Divinity: Original Sin 2

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Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,311
43,092
Gonna' start a new game this weekend. I only put about 10 hours into this a few months ago, but then kind of lost interest when I heard about the update.
 

k^M

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,676
1,921
Movement speed and fucking passive spirit vision. Kinda wish some mods wouldn't break achievements to that end, but those are 2 things that are annoying as hell.

Downloading now and can't wait to give it another round. I liked Beast's story pre-patch, especially death fogging the entire city (if only that didn't make him hate you).
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
Is there a fucking game manual for this game?

Just loaded up the PS4 version, get to character creation, and have no clue wtf I am doing. There are no descriptions for anything. Do they really intend you just to pic some toon at random?
 

Vorph

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
10,943
4,640
I remember the gamepad ui being ok except for inventory management in the first game, especially on pc where you could switch back and forth, but this time I lasted about 5 minutes before going back to m/k exclusively. And you can't switch without completely exiting the game and unplugging the pad either. I don't even know what they changed but it's an abomination now.

Still having just as much trouble getting into this as the first one too. I hate realizing that I've done quest stuff in the wrong order and now I'm locked out of something so I end up reloading a save that's an hour or more old. And the combat feels like what xcom would be if you played the whole campaign without ever using cover. I'd say I hope it's just shitty starting gear, but I've read that it's the same as before and you have to steal and troll the vendors for all new gear every level or two or the scaling kicks in.
 
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Dandai

Lesco Brandon
<Gold Donor>
5,894
4,443
I remember the gamepad ui being ok except for inventory management in the first game, especially on pc where you could switch back and forth, but this time I lasted about 5 minutes before going back to m/k exclusively. And you can't switch without completely exiting the game and unplugging the pad either. I don't even know what they changed but it's an abomination now.

Still having just as much trouble getting into this as the first one too. I hate realizing that I've done quest stuff in the wrong order and now I'm locked out of something so I end up reloading a save that's an hour or more old. And the combat feels like what xcom would be if you played the whole campaign without ever using cover. I'd say I hope it's just shitty starting gear, but I've read that it's the same as before and you have to steal and troll the vendors for all new gear every level or two or the scaling kicks in.
There were a couple times I did something detrimentally “out of order” but nothing like the first game. I was actually impressed with how thorough they were in acknowledging your actions this time around.

I played on the highest difficulty that wasn’t forced save every turn and found that gear was good for about every three levels. Scaling feels more significant as you level but you also level slower so it’s offset. What I’m saying is, if you’re hardcore about min/maxing then vendor trolling is the easiest way to find upgrades, but you don’t need to min/max gear to be effective and beat the game (even on the hardest difficulty).

They expanded on the environmental interactions and status effects of the first game so if you still feel like you’re just playing XCOM without cover then you’re not using all the tools available to you.
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
I have to admit that I'm struggling out of the gate with this one. I'm playing on "classic RPG difficulty" and getting my ass handed to me. My guys are only lvl 3 and the only available encounters I can find seem to be way above my ability level.

I cleaned up what few encounters there were along the beach, but the only quests/fights I can find are:

1) Group of guards in the dungeon below the city-- kicks my ass
2) The Arena -- kicks my ass
3) The guards at the gate that heads east -- kick my ass

Either I totally missed a door/passage into an area, or there is a way to get past the guards and enter the eastern area of the map that I haven't figured out.

Really my only complaints so far:
1) The fact that pretty much every mundane item is interactable is really annoying, Creates a lot of clutter, makes it easy to miss stuff, and makes you carry shit around you don't need cause you dont know if it's important

2) Accidentally stealing shit while trying to talk to someone, related to #1 above. Really annoying

3) The total lack of identifying tags/markers for vendors and NPC's. Totally impossible to discern who you've spoken to, who you haven't, and who is a vendor. This one is really a big problem for me.
 

Funkor

Molten Core Raider
733
618
I have to admit that I'm struggling out of the gate with this one. I'm playing on "classic RPG difficulty" and getting my ass handed to me. My guys are only lvl 3 and the only available encounters I can find seem to be way above my ability level.

I cleaned up what few encounters there were along the beach, but the only quests/fights I can find are:

1) Group of guards in the dungeon below the city-- kicks my ass
2) The Arena -- kicks my ass
3) The guards at the gate that heads east -- kick my ass

Either I totally missed a door/passage into an area, or there is a way to get past the guards and enter the eastern area of the map that I haven't figured out.

