Editorial RPG Codex Report: Divinity: Original Sin 2, or, A Visit to Larian Studios

[Zorba the Hutt]

Wow, comprehensive. Excellent job again Bubbles

Sounds even more ambitious than I expected. The sheer number of factors which can impact the narrative/choices comes across as a recipe for millions of man-hours of writing and testing. Will be interesting to see how this develops.

Small typo on this question I think:

Gameplay: Was there a fame or infamy system in the prototype? Or example, ...

Guessing it should be "For example"

 

[Zeriel]

Bubbles, when in 2016 should we expect part 2 of the Gamescom coverage?

 

[Bubbles]

Guessing it should be "For example"

Very sensible correction, thanks.

Bubbles, when in 2016 should we expect part 2 of the Gamescom coverage?

Early next week. It's all Jarl's fault, of course.

 

[The Bishop]

If D:OS 2 writing sucks donkey balls it's comforting to know that at least it was made by nice people.

 

[Bubbles]

If D:OS 2 writing sucks donkey balls it's comforting to know that at least it was made by nice people.

Yeah, the writers are all giving their absolute best to make the game as good as possible. They told me that at least 30 times between midnight and 4:30 AM, and thus I'm inclined to believe them.

 

[Sensuki]

After thinking on it, I think that Sarah girl is referring to the descriptive text used in Pillars of Eternity, because that is somehow related to doing a "descriptive text only" approach. Probably hasn't played Planescape: Torment before.

 

[Athelas]

Uh-huh. Well, whatever helps you sleep at night, Sensuki.

 

[Sensuki]

Too lazy to mspaint you into the picture though.

 

[Roguey]

an elderly couple whom I assumed to be representatives of the local newspaper.

Neeeeeeeeeegged.

Lotta polarizing stuff in D:OS 2. While I like the idea of fixed action points, making every action cost 1 or 2 seems kinda iffy. I don't like that guy's undercut hipster mullet. Or the change in the color palette.

Laughed out loud at the :inclusive: section.

"He did this four hour video, and it's totally unwatchable. I'll send you a link!"

Is there any way you can provide more context on this? idgi

In this interview I learned that the writer chick has only played the first hour or so of Pillars of Eternity, Swen has only read Roguey's posts in the D:OS related threads, and that I shouldn't back D:OS 2 (but I wasn't going to anyway).

 

[Bubbles]

Is there any way you can provide more context on this? idgi

He was talking about one of DU's youtube videos. There are various opinions about which one he may have meant (none of them are close to four hours long), but my theory is that he meant the raffle vid. It would be topical and it certainly feels like it's four hours long.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Well, I, for one, am very happy to know that Sven actually tried to watch DU's 1 hour raffle video.

 

[Bubbles]

I was already suspicious when they put the guys from the four biggest magazines in the same group (by the way, the Gamestar/PC Games writeups are much more detailed than the RPS and Eurogamer ones), and then I read this in the PC Games:

Zu Beginn unseres Besuchs nimmt sich Swen Vincke fast zwei Stunden Zeit das Spiel in einer Präsentation vorzuführen

and then

Wir stehen am Ende der fast zwei Stunden Spielzeit

Their presentation and their hands-on were both almost twice as long as ours! On the other hand, none of the four have put up any sort of interview footage, so they were either too lazy to ask questions or Swen gave us some exclusive content after all. Gonna assume the latter, because I'm a developer friendly journalist.

 

[Cazzeris]

Holy shit Bubbles, you're on a roll!

 

[Chunkyman]

Who's going to make the music? ;_;

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Four player coop? I can expect the story to be complete trash.

 

[Haraldur]

Four player coop? I can expect the story to be complete trash.

Come now, Serious Sam 3: BFE has 16-player co-op, and its story is glorious.

 

[Bubbles]

Four player coop? I can expect the story to be complete trash.

Au contraire. As Swen presents it, the personal stories of all four player characters will somehow, in some new way, enrich the central narrative. It's intended to be the grandest, most ambitious story that Larian ever told.

 

[Bubbles]

They've posted a press round-up in their first KS update:

Prior to launching our Kickstarter campaign, we've been showing Divinity:Original Sin 2 to the media, and a lot of impressions popped up today.

"I can't help but think that another Kickstarter success could help make Divinity: Original Sin 2 one of the most engaging RPGs to date." - PC Gamer

“This sequel has some wild new ideas and ambitions far beyond the scope of the already-impressive first game” - Polygon

"It’s exactly what I wanted from a sequel" - Rock Paper Shotgun

"If successful Original Sin II is poised to shake up not just isometric RPGs but the whole RPG genre" - PC World

"Divinity: Original Sin 2's narrative is fuelled by dizzying, twisted multiplayer" - Eurogamer

We've also invited the RPGWatch & the RPGCodex to our offices, and they did extensive write-ups.

Finally, if you speak German, French, Russian or Polish, you may want to check out these hands-ons: PC Games, GameStar, JeuxVideo.com, Igromania.ru, Gry-Online.pl

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-2/posts/1335439

 

[Crescent Hawk]

It's intended to be the grandest, most ambitious story that Larian ever told.

Well I hope the best for them, but at least stay away from that awful looking WOW art style and bring more a Divine Divinity look.

 

[Fairfax]

"[she winks]" - RPGCodex

 

[Metro]

D:OS was very solid. The combat was amazing. Overall the rest was sort of lacking. I'm sure 2 will polish up those aspects that lagged behind.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

The contestants who didn't make it to Heroes 7

 

[Cyberarmy]

Most Codexers haven't "experienced" Dragon Commanders romances I think, don't worry guys!

 

[Septaryeth]

http://larian.uservoice.com/forums/...sin-2-game-ideas/suggestions/9290154-romances
http://larian.uservoice.com/forums/...suggestions/9290496-romances-with-npcs-or-pcs

Anonymous commented · August 16, 2015 22:52
Last but not least think back at some of the games that you personally held this in high esteem. Would those games be the legends that they are without this oh-so-human mechanic? Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Witcher, even Half-Life has Alex and Dog.

Luckily this anonymous is the only one saying this.

Most Codexers haven't "experienced" Dragon Commanders romances I think, don't worry guys!

I am intrigued by the positivity regarding romances in Dragon Commander.
I haven't play the game, is it gud even if you suck at RTS?

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

It is incredibly shallow in all aspects save for the writing.