Divinity: Original Sin Pre-Release Thread

[Nithrakis]

Bro I only mention Diablo 1 because I like the graphics style very much, and the dread and creepy atmosphere which is superb. Music also. Something can be gained there. And Darklands isn't a historical crpg, it has fantasy elements, and it's much cooler for it IMO. Like praying to saints for various buffs, and all the creatures from medieval german folklore. I don't think it would be as interesting to me at least if it didn't have that supernatural elements. How creepy it is to find an innocent looking village, only to find they kill travelers and worship satan and have an altar devoted to evil. Or witches cult. Etc. It's a great setting and original for a fantasy crpg, and I'm sincerely hoping someone will pick up the rights and make Darklands 2 a quality crpg before it falls into oblivion completely.

Ok, I'll give you that. I thought you might be wanting a less shitty version of Inquisitor and that still would be spitting on the grave of Darklands.

With regards to 'historical'; in a sense, the dragons, witches, etc. were historical because they were a part of the mythology of the time. So I kinda consider that to be historical and would welcome it any medieval setting from the real world.

 

[sea]

Pledged. Why are you so good Larian? Why?! WHY?!?!

 

[Minttunator]

40% funded already and this is only the 3rd day. Looks like they'll reach the 400K goal pretty easily, especially as mainstream sites have also started getting their articles online.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Hey J_C so did you talk to uh... 'Matt' about that interview yet?

Yes. He asked me if I think he should interview them (both Divinity and Vault Dweller about AoD)now, or later, when he finished his backlog. I said that for Divinity, it would be better sooner than later, because of their kickstarter. It's up to Matt from now on.

You got some serious schizophrenia there, bro

 

[hiver]

Its not schizophrenia man. Its split personality disorder.

 

[Rivmusique]

I hope this game gets a solid community, I really want to see some quality mods from the editor.

 

[Jaesun]

Creator Larian Studios LLC less than a minute ago
@Indira: Our plan is indeed to do the alpha & beta through Steam.
Just finished recording the next update - take us to $200K and we'll release it! This time it's a snapshot of an impromptu review meeting in which David & me are nagging about what's still wrong and what we'd like to add.

 

[Nithrakis]

I hope this game gets a solid community, I really want to see some quality mods from the editor.

Yep. NWN2 and DA:O were really lacking in this area compared to NWN1. The NWN1 mod community was awesome and, in my opinion, really saved NWN1 from its shitty main campaign. BioWare was also great about supporting that game for years afterwards. So I'm cautiously excited about what will be developed by the community for D:OS. Hopefully the tools are really easy to use because this was the downfall of the NWN2/DA:O mod community.

 

[LESS T_T]

Fantastic...

I wish somebody would make a Ultima remake with this.

 

[Jaesun]

You can only have a party of 6 though. Could probably have a stretch goal for more maybe?

 

[bussinrounds]

are we gonna have full control of the 2 henchmen and pets ?

And for the modules or whatever they're gonna be called, can you play alone and have control over the party of 6, or play co-op with 1 person and each control 3 ?

And what's the deal with the classes/races ?

 

[Gragt]

I'm sure this has been touched on, but I haven't read through all the OS threads, are we gonna have full control of the 2 henchmen and pets ?

Yes, you control the henchmen and summons, but in co-op only those you hired or summoned yourself. You have access to the henchmen's inventories and they even gain experience, allowing you to level them up anyway you want.

Edit: based on the version I played, which is alpha. I doubt they'll change it since it's so much better that way but everything in that version is subject to change.

 

[bussinrounds]

I'm sure this has been touched on, but I haven't read through all the OS threads, are we gonna have full control of the 2 henchmen and pets ?

Yes, you control the henchmen and summons, but in co-op only those you hired or summoned yourself. You have access to the henchmen's inventories and they even gain experience, allowing you to level them up anyway you want.

 

[Jaesun]

Larian Studios ‏@larianstudios2m
No preconceptions, just predecessors: Larian Studios' Swen Vincke on old school influences | PCGamesN http://www.pcgamesn.com/indie/no-preconceptions-just-predecessors-larian-studios-swen-vincke-influence-old-

“Ultima 7,” Vincke says, and he says it a few more times for effect. “Ultima 7. No, Ultima 7, always. It’s probably one of the best RPGs ever made. It had an open world with the absolute height of interactivity. It didn’t have great combat, but it had a fantastic world where you could go anywhere. You could spend so much time in there, so this is something we’ve tried to recreate, that feeling, and I think we’re starting to get close to it. It’s one of my core RPGs. Everything out there after Ultima 7 never did it as good as Ultima 7, other than the visuals or the combat.”​

And so Original Sin is not a game of pre-rendered cutscenes, a game with hours of recorded dialogue or enormous polygon counts. It’s a game built primarily around interactivity, a game with a massive world that’s waiting to be explored and to be played with, a game full of objects that can be moved, items that can be combined or secrets that can be discovered. While some developers might see the absence of a such things as cutscenes as a considerable weakness, or the game’s text-based conversations as outdated, Vincke doesn’t believe that reading is something that particularly bothers RPG fans.​

