Divinity: Original Sin 2

[Danimal]

I didn't see a topic for this, if there is one my bad.

As a backer I was given access to the Alpha last week, I believe you can also get this on Steam early access. I know there was a small group here that liked the first game. Even though there is not much to do in the alpha (there is a MP Arena combat mode) I can tell this game is going to be better than the original. Highly suggest keeping an eye on it.

[RobVarak]

I didn't see a topic for this, if there is one my bad.

As a backer I was given access to the Alpha last week, I believe you can also get this on Steam early access. I know there was a small group here that liked the first game. Even though there is not much to do in the alpha (there is a MP Arena combat mode) I can tell this game is going to be better than the original. Highly suggest keeping an eye on it.

Great news! My favorite RPG of the last several years.

[TCrouch]

Has anybody gotten into this since the Early Access last year? I'm about to pull the trigger on it at this point, but Divinity was something that was honestly a little too "hardcore" for me, as embarrassing as that is to say.

I'd like to be able to do some co-op with the wife, but I'm curious if this went even MORE hardcore than the original, or if they did the dreaded 'streamlining' with this one, which may actually end up working in my favor. I don't mind complicated systems, but it seemed like Divinity I was killing skeletons and doing fine, and suddenly I'd turn a corner and die in 1 hit. I get the idea of not holding a player's hand, but Divinity 1 seemed to punish me for exploring, which I wasn't a fan of.

So if anybody's tried DOS2, I'd love to hear some impressions on it.

[Danimal]

Has anybody gotten into this since the Early Access last year? I'm about to pull the trigger on it at this point, but Divinity was something that was honestly a little too "hardcore" for me, as embarrassing as that is to say.

I'd like to be able to do some co-op with the wife, but I'm curious if this went even MORE hardcore than the original, or if they did the dreaded 'streamlining' with this one, which may actually end up working in my favor. I don't mind complicated systems, but it seemed like Divinity I was killing skeletons and doing fine, and suddenly I'd turn a corner and die in 1 hit. I get the idea of not holding a player's hand, but Divinity 1 seemed to punish me for exploring, which I wasn't a fan of.

So if anybody's tried DOS2, I'd love to hear some impressions on it.

I've played it a bit, trying not to ruin the final release which is still on schedule for September 14th. I'm not sure I can anwser your question on the hard core aspect, I mean it is still there. You can combo elements with spells to do things, like guys standing in oil and setting it on fire. I found some of the difficulty with the first one was getting companions (it was easy to miss) and just being able to wonder into trouble.

In that sense you will have companions right away and the way act 1 is laid out it is harder (not impossible) to find battles that can kill you. As with the last game, using strategy and the environment to your advantage is key to winning some battles. Battle also still sometimes come down to timing and luck. It's like playing tabletop D&D where the DM won't fudge rolls in your favor, sometimes the dice just screw you.

Now some things you might like in the update just released yesterday. You an play coop split screen and you can use controllers. So you can set up 2 XBox controllers and play on the same PC. Add a 2nd PC and you can have 4 players in the same game. You can obviously also do this via online and the new DM mode looks great if you have the time and group.

You can now combined skill books, take a elemental skill book and a normal skill book and combined them to create skills like exploding corpse or blood rain. You can also create / find rune and add them to weapons. You can combine smaller ruins to make large ones.

So in summary I haven't played it since the last update to the beta which added the into chapter but from what I can tell while there are still battles you will get your ass kicked in if you just have 2 PC's they aren't as prevalent as the first game. At least in Act 1 which is all the beta gices you.

[TCrouch]

Thanks, Dan. That's the video I saw that made me think about the game again (the co-op split screen and skillcrafting stuff). But I just felt I didn't get nearly enough out of Divinity 1 to really buy it without even thinking about it. If there's just a bit more of a gradual curve getting started, I'm sure I'll dig it.

Thanks again.

[Danimal]

If you want I'll be happy to live stream or create a video of some of the early game play. Really no rush to get it, won't be out for 2 months. I pretty much won almost every battle on the first try except one in what I played. Some of the quests were a little hard to figure out however.

[Danimal]

New update today for Kickstarter backers.

Game is fully voiced, that's 14 characters, 1000 NPC's. Also full live orchestra score which sounds amazing. Ambient sounds are random so entering an area won't sound the same every time.

Releases September 14th, these guys are the best in the business IMO at making CRPG's. I'm so excited for this one.

[Danimal]

New update out today on the new Undead playable race.

- Has play dead skill which allows him to act like a corpse
- Poison heals him while healing spells / potions harm him
- Must cover self with armor / helmet to talk to most people
- Can pick locks with his bony fingers instead of using lock pick,
- Can find an artifact and if he rips off faces of other races can apply them to artifact to make a mask so he can morph into any race.
- All races can be undead, both male and female. Want an undead female dwarf you can do that.

