Recommended Posts

 

So, this game's out now, and despite the not great name, it seems pretty cool. I hadn't followed the kickstarter, but after reading some impressions of it and hearing it favorably compared to old cRPGs, I decided to check it out. So far it seems reasonably well written, nicely open-ended, and full of insane side content (I helped a talking clam find his way back into the ocean, investigated a set of evil talking statues, and helped a group of unemployed pirates find work). I'm a bit worried that the game's difficulty will destroy me later on, and that I'll build my characters in a way that is stupid and totally wreck their viability in the later game, but for now, it seems pretty fun.

 

Is anyone else playing it? Thoughts? 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm playing and enjoying it quite a bit. I bought it during the Summer sale to play with a friend (it was still in early access at the time), but we quickly realized this kind of game doesn't work in co-op very well. Too hard to keep track of everything when you're always splitting up, too easy to just go "I don't want to make the other person wait" and skip through the dialogue too fast, etc.

Also FWIW I looked it up last night because I was similarly worried, and you eventually open up a respec option (but only for your two main characters).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This seems like it will be big! I liked the original Divine Divinity (even worse a name!), but the sequels didn't seem interesting enough to play. They seem to have gone back to the roots and even improved on the original from what i've seen of Original Sin. But why I haven't gotten it so far is that from the videos I've seen it looks more like a game geared towards co-op than single player and I don't think I'll find anyone to play through the whole game with. Or is that a wrong impression and it's perfectly fine as single player?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been enjoying the heck out of this although the cost on skill books is making me super paranoid about my choices early in. Gorgeous, old-school and fun so far though.

Plus opening containers gives you a container window shaped like the thing you opened which is awesome.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you're willing to be a dirty thief, you get so much money by running around stealing paintings that the cost of skill books is not a problem at all. I'm willing to be a dirty thief. I also rolled a rogue so I am more than able to get anywhere I want by using my GO INVISIBLE skill. :3

 

The one thing I will say is it's hard to be a melee rogue in combat. I've recently started using a bow and I seem to be a lot more effective, because I have access to all those different magic arrows now. A little disappointing, but I'm coping.

 

Erkki: You can play co-op but... we didn't like it much and so me and my friend (who bought the double-pack with me) decided to just play on our own. The trailers advertise the co-op, but you definitely don't need to. All it does is split up control of the party. In single-player you'll still have just as many party members as you would in co-op. They are basically the same game, except co-op is a whole lot harder to manage because nobody knows what the other person is doing. Which I just realized I said in my last post. Whoops.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been really stressed about how to spend ability points. I'd like to give my Ranger some skills in lockpicking/pickpocketing/whatever, but will that leave my main weapon skills underpowered? Character building is the one part of this game that I'm not totally loving because I'm pretty sure I'm going to screw things up (though it is good to know you can respec later).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think I'm going to hire some fool (which you can also do relatively early on) and just make him/her my crafter. I haven't touched crafting at all so far. I unfortunately put some points into crafting on my knight because I didn't realize how the ability system worked. I thought the "next level" of, say, Man-at-Arms would just unlock at some point. But you actually need two ability points to go from level 1 to level 2 (and probably three to go from 2 to 3, etc.). So instead of saving up on points, I threw them in random skills assuming I wouldn't need them later. ):

 

...Also, I don't even know HOW to craft. So I guess I'll have to look that up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I liked playing Divinity Dragon commander enough to go back and pick up Divine Divinity (and the rest of the Divinity package.) Assuming those are fun, I'll pick this up in a few months.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I almost got Dragon Commander, as well, during the sale, but decided to hold off on it. They're pretty different games, though, AFAIK? I mean, even taking out the Dragon with a Jetpack nonsense.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, the technology and general world style are what attracted me. So far in Divine Divinity they don't seem very similar in those ways either unfortunately, but I'm still having fun at least.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Can someone describe how the turn-based combat works for this? And how it works when playing co-op?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've recently started playing this, and have been digging it as well. Pretty robust systems at first glance. A stealth system grays the world except for the eyeline of guards. 

