Divinity 2

[HoonDing]

I tried Divine Divinity before and couldn't get into it, but I would like to be interested in this, I think.

 

a) How is the story and dialogue? Is it worth paying attention to? I enjoyed Risen and TW in this regard, Dragon Age was meh.

b) How fun is a magic-user? How does magic work?

c) Performance, do you need a beast?

a) Story is the continuation of Divine Divinity & Beyond Divinity, and is passable. It's mostly told through short cutscenes at certain pivotal moments in the game. Dialogue is well written and generally well voiced.

b) Character development is completely free in the game. Each level up you get 4 stat points & 1 skill point to distribute. If you want to do some magic, you put points in magic skills. Using skills consumes a certain amount of mana (the amount of which depends on Spirit stat & equipment).

c) If you can run Dragon Age, you shouldn't have problems with this one. It isn't the best optimized game, though - uses Gamebryo like FO3. But there's a new patch coming out soon.

[Pope]

It's entertaining, but it doesn't feel very roleplayish to me, at least not in the sense of choice & consequence. Sure, there's always a good and a naughty answer available, but I don't get the impression it matters much what you say.

[HoonDing]

First half of the game offers a lot of choice & consequence, and is the best part of the game.

 

But as soon as you gain the Dragonform, it's basically non-stop combat until the end (which makes sense, with the Black Ring running rampant). Still entertaining, though.

[HoonDing]

For the two or three people that might be interested: an expansion pack for Divinity 2 is coming, named "Flames of Vengeance" (and has been confirmed on the official forum).

 

Link (in Russian)

 

It seems the cheesy ending will be fixed after all.

[Maria Caliban]

Divinity 2 felt like 1/3 of a great game.

 

 

I played Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity. As i was rolling to the end of Divinity 2, I found myself thinking "I'm sure they wouldn't roll out the same 'trick ending' again. I mean, it wouldn't make sense if

three times in a row it turned out that all your work was for naught.

"

 

*giggle snort*

[Purkake]

I thought you guys *didn't* actually giggle, squee or swoon?

 

Was I misinformed?

[HoonDing]

Divinity 2 felt like 1/3 of a great game.

I felt as soon as one got the Battle Tower, the game went downhill pretty fast. Too much endless combat, too few witty dialogue & quirky humour.

[Bos_hybrid]

For the two or three people that might be interested: an expansion pack for Divinity 2 is coming, named "Flames of Vengeance" (and has been confirmed on the official forum).

 

Link (in Russian)

 

It seems the cheesy ending will be fixed after all.

 

Well that is a surprise. Hopefully they might put a bigger focus on C&C, I also want my tower back.

[Maria Caliban]

English Announcement.

 

I thought you guys *didn't* actually giggle, squee or swoon?

 

Was I misinformed?

 

"You guys?"

 

I do not squee or swoon. I do giggle on occation, though I'm more likely to chuckle.

Edited March 2, 2010 by Maria Caliban

[jaguars4ever]

So does anyone know how to increase the size of the micro-text in this game? Changing the resolution does nothing!

[HoonDing]

It might be possible by editing the configuration xml file under C:\Users\ %username% \AppData\Local\Divinity 2\Profile in Vista or C:\Documents and Settings\ %username% \Local Settings\Application Data\Divinity 2\Profile in xp.

[HoonDing]

More news from the official forum (Lar_q is Swen Vincke, owner of Larian Studios):

 

As there was a bit of lost in translation going in Moscow, let me explain a bit more what I was trying to tell ;\)

 

-We're working on improving performance, fluidity and solving whatever bugs still remained in the original game.

-We've increased the graphics quality in the expansion

-We're correcting some design issues people've had with the original game (e.g. impact of level on combat)

-The expansion offers more than 30 new and interesting quests (at this moment 36)

-In the Moscow presentation we showed off a couple of quests to make the point

-The story starts in the astral plane where you ended and brings you back to the city of Aleroth, which is now "open for business"

-You can start right away in the expansion area with a character you get to build in the character customisation screen, or you can continue playing from an old save-game. When the original story ends, you will then seamlessly continue into the expansion area, and to a player it will feel like a natural progression of the story.

