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Divinity: Original Sin 2 |OT| Dragons & Dungeon Mastering

UberLevi

Member
I am having the worst time picking a "class" for my characters. I can only have 4 ppl at a time and just don't see a way to fit all i want. I've got a fire/geomancy wizard and hydro/air whatever, then a warrior type 2H, and a dual dagger rogue. I cant find any way to take things like summoning,polymorph, the entire ranger/bow lines, necromancy etc. Is this just the way it is? Stuff sounds amazing and i hate the thought of not ever using any of it. Another thing i keep reading is that hybrids are not a good idea - hybrid here means a character that has skills that depend on more than 1 stat. Is it true that if i have to raise 2 stats on someone they will end up meh at everythng? it would make my life easier if i could just tack the missing things on to my 4 peeps.

Well it's not exactly designed for you to use everything in a single playthrough. But I mean even if you cross-build your whole party that's still 8 skill trees to experiment with, which should be plenty. Find what works best and is fun to use and roll with it.

Our team composition is:

- Undead Necromancer/Summoner
- Elf Huntsman/Polymorph
- Red Prince as a 2H Warfare specialist
- Beast as a Sword & Shield Warfare/Aerotheurge Battlemage

We use Beast for tanking and applying stuns/blinds, Red Prince for melee damage and knockdowns, our undead caster focuses on keeping up summons and applying buffs to allies, and our elf ranger has heavy ranged damage and some polymorph tricks for mobility and enemy debuffs.

Our general strategy is for my elf to cloak and initiate combat from a high vantage point while Beast and Red Prince take up the front, then my partner's undead tries to bloat the battlefield with totems and the incarnate to diffuse enemy attention. Beast, Red Prince, and my elf try to shred as much armor as we can early in the fight with heavy basic attack damage while our Necro Summoner keeps us buffed and keeps our enemies distracted. Beast has Restoration and my elf has First Aid, and since our caster is an undead he keeps himself going with some geomancer splashed into his build. My elf does really strong damage from High Ground and so Spread Your Wings for Polymorphs is a great positioning tool. Chameleon Cloak is a strong disengage whenever a melee unit slips past either of our melee characters. Battering Ram and Battle Stomp on both Beast and Red Prince, while it may seem redundant, gives us a lot of disable opportunities once we've torn through physical armor. Mix in some blinds and stuns from Beast's aerotheurge hybridization and chicken hex / tentacle lash on my elf ranger and combat can typically go our way most of the time. We do have a couple of blind spots with this setup though, namely that we don't have a dedicated support, rather most of us have one or two utility skills splashed into the rest of our setups just in case we need to help out a party member in a jam.
 

Mudo

Member
Thanks for the replies :) I'm going to bed now it's 5am here lol! I'll try some of this out when i play tomorrow !
 

Doc_Drop

Member
Sorry for re-posting, but for those who have made it out of fort joy, do all the companions remain available after leaving or do I need to take the party I want to continue with?
 
I'm getting the hang of the battles after level 3 or so. Level and gear do matter a lot.

Sorry for re-posting, but for those who have made it out of fort joy, do all the companions remain available after leaving or do I need to take the party I want to continue with?

They're still available for recruiting at Fort Joy.
 

Anoxida

Member
I love the armor system. Best addition to combat. It can work in your favor too you know. The armor part is whats challenging, once you've depleted an enemy's armor he's done because the amount of CC ar your disposal.
 

Rad-

Member
I love the armor system. Best addition to combat. It can work in your favor too you know. The armor part is whats challenging, once you've depleted an enemy's armor he's done because the amount of CC ar your disposal.

I don't mind the "not being able to CC" part. I hate that magic armor and physical armor is separate. Full physical team or full magic team is much better in this system than a mix team of let's say 2+2.
 