 

For combat, your characters have X movement points to spend a turn, and they can be carried over to the next turn. Distance moving uses a proportional amount. Different attacks/moves have different costs. Order of action is determined by an initiative score. Wasteland 2 works basically the same way, if you played that beta. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I bought this on a whim, and god damn I'm impressed. It's such a weird game, but it's fantastic.I really love this kind of game despite never really getting into Baldur's Gate, so I'm really happy that a bunch of these are getting kickstarted now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I bought this game over the weekend.  I rationalised by saying that if I don't support RPGs at full price, then they are less likely to come out in the future.  Normally I wait for a bundle/holiday steam sale, but there you go.  

 

I greatly enjoyed naming the male and female protagonists after myself and my wife, and enjoyed more encouraging romance (and also bickering).  So far - and I am not very far - I have enjoyed it, and my brain has started exploding with the potential depth that has been hinted at all of the side areas, and benefits of exploring, and the possibilities inherent in the systems that I have been introduced to.  I don't know yet how well this will correspond to the actual depth of the game, but thus far - impressed.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Can someone describe how the turn-based combat works for this? And how it works when playing co-op?

I can't speak for co-op, but the battle system is utterly normal. Think Fallout. There's a lot of depth to the skills and how they interact though, like making someone wet makes it easier to shoot them with lightning and the like.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think this vid does a really good job of explaining what this game is about, how it works and what you should expect from it. And it's got gamewank Jim so it's dead funny.

 

 

Desperate to play Divinity now. I'm poor or I'd throw down my 30 notes right this second

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Desperate to play Divinity now. I'm poor or I'd throw down my 30 notes right this second

 

I'm watching the Giant Bomb quick look. 

 

This is my exact reaction as well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've sunk nearly 60 hours into this game...

 

I don't know what's happened to me. It's incredible. I don't play games like this anymore. This is the power of being unemployed I guess.

 

Also it's really good. I love the combat. Pew pew poison plus fire BOOM. The combat is really fun. Love the interactions of all the magic types. Also I just got a summon spell to create a walking bomb. It's rad.

 

I think I'm almost done with the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've also been playing this game. I am a big fan of oldschool crpgs, and this sure is one of those, all the way. A crpg-ass crpg. I am really enjoying it, I like the combat a lot, and there is enough there in the setting and dialogue to keep me going. So to be clear, I like it and think it is a good game. With that out of the way I am going to proceed to talk about the parts I don't like, or at least think could be better.


 


The biggest (and really, only but its big) complaint I have is about the writing. The setting and main story is just standard fantasy stuff, nothing to see there. That is fine -- being different with that stuff, say like, Planescape Torment (my favorite game) would be better, but a generic fantasy crpg will work just fine -- baldur's gate (2) is pretty generic, and is also one of my favorite games. Where BG2 excelled, and I think Divinity: OS falls flat, is the character writing. I don't like how the main characters are written at all, especially in situations where they are talking to each other. The dialogue options are things no person would ever say, and I have to choose one. The tone of their writing is inconsistent, sometimes they are written as just regular adventurers, sometimes they are written as sappy romantic stories, sometimes as comedy. If it were just some characters that picked one of those and stuck with it, I would have less of a problem, but between the main character's writing not being great, and the tonal inconsistencies, I am not getting anything out of their characters.


 


Anyway this game is pretty great.


 


e: for some reason, this entire post is indented, and it appears that other posts are not. very strange.


Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The biggest (and really, only but its big) complaint I have is about the writing. The setting and main story is just standard fantasy stuff, nothing to see there. That is fine -- being different with that stuff, say like, Planescape Torment (my favorite game) would be better, but a generic fantasy crpg will work just fine -- baldur's gate (2) is pretty generic, and is also one of my favorite games. Where BG2 excelled, and I think Divinity: OS falls flat, is the character writing. I don't like how the main characters are written at all, especially in situations where they are talking to each other. The dialogue options are things no person would ever say, and I have to choose one. The tone of their writing is inconsistent, sometimes they are written as just regular adventurers, sometimes they are written as sappy romantic stories, sometimes as comedy. If it were just some characters that picked one of those and stuck with it, I would have less of a problem, but between the main character's writing not being great, and the tonal inconsi

 

I felt the same way until I read an RPS (I think?) article that compared the inconsistency in the game's writing to playing D&D with a group of friends whose sense of humor undermines the seriousness of the game. I do feel like some of the goofier moments make it harder to take the game seriously, but that sort of has made me enjoy it more (because really, who cares about the big ultimate evil threatening the land when you can talk to dogs and find out why those statues are convincing people that they can fly?).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I felt the same way until I read an RPS (I think?) article that compared the inconsistency in the game's writing to playing D&D with a group of friends whose sense of humor undermines the seriousness of the game. I do feel like some of the goofier moments make it harder to take the game seriously, but that sort of has made me enjoy it more (because really, who cares about the big ultimate evil threatening the land when you can talk to dogs and find out why those statues are convincing people that they can fly?).

 

My problem isn't' with it being goofy, its more that it doesn't commit to its tone, but instead tries to tell a serious fantasy story and at the same time be goofy. That can be done, I think, but for me I don't think this game succeeds, so it's tone just feels confused. Some of it is genuinely funny, but the overall tone just feels like there were 2+ conflicting goals in the writing that were never really reconsiled.

 

I didn't' consider the analog to real life D&D, but in this case I am not looking for that experience, especially as I am playing this single player. I think were I playing it multiplayer/coop it would likely work better. Perhaps some people do like that aspect, but I think it detracts from the game. Which I still really like, regardless.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Forgot to post in here after I beat it. I don't really have much else to say, but I want to express MY biggest complaints with the game.

 

UI! Inventory management is incredibly tedious and annoying. Crafting becomes a chore because there's no reasonable way to organize things and so sometimes you end up dragging something from the bottom of your billion-row backpack to the top so you can craft a potion. I'm exaggerating, but it's annoying anyway. Luckily, crafting is largely unnecessary, so I just stopped doing it except for health potions.

 

Moving stuff around on skill bars is a pain, too, but at least I did that way less. I would've liked an option to temporarily (or permanently! this is a crpg let me have all the ridiculous numbers and stats on screen as I want at all times) open up all three skillbars for ease of access. I think the big patch they delivered LITERALLY IMMEDIATELYA FTER I FINISHED THE GAME added two more bars, plus hot keys to scroll through them, so maybe that would've been enough had it been present prior. Either way, sometiems I just wanted to play the game exclusively with my mouse and it wasn't built for that. I mean, fair enough I guess. Still.

 

But here's my number one complaint. ARE YOU READY? Clicking on enemies fucking sucks. It's based on their actual model, instead of, say, a circle on the ground (this would have been ideal!). And they have animations, of course, because they should, this is a video game. But if they happen to go into one of their weird overexaggerated animations while you're thinking about stuff and then you decide "yes, I'm going to do that after all!" and click just as the human enemy's torso leans excessively forward... you end up clicking to move, instead of clicking to attack. This is especially annoying if you've got the bonus to backstab damage trait, because now you've got to move back and you've wasted an entire potential attack to do so. Blargh.

 

The writing is definitely average at best. It trends toward bad when trying to be serious, and good when not. I think there's also a lot of bugs with the interaction between the two main characters. Sometimes I'd make a choice with one, and the other's choices would both AGREE with the choice made by the first. I'm pretty sure it's always supposed to offer a choice to agree and a choice to disagree for every single one of those little interactions. It's like they got mixed up, grabbing both the "yeah let him steal the fish" choices instead of one of those and one of the "don't steal" choices, for example. The other problem with the writing is that everything's incredibly black and white with your main heroes. Often enough, the choices offered are not choices I would like to make. But I accept that as they are supposed to be good guys in the end, no matter how they go about it.

