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[Saty]

Eurogamer review: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-09-divinity-original-sin-review

 

[Nibel]

Eurogamer 9/10

 

[Gully State]

Explore the land outside of the base, especially towards the

Spoiler

northwest, there's a temple

.


There is a cave

Spoiler

northeast of Cyseal, the other side will wrap around towards the lair

.

Spoiler

Finished the game after 60 hours and there are only 3 maps.
I was a bit over level up even if I didn't kill all the mobs around the temple.
I love the battle system but not the jar explorator and walk simulator that took most of my time.
But the story wasn't for me at all, I couldn't come to like it.
7/10

http://guides.gamepressure.com/divinityoriginalsin/

I could've sworn I've combed that area. It's really frustrating as with every game, there's always something like this that I miss (so I'm not blaming it on game design/map design). What are some other landmarks in that area? Was there a cabin being guarded by a bunch of undead? I didn't see a cave opening at all.

 

[Chaos17]

I could've sworn I've combed that area. It's really frustrating as with every game, there's always something like this that I miss (so I'm not blaming it on game design/map design). What are some other landmarks in that area? Was there a cabin being guarded by a bunch of undead? I didn't see a cave opening at all.

All your answers about the first map is in the guide

What am I doing wrong?

Im getting my ass HANDED to me. Im just trying to complete the

Spoiler

murder mystery

(first) quest, and it SEEMS like

Spoiler

i just have to leave town out the west and kill some zombies.

I seem incredibly underleveled for every fight i get in.

The game has a linear progression, if you don't follow it then you will encounter often case like your.
It hapened to me on the second map and that made the story really awfull for me.

So...I guess

Spoiler

the Phantom Forest is the last area of the game

?

Yes.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

I think I am finally getting into the game after playing for like ten hours across four days. All I had done up until that point was run around town trying to talk to everyone and explore everything. I finally left town and started killing some undead, after a brief trip to the beach to get my ass handed to me by orcs. Once you start actual game play rather than just walking around all day the game becomes fun. I think they really needed a more linear opening area that wasn't quite as sandboxed to draw people into the game, because I was about to abandon it.

 

[d1rtn4p]

So does anyone know how to

Spoiler

get past the castle barrier that leads to King Borreas?

 

[Gully State]

I think I am finally getting into the game after playing for like ten hours across four days. All I had done up until that point was run around town trying to talk to everyone and explore everything. I finally left town and started killing some undead, after a brief trip to the beach to get my ass handed to me by orcs. Once you start actual game play rather than just walking around all day the game becomes fun. I think they really needed a more linear opening area that wasn't quite as sandboxed to draw people into the game, because I was about to abandon it.

They did have that ...There is a beginner's dungeon right before you hit town.

 

[Santiako]

So does anyone know how to

Spoiler

get past the castle barrier that leads to King Borreas?

You need a spell, you'll get it in that same map but I don't rememeber exactly where.

 

[Antiwhippy]

I honestly think that this game would be near perfect if alt also highlights switches. I'm all for making people explore but those switches are really bloody small.

 

[Sub Zero]

So does anyone know how to

Spoiler

get past the castle barrier that leads to King Borreas?

Spoiler

Iirc you need to visit the Forge first, which is in the southern part of the map, after you're done with it you will receive a spell that will unlock the barrier

 

[Sentenza]

I honestly think that this game would be near perfect if alt also highlights switches. I'm all for making people explore but those switches are really bloody small.

That's the point of them, isn't it?
You are supposed to look very hard to spot them.

 

[nbthedude]

I could easily see Swen wanting the Ultima license really badly, since he never tried to hide how much he loves it... I just fear it may be a bit out of their depth in terms of cost... And I may be a bit biased here but EA strikes me as the typical corporate entity that would keep a powerful franchise to rot, even completely unused, rather than giving it away for cheap.

I would much much rather them just keep building on their own IP. They have a talented team and now a very successful game that should garner them some stability and artistic freedom.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Yeah, but they're really bloody hard to spot.

