Dark Side of the Divinity 2
 

Greetings

I've just started my first character in Divinity 2 a few days ago and have been taking the time to get into the feel of the game. I've gone for a mage build and are currently exploring the Maxos temple at around level 14.
Thus far I like the exploration and Pokrovsky's music most of all; which was so wonderfully vivid in the first game.

So far Divinity 2 certainly does play like a lesser Gothic or Two Worlds at times with the twitch elements of say the combat of Jade Empire with Diablo bits thrown in there as well.

To the point of my thread - I was just wondering if other players observed any references to Pink Floyd in the game. :) I've only been wandering around Broken Valley and its dungeons and villages so far but already, there's been two very obvious references to the band that have thrown me a bit. I guess Swen Vincke or someone influential from Larian is a Floyd fan. ;)

1. In the Black Boar tavern, one of the drunks remarks about keeping an eye out for flying "Pigs on the wing" (From the album, Animals)

2. There's a character with a split personality disorder named Eugene who carries an axe. One of the dialog lines is "Hey, be careful with that thing…" (A reference to the song "Careful with that Axe Eugene", from Ummagumma)

Whilst they're amusing and all - it does kind of take you out of the game's lore a little. My question is, are there any more to be found? Or maybe some other players found some other pop culture references?

So far it's a fun game, though the skill trees don't strike me as especially compelling as those from the original game.

There are actually quite a few pop culture references in DKS. Off the top of my head, I can remember references to Monty Python, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, and Power Rangers.

Totally missed the Floyd reference, but I'm not overly familiar with them to begin with.

Oh yes Pessimeister! both Divinity 2 and DKS are full of references and little jokes :)

Is it just me Zahra, or did you write that response by somehow channeling a little bit of Cespenar from Throne of Bhaal? :D

Feel free to include any information on any specific references, though without spoilers if you can people. :)

So Who the fuck is this Lars you always refer to, Pessimister ? ;)

Err…that…was pretty random there Gorath. But now that you mention it, I have no freaking idea. :D Maybe I meant Swen Vincke? *scratches head*

Or maybe there was a Lars in the credits for Divine Divinity and it just somehow found its way into my thoughts when I wrote that first post? hah! Strange. ;)

There´s a shitload of´em, though by now I don´t remember much specifics.
For me this was a part of the game´s special charm :).
It doesn´t take itself seriously and it does so well in my opinion - I´ve never experienced such amount of good laughs in an RPG.
Another aspect of the game´s charm is its music. Which is dramatic and mostly serious.
Having this kind of music in a game with such a liberal use of humour often brings immediate contrasts of tones, which I´ve found rather unique and, eh, postmodern, in a good way.
One exemplary moment that came to mind is the loony dude in the beginning of Sentinel Island who has some fun dialogue and among other things whips up The Beatles reference ("I´m the walrus") … meanwhile a heroic/majestic track plays in the background. ´Tis art! :)
(for the reference, the first 90 secs, or so, in this video - spoiler for the beginning of Sentinel Island obvs)

It's just you Pessimeister but hey, Cespenar is not a bad character to channel :lol:

Yup, stumbling upon those references was part of the fun but, if you want to go looking for them you can start with this (quite incomplete) list:
http://divinity.wikia.com/wiki/Easter_Eggs

I loved that Sentinel Island track. It was my favorite music in the game, and I'd even say it's one of the best music tracks I've heard in a game in recent years. I also really liked the style and atmosphere of Sentinel Island in general. I only wish that section had been longer.

That guy is cool! I loved the way he spouted random Latin phrases to cast fireball AND Monty Python reference to boot :)

Thanks for the link Zahra; although I note that it doesn't include the Pink Floyd references, which are the ones I'm after. :) Whilst I've only found two so far; I get the feeling there's going to be more somehow.

I've just encountered that hermit at Sentinel Island. Wacky fellow. He even throws in the ol' Cartesian "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito, Ergo Sum).

The Sentinel Island track isn't bad. A little too heroic for my tastes overall in Pokorovsky. I tend to prefer his more subdued ambient pieces; particularly those that evoke a strong folk feeling (of which there was plenty in Divine Divinity)
He is a fantastic composer - makes playing the game so much more enjoyable.
There's a lovely little piece on Sentinel Island when talking with Hermosa's people actually - reminds me a little bit of Rob Hubbard's Thanatos (for those that know and like old 8 bit tunes!)

