Divinity: Original Sin II - Swen Vincke Interview

[HiddenX]

Jarl Frank of the RPG Codex interviewed Swen Vincke about Divinity: Original Sin 2:

Jarl interviews Swen Vincke; Questions about Original Sin 2 and other things are answered.

The concept of plane tickets, bitch! has a long tradition on the Codex. In the good old days, it was often issued as a challenge when arguments between two posters got heated. Insults were traded, the other's taste in RPGs was derided, and finally one poster would challenge the other to a real-life duel, offering to pay for plane tickets to make it possible. Regrettably, none of these challenges were ever accepted. In the end, someone always pussied out - either the one being offered the tickets or the one offering.

While this time the context was different, we can finally claim that a plane tickets, bitch! challenge has been accepted and enacted, even though regrettably no physical violence has taken place. The challenge was issued by Larian, and since no-one else was available, I chose to represent the Codex and fly over to Dublin, where Swen would subject himself to a bunch of Codex Community Cwestions and I got to play a D&D adventure with some of the devs from Larian. Yes, a D&D adventure - using Divinity Original Sin 2's Gamemaster Mode as its platform.

Since the results of this were several hours of voice recordings, and I'm both a busy and a lazy man, it's going to take a while until all of those are transcribed. Also, these recordings offer enough material for multiple Codex Content posts that I decided to split this event into three articles: the interview with Swen, Edward's detailed explanation of how the Gamemaster Mode works, and a relation of the actual game that took place between me and the guys from Larian (which was loads of fun and played out pretty much exactly like a pen and paper session, except that we used screen and keyboard as our utensils).

First of these articles shall be the interview I conducted with Swen, where I made sure to ask most of the questions posted by the community in the forum thread - yes, even the embarrassing ones. It was quite a fruitful interview, even though I could've gone for more follow-up questions. Enjoy the inteview!

(Note: if you have posted a question in the thread and don't see it asked here, feel free to complain. I'll make sure to give your complaint the proper attention by not caring at all.)

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We got a whole bunch of community questions. Some of them are really stupid but I’m going to ask them all, anyway.

Sure, go ahead.

[...]

Felipepepe wants to know if you have changed anything about your design philosophy FUME that you have talked about five years ago.

I think it’s still there, because it’s based on my favourite game, Ultima. Freedom is the first letter of FUME, that’s still there, a universe in which you can develop your character is super important, so we spend a lot of time on developing it. When you see the lorebook that’s shipping with the collector’s edition you’ll find out exactly how much time and effort we’re putting in there. Then, giving you motivation to continue… we’ve spent a lot of effort on the narrative this time, much more than we did in the past. Hopefully we’re succeeding in that. And then we’re giving you interesting enemies, that’s everything related to our combat system, so that’s still all in there. Yeah, I think that’s still all there… you know, freedom also means systemics, right? Rather than scripting everything, like do this then do that, we’re giving you systemics and say here, there’s problems, now solve them. That’s still very much in line with what FUME was.

He also wants to know if things have become better audience-wise, because when you pitched Original Sin you said you had issues making people understand the game, as complex RPGs had been out of style for years. Has that changed now in your opinion after so many other RPGs have been released, that the audience is now ready for such complex games?

I don’t think Original Sin is a complex game. It certainly gives you lots of options and that makes it look complex because you see everything that you can do, but I don’t think it’s a complex game. I see that a lot, right? Original Sin has been very popular and we get a lot of people who never played an RPG before, and they pick it up and play and have fun with it. So in terms of audience acceptance, I think it’s actually harder – because there are so many types of RPGs coming out it’s hard to say to the audience, well I’m that type, and they might not necessarily know that, so that might be a bit of a problem. But in general, the biggest driver of sales is word of mouth. It’s not journalists, it’s not youtubers, it’s just what people tell each other, like hey, try this game out. If you have a game that’s fun regardless of what the genre is, and it’s something that interests you, then people are gonna pick it up. I think that’s the most important thing. You try to make your game good, and if it’s good and it’s fun then people are gonna talk about it and it’s going to sell.

More information.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Yes, a D&D adventure - using Divinity Original Sin 2's Gamemaster Mode as its platform.

Nice.

I once had thought that some people would perhaps implement other systems into Drakensang ... I was told by a team member, then, that that was in principle possible (to implement other rule sets into the game).

So, now I could play Divinity 2 with any other RPG system ? Like ... with TDE ?

 

[luj1]

I'd prefer a mature tone to infantile silliness but no biggie. I have no doubt the sequel will be mechanically sound.

 

[TomRon]

I'd prefer a mature tone to infantile silliness but no biggie. I have no doubt the sequel will be mechanically sound.

I have no problem with the silliness, "dark and gritty" is way over used these days. I did however not find the story in D:OS very interesting, and with some few exceptions neither were the side quest, so improved writing is my main hope for the sequel.

 

[Moriendor]

I'd prefer a mature tone to infantile silliness...

No. No, I'm not going to...

I have no doubt the sequel will be mechanically sound.

How can a digital game make mechanical sounds? What???

 

[Steinawarjar]

How can a digital game make mechanical sounds? What???

I assume this is a German joke?

 

[Ovenall]

I'm playing through DOS1 again right now. Really hope they make melee more attractive for v2. Not that melee is useless, but all my caster characters are just so much better. Plus, I don't like the Madora southern US voice.

 

[TheMadGamer]

I got to the hunter camp and stopped playing. Enjoyed the game and can't really remember why I just stopped. This did not happen with divine divinity. Finishing up another replay of Gothic 2 NotR and thinking after I might give D:OS another go.

