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[Chaos17]

How to disable a thunder cloud ?

 

[syko de4d]

Cant wait for the first wave of reviews and see how far they are away from the user scores (9.0, one of the best User scores you can find on metacritic)

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/divinity-original-sin

 

[borghe]

mind blown

yeah.. that was amazing.

my mind blowing happened last night. Regarding Cecil's wife

Spoiler

I was trying to get the key to the chest in their bedroom but after she gets out of the bath she's looking right in that direction. So knowing how nuts this game is, I unlinked one character, walked him up to Cecil's wife and started a conversation. Sure enough, as I was hoping, she turned to face my character which was facing AWAY from the key. I then clicked on my other character, went into sneak mode and stole the key. I then selected the first character, finished out the conversation, THEN started another conversation with her, facing her in the OTHER direction, and sure enough walked my second character to the chest and looted it.

There are two security guards and Esmeralda in her shop... I have one more party member than she does I'm going to give the same thing a shot tonight and loot her shop clean }

 

[hemtae]

You people with your fancy misdirection. I just steal as much crap as I can before my rogue runs out of invisibility.

 

[MisterShine]

I thought my spider summoning Ranger was a special snowflake!

Spiderbro is best bro.

 

[borghe]

You people with your fancy misdirection. I just steal as much crap as I can before my rogue runs out of invisibility.

so here's my take on this....

in the early game invisibility is absolutely OP. It makes a tremendous amount of the early game fairly trivial. From a min/maxing standpoint I would argue that a PC with invisibility is almost mandatory.

with that being said, you are in no way whatsoever screwed or even disadvantaged not taking it. I look at invis as almost an easy button basically.

So yeah, if you want to min/max and you want to just make life easier, invis is an absolute must. If you really don't care about that and don't want to take it, you'll honestly be able to do the exact same things the invis player can, just probably with a few more steps needed in most cases.

 

[Monooboe]

Is there a way of dealing with those floor traps, other than using Teleportation to chuck a party member past it? They can't be interacted with to Disarm.

You could also shoot arrows at them to set them off.

 

[Raticus79]

Fun with stealth and telekinesis:

Spoiler

Move objects like those wooden folding screens in front of the person you want to hide from

 

[Uthred]

Is there any way to respec your stats/talent choices? Already restarted a bunch of times and Im tired of the starting area.

that 50% damage buff is pretty godlike if you ask me. Put it on a 2-handed fighter, they destroy stuff. The debuff one is pretty crappy because you have to be close to use it. I just got blinded but haven't tried it yet.

Yeah the buff is great, but the direct damage stuff seems fairly weak and the range on a lot of debuffs is quite short.

 

[HundredEyeMonk]

Still haven't played.

I bought the CE and gifted the 2nd copy to a buddy of mine. We intended to play coop together for our first playthrough. He has been MIA.

Getting really antsy. About to say fuck it and just play solo and then play coop with him when he has time.


Dafuqqqqqq. We are both married with kid(s). Where are his damn priorities?!?!

 

[marrec]

Spiderbro is best bro.

For real, though it's unsettling that their corpses don't disappear, as if they have up to this lived a happy giant spider life until he gave it for your safety.

Rip bro

 

[Gothos]

Just realized that I can teleport my heavy armored, slow Knight on top of the enemy which is far from him. Much more efficient than walking

 

[Decado]

Just realized that I can teleport my heavy armored, slow Knight on top of the enemy which is far from him. Much more efficient than walking

Doesn't that do a lot of damage to him?

 

[Moff]

if you think sneaking is op, just wait till you get the invisibilty spell, makes sneaking obsolete and you can just take everything, from chests, too, open doors etc...
its too good in my opinion

 

[erragal]

Is there a witchcraft skillbook vendor in Cyseal? Spent my last few minutes looking for one last night to no avail.

Spoiler

There's an npc ship captain at the end of the first set of harbor docks. The ones which are on fire when you first arrive.

 

[Sentenza]

if you think sneaking is op, just wait till you get the invisibilty spell, makes sneaking obsolete and you can just take everything, from chests, too, open doors etc...
its too good in my opinion

I'm abusing it since the beta, enjoying what can I do with it and still I completely agree with you that it's overpowered and it should be nerfed somehow.

 

[Killer]

There is a tutorial battle and tutorial dungeon showing you some of the basic mechanics of the game.

