Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Anyone play Divinty 1?)

[pjknibbs]

I know what you mean about the environments... It reminds me of that old game from the team that did Dishonoured... Something Magick?

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic? That was really more of an FPS than an RPG, so you always knew a fight was going to start because there was *always* a fight starting--the environmental kill opportunities were incidental. And I don't think the same thing applies here--for example, the fight I mentioned earlier in the Blackpits takes place in a location where the only environmental things are a couple of barrels, and those are *everywhere*; the entire screen got filled with fire due to monsters spawning who leave oil puddles, which then got ignited, not because of any particular environmental factors in the area.

The witch and dog fight, yes, there's likely to be a fight there because you're opening a mysterious sarcophagus, but again, there are no environmental things in the area--you add those yourself with your spells.

[Morkonan]

Anyone ever play Dungeon Master on the Atari ST?

I played it on the PC, if it's the same game. I do recall something being in it that was like that, but I don't remember what it was.

[Mightysword]

I didn't find those dogs were one-hit kills for me? Mind you, I did that fight when I was level 15 or 16 ...

I did that fight when I was around 12 or 13 ... much cheese was ordered.

Oh, and the secret of not getting hurt by environmental effects is simply to not run through them. You get the effect re-applied every step, it seems, and that will burn through your magic armour and your health pretty darned quickly,

Like I said I don't have problem with it in that regard. Fire does little damage to me and my guys. It's just the frequency and how easy the whole field go up in flame that bother me. Oh and I don't walk around, I have so many teleport spells/ability that I rarely ever walk in battle.

but the quests are still about a hundred times more connected than your Skyrims or your Fallout 4s.

I'm not sure ... that's not how I feel ... another glaring example I have right now is how the narrative of the MAIN storyline connect to your companion.

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You know how the story have your god ranting about you have to be a one man army because it's every men for himself, and how you have to tremble on your companion because they are receiving the same message from their gods anyway, and you're all Godwoken but there can only be one god ...etc... Now that narrative make sense if the members come from different races ... but my party have 3 humans and an elf, and Sebile already denounce her god anyway. So, this poses several inconsistency:

- Am I the only one he talked to? Can't be because the narrative is pretty clear several times that all members are Godwoken and had talked to their respective God.
- Is he making the same speech to all 3 of us? Which goes beyond stupid because why the hell he keeps actively insisting his 3 chosen to abandon or trounce each others?
- And the worst part is even your companion in their dialogue note no consistency, as if they have been talking to a "different god".

And like I said, I only mention some here, I notice this more and more as the game goes on. I would say not even Skyrim has this level of "inconsistency".

[Rug]

I am unbelievably bad at this game ... But I love it ! Is there a simple guide to how to choose stuff when leveling up ? I think I'm just making a crazy mishmash...

Rug

[pjknibbs]

The way I've been levelling up is to generally put one attribute point into Constitution, and the other into whatever stat is most suitable for the character--so Finesse for archers, Intelligence wizards, and Strength fighters. On occasion I will put a point into Memory if I need some extra skill slots, and now I'm up around level 17 I'm thinking about putting some into Wits to help my initiative (which is quite low), but I've been fine without those points so far. I think my Red Prince has 30 strength, 30 Con, and around 3200 hit points, so his survivability is pretty darned good!

As for skills, again I tend to concentrate on skills specific to my build (Ranged for archers etc). My mages each have two magic skills so they have a reasonable chance of having *something* that can cut through enemy reistances. It's worked up till now, playing on Classic difficulty--I suspect you'd have to be a bit more focused on higher difficulties.

[Mightysword]

I have my main stat lead by 6 points while Constitution and Wit are equal followed by memorization per demand. Remember Wit is not only about Initiative, but it's a flat out +1% crit chance per point, which is extremely good return for your point. My main (a 2H War) actually have Wit higher than his Cons, and he crit very often.

Skill wise I pump into the main skill to about 8 then start spreading the point to other skills, I tried to put 2 points in skill that I think useful. The trade off for 10% damage from main skill in return for a more versatile skill pool is worth it IMO.

[pjknibbs]

Some skills do benefit from extra points--for instance, the Summoning skill, because the Incarnate you summon at level 10 or higher is a Champion and is thus tougher and hits harder. So, worth checking your abilities to see if any specify they do something different at high skill levels!

[Rug]

Thanks for the pointers. I'm still in the Driftwood section, so I can hop out to the Lady Vengeance and twiddle about with the characters. It's not too late after all

Rug

P.S. 40 hours in and Ive only just looked at what to use the backpack for! And just found Han on the Vengeance will nip off and get me stuff that I need - good fellow. It's as well nobody watches me play this ...

[Jericho]

My biggest issue with the game is one of my own making... I'm a completionist, I like to experience EVERYTHING that a game has to offer. So I ruin games like Dragon Age Inquisition for myself as I explore every rock.

I really forget that I can play through another time next year and choose a different path.

So I'm really trying with this game, to not worry about some of those quests that I haven't completed... I'll get them in 2019 when I next play the game (e.g. I never found that woman's missing daughter in Fort Joy... But I've still got her dolly. Why?)

[Mightysword]

(e.g. I never found that woman's missing daughter in Fort Joy... But I've still got her dolly. Why?)

