Starting questions
 

I've finally found time to start DOS 2 and I'm wondering about who to take as companions. I've picked Ifan as my PC and made him a ranger. I've also already accepted Fane because he is just SO cool! That leaves 3 slots… I was thinking Beast, Sebille and Lahose but wouldn't it be too magic users heavy? And how about tanks? Can Beast fulfill this role and is one tank enough?

I use the red prince as a tank because his fire breath is nice when he’s in the thick of things. Now at level 13 his damage is too puny as a sword and board. Switched to two handed and he’s a monster.

I think all 6 of them are pretty decent but a lot of people seem to lean towards the skeleton.

No, that leaves 2 slots. You only get 4. Two have to be left behind.

The good news is, anyone can be anything. I guess you can play toward their free skills but I think their voice acting and the sound of their stories are more important choices. Then just build up their stats.

Civil skills are a pretty big deal. You are going to want one person that's good at thievery - probably Fane since he gets free lock picks. If you want to talk your way out of anything, one person should be good at persuasion. Probably the person with the ability to talk to critters. Somebody has to have Loremaster cranked up, too, if you want to know what you've gotten (and especially if somebody has lucky charm). That leaves lucky charm, bartering, sneaking, and TK. I think you can do without TK because teleport can (almost) do the same. Bartering will give you more cash so you can buy more stuff. LC will give you more random stuff which you can sell for cash and get some bought stuff if you don't like what the random number generator gives you. Sneaking opens up ways to get around enemies either to skip the battle completely or just get in better position. (Maybe it could be used instead of persuasion?)

Note that lucky charm "shares" so, if the person opening a barrel/book shelf/tomb/crate/whatever has no LC then the person with the highest LC's skill will be used. That saves you from having to always search with the same person all the time. (I'm still not certain what happens if the person opening has a little LC. Will it use that small value or just always use the party max?)

Anyway, once you get off the first island, you'll have a free and easy way to "respec" if you like.

Also lore master 3 allows you to examine your enemies to see their immunities and feats. Very handy!

Oh yean - and that skill is shared, too, so just one character needs it.

I forgot retribution. I've been pretty much ignoring it but it might be pretty handy on a Necromancer.

Thanks guys. That's really helpful!

It doesn't really matter who you pick as you can freely respec them after chapter 1, so just pick on personality, who you'd like to adventure with. You can make Sebille a tank, or the dwarf a magic user or the lizard an archer if you want.

After playing the intro chapter several times I think I'm finally ready to start in earnest (starting to get into the mood). I'm going for a shadowblade build with, yes, Fane. I'll take the prince, Lohse and Ifan. So Fane will be a standard shadowblade with scoundrel, the pawn, thievery, dagger as weapon of choice, backstabbing, not interested in sneaking. Not sure if thievery is useful, it made sense with my bony fingers.

However, I read that Lohse's story is better enjoyed if you actually play her. What do you think, should I start over with her and take Fane as a companion instead? I just washed up at Fort Joy so now would be the time.

If you keep second guessing yourself you'll never finish the game. Just go with what you have and enjoy the ride.
As for the thievery being useful, I played a 'good' party, didn't steal a thing, but if you're going for a less lawful play then yes, you can steal stuff from people.

I have about 120k gold mainly from pickpocketing legendaries as needed after level ups. I have 3 characters with thievery. Sebille is at 5. Others at 1. Which can be buffed to 5 with a belt and a unique pair of gloves and a unique dagger.

Well, I also ended up with over 150K without stealing anything in the whole game. I would say either Thievery or Lucky Charm should fix any monetary issues. If you do both, well it's overkill :)

I took thievery for the lockpicking. I'm just too honest for stealing (but I have no problems breaking and entering) :)

I do both, just because I like exercising all the mechanics, FWIW.

Being able to lockpick doors and chests is a pretty big help. You can live without it, I suppose, but I wouldn't try.