Maximo

Member
You can get Bull's Rush and then you can take other skills to make it easier, 1pt Polymorph gives you Bull's Horns(gives you a 2nd charge, that bleeds instead of knockdown), 2pt polymorph gives you Wings(1ap 1turn cd flight move skill, excelent stuff for moving around and lasts for like 3 or 4 turns, also makes you take no surface damage when moving around, sadly not when you're standing still though), 1pt Scoundrel gives you Backslash or whatever which teleports you behind the enemy, 2pt Scoundrel Cloak and Dagger 1ap teleport, 2pt Huntsman Tactical Retreat which moves you around AND gives haste(forgot the AP cost though). Can also use Blitz in Warfare which will jump to an enemy, attack, then jump to another close and attack, leaving you there. The destination can't be controlled easily if there's a bunch of stuff together, but used on a single mob it'll just move you behind it like Backslash.

If you're pure warfare your options are a bit limited but having 1pt poly mostly fixed my issues with Bull's Horns tbh, once you have 2movement skills it tends to be fine. Also use teleport from mages to move stuff closer to you, works fine that way.

Provoke should definitely go through armor, it kinda sucks since it only lasts one turn and has a shitty aoe. I did learn it on my tank cause I found a book for free and I got to use it on a really high health mini boss encounter thing since I ripped his physical armor very quickly but still wasn't that great especially with the huge cooldown. I'm not too bothered with the tank efficiency though, double knockdown and cripple are pretty solid right now.


Btw is there a "town" other than Fort Joy in act1? I killed one of the book vendors fairly early on as part of origin quests and it's really hurting my mages' progression. On the other hand I also want to kill the others to get some free books cause all these spells are expensive as hell.

Yeah thanks for that found Phoenix Down and Spread your Wings also Bulls Horns in a town in Act 2 has made Beast and Red Prince waaaay better no longer wasting turns just running.
 
I hate the armor, I'll switch to explorer now.
Shame considering how much I adored OS1s combat

I understand the complaint, but in my experience it's only annoying on the first few hours or so.

After your party have decent gears and skills/spells, the armors become not as annoying as before.

I also think that it adds another layer to our strategy. The physical characters focus on depleting magical armored enemies while the mages on physical armored ones.
 

Shahadan

Member
I don't mind the "not being able to CC" part. I hate that magic armor and physical armor is separate. Full physical team or full magic team is much better in this system than a mix team of let's say 2+2.

Some enemies are easier to take down by magic because they have less magical armor than physical though. Or the other way around. That makes strategy more important.
 

Genryu

Banned
Just defeated W
indego
. What's the point of getting the
face-ripper if she just drops the fully-crafted mask?

I think that
Fane's mask needs to be constantly equipped to work, while the ones that you can craft can be taken off after you use the disguise skill so you can put a normal helmet on.
 
Hmm I don't really understand the complaints about the armour system - it's more about some abilities not balanced well with it like Provoke, I am playing on tactician and it's like "phase" of the battle which I like. There is more strategy involved from fight to fight depending on composition with this armour system which is appropriate for this turn-based system and its ruleset.
 

Anoxida

Member
Some enemies are easier to take down by magic because they have less magical armor than physical though. Or the other way around. That makes strategy more important.

This. Single pool would make it less strategic. Now I attack casters with my shadowblade, have my tank absorb the dmg fron the melee mobs while my mages wittle down their magic armor.
Provoke not working on armor is bs though. I expect Larian to patch provoke.
 

Shahadan

Member
This. Single pool would make it less strategic. Now I attack casters with my shadowblade, have my tank absorb the dmg fron the melee mobs while my mages wittle down their magic armor.
Provoke not working on armor is bs though. I expect Larian to patch provoke.

Yeah if there was only one type or armor that would be pointless because they'd all have it, and more and more of it, which would make them bullet sponges that you'd just have to brute force through, and at that point why have armor at all
 

Rad-

Member
Some enemies are easier to take down by magic because they have less magical armor than physical though. Or the other way around. That makes strategy more important.

The armor difference might become bigger in later game but at least based on this early game the difference doesn't really mean much. A full physical team that I'm currently running (I restarted after a mix team) is still crushing physical armor enemies quickly. Game feels way way easier than it did with the mixed team (because you can make all your 4 members attack one enemy at a time -> enemies die faster because you only have to go through one style of armor --> easier fights overall). Just out of interest I might also try a full magic team later.
 