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That quest can be finished by talking to the man next to her then talk to her again informing her daughter is death. So either it's meant to be that way, a mother disillusion about the daughter death, or never explore further

[pjknibbs]

Just encountered a weird bug--just arrived in Arx, visited the harbour, and after doing that the entire map is revealed? Even the bits around the edges that are actually the underground and indoors sections! Most odd.

Oh, and you can definitely tell this is an old school RPG, because the difficulty curve is backwards. I really struggled to get through some of the fights on Fort Joy and Driftwood, but now I'm level 19 I'm pretty much curbstomping anything I encounter.

[Morkonan]

I guess I should get this game. I'm currently devoting a lot of enthusiastic time to playing the Warband mod "Prophesy of Pendor." So, it'll be a little bit.

What sort of multiplayer options does this new version have? I know the previous one had some, but I really don't know what they were like. Ideally, it would be like one of the older D&D RPGs, where a friend could play one of the party's characters as you both progressed through the game's story.

If that's the case, it'd be a good game for me and a friend of mine. (Will prob have to use Xbox, but it's better than nothing, as long as the mp bugs are worked out.)

[Mightysword]

Oh, and you can definitely tell this is an old school RPG, because the difficulty curve is backwards. I really struggled to get through some of the fights on Fort Joy and Driftwood, but now I'm level 19 I'm pretty much curbstomping anything I encounter.

I'm on the Nameless Isle now and I feel the same. Lvl18 and inside the academy. I figured out an extremely simply and effective method to win most fight. Don't even need positioning, just cast the Source elemental shield on your party and literally there is nothing that can hurt you.

[pjknibbs]

What sort of multiplayer options does this new version have? I know the previous one had some, but I really don't know what they were like. Ideally, it would be like one of the older D&D RPGs, where a friend could play one of the party's characters as you both progressed through the game's story.

You have a party of up to four characters, any of whom can be player controlled--so you could have up to three friends join you. With just two players you would have each player's own rolled character, then each player can also take control of a recruited party member during fights (you just attach the NPC to your character and he will automatically be under your control). That two-player approach is pretty much exactly how the first game worked, so if you've played that you have an idea what to expect--although note they've removed the odd rock, paper scissors dialogue interaction from the first game.

@Morkonan: I don't have the shield skill, and from the sounds of it I wouldn't use it if I did--there's only so much cheese I can take at one sitting . Between magic armour regen, physical armour regen, and healing, there's not much that can touch me anyway!

[Mightysword]

@Morkonan: I don't have the shield skill, and from the sounds of it I wouldn't use it if I did--there's only so much cheese I can take at one sitting . Between magic armour regen, physical armour regen, and healing, there's not much that can touch me anyway!

I assume that was at me

It's the Dome of Protection, the default lvl1 Source Skill that came with my PC so I assume it's there, at least if you use a Customized PC (kinda like Losh's Mad and Ifran's wolf summon). Cost 1AP and 1 Source point.

Right now: it restores 763Amour and 763Shield per turn for 5 turns, as well as reduce elemental damage inside the Dome. If I also cast regens on my char in there ... yeah, I might as well turn on God Mode.

[Morkonan]

You have a party of up to four characters, any of whom can be player controlled--so you could have up to three friends join you. With just two players you would have each player's own rolled character, then each player can also take control of a recruited party member during fights (you just attach the NPC to your character and he will automatically be under your control). That two-player approach is pretty much exactly how the first game worked, so if you've played that you have an idea what to expect--although note they've removed the odd rock, paper scissors dialogue interaction from the first game...

Thanks! It's a definite buy, then. I've been looking for an old-school party-based RPG, anyway.

One note: In exploring this, it appears that player-progression is host-based, so the hosting player's game progresses while the remote player's game doesn't. That's no big deal and might actually be a good thing, since it allows for multiple paythroughs. (I'll have to see how different they can be.)

[pjknibbs]

OK, I may have spoken too soon when I said the fights were getting a bit easy--that was before I paid a visit to the Horrorsleep dimension:

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You get to fight three characters you've met before, all level 20 and who have all sorts of ways to send your characters mad or charmed once they've whittled away your magic armour--which they'll do in about 2 turns. Only, it isn't them you're supposed to be fighting, because if you kill one they just respawn as if brand new. No, what you're *actually* supposed to be killing are the eight or so magic mirrors around the arena that are summoning the nasty dudes.

Now, these mirrors only have 36 hit points, so they ought to be easy, right? Except, if you examine them, you see they're immune to almost everything, and only take 2% from physical and Earth magic attacks--so you need to hit them with 1800 damage of one of those two types to destroy them. All while being attacked by the three level 20 dudes.

I'm getting destroyed at level 19, so I'm going to go away and do other stuff, get a level or two and maybe some improved equipment, before I try that again.

[pjknibbs]

OK, finished the game now. I have a bit of a Far Cry 3 flashback going on here, because you get to make a choice at the end and it isn't at all obvious what the consequences of that choice will be--so I chose what I thought was right and ended up getting the bad ending! Since the game developers chose not to put an autosave in before you make that choice, something I consider to be a very poor design decision, I would have to re-fight the final fight in order to make a different selection, and since it took me four attempts to get through that one the first time, I think I'll probably pass.

There's a potential for replaying the entire game at some point--I never got through Beast or Sebille's questlines, and there are a number of skills I didn't really develop enough to get a feel for--but I don't think I'll be doing that immediately.

Oh, and the entire playthrough was 94 hours, according to Steam.