Divinity:Original Sin 2

Still never got around to finishing this, 7 months on now and does not look like I will, it just could not hold my attention like the classic rpgs of the early 00s.

Just started it this week. Hated the 1st one and never bothered finishing it so I was a bit sceptical about it. I'm loving this though. The story and dialogue are awesome and, for me, are a cut above all of the recent major rpgs. I love the combat but man its tough.
What's normally a 5 minute battle feels like a 30 minute long epic just trying to survive.


Bad points - The interface could be a bit better and the camera angles are awful at times especially near arches or big elevation changes.


I reckon I'm about 2/3 through the first act so still tons to go. Yay!

Thargor wrote: »

Right I have the Definitive edition installed and ready to go, havent played a game like this since probably Neverwinter Nights/Baldurs Gate/Icewind Dale days. Can I just ask what starting character people reccomend and anything else they wish they'd known when they started?

Classic roles aren't as important as you think. As in tank; dps; healer etc.

Archers and rogues are super powerful. It's worth putting a point of scoundrel on all your party to get the adrenaline talent as it can give you an extra 2AP per turn.

Have one character gifted in persuasion, another in thievery, another in leadership.

Teleportation is incredibly powerful. There is a set of gloves in the Joy that you will use throughout (look for a guy called Gawin for the quest). Get another character skilled in Aerothurge for teleportation. Hyrdosophist is also very powerful (put out fires, heal, deal damage with ice as well as crowd control).

The game is full of choice, don't worry if you feel you've made bad ones. Watch what happens, which spells, effects and talents work well early on. You can respec for free as often as you like after leaving the first area on your ship.

Have fun...

Kiith wrote: »

I finally started this last night, and god damn it's good. Combat is great (if very tough at times), and the companions seem really interesting.

Only problem is who i want to keep in my party now

I started on tactician and was getting hammered. You cant reduce the difficulty if you chose it so I had to use a hack to bring it down a rung. I was getting totally owned.


I'd advise you to read at least one party guide to get an idea before you get too far into it. It really really helps later in the game as the combat is still pretty damn tough. I didn't and I've a mish mash of not so compatible skills on individual party members. You can respeck your characters half way through the game but it's a nightmare if you've to change skill sets etc.

How do you know you're building a character properly? Or do you just look up a build guide online and copy that? Reading a few build guides it sounds like you'll break the game if you don't stick with a few strict recipes otherwise you won't have the damage for later enemies.

Like my main character is a wizard with fire skills, am I locked into pyromancer now or how does it work? There doesn't seem to be a skills tree only points but you get feck all reward from any fights so you'll need to invest hours in any choices you make.

Also my party is made up of the skull guy and the red lizard, so 2 wizards and a warrior, but it sounds like you need to stick to strict party builds again otherwise you won't be able to win late game, I don't want to invest dozens of hours following other peoples builds, it feels like pointless cheating.

Thargor wrote: »

Yeah but respec to what? Do you have to use guides? Where does the information about all these complementary combos come from is what I'm asking?

Lots of guides on youtube but on my first playthrough I just learned what worked well together by just experimenting. More fun that way... and if you are getting wiped constantly just lower the difficulty.

My current playthough running a Tidalist/Elemantalist/Druid/Stormchaser.. Builds and guides by Flextralife on youtube

The escalation in difficulty at Reaper's Coast is near vertical. I'm on my second playthrough and there are barely any quests at my level (9) and I know the entire area. I can see why it frustrates new players

Thargor wrote: »

Even Fort Joy all the fights are too hard on normal, every fight basically begins with your whole party being set on fire and poisoned, then you get 3-4 turns before they're all dead, meanwhile none of your attacks do any damage because the enemies are covered in physical and magic armour that you need to spend a load of time grinding through.

I hate the way theres no strategy to it either, your party is just a big blob clumped together with just as much chance of your wizards/ranged being in melee as your tanks.

If you're finding your party clumped together a lot, then maybe consider playing them in better positions prior to the fight starting. You can split up your party, eg, put your archer on high ground, tank in a possible choke point, ranged magic users behind etc. Mobility skills, such as Teleport, Warfare's Phoenix Dive, or the Huntsman Tactical Retreat skill are all good for this and available relatively early if memory serves. I think Polymorph has some too.