Combat consists of individual turns for each character with an AP Pool.

Say a character has 10 AP and recovers 6 AP each turn.

Walking to the enemy during a characters turn consumes AP. The longer the distance the more AP is consumed. In fact enemies can be so far away you could use all of your AP just trying to approach and not have enough to perform and action like Attack, use a Skill, etc.

Some spells or skills also have individual cool downs (2 to 3 turns for example), so you can't simply use a spell, end turn, and cast it again to spam it.

But for example sake to close to the enemy it requires 4 AP to close distance, and then you can decide to attack which costs 4 AP. This means you have 2 AP left over to do something else or you could end that turn.

Any remaining AP a character has is saved and rolled over into their next turn.
6 Recovered AP + 2 Remaining AP from current turn = 8 AP for next turn.

This means the the character can then attack twice on his next turn because they already are in position to attack.

A main thing to focus on however is the Dynamic spell system that reacts to the environment

You can for example using a Spell Caster Cast a Rain Spell that will create an AoE zone of enemies getting wet if they stand in this zone. Also puddles will form on the ground.

The Chill spell normally slows enemies, However if they are Wet Status, Chill becomes Freeze and the enemy is paralyzed until they thaw.

Going back to the earlier example of water puddles created from the Rain Spell. If you cast shock magic on these puddles. They will electrify anyone standing targeted puddle and may stun them on top of electrical damage.

There is other combinations too. Using Fire on Rain puddles to create scalding steam which obfuscates enemy vision. Or use Poison on Steam to make a Gas Cloud. Cast Fire on a Gas Cloud to ignite it and burn anyone in the haze.

There is also a Oil spell that slows enemy movement similar to Chill. Oil also leaves puddles like Rain does, and you can naturally ignite Oil to make a puddle of fire to create impeding barriers enemies will need to traverse.

Using these strategies also applies to Warriors or Archers with Elemental Arrows with the environment.

Like having a Warrior strike a water barrel with sword to break it and create a flood a specific area. And have the Archer use Shock Arrows on the puddle create an electrified field instead of spell casting doing it.

It's very tactical and rewarding. And takes make cues from Baldur's Gate and Ultima 7 in a cRPG style.

Any other questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

Thank for the explanation! That's really deep combat system and they didn't explain it well in the tutorial. I'd suggest this post to be in OP since it explains so much. Thanks again!

Nope. Then again, I find it very straightforward in the basic concept (point & click, action points), which is all a tutorial normally shows anyways.

But you probably mean the more detailed/hidden mechanics like initiative, element combo's, armor class vs damage etc. Then again, I find these very straightforward as well or simply don't need the details (although I often forget to abuse elemental barrels during combat), so maybe you could elleborate what you need explained?

I was looking for for a video tutorial to explain the battle system. I'm new to this kind of games so that's why i'm having some difficulty .OmegaDL50 did a great job explaining it.

 

[Moff]

I'm abusing it since the beta, enjoying what can I do with it and still I completely agree with you that it's overpowered and it should be nerfed somehow.

I dont know what they were thinking, I mean sneaking is fun, it has his own mechanics, you need to distract people, walk in the shadows, it costs effort. its fun
invisibility on the other hand... is not, they should have at least made it a level 18 spell with level 4 or 5 air magic, but you get it so easy and so early, thats really unbalanced and not good

 

[FinalHeaven]

It's really old school when it comes to design. You've gotta think, read your journal, and the game isn't all about combat. I can see a lot of people being turned off by it, so your friend may have his reasons for holding that opinion.

But, if it's your thing, it's damn good.

I am okay with all of these things so I guess I'll go ahead and pick it up later today. I was busy replaying the Baldur's Gate games a while back which I was thoroughly enjoying. I ended up getting distracted though and never finished them. I think something newer might be good.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

I thought my spider summoning Ranger was a special snowflake!

wtf, I got one of those too!

brb, rerolling....

 

[Lashley]

FINALLY started playing, just sunk an hour into it but I'm enjoying it thus far.

 

[borghe]

I am okay with all of these things so I guess I'll go ahead and pick it up later today. I was busy replaying the Baldur's Gate games a while back which I was thoroughly enjoying. I ended up getting distracted though and never finished them. I think something newer might be good.

the big turn offs I see for the "modern RPG crowd" are:

lack of waypoints/GPS
lack of A->B->C combat (explained below)
lack of quest markers/indicators
lack of structured buy/sell/market interface
general lack of hand holding

the thing is.. none of the above are "bad". They were all things introduced to streamline the genre. if the player is having to focus less on the intricacies/fluff of the gameplay it gives them the ability to focus more on things like story, visuals, etc.