 

[Pongo]

I have no problem with the silliness, "dark and gritty" is way over used these days. I did however not find the story in D:OS very interesting, and with some few exceptions neither were the side quest, so improved writing is my main hope for the sequel.

Yeah i agree completely. I enjoyed some of the off-beat humour in D:OS as a break from the usual dark and gritty stuff, but a better overall story would be a big improvement in part II.

 

[rjshae]

Start a kickstarter to fund plane rides for the Codex. Let them destroy each other.

 

[NewDArt]

Never been a fan of Larian's take on humor - but they're going less silly in this one, or so I've heard.

To me, humor - like anything else - is most effective when you're not expecting it and when you're not saturated in it.

 

[Myrthos]

So, now I could play Divinity 2 with any other RPG system ? Like … with TDE ?

No, you can't. The Game Master mode is using all the Original Sin 2 mechanics. The only thing they have done related to D&D is secure the right to use one of their modules. You are playing that by Original Sin 2 rules.
A lot of things have been added to the engine to allow the Game Master mode though, like being able to throw virtual different sided dices to add randomness and luck to things, so that is comparable to D&D. Based on the outcome of the throws the Game Master can make a decision. The engine doesn't do anything with the result of the throws, it is only used for the Game Master. I think everything that was added for Game Master mode was based on their experience with D&D.

 

[Deleted User]

I got to the hunter camp and stopped playing. Enjoyed the game and can't really remember why I just stopped. This did not happen with divine divinity. Finishing up another replay of Gothic 2 NotR and thinking after I might give D:OS another go.

My dad and I co-op'd the game and finished it. For that experience it's probably one of the best RPGs ever. Certainly *the* pinnacle CRPG that has couch co-op. Epic amounts of content, too. Took us 140 hours or so.

That said, Divine Divinity is still my favorite Larian game. Which reminds me that I have to get back and finish it someday.

 

[Silver]

HoboForEternity wants to know if there’s a plan to license your engine to other developers, because the engine is a work of art and he’d like to see it used more often.

I don’t think we’re the studio to do that because it requires you to set up an engine support team, and that’s not really our model. We are a game studio trying to make games. Engine is a part of the things we have to do to be able to make games, just like pretty much through our entire history we did whatever was necessary to be able to make a game. So we keep on doing that – tools and engine development are made to make our type of game. If we were to license out our engine, well…whenever we change something in it, and we do change our minds rapidly, we would ruin their development process and I wouldn’t wanna be doing that.

Its a shame that Larian will not license out their engine to other developers. I could see other devs gaining greatly from that engine because they will be able to largely focus on content. They may even gain some technology development from these other devs for their engine.

I would like to see Larian produce a version of their engine for other devs yearly with the understanding their will be no assistance from Larian for their development and it won't be kept up to date. No one wants them to be Epic.

 

[Myrthos]

It is a shame, but I think they are correct. Providing support for their engine to other devs will mean several people need to work on just that and making sure that it remains somewhat backwards compatible. I've rather they spent that effort and money on developing games.
it would already be something if they could deliver the engine in such a way that you can create mods that don't break whenever the enhanced edition is released of Original Sin 2.

 

[Silver]

It is a shame, but I think they are correct. Providing support for their engine to other devs will mean several people need to work on just that and making sure that it remains somewhat backwards compatible. I've rather they spent that effort and money on developing games.
it would already be something if they could deliver the engine in such a way that you can create mods that don't break whenever the enhanced edition is released of Original Sin 2.

I'm thinking voice acting of some sort will be added with the inevitable console port. If the game is hopefully successful enough. I see what you are saying about the engine thing. Its a shame they can't get a third party to do that engine maintenance thing for them. If some company were to spring up and offer that as a service it would be a boon.

 

[you]

Verbally, They have indicated no objection to other devs using their engine (think mods). If I were another developer I would get the statement in writing before starting a project I intended to sell but I suspect something could be arranged. This is vastly different than making the engine available with certain promise/obligation as they could limit the number of projects et all.

Its a shame that Larian will not license out their engine to other developers. I could see other devs gaining greatly from that engine because they will be able to largely focus on content. They may even gain some technology development from these other devs for their engine.

I would like to see Larian produce a version of their engine for other devs yearly with the understanding their will be no assistance from Larian for their development and it won't be kept up to date. No one wants them to be Epic.

 

[you]

I think the game play is near the pinnacle but the actual game itself was a bit weak. D:OS 2 is much stronger in the rpg department.

My dad and I co-op'd the game and finished it. For that experience it's probably one of the best RPGs ever. Certainly *the* pinnacle CRPG that has couch co-op. Epic amounts of content, too. Took us 140 hours or so.

That said, Divine Divinity is still my favorite Larian game. Which reminds me that I have to get back and finish it someday.

 

[Deleted User]

I think the game play is near the pinnacle but the actual game itself was a bit weak. D:OS 2 is much stronger in the rpg department.

Good to hear. We are going to play that when it officially releases.

I meant D:OS being the pinnacle for couch co-op RPGs. Over the years, most of the ones my dad and I have played were things like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Diablo, Sacred 2 and games like that. There weren't really many couch co-op CRPGs, and this game is an honest-to-goodness couch co-op CRPG, rather than just a dungeon crawler or action RPG.

 

[Myrthos]

Whenever I play DOS2 I leave with a feeling that the emphasis on all the 'kewl' combinations you can do with spells and the environment was a bit over the top, where in the end the only way to win fights is figuring out what the right combo is. I switched back to Explorer mode, just to get through the fights in order to be able to focus more on exploration and questing.