@karkarov: Some of those negatives are good points, some of them are just untrue.

The game warns you before going outside the city that yo, you'll want to have a full party and a couple levels before heading out.

Non-combat skills are not at all worthless at level 1, especially Blacksmithing, Crafting and Loremastery. One level in Blacksmithing allows you to repair everything for free, anywhere.

Melee is in no way weaker than mages or rangers. In fact, 2h melee by far puts out the most damage in the game, as long as you keep them well equipped. My 2h fighter was killing pretty much everything equal level in 2 hits in the first map. If anything, Ranger is the weakest class in the game.

Yep, I have Madora rocking with a 2h scythe and doing very nice damage against most monsters, BUT that is only true against opponents without strong slashing resistance. The problem I have is that it's terrible (50% absorb) against skeletons and I haven't yet seen a single 2h crushing weapon such as large club or a mace, making her essentially dead weight in certain areas until I can train up 1handed weapons for her.

I played 10 hours so far ... it may just me being not as patient as I used to be but I feel like the game gives you hardly any direction on where to go. I constantly meet enemys outside of the first city that seem way too strong for me (or just too many of them), the quest give no direction at all when it comes to markers on the map ... I still feel like it's a pretty impressive game though, and I don't have anyone to check out the coop with.

@crommi: I'm assuming you're talking about skeletons. Slashing weapons are fine against them, 2h swords/axes have enough raw damage that their somewhat high resistance doesn't matter much.

And yeah, there are no blunt 2-handers.

Amazing!

16 hours played and I haven't even gone outside the first town yet. An entire log full of quests. That you actually have to figure out! This is MAH JAM. I haven't played an old school wRPG like this in ages, goddamn, this is the equivalent of snorting cocaine for me! AAAAAAHG.

Also having two main characters opens up a lot of fun options, for example you get a quest to assassinate an orc in the first town. Normally, you can either do the deed or narc him out, completing either objective voids the other and finishes the quest. So after getting both amulets I had one of my characters stay in the barracks, the other with the elf, both initiate their respective dialogues at the same time, the dude in the barracks hands over the evidence to arrest the elf, while my chick talking to the elf hands him the other amulet getting his reward simultaneously, got the good reputation reward, both xp rewards, and the loot too. FUCKIN A.

Uh... no, it is called I played the game for 20 hours. This is actually only my third post (on any forum) talking about it. The first one you can see on page one of this thread and the second one was on a different forum where all I say is basically "the game is too obtuse and never tells you anything you actually need to know, oh and I bet Pillars of Eternity will be better".

Also I forgot to mention the UI. It is serviceable and the little chain mechanic is neat, but the inventory and barter interface/management is pure crap.

@karkarov: sorry, u misread my post, I was talking about forum activity about every other type of game, not this one - basically I was saying a lot of those complaints come from the world of the modern, convenience-first, casual gamer and do not apply here, and in fact are considered positives by it's intended audience.

Game is fucking great, buy it!

If you are still having issues, I found going west to the lighthouse quest is the way to go. You can tell you are going the right way because it is always raining. The rain makes the lighting spells you have have extra oompf since everyone is wet (keeping in mind that it can also stun your characters). Also the enemies tend to be easily seen and grouped near helpful oil barrels. You still need to be careful and not go in with out being prepared but it wasn't me getting slaughtered by one rapid boar like going north east did.

I apologize if this has been answered before, but how's the voice acting and soundtrack? Is it fully voiced - except for letters and notes -, or is it text only with the occasional voices within the main story? Or completely text based? I am definitely intrigued by this game as it seems like a game I would like, though I have only played Divinity: The Dragon Knight Saga, which seems completely different from this. In that game you could create a character, but the options was bad, how does this game fair?

I know this is said often, but this is an action RPG with silly mechanics, a funny story, and with an online co-op option that allows players to argue and disagree... Sounds like this was made for an Endurance Run with Vinny (because he'll always pick the non-classic answers) and someone else!

Some parts are voiced, mostly the important story bits. The majority of the game is not voiced. Would probably be insanely expensive since there is a hell of a lot of dialogue, that differs wildly on the decisions you make. You can create a character, and looks-wise it does the job, but doesn't excel. But since you are watching you characters mostly from afar, it's the gear you pick up that defines the way they look. You can pick from a bunch of default classes, or pick all the skills you want. But the game is basically classless, you can spend skillpoints on whatever you think is right, pick any feat and learn any spell. Character development is mostly done through the dialogues in which both of your characters can voice their opinions separately.

