RPGWatch Feature: Divinity 2 Preview

[Dhruin]

Myrthos traveled to the recent Leipzig Games Convention for a first-hand look at Divinity 2. In this first part we report about the presentation, including comments and examples from Larian studio head Swen Vincke. Here's a snip:
One of the things you will be taught is the mystery of mindreading, which according to the words of Swen Vincke; “is a cool thing we have introduced in the game”. Every time you encounter a dialog in the game you have the option to read the mind of the person in front of you, which gives a new and unique twist to the quest you are doing. The mind reading is skill based as well, and you will get better at it when you assign more skill points to it. Furthermore, you will be given your shiny silver-blue eyes that will allow the dragon slayer to see the world of the undead (and yes I did ask him what this meant but he refused to spill the proverbial beans on this one). In addition, you will also be infused with dragon memory, which is what a dragon slayer needs to be able to combat dragons.
Note that some mild spoilers are included. Read it all here (http://www.rpgwatch.com//forums/../show/article?articleid=95&ref=0&id=67).
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=10076)

[Dhruin]

I've so got my fingers crossed with this one. Not sure what I think of mind-reading and flying but it is different.

Hope the humour and feel is there. Thanks for the insight, Myrthos!

[magerette]

I like the sound of the quest structure. Mind reading( a skill I'd like to have in RL btw) sounds like a new touch, and I think having it have some negative consequences is a good idea for balance. Thanks for the in-depth look, Myrthos.

[HiddenX]

Nice preview -
*scribbling Divinity 2 on my game list*

[titus]

I also saw the shaky handcam video. I am impressed and I think it will be a defintely buyer

[kalniel]

Looks good - I only hope the increase in fidelity has not been at the expense of polish.

[GothicGothicness]

I hope they'll fix all the graphics problems seen on that screenshots before the release. Graphics does not make the game, but since they've gone the road of making it graphics intensive, they'd had better fix it.

[Gorath]

I´m not worried. Larian has a lot of time, 50% control over the project and a big budget. And furthermore their partner has just launched a successful RPG and learned that the additional 9 months for polishing were a good investment. That´s an important lesson because dtp has a reputation of sitting on their purse.

[GothicGothicness]

Well, div2 has already been in development like forever. But if they are really aiming for a Q2 2009 release I am really woundering if they can have it done by that time.

[Corwin]

Stay tuned for part 2 of Myrthos' report!! :)

[crpgnut]

Hurry, hurry, hurry, Myrthos! :D

[quasimodo]

Too bad the game appears to be OTS with WASD key movement. I just got a lot less excited.

[Myrthos]

Well, this is what Lar at the official forums had to say about the controls:
-Controls: Someone mentioned that it controlled well when I was presenting it, and it does, but then again I'm of course used to the system. To a certain extent it's similar to Hellgate London. If anybody played that game (regardless of what you thought of the game itself), I'd be interested in your opinions about the controls there.
-Controls(2): One reason for the WASD is because we're trying to keep the dragon controls as close as possible to the human controls, and that system turned out the best. It also works out with the cursor keys, but you're hand is fairly far away from the skill hotkeys then.

[quasimodo]

Well I'll keep an eye on the game, but I suspect it will exceed my "action" threshold. Too bad as the original game is one of the best action/RPG's I have played.

[Roi Danton]

I like WASD a lot more than a pure mouse control. It feels better. I use it most of the time in games like Drakensang and NWN2.

[txa1265]

I am very hopeful ... and nervous. I obviously have a great love of the franchise.

[zakhal]

Id like a sequel faithful to the original isometric look but oh well. DD was simply so good and the hacking was so enjoyable. Not so sure it will work the same in 1st person.

[Myrthos]

It's a 3rd person game, but you can zoom in and out. Zooming out completely comes somewhat close to an isometric view.

[quasimodo]

Yeah, but the iso view is pretty pointless without point and click movement and targeting.

[Maylander]

Well, it helps getting a general overview of big fights, but moving around is probably better with the camera zoomed in a bit if there is no click to move/attack.

[crpgnut]

My biggest concern would be an over-powerful character when in dragon shape. It's boring if a game isn't challenging all the way through. I always avoided dragon characters in MM8.

Seeing the world of the undead kinda reminds me of the gimmick used in Kult: Heretic Kingdoms. The main character could enter the dream world and do a variety of tasks while there.

[Myrthos]

I think they are trying to solve that by making sure that it is not possible to go through certain areas in a dragon form. And whilst you are a dragon the most obvious enemies you are going to encounter is other dragons, you won't be over-powerful for them. I don't know if that will work, I hope it does as it's no fun to go through the game being over-powerful.

[Elwro]

Great article! BTW, the name of the composer is "Pokrovsky", not "Prokovsky".

[woges]

It certainly sounds interesting even though I haven't been able to find a working copy of the first game yet (sigh). I like the designs of the buildings, and the quest structure, sounds good.

[Rills]

It certainly sounds interesting even though I haven't been able to find a working copy of the first game yet (sigh). I like the designs of the buildings, and the quest structure, sounds good.

Amazon.com.UK has copies from several sellers. They aren't new but some are in very goo shape -- like new, according to the sellers description.