Sometimes I don't even know that there's a switch to press.

 

[sammich]

Sucked it up and bought it. Love it so far. Camera rotation is a bit clunky for me but still having a tonne of fun. Only issue i have is the size of the text. Wish i could resize it(Not talking about the chat windows etc) but the text when you hover over a mob and press(ALT?). Im playing on my HTPC connected to a 55" so im not that close to read whats on screen. Minor annoyance.

Oh, the music is F'IN AMAZING.

Playing a ranger/mage combo. Stuck in the good guy/lawful good mode so far. For some reason im always playing that type. Just made it to Cyseal. Damn city is huge to the point of overwhelming me.

 

[Sinatar]

Yea they are like the hidden buttons you'd find in something like Eye of the Beholder.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

They did have that ...There is a beginner's dungeon right before you hit town.

The entire thing consisted of like two fights and opening some crates. It wasn't enough. It took me less than ten minutes to clear, then I spent like four hours wandering around town talking to people.

 

[Durante]

The entire thing consisted of like two fights and opening some crates. It wasn't enough. It took me less than ten minutes to clear, then I spent like four hours wandering around town talking to people.

You say that like it's a bad thing. I read it as "short tutorial, lots of non-linear content"

 

[Gully State]

The entire thing consisted of like two fights and opening some crates. It wasn't enough. It took me less than ten minutes to clear, then I spent like four hours wandering around town talking to people.

I liked their implementation. I'm kinda sick of hand holding these days (I don't consider myself a hardcore old school gamer either) and running around a town completing quests without having to resort to combat was refreshing.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

You say that like it's a bad thing. I read it as "short tutorial, lots of non-linear content"

I liked their implementation. I'm kinda sick of hand holding these days (I don't consider myself a hardcore old school gamer either) and running around a town completing quests without having to resort to combat was refreshing.

No, I didn't want a tutorial, don't get me wrong. I wanted a little bit more linear content in the beginning to show me what the game was even about. A few more encounters and a little bit of back story. For example, a longer section of battles with orcs, rather than just one battle. There were maybe three or four combat experiences you sort of stumble through until you get to town, then you spent a whole lot of your time just wandering around town not doing anything. I had no idea at that point if I was even going to have fun with the game, and with no clear idea of where to go you basically had to suck it up and talk to all of the townsfolk. I was annoyed by that because at that point I had no attachment to the game and it put me right into the most tedious part of it.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

I lost my shit last night trying to find

Spoiler

the switches in Mangoth's hideout, spotted the compass on the ground and found one in 3 directions so I know it must be around the stair somewhere, still busted my eyes before finding it.

 

[Chaos17]

Yeah, but they're really bloody hard to spot.

Sometimes I don't even know that there's a switch to press.

I agree, at least something should've have give you a hint but only perception do give you a hint about none important thing, lol.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

The entire thing consisted of like two fights and opening some crates. It wasn't enough. It took me less than ten minutes to clear, then I spent like four hours wandering around town talking to people.

it showed you hidden objects, keys, lockpicking, fighting, traps, object manipulation, how the elements interact on the field, etc.

 

[Gully State]

No, I didn't want a tutorial, don't get me wrong. I wanted a little bit more linear content in the beginning to show me what the game was even about. A few more encounters and a little bit of back story. For example, a longer section of battles with orcs, rather than just one battle. There were maybe three or four combat experiences you sort of stumble through until you get to town, then you spent a whole lot of your time just wandering around town not doing anything. I had no idea at that point if I was even going to have fun with the game, and with no clear idea of where to go you basically had to suck it up and talk to all of the townsfolk. I was annoyed by that because at that point I had no attachment to the game and it put me right into the most tedious part of it.

I thought there was plenty of backstory. I was really engaged in the murder mystery from the start. Interrogating people...getting background info and then with my other guy, sneaking around for evidence. There were small sidequests sprinkled in. My problem was when I had to step out of town for the first time as I was unsure which area to tackle first due to my low level. Thankfully that wasn't an issue for long.

