[Poll] Did anyone finish Divinity: Original Sin?

[Morality Games]

Everyone lauded the game's first act, but did anyone actually finish this thing?

Friend and I burned out right before the final dungeon.

While I've played almost all of them, the only KickStarter games I've finished are Pillars of Eternity, Shadowrun Returns, and Dragonfall.

Spoiler

Oh, and Expeditions: Conquistador

I'll observe that like the rest of the KickStarter games there was a lot of BG1 going on in the overall quality of the experience.

There's a small chance I might try to rope another friend into playing the Enhanced Edition with me, but with a sequel on the horizon I'll probably try a game I haven't played before.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tried finishing it 3 times. Never did. Always got to the Death Knights in the mine and said "Fuck this game." and played something else. Waiting for Enhanced Edition to be released and I'll try again.

At that point you don't have the skill to make the death knights vulnerable yet iirc, you're supposed to sneak by them. You can easily do so with a character that has some invisibilty skill (but it's possible without too). A bit further in the mine you'll discover a quick travel portal, once uncovered the rest of the party can use the portal at the mine entrance to catch up with your sneaky party member. Than later when talking to the chick and she summons a bunch of death knights, again, you're supposed to flee and make a beeline for the portal, you can't fight them yet.

 

[Nael]

At that point you don't have the skill to make the death knights vulnerable yet iirc, you're supposed to sneak by them. You can easily do so with a character that has some invisibilty skill (but it's possible without too). A bit further in the mine you'll discover a quick travel portal, once uncovered the rest of the party can use the portal at the mine entrance to catch up with your sneaky party member. Than later when talking to the chick and she summons a bunch of death knights, again, you're supposed to flee and make a beeline for the portal, you can't fight them yet.

 

[Roguey]

Sneaking is so slow that I dunno why anyone wouldn't just go invisible there.

Though I guess there was that "sneak faster" talent, though the number of times that would be useful is so limited that it's far more cost-effective to down a few invisibility potions. Gotta spend your money on something.

 

[Crooked Bee]

You can either go invisible or teleport one of your characters over one of the chasms there which lets you bypass most of the invulnerable enemies + use the teleport pyramid. Or at least that was possible in the release version.

Dunno why you'd try sneaking if you dislike it, given that the game gives you other options too.

 

[Roguey]

You can either go invisible or teleport one of your characters over one of the chasms there which lets you bypass most of the invulnerable enemies + use the teleport pyramid. Or at least that was possible in the release version.

Dunno why you'd try sneaking if you dislike it, given that the game gives you other options too.

When I played it, the pyramids didn't work in the cave. There was a line about their being something in the cave to prevent it.

 

[Crooked Bee]

When I played it, the pyramids didn't work in the cave. There was a line about their being something in the cave to prevent it.

Yeah, now that you said it, I remember it too. Still, I did teleport my entire party across one of the chasms even without using those.

 

[Volrath]

Just how fucking stupid are you that you didn't figure this out for yourself?

 

[Nael]

Just how fucking stupid are you that you didn't figure this out for yourself?

Hey! Jackass! I'm not that good at video games. Fuck you!

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

I didn't finish it. I like it a lot but it's something odd that always keep me away from finish it. Maybe it's the repetitive dialogue or the meh story so far. Also the fact that the journal does not hint to a single clue regarding the quests I always forget what to do next. Some fights are also very hard but then again I never finished BG 1 or 2 nor Icewind Dale but I love them.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Mangoose]

being focused on combat...intentionally game the system.

The whole point of the game is on intentionally gaming the system. It's focused on breaking systems using teleports (the aero ones, the ranger one, the pyramid), stealth/invisibility, breaking up the party, alternative paths (either intentionally designed or player-created using the aforementioned tools), gaining experience in high level areas by gaming non-combat quests, etc. Also, riddles, secret areas, hidden items hinted at by lore scrolls, stuff like that. Oh yeah, and stealing everything possible by, well, again what was mentioned.

I remember stealing everything in the treasure room of Cyseal's prison without doing the related sidequest. Have one character talk to the main guard, teleport with the other character just to the right angle that no other guard can see him, walk in shadows, steal everything, teleport (pyramid) back out.

And what's an enemy gonna do when you teleport him to the other side of a locked caged door?

In other words, if you're looking for a combat-focused RPG or even a regular RPG, you're looking at the wrong game. Like all the other Divinity games, DOS has a good amount of adventure elements.

Fuck Braccus Rex , the most stupid fight in the game .

Did you try bottlenecking?

Phantom Forrest

What Phantom Forest? I stealthed/teleported past all the filler.

Sneaking is so slow that I dunno why anyone wouldn't just go invisible there.

Though I guess there was that "sneak faster" talent, though the number of times that would be useful is so limited that it's far more cost-effective to down a few invisibility potions. Gotta spend your money on something.

Lol I actually just ran past them when they pathed away, though I believe usually with a speed-up skill.

"Coast is clear, gang!"

 

[catfood]

I mopped the floor with Braccus Rex.

Spoiler

at level 12

 

[Roguey]

I mopped the floor with Braccus Rex.

