Do you like RPGs? Play Divinity

I've been playing it and its amazing. The gameplay is as complex as any game but also incredibly difficult. The game is difficult but in an awsome way. The graphics are incredibly nice and easy on the eyes.

There are glitchy elements but the positives far outweigh the negative. If you like RPGs get this game, its biggest strength is its fun and not frustrating. The key is having a well balanced party with each character specialising in something different.

I will . Once I've finished Black Flag after my last exam tomorrow .

it's just the tiny details in everything and the amount of interaction being able to pick up and move scenery etc to access new areas,and the way you are left to figure stuff out without being pointed to everything,i almost forgot Rpg's used to be like this...and i love it :P

I really wish I could get into it, but I just don't enjoy the combat, I'm hoping Eternity will be more enjoyable. I didn't back Eternity (I did Divinity) and am kind of regretting my choice now. I might back it for $35 now to get the beta on Aug 18.

I also can't get into it for some reason. I like a good story but Divinity just throws you in the game and you have to figure everything out.

I'm gonna wait for Risen 3 in August, I really enjoyed the last 2.

Yeah it's hard to figure things out but it's to encourage the player to explore everything. If you try to rush through anywhere it will be too hard. The area immediately outside of the first city has enemies that are unkillable at the start.

There are nearly a dozen quests in the first town that require doing or atleast participating in to be able to progress or you'll get slaughtered.

As far as the combat it has it's flaws but it also has a huge positive in that is so incredibly dynamic that it requires careful application of elements and skills. Learning how line of sight works and how different elements create different reactions. You have to use the environment and the situation to create an advantage and fighting things with steel won't work. Not for anyone that likes hack & slash or quickly progressing environments but figuring out the puzzles and actually having crafted a good party is fun simply because there is so much variation and actually creating a good party takes careful planning but at the same time is rewarding in that you are likely to create a variation unlike anyone else unless you copy a build (which will make it boring as it's such a big part of the game). If you try to rush through it you won't have fun.

I do like some RPG's, but not like this one. There is to many menus for me to enjoy it

I'll probably get it on the christmas sales.

My backlog is already big enough as it is and is only getting bigger.

This is my favorite game of the year, I've had an absolute blast trying different builds. This game is not for the impatient.

Sorry... I know different strokes for different strokes... but really people?

How is it hard to use the menues.... or work out what to do? how much hand holding is needed? :S

@MBirdy88:

The issue I have is the layers upon layers of complexity with no in-game documentation or tutorials. You are constantly provided with the bare minimum you need to do anything (combat, quests, crafting, interactions) and forced to look at outside resources to progress. That is just poor game design. I have played other games in the past with a steep learning curve like Endless Space, but in that case there is at least some intuitiveness to the systems. There is not in D:OS. Further, if I am going to have to spend tens of hours learning a game to enjoy it, the payoff had better be worth it. Again there is no payoff in terms of story when it comes to D:OS, just more tedium. Don't even get me started on how utterly and superbly boring the combat system is or how you MUST complete the side-quests to get enough XP to proceed to the next area.

And this is coming from someone who is in the target audience - old-school RPG fan. I find it immensely disappointing and wish I hadn't backed it. Maybe once someone mods it a year or two down the line to make it less obtuse I'll give it another try (doubt it since the story is really generic), but until then I'm done.

...... Problem solving, learning by doing and exploration are issues now? I really don't get it.... it has the same level of tutorials as most other RPG's in its class, a few pop up windows at the start and that's it. The interface does its job, the only area I could even understand confusion is the crafting system. Everything else is explained.

The quests tell you where to go 90% of the time. god forbid you have to work it out by reading the text mind.

It plays like any other CRPG... no harder (in the understanding department) and no easier either. ofcourse, there is that nasty level of difficulty against enemies levels 3-5 IF you don't go mages/ranged... but oh well.

Whats hard to understand about the combat, quests and interactions? it made sense 2 seconds into my first fight.

Bull****, there is no in game tutorial/information that explains crafting or bartering or learning new spells/abilities. The quest journal is beyond useless, like ME3 only worse. It doesn't track people you talked to already or who you should talk to next. Without quest markers you are left with running around talking to EVERYONE once you hit a wall where you don't know how to progress. I have said it before and I will say it again; any game that forces you to spend multiple hours reading wikis to get a good handle on game mechanics is shittly designed. Good games teach you how to play, D:OS does not.

