• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Divinity: Original Sin |OT| Sandbox RPG. Co-Op friendly. Bread.

Terra_Ex

Member
I've really been enjoying the music, especially when I heard an old favourite from Divinity 2 pop up while in a dungeon. The game is everything I hoped it would be and more so far, I just love it. The overheard banters definitely need some tuning though, it's like the second coming of the Dragon's Dogma pawn chatter.
 

Aeana

Member
After replaying the beginning a second time, I can say there is something I dislike...

First, playthrough: I played the nice guy, who doesn't kill or steal anybody. So I didn't have much money or equipment. I fought at level 2 or 3 the skeletons (yes, even after 4 hours spend in that town, lol). The game was for me between normal and hard difficulty.

Second playthrough: I decided to do the contrary of my first playthrough, just to try things and to my disappointment there is no penalties to be a bad guy. The game even encourages to steal because you gain experience to discover what're behind doors. You can destroy chests, the content won't be damaged. You can fireball a door for 10 mins, no NPC will stop you. Thief or lockpicking is useless for me at this point of the game. You can also reload your save to get better loot if you're not happy. You can kill people without your companions reacting. Stealing items helped me in my quests too.

I can confirm that my second playthrough has been more rewarding for my characters than my first pplaythrough because of all these free loots which gave me better equipments, for example. What's the problem ? There are not enough quests for rewards good players. Good players can get between 1K or 3K gold, but bad players get instead 10K gold with no penalties at all to steal all the homes of the village.

So, the roleplaying side of this game is not good at all (or is dead for me at the moment)
We are supposed to be the heroes who come to investigate a murder, but ultimately we can become ourselves murderers and thieves that the game will never care. Be a good guy, just make your life harder in this game. Mmorpg are usually bad example, but here their quest system would've not hurt to help out good players. No, playing this game as a person is just for mental sake to know that you've been a good boy but not a hereo.

Huh. I was avoiding breaking into stuff because earlier in the thread, people said NPCs did stop you.
 

pahamrick

Member
The voices are really good, the problem is just the frequency of the background "chatter" and that it's not interrupted by other actions.

By the way, the manual is now up!

Nice, thanks for the heads up on the manual. Now I just need the soundtrack from the DLC to appear so I can add it to my phone.

Huh. I was avoiding breaking into stuff because earlier in the thread, people said NPCs did stop you.

If you're seen, they will stop you. Some will straight up start a fight, too. When I was in the mayor's house I forgot to keep the mayor distracted when my rogue went to clean out a chest, he turned and saw me and immediately called the guards.
 

Birathen

Member
Can you make your character into a Neuromancer typer of character? Raising the dead, draining life and such? Evil stuffs :3 I havent had time to check it out yet outside of a few minutes and it only turned up on my radar thanks to Steam sale :)
 

Zakalwe

Banned
After replayins the beigining a second time, I can say there is something I dislike...

First, playthrough : I played the nice guy, who doesn't kill or steal anybody. So I didn't had much money or equipements. I fought at level 2 or 3 the skeletons (yes, even after 4 hours spend in that town, lol). The game was for me between normal and hard difficulty.

Second playthrough : I decided to do the contrary of my first playthrough, just to try things and to my disapointement there is no penalties to be a bad guy. The game even encourages to steal because you gain experience to discover what're behind doors. You can destroy chests, the content won't be damaged. You can fireball a dorr for 10 mins, no NPC will stop you. Thief or lockpicking is usueless for me at this point of game. You can also reload your save to get better loot if you're not happy. You can kill people without your companions reacting. Stealing items helped me in my quests too.

I can confirm that my second playthrough has been more rewarding for my characters than my first playtrough because of all thse free loots which gave me better equipments, for example. What's the problem ? There are not enough quests to rewards good players. Good players can get bewtween 1K or 3K gold but bad players get instead 10K gold with no penalties at all to steal all the homrs of the village.

So, the roleplaying side of this game is not good at all (or is dead for me at the moment)
We are supposed to be the heroes who come to investigate a murder but ultimately we can become ourselves murderers and thieves that the game will never care.

If people see you doing stuff, they will confront you. Do negative things too often and they will call the guards, you then have the option to resist or go quietly.

I assume if you resist there will be a penalty, I've not tried it yet.

Yes you can destroy chests, but I think you can lose loot if you do this. If your perception is low you won't see the scattered loot (I think this is correct).

And yeah, you can pound on doors to break them, and this is a part of the sandbox nature of the game, but it's also about efficiency. Level up lock picking or hunt for the key and you can get through fast, otherwise you at need to spend 10 minutes slowly breaking it down. I know what I'd rather do...

I like that there is no penalty to stealing if you don't get caught, that you can fence the items with no concern. Makes me feel like a master thief!

