Divinity: Original Sin. Out Now! Discuss...

[Kalmah]

I'm still trying to understand all of the mechanics. After watching a good crafting video tutorial that has helped in that department a lot. I still can't seem to figure out a few things though.

For backstabbing, at one point in the game will sneaking skills be good enough to 'sneak' while already in combat or is backstabbing only going to be a one time per fight thing? Is it needed for pickpocketing?

Telekinesis: I know what this means, but what does it do? I tried opening an unreachable chest with a character who has a point in this skill and couldn't open it. I figured that that is what this skill is for. So what do I do with it?

 

[cytoSiN]

Telekinesis: I know what this means, but what does it do? I tried opening an unreachable chest with a character who has a point in this skill and couldn't open it. I figured that that is what this skill is for. So what do I do with it?

It's for lifting and moving things from a distance. Useful to fish a key off a rock surrounded by lava, for example.

 

[JamesV]

Sneak is pretty much worthless, after 1 point and gear bonuses. The movement nerf in battle for a Rogue vs. invisibility and all the teleports makes it worthless.

A spell, Tornado, removes lava, at lvl 10 I think. It removes all ground effects.

As for telekinesis, every time you pick something up, and it looks like your character is using lightning to grab something... that is telekinesis.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Also, does anyone want to share their team comp or share best practices?
Here's mine:
Knight (Man at arms/scoundrel)
Wizard (Aero/Hydro)
Rogue (Scoundrel and considering geomancery, but I have one in all nasty deeds, so I may go straight scoundrel.)
Ranger (off spec pyro)

Knight (basically just man at arms, some healing)
Wizard (fire/earth - more damage focused)
Jahan (air/water - more healing/buff)
Madora (man at arms)

Never really liked playing rogue type classes.

I totally love this game but I do feel magic is overpowered somewhat.

 

[Midwayman]

Telekinesis: I know what this means, but what does it do? I tried opening an unreachable chest with a character who has a point in this skill and couldn't open it. I figured that that is what this skill is for. So what do I do with it?

You can use it to throw heavy objects at enemies during combat. Also utility. reach objects you otherwise couldn't. Move things around without picking up and dropping a ton of times. worth a point or two for sure.

 

[cytoSiN]

Knight (basically just man at arms, some healing)
Wizard (fire/earth - more damage focused)
Jahan (air/water - more healing/buff)
Madora (man at arms)

Never really liked playing rogue type classes.

I totally love this game but I do feel magic is overpowered somewhat.

I love that you can customize all of the characters. I have Jahan as water/air/fire offensive powerhouse. With gear that helps with initiative and AP, he's got half the enemies burning, frozen, or stunned before anyone else (besides my wayfarer) takes a turn.

As for magic, I don't know if it's that overpowered compared to melee in terms of damage (using the axe I pictured on the previous page, Madora is doing TONS of damage), but I agree its crucial to controlling the battlefield. So in that sense, I think it's very powerful, but not overpowered since the enemy can use it too. One thing I've found useful is to create a barrier that enemies can't or don't want to cross (for example, using ice wall, firefly, or electrifying a stream), and then use featherfall to send melee characters over the barrier to bash heads without getting debuffed. Can be useful for pulling them out of those situations as well. Mignight oil (earth magic) is also extremely useful against undead to slow and burn anyone, anywhere, especially if there is preexisting fire (candles, for example) on the battlefield.

 

[datalink7]

Haha, I'm an idiot. Level 10 characters and I JUST figured out how to craft. Kept waiting for a crafting table to appear.

 

[cytoSiN]

Haha, I'm an idiot. Level 10 characters and I JUST figured out how to craft. Kept waiting for a crafting table to appear.

There's a really good spot in Cyseal just behind the mortician's place, with a furnace, anvil, and grindstone in close proximity. I've been leaving my pyramid there.

 

[LgFriess]

There's a really good spot in Cyseal just behind the mortician's place, with a furnace, anvil, and grindstone in close proximity. I've been leaving my pyramid there.

Well that's good to know!

 

[JeffNY35]

Cheese tactic but you can spam the oil spell before you trigger combat. When it triggers you already have a burning barrier of fire

 

[sze5003]

Damn I have not had time to get this game yet. I keep hearing you all talk about it but I just hope I can learn to play it properly.

 

[JamesV]

Cheese tactic but you can spam the oil spell before you trigger combat. When it triggers you already have a burning barrier of fire

You can also 'hide' a healer out of combat, that you can click on and repeatedly cast heals on characters in combat.

