Original Sin - Impressions @ Kotaku

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Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton has played this game and he is given his impressions about it.
He does so in an article called I'm glad they're still making games like Divinity Original Sin.

Here's a quote about how the two protagonists solve differences of opinion:

Later in town, we met a mage who wanted to join our party. His only condition: That we foreswear any allegiance to any sort of demon. Obviously that could be a problem down the road, but while Sabetha enthusiastically agreed, I decided that Locke had some doubts. He and Sabetha tried to hash it out, but eventually settled the decision with a game of rock, paper scissors.
Here's a quote about the combat:

Combat in Original Sin is turn-based and tactical, and positioning and environmental factors play a huge part in determining the victor. All of the elements-fire, water, electricity, poison, etc.-interact with one another, as well as with characters. That means that you can break a water barrel to make a huge puddle, then electrocute anyone standing in it for extra damage.
And in conclusion:

Divinity: Original Sin is a rare kind of a thing, a throwback CRPG that conjures equal parts Ultima VII, Neverwinter Nights, and Baldur's Gate while still managing to show up with a bunch of new ideas of its own. It gracefully joins other nouveau-retro RPGs like Wasteland 2 and the upcoming Pillars of Eternity at the vanguard of what I can only hope is a bona-fide CRPG renaissance. I'll almost certainly have more on the game as I continue to play, but for now: I really like it.
More information.
 
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It's been great fun for me so far! The only thing I really don't like now is that it's isometric - and even there you're allowed to twist the camera a little bit or even go to an overhead view.
 
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Later in town, we met a mage who wanted to join our party. His only condition: That we foreswear any allegiance to any sort of demon.
I've shoved him off.
Not that I wouldn't have use of a mage… But because I have a mage already as I've started with Wizard+Cleric and both of my characters refuse any kind of (EA/Ubi) blackmail! :D

Now… Where's that demon to side with? :evilgrin:

It gracefully joins other nouveau-retro RPGs like Wasteland 2 and the upcoming Pillars of Eternity at the vanguard of what I can only hope is a bona-fide CRPG renaissance.
Save hope for the church. PC RPG renaissance is already here and with more upcoming titles on the horizon it's going to last.
 
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It's been great fun for me so far! The only thing I really don't like now is that it's isometric - and even there you're allowed to twist the camera a little bit or even go to an overhead view.

It's a big plus for performance though, and also for camera issues and overall look. The developer doesnt need to look at a certain place or item from an almost unlimited number of angles to see that it doesnt look off or bad, or that performance from a certain angle is very poor, etc. I'm perfectly fine with it, probably reduced the development time a ton too..
 
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I say this is the most satisfying RPG i've played in many years. It's actually fun to read the dialog. The writers did a great job. Not very far in, but I hope it keeps up the quality. Love the action point system.

Really taking my time with this one.
 
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Once again, proof positive that the anti-Kickstarter league is a bunch of fools and best ignored. Without Kickstarter, this game might've ended up in development limbo ( I realize the KS drive was to add more to the game, but we don't know the real financial reality).

I, for one, am dedicated to crowd funding the niche genres forever more. The people that whine about both the industry ignoring niche, real RPGs but also despise the crowd-funding movement because "it's a bunch of con artists" (while pirating many of the very games they justify not backing) are the cancer that caused the downfall of our beloved genre.
 
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It's been great fun for me so far! The only thing I really don't like now is that it's isometric - and even there you're allowed to twist the camera a little bit or even go to an overhead view.

Many of us are from the "old-school" of RPGs, that include Dark Sun, the Gold Box AD&D, Ultima, Fallout and Baldur's Gate so it is out prefered view.
 
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You can unlock the camera rotation and freely turn the camera 360 degrees. They allow it in the engine, but not all game materials were designed for it. Here are my UI tips that I've shared elsewhere and it includes the camera rotation adjustment:

  • To have the camera follow a character moving to a distant location after clicking to begin the run: Use the Home key or using the keyboard hotkeys, select the next character and then immediately select the previous character. The camera will focus on your leading character as the others follow.
  • Use right mouse click to stop all characters that are moving. This is essential when a trap is spotted.
  • Better camera rotation: Under game settings, check unlock rotation to enable 360 degree camera rotation. Set the rotate camera hotkey to the right mouse button. There are minor graphical anomalies with full rotation, but it's worth it. If you find the camera sliding around a lot and want to move it just with hotkeys, disable 'edge panning' in the game options.
  • You can have multiple character inventories open at once. When one inventory open, select another character and open their inventory. Right click on a portrait to do this quickly.
  • If your camera view gets stuck too far above your characters, quick save or press Home to reset the camera.
  • F1-F4 will select a character in that position. Press a second time or Home to move the camera to that character.
 
