[Megathread] Divinity Original Sin. Old school RPG !

[Kuja]

Enchanter (Lone wolf) + 2 hand zerker (Lone wolf, Glass cannon) melts faces even on hard. Can 2-5 shot all bosses with a white crafted 2 handed axe and one/two shot all mob packs with Dust Devil + Whirlwind. Wildfire + Oath seems a bit too op on a 2 hand user :P Tanky as hell too, especially with the heals from the enchanter.

[Rukh]

I wanted to get in to this game. I beat the start mobs, had a ton of fun exploring the town and figuring out the murder mystery, but the fuck is up with the undead just outside the town? It goes from decently easy to go play other things. I'd like to get in to the game but they just shit all over me and I can't progress. If

I have a thief type and a cleric type. i have one henchman 2h warrior. someone is going to advise I play a very specific build, I'll kindly go play other games, that'd be dumb if you couldn't play the classes you want. Where should I find another henchman? That might help a little, I'm not sure though because the enemies do like 50 damage and I do like 4.

[Repefe]

There is a mage in a library as 2nd henchman. And if I remember correctly the first skeleton group out of the city have some creates around. I just built barricade out of them against the archers and the fight was easy after. Not sure if that's the group you are talking about.

[Deleted]

I wanted to get in to this game. I beat the start mobs, had a ton of fun exploring the town and figuring out the murder mystery, but the fuck is up with the undead just outside the town? It goes from decently easy to go play other things. I'd like to get in to the game but they just shit all over me and I can't progress. If

I have a thief type and a cleric type. i have one henchman 2h warrior. someone is going to advise I play a very specific build, I'll kindly go play other games, that'd be dumb if you couldn't play the classes you want. Where should I find another henchman? That might help a little, I'm not sure though because the enemies do like 50 damage and I do like 4.

You can unlock the End of Time without leaving the city just by doing the first part of the main storyline quest - at the end of time you can hire additional henchman of a class of your type. Is it possible you're going out the wrong exit though? When I went out of a gate and got one shot, I just went out a different gate instead and found lower level mobs.

[Deleted]

I'd like to get in to the game but they just shit all over me and I can't progress. If

I have a thief type and a cleric type. i have one henchman 2h warrior. someone is going to advise I play a very specific build, I'll kindly go play other games, that'd be dumb if you couldn't play the classes you want. Where should I find another henchman? That might help a little, I'm not sure though because the enemies do like 50 damage and I do like 4.

You do need a mage - mage skills are really powerful, especially early on (your 3 members could also pick up some magic skills). I rely heavily on summons as they seem to aggro mobs and mobs dish out a lot of damage (1 point in earth magic gives you a spider who seems to level with you). The combat also relies heavily on cc - freezing, stunning, knocking down etc are all really important moves. Jahan is water/air and a useful mage/healer, as he can freeze enemies and heal your party.

Otherwise, check the level of your opponents - try to fight those of the same level; avoid those 2 levels or more higher. The placement of enemies around Cyseal is weird. You can easily walk into some level 8 on the way to the church (right) but there are weaker ones (level 4?) in other directions. You can sneak to scout them out.

[Vespian]

I once summoned a spider in a group of skeletons and somehow it triggered a trap, which blew up everything in a 10 yard radius, so I went from fighting an overpowering force, to fighting 3 lonely skeletons. It's the small things.

Also, picking up bomboids and throwing them between other targets makes them go boom.

[Cyclone Jack]

I wanted to get in to this game. I beat the start mobs, had a ton of fun exploring the town and figuring out the murder mystery, but the fuck is up with the undead just outside the town? It goes from decently easy to go play other things. I'd like to get in to the game but they just shit all over me and I can't progress. If

I have a thief type and a cleric type. i have one henchman 2h warrior. someone is going to advise I play a very specific build, I'll kindly go play other games, that'd be dumb if you couldn't play the classes you want. Where should I find another henchman? That might help a little, I'm not sure though because the enemies do like 50 damage and I do like 4.

As some of the other posted pointed out, the mage in the library above the mayor's office is the second henchman in the game. Once you get 2 shards, you'll be able to access the first side room at The End of Time where you can hire mercenaries. You can also swap out your henchmen for mercenaries, and the henchmen will wait for you in that room. Unless you have a Lone Wolf (trait), you'll want a full party of four.

Make sure you are leaving the city through the open gate on the West side. The game does not hold your hand, and it took me a few short adventures outside the city to realize that certain areas are beyond my low level capabilities. Your first fight outside the city should be 2 skeletons and a zombie, if memory serves. Use F5 (quick save) often so you don't lose too much progress when run into a fight unprepared, and then get beat down (there are 5 quicksave slots that the game cycles through).