Shahadan

Member
The armor difference might become bigger in later game but at least based on this early game the difference doesn't really mean much. A full physical team that I'm currently running (I restarted after a mix team) is still crushing physical armor enemies quickly.

Obviously the difference doesn't really matter early because otherwise that would decide for you what sort of team you're going with
The game is still teaching you in some places why ignoring one type of armor on your characters will bite you in the ass though, like with the 3 toads.
 

MrCinos

Member
Full physical team or full magic team is much better in this system than a mix team of let's say 2+2.

Is this really the case? I feel like 2+2 is a much better setup, at least on the hardest (tactician) difficulty I'm playing. Playing all-physical party vs a melee-heavy group of enemies sounds frustrating, if not boring. You'd be losing on so much life-saving magic CC which do wonder vs armor-heavy enemies while you are disposing of archers and mages. With 2+2 I'm shredding through BOTH physical and magical armor pretty quick and don't really feel powerless or frustrated. So far the balance has been great for a wide-spread (in terms of skills and abilities) party.
 

Anoxida

Member
Is this really the case? I feel like 2+2 is a much better setup, at least on the hardest (tactician) difficulty I'm playing. Playing all-physical party vs a melee-heavy group of enemies sounds frustrating, if not boring. You'd be losing on so much life-saving magic CC which do wonder vs armor-heavy enemies while you are disposing of archers and mages. With 2+2 I'm shredding through BOTH physical and magical armor pretty quick and don't really feel powerless or frustrated. So far the balance has been great for a wide-spread (in terms of skills and abilities) party.

It would only be the case if all your members focused down 1 enemy at a time which is a really bad tactic.
 

Anoxida

Member
I mean. Ok so lets say we remove armor system and you can always apply status effect and CC then the game difficulty is trivial. We could instead make cc and status effect have less % chances to hit and add more hp to mobs but whats honestly more fustrating? Missing a 85% chance to knockdown or get an almost garantueed one once armor is gone? It's an easy answer. People who have played xcom knows what I'm talking abt.
 

Rad-

Member
I mean. Ok so lets say we remove armor system and you can always apply status effect and CC then the game difficulty is trivial. We could instead make cc and status effect have less % chances to hit and add more hp to mobs but whats honestly more fustrating? Missing a 85% chance to knockdown or get an almost garantueed one once armor is gone? It's an easy answer. People who have played xcom knows what I'm talking abt.

I don't have a problem with the system if there are enemies later in the game with like let's say 1000 magic armor, 0 physical armor. And other way around. I really hope there are but just based on act 1 this isn't really a case (the armor difference isn't big enough to force you to have both types of damage).
 

Shahadan

Member
The armor difference might become bigger in later game but at least based on this early game the difference doesn't really mean much. A full physical team that I'm currently running (I restarted after a mix team) is still crushing physical armor enemies quickly. Game feels way way easier than it did with the mixed team (because you can make all your 4 members attack one enemy at a time -> enemies die faster because you only have to go through one style of armor --> easier fights overall). Just out of interest I might also try a full magic team later.

See it the other way, you could have made a full magic party and get the same result. Because early on enemies have balanced armor of both types, otherwise that would influence your build (and this is the only way they could and should have done that) and this is a game where you're supposed to do wtf you want.
Of course you can then decide to focus on taking out one armor type and build your team in consequence. If they've done their job correctly, and they're not idiots, there shouldn't be unwinnable fights because you ignore one type of damage so a full physical or magical party is still viable.
You'll have just more problems when you encounter some enemies that have for example let's say 200 physical armor and 10 magical armor or the other way around. That will make you plan your strategy differently.

But in any case I agree with a post above, having 4 characters attack a single enemy is a bad tactic :p
 
Finally finished with Act 1, my save file says 12 hours of game time haha. That last fight was so BS though, with sudden
second boss mob
haha. Actually had to burn through 3 rez scrolls. I would restart and try to get a perfect fight but the fight itself was so damn long I didn't want to chance it again so soon.

Haven't hit officially Act 2 yet, just decided to re-recruit my party save my game on the ship.
 
