RPGWatch Feature - Divinity: Original Sin Preview

I'm more concerned about the monster design than the color palette. What I've seen so far looks somewhat silly imo.

That does concern me as well, and was hoping they might make some changes in the near future. They certainly seem more silly than menacing.

I must admit that I found the monsters rather … odd, too.

I had the impression that the weird looking monsters where the result of chaos magic experiments.

They do look like something straight out of Monsters Inc. though.

Yeah, they really need to stick with the fantasy style there imo, especially since this is the prequel to Divine Divinity. One of the monster types in the video looked like it had a flame thrower. That sort of thing just clashes with the setting/lore.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm more concerned about the monster design than the color palette. What I've seen so far looks somewhat silly imo.

Originally Posted by Ragnaris
That does concern me as well, and was hoping they might make some changes in the near future. They certainly seem more silly than menacing.

If the game is intended to be humourous with a large dosis of self mockery in a similar vein as the original Divine Divinity, then perhaps the goofy art style may suit the game well. Otherwise, it would indeed be a turn off….at least for me.

Originally Posted by JDR13
One of the monster types in the video looked like it had a flame thrower.

You mean this bad boy?

I have to say, I´m finding this pretty amazing .

Originally Posted by JDR13
That sort of thing just clashes with the setting/lore.

"Steam fantasy" seems quite in line with the setting to me, though I´m certainly no expert on Divinity lore.

Personally I like most of the monster design so far because it´s quite creative and seems to fit with the chaos magic background, but the in-game representations, at least when it comes to skeletal variety, do look a bit too cartoon-ish/toy-ish (I find skeletons in computer games almost always funny though).
Since the preview(s) seemed to cover early stages in the game, it´s possible that more imposing creations, as well as more "serious" art, will enter the stage later.

I agree with the notion that colours are too saturated or whatever, at least in daylight conditions, hopefully further tinkering with lighting, contrast and such is still on the plate.
Also, blocky rocks/mountains.

Nothing of the above is a big deal to me since I´ve expected the game to come with a healthy dose of lightheartedness anyway, but I certainly won´t mind if some of the visual aspects end up, um, less kitschy, in the final product.

Originally Posted by JDR13
One of the monster types in the video looked like it had a flame thrower. That sort of thing just clashes with the setting/lore.

There is also an orc inside a spider mech in a screenshot.

But there was big gigantic flying ships, flying Fortresses with all sort of tech and goblins with jet packs in DII.

All of those things were in Divinity 2 yes, but Original Sin takes place hundreds of years prior to Divine Divinity. Since no trace of that kind of technology was ever seen or mentioned (as far as I can remember) in DD, I'm just curious how they're going to explain it for Original Sin.

Well, Dragon Commander takes place even earlier in the setting´s timeline and, afaict, there´s a very strong tech/steampunk element.
Maybe the tech just vanished for some time in some cataclysm or something.
(but it´s probably more likely that Larian weren´t giving much fucks about "bigger picture", at least until now)

A bit of a timeline :

Dragon Commander (kind of Steampunk-ish) -> Original Sin (a lesser degree of Steampunk, I assume) -> Divinity 1 -> Beyond Divinity -> Divinity 2

I put the blame for the Steampunk-ish on the Lord of Chaos and the Black Ring.

Also, I think that DeepO have the correct assumption, when Larian did DD they didn't really think about everything (past or future). They probably added concept and ideas when they made DDII.

Never played Beyond so I can't comment on that game.

Originally Posted by azarhal
Never played Beyond so I can't comment on that game.

I only played a few hours, and that was all I could stand. Every good developer is allowed one turd afaic.

The start of Beyond Divinity is a little linear and hack and slash focused, but starts to open up towards the end of the first act. The second act is outside, with a variety of environments, an imp village, more effective magic spells start to become available, etc. Divine Divinity is a little linear and heavy on the hack and slash at the start, as well, but there are enough small quests and interactions in Aleroth to give an indication of what the game will be when you get through the catacombs. Beyond Divinity could have used something like the existential skeletons in Divine Divinity (I liked the demo before then, but that encounter is what turn the game into a day 1 must buy for me).

I finished Beyond Divinity just the once; but admittedly it became a chore in places.
I liked some of the puzzle design, environments, music (Pokrovsky is amazing) and interactive elements but the gameplay and god awful voice-acting (especially for the dark knight) spoiled many of the plusses. It was definitely something of a misstep compared to Divine Divinity.

The voice for the Knight was a bit more cynical first. Then, an early version of what is nowadays called a "shitstorm" came upon the forum because of the demo.

The result was that the voice had to sound much more "evil" and the *whole* already recorded voice was scrapped.

Only 1 "member" of this "storm" later came back and admitted that this new coice wasn't a good one after all and that he wanted the older, the more cynical sounding voice back.

Larian learned a lot of things in the early days the hard way.

Originally Posted by darkling
Every time I see someone complain about this game having turn based combat (and there's been a lot- every site that posted about this features this complaint in the comments), I want to scream. REALLY?? You aren't satisfied with the five billion ARPGs released every day that you have to complain about one turn based game being announced? Go away!!! It's about time developers start releasing these kinds of games and it's these irritating complainers that make it into something only self-publishers can do.

I know you posted this a while back, but I had to comment on it. It's like that with multi-player too. Any game released is single-player only and people start whining there is no multiplayer. There's ten billion MP games and several billion MMO's and they bitch there is a SP only game. There are games in any genre you want. While there might not be enough of what a person likes in particular, there ARE games for any taste.
I also don't understand peoples needs to comment on genres they dont like. Whats the point? Really? Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion. And I like to hear differing opinions on games. But hearing the opinion over and over on every single game gets tiring.

WOW is all I could say after reading this.

Only played DD and found it a great game. This sounds even better. Hope they deliver.

That are already 3 games to follow: Assassins Creed 3, Dishonered and Divinty: Original Sin. I still have to finish Risen 2 and the latest Zelda on the Wi before that. Busy times