First Impressions

You can make the camera follow by centering it on the main character. There is also a binding in the options for that function. I put it on one of the thumb mouse buttons because it is one of the most frequently used buttons.

It's a little unfortunate that there isn't a sticky option where you can lock the camera or maybe they should have copied that control scheme where you hold down the right mouse button when you navigate the world and let go to interact with stuff (WoW-like).
The way it is set up now, well, it seems that the camera is definitely made for analogue control sticks first and foremost and that the game would play best with a "mushroom" .

But that's why I'm waiting for the EE before fully diving in. I'm sure Larian will fine-tune the controls and camera in upcoming patches. The release version just needed to work on "mushrooms" as decent as possible. Now it's hopefully the PC's turn to get some patches for better handling.

Also, Fluent is disappointed in a game and a Larian RPG at that? Could someone take a quick trip to hell please and check whether it has frozen over?

I enjoyed the first D:OS a lot too, but I also co-oped the game with someone. Maybe that added to the enjoyment, but the second one did not grab me yet like the first game did. But again, RPG/gaming fatigue perhaps.

I'm seriously irritated with clunkyness of the crafting menu.
Stretch the damned thing on the whole screen already!

Quickbar is another thing that is slowly getting on my nerves now when I have too many spells memorized and too many consumables/useables. Allow me to see at least two lines already!

Originally Posted by joxer
Quickbar is another thing that is slowly getting on my nerves now when I have too many spells memorized and too many consumables/useables. Allow me to see at least two lines already!

All those consumables, put them in your inventory bag item, then slot that item into the hotbar. While in combat you can open the bag by clicking the icon on the hotbar and select things in it as if they were in the hotbar. You can also slot more than one bag.

In other word, you can have a bag with scrolls, one with grenades and one with potions and it takes only 3 slots on the hotbar. Although, I don't think you can have all 3 bags open at the same time (never tried).

I learned that trick by reading the journal tutorial section.

Also you can use r/f key to switch quick bars - you have 5 of them. I tend to (for example with archer) put skills on one and arrows on the second one.

I just learned that you can gain new tags while playing the game. Looks like I failed to get either of the Act 1 optional tags (could be the only ones, I don't know).

itching to restart now…and I'm 38 hours in.

I think I have a tag called Hero that wasn't in the beginning; not sure.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
I think I have a tag called Hero that wasn't in the beginning; not sure.

I got Hero and Winner of the Arena (I think that's the name).

I skipped the Arena as it doesn't interest me at all but I was very pleased to get the Hero tag. I try to stick to my characters personality when playing and be consistent.

Really enjoying it so far and very happy I went back to my custom character as I am having a lot of fun chatting with Ifan. Would not be able to do that if I played as him. I tried both on the island but ended up preferring my own custom character.

Getting close to done on the island. Just need to finish the pigs then join Gareth and his team. Looks like it will be me, Ifan (and his utterly awesome wolf, Afrit), Lohse, and Fane.

Fluent's new jaded attitude towards CRPG-gaming is really throwing me off. Did your evil twin take over your RPGWatch account?

I dunno actually. I think there's something wrong with me. Obsessive compulsive maybe. But I go through hot streaks of being enamored with something for a few months than ultra cold spells after. I just can't get myself into any RPG at the moment. So I think that's more what's going on than anything severely wrong with the game.

Originally Posted by you
Also you can use r/f key to switch quick bars - you have 5 of them. I tend to (for example with archer) put skills on one and arrows on the second one.

Exactly as I said. I don't want keys to emulate mushrooms - show me everything on my gaming screen, it's a monitor not tv. Here I have to either pretend keyboard is a gadgetcrap ir pixelhunt down/up triangles with the mouse.
It wouldn't be so annoying if they just allowed two lines instead of one.

btw, it's not that the first game wasn't similar, but for some reason I wasn't annoyed there.

Maybe you find it more annoying because stuff gets auto-added to the hotbar as soon as you put something in your inventory in this one…

----

Last night I spent some time (after exploring a dungeon) fixing my hotbar and cleaning up a bit my inventory (aka crafting stuff and deciding if I should keep certain things or not). The huge health potion heals for over 800 hp, none of my characters have that much health yet, lol.