Friendly advice, F5 right after an auto-save, since quick load doesn't look at auto-save slots.

As for builds, I wouldn't focus too much on that, but I would make sure you focus on a balanced party. Adding a mage to the party would be very beneficial.

For your Thief, once you get used to combat, you'll want to start thinking about unlinking your Thief from the party, putting them into Hide, and scouting ahead. Then position them to where the enemy will not see them once combat starts. Since they are not seen, they will not be pulled into combat with the rest of your party. This will allow you to swap to that character, move behind a target and get a backstab (if you took that trait) for extra damage. You may want to wait 1 or 2 turns before doing this, so they don't get immediately surrounded by the enemy. Also, if no enemy is facing your Thief, and they have the APs, they will be able to enter Hide mode during combat as well. They'll still be in combat, but they'll be able to move around unseen, unless an enemy turns and spots them.

[Rukh]

Thank you very much for the info. I didn't take the mage because he didn't want to consort with demons! What fun is that? You just don't seem to get another hench to take his place if you don't take him. I did get to the end of time, I just didn't see a thing that let me unlock mercenaries. I'll have to look again.

Also yeah I did find leaving by the left door put me against a managable fight, but then the very next thing was something like 3 skeleton archers, an instant death skeleton bomb, and two more that drop down on top of you. Yeah great.

[Repefe]

Also yeah I did find leaving by the left door put me against a managable fight, but then the very next thing was something like 3 skeleton archers, an instant death skeleton bomb, and two more that drop down on top of you. Yeah great.

That's a very easy fight if you have teleport The ik death skeleton hurts other enemies. You just pick him up and throw him at the archers and it's gg. That's a lot of what the game is about ... knowing what is effective against what. Fire against zombies, rain against fire burning skeletons, stuff like that.

And later on you kind of mature and become what everyone is talking about ... aka this all powerful being that shapes the future of the world. And fights become easy.

[Deleted]

Thank you very much for the info. I didn't take the mage because he didn't want to consort with demons! What fun is that? You just don't seem to get another hench to take his place if you don't take him. I did get to the end of time, I just didn't see a thing that let me unlock mercenaries. I'll have to look again.

Also yeah I did find leaving by the left door put me against a managable fight, but then the very next thing was something like 3 skeleton archers, an instant death skeleton bomb, and two more that drop down on top of you. Yeah great.

There are only 2 fully fleshed NPCs that have storylines and personalities and one of them is Jahan, the mage who doesn't like demons. You can tell him you won't do stuff with demons and then do whatever you want. As far as I can tell he won't leave you, but he does talk about it a lot. If you like RP you should definitely pick him up. If it's purely for combat power there are a lot of options for spellcasters in the mercs anyway.

[Zathrendar]

I'll definitely be buying this! I bought the original Divine Divinity and played it to the end, and was not disappointed. I still need to play Beyond Divinity and Divinity II. I like the fact that mages are an essential part of your party. They're usually just optional damage dealers/controllers. They are by far my favourite class.

This, Lichdom and Pillars of Eternity (I recommend checking this out to any RPG fans) are probably going to keep me from curing that aversion I have to the sun!

[Wilian]

One of the reasons I love this game.



And if you actually eat it, you get permanent status bonus. <.<

[Repefe]

And if you actually eat it, you get permanent status bonus. <.<

Oh shit ... I let him go.

[catcommando]

And if you actually eat it, you get permanent status bonus. <.<

What kind of status bonus?... >.>

[PizzaSHARK]

So there was an update recently that nerfed resists and Leech. Leech now only procs on that unit's turn, rather than when the blood appears, so fighters are no longer effectively immortal once they get Comeback Kid. Resists from equipment are now also hardcapped at 80%, though buffs and potions can take you above that.

A few things I've been learning since I started playing:

- You simply have to have Rain. You'll never find enough scrolls of it, you must have someone take water magic and learn Rain. I honestly don't know how you're supposed to get through a few parts of Cyseal without it; there aren't enough water barrels to clear the fire zones out of the way, Rain seems like the only real option (water arrows weren't placing water zones down for some reason.) You can usually find a skillbook on a vendor somewhere in Cyseal, or you can just MooseEdit it in if you don't feel like playing games with vendor inventories.