14 days to go, can't wait.

[TCrouch]

Looking forward to this one.

[Danimal]

I'll be streaming this tonight if anyone is interested.

[MizzouRah]

Time to load this back up! I can't watch the stream Dan as I'm working.. but post some thoughts if you have time.

[Danimal]

Also if anyone else beside Terry gets this and wants to join us at some point for coop that would be fun.

[Danimal]

Time to load this back up! I can't watch the stream Dan as I'm working.. but post some thoughts if you have time.

It's awesome, they added voice over for everyone in the game including the narrator.

[MizzouRah]

It's awesome, they added voice over for everyone in the game including the narrator.

Excellent! Hopefully I'll have some time to dig in on Sunday.

[Danimal]

Now that I have a few more minutes let me add something more constructive. First if you played the Alpha and you start the full game you notice the amount of polish that was lacking from the Alpha.

First we have full origin stories for the 5 characters / companions. Not only do we have them they will tell them to you fully voice on the character screen if you wish. Having these characters with backstories and goals is a great role playing experience. Of course you can still create custom guys.

I can't tell you how great it is to have every character voiced, it seems minor until playing and it just keeps you immersed in the world. The added opening, which I purposely didn't play during the alpha adds a lot to the game for newcomers.

Like the original you can still get your butt kicked in fights you're not a)prepared for b) don't use the environment to your advantage. If fact if I had to nitpick one negative with DOS2 is it is every battle thus far has used the environment, don't expect any slugfest without exploding something. Also on that note the AI is much, much better and it uses it spells and the surroundings to great effect.

I only got to the point where I stopped in the Alpha last night so everything from this point will be new for me.

Haven't tried coop yet or even looked at Gamemaster mode.

[TCrouch]

I put about 30 minutes into it before work and thought the same thing--the voiceover work was amazing (and the narrator was awesome to have it voiced after playing some Pillars of Eternity recently).

The backstories of each character were cool, as well. I should be around tonight if you want to try co-op, Dan.

[Danimal]

I should be around tonight if you want to try co-op, Dan.

Would love to, I won't be home until about 9:30 or 10pm CT though.

[TCrouch]

Should be about the same time I'm getting home, so that works.

[Danimal]

Great, I;ll send my Discord server info when I get home for voice chat, idk it off the top of my head.

MizzouRah you should join us

[MizzouRah]

Great, I;ll send my Discord server info when I get home for voice chat, idk it off the top of my head.

MizzouRah you should join us

I'll see if you are on.. I work until 11 PM and sometimes past midnight depending on call volume.

[Danimal]

Terry and I finally got around to playing some coop last night and it was fun. I actually got to show Terry some stuff in a game which never happens.

It was interesting how some things are handled such as conversations. For example if Terry started a conversation with an NPC I couldn't hear it unless I clicked on them. I thought this strange at first but it was actually nice as i could go do other things. In a true RPG table top setting many times players have conversations with NPC's without the other players present.

We were also called into conversation together after key events and at one point I was called in mid conversation when Terry was faced with a decision.

We each recruited a companion and what was interesting is they followed up around, bounded with use the game said. So we could go do different things and not be stuck together. When we found loot it didn't split it so we needed to communicate and pass out the gear.

After we ended our session in a TPK I had to go but when I came back later and hit continue thinking it would be my single player gamer it loaded me into the coop game but only Terry and my guy were there, no companions. Was kind of odd.

On the whole it was a lot of fun for me. I would love to play the game fully in coop but it requires a lot of communication from the "party leader" who is going to have the NPC conversations as they can take you down a deadly road quickly.

[Danimal]

I'm surprised more people aren't playing this here. I seem to remember the first one having a good following when it first came out. I hope they eventually do a console version so you guys can try this. One of the most addictive games I have played.

[RobVarak]

I'm one of those who loved the first game. I have no idea why I waited so long to get around to playing the sequel, but it's freaking amazing. Expands and improves on the original in pretty much every way.

Battles are still tremendous, with some absolutely fantastic challenges. Like Dan said, it's super addictive and I've had a couple one-hour play sessions turn into late, late nights. If you like RPG's at all, it's a must-play.

[Danimal]

Rob,

I don't know where you are at but once you get by Act 1 so off the prison island things get really good.

I'm still playing because I've been playing with a friend in coop once a week so it is killing me not to plow through single player.

Now I can't confirm this but a little bird told me Larian is being contracted by Wizards of the Coast to make their next game a D&D 5th edition game. For most that won't mean anything but for me, super nerd I'm hoping it is true.

[Rodster]

I bought Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition for the XONE when it was clearanced out at Wally World for $15 and I still haven't played it, so shame on me. Need to give it a go.