Divinity: Original Sin I & II

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I bought DoS a couple years back on PC and played through the 1st city. I stopped playing because some other game probably came up and I hate playing games at a computer desk. Then, the Enhanced Edition came out and I never went back because I was sorta stuck between starting over or continuing on. Anyways, I noticed DoS was on sale for $12 on PSN last week so I decided to check out how the PC version plays with a controller, which is pretty awesome as the complete and exact PS4 interface is used when just plugging in a PS4 controller, moving with an analog stick is so much better. Thus, I skipped buying it on PS4 and started anew on PC.

And, I'm LOVING IT, this is a real freaking RPG. The first game opens with a murder mystery, which alone is different. You have several different avenues to go about solving the murder. I decided to find the killer by stealing clothes from persons-of-interest and having the victim's dog smell them hoping to find the scent of his deceased owner. So, I stole some "smelly panties" that the dog found his owner's scent on solving the case and now I'm wearing them for a +1 Charisma bonus (that's exactly what RPGs are about!!!). Then, I put on a play to cause a distraction to steal a talking head. The questing is really open-ended like an RPG is supposed to be. And, there's a quest to get two cats together. The game so far is very pro-cat with some really hilarious lines and I'm loving that as I'm a huge cat person. Your first contact is a wizard that meets you in cat-form and doesn't miss an opportunity for a cat pun.

The combat is really good as well. It's basically a standard turn-based combat system where you have an amount of AP (action points) to use each turn for doing any combination of moving, attacking, skills, spells, etc. The most interesting part is how elements factor in like summoning rain where the enemies are, then sending an electric spell/arrow to electrify the water causing the enemies to become stunned. It's not that hard to do turn-based combat (looking at you JRPGs mainly), copy DnD basically (like DoS or XCOM) and make sure POSITIONING is important.

The only real downside to the game is the dreaded inventory management. I really don't see why this is a thing in any RPG, this should've been streamlined out of the genre at least a decade ago. Freaking DnD has you barely managing inventories, why this has become such a thing in video game RPGs is beyond me. You have your standard RPG looting getting loads of stuff you don't need/want, then selling all your shit for money to buy the few things you do want. Then, of course, you have the standard slow progression of armor/weapons where you get a daggers +3, boots +3, and all that jazz to replace all your +2 stuff that is garbage now. And you have to do this with all 4 characters in your party. There is some sharing of stuff that makes it ever-so-slightly more convenient, but not much. I'm willing to put up with it here because the game actually succeeds at important RPG stuff that most RPGs don't (yes, even Witcher 3).

Since Divinity: Original Sin II just came out for real real, I'd love to hear the improvements, changes, and little quest stories from anyone playing the game. I just watched like one video on the 2nd game so I really just know there's different races you can choose and that's about it. I'll be waiting for the PS4 release to play it anyways as my PC doesn't have a video card (I just got an AMD A-series APU) and I'm guessing my PC won't be good enough to play the sequel.

 

[Zhukov]

The armour system is cool. Too early to say if it's much of an improvement, but points for effort.

Yeah, I'm mildly miffed that they didn't fix the inventory system.

"Why yes developers, I love stopping to dole out potions across four separate inventories. It's fucking thrilling. Then I get to search back through those same increasingly cluttered multiple inventory screens when I need to find a particular item? Thank goodness! Condensing it all into a single sortable screen would be dumbing down. Convenience and respect for the player's time is for degenerate casuals."

I get that separate inventories are good for multiplayer, but why do I have to deal with them in single player?

And then of course there's the old RPG progression:

"This bow does 7-9 damage you say? Amazing! My current bow only does 5-8 damage! I shall replace it forthwith! Truly, only a True Gamer with a core as hard as mine could have solved this brain-tickler of character optimization. Thank goodness for Real RPGs with Real Depth!"

Hopefully they don't have the same mid-late scaling issues as the previous game where all the intricate combat mechanics and statuses become irrelevant compared to just clicking on an enemy to see what kind damage they are most susceptible to then just dumping a ton of it onto their bloated health bar.

 

[RedRockRun]

There's so much I need to catch up on. I still haven't played Pillars of Eternity. However I really do owe it to myself to play DoS 1 and 2 since Chris Avellone worked on the sequel.

