Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Gauldur's Bait]

There you go, Swen & Larian.

This seems really nice so far. Played only for about 2h, but it has some really nice features like "Crime Scene", i.e. a character finds some of his stuff missing that you have stolen he might interrogate you even though he didn't see you steal it, and then you need to pass a skill check (different possibilities) if you want to talk your way out. The enemies have more abilities to pester you with in combat, and the early fights seemed more challenging than the early fights in D:OS 1. This seems very

 

[Grotesque]

The Watch still hasn't noticed that the game is live. Somebody could go over there and tell them.

They're too busy hiding after they made up various reasons for why they're unable to battle the Codex in the Divinity 2 arena rematch.

When I thought they couldn't become any lamer.
It's one thing to get your ass whipped like in the first match but declaring non combat even after Sven was interested in the rematch, it's another whole level of cowardice.

 

[Grotesque]

A bigger question is "Why would you preorder a sequel to a game you hated?"

It's called "The Pillars of Eternity effect"

 

[DraQ]

Is the overall writing less horrible than in 1?

Indirect dialogue sounds like good idea in a game where you have a lot of freedom defining your characters - trying to hit player's idea of their character with one of several lines of specific canned dialogue is generally a hopeless endavour.

Larian should also DEFINITELY use indirect dialogue for NPCs as well when speaking with animals.

 

[SniperHF]

- Farther maximum zoom out would have been wonderful.
.

Been complaining about that one since the first alpha of D:OS 1 . There used to be a way to glitch it and make it zoom out longer but that doesn't work in the newer engine.

So, seems like day\night schedules and combat speed slider were discarded cause of multiplayer. Also, the weird dialogue system (direct and indirect mixed) cause of multiplayer.

Day / Night / schedules was scrapped from D:OS 1, it was never going to be in 2 from anything I've ever seen. And it wasn't scrapped due to MP, MP was always part of the deal with D:OS going way back to the original concept.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

I'm feeling pretty neutral towards the dialogue system, the asterisks could be removed though, or maybe replaced with something more aesthetic e.g. some Divinity-typical small symbol. I agree that maximum zoom range could be larger. Can't comment on the memory pool yet as I've played so little of the game for it to become relevant, but evidently it should add more depth to combat preparation on the party level, not just on the character level. Graphics are improved but retain the same overall look and feel (water for example looks more realistic than in Dos1 but fits in perfectly well with the rest of the visuals) as in Dos1.

 

[Roguey]

And it wasn't scrapped due to MP, MP was always part of the deal with D:OS going way back to the original concept.

It's entirely possible they didn't think it through.

For example, the idea that they'd needs beds for everybody didn't even occur to them until the maps had already been built (and then the cycle was removed, making all that extra work for nothing).

 

[imweasel]

Indirect dialogue sounds like good idea in a game where you have a lot of freedom defining your characters

Theory vs. practice

All Larian really did was reinvent the dialogue wheel and it doesn't improve roleplaying in any way. If anything, I just feel more disconnected from my PC and companions.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't see how it's like a dialogue wheel. The typical dialogue wheel in a console RPG is an (imprecise) method of expressing your main character's personality. It's all about characterization and determining how your character behaves at a low level in a pseudo-realistic/cinematic two-sided conversation.

The purpose of the dialogue options in D:OS 2 seems to be the opposite of that. They excise characterization from your character's side of the conversation and make it all about actions and results.

 

[DeepOcean]

Keeping in mind that dialogue wheels generally shoehorn the possible reactions to standard stances that are applied everywhere on the game like the Paragon/Renegade options on Mass Effect or the classic "Dick for no reason" or "good two shoes pussy" maybe a middle ground "neutral/cynical" non commitment answer. If you don't want your character to fit one of the three possible stances, you have a problem.

 

[imweasel]

This thread is awfully quiet. Still no "demo" version on PB? ^^

I don't see how it's like a dialogue wheel.

It obviously has nothing to do with a dialog wheel. "Reinventing the wheel" is a well known idiom, I just added in "dialog" because I think I am funny.

 

[SniperHF]

This thread is awfully quiet.

Damn work and stuff keeping me from playing

But the player numbers in general for D:OS 2 are pretty good. Think it's safe to say the alpha/beta for all backers thing is a good idea.

DOS:EE got a pretty big boost too after the sale.

 

[Ziggy]

Played for a few hours, went with Ifan because he seemed like the most boring one out of the bunch and I want to keep the gravy for the full release, yet the guy proved to be very fun to play. Engaging writing, more focused combat system, good music -- there's this one moody track that plays out of combat in the swamp area that's just great.
And now I wait.

