Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Divinity: Original Sin 2

[Naraya]

Solid review, thanks. Additional points for mentioning the glory of GW <3

 

[Israfael]

So, in the TL;DR gist of it, it's either Divinity: "Git Gud" Edition or Divinity: "Can't see 3 turns ahead" Edition. It's actually hilarious how it's the same problem that arose when Diablo 3 came out (probabalistic Armor/AR combo vs pure DPS/eHP), or nuXcom (all the boardgame crap), but in this case I don't really care since I never played DOS1, and I played a lot of WoW raiding and pvp (and that's what combat reminds me off - anticipate the moves and counter them. If it weren't deterministic, it'd be very ineffective and virtually impossible to do). Not sure how tactikool difficulty can be 'autistically impossible', all the hard fights were on the Schutzstuffel Island which you already passed. Acts II, III and IV are basically a steamroll even if you do the zones in a reversed way like I did (mines at two levels below the intended level - that's what I remember the most about the game, and I can't say I did not enjoy the challenge (and I was fully aware that I created the difficulties myself).

 

[Blaine]

Hard-hitting critic and teleportation enthusiast Darth Roxor does it again.

I lost the will to continue playing D:OS2 right around the time someone explained to me how the initiative system worked, just a few hours into the game. I'd only participated in a few simple combats by then, but since I was playing a ranger, even those few were enough to alert me to the retarded "armor confers debuff immunity" system.

At the moment I can't recall who reassured me that the problems with D:OS2's combat weren't that bad, but once I do, they're going directly onto my "disregard this person's opinions always" .txt.

 

[Roguey]

Shields Up Swen has read the review and disagrees with its assessment.
https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/971433328078413824

Proud of D:OS 2 so I disagree with most of it. But you can’t create without making mistakes/compromises so there’s room for improvement.

Larian's games aren't going to cost less to make any time soon so this is what they're doing now.

 

[Blaine]

That's going to be my go-to rebuttal from now on.

"Blaine, you're an incorrigible chronic shitposter, you're tactless and abrasive to your own detriment, and on balance you add nothing of value to the community."

"Proud of myself and I disagree with most of that."

 

[Valky]

Shields Up Swen has read the review and disagrees with its assessment.

Proud of D:OS 2 so I disagree with most of it. But you can’t create without making mistakes/compromises so there’s room for improvement.

Larian's games aren't going to cost less to make any time soon so this is what they're doing now.

The shitty armor system even gave Swen protection against 'dex criticism.

 

[Tigranes]

What's he going to say, "yeah, I thought our game was pretty good, but now I realise it is total shitballs"?

 

[Ninjerk]

"My farts smell pretty good, actually."

 

[Lambinou]

What's he going to say, "yeah, I thought our game was pretty good, but now I realise it is total shitballs"?

i would agree, he hasn't said anything specific, it sounds pretty much noncommital. I think even if he agreed completely it would be a bad move for him to say so, that would among other things be kind of like throwing the reputation of some of his employees under the bus.

Now that doesn't meanin itself anything will change for DOS2, but if they make different IP in the future, I have a small hope they can do a good combat system for one of those.

 

[Blaine]

Internal face-saving is one of the biggest problems in the entire industry.

Someone designed something and it's garbage? Can't fix it or even acknowledge that it's bad. Someone's feelings will be hurt.

 

[Sceptic]

That's going to be my go-to rebuttal from now on.

"Blaine, you're an incorrigible chronic shitposter, you're tactless and abrasive to your own detriment, and on balance you add nothing of value to the community."

"Proud of myself and I disagree with most of that."

You should add "but there's room for improvement" at the very end

Of course he disagrees with the review, it's the game that finally made them rich. One could try to argue that it would've still been a success even without the armour system, without the changes to the character progression, without the steep item scaling, with a different initiative system, etc, but trying to make the case for this will be an uphill battle.

 

[Blaine]

One could try to argue that it would've still been a success even without the armour system, without the changes to the character progression, without the steep item scaling, with a different initiative system, etc, but trying to make the case for this will be an uphill battle.

Well, yeah. They dumbed down the game mechanics and were rewarded for it.

That's been the basic success story of computer RPGs since the turn of the century.

 

[Nael]

I still can't believe you motherfuckers bothered to play D:OS2 after D:OS.

What a shit game. I admire that Belgian halfwit's enthusiasm though.

 

[Sacred82]

I still can't believe you motherfuckers bothered to play D:OS2 after D:OS.

What a shit game. I admire that Belgian halfwit's enthusiasm though.

D:OS2 is a clear example of lack of focus. Shit is out of control.

Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good. Single player, very complex multiplayer with GM mode, different background stories with in-game reactivity, destructible environments, lots of isometric turn-based combat, a classless character system with attributes, skills, abilities and talents in a 4 person party, lots of synergies between spells, slightly non-linear gameplay, a shitton of text and reactive dialogue, lore out the ass, puzzles, and a motherfucking editor, as if that had ever been a good idea that totally not backfired.

People still haven't realized in this day and age that a war on several fronts is not a good thing, apparently.

 

[Nael]

Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.

 

[Sacred82]

Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.

well yes that's the point isn't it. Every part is going to suffer from that individually, and a game made of a lot of shit parts is still shit, just very impressively so.

 

[Valky]

Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.

Not for lack of trying, with how much he sold out to the casual shitters with marketing the origin stories and narrative focus.

 

[Nael]

Swen seems to think he's the fucking RPG god, and that he can cram everything and the kitchen sink into his game and it'll still turn out good.

And he still couldn't manage to cram a story and setting into the game that resembled something beyond what a 5 year old, high on red Kool-Aid could come up with in an afternoon.

Not for lack of trying, with how much he sold out to the casual shitters with marketing the origin stories and narrative focus.

He should've just made a procedurally generated isometric roguelike with the systems they designed. It would've been infinitely more enjoyable. No story. Just... Run around and drop barrels on orc heads and light them on fire. I would've gladly shelled out cash for a sequel to that.

 

[Tigranes]

It's not "internal face-saving". In any company or team you don't respond on twitter to some random review saying "yeah our designer really fucked up there". It's about as basic as walking on two feet.

I don't really expect any more incline from larian, because as much as I like them, they have never really shown special talent in either (1) writing, or (2) gameplay mechanics with depth. Their strength has always been whimsical settings holding together decent/mediocre features, and with DOS1 they added some Ultima-inspired finagles to the formula - I think that's as good as it gets and that's not the worst it could be.

 

[Valky]

My only complaint that I experienced through my playthrough of Original Sin was that it wasn't very clear where to go after you finish the first map, because I was in the final map before I realized that I had missed the entire snow world and couldn't continue until I played it. Needless to say that whole reordering of gameplay segments led to what felt like pacing issues at the time.

 

[Blaine]

It's not "internal face-saving". In any company or team you don't respond on twitter to some random review saying "yeah our designer really fucked up there". It's about as basic as walking on two feet.

It's both. PR is one thing—but the internal housecleaning almost never happens, either.

Anyway, they don't need to worry about or respond to Codex reviews, because the only ones that matter in terms of making cash are the mainstream reviews. This is especially true since Codex reviews don't appear until weeks or months after release. Even Steam reviews have more impact than Codex reviews.

Still, many Codexers labor under the illusion that Codex reviews and/or Codexian opinions actually matter or make a difference.

 

[conan_edw]

While I agree with most of the criticism (Armour system and resistance, HP bloat, Initiative, Attributes, and Loot) I still enjoyed it more than anything that came out last year
Hopefully they realize some of these problems should be addressed and they are not what made the game a success.
Anyway waiting for the expansion

 

[Eyestabber]

What's he going to say, "yeah, I thought our game was pretty good, but now I realise it is total shitballs"?

Yes. That and committing sudoku would be a good start.

Not for lack of trying, with how much he sold out to the casual shitters with marketing the origin stories and narrative focus.

Which is something I always saw as a red flag. Tons of resources were poured into "improving writing" (whatever that means) which is a massive waste. You can't improve a talentless writer's work by shoving more money up his ass. They could've just ignored the "issue" and focused on their game's real strength: combat. Yet they always glossed over combat on the updates and now we know why...

He should've just made a procedurally generated isometric roguelike with the systems they designed. It would've been infinitely more enjoyable. No story. Just... Run around and drop barrels on orc heads and light them on fire. I would've gladly shelled out cash for a sequel to that.

Now there is an interesting idea. I read that after writing the above so...nice, I agree.

While I agree with most of the criticism (Armour system and resistance, HP bloat, Initiative, Attributes, and Loot) I still enjoyed it more than anything that came out last year
Hopefully they realize some of these problems should be addressed and they are not what made the game a success.
Anyway waiting for the expansion

So you realize the game is shit, but you can't wait to have MORE shit? Wow, 2017 gave us shit AND coprophiliac newfags it seems...

 

[conan_edw]

Well enjoying the better shit among shits seems plausible

 

[Darth Roxor]

Shields Up Swen has read the review

Wise of you to refresh your armours before posting this!