 

[huxley00]

No, I didn't want a tutorial, don't get me wrong. I wanted a little bit more linear content in the beginning to show me what the game was even about. A few more encounters and a little bit of back story. For example, a longer section of battles with orcs, rather than just one battle. There were maybe three or four combat experiences you sort of stumble through until you get to town, then you spent a whole lot of your time just wandering around town not doing anything. I had no idea at that point if I was even going to have fun with the game, and with no clear idea of where to go you basically had to suck it up and talk to all of the townsfolk. I was annoyed by that because at that point I had no attachment to the game and it put me right into the most tedious part of it.

Baldurs Gate 2 was even worse, you were placed into a huggggeeee town with an immense number of things to do and places to go. Would it have been easier if Divnity OS was a bit more linear at the start? Perhaps...I think they were just trying to go for a larger scope.

I would have preferred to start in a small town with a few quests, then move onto this town...but still, it wasn't too bad.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

As someone a did twice the begining of the game, I agreed with you.
Spending 10 hours in a city to then realize that you may have made the wrong choices about your builds or team mates it's awfull.
I was like : "oh man, if I had more battles ealier I would've not wasted 10 hours before deciding to reroll".
There were many people like me a few pages back in the topic.

Yeah, this is the sort of thing I am talking about. It was just a pacing that felt really off to me. Despite that fact I am now enjoying the game though.

Baldurs Gate 2 was even worse, you were placed into a huggggeeee town with an immense number of things to do and places to go. Would it have been easier if Divnity OS was a bit more linear at the start? Perhaps...I think they were just trying to go for a larger scope.

I would have preferred to start in a small town with a few quests, then move onto this town...but still, it wasn't too bad.

Yeah you're right. I didn't even need linear content, just things a little bit smaller so that I could take a small bite of everything the game had to offer, rather than a tiny bite of combat and a huge bite of exploring town and talking to people. I remember saying to myself "Oh wow that's how combat works that is neat" and then I didn't see combat again for hours.

 

[Zakalwe]

it put me right into the most tedious part of it.

You're enjoying it now, do you still find the town investigations tedious? These kinds of interactions make up so much of the game I can't imagine enjoying it if I felt the same.

Is it good?

How many more members would it take to say they love this game before you're satisfied with an answer?

Buggy?

I had a few crashes, but since the last few patches nothing.

Not noticed anything else.

I
I really need to play this...

This thought has a good chance of becoming a part of your daily process for a while if you do decide to join us...

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

So, I haven't really been following the game at all since it finally came out. Is it good? Buggy?


I really need to play this...

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

I don't like to say this, but this part makes me think the game may not be for you.

You're enjoying it now, do you still find the town investigations tedious? These kinds of interactions make up so much of the game I can't imagine enjoying it if I felt the same.

Actually in most games I find exploring town and interacting with the people the best part of the game. It just needs to be paced properly. When you start a new game you want to get a feeling of excitement about the game before you do slower paced things, at least that's how it is for me. The way the game was paced I was just really getting into combat and hungry for more. I hadn't been sated with that experience at all by that point, and they switched contexts on me completely. Because of that, what is normally an awesome part of the game became me thinking "This is cool, but I want some more of that combat because it was getting awesome, and I want to see if my characters play out the way I was hoping." That's how pacing can be such a big deal. I was preoccupied with combat and characters and the town interactions became a bit of a point of frustration to me because they were such a long continuous chunk. The two times I headed to a gate to try to go out and explore I happened to hit the two gates at which guards told me I was basically under-leveled for those areas and I decided against going out.

 

[Chaos17]

Yeah, this is the sort of thing I am talking about. It was just a pacing that felt really off to me. Despite that fact I am now enjoying the game though.