I mean. Ok so lets say we remove armor system and you can always apply status effect and CC then the game difficulty is trivial. We could instead make cc and status effect have less % chances to hit and add more hp to mobs but whats honestly more fustrating? Missing a 85% chance to knockdown or get an almost garantueed one once armor is gone? It's an easy answer. People who have played xcom knows what I'm talking abt.

Lol indeed. I can firmly plan ahead with the current system. When an enemy armor of a target is about to go, I can prepare what kind of CC should I be using next. I prefer this kind of difficulty than the percentage-based one.

I don't have a problem with the system if there are enemies later in the game with like let's say 1000 magic armor, 0 physical armor. And other way around. I really hope there are but just based on act 1 this isn't really a case (the armor difference isn't big enough to force you to have both types of damage).

I'm still in the middle of act 1 and I've already met several enemies with only one type of armor.
 
OK, completed the initial boat area and I'm already in love with the game.

One question:
I tried to save the magister and ended up sinking with the ship, would I still be with the others if I went straight to the lifeboat?
 

Rad-

Member
But in any case I agree with a post above, having 4 characters attack a single enemy is a bad tactic :p

Based on act 1 alone, it's the tactic that makes fights go through faster in my experience (= easier).

But, this discussion is based on early game alone so I'm just going to let it go. Like mentioned, it might change later on in the game. And I really hope it does.
 

MrCinos

Member
I don't have a problem with the system if there are enemies later in the game with like let's say 1000 magic armor, 0 physical armor. And other way around. I really hope there are but just based on act 1 this isn't really a case (the armor difference isn't big enough to force you to have both types of damage).
Monsters/animals usually have 0 physical armor or 0 magical armor in Act 1 at least. This fact made lv 3 party tactician encounter vs 3 frogs doable early.

Heck, right after Fort Joy, W
endigo
didn't make even a single attack before dying vs my level 4 party since I could
polymorph her into a chicken on turn one with my rogue.
 

Shahadan

Member
Based on act 1 alone, it's the tactic that makes fights go through faster in my experience (= easier).

But, this discussion is based on early game alone so I'm just going to let it go. Like mentioned, it might change later on in the game. And I really hope it does.

It's easier because you've built your team for that and you're bypassing one type of defense so of course enemies will die.
I just disagree on faster and on the good tactic front though, because with another team built differently you could defeat two enemies at once and there couldn't be a scenario where your characters are all busy hitting a tank type enemy while range/magic ones will aoe your ass and damage the whole party.

But as I said you'll probably be able to win regardless, sometimes it's just going to be a bit more difficult than it should be that's all
 

Genryu

Banned
Based on act 1 alone, it's the tactic that makes fights go through faster in my experience (= easier).

But, this discussion is based on early game alone so I'm just going to let it go. Like mentioned, it might change later on in the game. And I really hope it does.

I'll tell you just from the later parts of act 1 and the start of act 2 that if you aren't focusing on multiple enemies and their magical/physical armor weakness it's going to be painful. I was just fighting a group that had people with 400 physical armor and 60 magical, so it does become much more pronounced.
 

Moff

Member
Everywhere I go mobs are wrecking me.
I am level 3 and so are they
The crocodiles
The fire blobs in the caves
The houndmaster in the dungeons

I dont have anywhere else to go.
Is there avway to reach the door next to the fort main gate? I got the key from the magister whose dad was turned into a ghost.

I dont have money to buy gear or spells.
I have 2 wizards, fire and lightning but it feels like their aoe hurts me more than them. A necromancer and a useless tank.

I am terrible and need help
 
For me I have 3 people dedicated to physical while my main can go either or. With a summon into the right element I can handle magic penetration with the incarnate with my aethourge otherwise I just using necro abilities to stack on top of the armor pen.
 
Everywhere I go mobs are wrecking me.
I am level 3 and so are they
The crocodiles
The fire blobs in the caves
The houndmaster in the dungeons

I dont have anywhere else to go.
Is there avway to reach the door next to the fort main gate? I got the key from the magister whose dad was turned into a ghost.

I dont have money to buy gear or spells.
I have 2 wizards, fire and lightning but it feels like their aoe hurts me more than them. A necromancer and a useless tank.

I am terrible and need help

Use the terrain to kill the crocs, you start off on the high ground, use the clasic pulling strategy into the chokepoint.