Now the amazing thing about D:OS is it doesn't sacrifice ANY of those (story, visuals, encounters, etc). But for many a modern day RPG gamer, putting the intricacies/fluff back into the game/genre.. I can see how that could be a turn off. I mean to the modern gamer who can barely be tasked to not click through conversations quickly, the thought of having to talk to EVERY SINGLE NPC to get side quests? Even worse, having to advance the main story not by walking to NPC X with an '!' over his head, but actually reading and deciding one of like 3-5 different NPCs by which to advance the story (some of which can be animals... lol.. so cruel).

The world is a better place with D:OS in it.. but yeah, it's not going to be a game for everyone. If you were raised on Morrowind or Oblivion, Dragon Age, etc.. I can see you being turned off.

edit - by A->B->C combat, I simply mean combat skills/abilities/parties that are set up very specifically to synergize with each other.. jRPGs are notorious for this, but even Dragon Age as well. Divinity has stun locking and stuff also obviously, but in many games such tactics are strongly built into the core of the combat gameplay. D:OS it just feels like (like with everything else in the game) merely one style of play. For instance the barrel stacking to take out the one boss... it just seems to me like in other RPGs, a mechanic like that would actually be not only in a tutorial, but there would be multiple encounters specifically designed to use that mechanic. In D:OS, the "mechanic" only works in the first place simply because of how free form the game is.

Heck I'd be curious to see if you can "cause accidents" with civilians essentially murdering them, but without getting flagged as a negative act summoning guards or loss of reputation. To me it seems like the system would support this.

 

[Chaos17]

Heck I'd be curious to see if you can "cause accidents" with civilians essentially murdering them, but without getting flagged as a negative act summoning guards or loss of reputation. To me it seems like the system would support this.

You can murder anyone who're alone.
There is no downside.

 

[Durante]

I just played for another 4 hours or so in coop and it's so good.

I think what I love most is just how much sense the environment interactions make. If you just try something which sounds like it would make sense, it's probably both possible and works. That's a rare thing indeed. For example, how you can use many different ways to get water to wash away poison.

At one point my companion was carrying and placing an oil barrel in a chokepoint, then I summoned a spider there to attract 4 skeletons, and when they were all in range of the barrel I ignited it, killing one of them instantly and setting the other two on fire. Our melee henchman and my companion were positioned just outside the burning range, blocking the exit path, and the remaining skeletons only lasted a turn. Beautiful.

edit - by A->B->C combat, I simply mean combat skills/abilities/parties that are set up very specifically to synergize with each other.. jRPGs are notorious for this, but even Dragon Age as well. Divinity has stun locking and stuff also obviously, but in many games such tactics are strongly built into the core of the combat gameplay. D:OS it just feels like (like with everything else in the game) merely one style of play. For instance the barrel stacking to take out the one boss... it just seems to me like in other RPGs, a mechanic like that would actually be not only in a tutorial, but there would be multiple encounters specifically designed to use that mechanic. In D:OS, the "mechanic" only works in the first place simply because of how free form the game is.

Well said.

 

[marrec]

Fuck this fucking game.

I got Murphy killed guys.

 

[Durante]

I can't believe this thread is this big and active. And the game is topping the Steam revenue charts.

This one was my pet game of all the upcoming cRPGs but man, this bodes well for games that have a lot more built-in fans and hype like Pillars of Eternity. This keeps up and we might even get a second wave of these games.

It's beautiful. To be fair, there's not a lot of competition right now, but I was sure that something like DayZ would overtake it after just a few hours.

 

[lemonlyman]

Hopefully I'm missing something here. So when purchasing skills I need to talk to the vendor with each individual party member one at a time in order to know which skills that character has already learned (so it says "you already learned this skill" in the description? And then switch back to my party member with barter skills if I want a good deal?

 

[Randy]

Fuck this fucking game.

I got Murphy killed guys.

I did a reload, I just couldn't bear with the guilt.

This game, guys. This game.