Just put them behind something, so they are never in the line of sight of the enemies, and you have unlimited healing whenever you want.

I'm hoping these things will be addressed, because it's too tempting to use them sometimes.

 

[Midwayman]

You can also 'hide' a healer out of combat, that you can click on and repeatedly cast heals on characters in combat.

Just put them behind something, so they are never in the line of sight of the enemies, and you have unlimited healing whenever you want.

I'm hoping these things will be addressed, because it's too tempting to use them sometimes.

Well it seems the way they run the game you can have one person exit combat with the flee option, gather everything you need in town- Res scrolls/potions and walk back to the fight and it'll be there waiting.

I've done the reverse. Run a run out of combat and then use the pyramid to summon the rest of the party. I don't think you have to worry about someone being next to you and preventing fleeing then.

 

[Irenicus]

Knight (basically just man at arms, some healing)
Wizard (fire/earth - more damage focused)
Jahan (air/water - more healing/buff)
Madora (man at arms)

Never really liked playing rogue type classes.

I totally love this game but I do feel magic is overpowered somewhat.

Thing is, magic should be op. Too many game devs want to treat magic as if it is no more powerful / useful a tool as swinging a metal stick like a warrior. It's all a lie of course.

We all remember what a basic fireball did to dozens of clustered low level monsters in bg2. They were charred to a crisp and disintegrated. That was the power of a wizard. Fast forward to dragon age 2 and a fireball did almost no damage, I don't even know why they bothered.

This game has the fireball return to form, it is an absolute power of a spell, as it should be. These are arcane powers, the powers of a demi god being wielded, not some guy with a metal twig flailing about.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Thing is, magic should be op. Too many game devs want to treat magic as if it is no more powerful / useful a tool as swinging a metal stick like a warrior. It's all a lie of course.

We all remember what a basic fireball did to dozens of clustered low level monsters in bg2. They were charred to a crisp and disintegrated. That was the power of a wizard. Fast forward to dragon age 2 and a fireball did almost no damage, I don't even know why they bothered.

This game has the fireball return to form, it is an absolute power of a spell, as it should be. These are arcane powers, the powers of a demi god being wielded, not some guy with a metal twig flailing about.

I get where you're coming from and tend to agree in the "real world" mages would clean up, but these types of games do need balance.

Anyway, got this awesome two hander which suites my knight perfectly. Now he's doing some serious damage.

 

[xantub]

There should be a balance between magic and 'might', but not based on raw damage output, but usefulness to the group. Thieves were not 'damage dealers' until MMOs came out, they used to be low damage, but their utility came in their skills (stealth, trap seeking/disarming, social skills, etc). Mages used to be damage dealers, but they were balanced with warriors in that they were weak (specially at low levels), with low defense, low survivability, while warriors could swing a sword and take the brunt of the damage. D&D and other RPGs were about groups and the balance came on how useful was each class to the group, and this usefulness didn't come in 'DPS' (damage per second, a term that started coming up with MMOs).

A class or ability is overpowered when they eliminate the need of another class. If a mage can do with spells what a thief can with their skills, and can do it while also doing more damage then that's OP. If a warrior can control the battlefield with its abilities like a mage, while not needing mana, that's OP. If a thief can be as resilient as a warrior, while doing more damage and having extra skills, then that's OP. That's how I see it.

 

[Midwayman]

Thing is, magic should be op. Too many game devs want to treat magic as if it is no more powerful / useful a tool as swinging a metal stick like a warrior. It's all a lie of course.

We all remember what a basic fireball did to dozens of clustered low level monsters in bg2. They were charred to a crisp and disintegrated. That was the power of a wizard. Fast forward to dragon age 2 and a fireball did almost no damage, I don't even know why they bothered.

This game has the fireball return to form, it is an absolute power of a spell, as it should be. These are arcane powers, the powers of a demi god being wielded, not some guy with a metal twig flailing about.

Well the issue there is magic was huge burst DPS, but you had to have it queued up before a fight and you had no sustainability. If magic failed, it failed hard. There is none of that here. You don't have to pick spells, you can cast spells without any consideration of burning a mana pool, one use a day spells, etc,etc. Its much closer to a MMO model of magic than old school DnD I think.