 

[Dalisclock]

I know this is a stupid question but does one need to have played the older divinity games to get the most out of the DoS games? I probably own all of these games on GOG but haven't gotten around to playing any of them yet.

 

[Fallow]

DoS2 is a continuation, and in some ways an improvement over the original. I absolutely loved the original (though I ended up wayyyy too overpowered with my zombie rogue geomancer, putting out roughly 2k damage per daggers drawn and around 11 AP per turn).

I'm not sure about the armor system yet. I do like that they've turned down the excessive CC system from the first, but it imposes some pretty severe penalties for flexibility. It's no longer efficient to go half and half on physical and magic damage, you need to pick one and stick to it since you only want to go through one armor before dealing vitality damage.

Other than that, the charm is still present, and it's still the wonderful mix of serious and lighthearted fun that made the original such a success.

Oh, and the inventory system is about the same (but the quickbar is finally bigger).

 

[shrekfan246]

I know this is a stupid question but does one need to have played the older divinity games to get the most out of the DoS games? I probably own all of these games on GOG but haven't gotten around to playing any of them yet.

Nah.

If Original Sin II is like the first one, it'll have some small references to the other games, but they're set so far apart in the timeline of the in-game world that there's no direct connection. Original Sin is set hundreds of years before the original series of games, for example.

 

[meiam]

I'll probably play the second one soonish, but I really hope they changed the way effect that were summoned in battle persisted after fight. I played as water mage, so after every battle there was water puddle all over the place, which meant I couldn't move anywhere until they dried out cause the character would slip over them all the time. I ended up quitting the game 2/3 of the way trough because of how annoying that was.

 

[Baffle]

Enjoying number 2 so far, though quite keen to get out the first act as I played that a few times on the early release. Lizards are surprisingly posh. Having an undead party member seems a bit of a pain in terms of healing unless you have an entirely undead party (which Mrs B and I tried, but changed back for some reason I can't recall).

I'll probably play the second one soonish, but I really hope they changed the way effect that were summoned in battle persisted after fight.

They haven't. It is one of the more annoying features, that if you're on fire at the end of combat you remain so when time speeds up and you can't click heal quick enough.

 

[Imre Csete]

Sigh, all the great reviews are coming in while I can't play it for another few days.

I must know what happens with Jake this time!

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

And then of course there's the old RPG progression...

Yeah, you can totally link damage increase to character stats vs getting better weapons. Your characters are getting better using their sword vs their swords constantly getting better like a baseball play becoming a better hitter. Plus, as you level, you can increase the number of attacks per turn as well (like a ranger or monk in DnD). The Souls series is an example how to do it properly, you basically pick your weapon of choice and then you increase your scaling stat and upgrade your weapon vs constantly picking up slightly better versions. You can have unique weapons that give percentage chances to inflict statuses like burning or stunned to have looting yield something pretty cool for your character. Doing that fixes like 90% of RPGs including games like Borderlands as well.

I still haven't played Pillars of Eternity.

After watching Super Bunnyhop's glowing review of Pillars, I really have no interest in playing it honestly. The fact that the dialogue is so thick in lore/details is a turn off for me. Plus, the battle system seems like real-time system you need to constantly babysit (aka pause) sorta defeating the purpose of it being real-time as you sorta gotta go turn-by-turn anyways.

I played as water mage, so after every battle there was water puddle all over the place, which meant I couldn't move anywhere until they dried out cause the character would slip over them all the time.

I actually have 2 water mages right now (Jahan + my main character). What's the spell that leaves puddles? Rain doesn't leave puddles for example.

I must know what happens with Jake this time!

Haha, whatever it is it will be AWESOME.

 

[Zhukov]

Yeah, you can totally link damage increase to character stats vs getting better weapons. Your characters are getting better using their sword vs their swords constantly getting better like a baseball play becoming a better hitter. Plus, as you level, you can increase the number of attacks per turn as well (like a ranger or monk in DnD). The Souls series is an example how to do it properly, you basically pick your weapon of choice and then you increase your scaling stat and upgrade your weapon vs constantly picking up slightly better versions. You can have unique weapons that give percentage chances to inflict statuses like burning or stunned to have looting yield something pretty cool for your character. Doing that fixes like 90% of RPGs including games like Borderlands as well.

