Divinity Original Sin 2 Catch-All

I had a similar experience, and I was so appalled by Larian's response to the whole thing that I canceled my pledge. And then today I looked at the Larian vault and lo, I had a key. This filled me with mixed feelings. So not only do I feel weird about having the game now, I also feel guilty for apparently failing to follow through on my intention of pledge cancelling. I'm sure it was just me forgetting to click a button or something not going through on their end. Regardless I feel guilty. And it isn't like they're Orson Scott Card or Woody Allen. But man.

Yeah, the elf art direction is certainly... something with a number of their class types and outfits. They have an odd thing going with their physiology too that suggests a sort of a fibrous|ultra-sinewy quality under their skin (part plant|mother earth stuff or.. whatevs).

The halfway-to-dryad bit must further translate to disregard of sensible armor... This will likely bite Larian in the backside the same way that CD Projeckt Red eventually toned down not entirely dissimilar elements of the Witcher series.

later edit|add: there's a bit of a gulf with the last bit but I feel that D:OS1 put them back on the radar and D:OS2 has the potential to be a great RPG with real legs. That sort of exposure will spotlight these sort of issues in a potential D:OS3.

Damn, I just realized that I haven't played a meaty RPG in a long long time. I wonder if I should get this one, I remember liking the first one but I also stopped playing it half way through for some reason.

Is it going to become more expensive when it releases next week?

[edit] Ok, looks like the price won't change, so I am going to wait for first impressions.

pyxistyx wrote:

Also I'm assuming the set characters with Origin stories are all in the game as recruit-able NPC's anyway, going by what happens on the boat? Which is good, because I like the idea of having origin stories for characters, but not to the extent that I'm forced to "roll" one of them at character creation and miss out on making my own custom character instead.

Indeed. Each Origin story not chosen in Character Creation is a potential companion. And you're right to wait at this stage, the game saves will wipe when the game updates anyway.

BNice wrote:

That looks fantastic! Next week can't come soon enough.

Damn already? I should probably finish up DOS1 this weekend.

I love the level of tactics you can pull off. So many choices! SQUEEEEE!!!

Recreational Villain wrote:

Yeah, the elf art direction is certainly... something with a number of their class types and outfits. They have an odd thing going with their physiology too that suggests a sort of a fibrous|ultra-sinewy quality under their skin (part plant|mother earth stuff or.. whatevs).

The halfway-to-dryad bit must further translate to disregard of sensible armor... This will likely bite Larian in the backside the same way that CD Projeckt Red eventually toned down not entirely dissimilar elements of the Witcher series.

later edit|add: there's a bit of a gulf with the last bit but I feel that D:OS1 put them back on the radar and D:OS2 has the potential to be a great RPG with real legs. That sort of exposure will spotlight these sort of issues in a potential D:OS3.

Bairdotr in D:OS is definitely wearing the "bikini babe" armour choice of the adolescent immature male fantasy for most of that game, given she is a ranger (and it is only the ranger/scoudrel armour sets that have that ascetic) However given how cartoon-y the graphics were in the original Original Sin, and the fact you probably play most of the game zoomed out at maximum, it's not really noticeable.

So if this game only has one protagonist, does that mean my wife and I can't play the entire campaign as co-op partners like we're doing with D:OS1?

Although since we've put like 40 hours into D:OS1 and only just beat Braccus Rex (in our defense, my wife is pretty new to "modern" games) I guess I don't need to worry about this any time soon.

I believe in the trailers I have seen it clearly states co-op campaign.

Drop in/Drop out\Online\Local Coop. I supposed the difference is that if she drops out, so does her character.

It's up to 4 player co-op in this one I think.

Hmmm... I guess gameplay-wise there's no real difference, but the game's story just won't be written with two protagonists in mind the way the first game's is?

If that's the case, I would rather the backstory of the protagonist doesn't really figure into the game's main plot at all. I don't want a situation where it's like "You, hero, have a hidden power and a secret destiny that are inextricably linked with the fate of our world! ...Oh, and you, hero's co-op partner, are also here, I guess."

From the playthrough I have done of the pre-release, all of the characters stories are in play. I have not gotten the feeling that it plays like a Dragon Age-the-world-hinges-on-one-protagonist, rather that they each have their own motivations/objectives to achieve. It feels like they will all be in play at the same time and may overlap or be at odds with other main character's objectives. I am not even sure there are fate-of-the-world tied personal objectives, but that will have to play out.

This article was interesting. I love good emergent gameplay.

divinity-original-sin-2-just-killed-my-adopted-cat-and-i-dont-know-what-to-do-with-myself

So are you guys going to roll an origin story or a custom character for your first run?

Probably origin story for the first play through, since I am hoping a lot of time after that will be spent in the DM module (where everything will be custom)

Middcore, what bhchrist says is essentially correct. Anyone who starts the game in character creation with you in multiplayer is treated equally by the game. Your last line about "Oh, and you, hero's co-op partner, are also here, I guess." won't happen when you start the game together and play through it. Each character's avatar is important. Story and plot points may vary depending on your actions and your origins, but you and your multiplayer friends are equal.

Was just coming here to post that. Looking solid.

Oh man! The console release is not today! I was so looking forward to diving into this over the weekend with my wife on PS4, but apparently the console release date is not even set yet. What a bummer.

They currently have no electricity to upload the final build

Man, I hope this game is good. Swen was basically like, "The last game did really well just when the studio was on the verge of having no money. I could be pragmatic with this money and make a safe sequel orrrrrr I could make the cRPG I've always wanted with all kinds of crazy features like a DM mode, lots of player choice and increasing the production values a bunch. f*ck it, let's go with the later."

That studio!

From playing around 15 hours of the EA, I feel really good about it. Only minor gripes are the fiddly inventory when in a trade window (though maybe there is a "share" designation I missed---I noticed a listing on the far right that was always empty). There are so many valid ways to handle situations some straight forward and some convoluted. It has a fun "lets try this" vibe to it.

It does feel that a lot of this was built with the coop in mind. The competing objectives of the protagonists makes for a fun dynamic of choices. It is a game that I really want to play as the story characters in the campaign mode.

A neat write-up on RPGCodex, though a bit spoilery in some of it, as Sven is doing a bit of a walk through. It is great at showing a few of the features and ways to handle situations the game offers.

downloading what I assume is the rest of the game now!

pyxistyx wrote:

downloading what I assume is the rest of the game now!

Oh snap, I thought it was 1PM :O

https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/908348414802276353

Bunch of folks already streaming

https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Divinity:%20Original%20Sin%20II

As much as I want to get into this, I'm going to have to hold off. The Original got boring after a while (I did put about 75 hours into it). I also don't have time to play right now and with Shadow of War coming out, I'll get this after I'm done with that.

15 GB download even if you had the EA version, which makes sense as that was only Act 1, and they have added full voice acting since then.

Can't wait!! Also would love to see some GWJ'er multiplayer going! Can we get a twitch voice channel created for this?

Downloading now. Gonna take a while I think.

Playing through the intro a little at lunch and first impressions are

1) I am glad I held off on playing during EA. Everything is fully voiced, including a Narrator character that -really- gives you a PnP vibe from a good DM.
2) Damn it is pretty. Environments are super rich and animated. Absolutely top notch.
3) I love that one of the preset builds for Ifan is "Wayfarer" and hell yes I am playing that