 

I guess I lied. I had a lot more to say. But... despite all that, I fucking loved the game. I'm just better at complaining than I am at praising, I guess.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I guess I lied. I had a lot more to say. But... despite all that, I fucking loved the game. I'm just better at complaining than I am at praising, I guess.

 

Me too. I've mostly just complained but I am loving the game. Also you need to play Baldur's Gate 2 now. 

 

Also I mostly agree with your complaints. Clicking on the model sucks, ive made mistakes because of that. I didnt' realize the patch added more skill bars though, thats great.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Forgot to post in here after I beat it. I don't really have much else to say, but I want to express MY biggest complaints with the game.

 

UI! Inventory management is incredibly tedious and annoying. Crafting becomes a chore because there's no reasonable way to organize things and so sometimes you end up dragging something from the bottom of your billion-row backpack to the top so you can craft a potion. I'm exaggerating, but it's annoying anyway. Luckily, crafting is largely unnecessary, so I just stopped doing it except for health potions.

 

Moving stuff around on skill bars is a pain, too, but at least I did that way less. I would've liked an option to temporarily (or permanently! this is a crpg let me have all the ridiculous numbers and stats on screen as I want at all times) open up all three skillbars for ease of access. I think the big patch they delivered LITERALLY IMMEDIATELYA FTER I FINISHED THE GAME added two more bars, plus hot keys to scroll through them, so maybe that would've been enough had it been present prior. Either way, sometiems I just wanted to play the game exclusively with my mouse and it wasn't built for that. I mean, fair enough I guess. Still.

 

But here's my number one complaint. ARE YOU READY? Clicking on enemies fucking sucks. It's based on their actual model, instead of, say, a circle on the ground (this would have been ideal!). And they have animations, of course, because they should, this is a video game. But if they happen to go into one of their weird overexaggerated animations while you're thinking about stuff and then you decide "yes, I'm going to do that after all!" and click just as the human enemy's torso leans excessively forward... you end up clicking to move, instead of clicking to attack. This is especially annoying if you've got the bonus to backstab damage trait, because now you've got to move back and you've wasted an entire potential attack to do so. Blargh.

 

The writing is definitely average at best. It trends toward bad when trying to be serious, and good when not. I think there's also a lot of bugs with the interaction between the two main characters. Sometimes I'd make a choice with one, and the other's choices would both AGREE with the choice made by the first. I'm pretty sure it's always supposed to offer a choice to agree and a choice to disagree for every single one of those little interactions. It's like they got mixed up, grabbing both the "yeah let him steal the fish" choices instead of one of those and one of the "don't steal" choices, for example. The other problem with the writing is that everything's incredibly black and white with your main heroes. Often enough, the choices offered are not choices I would like to make. But I accept that as they are supposed to be good guys in the end, no matter how they go about it.

 

I guess I lied. I had a lot more to say. But... despite all that, I fucking loved the game. I'm just better at complaining than I am at praising, I guess.

 

On the topic of inventory management: The most annoying part of this game for me so far is when I pick up a key with one of my characters and forget which one of them is holding it when I eventually find the door it opens (or when one of my characters is holding an item needed to complete a quest, but you can't turn it in because that character isn't the one talking to the quest giver).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just bit the bullet and bought this game today after seeing the Giant Bomb quick look on it. I have a horrible habit of quitting games halfway through but hopefully this one will keep me entertained long enough to see it to the end (or at least a decent chunk of it). I really like the minimal handholding vibe that I'm getting, one of my favorite games of all time is Morrowind, which seems to have at least a similar style of questing, in that you have to remember the bits and pieces to work out the next step. 

 

Also worried that I'll start and find out that I fucked myself with character creation, been reading up on it to give me an idea but don't want to straight min/max the "optimal" build.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now