@fritzdude: Voice acting is pretty good in my opinion. Same studio that did Dragon Commander I think and I thought that was pretty well done as well. Everything not in a dialogue box is voiced, but there is a bit of reading to do as well.

Character customization is good. Very sandboxy, there aren't any real classes, just sort of advices on builds but you can build characters any way you like.

I'm slowly working my way towards it ... I managed to kill seperate groups of enemys and get up to level 6 now. I feel a little more secure. I hardly did any quests yet though.

I really like the fact that the game doesn't tell you where to go for quests. Not everyone needs a large Call of Duty arrow that says, "Go here!".

And if you pay attention to the dialogue and the environment you can get some ideas on where to go as well. Leave no crate unsearched, no potted plant unmoved, and no NPC with an actual name un-talked to!

While I like it. it also poses a small problem because the game is very linear and there's not much freedom to do as you please when areas are pretty much gated by level. So if you don't know how to proceed with one particular quest, that effectively blocks your EXP gain. That also makes me bit concerned about deaths because I'm guessing dead characters do not gain EXP and since there is no respawns or grinding, it could add up over course of the game and you might end up missing out level or two on your squishy characters.

Reading this thread just reinforces that...

A: I need to get this game.

B: I need to not blow all my money on Magic cards and Heroclix so I can actually buy this game.

C: I miss Temple of Elemental Evil way too much.

Oh man, if you like ToEE then this game's combat is right up your alley. Similar emphasis on throwing a lot of powerful foes in your general direction and giving you an abundance of tools to deal with them. It's not quite the same level of raw, unfettered brutality that I associate with Temple of Elemental Evil, but the combat still forces you to act smart (and occasionally reload when the enemy's opening salvo incapacitates 3 of your guys for 2 rounds each)

Goddammit. You are making this even more difficult!

@jakob187: Buy this game.

Weird thing is, the thing that's been keeping me away from this game is the horrible HORRIBLE cover art they've been using to promote it. It's ugh... awful. But the actual game seems really good so I may buy it after watching a quicklook.

Right. Let me rephrase. You are confusing legitimate complaints with "waa waa I can't beat the game waaa" casual BS. I am beating the game just fine. But being obtuse and explaining nothing is not a "bonus" by any stretch of the imagination and only to most idiotic ego gamer would think that makes a game good. This is simply a game that requires you play it like a min maxer to be really successful, once I realized that I started playing that way. That said none of the other divinity games require that and that is not what I expected or wanted from Original Sin.

I backed it. I guess I'm about 15 hours in - I'd say it's solid rather than outstanding so far. The environmental aspect is great but as soon as you 'get it', and are levelling with it in mind, it's pretty easy to abuse. I would say difficulty balance seems to be at 'engaging' rather than 'challenging', having had to use maybe 3-4 res scrolls in that time. I haven't found any of the mechanics to be especially obtuse, though some things could be made a little clearer and the UI could certainly be better.

Combat and variety are clearly the game's strong suits, but I find it quite significantly undermined by the (lack of) characters and story so far. I like the game, but in my head it's more in the Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights 1 category rather than alongside Baldur's Gate. Playing it is fun enough, but it hasn't really sucked me in and made me care about what is going on yet.

I think right now my only significant gripe with the game is the UI as @seppli has mentioned as well.

They really need to fix the resetting shit like item shortcuts, make your UI positionings stick, maybe add ability to expand inventory, trade comparisons fixed, a lot of big and little stuff with the UI essentially. It's quite a bit of a hassle.

Dunno why I didn't try it earlier considering the AI's done this to me, but I used another character to make my leech character bleed and hooooooooooly shit it's better than any heal or potion.

Well, I played this pretty heavily over the weekend. There are a few parts where I've had to consult the internet, but I think it's "obtuseness" has been overstated, with the exception of the crafting system. It is far too unnecessary to be as convoluted as it is.

I really enjoy the balance of the combat when you go to the right encounters for your level. They really nail giving you the right number of tools to feel powerful and strategic without making it trivial. I agree with the complaints about it maybe being a little too unforgiving of taking on the quests in the wrong order, though, especially since you're given no warning of what the right order is.

The story is too throwaway to be a negative, really - you just kind of have to know going in that a story-based game is not what they're going for.