- Now that Leech finally got nerfed, fighters get a lot more variability in their talent picks. Walk It Off is really damned nice, reducing the duration of most control effects to a single turn; add in some Willpower and Bodybuilding and your fighters will be incredibly hard to control for long. Thick Skin starts off somewhat minor but with 5 points in Man at Arms, it becomes a lot like having a permanent Fortify effect up. Five-Star Diner is probably really underrated; even if you have a dedicated water mage for healing, doubling the healing of food items like Mashed Potatoes ain't a joke. Heal for ~140 and get +2 Strength for 3 turns from a potato that cost like 10 gold to buy? Where do I sign up?

- It generally seems better to specialize early on, especially if you aren't lone wolfing. Lone wolf characters can afford to invest a point or two here or there in non-essential skills early on, but regular characters probably can't. You get a lot of benefits out of quickly hitting 5 in a given skill; talents like Quickdraw, Comeback Kid, Stand Your Ground, and Weatherproof are really good and better the faster you get them.

- It might not actually be worth it to invest points into weapon skills besides Tenebrium. Tenebrium weapons seem to be simply better than regular weapons, and Tenebrium weapons do not benefit from bonuses associated with the other weapon skills for some reason. Just better to invest those points into other skills and drop points into Tenebrium later once you find some.

- It seems like almost all skills tend to be either designed for a single "value point" or something you want to max out quickly. Blacksmithing, Sneaking, Crafting, Leadership, and almost all of the active skill categories seem to behave this way.

- Scoundrel skills seem exceptionally weak relative to other skills, except maybe Expert Marksman. I guess they figure that most of your actual damage output will come from backstabbing people, so nearly all Scoundrel skills are utility-focused.

- Sneaking is probably really overpowered when maxed. With 5 or better Sneaking, enemy vision AOEs are extremely small and it costs a 1 AP to use Sneak in combat. Monsters do not appear to "remember" where your character was last seen, either, so as long as you end the turn invisible (and they don't wander into visibility range), that character is essentially invulnerable unless they happen to get hit by an AOE aimed at someone else. It's entirely possible for archers and even thieves to solo entire boss fights, assuming you don't mind it taking forever and probably needing a repair hammer. Attack, end turn while sneaking, and as long as there's no one else in sight for the monsters to focus on, they'll mostly just stand around and skip their turns. Glass Cannon is stupidly effective with this kind of character build.

- Remember that healing magic harms zombies. Cure Wounds is basically an instant kill against zombie foes for a lot of the game, and things like Minor Healing and Strong Regeneration are extremely potent damage over time effects that don't require direct targeting (so you can hit a zombie in the back of the fight even if there are monsters between you and them, unlike trying to use arrows or many spells.)

And basic elemental interactions include:

- Ooze is generated from a variety of Earth spells, traps, and can be found in barrels. Walking across it will cause Poisoned (Bodybuilding save) and will cause Poison damage. It can be ignited by any fire effect or spell, which will also create Smoke.

- Oil is also generated by some Earth spells and can be found lying around in some areas, and in barrels. Walking across it will cause Slowed (Willpower save.) It can be ignited by fire effects and spells, and will also generate Smoke.

- Smoke is generated by burning the two previously mentioned zones, and also by the Smokescreen spell and Smokescreen Arrows. Smoke blocks line of sight, and can be cleared away by Rain.

- Poison gas is generated by Poison Cloud Arrows, some traps, and as a reactive effect by some zombie monsters. Poison Gas will caused Poisoned on anyone walking through it. Poison Gas will explode and disappear if ignited with a fire spell or effect.

- Fire zones can be created by fire spells and effects. Walking across fire zones will inflict Burning (Bodybuilding save) and cause Fire damage. Fire zones will immediately ignite any Ooze or Oil present or placed onto them and detonate Poison Gas. Fire zones can be extinguished by Blood and by Water zones; if Fire and Water zones meet, they will create Steam.

- Steam clouds can be generated by dousing Fire zones with Water spells and effects (or vice-versa.) Steam blocks line of sight much like Smoke does, but can also be electrified by some Air spells and effects, which will create a Static Cloud that will Stun (Willpower save) anything that enters it.

- Some Water spells and effects and especially the Rain spell can create puddles of Water on the ground, and it can of course be found naturally as well. Walking into Water can douse Burning units, and Water can be electrified by some Air spells and effects (same effect as electrifying a Steam cloud), or frozen with some Water spells and effects. Frozen water will cause Knocked Down (Bodybuilding save) to units attempting to travel quickly over it.

- Blood puddles result whenever a living unit is attacked with a piercing or slashing weapon, or is affected by any ability or spell which causes Bleeding. Blood has the same properties as Water (can be electrified, can be frozen, and will douse Fire), but will not generate Steam, and can also be consumed by units with the Leech talent.