 

[cytoSiN]

Well the issue there is magic was huge burst DPS, but you had to have it queued up before a fight and you had no sustainability. If magic failed, it failed hard. There is none of that here. You don't have to pick spells, you can cast spells without any consideration of burning a mana pool, one use a day spells, etc,etc. Its much closer to a MMO model of magic than old school DnD I think.

It would be cool if they would implement a once-a-day or once-every-X-hours limit on certain spells, like AD&D, but there's currently no real time management in the game so that wouldn't work. And you could just go rest between battles, so you could get around it for the most part anyway. But many spells have very long cool downs (e.g., cure wounds), so they're basically once-a-battle spells in that sense.

 

[Red Storm]

I like it when magic is OP in games (single player games obviously). There's nothing magical about magic if it's no better than swinging a sword. Obviously PVP games have to be balanced for the sake of fun, but there's no reason why it has to be so in a single player game.

 

[cytoSiN]

I like it when magic is OP in games (single player games obviously). There's nothing magical about magic if it's no better than swinging a sword. Obviously PVP games have to be balanced for the sake of fun, but there's no reason why it has to be so in a single player game.

Agreed. This isn't an MMO where balance is key. But I maintain that melee has its place (and its undeniable strengths) in this game.

 

[Kalmah]

I really like this game, but at the same time I think it's missing something. The feel of the game just seems off. The skills and abilities to me just feel like a button to push. Take Neverwinter Nights (1) for example, your fighters were parrying and blocking and engaging the enemy. You could see and feel the fight. You didn't have a magical fist skill that knocked an enemy down.. you could knock an enemy down with a knockdown skill. In this game, they are standing there, just waiting for you to push a button. Your button is either a dps button, or it makes a magical fist appear from the sky that makes no sense whatsoever because that fist is (magic?)... I want my fighter to be a fighter. The list of skills feel like a taco bell menu.. just a pile of the same thing with different names.

Only wizards and rogues(with the right skill) could read scrolls (or use magic devices that only a wizard could normally use). This takes utility away from the rogue because anybody can read a scroll.

No overland maps, the music doesn't feel adventure-y. I feel like I'm running around a shinny city in an mmo.

I'm still enjoying the game. But after 15 years I still want to load up a game of NWN or Baldur's Gate. I don't expect this game to last the test of time. I don't expect to see thousands upon thousands of mods that NWN had as a following. I already have no intentions of touching the toolset.

Anyways, back to playing. lol

 

[cytoSiN]

I really like this game, but at the same time I think it's missing something. The feel of the game just seems off. The skills and abilities to me just feel like a button to push. Take Neverwinter Nights (1) for example, your fighters were parrying and blocking and engaging the enemy. You could see and feel the fight. You didn't have a magical fist skill that knocked an enemy down.. you could knock an enemy down with a knockdown skill. In this game, they are standing there, just waiting for you to push a button. Your button is either a dps button, or it makes a magical fist appear from the sky that makes no sense whatsoever because that fist is (magic?)... I want my fighter to be a fighter. The list of skills feel like a taco bell menu.. just a pile of the same thing with different names.

Only wizards and rogues(with the right skill) could read scrolls (or use magic devices that only a wizard could normally use). This takes utility away from the rogue because anybody can read a scroll.

No overland maps, the music doesn't feel adventure-y. I feel like I'm running around a shinny city in an mmo.

I'm still enjoying the game. But after 15 years I still want to load up a game of NWN or Baldur's Gate. I don't expect this game to last the test of time. I don't expect to see thousands upon thousands of mods that NWN had as a following. I already have no intentions of touching the toolset.

Anyways, back to playing. lol

Indeed. And when the community adds hundreds of hours of adventure, and new spells and skills, all of your concerns will be addressed

 

[fstime]

Does anyone know if you can respec later in the game. Currently level 9 and was wondering if I should start over.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Does anyone know if you can respec later in the game. Currently level 9 and was wondering if I should start over.

I haven't gotten there yet, but there is a chance to respec in the game, people say you get it halfway into the second act.

 

[fstime]

I haven't gotten there yet, but there is a chance to respec in the game, people say you get it halfway into the second act.

Ok, thanks.

I am kind of liking my setup the more I play it. I am playing a knight tank with leech and self immolation, glass cannon wizard, wayfarer, and fighter.

Only problem is I should not have picked the wayfarer. I do not like these hybrid classes, the straight up ranger would have been better. Trying to invest into 4 stats (speed, perception, intelligence, and dexterity) seems like you get spread way to thin.