Seriously considering buying the physical collector's edition from Larian just because of how excellent this is. I think it really deserves to go up in my Moneyed Hall of Waste.

It's really the best game this year by miles. It's just high quality where it counts (encounter design, freedom of choice/solution, etc) and excels at making the game feel like playing it isn't a totally trivial, wasted glob of hours.

So what is the deal with the co-op in this game? It's just splitting control of someone's existing game? I can't pop my two characters into someone else's game with their two characters? That's unfortunate.

I've played about 3 hours and want to get out of the first town and doing one of these undead quests. But I guess I have to do the murder quest first to unlock some NPCs?

Kind of getting frustrated with the UI. Could not find a way to move the ability bar, and I want to look ahead of where I'm running.

The music is really good, and I enjoy the co-op dialogue thing a lot. The character creator is kind of a let down.

Can't say I've had a great time with the game. There's a lot of things I enjoy, but the game seems a bit too into it's "role-playing" for my taste. After abit over 3 hours played I was getting too bored of running around town and decided to go kill some undead, exited the town and the first fight was just terrible.

The problem wasn't that the enemies were too hard or anything, but I just kept getting screwed over by finnicky controls. I don't know what changed since I had already done some fighting earlier, but it felt like I was constantly pixel-hunting or else my characters would do something stupid like moving two steps wasting action points, attacking the wrong target, picking up an item or getting themselves assaulted by attacks of opportunities.

I wanted to give the game it's chance, but the slow start has just killed all my interest.

I haven't posted here because any free time to game I've had, I've been spending with this game.

I really like the combat. It's very tactical in a way I haven't had with an RPG in a long while. Positioning, retreating, using the combinations and environment, using spells that wall off enemies.

Picking up the two party members in town made all the difference for me making the difficulty right too. I made a wizard (focused on damage) and a archer/rogue, so having a warrior was key and I use the other caster as a healer/support guy more.

Anyways, things have really clicked. I've gained some levels, got some great gear, and now I'm having a great time. Best combat in any RPG I've played in quite some time. I did enjoy the recent Shadowrun but this is a cut above and innovative I think in different ways.

The freedom and options are really impressive. And it's key that the enemies make you know your shit. They will smartly use the environment too and the enemies are really no push overs. The fights play like real back and forth struggles. Because there is so much freedom and so many options, the game can be harder without feeling formulaic too (as in, you need to use predicable options to fight certain enemies or in certain encounters). You find what works for you but you can mix it up for sure.

I can't say the story has gripped me or anything but it's pretty solid and I enjoy the tone, which is lighthearted in a Fable kind of way.

If you are a fan of turn based combat and cRPGs, you really have to play this one. It's really a brilliant updating of the old cRPG formulas, not just being content to be that either but adding some cool new bits of its own.

There's a mage in the mayor's library and then a warrior in the basement of the inn. They make a big difference so grab em.

And being at most one level below what you're fighting early on is super important. If you're starting out, you can fight to the northwest, some low level undead. Best place to start. But try to just feel out where enemies are going to really crush you and take what you can get.

Its a shame this game will probably be shunned and something like DA:I is gonna sweep up the RPG GOTY awards. This game continues to be an unbelievable and amazing experience even after 30hrs in, I still feel like I barely scratched the surface of the game and have yet to use all the tools at my disposal. One of the few games totally deserving of its "sandbox" title in a game let alone an RPG. Its insane to think that a game released in 2014 could be my gateway game to older CRPGs but it really is looking to be that, I never played the old CRPGs before but Im seriously considering it now.

@igniz12: Well, if there was ever a year to get into RPGs that play like they came out in 1998, this would be the year. Wasteland 2 comes out at the end of the summer and Obsidian seems pretty confident that Pillars of Eternity is still coming out in 2014, and those are just the big ones.

Once you have certain encounters in both the clinic and the inn you can hire a bigger variety of NPC hirelings from your shelter plane place, in case Jahn (Water/Air mage) and Madora (straight 2H fighter) aren't what you want. I could see a double Lone Wolf playthrough being pretty fun too.

Hmm, I've been having similar issues, but I'm playing on a laptop so assumed the issue was in the touch pad rather than the game. I also can't rotate the camera at all (no middle button, holding v changes the cursor but swiping the touch pad does nothing)

I also only just realised that the personality trait stuff gave you skill bonuses...