So far I don't actually need all the gold I've made from stealing. From what I can see it's perfectly viable to collect loot and quest rewards and make do. Of course you'll get more if you steal, that's the point of stealing!
 

pahamrick

Member
If people see you doing stuff, they will confront you. Do negative things too often and they will call the guards, you then have the option to resist or go quietly.

I assume if you resist there will be a penalty, I've not tried it yet.

Yes you can destroy chests, but I think you can lose loot if you do this. If your perception is low you won't see the scattered loot (I think this is correct).

And yeah, you can pound on doors to break them, and this is a part of the sandbox nature of the game, but it's also about efficiency. Level up lock picking or hunt for the key and you can get through fast, otherwise you at need to spend 10 minutes slowly breaking it down. I know what I'd rather do...

I like that there is no penalty to stealing if you don't get caught, that you can fence the items with no concern. Makes me feel like a master thief!

So far I don't actually need all the gold I've made from stealing. From what I can see it's perfectly viable to collect loot and quest rewards and make do. Of course you'll get more if you steal, that's the point of stealing!

If you resist, they will start combat and several more guards will appear. If you're not leveled, be prepared to reload a save because you'll most likely die. My Rogue is not the most savory of characters.
 

Santiako

Member
Can you make your character into a Neuromancer typer of character? Raising the dead, draining life and such? Evil stuffs :3 I havent had time to check it out yet outside of a few minutes and it only turned up on my radar thanks to Steam sale :)

Shouldn't a Neuromancer deal with mind spells only? :p

If you mean necromancer, the Witchcraft school of spells is exactly that.
 

Durante

Member
Can you make your character into a Neuromancer typer of character?
256px-Neuromancer1988.jpg

?

Raising the dead, draining life and such? Evil stuffs :3 I havent had time to check it out yet outside of a few minutes and it only turned up on my radar thanks to Steam sale :)
There's a "Witchcraft" magic school which focuses on stuff like that (don't know the details, I'm playing elementalist).

Edit: Damn Santiako. Shouldn't have googled that picture.
 

pahamrick

Member
Am I missing alot if i buy the standard edition? Or is the DLC a must?

And is 40 euros on Steam the lowest price?

The DLC itself is just a pair of trunks which gives unvoiced commentary to things the character wearing it does, and a golden grail which lets you color armor gold for a 10% increase in its sell price. The real reason to get the DLC is for the soundtrack (which isn't up yet).
 

JambiBum

Member
Speaking of getting caught stealing. Don't get caught by the quartermaster. She's level 7 or so and will destroy you. No guards needed. :(
 
Anybody far enough to confirm something minor for me? I'm seeing some discussion on the developer promising romance subplots when the game was being released and removing it later. Can somebody confirm this? While it won't affect my decision to eventually play the game I tend to like this cheesy stuff in Bioware games and usually does add to the game for me.
 

Brohan

Member
The DLC itself is just a pair of trunks which gives unvoiced commentary to things the character wearing it does, and a golden grail which lets you color armor gold for a 10% increase in its sell price. The real reason to get the DLC is for the soundtrack (which isn't up yet).

Ok thx for your quick reply, think i will go with the standard edition.
 

Santiako

Member
Do enemy groups outside of the city respawn?

Like all Divinity games, once dead enemies stay dead.

Speaking of getting caught stealing. Don't get caught by the quartermaster. She's level 7 or so and will destroy you. No guards needed. :(

She fucked all my crew with no help :(

Anybody far enough to confirm something minor for me? I'm seeing some discussion on the developer promising romance subplots when the game was being released and removing it later. Can somebody confirm this? While it won't affect my decision to eventually play the game I tend to like this cheesy stuff in Bioware games and usually does add to the game for me.

No cheesy Bioware romance in this game, sorry.
Thankfully
 

erragal

Member
I can confirm that my second playthrough has been more rewarding for my characters than my first pplaythrough because of all these free loots which gave me better equipments, for example. What's the problem ? There are not enough quests for rewards good players. Good players can get between 1K or 3K gold, but bad players get instead 10K gold with no penalties at all to steal all the homes of the village.

So, the roleplaying side of this game is not good at all (or is dead for me at the moment)
We are supposed to be the heroes who come to investigate a murder, but ultimately we can become ourselves murderers and thieves that the game will never care. Instead, it will give you bonus! Be a good guy, just make your life harder in this game. Mmorpg are usually bad example, but here their quest system would've not hurt to help out good players. No, playing this game as a good person is just for mental sake to know that you've been a good boy but not a hereo.

I still love the gameplay/combat system, though.

It's working as intended. People that do good deeds know they are not going to receive material rewards. Why do you think spirituality and materialistic are on opposite trait spectrums? Of course spirituality is a far stronger combat trait so you could say you're rewarded in that factor.

