge hotkey with a bow equiped, you'll instantaneously switch to your melee set and charge. Conversly, if you hit your explosive arrow hotkey with melee weapons equiped, the game auto switches to your bow to fire the e.arrow.

I agree spamming e.arrow and mm's can get a bit boring, so what I tend to do is, if I'm facing a large group (which you usually are in this game) is just hit them with a few to get their health bars down a bit and then charge right into the fray. Definately more dangerous, but more fun too.

BTW - I love the death rattles of some of the enemies, really sounds like they're in a lot of pain (or shitting themselves).

In any case, to make an interesting, rather than just effective build it's good to make it somewhat varied. Sure, some skills (curse, summons) require heavy investments just to stay effective, but there are quite a few skills that are one point wonders because either the first point gives the most significant increase, or one point is enough to open up some new possibilities. For example, hide can pretty tactical skill to have as it allows for covert approach and escape when necessary. The latter is a lifesaver, the former may be pretty effective, for example if you surprise thousand-strike someone, or do WoTBM->Hide->Curse->Firewall->jump away->Fireball combo.

Yes, 1 or 2 points in 'hide' can be a life saver. The deamon summon, if maintained at an appropriate level, can be of great help as well, though in my latest build I eschewed it in favor of pumping up my damage dealing skills. Charm is another fun skill to play around with.

But yeah, lots of different approaches to play styles and builds is the beauty of the system. I'll definately be going around again using a completely different build.

Alright, I now actually played the demo of this, turning off shadows seems to have done the trick. I now have passable performance.

I like it. Sure, combat is kind of a clickfest, seeing as you can't really block attacks and the dodging is sort of iffy, but I feel that the WoW style skill/spellbar is well integrated. It's fun mowing down goblins with a twohander, then blasting their mages to pieces with a fireball without having to close the distance, all by clicking away and using the toolbar. Game seems to be very hybrid-friendly, as was DD1 before it, and there are so many interesting skills to mess around with. Interface is a bit sucky, though, DD did it better.

Voice acting is also a lot better than I expected - European English ports are usually atrocious in this department, but D2 does a good job and doesn't seem to be switching between English and American constantly.

Graphics look fairly pretty too, even with everything toned down so my laptop can play it, but artistic design is kind of uninspired, in my opinion.

I'll probably buy this game once I have some time to play it properly in and it drops in price, 30 pounds on Gamersgate is a bit steep for me, and I refuse to pirate Larian games since DD is one of my all-time favourite RPGs.

Or I could move it up if anyone has any tricks on how to improve performance - the game seems to be underperforming for me, based on how relatively simple it is and how I've set all graphical options to lowest/off, and it still stutters a bit in towns.

The latest couple of patches seemed to have impoved performace - not sure if the demo is / can be patched.

If any game from the last couple of years is worth 30 quid it's this one. I originally torrented it, but when I realised how damn good it was, I bought it at full price.

 

[bhlaab]

So far it seems the skills aren't nearly as robust as in the first one.

I like the large amounts of hidden areas and alternate routes.

 

[dr. one]

played for about 6 hours, the game has been great so far.

distinct art direction, lack of hand holding, a solid variety of skills and humor that is actually funny.
picked the hard difficulty and, surprisingly enough, i´ve already seen the deathscreen a few times.
the game oozes enthusiasm on the dev side.

looking forward to the rest.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

"I lost the wings, but not the sting!"
*Amdusias proceeds to paralyze me with one shot and instantly kill me with 157 damage with another*

He was right, I guess. Good game. Think I've definitely reached the break point where battlemages become not only viable but a fucking blast to play; went on a skill book hunt and ended up pouring a few points into rush attack, firewall and mana leech. Currently strategy is to bombard enemies with magic blast/missiles for a bit, then rush the weakest, maybe fire off a whirlwind or two then leap back and use a firewall, finishing off whatever's left standing with jump attacks. The awesome two-hander I found with 50 magic damage and an enchantment to add 30 points of damage to all spells doesn't hurt. Currently just exploring sentinel island and having great fun.

 

[xemous]

i would've liked to play this game but i refuse to play humans in any RPG. I can tolerate them as party members but thats it.