Really my only complaints so far:
1) The fact that pretty much every mundane item is interactable is really annoying, Creates a lot of clutter, makes it easy to miss stuff, and makes you carry shit around you don't need cause you dont know if it's important

2) Accidentally stealing shit while trying to talk to someone, related to #1 above. Really annoying

3) The total lack of identifying tags/markers for vendors and NPC's. Totally impossible to discern who you've spoken to, who you haven't, and who is a vendor. This one is really a big problem for me.
For #3 NPCs who have the word "Trader" underneath their name typically are guys who sell useful stuff like skill books or equipment. From time to time you run into a guy who has Trader text who doesn't actually have anything though. Being able to trade with every NPC is odd but it can be useful to nab a few cheap crafting items from someone who isn't carrying much.
Every mundane item being interactive feeds into the crafting system in that there are tons and tons of ways to combine items to craft something else. A lot of it is garbage though but there are some mods you can try to add more usable shit to the mix. Here is a list of every craft in the vanilla game if you're curious: Steam Community :: Guide :: Complete crafting tables (800+ positions)
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
For #3 NPCs who have the word "Trader" underneath their name typically are guys who sell useful stuff like skill books or equipment. From time to time you run into a guy who has Trader text who doesn't actually have anything though. Being able to trade with every NPC is odd but it can be useful to nab a few cheap crafting items from someone who isn't carrying much.
Every mundane item being interactive feeds into the crafting system in that there are tons and tons of ways to combine items to craft something else. A lot of it is garbage though but there are some mods you can try to add more usable shit to the mix. Here is a list of every craft in the vanilla game if you're curious: Steam Community :: Guide :: Complete crafting tables (800+ positions)

Thanks, any advice on where to find something to kill at the start of the game that isn't totally OP?
 

Droigan

Trakanon Raider
2,485
1,145
Thanks, any advice on where to find something to kill at the start of the game that isn't totally OP?

I'll spoiler it in case someone doesn't want to know

Encounters you can find are
- Frogs in cave with elves (level 3)
- Crocodiles for teleport gloves quest (behind the dwarf companion) (level 3)
- Turtles on beach (level 3)

Another thing is to bump wits on one character (ranger is useful for it) to spot dig sites
- Dig site where the guy who eats corpses is (bring a yarrow flower before moving up to him. You can find one in a path leading out of the city right next to the last tent on the path. By the guy who is making coffins)
- Dig site from playing hide and seek with the boy in the cave with elves

Both of those last ones trigger quests and new areas.

Doing the above should get you to level 4 where you can take on the magisters, which will get you to 5 and out of the city and on you go.

Talk to everyone and explore everywhere. Once you get teleport (usually with gloves first) you can move to quite a few areas for loot and exp. Can also teleport chests to you. Just be careful not to drop them on the cat. A spoiler for cat
Keeping it alive until you get to exit the city will give you a summon cat ability. It doesn't do much damage, but has a useful ability of jumping really far and then it can swap places with you. If it dies, you don't get the ability.
 
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Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
I'll spoiler it in case someone doesn't want to know

Encounters you can find are
- Frogs in cave with elves (level 3)
- Crocodiles for teleport gloves quest (behind the dwarf companion) (level 3)
- Turtles on beach (level 3)

Another thing is to bump wits on one character (ranger is useful for it) to spot dig sites
- Dig site where the guy who eats corpses is (bring a yarrow flower before moving up to him. You can find one in a path leading out of the city right next to the last tent on the path. By the guy who is making coffins)
- Dig site from playing hide and seek with the boy in the cave with elves

Both of those last ones trigger quests and new areas.

Doing the above should get you to level 4 where you can take on the magisters, which will get you to 5 and out of the city and on you go.

Talk to everyone and explore everywhere. Once you get teleport (usually with gloves first) you can move to quite a few areas for loot and exp. Can also teleport chests to you. Just be careful not to drop them on the cat. A spoiler for cat
Keeping it alive until you get to exit the city will give you a summon cat ability. It doesn't do much damage, but has a useful ability of jumping really far and then it can swap places with you. If it dies, you don't get the ability.

Thanks.. Don't remember frogs in the cave so I'll need to go check that out again, unless you're talking about those lava slugs, but they weren't aggro. Afraid the cat is dead though lol, he was shot by the guards at the gate. Can I rez him
 

cyrusreij

Trakanon Raider
1,712
575
Thanks.. Don't remember frogs in the cave so I'll need to go check that out again, unless you're talking about those lava slugs, but they weren't aggro. Afraid the cat is dead though lol, he was shot by the guards at the gate. Can I rez him

That one douche bag guard always shoots the cat. Sadly, you cannot rez him. The frogs are behind some crates in the back of the elf cave. You can move them with a character with high strength, or just manually attack them to break them. Fight isn't super difficult, and the damage incoming is very magic heavy.
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
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31,802
That one douche bag guard always shoots the cat. Sadly, you cannot rez him. The frogs are behind some crates in the back of the elf cave. You can move them with a character with high strength, or just manually attack them to break them. Fight isn't super difficult, and the damage incoming is very magic heavy.

