D:OS II

[HoonDing]

Larian games are a trainwreck at release. Enhanced edition or bust.

[Hurlshort]

I don't know about that, the game is plenty playable. The nice thing is there is quite a bit of replay value, so the second time you play you will get a smoother experience with some nice fixes.

[SadExchange]

I don't know about that, the game is plenty playable. The nice thing is there is quite a bit of replay value, so the second time you play you will get a smoother experience with some nice fixes.

I gotta agree with this as well.  For the complexity of the quests and their possible ways to complete them, I don't think this game launched that bad.  Honestly, there's games with 1/5 of the complexity that release with a good amount of bugs of their own and Larian has been pretty apt to release hotfixes and patches so far.  

[SadExchange]

I believe I've put about 18+ hours in so far and am still on the first island.  I don't know if that's playing slow, but I am trying to complete all the quests I can, scour every inch of the map, etc.  After 18 hours, I will say, that I am constantly impressed by the level of detail in this game.  It astounds me how many different mechanics are running in the background and how smoothly the game plays.  It impresses me just how good this game looks from every angle and the amount of voice acting.  I will also agree with those on the forums who say that the story is good as well as it's definitely held my interest and even some of the side quests has been very interesting to play through not only due to the puzzles/combat, but also the addition that it gives the overall story and lore.  

 

I will also say that some of the quests left in my journal that seemed to be bugged have been fixed with the patch and I have not run across any game-breaking bugs, let alone any bugs that are hampering my game that I've noticed.  So far, with this much time in, I will say that this is a solid title and contender for Game of the Year.  It definitely seems like there is a lot of good press around the game which is great because this game deserves recognition.  Anyway, will stop gushing for now, but this is my party now, currently at level 7.  

 

[SonicMage117]

Goty you say??? Wow! Even over Nier Automata, Hollow Knight and Sonic Mania???

[Gorgon]

I made my own multi class rogue aeromancer and it sortof works. The biggest problem being dependent attributes, if you are a rouge you are kinda stuck with daggers, otherwise you can't backstab. I had to sink a point into strength as well because all the leather armors are ugly.

 

A lot of classes benefit from tier one skills from other classes provided it's governed by the right attribute. More options is often more important than more damage. 

[Labadal]

Larian games are a trainwreck at release. Enhanced edition or bust.

I prefer Classic Original Sin over Enhanced Original Sin, to be honest.

[injurai]

 

Larian games are a trainwreck at release. Enhanced edition or bust.

I prefer Classic Original Sin over Enhanced Original Sin, to be honest.

 

 

Why is that?

[Labadal]

 

 

Larian games are a trainwreck at release. Enhanced edition or bust.

I prefer Classic Original Sin over Enhanced Original Sin, to be honest.

 

 

Why is that?

 

I don't like the changes they did to balance things and whatnot.

[HoonDing]

DOS:EE went down a lot in my estimation when it crashed during the final bossfight and I had to do go through that whole boring chore again.

[Gorgon]

I tend regard final boss fights as final. If they aren't interesting I'll just give up and let the game win. 

[rjshae]

I have to say I'm enjoying D:OS2 more than I did D:OS. There's a bit of a Divine Divinity vibe to it and the game play keeps drawing me back. There's less goofiness and more of a heroic role-play feel this time around.

[smjjames]

Anybody else getting extreme lag after a few hours or a short period of time? Especially the Reapers Coast area, and gets worse the more the place is explored. Seems worse with recent patch......

[Zoraptor]

Still stomping around the first island. Up to lvl 6 now. Enjoyable, but I think tactician mode may have been a mistake for a first play since it's kind of like playing a King's Bounty game on that difficulty- you have to find the specific fights you can win and fight all of them until next level up, then go back and fight the ones you avoided earlier.

 

Anybody else getting extreme lag after a few hours or a short period of time? Especially the Reapers Coast area, and gets worse the more the place is explored. Seems worse with recent patch......

 

I've had it freeze for up to thirty seconds or so when reading crafting manuals- mouse was still responsive but no input worked. The 30s case was a manual with 26 recipes (!), so quite an extreme case. Otherwise there hasn't been any noticeable slowdown at all and no proper bugs, only journal ones.

[Harry Easter]

Still stomping around the first island. Up to lvl 6 now. Enjoyable, but I think tactician mode may have been a mistake for a first play since it's kind of like playing a King's Bounty game on that difficulty- you have to find the specific fights you can win and fight all of them until next level up, then go back and fight the ones you avoided earlier.

 

Anybody else getting extreme lag after a few hours or a short period of time? Especially the Reapers Coast area, and gets worse the more the place is explored. Seems worse with recent patch......

 

I've had it freeze for up to thirty seconds or so when reading crafting manuals- mouse was still responsive but no input worked. The 30s case was a manual with 26 recipes (!), so quite an extreme case. Otherwise there hasn't been any noticeable slowdown at all and no proper bugs, only journal ones.

 

Good to know. I thought maybe it was my Notebook, but this is kind of a relief. Well, they are patching fast, so maybe we already get something next week. 

[Humanoid]

No slowdown (admittedly I'm playing on a fairly beefy desktop) or other technical issues, other than remaining deathly afraid of tabbing out, to the extent that when I play, I have my laptop next to me instead. Don't feel like systematically testing whether it's still an issue.