And I didn't say the combat was that difficult I said it was boring and tedious. Oh look a skeleton walked up and clocked my warrior with a club, maybe in 5 minutes I will hit him back! /sarcasm.

... sorry, I guess I'm not stupid? (trollbait trololol) in all seriousness.... the game is obvious.

You see skillbooks sold by pretty much all the important people and they randomly drop.... chances of seeing one an hour into the game is high. whats complicated about that? jesus. Crafting books tell you ingrediants..... crafting tools are the obvious staples of the genres... holy hell batman... you shouldnt have to read the recipes and place the items in the right tool RIHT? MUCH COMPLICATE SUCH BAD DESIGN WOW.

I could slightly agree with the quest log.... but at the same time I can't.... because it DOES keep a track. you can view all previous conversations and steps.... and enough information IS given. but then if someone complains about ME3 quest interface I know I must be talking to special bus material....

apperently a fan of old school RPGs... most of which never had quest markers... complains about no quest markers....

oh and then I read the last sentence. so confirmed your probably about 18 years old tops, never played a non-action rpg not made by post-WoW blizzard and complains. yeeeesh, why did you even pick it up if you knew the gameplay was that style.

And there were no Tutorial in Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Ultima (pick one prior to 8), Arcanum, Planescape Torment. No you were not the target audience. Or you simply lost taste for those kinds of games along the way, as the game is very similar to those games in how ruthless they were, or how much you were needed to read. And it certainly ain't more difficult either. (Baldurs gate, searching around the map only to find a Bear 4 times your level rings bells? Or Ogres early on if you take a qrong turn).

So far in the game, I have not had to read a wiki, they pretty often state the exact location you need to go, you simply need to find the place, and since the game automatically Places points of interrest on your map, it is in some areas far more helpful then the RPGs it shares its DNA with. A negative I do have against it, Some of those riddles are godaweful -.- and that initiate temple were bloody murder.

Nice trolling. I'm over 30, And none of the games I had listed have a ridiculously unintuitive and complex crafting system. Also most of those games would give you much more information in the quest log. They didn't use markers, but it was much easier to find your objective and not be stuck wandering around a city for hours because the person you are supposed to talk to to progress the quest isn't clear. As for combat, at least in RTwP the combat it is exciting. You feel epic moments of barely evaded AOEs or barely surviving a magic missile barrage and charging your foe. There is no excitement, no "epic" feel in turn-based, just tedium. Ultima series is not the only old-school RPGs. There are plenty of D20 based systems that were far more enjoyable IMO. I can't count the number of times I replayed NWN+expansions or BG or IWD. They had amazing stories, memorable characters, epic combat, none of which I feel when I play D:OS. Just antipathy for spending another 15-30 minutes on a single battle and getting nothing out of it or walking around a city for the 10th time trying to complete the next step of a mandatory side-quest (which may or may not be bugged, there were plenty that were in the beta).

I wish I had given Obsidian the benefit of the doubt and backed Eternity instead of Divinity. Because it is shaping up to be much more enjoyable IMO.

And this is exactly why we don't get these awesome full blown old school RPGs anymore, cause gamers want everything handed to them.

The old RPGs are great exactly cause of that reason, cause they just put your character in the world and you have the freedom to do what you want, whenever you want, and have to figure stuff out.

The game is just so good in the combat and exploration, what is so good about it is that each encounter has a level of difficulty and one mistake can be life or death. One character with a rain spell or one character with a fireball can completely change the tide of a battle and something that was once insurmountable is easy.

Jahan and a tank companion are the best companions. Tank with 1 guy, have 3 mages in the back and have summons (1 summon per character so far). Then use the elements that work well against the enemies with the mage that has the proper spells and the other mages support (some have healing, some have armor buffs, some have haste and whatnot). An area of effect such as rain turns a firy battle into a wet and cold nightmare for infernal demons.

The biggest problem is the first city is laid out horribly, atrociously, embarrassingly bad. Navigating through the city is awful when everything looks exactly the same, the biggest mistake in the game, beautiful environments to explore and about as bland a village as there could be.