[Simulacrum]

Arise, Megathread!

anyway

Despite my harshness for towards the game's story and quest system (and bugs and easily exploitable mechanics), I still think the game is well-made mechanically, and that the gameplay is really strong.

They added a new patch today, or 'free DLC' as they're also calling it, which includes two new companions (a archer and a rogue), improved multiplayer functionality, and a bunch of other fixes (such as giving the How to handle Tenebrium quest book unlimited uses, which is great because that quest was pretty obnoxious).

Their video:


I think it's nice to see that they're working on keeping the game updated and providing some of the content that was lacking at launch in the form of *free* DLCs. Maybe when my friends have time to play through the campaign sometime in the near future, I'll have fewer things to complain to them about, and more positive things to say about the game instead.

I hope Wasteland 2 ends up doing at least as well as this did, when it finally releases in 3 months.

[WorldofWorkcraft]

I hope Wasteland 2 ends up doing at least as well as this did, when it finally releases in 3 months.

I too am looking forward to Wasteland 2, but...3 months? Isn't it supposed to come out in a day?

As for the DLC, it's nice to see them following up and I hope they introduce more. I don't think some fixes and the companions are enough to make me play again (put 100+ hours into my campaign), but it's a nice start, especially for people modding. Even if the modding is messed up a bit by new versions =/..

[May90]

So, I have a quick question. Does playing Divine Divinity and Divinity 2 benefit one in any way in terms of understanding the events of DOS and such? I am thinking of trying the game out since I loved similar old school games like Baldur's Gate, and normally, if I start a new game series, I like to start from the very first game and play through all of them - but with the list of games I am already planning to play in the future, I am not sure I will have patience to play through such outdated games...

Also, how does the game and its predecessors compare to games like Baldur's Gate in terms of dialogues, characters, story? Are they more focused on the combat or the story?

[Deleted]

So, I have a quick question. Does playing Divine Divinity and Divinity 2 benefit one in any way in terms of understanding the events of DOS and such? I am thinking of trying the game out since I loved similar old school games like Baldur's Gate, and normally, if I start a new game series, I like to start from the very first game and play through all of them - but with the list of games I am already planning to play in the future, I am not sure I will have patience to play through such outdated games...

Also, how does the game and its predecessors compare to games like Baldur's Gate in terms of dialogues, characters, story? Are they more focused on the combat or the story?

If you expect Baldur's Gate or Fallout, you will be sorely disappointed. This game has a really shallow RPG experience, there are no well defined companions and stuff (no Mass Effect here, bro), the npcs in your group have 0 personality and aren't charismatic at all (an old hag who thinks she's some kind of warriors when in fact she's just loudmouth and annoying as fuck, and an amoral wizard who always questions your reasons for doing good deeds) and that's the entire companion interaction. The quests are also few for an RPG and most are silly as well.

The game's main focus is the combat, which is quite difficult and no walk in the park. Basically if you don't have a decent team combo you're screwed.

The voice acting is atrocious as well. No, there aren't any professional voice actors working here, and you can notice that from the very intro where some guy who is supposedly playing a pirate is probably voice acted by Steve from Accounting.

Another game that looks great at first but is easily forgotten soon after, like all Larian games. 7/10

[Deleted]

So, I have a quick question. Does playing Divine Divinity and Divinity 2 benefit one in any way in terms of understanding the events of DOS and such? I am thinking of trying the game out since I loved similar old school games like Baldur's Gate, and normally, if I start a new game series, I like to start from the very first game and play through all of them - but with the list of games I am already planning to play in the future, I am not sure I will have patience to play through such outdated games...

Also, how does the game and its predecessors compare to games like Baldur's Gate in terms of dialogues, characters, story? Are they more focused on the combat or the story?

Nope, you don't need to play through the previous games. They are very different games and honestly I can't imagine you would enjoy them if you felt forced to play them.

In my opinion, D:OS isn't Baldur's Gate in terms of anything really other than genre - I suppose I think it has a potentially more strategic depth of combat. There is a lot of dialogue and story but to be honest, it's not the strong point of D:OS - the strong point is definitely the combat and character options. It's also fairly linear and I'd say it's smaller than Baldur's Gate (although I still got 50 hours of playtime out of it, I'm not saying it's small in comparison to many games) & the companion system is significantly smaller. Divinity has been one of my favorite games of the last 5 years but ultimately it did not quite capture the Baldur's Gate or Planescape torment series for me. It is however 100% worth playing.

I hear that Pillars of Eternity is going to be truer to the original BG style concepts (more story, larger world, less linear) but it's not out yet so could end up being amazing or terrible I suppose and if needs to get the combat right too.