Yeah you're right. I didn't even need linear content, just things a little bit smaller so that I could take a small bite of everything the game had to offer, rather than a tiny bite of combat and a huge bite of exploring town and talking to people. I remember saying to myself "Oh wow that's how combat works that is neat" and then I didn't see combat again for hours.

But at least in BG, none important NPC don't have (for example) 518 lines of dialogues, lol. In Divinity, it's like : "Hello, I will tell you my life". I ended up not reading everything after the first zone. XD

Zakalwe

I don't like to say this, but this part makes me think the game may not be for you.

You're enjoying it now, do you still find the town investigations tedious? These kinds of interactions make up so much of the game I can't imagine enjoying it if I felt the same.

Jar explorator and walking simulator DO NOT appeal me .
But I needed to to this because there was no other way to get equipements or money (talking mostly about the second map and third map. First map was generous compared to them).
I would have prefered mmorpgs'type quests instead so I would've not spend 10 hours ONLY in a city.
Instead I would've been able to get faster some battles.

So yeah, pacing of this game is slow.
After, 60 hours in it and it's like I didn't do a lot a thing in this game.

 

[Noaloha]

So, I haven't really been following the game at all since it finally came out. Is it good? Buggy?


I really need to play this...

Yes it is good. The amount of people posting things along the lines of "holy shit, this game is amazing!" after giving it a try is nothing short of 'most'.

It has far fewer bugs than years of precedent for this type of game would have you expect.

 

[aborath]

So has anyone actually released anything decent using the editor?

 

[Veezy]

Yes it is good. The amount of people posting things along the lines of "holy shit, this game is amazing!" after giving it a try is nothing short of 'most'.

It has far fewer bugs than years of precedent for this type of game would have you expect.

The big comment is incredibly true. What's as impressive is how little issues there were at launch check and how they're still sending out small patches to fix problems.

 

[Sinatar]

So has anyone actually released anything decent using the editor?

In a week? Seriously?

Come back in a year or two.

 

[Yasae]

Exploitative? No one was forced to do any testing or even report bugs. It's entirely volunteer based.

Personally, I think it's a lot more exploitative to release a super buggy triple A game on the market and charge $60 for it, then start patching it half-heartedly. You know, like Skyrim PS3 for example.

Eh, but Larian relied on it. That's what makes it not so altruistic in my book... The whole 'let's save money by letting these players do it' thing.

It only made up a portion of their QA process, but it was pretty significant.

Those aren't bad design choices. Randomization ensures a personalized experience and adda diversity to available tactical options on each playthrough.

Plenty of people on the beta board whined about it too. It is a conscious choice that adds to the game, does not detract.

If they wanted fixed spell/skill access they would have added menu based skill selection on level up. It's certainly in the UI.

It's important to examine that no single skill can ever keep you from completing any encounter. If you go into thr game blind (actually roleplaying...you know the type of game this is) you wouldn't even know what skills you hadn't seen yet.

There are also fixed/quest skill books within the game as well that you can receive long after you've capped your ability points in that tree. Is it a 'bad' decision you couldn't access them immediately? No. The vendor seeding changes on level up and each vendor has very distinct seeds.

This obsession with zero randomization is a fucking strange phenomena. Have people really been babied this much? Randomization is what allows games to have emergent narrative; it creates diversity in details that give your specific story more flavor.

Try actually getting into the game and not trying to control everything. Try using the skills/resources you have instead of impatiently wanting something immediately. You will then be pushed into discovering more about the combat system and other options available.

If you want people to respond to your text dumps, perhaps you should be more diplomatic about it.

I don't think anyone is asking for zero randomization, by the way.

They are. What is randomized besides the loot/skill books?

Maps are not. Encounters are fixed so they can actually be tuned (though engagement windows are up to the player most of the time).

It's the small details that are randomized so the big picture aspects can be thoroughly designed.

