Divinity: Original Sin II - Review @ GRS

[Maylander]

Memory attribute is pathetic. Allows one more slot per invested point. And… Well, that's it. All dialogue checks that have memory as an option also have checks on other attributes. Even worse in the game itself, a certain encounter gives "good" rewards only if you pass intelligence check, not memory (if it's even offered there, I forgot). Sure, you'll add a point or two in it so you can "memorize" enough moves/spells to use till cooldowns expire, but it generally feels like a waste.

Memory is pretty much mandatory for lone wolf characters though, as they tend to get a ton of skills. In my current run, I think I have mine at around 30 for both characters (meaning 10 points invested, as you start with 10 + get double points for being a lone wolf). I have close to two full bars of spells and skills now on both of them. It's getting pretty crazy, but they're also incredibly powerful, far more so than my previous, full party.

There are two dump stats though:
Constitution: Only need to get it high enough to use certain shields. Once your protections are gone, your only real way to survive is to get them back up again, or you'll face endless charm/stun/etc.
Wit: Only useful on one character, so that character can discover stuff + start the fight. The "initiative" system is unlike the D: OS1 system here in that it's more fair, so you get every other turn (unless it's a summon).

 

[azarhal]

Perhaps the audience for this type of games is actually bigger than we thought.

DOS1 sold around 2m copies (~1.4m only on Steam which exclude consoles and GOG sales). That's actually very good.

I am under the impression that the (size of the) audience for deep cRPGs haven't changed since 20 years ago too. It's somewhere around 2 to 3 millions people. The issue is reaching these people, a lots of them seems to literally live under rocks i.e. they don't follow gaming news.

Now I can't wait for POE2, Josh Sawyer is feeling the heat. If POE2 does a jump from POE1, the same way DOS2 did a jump from DOS1…

 

[joxer]

Memory is pretty much mandatory for lone wolf characters though, as they tend to get a ton of skills. In my current run, I think I have mine at around 30 for both characters (meaning 10 points invested, as you start with 10 + get double points for being a lone wolf). I have close to two full bars of spells and skills now on both of them. It's getting pretty crazy, but they're also incredibly powerful, far more so than my previous, full party.

There are two dump stats though:
Constitution: Only need to get it high enough to use certain shields. Once your protections are gone, your only real way to survive is to get them back up again, or you'll face endless charm/stun/etc.
Wit: Only useful on one character, so that character can discover stuff + start the fight. The "initiative" system is unlike the D: OS1 system here in that it's more fair, so you get every other turn (unless it's a summon).

Con is definetly a dump stat, that's what I agree. At least on normal difficulty I haven't met a trashmob group that can pierce directly all health on any of my characters. I mean, I haven't seen yet a several archers trashmob group that would aggro Marksman's Fang on one of my characters. In this case it's not that the stat is "meh" but there is no trashmob group in the game that would make "tons of health" somewhat desirable.

Lone Wolf is IMO overrated and not fun (unless it's undead that can basically switch race so you won't miss "racist" dialogue checks that add to the lore).
What I'm trying to say, it's useless "playstyle" with useless stat (in this game ofc, Skyrim is not designed for a party for example).

You forgot something more about Wit and that's critical chance. Wit adds to it. Not much, but enough for me to invest some points into it. On who? On my fire/earth mage.
A wand has no +wit or +critchance%? Sell. Equipment I'd put on him doesn't have +wit or +critchance? Sell.
Exception are items have two (or I just found a staff with three!) rune slots so I can easily boost critchance with runes, but in my case every +wit point matters.
What gives? My mage always kills something in the first turn alone. Impale+Fireball. There is always a crit. And I'm playing full party not lonewolf.

Okay, it's on normal difficulty, perhaps on tactician wit is useless, can't say anything.

Notice that someone reading our "arguments" could and should assume that DOS2's greatest point is allowing so many (creative?) combinations on a character which in the end - work. There is no "the best". Each is fun and each can win. At least seems to me.

 

[Maylander]

Okay, it's on normal difficulty, perhaps on tactician wit is useless, can't say anything.

1 wit = 1% crit
1 int, fin or str = 5% more damage to the given abilities

There are two possible scenarios for wit being used:
1) If you manage to get a 5x crit modifier (unlikely).
2) If you're a hybrid with a modifier of 2,5x or more, as that means you'd be better off spending 2 points in wit than 1 int + 1 fin/str. Even then it might not be better, as not all skills can crit.

 

[Drithius]

There's no denying that wit is inferior when it comes to combat (especially given the stupid overhaul to initiative), but I still like it on at least one character for roleplaying purposes.

 

[joxer]

I'm not powergaming. Dunno how I could - can't use the same equipment everyone else finds nor can hope for the same equipment everyone has.

