Divinity: Original Sin II - Combat Spotlight

Divinity: Original Sin II combat can change challenging conundrums cannily.

loading…

So just how creative can you get with Combat in Divinity: Original Sin 2? Watch and learn, apprentice. Watch and learn.

More information.

I've been fiddling with the game in anticipation (in fact I played the entire Fort Joy area some time ago) , and as before elemental surfaces have way too much impact on combat. They are simply too easy to create and I'd hoped they'd be toned down…but seems not. Given how powerful they are, all of them, bar oil spill which just slows you down, should be harder to generate. Sure, I've "abused" them myself, but they seem like requirement for every combat. Would have been nice to see more instant damage affects/debuffs, which may affect areas, but not leave environmental after effects? I'll still enjoy the game immensely based on my initial play tests, but this is a niggle that has persisted from D:OS

Originally Posted by booboo
I've been fiddling with the game in anticipation (in fact I played the entire Fort Joy area some time ago) , and as before elemental surfaces have way too much impact on combat. They are simply too easy to create and I'd hoped they'd be toned down…but seems not. Given how powerful they are, all of them, bar oil spill which just slows you down, should be harder to generate. Sure, I've "abused" them myself, but they seem like requirement for every combat. Would have been nice to see more instant damage affects/debuffs, which may affect areas, but not leave environmental after effects? I'll still enjoy the game immensely based on my initial play tests, but this is a niggle that has persisted from D:OS

huh?

I never bothered with surface in the first game (outside trying to avoid them). In fact, you can one-shot everything in the game (including last boss) a chest full of stuff via object fall damage (require high telekinetic/strength to lift it).

Originally Posted by booboo
as before elemental surfaces have way too much impact on combat. They are simply too easy to create and I'd hoped they'd be toned down…but seems not. Given how powerful they are

Looks like I'll be passing on this game, which is fine. I was excited for the first game but I get bored with the combat due to all the elemental soup and how repetitive the mob groupings are (and how it always plays out with elemental spew everywhere).

Seems like a cunning use of winning initiative…

I'm sure if you turn up the difficulty the combat will be much harder, elemental effects or not. Not sure what the complaint is though. Their combat will still be faaantastic as will the game on a whole.

Originally Posted by azarhal
huh?

I never bothered with surface in the first game (outside trying to avoid them). In fact, you can one-shot everything in the game (including last boss) a chest full of stuff via object fall damage (require high telekinetic/strength to lift it).

Many times you can't avoid them - they are created on top of you by an enemy…and you have to wade from fire to poison etc. It's cool when you first experience it, but not when it happens in every combat. The worst part is that so many interactions of spells with surfaces are unexpected - oh you didn't see that tiny patch of blood? You've just electrocuted your party member. And so on. As I said, fun the first few times, then it becomes an irritation. I finished and enjoyed the first game, but this was something that I thought was overdone.

It is not going to be less in this game. There are even more combinations you can make. After playing it a while, I switched to explorer mode as I felt the elemental stuff was way overdone and the only way to win in combat was figuring out the right combination of spells to use. To me, it is not the part of the game that is most appealing.

Originally Posted by Myrthos
After playing it a while, I switched to explorer mode

So that's an actual mode in the game? How does it work?

It is just the name they gave to the mode below normal. It just means combat is easier and takes less time. As I often found combat to just be something that got in the way of finding out what is beyond that tree line, this mode suited my playing style better. As far as I know it does not change the exploration itself.

In the steam beta they just had two modes; has that chnaged in the full game ?

Explorer mode sounds like what I would enjoy. With the exception of FO4 I more often than not see combat as just something you have to get through. I think its basically because so many games just have too much combat.

Originally Posted by you
In the steam beta they just had two modes; has that chnaged in the full game ?

I believe they were planning two extra modes above normal.