 

[VlaudTheImpaler]

So, will I be able to join multiple guilds or are you blocked from the others if you join one? Wondering what the drawbacks of joining the

Spoiler

Fabulous Five

might be.

 

[borghe]

Hopefully I'm missing something here. So when purchasing skills I need to talk to the vendor with each individual party member one at a time in order to know which skills that character has already learned (so it says "you already learned this skill" in the description? And then switch back to my party member with barter skills if I want a good deal?

that seems to be the case... I get why the game does it (dur) but yes... the way that characters in this game are wholly separate characters is both cool (from an old school RPG standpoint) but also means more clicks.

for instance I've now realized it's faster just to send all unidentified equipment to my loremaster dude, quickly identify all of it (first item on the context menu) then trade it back to the appropriate character.

I mean it's all one singular game engine supporting true full on co-op... so that's the way it HAS to be... absolutely. Just tough when you are used to that sort of quality of life streamlining in other games and hit this one and it's yeah... every character is a single and standalone character. you are not running a single homogenized party.

With that being the case though, I don't get why they limited co-op to 2 players. I mean I'm guessing because they don't have a dialogue system/script for the companions maybe?

 

[MisterShine]

...
Now the amazing thing about D:OS is it doesn't sacrifice ANY of those (story, visuals, encounters, etc).

I'll have to disagree with you on this. In terms of story line, character definition and world building, it is clearly pushing those to the sideline. And that's not bad, as you said, but it just doesn't do very much compared to other modern rpg's, namely Bioware or Obsidian who do those things very well.

Original Sin is definitely well written and characterized, but in a witty and charming way, rather than emotionally engaging. I prefer that type of thing myself, but OS still does its own thing very well. As you said, the gaming and rpg sphere especially is a much better place with OS in it.

Hope my meaning is coming across here.

 

[robin2]

Mmmm, when I talk to animals, even though I don't have the Pet Pal talent, they play a human greeting; the text remains "animal", like "Meow", but is the human voice normal?

 

[Zeliard]

Fuck this fucking game.

I got Murphy killed guys.

Murphy's cute. He's basically Dug from the movie Up.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Thanks for linking the manual's foreward earlier Durante, it's really nice.

Fuck this fucking game.

I got Murphy killed guys.

Behold, the original sin.

Restart your game and repent.

Mmmm, when I talk to animals, even though I don't have the Pet Pal talent, they play a human greeting; the text remains "animal", like "Meow", but is the human voice normal?

I think that's a bug or oversight, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[lemonlyman]

for instance I've now realized it's faster just to send all unidentified equipment to my loremaster dude, quickly identify all of it (first item on the context menu) then trade it back to the appropriate character.

Yeah I do that too. I have one character that just holds all my junk to sell.

I'm pretty sure as long you start bartering with a character who's good at it you can switch to other characters to sell stuff and still get the benefits.

 

[VandalD]

Bellegar just told me to

Spoiler

buy Dragon Commander. Oh, Larian. I will! At some point. I'm just not into typically into that kind of game. I'll grab it after I finish Original Sin.

With that being the case though, I don't get why they limited co-op to 2 players. I mean I'm guessing because they don't have a dialogue system/script for the companions maybe?

It's limited because of the dual dialog system. They didn't want you to expect to play with more than two players when only those two will take part in the whole argument thing. Possibly other reasons too. They said during a livestream at some point that they've tested up to 6 players, and made a rough 4 player mod of the main game.

 

[Durante]

Talking about animals, I love how each type of animal is written like you would expect that type of animal to talk.

The writers clearly had a keen insight into the dog mind, that dialogue had me actually laugh out.

 

[Monooboe]

Agh, this game... where ever I go it's like walking into a wall and I always manage to come forward by chipping away at the wall try after try.T_T Why do I love these games? Remember screaming in rage when playing Dragon Age for example.XD

 

[marrec]

I did a reload, I just couldn't bear with the guilt.

This game, guys. This game.

I promised myself I wouldn't reload due to NC death but...

 

[Aim_Ed]

So umm.... Can I resurrect dead cats?

 

[marrec]

Talking about animals, I love how each type of animal is written like you would expect that type of animal to talk.

The writers clearly had a keen insight into the dog mind, that dialogue had me actually laugh out.

Took a screen shot of that dialog for my eventual review.

Also the portrait of Murphy is perfect for his dialog.

I'll forever remember you and your smell Murphey.