I always thought weapon choice in non-action RPGs should come down to preference, role and playstyle rather than incrementally increasing numbers.
- Spears could get mediocre damage but greater reach, allowing you to attack from behind an ally, and give you a free attack on a charging enemy.
- Knives are kind of shitty in most respects but are concealable and give you free attacks of opportunity if you're the one initiating combat.
- Swords can be used to parry and riposte.
- Maces have crummy reach but pierce armour.
- Halberds give an ability to trip or immobilize enemies with the hook.
- Some weapons can be thrown.
Etc etc.

What's the spell that leaves puddles? Rain doesn't leave puddles for example.

He mentioned slipping, so he's talking about ice surfaces, not water.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The only real downside to the game is the dreaded inventory management. I really don't see why this is a thing in any RPG, this should've been streamlined out of the genre at least a decade ago.

Yeah, I'm mildly miffed that they didn't fix the inventory system.

"Why yes developers, I love stopping to dole out potions across four separate inventories. It's fucking thrilling. Then I get to search back through those same increasingly cluttered multiple inventory screens when I need to find a particular item? Thank goodness! Condensing it all into a single sortable screen would be dumbing down. Convenience and respect for the player's time is for degenerate casuals."

You can thank Diablo for that load of shite. Although to be fair, D&D had a form of it earlier than that, although it wasn't nearly as bad as it is now.

Also, armor system actually came from the damage reduction system of D&D as well. It's a welcome addition though as long as it's not heading into crazy high numbers. Once again, D&D kept it small. Even 30 dmg reduction was seen as a lot.

 

[Fat Hippo]

I'm finally gonna start properly playing the second one on saturday when my brother has time and we can co-op it. From what I've played with it, it seems like they've made some sensible improvement to the systems to allow for more interesting build. But the first one is already a quite legendary game. I didn't finish it (it's looooooong) but got dozens of hours of enjoyment from it. I personally didn't like the writing that much but at worst it can be ignored, and the combat is superb.

 

[gigastar]

I know this is a stupid question but does one need to have played the older divinity games to get the most out of the DoS games? I probably own all of these games on GOG but haven't gotten around to playing any of them yet.

Not really no. The timeline is so long at this point that the events of the earlier timeline games (Dragon Commander) have already fallen out of even being a myth in universe.

As for stuff about the world, DOS1 and 2 include extensive fluff books with world info.

Yeah, I'm mildly miffed that they didn't fix the inventory system.

"Why yes developers, I love stopping to dole out potions across four separate inventories. It's fucking thrilling. Then I get to search back through those same increasingly cluttered multiple inventory screens when I need to find a particular item? Thank goodness! Condensing it all into a single sortable screen would be dumbing down. Convenience and respect for the player's time is for degenerate casuals."

I get that separate inventories are good for multiplayer, but why do I have to deal with them in single player?

First up, you got filter buttons if you dont want to deal with clutter.

Second, in single player you can use items directly from any characters inventory.

Hopefully they don't have the same mid-late scaling issues as the previous game where all the intricate combat mechanics and statuses become irrelevant compared to just clicking on an enemy to see what kind damage they are most susceptible to then just dumping a ton of it onto their bloated health bar.

Can confirm thats still a thing. Main difference from DOS1 now is that theyre more susceptible to status effects, all you need to do is bust their physical/magic armor.

And because it bears worth mentioning, the circumstances of some fights are just totally off the wall.

 

[Sonmi]

Extremely fun.

Tactician/Honour modes are broken though, instead of improving AI and playing with enemy placement as they did in DoS1, they simply bloated enemy stats absurdly, which, with the new armour system, means that combat has become extremely dull and formulaic on higher difficulties. I mean, the CC-fest that was DOS1's meta wasn't exactly fun or challenging either, but there has to be a proper in-between.

