Editorial RPG Codex Report: Gamescom 2016 - Divinity: Original Sin 2

[vivec]

Swen: You'll be surprised, maybe, to hear that the leads on this team are the same writers that wrote OS 1

 

[Infinitron]

You might be missing the point though.

 

[vivec]

You might be missing the point though.

Tell me!

 

[Drowed]

You might be missing the point though.

Tell me!

Really? You even read the article?

Well, the point is this:

Bubbles: Since you mentioned the origin stories, let's talk about the writing…. I've played more of this version than I played with the prototype, but I still remember what was on the prototype. I saw some changes in the prototype from the original game, but I wasn't fully convinced that it had changed. What I'm seeing now is a radically different style of writing; stunning, absolutely...

Swen: I'm happy to see that you recognize it.

Bubbles: It's hard to imagine it being in the same game series. Bioware sometimes changes writing throughout their game series, but I can't think of many companies that would allow an example like this; this is actually a very strong example [of a stylistic change] for me. It's good writing… it convinces me. It's real – it's an enormous achievement compared to Original Sin 1 for me.

Swen: ...took sweat and blood and tears...

AKA, as this time the dialogue and the text is surprisingly good, in an unexpectedly high level, it's a surprise to know that this is the same team.

 

[Sacred82]

After reading the dialogue in the previews, I'd take Bubble's opinion with two grains of salt.

 

[Kev Inkline]

After reading the dialogue in the previews, I'd take Bubble's opinion with two grains of salt.

That's what Fargo said.

 

[Sacred82]

After reading the dialogue in the previews, I'd take Bubble's opinion with two grains of salt.

That's what Fargo said.

just read it brah


dat playfully shoving people into the sea

 

[Shin]

I'm not expecting D:OS2 to win any writing awards (I sure hope they do though) but I do hope it is more coherent than D:OS. I loved Original Sin, played it two times (both times in co-op) but ehh, I still don't really know wtf was going on.

*thinks real hard*

something.. bloodstones.. something... working on a murder case but then gods showed up and da fuq I dont even know. some side quests were pretty cool though and loved the fact there were a bunch of optional quests if you took the 'pet pal' skill and such - considering bubbles preview I'm sure there'll be a lot more of that.

 

[Drowed]

I'm not expecting D:OS2 to win any writing awards (I sure hope they do though) but I do hope it is more coherent than D:OS.

Hey, Fallout 3 won one, so, why not?

Spoiler

 

[Fry]

After reading the dialogue in the previews, I'd take Bubble's opinion with two grains of salt.

Silence, heretic. Saint Avellone blessed it. Obviously it will be genius.

 

[Kev Inkline]

I'm not expecting D:OS2 to win any writing awards (I sure hope they do though) but I do hope it is more coherent than D:OS.

Hey, Fallout 3 won one, so, why not?

Spoiler

Why'd you make me click on that? I had forgotten already.
...

2016 Lifetime Achievement Winner

Todd Howard

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and games as a whole.

...

I'm sure he had an idelible impact. But it raises a question, which way?

EDIT: ok, had some masochistic pleasure checking them out:

story awards:
ME2>FNV
HL2>KotorII

 

[Zeriel]

After reading the dialogue in the previews, I'd take Bubble's opinion with two grains of salt.

To be fair, I don't think, word for word, the writing in D:OS is actually "bad". Structurally the way the story is presented in the game has a number of problems, but I think the main gripe people have is the tone. In D:OS 2 the tone is clearly different.

 

[Sacred82]

After reading the dialogue in the previews, I'd take Bubble's opinion with two grains of salt.

To be fair, I don't think, word for word, the writing in D:OS is actually "bad". Structurally the way the story is presented in the game has a number of problems, but I think the main gripe people have is the tone. In D:OS 2 the tone is clearly different.

No, it's really the habitus. I think Larian can write ok dialogue for [Mystic] [Jester] tags, but more serious stuff (like the PC calming that little girl in the preview area) still is cringeworthy

 

[Kem0sabe]

To be fair, I don't think, word for word, the writing in D:OS is actually "bad". Structurally the way the story is presented in the game has a number of problems, but I think the main gripe people have is the tone. In D:OS 2 the tone is clearly different.