(Hmmm, you rarely need to lock pick in a hurry. You could probably get away with just keeping a lot of different +1 thievery gear around then put it on whenever you want to pick a lock. It'd be quite a bother, though.)

It is a big bother when you want to pickpocket on multiple characters…

May explain why I have 200 hours and still haven't left act 2…

And you can bash open stuff too. Still, I think only a couple of points in thievery is enough (and by the time you need more than that you probably have a bunch of items that add thievery points).

One point has been enough for me so far to pickpocket at level 5 in act 2, and there is one item I can buy that adds additional thievery on chest. But early on you don't have access to those items. So having someone who you levelled it up constantly to about four would be safe. Not sure after act 2.

How long after D:OS does D:OS 2 take place? I was kind of surprised that Larian didn't include the option to import the protagonists from the first game.

http://divinity.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline

(read the footnote at the very bottom - 1220 ish ad)

That website has terrible malware ads. :(

I was slightly lost at the start, being a little overwhelmed and not knowing what quests to go for. But a few levels in it started to click and I'm having lots of fun with the combat. Made it into the marsh but had to go back as I had a lot of unresolved quests.

Regarding the combat, seems the initiative mechanic has changed (from DOS) where, at least at the start of the combat, the enemy has a least one turn after each of your characters. It seems initiative only matters within your party only.

Yes, that has been a complaint about the new system. It affects who goes first. After that it always alternatives with the enemies.

It is a big game without a doubt. I am enjoying taking my time to explore every nook and cranny. :)

Aaand finished it. Well, at least the first island. Larian has found a solid combat system. The fight in the abandoned camp was real fun. Difficult but not punishable hard, you always have the idea you can get through it.

Going to respect just once (and stick with it) in the ship now that I have some idea on the mechanics. Had some inspiration from http://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Builds, but don't want to copy them one-on-one. Looking for fun builds that don't make things extra difficult. Thinking of:
- Warfare + necromancy for the red prince. Necromancy sounds *reaaal* fun.
- Pure hydro build for Lohse. Could I do without healing? A battlemage + pyro is appealing
- Huntsman + Summoning for Ifan. I want to avoid summoning as I played it in the original DOS but Ifan his special skill is a pet that benefits from it so… otherwise I could throw elemental stuff in.
- Unchanged dual dagger scoundrel + poly for my main, Fane

Caveat, I only have one melee in there (the red prince).

Tip: look out for vines :-) I still missed several paths that could get me past difficult fights to level up first.

That's what I did with respect to respec'ing. However, if you want to change yourself a lot (in a way where you need to get some skill books to make it work), it's best to wait until the ship gets to the next island.

Also, pure hydro will eventually max out. Lohse will need a little something else - like air with it's great teleport powers.

Hmm yes. Will keep that in mind.

I finished my respecing:
- Fane: dual wielding scoundrel. With some poly and necromancer on the side (only 1 point each atm)
- Lohse: pure hydro, dual wielding water wands (tidalist build as they call it), on level up I can add a point back in aero. Forgot teleport is in there. 2 points in huntsman for tactical retreat. Glass canon!
- Red prince: battlemage (two-handed staff + pyro). Demon talent -> I'm going to love this build
- Ifan: pure physical ranger (huntsman and warfare) + some geomancer on the side (summoning made things too easy in DOS) - Glass canon!

I lack a real tank but I'm determined to make it work. Btw, what do you guys think contain the best movement (teleport) spells: hydro, scoundrel or poly?

In the end I made bigger changes than I estimated. I already got my ass kicked twice in Driftwood so I hope I made the right choice :-) I'm guessing I was a bit underleveled (level 9 vs enemy level 10) and more importantly using subpar gear (on average level 6/7 gear) and not being able to buy the right skillbooks for my respec yet. I hope that's the reason… :P I need money!

I think huntsman's tactical retreat is the best defensive self-teleport, it hastes you as well.