 

[Bubbles]

Some more samples of the dialogues/descriptions since people asked about them. Spoilers, obviously.

Spoiler

 

[Bubbles]

anybody found seville in fort joy? playing as red prince, found the other two, couldn't find her. entirely possible I just missed her while walking around, fort's kinda cramped

Spoiler

She moves around, spying on various lizards. I usually find her at the beach behind Griff's place.

 

[Zeriel]

The new dialogue system was part of the initial Kickstarter pitch. Judging from the amount of confused comments in this thread, one might think that a lot of people backed the game without reading the pitch or looking at the screenshots

To be fair, a lot of the same people complaining about it now also complained about it during the Kickstarter. At the time of the KS I predicted that it might change in EA as they get tons of complaints from the public. Well, we're now at the EA, so let's see if the dialogue style sticks through a few months of feedback.

(For the record, I wouldn't exactly consider it a good thing for them to change it now, since that would entail having their writers spend all their time rewriting stuff they could have just done properly from the beginning... which, incidentally, is a thing they went through with D:OS 1 too. But I guess it would be better than it just turning off tons of people. Which I suspect is what is going to happen if they release it as-is. Isometric RPG fans are a traditional sort. I really doubt they will love this.)

 

[SniperHF]

(For the record, I wouldn't exactly consider it a good thing for them to change it now, since that would entail having their writers spend all their time rewriting stuff they could have just done properly from the beginning

I'm not a fan at all of the way indirect dialog is handled here but it will end up for the worse if they start changing now.

... which, incidentally, is a thing they went through with D:OS 1 too. But I guess it would be better than it just turning off tons of people. Which I suspect is what is going to happen if they release it as-is. Isometric RPG fans are a traditional sort. I really doubt they will love this.)

I think if they jazz it up visually, add some fancy tag icons and such it will play better with the general purchaser. But I think there was never any option of changing it to full lines given how many different responses there seems to be. They have a lot of manpower but not that much, especially at this late hour.

Do they end up doing another enhanced edition with publisher support (money) to fully voice and write out the lines + console? More likely.

 

[Zeriel]

For a professional writer, I don't see how there is much difference between writing a line that says, "(Do X.)" and a line of your character saying X. Sure, it may take slightly more time and creativity, but that's why you pay them. Clearly they are able to do it, the between-player dialogue is already written that way and is fine, it was a choice they made not to do so, not a lack of capability.

Honestly, I get the argument in favor of it from a purely theoretical standpoint. I am sympathetic to the idea that it is closer to the D&D, tabletop, "roleplaying your character" experience, I just don't think it works in a CRPG. People play CRPGs for a somewhat different experience than playing tabletop. If I just wanted to have a shitty LARPing experience, I could play Skyrim and pretend I'm a fucking khajiit. We make fun of that shit all the time because it's so low effort. The fact of the matter is that most people are not that creative and imaginative. They're paying the writers to write inspiring stuff that excites the player, not "You say hello." But hey, that's just my opinion and stuffies.

 

[Roguey]

A lot of people roleplay and get mad when the lines given don't fit with the character concepts they had in their head when creating the character. Hence Josh Sawyer's dry dialogues.

 

[SniperHF]

I don't think it's that many people though, they are just vocal.

 

[jungl]

hopefully they wont patch this game for YEARS like they did with original sin then finally released a enhanced edition.

 

[Alienman]

hopefully they wont patch this game for YEARS like they did with original sin then finally released a enhanced edition.

That is my fear also. Enchanted edition seem pretty popular nowadays.

 

[gaussgunner]

Some more samples of the dialogues/descriptions since people asked about them.

Damn... fugly asterisks, pronoun reversals, oddly specific 3rd-person details like that last line about swallowing swords. Doesn't work for me. Instead of feeling like a conversation, it feels like I'm relaying through an intermediary.

How hard could it be to rewrite it all the normal way?

1. A cold pint on a hot day is the closest anyone can get to meaning.
2. I'm sorry. I hope you find them.
3. Umm.. how 'bout them undead? lol

 

[d1r]

Are companions this time more fleshed out or just empty shells than in Div1?

 

[imweasel]

do you think Larian has made any efforts to make the itemization better, or less random?

It appears to be slightly less random and more of it is hand placed, but other than that it is pretty much the same shit i'm afraid. I'm a few hours in and it is already turning into a Diablo Loot Simulator again. I really can't hardly wait to find "peasant shirt level 7" (which would of course be better then scale armor level 1)...

Are companions this time more fleshed out

They are.