It's uterly Mediocre.

 

[tuluse]

After reading the dialogue in the previews, I'd take Bubble's opinion with two grains of salt.

To be fair, I don't think, word for word, the writing in D:OS is actually "bad". Structurally the way the story is presented in the game has a number of problems, but I think the main gripe people have is the tone. In D:OS 2 the tone is clearly different.

No it's bad, there's almost no actually interesting scenarios with which to interact with. I didn't care about a single character in the entire game except the cheese salesman (ok the cat was amusing too).

The tone wasn't the problem, light hearted fun is fine but you still need a reason to go do things other than "I guess this is the next quest".

 

[Drowed]

I would say that the main problem is that the characters were simply not very interesting. The most recurring character in the game is Arhu, and although he's "kinda"/vaguely interesting, it's far from enough.

The companions aren't really charismatic and the game doesn't have a villain with a strong presence, Leandra is extremely bland.

Spoiler

Her quest for "peaceful non-existence" because she was kicked by her 'not-boyfriend' who preferred her sister... It's a bit too much.

I mean, what a poor motivation for a villain. If you don't care about your teammates and don't care about the villain, what is left? (The setting and fun atmosphere, essentially the humor, I would say; that is what makes me enjoy the game anyway. But I recognize that this doesn't make it a well-written game.)

With the existence of the "origins", the companions apparently will have more weight and more personality, which can make them more interesting. If in addition to it D:OS2 get a good antagonist, I believe that it can make all the difference.

 

[The Bishop]

Yeah, D:OS story is just bad, with different style being probably its only saving grace, not a gripe. It's an unfocused mess that doesn't know what kind of story it wants to be, it doesn't build towards anything, it just goes on and on and then it ends. And then it's full of characters that feel like the only reason for their existence is to waste your time. At some point I just started spamming '1' through every dialogue, and the thing is, in D:OS you can get by just fine by doing this, which is not a good sign for any RPG.

Speaking of tone, I really don't mind what I'm seeing at those screenshots. Because nothing in there indicates that all those dialogues amount to nothing but pointless drivel, like they did in the original.

 

[Xzylvador]

There's nothing about romance, gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgenders in this entire article...

Are you certain this is an RPG?

 

[SausageInYourFace]

It's a small quibble, but I think their dialogue system would be vastly improved by just removing the asterisks. It's clear from context for everything except perhaps the NPCs text that these are actions, the asterisks just make the player feel like they're reading some teenager's RP chatlogs. Maybe that's just me, though. What does everyone else think?

*teleports behind you*

Seconded! I find the choice of indirect dialogue interesting but the asteriks make me too much aware of the artificiality of it. In addition with the square brackets it looks like some kind of computer code, its rather unimmersive.

 

[Roguey]

There's nothing about romance, gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgenders in this entire article...

Are you certain this is an RPG?

Not relevant to the Codex's interests, but Divinity Original Sin and previous Divinity games had all those things, so I don't doubt they'll be in this one too.

 

[vivec]

You might be missing the point though.

Tell me!

Really? You even read the article?

Funny. But I did. And no amount of plugging can convince me that the Larian is going to make that miracle work. I guess we will find out at the time when the game comes out. Until then, I will have those prejudices of mine with fries, thank you.

DISCLAIMER: I backed the DOS2 kickstarter. I actually *liked* the gameplay of DOS, but never finished it.

 

[Drowed]

Funny. But I did. And no amount of plugging can convince me that the Larian is going to make that miracle work. I guess we will find out at the time when the game comes out. Until then, I will have those prejudices of mine with fries, thank you.

Well, that's great, but that wasn't the point. I mean, it makes sense that you would suspect the ability of writers, especially taking into account not just D:OS, but all the Divinity series - I'm not saying you're wrong or anything. The point is that your post was "disjointed" in the context of article, like you didn't read it. That's why you had the answer you had. If you had responded to that post by adding something like "bullshit, I do not believe that" to bubbles's comments, the answer would be different.

---

Oh, and in other news:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-2/posts/1667422

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

light hearted fun is fine

No it's not.

 

[Kem0sabe]

No fun allowed...