Also, despite all that time in Early Access, the game is still a buggy mess. Granted, it just came out though, so I'm going to cut it a bit of slack on that point.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I always thought weapon choice in non-action RPGs should come down to preference, role and playstyle rather than incrementally increasing numbers.
- Spears could get mediocre damage but greater reach, allowing you to attack from behind an ally, and give you a free attack on a charging enemy.
- Knives are kind of shitty in most respects but are concealable and give you free attacks of opportunity if you're the one initiating combat.
- Swords can be used to parry and riposte.
- Maces have crummy reach but pierce armour.
- Halberds give an ability to trip or immobilize enemies with the hook.
- Some weapons can be thrown.
Etc etc.

What's the spell that leaves puddles? Rain doesn't leave puddles for example.

He mentioned slipping, so he's talking about ice surfaces, not water.

The skills do that to some degree.

Puddles make you trip as well.

First up, you got filter buttons if you dont want to deal with clutter.

Second, in single player you can use items directly from any characters inventory.

And because it bears worth mentioning, the circumstances of some fights are just totally off the wall.

I'm just talking about the 1st game but the filters don't help that much and you can't use items directly any characters inventory. One of the main inventory issues in most RPGs has to do with constantly getting new slightly better weapons and armor that you must go through all the characters and equip all the slightly better shit you just got. You can link all the damage/defense increases to stat increases from leveling, then you're just replacing gear you find that gives better bonuses to skills/abilities/etc or just for cosmetic purposes. The Souls series actually does looting really well while requiring very little inventory management.

Care to describe one of those off the wall fights, preferably some wacky sidequest, as it'll be awhile before I get my hands on the 2nd game.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The freaking tombstones have been writing than most games...

-Here lies Catherine: 'I know; I was great.'

-Here lies Gregory, whose wife told him so.

-Here lies David, who ran from the reaper: 'You'll never catch me alive!'

-Here lies Whitney the Fancy Atheist. All dressed up and nowhere to go.

-Here lies Ana Matopia. Whoosh, bam, splat, and she was gone.

-Here lies Juan, whose lucky dice finally failed him.

-Here lies Joe, Cyseal's worst shoemaker. He never knew when something was afoot.

-Final resting place of Bree. Insert something cheesy.

-Here lies Roko. This is the last hole he filled.

-Here lies Cat Jones. Curiosity killed her after all.

-Here lies Lady Cordelia Crane, whose hats were nearly TOO fancy.

And I can't wait to dig into the sequel after watching a few reviews like this Gamespot review. These are legit RPGs that are rarely made nowadays.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I know this is a stupid question but does one need to have played the older divinity games to get the most out of the DoS games?

Not at all. There are a lot of references and recurring themes but D:OS can (and has been) played thoroughly without any prior exposure to the world of Rivellon. There are some nice little touches tho, like finding the Pyramids (a recurring game device for travel) seeing the formidable Death Knights (encountered in "Beyond Divinity") and that sort of thing. The games are all quite different too so you will not miss anything between games.

No one will be able to tell you this because Divinity 2 is the hardest game of all time. I seriously doubt a single person has completed it.

It wasn't that hard. I completed all except Beyond Divinity, and that because IIRC I may have gotten a bit bored, or not had the same level of investment as DD. DD, the first game was very good. It had so many little cool things, like the one bed that wasn't nailed down, you could carry in your backpack. It had the first appearance of the pyramids and when you get the Divine abilities in the endgame, they're really great. I think the random loot/armour sets got a bit tedious but it's par for the course in many RPGs.

Divinity 2 was very different. 3rd person, more like ARPG and the Dragon abilities were quite cool. The story worked well and I really liked the premise...starting as a Slayer, tasked with exterminating all dragon-kind, then becoming a Dragon Knight, the very thing you were previously sworn to fight. It's a little clunky but an enjoyable RPG nonetheless. I think the dragon-half of the game took over the later part of the game and the expansion/sequel, but I'd still give it a thumbs up.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I just paid for the services of a prostitute who then took off my clothes and tried to kill me by silencing my character so I had no weapons or spells. I had to bring the rest of my party up to the bedroom to win the fight.

Oh, and I this popped up on my Youtube, I can't wait to play Divinity 2 but I'm pretty sure I'll need a video card for that one.