-One design goal was to provide a similar experience as the first part of the game

-Another design goal was to allow you to become a really powerful dragon knight

-It's not a standalone add-on

 

We basically had three goals with the expansion pack:

 

1. If you haven't played yet, then you are in for a major experience when you play through the original game and continue into the expansion pack.

2. If you played already, then you are going to see the closing of many character arcs that were still open, get the opportunity for revenge if you felt bad at the end, and discover answers to questions you might've had.

3. Several people had comments about the game saying things like "if only this and that", so we tried to take care of the "if only this and that".

 

It's scheduled for an august/september release and that looks pretty solid as at this point the entire expansion pack is already playable. On that note, we're looking for testers which I think Lynn will announce soon.

Edited March 3, 2010 by virumor

[mkreku]

This game fell completely off my radar for some reason. I need to buy it soon..ish.

[Maria Caliban]

I hope we learn what happened to Rhodes. That has to be one of the most major plot drop offs I've seen in a video game.

[HoonDing]

I'm happy as long as there is more of Bellegar.

[jaguars4ever]

Is there any sex in this game?

 

I keep using my Don Juan powers to read chicks' minds, but it doesn't seem to escalate from there.

[HoonDing]

Is there any sex in this game?

 

I keep using my Don Juan powers to read chicks' minds, but it doesn't seem to escalate from there.

Only some innuendo.

 

In the first game there was a 'romance' with an Elf, though, IIRC. And of course you could carry along a bed in your inventory.

[jaguars4ever]

Is there any sex in this game?

 

I keep using my Don Juan powers to read chicks' minds, but it doesn't seem to escalate from there.

Only some innuendo.

 

In the first game there was a 'romance' with an Elf, though, IIRC. And of course you could carry along a bed in your inventory.

I'll assume you're talking about Divine Divinity, and not Beyond Divinity. Implications of Death Knight booty...unpleasant.

 

Oh snap! It seems my extra cranial titillations have put me in an XP deficit. I'm going to need like 400xp to reach level 2 now. But I won't be able to stop. I've become a serial mind rapist. Don't look at me like that! I do it for the L0LZ!1

[HoonDing]

Don't forget to trigger the Killer Bunny.

[jaguars4ever]

How could I forget?

 

Also, I'm playing as a warrior. So what do I want: sword & board, dual-wield, or two-handed?

[HoonDing]

Also, I'm playing as a warrior. So what do I want: sword & board, dual-wield, or two-handed?

Two-handed does most damage.

[jaguars4ever]

Just finished this. Mixed impressions to be honest.

 

The Good

 

D2 is a real old school RPG that doesn't hold your hand. Nothing's more annoying that having a freaking arrow pointing out where you have to go (yes, I'm talking about you FF), so D2 has a real explorative quality to it. In fact, there aren't even any quest markers so you really have to put your hiking boots on for this one, which I'm sure will be annoying for your konsole kiddies. That pleases me in itself. However, unlike most old skool rpgs, D2 has excellent production values ranging from a main score that rivals that of JE or Morrowind, to voice acting across the board that sounds like something out of a Bioware title. D2 also sports a fairly in depth enchanting and alchemy system for the closet potion brewers out there, or those of you who want to walk around with an uber-enchanted huge sword to, uh, over-compensate. There's even a necromancy creature creation system where you can build your pet summon from various body parts you find/buy, with each changing your creatures ability. Also, the ending was decent and reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back meets Bioshock. So while the ending won't satisfy the plebeian masses, those who appreciate a good cliff-hanger will enjoy it. The mind-reading system was a breath of fresh air, and definitely one of my favorite features of the game. You could reveal motivations this way, obtain alternative quest routes/rewards, and otherwise indulge your inner megalomaniac! What's not to like? And the digital babes in this game were sexy and plentiful! This

SE

X-Factor tends to be an underrated and classically neglected component in "the thinking man's genre of gaming" so it's nice to see it included in a manner that bound to cause your little geek to become stricken with rigor mortis. I liked how slutty and promiscuous most of Rivellon's women were, be they farm girls or warrior women. Naturally, their pixellated boobs, booty, and legs fit hand in glove (pun not intended) with the revealing armor sets in the D2. The armor-sets actually were pretty good in and of itself, as it fulfills the dopamine fix of gotta catch 'em all. The Battle Tower was the highlight of the game IMO. Everything from earning it through a blood-letting siege, to managing it was very satisfying. D'Arnisse Keep (BG2) or Cross Road Keep (NWN2) don't have s*** over The Battle Tower (<--queer name though).

