Divinity 2 So I ordered Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga...

darkling said:

Who cares what they think? You sound 10.

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I like to get others to play rpg's i like.

Damian Mahadevan said:

I like to get others to play rpg's i like.

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While the other person was harsh, when I try to sell a RPG it is all about the gameplay, story, writing, music and so on.

That approach failed every time when i was growing up. I could not get one person to try wizardry 6.

I managed to sell DKS to many people just by telling about it on game forums. I never heard complaints about graphics.

Sounds like they like different things - there's not much crossover between DKS and Starcraft 2, for example. Don't try to make them like something they just don't.

Alpha Protocol, while one of my favourite games from last year, is quite dull graphically, so if someone is criticising the graphics in DKS while liking Alpha Protocol, it's just an excuse. The graphics isn't really the problem - they're just not into it.

I must agree that there is a *huge* step from wow to Divinity II ... In terms of colours.

In wow, everything looks much, much more colourful. Just take a few minutes and consider the colours alone.

There's a HUGE difference. Dragon Age, for example, is the game with the greatest amount of "muted colours". It just doesn't have the colourfulness of wow.

And that's something I'm perceiving for a long time. "dark & gritty" also means : muted colours. Brown-to-grey fade, it's as if some developers believed that the sheer lack of colours = mature.

To me, Divinity 2 was relatively colourful. And - maybe they just forgot to adjust the colour/gamma slider in the graphical options menu ?

I'm perhaps wrong but for me there's a huge difference between D2:ED and DKS graphics. And changing the in game gamma slider doesn't allow to get the same result in D2:ED than in DKS.

The difference seems in part in the color cold setup which is a standard monitor setup, but there's something else different too. All in all in DKS the games looks a lot more colorful despite it's almost the same game. I suspect many textures has changed to give some more light mirror effects. And yes my game settings are the same in D2:EG and DKS.

Other than that, with DKS point of view removing this small feeling of colors a bit washed or too dark that can have D2:ED, it's for me a graphically stunning game. I'm not against games that target graphics more colorful, more cartoon, or with more style, but DKS is still quite impressive from the graphics point of view and something seems have changed since D2:ED.

Well, as long as we are talking graphics… I just uploaded a boatload of 3D screenshots to nVidia's new website. WARNING: There are spoilers! The link should take you to the oldest screenshots so you should be pretty safe on the first page but go beyond at your own risk. Might want to ignore that 'turning point' screenshot, too.

If you haven't got 3D - no biggy. Just click the L or R in the lower left to view the left or right image and it should look fine.

If you do have 3D Vision, you'll need a clean install of the latest beta drivers. They JUST got this stuff working semi-reliably this month! (The whole website is still a bit funky. The next/previous buttons tend to give random images, for instance.)

It's also got support for blue/red glasses - but I shudder to think what the colors will look like with those.

Dasale said:

I suspect many textures has changed to give some more light mirror effects.

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Could be, could be. They always said they were "overhauling" the game … I think this could indeed apply here.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Could be, could be. They always said they were "overhauling" the game … I think this could indeed apply here.

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In fact the effect is very strange in many places, many undergrounds got a very strange look because of this "mirror/light reflect" effect, in fact some underground now remind what was used in some of Alien movies.

It looks like I'm a bit late to the discussion, but I must say DKS has been quite the(pleasant) surprise… What I found most shocking - it's as rewarding as it's fun. For example, character build actually means something(at least in ED; the sheer number of skill books in FoV is staggering - though, it could be argued one isn't forced to use any or all). Honestly, how many games are the least bit rewarding(IE where strategy, C&C or character building is necessitated and pays off)? IMHO, in the ever growing desire to attain some mythical peak mass market appeal devs and pubs lose sight of risk/reward and go for fun. Thus rewarding can be fun, but fun cannot be meaningful… It(fun) is the lowest common denominator and has been distilled to the point of insipidness and frivolity. Perhaps that says more about our nations and greater society?

Beyond character build/strategy being rewarding there's an element of exploration, not in a sandbox sense, but rather the devil is in the details. Hidden knobs, latches or handles are actually hidden - they're not glowing and screaming, Hey look at me! Over here!"… Often times mindreading or scanning a room for books, notes, ect are rewarding, but other times entirely pointless(humor aside).

The other things I appreciated,

-Not being given all the details or exact details. I'd explain/give an account but that would be spoilerish… Suffice it to say hand holding/coddling is kept to a minimum.
-That on normal, I got my arse handed to me a couple times for acting haphazardly.
-Puzzles that took at least some thought or referencing previous convos/mindreads/books/ect.
-The dialogue/humor. *Semi-Spoiler* Talana's commentaries were great.
-Music/soundtrack. Voice acting was decent too.
-I don't understand the complaints about graphics… I found them to be perfectly acceptable.
-Some actual C&C. Not to mention the ability to fail a quest depending on your choices. Something that's become increasingly rare.
-*Spoiler* A game where the archer is overpowered! Not that I appreciate overpowered PCs, but it's almost never the archer.
-Some of the locations were memorable. Only complaint, I wish some areas weren't "locked" after certain events(*Spoiler* sentinel island).
-Rarity of some gems/items. Thus you can't enchant every item set you may have with the best of enchantments.

Even if DKS is somewhat LMB click happy/actiony, so what? It's thoroughly entertaining and difficult to stop playing…

They say archery is easymode and so it seems so far. It does lot of damage, its easy to avoid getting hit and the bolts/arrows home to the target like modern smart missiles.

Frivolity?! Gimme some of that distilled frivolity. I'm feeling weak.

zakhal said:

They say archery is easymode and so it seems so far. It does lot of damage, its easy to avoid getting hit and the bolts/arrows home to the target like modern smart missiles.

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As in many similar games, Archery have more easy points just because it's long range and not closely linked to mana spending. For sure there are strong points in DKS like the ability to build quite strong pet and summon, or damages that can be quite good.

But I didn't feel it like the easy solution, and in fact I think the game is designed for a mix of bow and close range weapon for the Archer. Some example of points not in favor of the Archer:

• An aimlessly bow shooting is probably giving the best dps or close. But this is true only for the easier fights. For other fights you'll need manage dodging and shooting this dropping down a lot the bow dps. When it's easier with close range weapons to mix dodging and stronger blows.
• A real focus on Archery will probably require anyway to build stronger pet and summon than what need a close range fighter. This will consume a bit more skill points.
• Some fights are less easy with Archery, for example ambushes, strong pack merging long range and close range, some cases where you are blocked in an area for the fight time, long range enemies using area damages or partial seeking missiles both more difficult to dodge with and simple side step, in all those case and some other the close range fighter will have an easier task.
• I also got the feeling that close range weapons tend have stronger damages but it's random so it's only in general and not always.
• The automatic target acquiring certainly give this feeling of smart missile but it also brings more difficult element. When you fight a group it makes quite more difficult to choose your target. For example if you didn't lock a target attacking you long range close fighter could run at you and become your auto target.
• As usual close range fighters have a better ability than Archer to mix focus on weapon and better armor this making them more resistant and easier to play during the hardest fights.

At my first play, I played a large part with mostly only summon/pet and Archery. But I gradually switch to close range and continue use bow for some fights.
At my current replay I'm using only close range fighting and feel it quite strong and certainly more fun.

I think that's because this game just about requires you to focus on just a few skills. If you put some points into archery and some into a melee weapon, you're going to find both very weak. Even falling two skill levels behind what you can get at your level makes a lot of skills almost pointless.