 

[Arkeus]

I'll have to disagree with you on this. In terms of story line, character definition and world building, it is clearly pushing those to the sideline. And that's not bad, as you said, but it just doesn't do very much compared to other modern rpg's, namely Bioware or Obsidian who do those things very well.

Original Sin is definitely well written and characterized, but in a witty and charming way, rather than emotionally engaging. I prefer that type of thing myself, but OS still does its own thing very well. As you said, the gaming and rpg sphere especially is a much better place with OS in it.

Hope my meaning is coming across here.

Your meaning comes across, but i don't think it's 'the story line, wharacter definition and world building is worse', but just different.

I personally find Bioware "worldbuilding" kind of really bad, and while they do have some fun characters the vast majority are just terrible. D:OS stays on their "parody" tone where they don't take themselves seriously, and i would honestly say their story/characters/world end up at least as good if not better.

 

[Zeliard]

Talking about animals, I love how each type of animal is written like you would expect that type of animal to talk.

The writers clearly had a keen insight into the dog mind, that dialogue had me actually laugh out.

The Pet Pal skill is remarkably well-implemented and fleshed-out. I think it's something everyone needs to take early, at least in their first playthrough.

 

[robin2]

I think that's a bug or oversight, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Do you have that too?

 

[Santiako]

I talk to all the rats, they always have useful information. I also love their super creepy voice.

 

[Monooboe]

I talk to all the rats, they always have useful information. I also love their super creepy voice.

I like what they say when ever you close the dialog.

 

[Shahadan]

Oh god, I just discovered you could use electricity on steam clouds to make a static cloud. This game *_*

 

[MisterShine]

I personally find Bioware "worldbuilding" kind of really bad, and while they do have some fun characters the vast majority are just terrible. D:OS stays on their "parody" tone where they don't take themselves seriously, and i would honestly say their story/characters/world end up at least as good if not better.

In terms of world building, do you think any game has ever done a better job than Mass Effect? Maybe the greats like Fallout, Arcanum or PS:T can compare, but ME stands solidly among them. The codex, the missions taking you across the stars, all the different planets you can drive over (albeit like a klutz) and explore, the environments and people.. Any other faults you'd like to give the series, (and there are several, sure) that aspect is beyond reproach.

I don't really say this as a "this is a failing that Larian should fix in the sequel", this clearly just isn't Larian's style. I wouldn't want to see them try to make a game like the Sith Lords or Baldur's Gate in terms of tone, I don't think they'd excel in that department. And that is okay, there's room in the RPG sphere for different kinds. It's just something that should be noted when talking about the game, what to expect going in.

Talking about animals, I love how each type of animal is written like you would expect that type of animal to talk.

The writers clearly had a keen insight into the dog mind, that dialogue had me actually laugh out.

One of my favorite parts of the NWN expansions. Druids and Rangers could consult animals for advice, and they'd all act like you'd expect an animal acting with a person talking to them. It was brilliant ten years ago and it is brilliant today.

 

[Levyne]

If I get a ring or amulet that has no stats other than durability, is that basically sell fodder?

Edit: Boris or Steven. WHICH

Edit Edit: Whoops

 

[Casimir]

Spoiler

Boulder becomes poison if it passes through ooze and fire if it passes through burning.

I also think you guys aren't liberal enough with your spoilers. Most of the spells aren't out in the wild so basically everything is a spoiler. I see tons of crafting spoilers completely unhidden constantly. Maybe people arent used to games like this anymore where the mechanics are part of the immersion. Just say - I had a question about how an earth spell was working then spoiler it.

The list was posted earlier in the thread.

That's not always ideal. All of the schools complement each other and can be self sufficient. There are literally a hundred + ways to set an oil patch on fire. The easiest being a fire staff. Concersely fire Burns away poison patches so isn't ideal with all earth spells. Air can electrocute blood pools made by witchcraft. Also lighting oil on fire has a high chance to make archers untargetablr by you but able to shoot you; it not always a good tactic. In fact the slow from oil is usually superior to the burning effect.

This game rewards you for strong tactics moreso than strong planning.

I was giving an example of two that worked together . And igniting poison creates a burning patch like hitting oil. Which works to hurt any enemies on the patch and/or as control as enemies (at least those without immunity to fire) will not cross. Also I'm pretty sure archers need line of sight. 90% sure on it as smoke is a defensive skill for pyromancy.