 

[Crispy]

That's ridiculous. You're missing out on a great game. Whatever.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

i would've liked to play this game but i refuse to play humans in any RPG. I can tolerate them as party members but thats it.

 

[Crispy]

I just reached level 12 last night and am now able to wield the Sword of Arabos? I think that's what it's called? Doing up to 100+ damage per swing now, probably averaging about 65 per.

I assume that's pretty good for my level?

 

[Eyeball]

i would've liked to play this game but i refuse to play humans in any RPG. I can tolerate them as party members but thats it.

Fret not, I'm sure you can find a mod somewhere allowing you to play as the furry you wish in your heart you really were.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

pre-DKS you would have a problem. Hall of echoes doesn't have any grinding but very tough fights and lvl31 seems a bit low. Don't know how it is with DKS. So just make a save and try it, if you get smashed go back and level up once or twice.

 

[bhlaab]

Oh I also love the animations. They really put a ton of personality into them, very rare game where it doesn't feel like you're controlling a mannequin.

 

[Forest Dweller]

i would've liked to play this game but i refuse to play humans in any RPG. I can tolerate them as party members but thats it.

Yeah wtf.

One of the most retarded criticisms I've ever heard.

 

[DraQ]

i would've liked to play this game but i refuse to play humans in any RPG. I can tolerate them as party members but thats it.

Yeah wtf.

One of the most retarded criticisms I've ever heard.

This.


And I am the kind of person that goes all whee!! if the game has playable lizardmen/dragons/furries.

In any case, you play quite a bit of the game as dragon.

 

[Murk]

Hall of Echoes was a breeze in DKS -- I was admittedly pretty high level (34 I think?) and a pure melee-ist (two-handers) when i went through.

I'm really hoping Larian puts out something as awesome and pretty soon -- maybe more add-ons or such. The gap of time between BD and Div2 was terribly long -- but I'm glad they're getting a lot of good reviews and hopefully sales numbers are high as well.

 

[CrimHead]

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Hall of Echoes was a breeze in DKS -- I was admittedly pretty high level (34 I think?) and a pure melee-ist (two-handers) when i went through.

I'm really hoping Larian puts out something as awesome and pretty soon -- maybe more add-ons or such. The gap of time between BD and Div2 was terribly long -- but I'm glad they're getting a lot of good reviews and hopefully sales numbers are high as well.

True, though they pumped out FoV/DKS pretty damn quick and it's quality stuff too. However, I suspect they had most of FoV done by the time ED came out - just needed some polishing up.

Yeah, what was it - 6 years between BD and Div2? What the hell do these guys live on in the meantime between releases? Surely DD/BD didn't sell well enough to sustain an entire development company for that long. Especially considering they were PC only.

EDIT: I'm guessing most of the coders/artists/designers work on a contract basis and do other stuff in the meantime. Ha! Talking to myself now.... I am getting old.

 

[bhlaab]

should i go two hander or dual wield? i know skyrim is coming out soon so i feel like i should dual wield to get a taste of the Future of Gaming

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS SO GLAD LARIAN IS GETTING THE LOVE HERE THE FIRST DD IS ONE OF THE INCLINE GAMES I FOUND BEFORE THE CODEX IT HAD ME AT HELLO

DRACONIS EGO WAS FUCKING MURDER FOR ME ON HARD SHIT THAT WAS A SURPRISE NORMAL WAS ABOUT DECENT

MIGHT HAVE TO SAVE A SECOND PLAYTHROUGH FOR HARD

 

[TheLostOne]

This thread trapped me as well. Also was up until 2 last night playing Divinity 2. I don't know why it's so addictive. Combat is fair to middling, dialog doesn't really stand out as exceptionally bad or good. I just can't stop playing.

Also, when's the last time a game had secret doors operated by buttons and plates that are actually hidden and don't glow or sparkle when you press a button. It would be annoying, but these areas invariably hold extra treasure and are not plot crucial or anything.

The game, with the newer patches, has a lot of graphical options and should run quite well at lower settings. As mentioned by others in this thread, disabling shadows seems to have the biggest effect of performance.

 

[Cenobyte]

True, though they pumped out FoV/DKS pretty damn quick and it's quality stuff too. However, I suspect they had most of FoV done by the time ED came out - just needed some polishing up.