In regards to this don't jump your gun. Pillars of Eternity has been basically ignored on this site but it is probably going to be better than both of these games. It is essentially an actual successor to the Baldur's Gate games unlike Original Sin which keeps getting that comparison even though it doesn't fit.

To me Original Sin is more like Icewind Dale or Temple of Elemental Evil.

This game is not a slouch at all. Personally I don't hold Obsidian in such a high regard that I assume that their game will be better than this one, because so far, this is very good.

I don't know if the Steam top sellers list is localized (I live in Belgium, so since it's a Belgian game I imagine it's popular here) but has this game been on top of the Steam best sellers list constantly since it came out, even beating the daily deals? I hope so because then they can spend some of the money fixing the many issues. I know Larian did a pretty big revamp of Divinity 2, and this game can use one as well... It has a lot of potential, and for a very classical RPG it's unusually popular.

I believe Steam top sellers are grouped by revenue earned and not copies sold so that makes it even better news for Larian. Someone once made a interesting point regarding old game genres suddenly becoming in vogue; All those gamers that used to play these types of games now are all grown up and have money to burn but most big publishers keep chasing the bottom of the barrel type games that appeal to the casual and the teenage demographic. One is blase about gaming and the other cant even afford to pay for their hobby at a consistent basis(hello f2p). So you end up with many of those now grown up gamers longing for games of their youth hence the sudden rise in "old school" genres/games. An interesting idea worth considering, maybe a bit reductive but it does have its merits.

My personal list of fixes/additions:

Would love to see some better sorting tabs and have the sorting tabs stick as opposed to have to toggle to them at all the times.

Something needs to be done about bartering.....we're in the same party....Im standing 3 feet away from him for god's sake! Why cant I barter as a group and just apply barter bonus according to the member with highest barter skill level :/

I could do with faster walking speed and an option to toggle off spell animations outside of combat. Idk if the walking speed can be made faster, I noticed party members will avoid hazards and mines so I wonder if the AI would have pathing issues if the speed was increased.

@igniz12: The movement speed depends on the character you are controlling, the rest of the party keeps up. So controlling like a slow fighter will take their time and make everyone else drag their feet too, but control say a rogue with +speed +movement items and you'll be booking. Casting haste spells can boost you even more, say i portal somewhere, start moving with my rogue, while my mage starts casting haste, then you're running like Flash across the countryside.

Heh just had a hilarious moment where you fight a boss and 3 minibosses at the same time, one of the minibosses leaves lava when he dies, which is instadeath, que teleports. Mmmm BBQ. I felt deliciously cheap.

Goddamn there are so many fun strategies to abuse in this game.

Quite a compelling theory. What I find heartening about it is that it's not zero sum, so what we're seeing is a growth in the market and the types of product it will bear, not some new fad crowding out other types of game. I hope that big publishers can harness this to diversify their profiles a bit.

Started my third game yesterday because I wanted to play without companions (find the two in Cyseal very uninspiring), but hadn't realised how beneficial lone wolf would be to that project.

As someone who really loved the original Fallout games, Baldur's Gate games and Neverwinter Nights, I'm enjoying this so far. I wouldn't say that I'm bowled over by it but it is definitely a really solid game. I've only played the first 15 hrs...perhaps the game improves in the second half?

So far the combat variation is impressive and the general standard of writing is pretty decent.

On the negative side, the characters aren't especially developed or deep, and the overall narrative isn't particularly engaging. It definitely isn't bad but not say, up to the same level as something like Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall.

Hmmm I wonder who will be doing the live QL?

Edit: eeeh ummm it's the SF office, this is going to be interesting, their first comparisons were Diablo ....

Phew, fear unfounded, Brad totally redeemed himself at the start of the QL!

Edit2: Brad + Rorie totally killed it, well done!

Well, I know how I'm dealing with that next playthrough.

First playthrough I snuck around and used vases to block off the minibosses and then fought the main boss (and the fire guy who broke the vases when he spawned). The others spawned in and patiently waited in their vase prisons.

Picked it up this morning after catching the QL late last night. Spent most of the day playing it, and am really enjoying it. I feel it might be a little too difficult even on "normal" than it needs to be. But, maybe I am under-geared and under-leveled for some tasks. I can't really tell since every time I leave the starter town I am killed off by something.

