Divinity: Original Sin and Dragon Commander

I think the game benefits most from a tighter setting and goal. "You're on a prison island. Escape" Like, most side quest tie into this.

In DOS 1 I often forgot what I was supposed to be doing, or how I had gotten here.

Finally got out of Fort Joy. And holy crap I didn't realize that the companions you don't have in your active party when you reach Driftwood end up dying.

Also, half a million copies in less than a week. Bravo for Larian Studios. If any studio deserves it it's them. 17 hours in and this game is already one of my top games of the year.

I'm a big fan of the first game, and it feels like the second has improved its weakest parts (story and roleplaying opportunities). The "two main characters" feature was nice though, shame about losing that.

I fooled around a couple hours with a random main character to get a feel for the game, this evening I'm going to start an actual playghrough with Lohse, probably developing her as a bit of a jack-of-several-trades. Wonder which companions I should bring with me... I want a fighter, a mage and a roguish archer type, but I can respec everybody so I can choose them for the personality, which is another nice feature. The Red Prince and the undead have that "unlikeable in a likeable way" thing going on and their dialogue is fun, I'm not really interested in the elf chick, so it's a choice between the dwarf and the mercenary guy, is it?

edited 20th Sep '17 2:53:17 AM by Cozzer

So I have had the first game sitting in my steam library for month from the Humble Bundle... with all the buzz of 2 I am motivated to play.

I am really kinda lost though, its just overwhelming. Any advice starting out? Which edition should I start off with? Mods? etc.

I never did finish the first game. Maybe I'll go back to it after I'm done with the second.

Being able to customize a duo of characters was a neat feature, but I'll bet it was a ton of extra work, and what with all the pregen characters being recruitable, I suppose that level of customization was what they ended up sacrificing. Not a bad trade given the amount of personality and character the pregens have, I'll say that.

The Red Prince seems a lot more comical than I remember him being in the early beta. Did they rewrite him, or am I imagining that?

Just been fooling around getting my feet again in Fort Joy. I'm thinking of either playing or at least recruiting the Red Prince, and I'm probably going to bring Lohse and Beast for my first playthrough. I'm torn between bringing Sebille, mostly just to see how she interacts with the Prince, and Ifan, since he seems to have a fairly strong connection to the main plot. Maybe.

Thinking about Conjurer for the Prince (because of the demon-summoning mentioned in his backstory), Metamorph for Ifan or Shadowblade for Sebille, Battlemage for Beast, and Wayfarer for Lohse. Definitely want to get some environment effects synergy going on (Elemental Totem seems cool), so I'll probably have somebody pick up Pyrokinetic and Hydrosophy unless building up a stockpile of elemental arrows and grenades ends up being especially cheap and easy.

edited 20th Sep '17 4:50:51 AM by Unsung

Yeah, thankfully. Now he's unlikeable in a funny and somewhat charming way, in the beta he was just plain unlikeable.

edited 20th Sep '17 8:55:37 AM by Cozzer

True, not really an objection on my part. Given what the Ancient Empire actually *is*, I get the impulse toward writing an actual villain protagonist, but while I thought the character was well-written, he didn't exactly fit the tone of these games. He certainly wasn't someone who you'd really believe could ever be in a party with half the other origins, especially not Sebille. Post-rewrites? Yeah, he can be reasonable.

Sebille's as dark as ever, too (she's pretty much a female Nameless One), so I can see why the changes were made. Of course, now both the Prince and Fane are wry aristocrats of dubious moral scruples and posh accents. But I guess nobody's going complaining about that in a medieval fantasy game. People like Dragon Age, after all. And Tyrion Lannister. And Blackadder.

x4 For Cyseal, the usual order of progressions are as follows once you've finished the quests inside the town itself: the northwestern gate to handle the lighthouse, the western gate to handle the orcs on the beach, the northern gate, the eastern gate with the missing recruits and the graveyard, and finally the burning field before moving on to the second act. You can do the areas in any order, but that's usually the accepted way, if only for level reasons, rather than story ones.

Also, no wonder Sebille sounds so familiar: she's voiced by Alix Wilton Regan, the voice for the British Inquisitor in Inquisition, Sam Traynor in ME 3, and The Weaver of Time from Original Sin, among others.

The last elf she played was Kerillian in Vermintide. I wonder which one's nicer.

I can't really compare, as I'm playing Sebille, and because of that she's molded by my choices, as opposed to the others who basically make their own choices. I did love Kerillian in Vermintide, though.

Thanks. Yeah it's more the weird underground cavern with the giant ogre demon thing that got me stumped the last time.

Clearing the key quest locales first is probably best though, whilst also doing those random quests to save a guys head in town and try to ID the proper murderer. May just do act 1 according to a guide to get through it, then try act 2. Want to finish it as keen to give the sequel a spin (Especially as it gives premade characters....)

Infinite Damage Combo!

Requirements: One caster with Soul Mate, 1+ points in necromancy, and any way to heal (food, potions, spell), and one undead with no physical armor remaining and the spell Shackles of Pain. Living on the edge can be cast on the undead to increase the maximum possible damage.

edited 21st Sep '17 4:58:34 PM by Ghilz

Now that is tons of damage.

Really does a number on your CPU, though.

So much virtual damage it starts to go into physical

Hey @Memers, welcome!

If you want my advice: find a partner to play Original Sin 1 with! It's best if you can play together (assuming one or both of you have a laptop that can run the game), but via Discord works fine as well. I've played both the original and EE, and there's no reason at all to play the original game, the Enhanced Edition is superior. Except sheep's cheese and best friend crab were better in the original but they're meme generators anyway.

