Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pre-Release Thread

[Grokalibre]

Well, I have to stare at my PC for the entirety of the game, I would like to at least be able to play what I want to.

I would also like to role-play as well, since... it's a role-playing game. Usually having multiple races allows players to role-play as even more individuals and will better suit their style.

I mean, if you play RPGs for the stats only, well... good for you.

wtf???

 

[Jaesun]

Joined.... oh fuck.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Well, I have to stare at my PC for the entirety of the game, I would like to at least be able to play what I want to.

I would also like to role-play as well, since... it's a role-playing game. Usually having multiple races allows players to role-play as even more individuals and will better suit their style.

I mean, if you play RPGs for the stats only, well... good for you.

There really isn't any archetype that can be role-played by a non-human race that cannot be also role-played by a human.

 

[RK47]

loverslab has all the answers.
But to roleplay in Larian games..ahahahah no sorry, go look elsewhere.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

loverslab has all the answers.
But to roleplay in Larian games..ahahahah no sorry, go look elsewhere.

Really? Never played Divine Divinity?

 

[RK47]

I treat it like a diablo hack n slash more than roleplaying opportunity, sorry.
It's just not its strongest point. The randomized quest and constant murdering of hordes of enemies didn't really inspire me to explore 'character interactions' in the game.
Didn't finish it cause it really wasn't compelling enough. Such is the fate of most Larian games.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

I mean, I don't remember anything random in the game, aside from loot generation and combat mechanics. But to me it was definitely a role-playing game. So I question whether or not we played the same game... but... w/e. You never actually *had* to fight anything in the first village and you could complete a few interesting quests there.

While not every quest had multiple choices that you could take to drive it somewhere, a lot of them did and provided different rewards for your character (like, money, or a house, or membership to something). You could join the Thieves Guild, get involved in noble politics, fend off invasions, kill pigs, get involved in drug trades, go on treasure hunts, save damsels in distress, stave off a war between factions, and a lot of other things. All of which are optional and not required, but are present and allow you to define your character by the actions that you take. If you want to play as an evil wizard who kills everyone, or someone who partakes in assassinations by noble request, or being a holy paladin who tries to save as many people as they can.

It's all there, there's a lot of things that you can do and participate in and well, role-play.

 

[Siveon]

There were definitely hordes of enemies to slaughter and maim though. Like any good ARPG.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

There were definitely hordes of enemies to slaughter and maim though. Like any good ARPG.

Yes, this is definitely a fact.

 

[DraQ]

I'd like them to add more body types in the sequel. Hulking body builders are fine, but they don't look to well as scrawny mages.

I don't actually care about NPC schedules, though. And when it involves a momentous amount of work that will lead to cut content, not caring about something does matter. I'd rather see a good game without NPC schedules than a stripped down one with them.

This. I do care about NPC schedules, but they are among less important things.

Dunno, perhaps you should as Larian or something:

Beer storage. Dorf's massive beer belly is analogous to camel's hump in that it helps them endure (although definitely not in good mood) prolonged periods without access to such vital resource as beer*.
Obviously, Dorf's belly is also necessary to house large, industrial-strength liver (or possibly 13) needed when beer is abundant.
In no way does it deny the strength of Dorf musculature which, as we know, boasts higher muscle density than even chimp's (chimps are probably extinct in any universe inhabited by Dorfs, BTW, with their closest still living relatives being Orcs).

*

The exact biochemistry employed by Dorfs to produce ethanol from fat is obviously different than what camels do. While camels can simply use water produced by oxidation of fats, Dorfs use modified beta-oxidation metabolic pathway, where reductive force (in the form of NADH) obtained is used to reduce acetylo-CoA that is the product of normal (or, according to Dorf terminology "wussy") beta-oxidation instead of being fed into electron chain, yielding ethanol that is essential to Dorf's metabolism and, most importantly, neurochemistry - a lean Dorf is probably a Dorf suffering from lengthy alcohol deprivation that will readily go BERZERK on anyone unwise enough to annoy them by existing in their vicinity, which explains scarcity of relevant reports.

Sceptic

 

[LESS T_T]

I guess we will know more about it this week.

 

[Abu Antar]

I guess we will know more about it this week.

Hope you can toggle them on/off.

 

[LESS T_T]

Yeah, IF they indeed add markers I'm sure it will be togglable. But to begin with, I don't like the notion that quests are markable conveniently.

Well, it's not like the tweet is confirming anyway. Let's see what we'll know this week...

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

I'd just like not to go back to the days of Morrowind where you didn't know you had a quest to begin with.

 

[Rivmusique]

Adding quest markers will usually lead to "Go to the dungeon, it's just outside of town" instead of "Go to the dungeon, it's out the north gate, follow the road until it forks, head west then look to the south at the fallen tree" because the designers know the option for markers is there, and if the player isn't using them "well they like exploration anyway ".