I'm not searching for responses. I'm analyzing a shortsighted opinion for what it is. Using detail to avoid misunderstandings. I am sorry your impatience leads you to find detailed, thorough explanations of position to be 'text dumps'. Another internet obsession: too many words is to be dissauded! We mustn't use too many words and when someone uses more than we can handle it's imperative to insult them for it!

Yet you also would chastise someone for diplomacy. There's nothing diplomatic about wanting people to explain themselves less. It's just a bullying method to try and shame someone into not expressing their point of view.

You didn't even explain what part of randomization would still be left. I had to do that for you. So you criticized me for being undiplomatic, were then insulting yourself, and failed to actually make a point of contention at all.

If you'd taken the time to think things through perhaps your content would have been better.

Jesus christ. There's only so much time in the day.

 

[Zakalwe]

In a week? Seriously?

Come back in a year or two.

I'm planning something out now, it's definitely going to take me a few months just to get a working idea down.

Actually in most games I find exploring town and interacting with the people the best part of the game. It just needs to be paced properly. When you start a new game you want to get a feeling of excitement about the game before you do slower paced things, at least that's how it is for me. The way the game was paced I was just really getting into combat and hungry for more. I hadn't been sated with that experience at all by that point, and they switched contexts on me completely. Because of that, what is normally an awesome part of the game became me thinking "This is cool, but I want some more of that combat because it was getting awesome, and I want to see if my characters play out the way I was hoping." That's how pacing can be such a big deal. I was preoccupied with combat and characters and the town interactions became a bit of a point of frustration to me because they were such a long continuous chunk. The two times I headed to a gate to try to go out and explore I happened to hit the two gates at which guards told me I was basically under-leveled for those areas and I decided against going out.

I hate it when a book leaves a great character on a cliffhanger and jumps to someone new, I can empathise with that reasoning.

 

[Zukuu]

It's officially available on GOG:
http://www.gog.com/game/divinity_original_sin

*Top-10 Reasons to LOVE Divinity: Original Sin*
- The game feels much like the golden Infinity Engine classics like Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale

- The gameworld is presented in a traditional and familiar isometric view, but with modern top-notch 3D graphics

- The game’s storyline is as epic as it is deep, you’ll find you genuinely invested in the progressively unfolding and branching narrative

- The game comes with a co-op mode so you can play the entire game with a friend at your side

- The game’s combat system is turn-based, diverse, and very well balanced with the emphasis on using the environment in battle

- The character creation and advancement system is classless, flexible, and allows to shape your heroes any way you want

- The game delivers about 100 solid hours of playtime with tons of its optional quest that often contribute to the main story

- The game will have you fight many original, well-designed enemies including some impressive and imposing bosses

- The game comes with an extensive crafting mechanics that allows you to combine the materials you find into new items and weapons

- The included Divinity Engine editor allows you to design your own adventures, and promises some interesting user-generated campaigns in the future

http://gogcom.tumblr.com/post/91250537868/divinity-original-sin-top10

 

[huxley00]

Also, I'm kind of in agreement with some of the population on the random drop issue. I prefer to have static drops. It leaves the game more open to placing really tough bosses before awesome loot. Its not the same when you solve a tough puzzle or defeat a tough boss and are presented with several "Ornate Chests" that may contain awesome items, or a lot of garbage or a mix of the two.

I hate to bring more comparisons to Baldurs Gate, but I feel I have to.

The game had set loot, you knew what bosses were guarding a really awesome piece of treasure or what areas might be better to play first depending on your class type. Is it better to beat a high level dragon for a +4 holy weapon or is it better to possibly get nothing out of the encounter or several really good items?

I agree that it keeps the game a bit more organic and flexible, but I played Baldurs Gate 2 4 or 5 times, knowing what loot was where gave me a better experience, not worse. As it stands, I might get annoyed at random loot when doing replays of OS as items may or may not be for the character types I'm building. Personal preference, but that is my opinion.

Plus...I feel like less is more. I would prefer less items but include some that have backstory behind them, give us a long narrative description of an item and its history, that is great for immersion. Baldurs Gate had a powerful, but annoying talking sword with a hilarious backstory, that would have fit perfectly here.