More significantly is that on a metagame will reward you with more quests/content style rewards rather than the raw material wealth of someone that pisses everyone off.

I also think you misunderstand when you characterize the game as expecting you to be heroic: you can complete the game while killing every single npc. The game makes no expectations of the player. It will bend around your will. Stealing indiscriminately is easy...murdering indiscriminately is easy. Choosing who and what to target/take is what the actual roleplay is.

This was a huge issue on the larian forums: this game isn't going to babysit you. It follows more of an emergent narrative designe where the many random elements of the game combine with the massive number of pathways so each game experience is subtly or even completely different. It's not out to lead you down one path lined with shiny treasure rewards for being a good boy.

That said I didn't ruin someones love for a female orc even though it cost me a pragmatic trait giving me a valuable crafting skill. Why? Because my character values nonhuman life. Theres no reward for that path at all for me but my game state was more enjoyable with the outcome I got. My game world reflected the narrative I desired rather than one constructed for me out of motivational breadcrumbs.
 

Chaos17

Member
Huh. I was avoiding breaking into stuff because earlier in the thread, people said NPCs did stop you.
Only if they're in the room but most of the npc walk out their rooms.
And even if a NPC spot you, (usually) only their attitude will drop but they will not come and attack you unless you hit them.
So if there're no one around, you can go and firebolt a door for 10 mins to unlock it.

Same if you murder an NPC alone, there will be no bounty or question about you.
Things will get only dirty if you atttack someone surrounded by other NPC.
But, still you will gain exp~

Thanks to all those bad things, I will be soon level 4 and I didn't not yet set foot outside the city.
 

Paches

Member
I think what I'm most pleasantly surprised by in the game so far is the music. It's really great.

Also, erm... I turned the voices to 0 but I can still hear their echoes or something in the background.

Test the ambiance setting maybe?
 

Moff

Member
Only if they're in the room but most of the npc walk out their rooms.
And even if a NPC spot you (usually) only their attitude will drop but they will not come and attack you unless you hit them.
So if there're no one around, you can go and firebolt a door for 10 mins to unlock it.

whats wrong with bashing in a door when no one sees it? how did other games make this better?

and NPs who spot you stealing will either attack you, call the guards (who will drop you in jail), or the attitude will drop. it depends on the relation they have with the stolen goods and what exaclty you did. I think thats quite deep and I dont see anything bad about it.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Not that I've seen. I've stolen items from a merchant's table then turned around and sold them to her for the gold.

This I find dumb. I hate the TES model because there is no reason a merchant in Solitude should know I stole some freaking longsword from Whiterun, but that person I stole from should know their own shit when I try and sell it back to them.

I wish RPG games would create some kind of intelligent system so that if you steal a ring or item from someone in a town or city there is a probability of it being recognized when you try to sell it in that area, but once outside that town the further you go the chances of it being recognized are basically nonexistent.

You steal some famous rich dudes ruby ring people in the area are gonna recognize it, but skip across the continent and no one will know shit about that ring and will be happy to buy it. If you really want to get complicated the price and rarity of the item could also be a factor, they might not recognize the item as stolen, but for 4000 gold they might get the feeling it's hot and simply decline to buy and not call the guards. This is where your reputation and relationship with the merchant will help dissuade these fears.
 

aravuus

Member
After replaying the beginning a second time, I can say there is something I dislike... the roleplaying.

*text*

I still love the gameplay/combat system, though.

This makes no sense. You're stealing shit, of course you're going to get more stuff. Why would a good roleplaying aspect mean everyone gets the same amount of stuff? I think it's exactly the opposite. Different rewards for different playstyles.
 

Chaos17

Member
whats wrong with bashing in a door when no one sees it? how did other games make this better?

and NPs who spot you stealing will either attack you, call the guards (who will drop you in jail), or the attitude will drop. it depends on the relation they have with the stolen goods and what exaclty you did. I think thats quite deep and I dont see anything bad about it.

My point is simple : Good players, do not want to break a closed door to be able to go explore. That's against common sense. That's why I'm saying this game do not reward player who plays as a good guy. Good players doesn't to steal if the game say it's a bad thing but unfortunally in this game at least at the beginning, there aren't enough quests with rewards that give you more bonus than plaiying a killer or a thief.

Also, I never was droped in jail or seen someone call guards if they were alone after all the bad things I did
(ex:I killed a mother who didn't want me to dig the grave of her daughter, she and her daughter gave me really good loots. Awfull, isn't it ?)
even after 4 hours in this city.
Of course, attacking someone at the market, is not a good idea.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
For example, I stolen many things in the mayors' house and the maid never attacked me or called the guards...