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You can unlock the camera rotation and freely turn the camera 360 degrees. They allow it in the engine, but not all game materials were designed for it. Here are my UI tips that I've shared elsewhere and it includes the camera rotation adjustment:

  • To have the camera follow a character moving to a distant location after clicking to begin the run: Use the Home key or using the keyboard hotkeys, select the next character and then immediately select the previous character. The camera will focus on your leading character as the others follow.
  • Use right mouse click to stop all characters that are moving. This is essential when a trap is spotted.
  • Better camera rotation: Under game settings, check unlock rotation to enable 360 degree camera rotation. Set the rotate camera hotkey to the right mouse button. There are minor graphical anomalies with full rotation, but it's worth it. If you find the camera sliding around a lot and want to move it just with hotkeys, disable 'edge panning' in the game options.
  • You can have multiple character inventories open at once. When one inventory open, select another character and open their inventory. Right click on a portrait to do this quickly.
  • If your camera view gets stuck too far above your characters, quick save or press Home to reset the camera.
  • F1-F4 will select a character in that position. Press a second time or Home to move the camera to that character.

This is so awesome! Just saved this - the camera thing bugged me a little as well. Excellent tips - thank you for sharing.
 
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You can unlock the camera rotation and freely turn the camera 360 degrees. They allow it in the engine, but not all game materials were designed for it. Here are my UI tips that I've shared elsewhere and it includes the camera rotation adjustment:

  • To have the camera follow a character moving to a distant location after clicking to begin the run: Use the Home key or using the keyboard hotkeys, select the next character and then immediately select the previous character. The camera will focus on your leading character as the others follow.

Nite tips, but for this one, you can also double click the portrait as opposed to select next character and move to previous one.
 
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Nice tips. I love this game! The beginning shellfish story was sort of a decent little tidbit that I missed with my first character I rolled. By the way, I noticed the Kotaku author mentioned his characters by name. I thought we were stuck with the name of the beginning characters. I typed in different names but the dialogue still mentions Scarlett and the other guy. Is there a way to disable this?
 
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Never had such a problem, I typed in my own names and all the dialog I've seen so far uses those names.
 
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Once again, proof positive that the anti-Kickstarter league is a bunch of fools and best ignored. Without Kickstarter, this game might've ended up in development limbo ( I realize the KS drive was to add more to the game, but we don't know the real financial reality).

I wanted to ignore this, Pegasus, but I just can't. I am so glad this game and a couple others that I have been watching are going to actually fully make it, but you are putting your head in the sand if you aren't aware of the many unfinished games where the developer has disappeared. Just read some of the early access forums on Steam where a lot of people are very pissed off. Including myself. Larian has been kind of an exception not the rule.

I agree with your point about triple A publishers not wanting to make turn based RPGs. Of course, piracy has had it's effect also. I just don't think all of these Kickstarter developers had a complete plan in mind when they got the ball rolling and people have the right to be skeptical.
 
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Never had such a problem, I typed in my own names and all the dialog I've seen so far uses those names.

You are right. I just checked my first characters I made and I must have hit a wrong key or something because the other one has the name I gave it. Thanks.
 
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Great tips! I'll have to unlock that rotation ASAP!

Many of us are from the "old-school" of RPGs, that include Dark Sun, the Gold Box AD&D, Ultima, Fallout and Baldur's Gate so it is out prefered view.
Preferred? Why? I can deal with it if I know I'm getting something else in return for the reduced graphics (in this case, truckloads of content and a really nice combat system) but I certainly don't prefer it. If I could have all this AND Divinity 2 graphics, that would be even more awesome!

P.S. Regarding Kickstarters - I have a hunch some of those "lost projects" are started with the best of intentions. They simply underestimate the time and cost of doing one of these games.
 
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As soon as I saw this on kickstarter I backed straight away and got two copies. This game is from the old school and both me and my brother are enjoying it so far. I have to say, kickstarter is like any potential investment opportunity, you have to do your due diligence. Never had a doubt that Larian had the skills and the passion to make this game. I've waited ages for a game to use magic in an interesting way with a fully reactive world. Glad to be vindicated and so psyched for them and their success.
 
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Save hope for the church. PC RPG renaissance is already here and with more upcoming titles on the horizon it's going to last.

Not with today's gaming demographics, bruh. Not that we need a full-fledged renaissance anyway. A quality CRPG offers lots of replayability and interesting gameplay so if we only see one of them come out every year (on this one platform!) and on a small-medium sized budget It's gonna be alright.
 
It's been great fun for me so far! The only thing I really don't like now is that it's isometric - and even there you're allowed to twist the camera a little bit or even go to an overhead view.

You can zoom in quite a lot, I found out, by using the scroll wheel …

P.S. Regarding Kickstarters - I have a hunch some of those "lost projects" are started with the best of intentions. They simply underestimate the time and cost of doing one of these games.

They exist outside of Kickstarter as well. Grimoire, anyone ? ;) ...
 
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