The aero teleport is nice to use offensively to remove enemy threat (if only temporarily) but can't be applied to the caster to move themselves.

There's also a swap spell in Air that lets you swap two things. I do remember it had some odd limits on what can be swapped but I've already forgotten what they are.

Don't expect to use dual wands long term. Sounds like a good idea to me at low levels because you won't have a lot of attack spells to use yet but, once you do, the appeal of having a shield crank both armor values up is just too good to miss. (I wonder if you can dual-wield shields? I never thought to try!)

Fighting enemies that are higher level is definitely rough going. In effect, they are an invisible wall. When you see enemies that are higher level than you, it's time to go back the other way and see what you missed. I think that might have been the most annoying part of the game for me: finding the even level area that I was supposed to be in. (I found a map somewhere that showed each island and the level you should be for each area in it that was pretty handy - I think it was on a Wikia site?)

I remember Glass Cannon scared me silly. Good luck with it!

Even one point in Poly gives you that chicken spell, doesn't it? I loved that spell. Which reminds me… KEEP THOSE MIND WORMS!!

You cannot dual wield shields.

Pah! Never the freedom to play the way *I* want!! :devil:

Yep. Sucky game.

Yep, ashamedly I haven't used the chicken spell yet :-) Mind worms. What, where?

I got butchered all over driftwood for a while (level 14 void Deer, whut), finally found wrecker's cave which is doable and got me back on track.

I know I said I won't change my characters again but… Geo would be so useful for my pyro battlemage. His warfare skills are not used until my rogue reduces the physical armor first. Otherwise his pyro skills are just awesome and ideal against melee who have very low magic armor. So I would add geo for the physical armor buffs and some points in strength so I can wear physical armor (and oil + fire of course).

I would remove geo on my huntsman then, anything else I can take with huntsman except for summoning? Ah yes, poly.

I'm probably reinventing all the stuff on the net, but it's more fun finding it out yourself.

@ilm, mind worms are in bottles found mostly in torture chambers. There were a few back in Fort Joy near that sick puppy's office and there's more to be found through the whole game.

What are 'mind worms' ? Oh yoiu mean the maggots in a jar ?

Yep. You can make a grenade out of them.

Never used them myself, at the end of the game I had sooooo many things I collected that 'maybe I'll use it later' and never did.

btw if you find a way point; you can travel directly to it at any time from the map by clicking on it. You don't have to go to another way point.

Also, if just one person the party can get to a way point (or door that goes to another zone), going through will suddenly bring the entire party through. Very handy if one character goes teleporting off by him/herself and finds something interesting. This only works if the characters are still linked!

Another tip, don't forget spirit vision! You know it, I know it, but I still forget to turn it on in 95% of the cases. Made some quests much harder (even impossible) to solve.

I have a feeling I cheated my way through some battles. For Mordus I got in from the back, positioned myself on the ridge and sneak attacked Mordus but still got my ass kicked several times. Then I stayed completely in the back, on the boat itself, which made the fight trivial. Killed Mordus in like 2 rounds before any of his companions could reach me. After Mordus I got my third source point for free at blood island, that place is still well above my level.

Not sure if I can say this here but (more clear) quest markers are welcome :P. I can appreciate that you have to think for yourself more but then they should make the journal significantly clearer and put the most recent entry at the top (globally but certainly per quest item). Now I have always to scroll to the bottom each time I open the journal, which is extra tedious with a controller. I realized this made me lose track of many quests in driftwood itself, gonna clear those up first in my next play session.

I'm liking the living on the edge skill on my scoundrel. Just teleport between all bad guys, do lots of damage (adrenaline), then set living on the edge to stay alive for 2 turns. Now that I think of it, death wish is nicely complementary there.

I have almost cleared out Act 2, only the advocate fight left to do. Not that hard at level 16, but I can't have anyone dying during the fight. The way to do it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izxQDOqa13g