@FelipeInside:

Which is fine, but there has to be a payoff. Like I said I cut my teeth learning to play Endless Space without any assistance, didn't win until my 4th match, I am not averse to steep learnign curves. But in D:OS there is just learning curve with no payoff, the story is uninspired and directionless. It feels like the developers are making it purposefully obtuse, there is nothing intuitive about the crafting or combat, or how to build your character. Further, I get no enjoyment out of the combat. When I finally won a match on turn 200 on Endless Space it was awesome, the final 50 turns I could feel myself getting closer and planning multiple turns ahead. Even the times I lost I was learning and it was still exciting. I get none of that thrill from D:OS. I just look forward to more boring combat, more marathon side-quests, and more uninspired story. It simply doesn't appeal to me, I wanted BG/NWN/IWD level narrative and combat, then I could deal with the frustration. As it is now it has neither of those, throw in the fact that you only have two companions and the narrative looks even worse.

I haven't played enough of it to generate an opinion, but so far I don't seem to have as much problem as you finding where to go etc.

I think most of us are spoilt but waymarkers and modern quest systems and therefore when we have to actually explore or read what people say it becomes "difficult".

Once you reach where you need to go the game puts an automatic marker there which is good. Old games didn't do that.

As for the combat, it's personal preference. I prefer real time with pause but I don't mind this turn based system either.

Total War is a great example of a game that is complex but uses a method that teaches the player mechanics without impeding or dumbing the gameplay down. The advisers and built in Wikipedia are great, it's baffling why more games don't use this.

Pretty much disagree with everything else he (SorOmly) said. The story is actually good. Really good,The stumbling block is, you have to read and put things together.

The story telling is not 1,2,3,4. A good example is the "Death Knights" in the later part of the game. The player requires a scroll and specific blood to progress the story. Both are in two separate locations and the player can do either, both are part of the main story.

You can also (at the very same time) pick up the white witch who also is a key competent of the story.

Some people may find it obtuse but to me, that's 1000X more interesting that a bunch of scripted sequences attempting to be a blockbuster movie. It feels much less contrived and by the numbers.

It flops in the companion aspect. Baldurs Gate is far superior in that regard.
Here, just don't give a **** about any of them.

Combat wise, leagues better than baldurs gate. Miles better than pause and play.

It's clunky as **** in comparison.

Yeah combat makes it worth playing alone, it's what every turn based game wished it could be. I generally hate turn based games but played this all day and am still playing it so there you go, play this game everyone, it's amazing.

I'm at the lighthouse and the battle starts out with a necromancer and a bunch of dogs, one lesson to be learned is take out the caster first if you can. This has to be the best game I've played since..... I don't even remember. Uncharted 2 I guess.

I don't want everything handed to me, I just don't have the time to figure everything out.

With our busy lifestyles, sometimes we just want to kick back and have fun, not waste the little time we have or I have trying to understand the game.

Well, it's not like you don't have options. Part of the reason this game has become popular (aside from being amazing) is that we just don't have these kind of games anymore. Everything basically is landholding, streamlined and built for consoles in mind. In that regard, you have limitless options. From the opposite standpoint, people who enjoy these types of games (at least until the kickstarters come through) have incredibly limited options beyond playing titles from more than a decade back.

Yeah, I don't begrudge others for enjoying it. For me it just doesn't hit the right buttons in terms of old-school RPG stuff for me to enjoy it. I'm hoping Eternity and Torment will be more enjoyable although I am worried about Torment going turn-based. If it ends up like Divinity I'm going to be really bummed, that will be 0 for 2 in terms of backed RPGs for me since I haven't (yet) backed Eternity.

The new Dragon Age will have RtwP combat, no ?

And id_mew… I think there might be some other RPGs out there you might enjoy. (any modern AAA release)

Can't say I get your complaints about turn-based. Baldurs Gate and alike used dice-rolls, it was real time moving about but the actual combat was turn based dice rolls from what I understand. Likewise, I spent pretty much every battle pausing, might as well have been turn based.

Passing this game over because of gameplay is a mistake, you just have to make it passed the first 5 or 6 hours and it gets amazing, it really does.