There's a rain spell your Hydro user can cast, will get rid of fire immediately, and it's a base level spell.

Thargor wrote: »

I dont have a Hydro user, its all fire/fire/fire, even my tank has fire spells, 3 restarts and its all the same, they seem to be default starting spells. Do new spells appear if you put points into Aqua or whatever its called? Wish they'd just given you a skill tree so you could do a bit of planning instead of just dumping points into a one word stat.

Ok, that's not right. Your starting spells depend on the skills you choose at the start. So if you put a point into Hydro and Aero - the Enchanter preset -for example, you'll have a selection of eight spells from those schools to choose three to start with. If you see the screenshot below, he starts with Rain, Hail Strike and Electric Discharge.



You can edit the spells you start with by going to "Preset" on the character creation screen and then to Selected Skills. Click on Edit to see the options.

When it comes to your companions, it depends what you choose for them when talking to them - they ask what you want them to be when they start out. Example, if you choose a tanky warrior, they'll have tanky warrior skills. They shouldn't have any pyro skills. Choosing a ranged bow user and they should have huntsman skills. It's all in what you choose for them. To me, it sounds like you're choosing something without realising it - and your companion characters are all the same as a result.

I'd also suggest having one, possibly two characters with a heal. One character should get it from their Hydro skill, and you can get a ring early on (Migo's off the top of my head) that lets one of your other characters use the base heal. It's VERY useful early game particularly. Your Hydro character should have Rain and Restoration, this negates fire and helps keep your dudes alive.

Thargor wrote: »

-Basically having to give up on Rogue which is usually my favorite class, they're dead within the first 2 turns of every combat so theres no point having them in your party.

Rogues do tend to die a lot, however, they do have lots of sneaky abilities to get them in and out fast. They can also do insane single target damage if you position them right. I used Fane as a backstabbing rogue in my first game, which means he heals from poison (he's undead). He died a lot, but he made his fair share of kills before doing so. Fane also has a "Play Dead" skill which means enemies ignore him until he decides to get back up again, meaning he stays alive longer and gets more kills. Bonus: he can use his fingers as lockpicks, so no need to carry lockpicks around.

Thargor wrote: »

-Clicking on a crate or container to see if theres anything in it: Adds the fooking container to your inventory!. Also your inventory is just a big heaping pile, no sorting.

Single clicking on it shouldn't add it to your inventory. It does sometimes happen by accident, but single click should just check. Also, it's a dull grey, there's nothing in it. Might save some time.

There's an autosort button near the top of your inventory. You can sort by Last Picked Up, Value, Weight, Durability and Type. You can also (and this is very useful) choose what types of items to display using the line of icons on the top below where it says Inventory. All, Consumables, Magical, Ingredients, Misc, Books and Keys, and Wares. Tip, Wares is used to autosell items. Mark an item as wares (right click and selection the menu option to do so) and next time you're at a vendor, you can add all wares to the transaction with one click.

The inventory can get a bit cluttered at times, which is why they've given you the bags you have. What I do is dump items for crafting, books etc into the bags. That gets it out of the main inventory but I still have it available for use.

Last thing. You can split up your party and move them seperately - normally they all move as one as they're chained together (their portraits on the left are). You can drag the portraits away to break the chain and then you can move them seperately. Makes positioning for fights possible and the fights themselves much more doable.

Thargor wrote: »

Such a disappointment after all the reviews, greatest RPG of modern times?

You seem to have had a rough start with the game. All I can say is it's well worth sticking with.

Rogue is by far away and away my favourite class. Ridiculous damage output, loads of AP. If they die, have the healer Res them. Also teleport enemies that are weak on physical armour near to your rogue (they'll be gone in a turn), or drop them to lower ground than your archer. The combat in this game is joyous.

I do think the questing on reapers coast is tedious and there are annoyances with NPC and secret visibility sometimes. However the three things that piss me off most are unchaining characters, dragging spells from my spell bookand trying to time my dialogue clicks on npcs. All interface issues. The gameplay and voice acting more than make up for it though

In the formation menu there is checkbox to apply the formation at the start of the fight if you are finding your party is clumped together.