Thanks.. Definitely not much diversity or flexibility in ones selection of starter fights to build up enough XP for the main storyline encounters. If you basically don't tackle ALL these scantily available scrub fights, you aren't strong enough to deal with the magisters.
 

Droigan

Trakanon Raider
2,485
1,145
Thanks.. Definitely not much diversity or flexibility in ones selection of starter fights to build up enough XP for the main storyline encounters. If you basically don't tackle ALL these scantily available scrub fights, you aren't strong enough to deal with the magisters.

It basically sets the tone of the game of there being stuff everywhere. There are no random encounters in the game. The entire game is hand crafted so there is nearly always something where you expect something to be, and tons of things where you don't expect something to be. You'll constantly find encounters that are really hard until around mid game on classic, when I found things were starting to become too easy.

Loot also matters early on. Getting those few extra physical or magical defences really helps. Check vendors and make sure you buy all cheap upgrades you see (opening game any armor upgrade below 100g). Also HIGHLY recommend getting 1 warfare ability point on all melee characters and the battering ram + ground slam ability. Knockdowns are really powerful and are must haves in hard fights to chain stun enemies.
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
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until around mid game on classic, when I found things were starting to become too easy.

Were you following a guide for how to build your characters, or did you try to figure out good builds on your own?
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
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31,802
It basically sets the tone of the game of there being stuff everywhere. There are no random encounters in the game. The entire game is hand crafted so there is nearly always something where you expect something to be, and tons of things where you don't expect something to be. You'll constantly find encounters that are really hard until around mid game on classic, when I found things were starting to become too easy.

Loot also matters early on. Getting those few extra physical or magical defences really helps. Check vendors and make sure you buy all cheap upgrades you see (opening game any armor upgrade below 100g). Also HIGHLY recommend getting 1 warfare ability point on all melee characters and the battering ram + ground slam ability. Knockdowns are really powerful and are must haves in hard fights to chain stun enemies.

Yeah, I played the first Divinity which I found kinda average. It actually became way too easy towards the end of the game, Hopefully I like this one better. My main complaints with the first one are the same as this one (too many items, pixel hunt puzzles) as well as going overboard with the environmental effects, but I certainly didn't have any startoff issues like I am having with this one.

Major issue right now is just finding some stuff to safely beat up and get some gold. I literally have to sell every piece of junk I find just to buy a skillbook.
 

Droigan

Trakanon Raider
2,485
1,145
Were you following a guide for how to build your characters, or did you try to figure out good builds on your own?

No guide. Don't really need one for the game, they all evolve to be really good. But a great setup could be
- Summon level 10. Have one party member go summoner and put all points towards summoning until summoning skill 10 (around level 6 or 8 depending if you also find items with + summoning). At level 10 summoning the pet becomes god tier.
- Rangers are insane damage
- Rogues in the game are like glass cannons, but when you combine them with +1 warfare and the knockdowns they become very good at keeping things down
- Then random utility person. A tank with some healing as well since the summoner is full on summoning for the first levels so no healing on it.

Any class setup similar to the 4 above should be fine for everything.

Then later add in +2 necromancy on all of them for the bone widow spell and now you'll have lots of extra targets that do physical + soak up damage and aggro

Stench talent is really good on anything but the tank. Not sure if they've fixed it, but if the tank with no stench is blocked and the three with it are in the open, melee enemies will sometimes just move without attacking even if they are within striking distance of several characters.

Frenzied Wombat Frenzied Wombat
If you have a rogue (or thievery skill on someone else), you can steal once from every npc. Take your non theif party members and split them up, you can walk up and talk to NPCs to force them to turn around in directions away from whatever NPC you want to steal from + make the NPC you want to steal from stand still if they are moving. This is great for the expensive spell books at early levels. Just drop whatever you stole on the ground immediately after picking them up and when the NPC goes "I've been robbed!" and demands to search you, just let them, they will apologize since you don't have anything, then pick up the loot. (quicksave before steal)

Get lucky find up to at least 2 or 3 on one character before taking any other abilities. You'll get really good items from it. They've nerfed it from how good it was at launch, but still a must have on one character and always use that character to loot everything. Odds are you'll get lucky find purple tier items long before you see one drop.

Barter skill is a fairly significant reduction in cost for items or gain in sales from items. Always buy and sell with your barter character (unless you have the mod that enables one characters barter skill on all party members)
 

Fedor

<Banned>
17,346
47,327
Get lucky find up to at least 2 or 3 on one character before taking any other abilities. You'll get really good items from it. They've nerfed it from how good it was at launch, but still a must have on one character and always use that character to loot everything. Odds are you'll get lucky find purple tier items long before you see one drop.

the highest lucky charm level is shared across all characters now so you can loot with any character
 
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