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Tags: Divinity: Original Sin 2; Larian Studios; Swen Vincke
Larian have released the third major patch for the Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access build. The highlight of this new version is a greatly improved enemy AI, which they're calling "AI 2.0". With the new AI, enemies are now far more aware of their environment and how to use it to their advantage, and they also choose which buffs and debuffs to use more intelligently. This algorithm is apparently so clever that it's managed to independently discover several tactical exploits. As usual, Larian have published a new Kickstarter update with an accompanying Swen Vincke video to explain it all:
Yes, that's right, you now have more reason than ever to fear your new robot overlords! The AI of our NPCs has been turned up to 00110001 00110001, and they're not taking any prisoners. When you face off against an NPC in combat it won't just be a question of "beep boop, throw fireball and spend five turns phoenix diving across the map" anymore. Now the NPC will know to look at its surroundings and use height, surfaces, and every other trick in the USB flash drive to make sure it wins.
AI 2.0 won’t just blow up barrels: it will manipulate existing surfaces to make combat much more challenging, it will use your statuses against you, it will use spells and abilities in ways that even we never imagined, and- frankly if we’re not careful, it may be well on its way to world domination.
The way this AI has been using our combat system has already caused us to take a step back and have another look at how some of the unintended uses our skills and spells can have. Because it considers every possible outcome, we’ve seen AI 2.0 take advantage of things that we thought were relatively insignificant and using them deviously to fit the situation they happened to be in at the time (such as healing people on full health because the want the “Well Rested” status that the First Aid skill gives you, or passing up the opportunity to do a small amount of damage in order to create an oil surface to slow you down and remove your “Haste” status.)
AI 2.0 has proven so devious that we’ll probably have to disable it in the easier game modes, but those of you that want to take it on will have to step it up a notch to survive. However, if you do learn how to defeat our new, ruthless AI then you'll be equipped with an impressive set of combat skills. And of course if the campaign isn’t providing enough of a challenge, then you can always step into the arena for a pure combat experience. And speaking of the arena...
Maximus Badassimus
It's not just our NPCs’ brains that have been revamped: we’ve given them a general tune-up and you now have three brand-new arenas to explore! With this patch you'll be able to enjoy (by which we mean 'murder your friends in') the Forbidden Valley, Enemy at the Gates, and Ravenshaw maps. These new levels are the perfect place to check out all of our combat improvements and tweaks, which include:
As the video shows, Divinity: Original Sin 2 was at PAX South in San Antonio last week, but that visit doesn't seem to have produced much press. Perhaps PAX East will prove more fruitful. Swen says that Larian will soon be ready to announce a release date for the game. It sounds like the next few months are going to be more active than the last few were.
Larian have released the third major patch for the Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access build. The highlight of this new version is a greatly improved enemy AI, which they're calling "AI 2.0". With the new AI, enemies are now far more aware of their environment and how to use it to their advantage, and they also choose which buffs and debuffs to use more intelligently. This algorithm is apparently so clever that it's managed to independently discover several tactical exploits. As usual, Larian have published a new Kickstarter update with an accompanying Swen Vincke video to explain it all:
Yes, that's right, you now have more reason than ever to fear your new robot overlords! The AI of our NPCs has been turned up to 00110001 00110001, and they're not taking any prisoners. When you face off against an NPC in combat it won't just be a question of "beep boop, throw fireball and spend five turns phoenix diving across the map" anymore. Now the NPC will know to look at its surroundings and use height, surfaces, and every other trick in the USB flash drive to make sure it wins.
AI 2.0 won’t just blow up barrels: it will manipulate existing surfaces to make combat much more challenging, it will use your statuses against you, it will use spells and abilities in ways that even we never imagined, and- frankly if we’re not careful, it may be well on its way to world domination.
The way this AI has been using our combat system has already caused us to take a step back and have another look at how some of the unintended uses our skills and spells can have. Because it considers every possible outcome, we’ve seen AI 2.0 take advantage of things that we thought were relatively insignificant and using them deviously to fit the situation they happened to be in at the time (such as healing people on full health because the want the “Well Rested” status that the First Aid skill gives you, or passing up the opportunity to do a small amount of damage in order to create an oil surface to slow you down and remove your “Haste” status.)
AI 2.0 has proven so devious that we’ll probably have to disable it in the easier game modes, but those of you that want to take it on will have to step it up a notch to survive. However, if you do learn how to defeat our new, ruthless AI then you'll be equipped with an impressive set of combat skills. And of course if the campaign isn’t providing enough of a challenge, then you can always step into the arena for a pure combat experience. And speaking of the arena...
Maximus Badassimus
It's not just our NPCs’ brains that have been revamped: we’ve given them a general tune-up and you now have three brand-new arenas to explore! With this patch you'll be able to enjoy (by which we mean 'murder your friends in') the Forbidden Valley, Enemy at the Gates, and Ravenshaw maps. These new levels are the perfect place to check out all of our combat improvements and tweaks, which include:
- Better animations for combat and skills
- New durability system
- Tell your companions what class you want them to be
- A new defensive ability called Perseverance
- And much more
As the video shows, Divinity: Original Sin 2 was at PAX South in San Antonio last week, but that visit doesn't seem to have produced much press. Perhaps PAX East will prove more fruitful. Swen says that Larian will soon be ready to announce a release date for the game. It sounds like the next few months are going to be more active than the last few were.