Spoiler

at level 12

Was this before they patched out that exploit that allowed you to instakill him with a teleport?

 

[catfood]

No

 

[Sjukob]

Did you try bottlenecking?

I don't know what you are talking about , but if you mean standing in the doorway , then no . I didn't try that .

 

[Mangoose]

I don't know what you are talking about , but if you mean standing in the doorway , then no . I didn't try that .

Actually stand behind the doorway. That way one of the bosses stands in the doorway blocking the others, while you can focus fire at will.

 

[Infinitron]

Edited poll to allow people to change their votes.

 

[aleph]

Was this before they patched out that exploit that allowed you to instakill him with a teleport?

Your choice of words shows that you don't actually understand the philosophy behind D:OS. In a game which is about systems and taking full advantage of said systems, there are no exploits by definition.

 

[Mangoose]

Your choice of words shows that you don't actually understand the philosophy behind D:OS. In a game which is about systems and taking full advantage of said systems, there are no exploits by definition.

Well it depends.. if it's too extreme an exploit that it excessively removes challenges, then that's not good. Also, I'd rather call it "gaming the system" rather than "exploiting."

Edit: Just realized I wasn't very clear. I meant that the intended gameplay is about "gaming the system," which is different from what I would consider "exploiting."

---

Now, I'm going to backtrack and I agree the "traditional" RPG mechanics could be a lot better. I've criticized it before... it's less about combat mechanics than about really unbalanced ability selection, crappy progression. Crappy progression in a lot of aspects - encounters, quests, loot, skills (mein gott, how shitty the last "ultimate" abilities were).

Also in addition to the unbalanced skills, the way attributes worked terribly limited character customization. Because, for example, only Strength boosts Man at Arms abilities, only Intelligence boosts the different magic schools' abilities - then combine that with the fact that those attributes ALSO worked like traditional RPG attributes in e.g. needing Constitution to be a melee character... That meant things like custom Hybrid characters were useless because you have to spread out your attribute points way too much in order to make such a character. There are only a few ways you can make an unorthodox character, and that's by picking out a few specific abilities that luckily complement each other (and don't depend on attributes as much. Also you can ask RK47 for his interesting ideas). You may say that this is how most RPGs were anyway, but with the type of combat that DOS was designed for - a lot of reliance on environmental/elemental effects and stuff like that - the game would be so much better without being limited to cookie-cutter characters.

It seems like they have acknowledged all of this when they were talking about the Enhanced Edition. But I can only cross my fingers. (I'm also kinda excited I can introduce my friends to CRPGs with couch co-op since I can just HDMI my computer up to my big screen)

And I'm also very annoyed right now that all they talk about is the sequel instead of the EE. Gimme the goddamn EE already.

 

[Roguey]

Your choice of words shows that you don't actually understand the philosophy behind D:OS. In a game which is about systems and taking full advantage of said systems, there are no exploits by definition.

The fact that they patched it out proves it's an exploit.

You're not supposed to be able to insta-kill an enemy with a teleport (especially a boss), but that's what happened. They couldn't fix the "doing this makes his health drop to zero" part, so they made him immune to the spell.

 

[Mangoose]

http://larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=566153&page=9

The target for the EE release is late October.

Good stuff.

Excluding the console stuff and grahpics and voice acting and immersion and whatnot, it does sound like they recognize the specific problems with skill balance, loot/character/content/story progression. The question is if they will 'fix' those things in the right way. But at least they recognize it, unlike.. some .. other.. developers.

edit: Gonna go to sleep now but I saw on page 8 the following quote:

The harder difficulty mode (which will include changes to enemy placement, composition and AI, rather than just the modifiers to Chance to Hit and Vitality in the current difficulty settings) was mentioned before in the forum, etc, but wasn't part of the Enhanced Edition announcement (it is one of the gameplay modes mentioned but not described). It will be officially announced when there are more details to be revealed.

 

[prodigydancer]

I quit halfway through act 3. Might give it another go if EE has enough of new stuff.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

I finished it and it was a mediocre slug through the last map.

Still fail to see where the major incline was.

 

[Smoked Brisket]

I got bored about halfway through the game. Its cool that they made a top down rpg which is great. Turned based is fine if it's done well, this game did not do it well. Specifically camera angles and animations caused target problems to the point of being annoying. These issues would often screw up a tough fight that had been going on for a while. The story is boring and the dialogue is not worth reading. The crafting system is all over the place to the extent that it is not fun to discover anything. Basically the game encourages min/maxing over investment in any character or plotline. Ego Draconis was a much funner game and I would argue the best in the series. That game had environments that were beautiful and factions that were fun. It had secrets you gave a shit about. "Divinity Original Sin" I dont give a shit about even though I really want to. Ego Draconis is supposed to be the decline. Its funner and more interesting than what is supposed to be the incline, I'll tell you that.

 

[Lacrymas]

I didn't finish it. The difficulty was pathetic from Luculla onward and I was bored to tears. The writing was nonsensical, so that couldn't hold my attention and the exploration was practically zero thanks to random loot. The EE is looking quite juicy, though.