 

[HoosTrax]

Buggy?

Nothing that prevented me from being able to finish the game. Certainly nothing so dramatic as some of the game-breaking technical glitches in some TES games.

The only things I can recall:
- one or two of the Steam achievements are broken
- the game has a tendency to go crazy-zoomed out occasionally (can be remedied just by quicksaving via F5)
- a handful of crashes over the course of 100 hours

 

[matmanx1]

I'm planning something out now, it's definitely going to take me a few months just to get a working idea down.



I hate it when a book leaves a great character on a cliffhanger and jumps to someone new, I can empathise with that reasoning.

Me to! I had exactly the same experience in the early access portion. I got a great taste of the combat outside the gates of the town. Especially the very last fight before the town with the orc landing party feels pretty epic for your new heroes.

And then you go into the city and can easily spend hours walking around talking to people and learning where everything is. It's very "RPG" but for me not nearly as much fun as the combat.

20+ hours in to the main game now and it is a small complaint. My combat "itch" is being scratched as often as I want it to and I have many options open to me for progression. It is really only those first few hours in Cyseal proper where I was chomping at the bit to get back out and club some undead.

 

[Panzerkrei]

Nothing that prevented me from being able to finish the game. Certainly nothing so dramatic as some of the game-breaking technical glitches in some TES games.

The only things I can recall:
- one or two of the Steam achievements are broken
- the game has a tendency to go crazy-zoomed out occasionally (can be remedied just by quicksaving via F5)
- a handful of crashes over the course of 100 hours

Double click on the character portrait to reset the camera is an option too.

 

[Paches]

So, I haven't really been following the game at all since it finally came out. Is it good? Buggy?


I really need to play this...

I have crashed to desktop I think a total of 2 times in 45 hours of play time and they also seem to be releasing patches very quickly.

Double click on the character portrait to reset the camera is an option too.

F1-F4 are also handy shortcuts to camera focus to the character and fix the zoom issue, although sometimes I rather enjoy the huge zoomed out view if I am traversing the open map.

 

[Moff]

Also, I'm kind of in agreement with some of the population on the random drop issue. I prefer to have static drops. It leaves the game more open to placing really tough bosses before awesome loot. Its not the same when you solve a tough puzzle or defeat a tough boss and are presented with several "Ornate Chests" that may contain awesome items, or a lot of garbage or a mix of the two.

I hate to bring more comparisons to Baldurs Gate, but I feel I have to.

The game had set loot, you knew what bosses were guarding a really awesome piece of treasure or what areas might be better to play first depending on your class type. Is it better to beat a high level dragon for a +4 holy weapon or is it better to possibly get nothing out of the encounter or several really good items?

I agree that it keeps the game a bit more organic and flexible, but I played Baldurs Gate 2 4 or 5 times, knowing what loot was where gave me a better experience, not worse. As it stands, I might get annoyed at random loot when doing replays of OS as items may or may not be for the character types I'm building. Personal preference, but that is my opinion.

Plus...I feel like less is more. I would prefer less items but include some that have backstory behind them, give us a long narrative description of an item and its history, that is great for immersion. Baldurs Gate had a powerful, but annoying talking sword with a hilarious backstory, that would have fit perfectly here.

nah I think no one can disagree with you, I mean trash loot from barrels or standard chests can be random, no problem, but quest rewards, boss drops and secret stashes should definitely have set and awesome loot. as you said, there is nothing rewarding about all of this now, and thats really a flaw that shouldnt be dismissed. for me its definitely the games biggest flaw.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I have crashed to desktop I think a total of 2 times in 45 hours of play time and they also seem to be releasing patches very quickly.



F1-F4 are also handy shortcuts to camera focus to the character and fix the zoom issue, although sometimes I rather enjoy the huge zoomed out view if I am traversing the open map.