I've never bothered installing any mods. The game's very overwhelming at first, yeah. Quick overview:

• There are four combat archetypes: fighter, mage, thief, ranger. Fighters and mages are pretty straightforward, thieves and rangers need a bit of set-up.
  • You can mix and match archetypes at will, but I strongly recommend defining your PC's role at the start and sticking with them.
  • There are four companions in the game, one for each combat role. They also have a smattering of utility skills.

• A character's role is defined by their gear and skills. A PC with high strength and low intelligence will not make a good caster, but if you have a wand that only needs 3 int (HAH) he can equip it just fine. The wizardess with 15 int and a fireball spell will benefit a lot more though!
  • Speed is the god stat. More turns+more actions per turn=more kill power. Don't neglect your primary combat attribute though since higher level gear requires more strength/int/etc.
  • Assigning skill points is pretty easy. Put one point into your primary weapon and put the rest into your abilities. A caster wants an elemental skill or two (and one of them ought to be Hydrosophist), warriors want Man-At-Arms, thieves want Scoundrel. You'll want to cap at least one (cap is 5), but you can branch out before that. Some trees have skills that classes love, like Oath of Desecration for melee attackers.
  • Utility skills are mostly awesome. The rogue skills are the exception since it's safer to go invisible than to hide in shadows and easier to fireball a chest than pick the lock.
    • Blacksmithing is ESSENTIAL, you need at least one point in it on a character to fix your gear.
    • You'll want crafting 5 by endgame, because some of the high level crafted gear is extraordinary. 3 will suffice since you can find gear that boosts Crafting all over Cyseal. Keep it around!
    • Lucky Charm and telekinesis are neat but not necessary. Telekinesis helps though!
    • Dialogue skills. Augh. Give 2 points to one character.

Perks are perks are perks. Warriors have easy choices, everything that comes from having high Man-At-Arms is great. Far Out Man is useful for casters, and at least one character SHOULD have Pet Pal. You'll thank me later.

Lastly and most importantly, feel free to throw out all this advice as soon as you feel like it. Divinity Original Sin is about exploring the world in YOUR way. It's not my way necessarily and you might have more fun combining builds and just goofing around. Have fun!

Ahh ok, what about the various umm professions? You know blacksmithing and everything on that tab.

Also I was looking at Sin 2 and noticed it just says I5 minimum with no specifics, I have an AMD FX-8320 will it play that? Not getting it right now but I figure I should know now if I can run it or not.

edited 22nd Sep '17 1:52:38 AM by Memers

I'd love to play the game with another person. My wife gave up on it. But need to finish the first one, just for completions' sake.

Trying to main a warrior and a mage, so going to have Beyhrdotr as the ranger and whoever else as a companion.

I believe the FX-8320 is equivalent to entry level i5s, so you should be fine on lower settings.

I think my main playthrough of the EE I had Ranger and Mage for my two Source Hunters, and Madora to round out the Amazon Brigade. Glass Cannon + Lone Wolf on my Ranger made the game a stupid cakewalk that I actually ended up regretting taking those two talents because of her AP max and damage output.

edited 22nd Sep '17 8:36:29 AM by ITNW1989

Also tip for combat, if you see a fight is coming, you can cast spells before entering combat, saving you a few actions and rounds. If you're playing enhanced edition, this will REALLY help with some fights.

Having two customizable P Cs was the main reason why I dropped the first game. So OS 2 is an improvement in that regard. The gameplay is fun, the characters are pretty interesting too, although having finished the first act it seems that the story is The Chosen One is saving the world all over again.

Started the game with custom origin of lizard shadowblade armed with two daggers. Teleport with backstab -> Flurry -> Chameleon, Teleport, Cut Tendons, backstab - two turns, two enemies.

I have Beast, Lohse and Sebile in my party, the latter one is Ranger, the former is a battlemage armed with two-handed axe, and Lohse is a weird build of Cleric specialized in necromancy. I keep her mostly for her personality, haven't figured out how to use her in combat yet. Perhaps I'll give her Beast's battleaxe, making her a damager, and make the dwarf a pure tank.

So far it's very fun to play.

edited 22nd Sep '17 9:36:39 AM by Millership

Ugh, that boss fight in Act 2 where you have to free Gwydian in the Black Pits. My PC is still screaming in horror from all the Cursed Fire filling the entire map thanks to those bloody Voidwoken blobs.

Turns out that damage loop was a bug.

@Memers:

• Craftsmanship
  • Blacksmithing 1 is the only must so you can repair items. Higher levels are nice but it's very much an investment. The more you put into the crafting systems the more you get out, but since it always results in at-level gear it's nifty.
  • Goes triple for Crafting proper. Nifty, unnecessary. BUT you can carve a Jak O' Lantern and wear it as a helmet SO.
  • Loremaster is helpful but you can pay to have items identified. Two points + gear that boosts the ability are enough.
  • Telekinesis makes for shenanigans but is 100% optional.

• Personality skills
  • Bartering is useful but unnecessary, particularly in the EE. Pass.
  • Charisma is super useful on paper but god dammit I hate the speech mechanic. It's rock paper scissors and the computer is really good. 2 points MAYBE.
  • Leadership is COOL since it boosts the party's physical combat skills. You might consider a few points in this on your mage, but they probably want other things.
  • Lucky Charm: Cute, but pass.

Consider skipping Nasty Deeds. At most there's mileage to be had out of Pickpocketing if you can use your party to run interference so the rogue can sneak behind the target. Had this blow up in my face a lot, so I suggest passing.

You'll get the most out of focusing on your Skills subtab (2 at a time!) and a smattering of abilities that complement their party role.

edited 23rd Sep '17 1:06:23 AM by Watashiwa

I am so glad they got rid of that stupid rock-paper-scissors mechanic in the sequel.