God DAMN Divinity II is addictive

[DraQ]

Bury me in the shadow of the tower. Let me lie forever among the bones of the ancient ones that preceded me.

The document is simply signed “M”.

(Using SA LP I found as a source of both screenshot and quotation - my Div 2 has all the text in Polish.)

I played the game several times but never found that. But that is why the game is so awesome.

That's also why even the best 2D exploration can at best suck 3D exploration's dick.

 

[ManjuShri]

Completed it, two shotted Ygerna with WotR and splitting arrows. Rather disappointed with their blatant attempt at spreading out the series with Damian never showing up.

What was the Zagan fight?

 

[thesoup]

It's a sidequest where you fight in your dragon form in a fucking cave.

 

[abnaxus]

I think Larian is planning out for the Divine to kill Damian. He'll probably be the player character in Project E. At least, that's what I hope.

 

[thesoup]

Did Larian say whether Project E will be a game in the Divinity series or not?

 

[abnaxus]

Lar confirmed it in his blog.

 

[thesoup]

Really? I can't find that entry. Can you provide a link? All I've found out is that Project E will be a "top down RPG".
On the other hand, a Divinity sequel is very likely to happen sometime soon, mostly because they're looking for a designer who has played the Divinity games.

 

[Syril]

Divinity 2 is the real 'I WANT TO BE A DRAGON' game

 

[Stabwound]

Necroing this thread, but I gave this game a 2nd shot while Diablo 3 servers were MIA and I'm glad I did. It's pretty damn fun from what I've played so far. The combat, at least early on, with Nigtmare difficulty is pretty excruciating, but I love how you can actually feel your character getting stronger when you get a substantial equipment upgrade.

The only real downsides I've encountered so far are that the dragon parts I could do without (maybe they get better?) and the random loot in chests and for quest rewards makes me want to reload every time, but I don't. That and melee combat is a bit "stand there and trade blows" but I guess that will change with more skills/magic unlocked.

I have a simple question: do the misc gems you find (emeralds, tiger eye, etc) have a purpose or are you just supposed to sell them?

 

[ManjuShri]

and the random loot in chests and for quest rewards makes me want to reload every time, but I don't.

The loot in chests is triggered by getting close to them and they lock at your current level. So if you run past a chest at level 5 and don't open till you're level 15, you'll only get the level 5 generated loot.

Don't sell your malachite gems, you need 2 for a quest.

 

[Stabwound]

Ouch, I almost would have rather not known about the level-scaling chest thing; that's pretty lame.

 

[Roguey]

Don't worry about it, let the dice fall where they may. There's never any section where you'll think "Oh if only I had slightly better equipment to pass this part."

As for gems, they're used for crafting/enchanting. With the exception of the rare ones you can feel free to sell them, you can upgrade all your errand boys to their maximum armor and then you have an unlimited supply of everything forever if you don't mind having to go back and forth a lot.

 

[Stabwound]

Now I remember why I quit playing this the last time. Is Nightmare difficulty meant for the most insane and experienced of players, or what? I've gone with a melee character, and every single fight feels like I'm a toddler vs. Mike Tyson. The only way I've been able to kill anything is by using tactics which could only be described as "fuck up man" like hitting once and rolling around like Geralt on meth or relying on a charmed monster and a ghost to heal/take damage for me and then wait after every fight so I can resummon the ghost.

I tried buying a bow, which is a lot easier but it still amounted to doing the Geralt thing except at a long distance, and I intended to be a melee/magic dude anyway.

I'm not complaining about having a difficult game, but my delicate pride won't let me play on a lower difficulty and the way it is now, and the combat so far has been excruciating when every fight takes 5 minutes, not including the time needed to lure a single enemy out of a pack of 5. Some parts I've simply been unable to do so far, like packs of skeleton mages, which kill me in literally 1-2 seconds.

Am I doing something very wrong, or are you not supposed to play Nightmare?

 

[thesoup]

You should play Nightmare on your second go when you'll know all the tricks, the importance of mind reading certain NPCs and how to distribute skill points. I went for Hard on my playthrough because I expected next - gen hard, but I was in for a surprise as I was pissing blood after every fucking encounter. About half way through the game I was able to redistribute my points and with the experience I gained, I was able to steamroll any opposition, save for the 2nd final fight (last boss in the arena).