Ehhh...just drop it down if you feel like you dont want to get overhelmed. I dropped it down just to give me some breathing room but never brought it back to normal again. I usually play games on the hardest difficulty but I dont have that urge here. Combat in the game isnt the main focus like other RPGs and the questing and adventure is so good that I feel satisfied just playing the game on easy, saving the harder difficulty for later playthroughs when I have a better idea of the party I want to go for from the start.

Dont forget to explore the harbor area, bunch of lvl 6-7 orcs that leads to a hidden cave with a huge quest line. A ton of XP in the cave in the form of lvl 6 undead(grab some blunt weapons). Only discovered that area recently and Im way overleveled for it now. Place is filled with party killing traps though so save often.

So to follow up on my first impression upthread, this is an absolutely enormous game and with the benefit of hindsight I can see that the first 15 hours (approximately up to level 7 or 8) around the Cyseal area were essentially just the tutorial segment of the game.

I'm about 45 hours into it and I think I've pretty much got down all the systems the game needs me to understand. I feel as if I (at least) know what I'm doing generally and have definitely (and most importantly) got the hang of the combat... specifically I'm using the various elemental and environmental combinations to my advantage in every fight now...

A few other observations:

The world is a big one but it isn't a Besthesda-level open one. Don't get this confused with Skyrim. There are simlarities (lots of layered systems... crafting, spells, close and ranged combat, party NPCs etc.) but.... theres' a big difference....

And this is that path through the game is determined by the level of your foes more than it is directed by narrative or quest developments. In most cases if you come up against enemies that are more than a level or two above you, the sanest option (when playing on 'normal' setting) is to grind and level up elsewhere. This constraint definitely makes keeping track of the multi-thread narrative a little tougher than it ought to be as you backtrack regularly into narratively dead areas in order to kill previously too tough, but now beatable, enemies solely for their XP.

And while the standard of writing is pretty high, the story itself isn't particularly compelling... this is definitely not a character-driven RPG.

In fact, there appear to be only two NPCs that you can meet in the 'normal' game world who can be recruited to your party. You meet them in the first few hours of the game. They are not interesting and have little to no bearing on the development of the story, the locations, the player characters themselves, or anything else about the game other than their application to your overall combat strategy.

So I do have some misgivings about this game but I'm definitely enjoying it immensely. Not finished it yet but so far it feels like it'll be a solid 4 stars.

Are the companions bad? There's a lot of positive heresay...here. Say, maybe could I hear about the stuff that isn't so hot. Seems like the consensus is that companions are a bit lackluster but overall the games a smash. I wanna know more. $40 ain't something to be taken lightly.

There are two companions with storylines, but at a relatively early point in the story you can hire whatever kind of companion you want. They're basically generated dudes of each starting class. Here are some things you should consider whether they are negative or not for you:

• The game isn't hard by any means, but on normal it's not a Bethesda game in terms of being able to just walk through anything whenever you want. It's not that kind of game
• Addendum to the previous: areas are generally cordoned by level, and going up against things that are 3+ levels higher than you - while totally possible - is much, much harder so you have to do some walking around to figure out where to go. Again, it's not a handhold-y (at least as much as recent) games
• The starting options of each class are customizable, so you can start a Knight that focuses on Two-Handed and Water Magic or a Fighter who's way into Willpower and Leadership or whatever
• There isn't a grid in the game, so sometimes you have to inch around the battlefield with free-movement to get an angle, or the enemies might sway slightly causing you to waste a round walking next to where their body used to be (pro-tip: aim for the hips)
• Everything is completely valid in every stage of the game, you just have to manage differently for the scenario at hand - i.e. mages aren't wildly overpowered late-game and warriors don't fall off nearly as drastically
• Quests in this game require you to talk to everyone, and do pretty much every single thing to do in an area - not follow quest markers until you receive XP
• Loot is entirely randomized, so you might never find a Unique bow for your archer or plate mail for your fighters and the same is true for skillbooks and items in vendors but most of those refresh over time
• The game isn't afraid of hiding things from you that are only attainable through massive points in the Perception stat - you'll have to find some creative ways around it
• Speaking of which, the game also isn't afraid of kicking your ass over and over again - F5 is your friend
• Crafting is mostly creativity and not books that tell you explicitly for the most part how to make them
• The story isn't the focus, at all, here. The dialogue and writing is mostly fun and the "srsbusnz" stuff isn't worth thinking about longer than looking in your journal

There's a lot more that could be said, but I think those are the real critical points that should be addressed if you're worried about spending $40.

Will I be clicking through the story or am I reading everything?