All my fire/earth mage spells can crit. Thanks to a perk that "copies" weapon critchance on spells.
AoE spells won't crit everyone in area, each target has it's own chance so basically when you can AoE three or more trashmobs, higher chance someone will get critted.

 

[wolfgrimdark]

Yea not into the power-gaming mind set. One reason playing on easier so I don't have to worry about "wasted" abilities and feel that I have to follow someone's cookie-cutter "ideal" build for each class. I don't mind tweaking set-ups to be more effective as long as it doesn't stray to far from the characters sense of personality and design but completely scrubbing it just to power game isn't my style. Course I understand that is what many love to do - find the ideal builds that are the most powerful ... whatever is fun should be the goal and a good game is one that allows for that flexibility.

 

[Morrandir]

Yea not into the power-gaming mind set. One reason playing on easier so I don't have to worry about "wasted" abilities and feel that I have to follow someone's cookie-cutter "ideal" build for each class. I don't mind tweaking set-ups to be more effective as long as it doesn't stray to far from the characters sense of personality and design but completely scrubbing it just to power game isn't my style.

That's how I like to play as well.
But I just don't like to do really stupid builds wasting skills/attribute points or whatever.
Thus I need to have some basic knowledge of the mechanics. In case of D:OS2 it seems that avoiding obvious pitfalls isn't far from actual optimizing/minmaxing.

 

[wolfgrimdark]

That's how I like to play as well.
But I just don't like to do really stupid builds wasting skills/attribute points or whatever.
Thus I need to have some basic knowledge of the mechanics. In case of D:OS2 it seems that avoiding obvious pitfalls isn't far from actual optimizing/minmaxing.

Oh me as well. I suppose my own personal dislike towards power gaming made my post seem one-sided. Its just my own style. I use to power-game when I was younger but for whatever reason as I got older I no longer liked it. Now I prefer role playing, exploring, questing, story, and a more relaxed pace.

To me it is bad game design if the only way to complete a game is through power-builds. Which is where difficulty sliders help. If I am playing on hardest mode I would expect I would have to do some power-gaming to survive. But on easiest mode I would expect I could focus on story, role playing quirks and weaknesses of a character (and strengths), and still enjoy battles.

Not much point in tons of character options if everyone always uses just ABC and never touches XYZ because they are considered weak and lame. On the other hand if all things are equal it also makes the variety rather meaningless (to me at least). Hence again difficulty sliders help with that.

Also I do pay attention to some things. For example while I don't like to respec I will if my choice was made because I did not understand the mechanics. For instance I gave Ifan 3 points in summoning thinking I could get some buffs for his wolf. But the buffs are only for an incarnate. So I used the respec option to remove those and instead put one point into Fire magic so he could get haste and clear mind - two things I could see a fighter making good use of. He is also a fiery veteran of the wars who I could see being able to clear his mind in battle and his focus making him move faster.

I also made some small tweaks to other characters once I learned a bit more about the mechanics.

But I am sure I am far from optimal as I haven't paid that much attention to min/max of armor, weapons, skills, etc. I am in a place right now where my party got split up in a cave. On explorer mode I died about 5 times last night.

Finally took a different approach and avoided some battles with my rogue using teleport and sneak. Used lockpick to free my tank Ifan and get rested. Now the two of them are off to rescue the other two ... with a bit more luck than trying to do it solo.

 

[joxer]

I think azarhal already hinted you and I confirmed. When party gets split, use pyramids! "Magic pockets" mean you can send anything from one's inventory to another.

But about the "only proper build" thing… There is no such in this game IMO. There are just a few "pitfalls" to avoid and that's it. The major thing is never to go jack of all trades on a character. Anything else you make is not a miss.
After I mentioned above why upping con isn't desirable because trashmob groups that'd ask for that don't exist, I forgot another thing, even if piercing trashmob groups existed, there is a necro spell that prevents dying for 2 turns - silly me.

 

[azarhal]

I think azarhal already hinted you and I confirmed. When party gets split, use pyramids! "Magic pockets" mean you can send anything from one's inventory to another.

For that specific cave, you can also just find the waypoint and waypoint everyone to it (blue icon on the map border, can be used at any time (except maybe when in jail? I didn't try it...and now I feel dumb, lol).

 

[fadedc]

I like having some wit just so that I can go early on the first round. Being able to split up my group, move people on low ground to high and teleport/void swap enemies from high ground to low before they have a chance to go can make or break some fights. The problem is that it's hard to know how much wit is enough.

Con I''ve been putting some points into, maybe it's not right. But my guys usually have hit point pools that are much higher than there armor pools, and at least on tactician the armor pools regularly get burned through very quickly. So an extra 30%or so health can be quite handy.