Yeah, what was it - 6 years between BD and Div2? What the hell do these guys live on in the meantime between releases? Surely DD/BD didn't sell well enough to sustain an entire development company for that long. Especially considering they were PC only.

EDIT: I'm guessing most of the coders/artists/designers work on a contract basis and do other stuff in the meantime. Ha! Talking to myself now.... I am getting old.

Originally, they aimed for a much bigger game, but a lack of money forced them to release Divinity 2 in its original form. Then they tried to offer the cut content in a refined version as a large patch, but got into problems with their publisher. In the end, it was decided to publish the content as a separate AddOn with additional improvements based on player feedback. This would become Flames of Vengeance. As an interesting side note, the addon is so big that it doesn't comply with Microsoft's guidelines for XBOX DLC and thus is PC-exclusive.

DKS on the other hand is yet another updated and revised version of the game's content, again with improvements based on feedback (for example getting rid of the importance of the level for many calculations).

It's planned to make the new content from DKS available for players with Div 2 and FoV in an upcoming patch, as well as the another patch for DKS which will add a new, higher difficulty.

Larian also develops educational games, which seem to have a fairly good consumer base and stable demand. This provides them with the necessary capital to stay in business and finance their more ambitious RPG projects. Until very recently before the eventual release of Div 2 (at first exclusive in Germany), they didn't even had a publisher for their game and had financed the whole development completely by themselves.

 

[Eyeball]

Bought the game for 30 pounds. Haven't regretted it.

You know, it's a sad sign of the times when I died for the first time trying to melee 9 goblins with my wimpy mage and wholly expected to be resurrected back in town with a loss of 5% gold. I was pleasantly surprised when all I got was a "You suck!" screen of death and the option of reloading.

Same with the lack of quest markers and completely obvious "hints" telling you how to complete quests. The bandit couple in the bandit hideout told me to get some special rum or whatnot, and when inquiring about where to get it from, all they had to say was "beats me, you're the hero, you figure it out!"

How I've missed this kind of quest writing, actually making the player work a little for his rewards. I also like how there seems to be multiple ways of solving a lot of quests, and the outcomes aren't always predictable - I had the option of ratting the drunken town guards out to their captain but didn't, which they rewarded me for by telling me the location of the captain's secret treasure stash. After raiding that, I then had the option of telling the captain they told me where it was. The entire bandit camp quest is cool as well, as you can choose to side with the bandits and do their quests or simply tell the captain where the base is and kill the lot of them.

There's a commendable amount of options here, far more than I've seen in many years. Some of the location design is also pretty cool - just went up that tower the dying Dragon Knight tells you to visit and was pleasantly surprised by some short but entertaining jumping puzzles interspaced with fights against huge gangs of undead, and the view itself was magnificent.

As far as I can see though, playing this thing straight warrior would be hard as hell. Archers abound and they hit HARD, I survive by running back and forth, dodging their slow-ass arrows and spells, and blasting them with spells of my own. If I ever manage to finish this thing, I'll try replaying as a warrior.

The XP function from DD is back. XP gain from monsters depends on your relative level to them while quest XP is static. I wonder if this means I can pretty much break the game like I did in DD by simply killing the entire map before handing in any quests for XP reward, which resulted in me being comically overleveled around mid-game.

Good game guys, not regretting buying it.

 

[Murk]

should i go two hander or dual wield? i know skyrim is coming out soon so i feel like i should dual wield to get a taste of the Future of Gaming

Dual Wielding will give you more damage output when you max the skill out, also more bonuses from the extra equipment.

Eyeball -- yes, and the rewards from quests are also dependent on level too -- so if you clear the mobs first you not only get more XP from that area but better rewards. Tho if you just play the game "as intended" you are still strong enough to blast through near the end.

My first play was a 2-handed warrior with no magic or archery and I was sill kicking ass. Once your STR score is high and you stack on the HP regenerating enchantments you, in many cases, regenerate faster than the enemies damage you. This changes a bit in the floating fortresses where every fight is basically an ambush with melee + mages + archers everywhere but... you can just skip them (like I did, ho hooo).

 

[Annonchinil]

Is this game as good as New Vegas?