Fire blobs get pet pal talent to bypass or just fight em all.

The houndmaster I did with commandeering one of the prison cells and pulled them inside for my party to wail at.

As for gear, don't be stingy on coin you get. Use it to get some chest armor and whatnot.
 

Shahadan

Member
Everywhere I go mobs are wrecking me.
I am level 3 and so are they
The crocodiles
The fire blobs in the caves
The houndmaster in the dungeons

I dont have anywhere else to go.
Is there avway to reach the door next to the fort main gate? I got the key from the magister whose dad was turned into a ghost.

I dont have money to buy gear or spells.
I have 2 wizards, fire and lightning but it feels like their aoe hurts me more than them. A necromancer and a useless tank.

I am terrible and need help

Sounds like a lack of armor to me. If your tank lacks magical armor he will suffer from your spells and if your spellcasters lack physical the crocodiles will probably wreck them.

Steal and sell lots of shit. You don't seem to have someone able to pickpocket good stuff so do what you can do. Armor stacks up quickly if you fill the gear slots even with garbage.
Remember to use items if you have some (special arrows or bombs or poison vials etc, there are things to find or craft here and there)You should probably focus on the crocodiles, use some coward strategy or status effects and make the best of it. After that you gain a teleport spell that can probably help you get rid of an enemy for a time which can make all the difference.

I don't think we can do much to help, this is really what you make or not of the possibilities.
 

JMY86

Member
Sooo after a couple tries I replayed the
Kniles the Flenser
fight and no one died. Awesome! I then found a
sewer exit from Fort Joy
Awesome! I run up the hill and stumble upon
Zaleskar for Sebille's origin quest
Holy guacamole! Everything is coming up roses for Sebille today. I then proceed to fail a Finesse check and
Zaleskar
attacks me. I somehow manage to kill/cheese him after a 20+ minute marathon slog of a fight and I am now at a dead end again with Sebille's questline. How the mighty have fallen. I went from the top of the mountain to the gutter in less than 30 minutes. I am assuming I can pick up the questline from another point but man what a roller coaster ride this game is truly wonderful...
 

Tovarisc

Member
This is probably my issue huh, a memory leak?

image.png

I imagine this is what happened to me last night when exploring Fort Proper. Game just closed itself, one symptom of system running out of RAM. Haven't tried game since, but apparently it can fuck your saves if I understood comments right in that thread you linked.
 

Shahadan

Member
I found it rather funny that everyone in Fort Joy keep saying there is no escape, and then I found like 5 different ways to gtfo and kept reloading everytime because I felt it was too soon or not the way I wanted, lol
 
I found it rather funny that everyone in Fort Joy keep saying there is no escape, and then I found like 5 different ways to gtfo and kept reloading everytime because I felt it was too soon or not the way I wanted, lol

Haha indeed.

I made sure that I've opened every possible exit paths there are so I wouldn't miss even a single exp points.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Is there any actual reason to make rounded up group (both phys and magic) instead of just stacking e.g. physical and absolutely destroying physical side of enemies? At least in Act 1 it doesn't seem to matter early on and you are just in disadvantage with rounded up group as enemies have insane amounts of both armor and you chip at both slowly.

Edit: Also gotta agree with post I saw here or on Reddit, it's kinda lol how a lot difficulty comes from just enemies having insane amount of both armor and 2-3x your AP.
 
Not even miss a single exp, eh?

But did you Edit: Just noticed you said you were in the middle of act 1, disregard this.

I'm not sure, I don't use guides nor googling. I'm just trying to explore every nook and cranny so hopefully I could get as much as exp points as possible. Yes I'm still in the middle of the first act
(actually just arrived at the 2nd hub).
 
I think I worked out what I was doing wrong with Sebille as a rogue, I'd forgotten to give her gear beyond her starting gear. She does 4x the damage now and doesn't drop dead when someone sneezes on her.
 

Keasar

Member
Goddamnit...

I was levelling up in any way I could possibly in the first area in order to try and have a better chance against the last boss but then the bastard levels up with me so it's pointless. Now I am stuck.
 
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