Nothing that prevented me from being able to finish the game. Certainly nothing so dramatic as some of the game-breaking technical glitches in some TES games.

The only things I can recall:
- one or two of the Steam achievements are broken
- the game has a tendency to go crazy-zoomed out occasionally (can be remedied just by quicksaving via F5)
- a handful of crashes over the course of 100 hours

Yes it is good. The amount of people posting things along the lines of "holy shit, this game is amazing!" after giving it a try is nothing short of 'most'.

It has far fewer bugs than years of precedent for this type of game would have you expect.

Cool, thanks guys. My biggest concern was how buggy it'd be, but it sounds like it's definitely going to be an enjoyable experience. Nabbing it on GOG now.

 

[Burt]

Mod/patch wish list:

1. The game needs SOME hard locks when it comes to questing - It's too easy to do things out of order and break both the difficulty curve and the logic of the story. Stumbling into an Act boss before its lead-ins is too common, and results in the end boss being too difficult and lacking plot gravitas, and then going back to polish off the quests that you missed is entirely underwhelming and lacks any real value other than the urge to mop up all the experience you can. Not only that, but it also leads to a problem in knowing if the extreme challenge in your face is meant to be a soft lock diverting you elsewhere, or just a tough battle. Flame away.
2. Crafting needs a complete overhaul - Crafting gear in this game is worse than save-cheesing. Who cares about hitting f8 when a single iron bar can make something stronger than 99% of what comes from looting and be broken down and reused ad infinium? Crafting itself is rough too, with its drag and drop interface. There should be something Horadrim Cube-esque, even just a little popup window that contains [a] + = [c]. Which leads me into....
   [*]The inventory interface needs some serious polishing - Sorting by categories doesn't help when the axe and the log I want to combine are in two separate windows. Character's individual inventories should be available on tabs, at least as an alternative to separate windows. I'd like a larger window too, although I realize that it would be a hard swing considering how often you need to drag items from your inventory into the game world. Also, tangentially related to interface, messages like "not enough crafting" should pop up superimposed over the UI, instead of me having to shuffle windows and characters to see the message pop up over individual characters' heads.
   [*]There should be some standardization in loot- When I destroy an Act boss the one time I can and get shit gear, it sucks. When I can't respec my warrior because I haven't found a single Cure Wounds book to replace a skill I started him with in dozens of hours of play despite checking every vendor every level, it sucks. When I open a talking interdimensional chest or the stash of an ancient king and get nothing I can use, same as the last five times I did such a thing, it sucks. Thank God I didn't roll a rogue, because I've seen like 2 daggers the entire game. This isn't Diablo where you get unlimited run throughs to roll the dice. Much of the time I appreciate the random nature of loot, but it should be balanced by a steady trickle of set items to ensure that certain roles don't become relegated to crap or unusable by the RNG. What am I supposed to do with literally all of my tenebrium weapons being 2h and I don't have a 2h'er in my party? That said, fix crafting first so it isn't a moot point.
   

 

[Spehornoob]

Rehearsal for the show I'm in is interrupting my evening play time for this game.

Once this show is over, I'm locking myself in during the evenings and am going to be dead to the outside world.

 

[Durante]

Mod/patch wish list:

1. The game needs SOME hard locks when it comes to questing

No. The game makes a conscious choice to sacrifice what you call "plot gravitas" for real freedom. There are already more than enough games on the market which consist primarily of "hard locks", and very few with a freeform structure like OS. I see no reason to further increase the number of titles in the former set while diminishing the latter.

 

[Shahadan]

nah I think no one can disagree with you, I mean trash loot from barrels or standard chests can be random, no problem, but quest rewards, boss drops and secret stashes should definitely have set and awesome loot. as you said, there is nothing rewarding about all of this now, and thats really a flaw that shouldnt be dismissed. for me its definitely the games biggest flaw.

I like it that way. Every playthrough will be different. Plus there is so much loot everywhere that I don't think it's a bad thing, you always find something interesting eventually.