Well, I'm level 20 and have made all of the totem choices. Just a couple more minor quests to finish up and then maybe it's time to see what lurks in this tower. :)

Well, I've run into my first real challenge in the game's combat - The unfortunately and decidedly unoriginally named Ba'al. :)

At the first attempt of the fight, my level 32 mage was zapped and mauled in under 30 seconds. So I'm currently licking the wounds back at the Battle Tower, restocking on potions and trying to raise resistances in as many ways as possible for another shot.

The game had a bit of a grinding lull after the dragon transformation and I haven't enjoyed it quite as much throughout the Orobos Fjords. I was hoping for much more open areas and bigger vistas for flying and exploration.
It's kind of ironic, but I think I had just as much fun playing Dragonstrike on the C64 all those years ago…

However, I do like the way the game made me feel as though I was just naturally playing the main quest when in fact I was doing side-quests. Before I knew it, I'd upgraded the whole Battle Tower. :)

Just wait until you face some of the later bosses, particularly in the Flying Fortresses. Ba'al is a breeze in comparison. :)

There's also a chick in the bandit camp called Xena.

And there is a quest called "Candle in the wind", that's related to a grave, probably reference to the song Elton John dedicated in memory to Princess Diana after she died.

Errrr… you are right but Elton John's song was originally dedicated to Marilyn Monroe and was than slightly modified to serve as tribute to Diana.

Really? That's very interesting. I wonder if it's also a question of timing/scaling?
I've already knocked over Stone, Kali, Raze, Geshniz..as many fortresses as I could find earlier on whilst maximising the potential of the Battle Tower.
And there's still more nastier buggers to come than Ba'al not including the final fight?

Seriously, my character was stunned almost immediately every time in that Ba'al fight. It took some serious cheese/prior potion guzzling and front flipping around in circles before getting in an occasional firewall/fireball/magic missile combo that had any impact.

Aye, that fight was very nasty. I've since moved on though to do the rest of the Hall of Echoes quests - including the meeting with a particular character from Divine Divinity whom you can actually kill if you choose to… (Patriarch).

You must be putting in a lot of hours per day to have gone through that much already. :)

Not sure why, but Ba'al was pretty easy for me. I only died one time fighting him, and that was because I somehow fell through the floor into the lava below.

I remember Stone being really tough for my character. I think it took me at least a half dozen tries to beat him.

Oh.. and those five assholes who do the Power Rangers intro. That battle was ridiculous..

Absolutely mate. :) The tail end of the school holidays has been a crazy time for getting in some last minute marathon game sessions in, as well as some recent weekend nights. Because the game is so actiony though, progression does seem to flow quickly with it. Not sure on my total hours, but I don't think it'll be as much as Divine Divinity.

Out of those fortress fights, I remember I had the most difficulty with Raze, mostly because of the tight confines and his healing. That actually took some timing to prevent and lots of circling to avoid his buddies.
Hahaha - Which encounter is that and where is it? Pop the answer for me in spoiler tags if you like. Can't remember if I've had it already or not.

I'm thinking of moving to a playthrough of all three Deus Ex games next. I want to try this New Vision mod for the first game, I've never tried IW at all despite its very bad reputation and well… I haven't played HR yet either. :)

But of course, there's the expansion and DKS to finish first…good fun!

I'd play HR first if I were you. IW is worth playing one time for the story, but it's unlikely that you'll ever feel the need to replay it. :)

Whew! All done.

To be honest, I'd pretty much had enough of the combat system by about half way through Flames of Vengeance and was very happy to see the conclusion of the game.

I felt the interactions and overall quests of the expansion were improved in coherency and connectedness from Ego Draconis. I also liked the writing, dungeon design and puzzles throughout the game as they all featured some nice old school touches and had that unique Larian quirkiness. (In particular the disco-dungeon room in the Crows Nest was an absolute hoot.)

I rather enjoyed the amusing rhyming dialogues of Bellager and regretted not really being able to fire back in turn with some rhyming couplets of my own. :D

I struggled with the Zeppelin escort section and felt this part didn't work quite so well considering the player had spent a good part of the expansion not using the dragon form. However, I eventually rushed it fast enough to make it to the final battle. I'm glad to have played both games through and to have finally played Divinity 2.

Couple more final references to sign off on: (I didn't find anymore Floyd ones!)

1. When you first mystically appear in Aleroth in a bolt of lightning in the cutscene, ominous percussion can be heard in the style of The Terminator's arrival music. :D
2. There's a Ghostbusters quote in the Inn. ("who you're gonna call?)