 

[a Goat]

I'd just like not to go back to the days of Morrowind where you didn't know you had a quest to begin with.

The thing I've liked the most in Morrowind was not having questmarkers and forcing people to learn the layout of the island instead of just chasing the arrow.

 

[Cadmus]

I'd just like not to go back to the days of Morrowind where you didn't know you had a quest to begin with.

you should fuck off back to where you came from

 

[Zeriel]

Hope you can toggle them on/off.

I don't. It inevitably impacts quest design. I'd rather they simply did a better job with the journal than use quest markers. It's the lazy way out. There are plenty of old games that had no quest markers but still managed to do a good job of conveying where to go and what to do.

 

[Cadmus]

I don't. It inevitably impacts quest design. I'd rather they simply did a better job with the journal than use quest markers. It's the lazy way out. There are plenty of old games that had no quest markers but still managed to do a good job of conveying where to go and what to do.

but there already were quest markers in OS

 

[Ziem]

quest markers fsddsfsdfsfdsf
i dont understand why do people believe that a "feature" which effectively destroys exploration and dumbs down the game while giving nothing in return, is widely considered good.. *essential* even.
and no, an option to turn it on/off doesnt do shit, because quests will be designed with a fucking magical gps system in mind

I'd just like not to go back to the days of Morrowind where you didn't know you had a quest to begin with.

need help finding the dwemer box?

 

[Zeriel]

quest markers fsddsfsdfsfdsf
i dont understand why do people believe that a "feature" which effectively destroys exploration and dumbs down the game while giving nothing in return, is widely considered good.. *essential* even.
and no, an option to turn it on/off doesnt do shit, because quests will be designed with a fucking magical gps system in mind

need help finding the dwemer box?

Don't forget Caius Cossades. :^)

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I don't. It inevitably impacts quest design. I'd rather they simply did a better job with the journal than use quest markers. It's the lazy way out. There are plenty of old games that had no quest markers but still managed to do a good job of conveying where to go and what to do.

Exactly.

People keep missing the point about how these "optional" features affect design regardless of how much the final user intend to rely on them. It's like with unlimited fast travel (you know, the ability to open the map and teleport at any point during the game).
You have hordes of idiots arguing "Eh, if you don't want it don't use it" but the issue is that when designers take for granted that a player can move through vast distances at any given moment, they won't even bother tuning the pace of the progression in a way that doesn't feel exceedingly dull and dispersive without making use of it.
You'll typically start to cross these stupid quests like "My granny needs her spoon for the soup, would you take it to her?" and the old bitch then turns out to live half continent away.

 

[JamesDixon]

Exactly.

People keep missing the point about how these "optional" features affect design regardless of how much the final user intend to rely on them. It's like with unlimited fast travel (you know, the ability to open the map and teleport at any point during the game).
You have hordes of idiots arguing "Eh, if you don't want it don't use it" but the issue is that when designers take for granted that a player can move through vast distances at any given moment, they won't even bother tuning the pace of the progression in a way that doesn't feel exceedingly dull and dispersive without making use of it.
You'll typically start to cross these stupid quests like "My granny needs her spoon for the soup, would you take it to her?" and the old bitch then turns out to live half continent away.

That would be due to the designer being dumb. Fast travel as a feature should fit with the world not the other way. That's like one of the questions we go asked about Myths of Malignost is if we were going to have fast travel. My answer to that is well there's teleportation spells and it fits with the fantasy world. I have to say that designers have gotten a heck of a lot lazier and rely upon things that were invented in games 20 years ago.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

That would be due to the designer being dumb. Fast travel as a feature should fit with the world not the other way.

But that's exactly the point. This is what undesirable features do: they implicitly endorse dumb design.
As for the mentioned example, you can summarize the concept in this way: "Any unbearable issue with the pacing that would normally be highlighted during a decent playtest will be overlooked over the assumption that these 'time sinks' can be skipped not with better design but simply teleporting around".

 

[Onholyservicebound]

There really isn't any archetype that can be role-played by a non-human race that cannot be also role-played by a human.

You're boring as shit, and wrong.
Any archtype that has -insert fantasy race- before the class is an archetype that humans can't play. What that entails depends on the world, it can be anything from a physical, cultural or political, but the role played will be unique.
Any fantasy race can also play any human archtype, ultimately, since it's a fantasy game, homo saps should just be stricken from the game altogether.
Though I do disagree that having the races alone is enough, they should have different racial bonuses, so if you play an orc wizard, you should clearly be subverting it by the fact that it's not as easy or it plays differently.

Dragon Age:Origins did races well, the stats weren't great(Dwarf magic resistance was unique at least), but the effect on story and roleplaying was.