 

Anyway, week one report is that I'm happy with the game, though it feels that the calls for it to be GOTY and such might be jumping the gun a bit. That said, on reflection, I've only played maybe two or three new release games in 2017 and this is the best of them, so I guess that's technically meeting the criteria. I'm guarded on giving it that kind of accolade though since I'm not even convinced it's better than the first game.

 

In terms of writing, sure no one would ever dispute that (though I'm not generally a fan of the usual prisoner setup). But mechanically I don't see any net improvement, and a number of ease-of-use bugbears remain. Indeed there's a fair bit of regression in areas like power scaling and world design coherence (like the way vendors are essentially arbitrary NPCs that are given spellbooks to sell because reasons).

 

Ultimately I'm leaning towards the earlier game as the better one at this point because of one factor though, and that's my combat experiences so far. Playing with a dual lone-wolf multiplayer setup, I feel my options are more limited this time around because there's very little synergy between physical and magical abilities. The new armour system is obviously the main reason for this, and it might be more reasonable with a full party, but the net effect is that we tend to pick our own targets and deal with them individually instead of working together. It feels less of a co-operative experience, and for a game where co-op is one of its main selling points, that's kind of a big deal.

[Agiel]

 

 

Ultimately I'm leaning towards the earlier game as the better one at this point because of one factor though, and that's my combat experiences so far. Playing with a dual lone-wolf multiplayer setup, I feel my options are more limited this time around because there's very little synergy between physical and magical abilities. The new armour system is obviously the main reason for this, and it might be more reasonable with a full party, but the net effect is that we tend to pick our own targets and deal with them individually instead of working together. It feels less of a co-operative experience, and for a game where co-op is one of its main selling points, that's kind of a big deal.

 

I myself wasn't a huge fan of the armour system straight out of Mass Effect 2 and onwards, which seems to be the biggest change from DOS1. Admittedly it's quite handy for dealing with environment effects whilst exploring and the status hazards that can quickly accumulate over the course of a fight, but it also had the effect of making the gameplay seem overly game-y for my liking.

[Hurlshort]

So far it is pretty close to my GotY. It's almost October, so I don't think it is too early.

[Humanoid]

Well the other part of jumping the gun is that I'm only through Act 1, so I don't even know how I'll feel about it when I finish it, let alone a few weeks after when I've had time to digest it.

 

(I'm also assuming the new Zelda game is favourite for GOTY. Not that I'd know - it would be nice to find out for myself once I can justify getting a Switch...)

[Gorgon]

How much is there. I found a dragon, can't talk to It, I assume I'm supposed to come back for it later.   I'm doing the sourceking laborymth thing now and I'm assuming that's it for the first island. I also switched on tactical mode, which wasn't as bad as I thought. One advice though, don't take 'glass cannon' for the extra AP. The first thing that happens in every engagement is loads of negative effects on my character, I barely ever get to reap the benifits.

 

Does lone wolf trigger when all your party is dead. It bloody well ought to, otherwise what's the point. 

[Hurlshort]

I believe Lone Wolf is for people that choose to play without companions.

[Humanoid]

How much is there. I found a dragon, can't talk to It, I assume I'm supposed to come back for it later.   I'm doing the sourceking laborymth thing now and I'm assuming that's it for the first island. I also switched on tactical mode, which wasn't as bad as I thought. One advice though, don't take 'glass cannon' for the extra AP. The first thing that happens in every engagement is loads of negative effects on my character, I barely ever get to reap the benifits.

 

Does lone wolf trigger when all your party is dead. It bloody well ought to, otherwise what's the point. 

 

You just have to break the chains holding the dragon down, the anchors are right next to it but targetting them is a little finicky, at first I thought I couldn't do it and would probably have just left, fortunately my co-op partner succeeded where I failed.

 

And yeah, the AI is omniscient when it comes to what you're vulnerable to. Even if you're a disguised undead it will immediately use heal spells to attack you. Glass cannon needs to be comboed with high initiative (wits) to guarantee that you take the first action every combat.

[HoonDing]

seems the game is a complete mess mechanically with ludicrous stat bloat and armour system

 

can't wait for 2019 enhanced edition

[Hurlshort]

Hoonding is always on the cutting edge with his reviews.

[Tigranes]

How much is there. I found a dragon, can't talk to It, I assume I'm supposed to come back for it later.   I'm doing the sourceking laborymth thing now and I'm assuming that's it for the first island. I also switched on tactical mode, which wasn't as bad as I thought. One advice though, don't take 'glass cannon' for the extra AP. The first thing that happens in every engagement is loads of negative effects on my character, I barely ever get to reap the benifits.

 

Does lone wolf trigger when all your party is dead. It bloody well ought to, otherwise what's the point. 

 

Like DOS1, Lone Wolf is for people who run less party members. I'm playng with two lone wolves and in some circumstances it's probably more effective than four normal characters. 

 

Initiative is totally broken as the game brute-forces alternating turns between allies and enemies, instead of having everybody actually go by their initiative order. I guess you might want to pump it on one person that you want to have the very first turn, and that might be your glass cannon. 

 

The armour system is very silly and compounded with bad decisions on how player/enemy/item power scales e.g. with level, but I'm playing with toned down armour Tactician and a mod for reducing leveling bloat and it's working quite well so far. Looking forward to other mods that crop up over time.