 

[bussinrounds]

Larian Studios ‏@larianstudios2m
No preconceptions, just predecessors: Larian Studios' Swen Vincke on old school influences | PCGamesN http://www.pcgamesn.com/indie/no-preconceptions-just-predecessors-larian-studios-swen-vincke-influence-old-

I like the part where they asked him about Skyrim being an influence and Sven's like... “Ultima 7 and he says it a few more times for effect. “Ultima 7. No, Ultima 7, always

 

[Jaesun]

Creator Larian Studios LLC 31 minutes ago
Our next update (@200K) will deal with animal empathy, gender recognition, npc backgrounds,world consistency,gameplay boosters and henchmen backgrounds - all things for which this KS money will be used.

 

[Spectacle]

If I want to max diplomacy skills (Bluff and Intimidation or whatever they are), will I be able to bully the other player in a way that he won't ever have a say in the decisions ?

That's my only reservation about this system. If one character puts a bigger emphasis on diplomacy skills, then the other player will never has a say in the dialogues. From that time, the coop dialogue system is for nothing.

Also, if both players put a heavy emphasis on diplomacy skills in order to be competitive in the co-op dialogues, they'll be weaker as a team since they could have put those skillpoints into something more useful, at most one "face" character is needed.
I expect most players will ignore the co-op dialogue system and make joint decisions the old-fashioned way over chat etc.

 

[MicoSelva]

Just finished recording the next update - take us to $200K and we'll release it!

I'd love to, but I left my spare $24000 in the other pants.

You can only have a party of 6 though. Could probably have a stretch goal for more maybe?

I think we need day/night cycle stretch goal first.

 

[Jaesun]

I think we need day/night cycle stretch goal first.

Yeah they already said they may try to add that (and schedules) as a stretch goal.

 

[sea]

Fantastic...

I wish somebody would make a Ultima remake with this.

I love the editor, seems a lot like the NWN one to me, but dialogue and scripting seems needlessly complicated for this day and age. Another 500 script commands to memorize, brilliant.

 

[evdk]

But wouldn't that make the editor more versatile?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Versatility doesn't matter much if the unfriendliness scares people away.

 

[Xenich]

Fantastic...

I wish somebody would make a Ultima remake with this.

I love the editor, seems a lot like the NWN one to me, but dialogue and scripting seems needlessly complicated for this day and age. Another 500 script commands to memorize, brilliant.

Explain how it could be simpler within the context of your evaluation.

Looking at their scripting code, it seems pretty (excuse the bluntness) stupidly easy to understand. Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire for standardizations between various systems, but... after you have transitioned a few languages, learning others becomes well... like reading the TV guide. /shrug

 

[Xenich]

Versatility doesn't matter much if the unfriendliness scares people away.

Well, those who would get scared about learning some more variation calls, are the problem in the first place. Look at the example, they aren't required to do anything difficult. I don't see memory address allocation, pointer direction, etc...

It is simplistic and while I would understand an object to such if you are marketing to the tardsole generation as a means of them even being able to play the game, but that is not the case. I would think a person who is interested in developing content for the game isn't a fucking moron and understands there is a certain level of learning required to be able to create. These editors are a "compromise" to actually making your own game. People get to skip all of the technical requirements and numerous areas of education to be able to essentiallly use MS paint with a simplisitic word editor to be able to bring the game alive.

If what is explained above is "too difficult", those people should restrain themselves from critical thinking and stay on their path of pushing buttons in various repetitions as they are used to with their tardsole games.

No offense, but your comment reminds me of my earlier years in a medium business that was moving into the verge of a large one whose IT department was filled with morons who were scared of learning anything new because they had it so good sitting at a desk 24/7 answering calls for people who could barely turn a computer on.

To be clear, the entire problem with the gaming industry is because it has spent too much time trying to attend to "everyone" rather than those who would make use of these features. Point is, they need to stop worrying about how "Joe Blow, my whole computer is called a CPU" and start attending to those who desire more depth and complexity. Fact is, while "Joe Blow" won't be "making" content, he sure as hell will be playing that which is made by others.

 

[sea]

Explain how it could be simpler within the context of your evaluation.

Looking at their scripting code, it seems pretty (excuse the bluntness) stupidly easy to understand. Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire for standardizations between various systems, but... after you have transitioned a few languages, learning others becomes well... like reading the TV guide. /shrug

It's easy alright. Just that most games have moved on to doing visual flow charts and stuff like that, allowing you to more quickly form relationships and cause and effect chains, as well as just being a bit easier to understand for those who don't have a programming background. I guess Larian is a small enough team that spending time making a visual scripting system would be a waste of time, but then, they also showed something along those lines in that same video, so I dunno why they aren't just using that for most things, especially such a dead simple quest.