Yea, after some time u get used to the gameplay, especially with the questing... just read the journal allot :)

using your brain to solve challenges and explore/expirment is not allowed in RPGs anymore Felip.... you jsut walk from a to B exclamation mark and get a reward. Forget reading, understanding characters and solving information through the art of reading.

These types of games you actually had/have to play (imagine that)

..not just be brought along for the ride

I've got to say it...this is the best classic-style RPG since the classic RPGs. I've had a blast with it for over 30 hours now, and I still haven't explored half of the first area yet. Wonderful stuff.

...and yes, it *is* vague about a few things, but most things are explained if you hover your mouse over them. It isn't hard to work out the rest.

I might pick up a game like this when this damn heat ends. So in the middle of September, if im looking for a challenge i might buy it. I completed Morrowind last Autumn and it was fun. Games like that are not hard if you put in the hours and you put your mind to it. But of course, if you have a busy life then this game is not for you. Games like these are for the guys that can play 6 times a week for three hours.

Although I have been a little bit worn on that kind of fantasy setting, and actually still a little bit so, I am completely compelled to try this game. Several of my friends, and acquaintances who happen to be RPG fans have really good things to say about this game. I guess its time to give that setting another go.

One of my gripes in games these days compared to older games is the constant hand holding almost every game has these days. So that alone has me interested. I hear its a great co-op experience so that would be great for both of us. Also they have a 2-pack deluxe edition, or something that already brings around a decent deal for 2 people interested in it.

@robokill:

One of the other major problems is that this game makes a terrible first impression. When you have to drag yourself through the first 6-10 hours that is usually more than I'm willing to invest. Especially since IMO it doesn't really get much better. After spending ~7 hours in the first city I was bored, frustrated at the side quests, annoyed by various bugs, and not at all looking forward to cutting my way to the next city. Not to mention the only two companions are both lame. I feel the same way about them as I do Alistair and Morrigan. I just want to shove them off the nearest cliff, but I can't until I can access the randomized and equally lame henchmen.

It makes a brilliant first impression, which is why the vast majority of impressions/reviews have been favorable. If anyone is really having such a hard time figuring things out they are either not very bright, have the attention span of a monkey, or just isn't trying very hard.

@Renevent42:

Numerous player reviews and even comments in this forum have made note of how poorly laid out and structured the first city is. The term being used was "abysmal". So I would argue that that first impression is indeed terrible. Especially when people are saying you have to grind through the first 8 hours or so to get to "the good part". Eight hours is a lot of time to waste especially when you don't enjoy the combat, story, or companions. Not even mention the fact that there is no effort to give the player any idea of how crafting works. Or the illusion of exploration when only 1 of the three exits from the first city is accessible. I stand by my statement.

The vast majority is overwhelmingly positive. The only people who agree with you are those who can't figure stuff out due to damaged brain function. I was able to figure everything out just fine, all in game, without breaking a sweat...why weren't you?

Hey he's completely allowed to not like it. The approach this game takes is purposefully not telling you things so that when you do figure things out it actually feels like progression. To figure out how to write spells on paper you actually have to read how to do it and the game practically enforces experimentation.

There's a part in the game where you are supposed to use tornado to get through an electric cloud, but I gave everyone fire resistant potions and created a line of fire and had everyone dash through the fire to get through the electric clouds. It's this non unique problem solving that makes the game stand out from the hoards of linear games out there. Its like fallout new Vegas nonlinear problem solving meets total wars level of strategy with a pinch of WoWs vibrancy and DnD turn based combat

Of course people are allowed to not like the game, at the same time, people can also point out to those acting like it's so hard and are seemingly unable to figure out simple stuff that they are...well...not the most perceptive people on the planet heh.

@Renevent42:

Because I was past the point of caring about the characters, story, or combat. It wasn't enjoyable. Why waste the time learning the crafting or combo system when you don't enjoy the combat. Why waste the time grinding out the marathon side-quests when they have nothing to do with the main story. If you can call the loosely defined progression of unrelated objectives a narrative. Why explore the area, when only one exit will be presented that wont have enemies that out level you significantly, blocking your progress. It is only the illusion of exploration. Literally every side quest in the first zone consists of X guys tips you off to quest, run across map to next person, run back across map to next person, find out it is the wrong person after wasting 10 minutes going though all the conversation options, spend 15 minutes figuring out the right person, run to different area of the map for final clue. It is just wasting time with boring chores to get to what... some random chest that had a couple scrolls and a few useless weapons? I literally only got 1 upgrade (enchanted staff) for 1 character after completing the main quest and most of the side quests in the first town. A half dozen interesting, well written quests is way better IMO than 20 run around the map and find clues quests.