 

The Bad

 

The story is about as bland as Ruth Ginsberg's face. Even Oblivion had a better plot. It's basically that standard Good vs. Evil (with no real explanation as to why these people are good or evil), all tidily wrapped up with everyone's favorite plot device: The Deus Ex Machina. I'd shed a tear if it I hadn't already plucked my eyeballs out in frustration with the dragon battles (more on that later). Most of the NPC actually had names, rather than being called generic townsman 2 or whatnot. But they were named NPCs in name only! Most of them didn't really have any quests to give, or were just there for the flavor. The quests were rather stale, though, to be fair, they better than the average fed-ex fanfare you'd get from Bethesda. Not by much, mind you, but there's still a difference. Unfortunately, there were many highly questionable game design choices by Larian. And not just the horrible dragon parts, but those jarring extra-genres implements that smacked you in the face like Chris Brown on Rhianna. You see, at some point I'm thinking that the Larian folks forgot that they were making an RPG and decided "Hey you know what would be cool? platform jumping!" And so I was treated with a Prince-of-Persia / Jedi Knight love child bastard design element that involved a ledge hopping, platform dodging, dropable walkway timing, lever finding conundrum that excelled as an exercise in frustration. And let's not forget that half the features of the game (potion making, item crafting, creature making, dragon transforming) don't actually become available until half-way through the game, which kind of sucks. I suppose there's no real loss with regard to the dragon sucktitude, but still.

 

The Ugly

 

2 things: Level scaling & dragon mode. D2 players need not read on, as even I wouldn't invoke the sadistic horrors kept hidden in your repressed memories. The level scaling system seems more capricious and whimsical than Brittany Spears parenting skills. You see, your character's level affected more than hitpoints, stats, powers, etc. of your dude. Instead, there seemed to be nefarious hidden stats at work. Meaning that if your character & enemy's level differential was anywhere around 3 or more, you would either get one-shotted faster than you can blink an eyelash, or you'd be out right IMMUNE from taking any sort of damage at all. This of course, made the game a pendulum act between Nintendo hard head-breaking, to a Micky Mouse breeze. Matters weren't aided with the broken combat system either. Although there were plenty of options for development in the classless system, most of the skills were complete, utter rubbish compared to Magic Blast, Explosive Arrows, & Two-Weapon fighting. With those 3 skills you could steam-roll the entire game. Without them, you'd be properly screwed at quite a few points. But the single, worst part of this game was without a shadow of a doubt: the dragon morphing parts. God, give me Deep Roads (DA) any day of the week, but not this. What would be the best way to describe it? How about being on a plane to what you think will be an exotic location, only for the plane to be shot down, burn up in flames, where you miraculously survive on a desert island only to discover that you're stuck on it with Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres. *shudders* I know what you're thinking? Transforming into a dragon must be good thing right? How could this not be totally sweet and awesome? The implementation would have to stink worse than Michael Moore's toilet seat for this to suck, wouldn't it? Well, you bet it does, so cover your nose Boo! Firstly, the devs artificially demarcated the NPCs in the environment while in dragon-mode. So while you could fly around in the same map with objects on that map, you couldn't attack the bogies on the ground. This, of course, was utter retarded as you still attack cannon-ball placements, etc on the ground. Instead, dragon mode combat consisted of a highly demented arcade style shooter (you're up against flying beasties and tower-shooting-thingies btw), which wasn't even implemented the way an arcade shooter should! What's more, the exploration of flight was artificially restrained with the anti-dragon barriers that would kill you upon entering or outright block your path, making the game not only more linear than it possibly could be, but also a duck-hunt for the deactivating lever. Ugh! Pixel searching for zeppelin parts in wyvern nests or lever-hunting for path removal has no place in any 21th century game, let alone a self-proclaimed cRPG.

 

Overall: 4/10

Edited March 28, 2010 by jaguars4ever