But my point is simple : you've been hired to seek the truth about a murder but the game will not punish you if you kill a poor guy alone
(I tried that at the cemetary quest with the mother who crying about her daughter and she did not called for guards)
. That's what doesn't make sense to me. At least in Skyrim, there was a bounty on your head which go higher and higher. Good players, do not want to break a closed door to be able to go explore. That's against common sense. That's why I'm saying this game do not reward player who plays as a good guy.

I agree with your stance, it would be more fun if the game's world had its own will to survive, and if you became an evil force and threat to society that the game's world would send other heroes out to kill you etc. Would be cool element where you could get a reputation that people just run away when they see you etc/ and as you continue to kill off the bounty hunters / heroes you make alliances with other evil leaders who are looking to kill you off the second it benefits them too, all the while more and more people are trying to kill you and restore safety to their world. At least in a sandbox type game, that sort of reactivity seems desirable to me. More so than a few guards sprinkling in.

My other wonder now is in your example of "already being level 4" how much it breaks game balance if you gain say 10 levels killing off random NPCs and breaking in to houses then steal every great item there is and start going through the quests vs the players who just start the game's quests accordingly. Though perhaps it's equally enjoyable being over-powered and trampling over everything in your way because you power-leveled while raiding the starting city.
 

Zukuu

Banned
Get the game. If you really want it and it is the price you can get the game for 10 TF2 keys. (around 22 bucks).

That is my review.

I've been playing the beta and the game for 8 hours straight yesterday xD. Just interested how the game fares with the reviewers. To me, it's so far GOTY already.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
BTW, I thought the kickstarter video showed you going to jail or being able to bribe the guards, but now the guards immediately go into fight mode.
 
Am I the only one put off by the initial plot twist?
A down-to-earth murder mystery suddenly segues into a "save the universe" quest we've seen in every JRPG?
I'm new to the Divinity series, so it may be thematically appropriate, but the suddenness of it is jarring given the setup.

There's a lot to like about the game though. I'm very much enjoying investigating the murder. You don't actually realize how hand-holdy quest markers in games are until one invites you to piece things together without them. The game overall feels very explorable and open-ended, and there are definitely echoes of Infinity Engine games. The movement's a little sluggish, and I dun goofed by trying to play on a 2010 MBP, but I'm definitely impressed enough to forge on regardless.
 

Zukuu

Banned
Am I the only one put off by the initial plot twist?
A down-to-earth murder mystery suddenly segues into a "save the universe" quest we've seen in every JRPG?
I'm new to the Divinity series, so it may be thematically appropriate, but the suddenness of it is jarring given the setup.

There's a lot to like about the game though. I'm very much enjoying investigating the murder. You don't actually realize how hand-holdy quest markers in games are until one invites you to piece things together without them. The game overall feels very explorable and open-ended, and there are definitely echoes of Infinity Engine games. The movement's a little sluggish, and I dun goofed by trying to play on a 2010 MBP, but I'm definitely impressed enough to forge on regardless.

You're a Source Hunter. You're not there because of a mere murder, but because the Source was said to be involved.
 

liezryou

Member
Get the game. If you really want it and it is the price you can get the game for 10 TF2 keys. (around 22 bucks).

That is my review.

10TF2 keys is now ~24$ sadly :( (TF2 keys price on the market has gone up). But i mean it was around the same key price during the sale, so paying 10 keys isn't too bad.

As to the game itself, this hype train is about to pull me in real hard. I'm this close to getting it for myself.
 

Moff

Member
My point is simple : you've been hired to seek the truth about a murder but the game will not punish you if you kill a poor guy alone
(I tried that at the cemetary quest with the mother who crying about her daughter and she did not called for guards)
. That's what doesn't make sense to me. At least in Skyrim, there was a bounty on your head which go higher and higher. Good players, do not want to break a closed door to be able to go explore. That's against common sense. That's why I'm saying this game do not reward player who plays as a good guy.

I dont understand, if you kill someone and no one sees it, why should there be a bounty on your head? why does that make no sense?
 

Minsc

Gold Member
I dont understand, if you kill someone and no one sees it, why should there be a bounty on your head? why does that make no sense?

I don't think it's a matter of one person, more so a matter of a dozen or more people (though even a couple people dead should start some rumors). You'd think the city would start investigating the murders and family members of the dead people would notice the murders and start hunting for answers.
 
You're a Source Hunter. You're not there because of a mere murder, but because the Source was said to be involved.

Again, I don't know the full history of the series, but the introduction sets up the Source Hunter goal as putting down rogue magic users, not
maintaining the integrity of the very fabric of the universe. Even the imp tells you this is a job for the "chosen ones" rather than your run-of-the-mill Source Hunter. It just seems a slightly contrived way to raise the stakes early.
 
Top Bottom