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Preview IGN Previews Divinity: Original Sin

Crooked Bee

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Tags: Divinity: Original Sin; Larian Studios

IGN has put up a preview of Larian's upcoming turn-based co-op RPG Divinity: Original Sin that reveals a few new things about the game. In particular, there's some intriguing info about quest design:

The Divinity games have always been known for their kitchen-sink approach to player interaction and RPG goals. In fact, as Swen is happy to admit, “In Dragon Knight Saga there were quests that had twenty four different ways of completing them.” Which is all well and good, but when twenty of those are hidden from all players except those with a fanatic dedication to the game, that’s almost a waste of development time.

That kind of dedication and broad approach is working well here, judging by what was shown of Original Sin. Far from being obtuse and obstructed, the level of depth in both player interaction and (perhaps more importantly) the non player characters and how they notice what you’re doing was astonishing.

For example, you soon add a banjo stolen from a Wollock, giant orange troll monsters, to the stash of drugs spilling out of your pockets, and somehow these items combined lead a pair of bounty hunters to think that you're the drug dealer - because they were given a description of a Wollock carrying a banjo selling drugs, and two out of three really isn’t bad in the fantasy bounty hunter business.

If you didn’t have either of those items on your person, or just one, they might not have made that connection. “We have values that we’re tracking that trigger new events that happen in quests,” Swen explains. There are also counters for how you behave, too, whether you’re a psychopath, lawful goody two shoes or just all over the place, a chaotic force of Twoface-like proportions making decisions based on random luck rather than anything coherent.​

As well as about the co-op dialogue system:

When I say that the game is cooperative, that doesn’t just mean that two players can be in the same game. Everything, from the combat to the loot to the quests themselves, is about two players working together, and this even extends to the dialogue system. When appropriate, your characters will hold a three way conversation, with an NPC making up the third pillar of the triumvirate.

Lines fall from the NPC, and then, where appropriate, either character can speak up, and you get to make the dialogue choices. It means that not only do you both feel involved, but you can disagree. Let that sink in for a moment. It means the great arguments over a D&D game have finally made it most of the way into our beloved digital medium. “Discussion creates gameplay.” Says Vincke. “It should be really engaging.”

The only slight disappointment is that currently if you do disagree, the game will resolve things by making a dice roll, pulling in charisma stats and maybe something more applicable to the current situation, like intelligence for tests of knowledge, or strength for intimidation.​

I dunno, that doesn't really sound disappointing to me.
 

Angthoron

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Sounds great. Also interesting is that Larian is covered by mainstream media now.
 

Alex_Steel

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This sounds good, despite the banal setting and art direction. I will anticipate it cautiously and hope for the best. :thumbsup:
 

Jaesun

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IGN said:
The only slight disappointment is that currently if you do disagree, the game will resolve things by making a dice roll, pulling in charisma stats and maybe something more applicable to the current situation, like intelligence for tests of knowledge, or strength for intimidation.

wat. Stat Checks in a RPG? HOW DARE YOU!
 

Stinger

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Eh it's somewhat vaguely understandable where IGN are coming from because they're specifically talking about interactions between each player being resolved by a stat rather than stats in general.

But they're still wrong.

I'm glad it's not just a dice roll but reliant on the character's dialogue stats and stuff, that's pretty neat.

That you can do things like use the loot to disguise as the drug dealer is pretty cool too.

I'm glad they're taking the huge sandboxy world and are trying to make that environmental interaction an actual part of quest design. I mean you see lots of games have multiple solutions to each quest but not all of them take that approach.
 

Sul

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IGN said:
The only slight disappointment is that currently if you do disagree, the game will resolve things by making a dice roll, pulling in charisma stats and maybe something more applicable to the current situation, like intelligence for tests of knowledge, or strength for intimidation.
:lol: Unbelievable. These guys consider a disappointment when RPGs play like RPGs. I wonder how much the poor lad had to pay for the preview package.
And just look at the comments! They think it's another Diablo clone! Oh wow... Is like, let's say, Civilization is the same thing as Warcraft just because both of them are strategy games.
 

Metro

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Wow... they consider that a 'disappointment?' Morons.
 

Stabwound

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Please let this be good.

I like how Sven and that other dude even do the E3 presenting themselves. The self-publishing and lack of publisher fuckery bode very well.
 

