Divinity: Original Sin II - 8 Do's and Don'ts @ The Escapist

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The Escapist has put together 8 suggestions for the upcoming Kickstarter RPG
Divinity: Original Sin II:
8 Do's and Don'ts for Divinity: Original Sin II
Without question, Divinity: Original Sin was one of the best RPGs of 2014. Developed by Larian Studios, the Kickstarter-backed game launched in late June, and was soon receiving solid reviews from around the internet. This morning, Larian announced a sequel, and although the first game was quite good, we do have a few suggestions for them on how to make the second game even better.
  1. DO: Add a Little More Guidance
  2. DON'T: Lose the challenge
  3. DO: Get Rid of the Rock-Paper Scissors Conversation Game
  4. DON'T: Abandon the humor
  5. DO: Make the quest journal clearer
  6. DON'T: Be Afraid to Take Risks
  7. DO: Fix the Inventory System
  8. DO: Keep the mod tools
More information.
 
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I agree with all suggestions except for #1. I don't want handholding in an RPG.
 
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You can make suggestions for Larian's Kickstarter here.

Silver suggested:
Climbing and swimming skills

The ability to traverse and find inhospitable areas. Imagine diving underwater and finding a hidden cavern. Or climbling a rope up a cliffside to steal a griffins egg.

I suggested:
More Role-Playing Options

More role-playing options and skill / stat checks.
Chance to avoid combat with other skills (bribing, smooth-talking, etc.).
More dialog options in general.
More factions. More choices with consequences. Hard choices.
 
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9. DONT: Pixel sized buttons.
 
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Agree with most of them, except definitely not #1.

My own:

1. Handplaced loot with history and lore tied into items
2. Get rid of the overly juvenile stuff like the stealth visuals and such
3. Make it MORE challenging
4. Add 4-player coop
5. I wouldn't mind an overall less cartoony visual style
6. Don't start out with a gigantic quest hub again
 
DON'T: Abandon the humor
I hope they abandon the humor and the cartoony art style. My hopes aren't high though.
 
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Never liked their humor, either. I think I already criticized it during my Divinity 2 review, imho it's an immersion killer and crude. But as you can see, they didn't change it and I fear they won't do so for D:OS2, either.
 
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I don't mind humor - but they took it too far, in my opinion. It's counterproductive to immersion and investment.
 
I'd prefer they retain their own particular individuality (and humor) and keep consistency going in the setting as much as possible rather than becoming generic or like any other xyz brands or dark and gritty medieval settings.

As in my reflections on completing the game (in the OS sub-form) I certainly felt a little overwhelmed by the inventory at times (due to the sheer volume of items) which slowed down progress a little in short gaming sessions, so I'd agree this is something which could be improved.

One massive void which will be awkward to fill considering his music in all previous Larian projects, will be the absence of Kirill Pokrovsky. (RIP) The tone of the game's atmosphere will feel very different without his work. Interesting to see how Larian approach this.

As for the Escapists suggestions, like others, I agree with most save the first one; I liked the obscurity factor in not always knowing what to do next, the need to think for oneself and piece together information. It gave Original Sin more of an Ultima VII flavor, which can only be a good thing. :)
 
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I had no major issues ... but really don't want more hand-holding and agree with others on that.

Didn't mind the humor or visual style ... but can see the call for toning it down, and really wouldn't care if they alter the visuals a bit. I was also fine with the difficulty, but more options (or expanding the scope of the current options) is fine with me.
 
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I think if they improve the quality of the writing, which looks likely, the humour and tone will be taken care of. For me I like there sense of fun, but it should be toned down somewhat, not hugely through.
 
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DO: Players can be dragons and fly around.


WHY NO EGO DRACONIS 2 :bigcry::bigcry::bigcry:
 
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Less humour please.
 
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The Escapist
Escapist = 10/10 to Dragon Age 2

Why should anyone take their suggestions seriously?
Especially the 7th one that is in fact - switch the spectacular inventory into console rotations design crime.

I don't want D:OS 2 to be DA2.
Escapist wants exactly that.
 
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Although I am not stating that D:OS is perfect as it is, my only major complain is about the modding tools. Make it possible to mod it as easily as it is for Skyrim, see the workshop filled by thousands of mods, and follow the cash flowing in for years to come... and for us infinite (almost) ways to enjoy our favorite game.
 
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I'd like prettier female companions. The old crazy gal and the prisoner girl were flat out ugly. I'm shallow like that. I'd also like more variety in the looks of all party members and way more companions from the start.

Also, Sven used to hang out here. Is he too big now? That's never a good idea. It always comes back to bite. He should have a strong presence here and at the Codex. The two sites generated a massive amount of cash for his game.
 
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I'd like prettier female companions. The old crazy gal and the prisoner girl were flat out ugly. I'm shallow like that. I'd also like more variety in the looks of all party members and way more companions from the start.

I'd love an RPG with uglier characters - as in, intentionally ugly. Not just badly drawn. Seems incompatible with market demands though
 
Don't like the humour?

why-so-serious-beetlejuice-joker.jpg
 
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Like a few of you here, I definitely disagree with point #1. Keep things a little mysterious. There's nothing stopping anyone from keeping their own notes on a pad of paper when the in-game journal doesn't record something specific that you might think is important to note. Some of the most thrilling memories I have with early cRPGs such as Wizardry, Ultima, Bard's Tale (and even some Infocom games I'm looking at YOU Spellbreaker grrrr) were times when I didn't really know what to do, sometimes for many (real time) days. Then something 'clicks' or you talk about it with a friend and you figure it out. Was a lot of fun. People shouldn't be so afraid to be stuck it's satisfying when you eventually figure it out.

On the humor side of things, it didn't particularly bother me or keep me from enjoying the game. Though left to my own devices, I tend to prefer a less humorous tone for one that is darker, deadlier, dire, and just plain scarier.

Next is inventory management. I agree with the article on this but I do hold this complaint with a bit of guilt because I think Larian put a real effort into making a proper PC UI. When it comes to item management, they just need to improve it where it takes the player less time to get things where they need to be. Part of achieving this would be to add more categories for things but I don't want to be too prescriptive. I want Larian to somehow preserve the complexity of item interaction and quantity of unique items but to somehow make it all easier and quicker to manage.

Lastly, on the subject of items, I think Larian should drop the idea of making loot drops that enhance your character's skills random. Any loot that can make your character better should be obtainable. I can't remember what skill book it was but there was one skill book for my mage that never dropped and it was pretty annoying. Also, some nice hand-placed loot with hand-crafted stats would be great for those of us explorers.
 
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Agree with most of them, except definitely not #1.

My own:

1. Handplaced loot with history and lore tied into items

I would say SOME handpicked loot, but random loot is a much better system for Divinity games. It is one of your stances I am very much in opposition to. I do not think set drops improve the RPG experience at all, and dramatically decrease the enjoyment of replaying the game.
 
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