It isn't simply that I don't want to spend time learning it, it is that I simply don't care because the core of the game isn't enjoyable. Why waste the time to peel the apple when you know the core is rotten? The companions are cardboard cutouts (the TWO companions you have access to no less), the main story chain is barely there and disjointed, the combat is mind-numbingly boring and tedious.

Then stop complaining about and pretending like the systems are so complex/ill presented and what-not. The problem is you don't care and don't want to put fourth the effort (which is fine, but a different story). Frankly I think you are full of it anyways...you said you tried for 8 hours, which is more than enough time to understand the vast majority of what's going on in the game. I had a pretty good handle on most in game mechanics in an hour or so.

I had just made it out of the first city. Solved the murder, which took FOREVER because the damn button that I knew had to be there wasn't visible from any of the camera angles so i spend an extra hour trying to figure out how to open the door before resorting to the wiki. Never even looked at crafting, it was beyond unintuitive and you can't store the recipes so you have to write them down yourself. Bartering is a colossal time waster since you have to tab through each character's inventory individually. The side quests all involved running around searching for people without any idea where they were which devolved into just making laps around the city until i could remember where everyone was or spending 10 minutes trying to talk information out of someone who had no information to give. It was mind numbing and that isn't even talking about the combat with the orcs outside of the city that completely ignore your melee characters and b-line straight for your squishies. After that I was done, I have no intention of giving it another shot until Larion adds some more NPC companions or someoen mods the combat to be less tedious and the quest log to actual present useful information.

EDIT: What it finally boils down to for me is that I LOVED BG, IWD, NWN, Arcanum, etc and am just hugely disappointed in this game. It doesn't compare favorably to any of those in terms of narrative, companions, combat, or world building. It confuses complexity with depth and just ends up being tedious and boring. I'll be waiting for Torment and/or Eternity to get my old-school RPG fix. That is all the more I'm going to say about it.

You make the game overcomplicated for yourself. First off of course they go after your squishies. That's what teleport, freezing, rain, stun are for. Second of all you don't have to do all the sidequests. You are quitting on a game with some of the best gameplay mechanics ever.

Selling isn't actually that hard. Send everything to the main character that picks stuff up, when looting only do it with one character. Crafting is not necessary to do. The main city sucks, that's it. Don't try to go full DPS with each squishy, make sure each character has heals, stasis and DPS.

If an enemy is warm they can be burned and poisoned, if they are wet and cold they can be stunned and frozen. Ice shard, rain, poison dart and summons are essential.

What if I absolutely hate RPGs ?

Well if you don't have the time to play a full blown RPG, then don't buy it, simple.

Look at my case: I know for a fact that I will never finish Original Sin, because I know what type of RPG it is... but I bought it for two reasons; to play a bit of an old school RPG again and secondly to support the developer because they have done a great job with it and I want these types of RPGs to still exist. I'll probably also buy Pillars and Torment 2.

Why won't you ever finish the game? Does it have an expiration date? Take your time. Chip away at it. There's nothing that says you have to finish it in "x" amount of days, months, or years. So, unless you have a terminal illness or you die horribly within the next six months, I see no reason why you can't finish it.

Now, if your attention can't stick with something for more than a week or two...

/shrug

I've been playing here and there for a few days (been too busy to do more) but so far it's been a blast. The combat is the highlight and reminds me a lot of Temple of Elemental Evil (just without nearly as many bugs). The biggest annoyance so far has been the inventory system, particularly during bartering. I imagine it was done for multiplayer purposes, but the characters' inventories feel a lot more segregated than in say the IE games, and I waste a lot of time trying to flip through the inventories and sheets of different characters. Also, I've found the second character's dialogue AI to be wonky (not to mention currently missing the variety that is planned for august); sometimes the AI simply does nothing and I have to choose for it.

I want to get it, but I just have such a big back log of games I need to play especially after last steam sale with Europa Universalis 4, Resident Evil 4 HD edition, and Dishonored.