I also realized that my "support" character could do with grenades when she has nothing to do in a round…and the AI showed me that using special arrowhead before using a huntsman skills leads to so much more OPness. I'm literally learning how to play the game by looking at what the AI do actually.

If there is something awsome in this game, it's the (damned!) AI.
Sure, at least on normal difficulty you can spot a stupid move here and there (a bowman teleporting on oil for example), but it's not normal how they predict who am I going to aggro with my warriors and then stack fortify on that trashmob!
And each time I surround a key trashmob, and just as I'm about to kill it, other hostiles either disable or teleport my sidekicks away!

Where are impressions from Dark Souls fans? I just want to hear what's really hard, grind or smart AI opponent.

…

Another thing I don't like and it's during combat.
Posted elsewhere that I need an option to make animations during combat faster. Or mod. ASAP. But it's not that.
I didn't know till today (read it on Steam) that you can quicksave during the fight when any of your partymembers is supposed to make a move. No, just no. This is a bad thing that leads to savescumming for crits.

Originally Posted by Fluent
I dunno actually. I think there's something wrong with me. Obsessive compulsive maybe. But I go through hot streaks of being enamored with something for a few months than ultra cold spells after. I just can't get myself into any RPG at the moment. So I think that's more what's going on than anything severely wrong with the game.

Maybe, but I've been in the same boat for a while. Just seems like a long time since an RPG really did it for me. I'm hoping to enjoy this one, but going to give it a while for patching and tweaking. I'm sure it's a fine game on its own terms, but Larian's later games just never quite pulled me in. Fingers crossed, though.

I've been somewhat bored as well. Trying to understand this, I feel it to be more a game of gimmicks rather than a game of story. The prequel exuded the same feeling (and I never did finish it).

Likely going to restart for the ~8th time tonight, hoping yet another combo of abilities is enough to grab hold of me long enough for something more substantial to interest me.

Originally Posted by Fluent
I dunno actually. I think there's something wrong with me. Obsessive compulsive maybe. But I go through hot streaks of being enamored with something for a few months than ultra cold spells after. I just can't get myself into any RPG at the moment. So I think that's more what's going on than anything severely wrong with the game.

You make all this RPG content then don't like DOS2? There's definitely something wrong with you.

Discontent, restless but don't want to do anything, can't enjoy things you should.

I feel like there's 3 options in your personal quest against the Void.

A) See a nice doctor who says you're a fat cunt and tells you to eat more raw food and get some exercise. He's probably new enough to the job that he hasn't realised that people want….

B) To not bother getting healthy and take a pill. Anti-depressants and amphetamines and weight loss shakes and whatever else they can sell you. Exercise equipment where you just sit and watch TV and it electric shocks your muscles bought off a late-night infomercial.

C) Head over to one of those legal cannabis states like Washington or Colorado and have a little number to take the edge off.

D) Masturbate.

So, I've finished it. Giving it a 2nd go now though, with a double-lone-wolf thing I've been planning for the last few days.

Took me about 70 hours according to the in-game counter, and close to 80 in Steam, so it's somewhere in that region. Big game. Good game too, probably a 4/5 or so in Watch scale for me, mainly due to technical issues, certain balancing issues and too many vague quests near the end or quests that ended abruptly/incorrectly.

If they do an EE version of it, it has the potential to be truly amazing, as the foundation is definitely top notch. I think that's pretty much the bottom line. I could always do a review of it, but perhaps someone else is doing one already?

Originally Posted by Ripper
Maybe, but I've been in the same boat for a while. Just seems like a long time since an RPG really did it for me.

Same here. Prey was the last game to really turn my crank, and that's not exactly an RPG. I'd have to go all the way back to TW3 for the last time I was really excited about a crpg. I'm hoping ELEX changes that.

D:OS 2 looks good though, and I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it when I eventually get around to playing. Like you, I'm going to wait until it's fully patched.

Yeah, it does seem sometimes like there are surprisingly few RPG lovers around. Seems at least half the posters are more into FPS games with RPG elements or MMORPGS.

There could well be a correlation between amount of time spent posting in forums and amount of time playing RPGS. The more you're posting; the less you're playing.

The real trouble comes when no one is posting but jaded people because everyone else is having fun playing and rather than help eachother get hyped we end up helping eachother lose interest.

It's sort of like how game forums are always filled with negativity around launch just because the positive are busy playing.