So I'd say stick with Nightmare. You will cry in a fetal position throughout the first half of the game, but it should get easier, but hopefully not too easy, later. Oh and btw, I'm calling it: when you reach a certain boss at level ~17, you will come to this very topic and rage like you never raged before.

edit
I just remember when I was level 7 and going against like 10 lvl 11 bandits. I lured one by one slowly, taking pot shots and running away. Took me like 90 minutes to kill them all.
I guess it was partially my own dumb fault for not exploring the entire area and gaining some levels and also my skills distribution, while not really bad, could have been better.

In retrospect, though, as sadistically hard the first part of the game was for me, it was actually really fun since I haven't been so challenged by a game in a long time. Combat wise, it was more fun then the rest of the game, even though I like the story better later on when it began to unfold.

 

[abnaxus]

Played Nightmare with a warrior, it was easy from level 15 on. Though I did make sure I collected the best sets along the way and invested in the 'right' skills, e.g. Life leech.

 

[Gord]

Am I doing something very wrong, or are you not supposed to play Nightmare?

On the high difficulties the game can be pretty challenging, esp. early on. Your build matters a lot, though.
Problem is that the most useful skills don't unlock until later, so it can take a while until you get a balanced build.
Furthermore, I found it difficult to predict how useful a particular skill will turn out to be - some sound cool but don't work well, and vice versa.
Around the time when you reach Sentinel Island/get the tower it should reach somewhat of a turning point in terms of difficulty and you can also do a respec there.

The constant jumping and rolling around by the way is one of the things I liked the least about the game.
Even with my mage I felt like a rubber ball on steroids.

 

[Stabwound]

Well, I had to swallow my pride and drop from Nightmare to Hard to maintain my sanity. Even hard has me doing the same Geralt-on-crack rolling around, but at least it's acceptably challenging and not "get hit a few times and you're dead." It feels like Nightmare is at least 2x the enemy damage and hp of Hard, probably even more, so I might as well roll around for half the time and accomplish more.

I can see it being much more possible to play Nightmare with a ranger, but melee is brutal. I got to a named NPC fight and just gave up, it was impossible. On Nightmare he would 1-2 shot my ghost, and if I was lucky, he'd 3-4 shot me, but dropping to Hard let me win with a little challenge.

I still can't take on multiple skeletal mages, but at least I don't die in 2 seconds anymore.

 

[Multidirectional]

Ghost is fucking useless, and yeah, playing melee dude is the hardest way. I would never recommend it for first playthrough.

 

[Haba]

Was ghost the one that heals you? I found it occasionally useful in tight spots. Random, but useful.

 

[Stabwound]

Yeah, it heals you. I've found it very helpful for helping me tank fights and saves me from rolling around sometimes, which is worth it.

 

[thesoup]

What fight was that? Was it the lvl 13 boss?
Oh you are bound for such pain soon. Very soon.
Also, FYI, Fatality works on bosses. Later when you max it out it can instakill anyone with under 55% or so hp.
Also, use charm. It was invaluable for me until I reached Sentinel Island.

 

[DraQ]

What fight was that? Was it the lvl 13 boss?

Which one was that?

(Use spoiler tags)

Also, FYI, Fatality works on bosses. Later when you max it out it can instakill anyone with under 55% or so hp.
Also, use charm. It was invaluable for me until I reached Sentinel Island.

Fatality is awesome. Sure, straight damage abilities give you more bang per buck, but fatality can instantly off those annoying fucks that heal themselves before they even start.

 

[thesoup]

Spoiler

Not sure of the name. The Dragon Slayer you fight first. He's level 13, when Rhode gets all disappointed and leaves them to kill you. Semi hard if you have charm. Fucking impossible without it. You enter Maxos' temple after that. Also, next up is Amdusias. The butthurt will be glorious.

 

[Stabwound]

I appreciate the spoiler tags, but no, it wasn't a level 13 boss. It was a warrior guy (Hallorn) that was level 8 or.

And yeah, I've been using both charm and ghost. Charm is insanely useful; it's changed a few 5-on-1 fights from impossible to easy as hell when you charm the strongest in the group and jump and beat the shit out of them from behind.

 

[thesoup]

Charm is the sole reason I made it through the first half of the game. After that, I didn't really need it. Don't know how it's with warrior.