Johannes

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Well, if the part everyone's quoting means that disagreements between players are resolved by stat checks and dice rolls, yeah I can see it being a bit annoying or anticlimactic sometimes if you're just forced to do the others bidding then.

But, it's probably still the best way to resolve such cases.
 

Stabwound

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Revisiting Divine Divinity and Divinity 2, I'm even more excited than ever for this game.

Divine Divinity is an underrated gem. It's like Diablo 2 that's actually an RPG; excellent game.
 
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Well, if the part everyone's quoting means that disagreements between players are resolved by stat checks and dice rolls, yeah I can see it being a bit annoying or anticlimactic sometimes if you're just forced to do the others bidding then.

But, it's probably still the best way to resolve such cases.
You gotta remember that it isn't an argument between the players, it's an argument between the player's characters.
 

MetalCraze

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:lol: Unbelievable. These guys consider a disappointment when RPGs play like RPGs.

You would be surprised but so does the Codex.
People here praised Stoic when they bashed stats. That includes staff member Jaesun. :M
 

treave

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Well, if the part everyone's quoting means that disagreements between players are resolved by stat checks and dice rolls, yeah I can see it being a bit annoying or anticlimactic sometimes if you're just forced to do the others bidding then.

But, it's probably still the best way to resolve such cases.

Well if they don't like losing arguments they might want to have rolled a character with higher charisma. This is actually pretty interesting. Looking forward to see whether Larian can actually pull it off.
 

Commissar Draco

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Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Charisma is not pretty face but leadership skill... which means you make people fallow your decisions... besides from what I understood this system would be used only when your co-player is NPC.

:bro: for Excidium For reminding newfags what RPGs are about... Like playing a role... Not ego boosting mental masturbation ala Halo or Skyrim.
 

Angthoron

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Well, if the part everyone's quoting means that disagreements between players are resolved by stat checks and dice rolls, yeah I can see it being a bit annoying or anticlimactic sometimes if you're just forced to do the others bidding then.

But, it's probably still the best way to resolve such cases.

Well if they don't like losing arguments they might want to have rolled a character with higher charisma. This is actually pretty interesting. Looking forward to see whether Larian can actually pull it off.
It's still a stat roll though, so even with a ton of Charisma you could roll a 3 or a 1 and the other dude could roll a 20, and good luck even with a +7 modifier then.
 

Commissar Draco

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Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Well, if the part everyone's quoting means that disagreements between players are resolved by stat checks and dice rolls, yeah I can see it being a bit annoying or anticlimactic sometimes if you're just forced to do the others bidding then.

But, it's probably still the best way to resolve such cases.

Well if they don't like losing arguments they might want to have rolled a character with higher charisma. This is actually pretty interesting. Looking forward to see whether Larian can actually pull it off.
It's still a stat roll though, so even with a ton of Charisma you could roll a 3 or a 1 and the other dude could roll a 20, and good luck even with a +7 modifier then.

One question Does esteemed Codexer believes you have to win every roll? Every time? I am sure this will be optional, Larian is not as suicidal to force hardcore rules on everybody so the newfags, hipsters and consloltarded crybabies will have option to win every time. :roll:
 

Angthoron

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Well, if the part everyone's quoting means that disagreements between players are resolved by stat checks and dice rolls, yeah I can see it being a bit annoying or anticlimactic sometimes if you're just forced to do the others bidding then.

But, it's probably still the best way to resolve such cases.

Well if they don't like losing arguments they might want to have rolled a character with higher charisma. This is actually pretty interesting. Looking forward to see whether Larian can actually pull it off.
It's still a stat roll though, so even with a ton of Charisma you could roll a 3 or a 1 and the other dude could roll a 20, and good luck even with a +7 modifier then.

One question Does esteemed Codexer believes you have to win every roll? Every time? I am sure this will be optional, Larian is not as suicidal to force hardcore rules on everybody so the newfags, hipsters and consloltarded crybabies will have option to win every time. :roll:
I suspect they'll also leave an option to yield as well. After all, if you're playing it with your GF as "intended", you'll be pretty fucked (not in good ways) if you don't yield at least on some rolls. 'sides, that's an option in tabletop as well.
 

Commissar Draco

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Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
:lol: Had wife sold her for 5 camels in Tunisia though. Best business ever. :lol:
Modern games made me lazy to be honest... playing without quest compass and hand holding should sharpen my skills a bit. I do hope Larian won't release some unplayable half cooked buggy shit though... or that it won't be their last game released.
 

abnaxus

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