Some bosses have one or two fixed loot according to my experience, and I like that sometimes I'm assured to have a skillbook, even if it's random.

At most if they're gonna change anything about it, I'd like the quality of the loot to be set in some places, but not the actual stats.

 

[elyetis]

Yeah you're right. I didn't even need linear content, just things a little bit smaller so that I could take a small bite of everything the game had to offer, rather than a tiny bite of combat and a huge bite of exploring town and talking to people. I remember saying to myself "Oh wow that's how combat works that is neat" and then I didn't see combat again for hours.

I agree with you, while I did like the early game, I really felt the pace could have been handled better, small thing which would lead you to possible fight encounter.
If you know the game you know immediatly that you can fight a little outside of the town by leaving West, or use a shovel in the cemetery. But on a first playthrough you will most likely spend a few hour in the city before you do any of those things.

The start of the game really felt like "2 small battle => few hours in the city => many fight to do outside". It really felt like the murder investigation could have used a few reason ( not mandatory ) to make us go outside.

 

[Noaloha]

nah I think no one can disagree with you, I mean trash loot from barrels or standard chests can be random, no problem, but quest rewards, boss drops and secret stashes should definitely have set and awesome loot. as you said, there is nothing rewarding about all of this now, and thats really a flaw that shouldnt be dismissed. for me its definitely the games biggest flaw.

I can disagree. The loot being randomised is a no loss, all gain system as far as I'm concerned.

It's 'no loss' because if I get nice loot -- sweet! If I don't -- whatever. I still made progress in terms of EXP and quest progression. Loot is secondary, perhaps tertiary, in terms of how this game handles rewards. A poor couple of items dropping after a hard-as-nails boss fight doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm going on the quest to kill the dragon with the expectation of completing a heroic task on my adventure, and from that baseline any extra loot is then a net positive. As opposed to having the loot itself be the baseline expectation, and getting affronted when that expectation isn't met.

And it's 'all gain' because, shit, I just get real tired of how metagamey replaying these games are with fixed drops. Your class creation ends up being a suit cut to size based on a future ideal. Your adventure turns into an exercise in efficiency. Every item of a similar category to Item Of Awesomeness is devalued and relegated to placeholder. I'm looking forward to replaying D:OS with surprise and disappointment, again. To replaying D:OS and adapting strategies based on happenstance. Because that's fun, especially in this game where you're never wanting for new experimental avenues of approach. (For what it's worth, this is the same reason I have no problem with the randomised vendor stock -- so I planned on accomplishing this task using Invisibility? What, no-one has it for sale? Well, guess we work out a Plan B! Again, fun.)

 

[Shahadan]

I can disagree. The loot being randomised is a no loss, all gain system as far as I'm concerned.

It's 'no loss' because if I get nice loot -- sweet! If I don't -- whatever. I still made progress in terms of EXP and quest progression. Loot is secondary, perhaps tertiary, in terms of how this game handles rewards. A poor couple of items dropping after a hard-as-nails boss fight doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm going on the quest to kill the dragon with the expectation of completing a heroic task on my adventure, and from that baseline any extra loot is then a net positive. As opposed to having the loot itself be the baseline expectation, and getting affronted when that expectation isn't met.

And it's 'all gain' because, shit, I just get real tired of how metagamey replaying these games are with fixed drops. Your class creation ends up being a suit cut to size based on a future ideal. Your adventure turns into an exercise in efficiency. Every item of a similar category to Item Of Awesomeness is devalued and relegated to placeholder. I'm looking forward to replaying D:OS with surprise and disappointment, again. To replaying D:OS and adapting strategies based on happenstance. Because that's fun, especially in this game where you're never wanting for new experimental avenues of approach. (For what it's worth, this is the same reason I have no problem with the randomised vendor stock -- so I planned on accomplishing this task using Invisibility? What, no-one has it for sale? Well, guess we work out a Plan B! Again, fun.)

Well, what he said. Totally agree.