Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Escape mechanic

I've been wondering about the escape mechanic in the game, and thought of of a way to implement it! Just a suggestion.

How about you set it so if nobody in the party gets hurt for 3 turns straight, you'll be able to "quit" the battle, revert to real-time, and run off while the enemies stay frozen in place for a few seconds and let you get away? Naturally, if you enter the area of engagement you'll trigger the battle mode again.

Yeah I don't like that you can just run from every battle and teleport to a tavern nearby. I'd like some additional info on this later down the road.

They've said that the current teleport is just stub. They've talked about "escape points" on the map that you have to run to to reach. I don't know what they mean by that, whether it's a handful of escape points or just a certain distance away from a fight.

I certainly hope the system is designed so that I won't UNINTENTIONALLY end up training a graveyard full of skeletons into town.

That sounds like you are TOTALLY going to try it.

Doesn't sound like a huge issue to me. You could teleport mid-battle in the Diablo games and--more importantly--Divinity 1.

Might be so Lupin, but I believe it really takes tension out of the combat. I don't like it.

I'd be happy with the escape mechanic simply being able to teleport to the other party member with the pyramid. If you're both in the same battle, then no escape for you.

I also hope some of the companions or henchmen have a pretty strong view on escaping and that the penalty for escaping is something pretty tangible like loss of reputation, getting evil glances from certain people, being able to intimidate less succesfully (since you're a wimp) or something. I played an RPG Maker game in which you could pay monsters so you don't have to fight. As a game mechanic, well okay, but it really doesn't make any sense to bribe jellies to let you pass peacefully.

I don't really see why the 'flee' mechanic should have a heavy penalty attached to it. That's what would happen in real life, after all - most people would retreat from a fight that was going badly for them, rather than grimly hanging on to their last breath. Having any surviving enemies regenerate after you escape ought to be enough (along with the 'attack of opportunity' mechanic that prevents you from fleeing in certain circumstances).

I guess there's no real reason. Why do you think there shouldn't be a penalty? I just think it would be one way to make combat actually part of the rest of the game, instead of being a separate mini-game like it is in many games.

In many turn-based games, for example, you go into a tactical battle with the units you have amassed at the strategic level. The units you lose in the battle are lost forever in the strategic level, making the battle more a part of the game.

In many RPGs you just give your dead guys a Phoenix Down or get auto-resurrected after a battle. In some games someone might pay you 2000g to get rid of some ghouls somewhere, but after you've done this you can go back there again and see the same ghouls patrolling the area as usual. So you actually, really didn't affect anything.

They already have permanent henchman death, if I remember correctly. That's one way to make combat meaningful. As a henchman I would seriously start doubting your leadership and tactical abilities if we were just running from 90 percent of the battles we got into. I would *certainly* warn all my henchman-friends about your disregarding behaviour. Like you were treating your companions as disposable units in a game!

There shouldn't be any penalty at all for fleeing (save the surviving enemies being restored to full health and mana) because it seems like you can often get into fights without seeing them coming, and apparently you can't even know the LEVEL of the enemy unless your INT is high enough. One level makes a big difference, and you can wander everywhere with nothing to stop you from entering an area too high a level for you.

Your logic makes no sense. Why would henchmen complain about you running away from a fight instead of sending them in to get killed.

I agree that having combat seem like a 'mini-game' is a problem in turn-based games, but I don't really see how a flee penalty would help. If anything it just emphasises the fact that combat is separate from the rest of the game (since, presumably, you wouldn't get a penalty if you run away from enemies before they manage to spot you).

As for henchmen doubting your abilities: if you're running away from 90% of battles, then yeah, I agree. But fleeing one or two here and there shouldn't be a problem (in fact, you'd hope your henchmen would appreciate the fact that you're not forcing them to fight to the death in the face of overwhelming odds). If they're going to complain about anything, you'd think it would be something like lack of pay, or getting too badly beaten up in combat.

I'd say it's nice for a change to have a CRPG where you actually can attempt fleeing, but for those that want to play more hardcore, perhaps there will be a difficulty mode where it's turned off. At least, it would be easy to make it a toggle in the game options.

"Is that a livid tree spirit?"
"Run, Forrest, run!"

Then my preferred solution is to have the ability to tell when you're entering an area that's too difficult. Like an NPC tell you that these-and-these monsters have been sighted there-and-there, and these guys really gave Gunnar a run for his money. You can then go to Gunnar and see that well, he's level 16 so maybe this area is too much for me right now. Or you can hire a henchman who knows the lands around and can warn you that we're now entering an area we might not be able to handle.


They're not complaining about that, of course. They're complaining about your inability to avoid the situation in the first place. You really wouldn't have a problem with a friend who almost gets you run over by a car every day?

My preferred solution is that Larian changes it so at least you can see enemy level for free when you mouse over them, so you know if you should probably run. Simpler than having to add in a bunch of NPC's everywhere.

Maybe not the exact level but some kind of threat indicator, like enemies' names in yellow or red for high level monsters, so there is still a reason for the player to spend points in INT for a non-mage character without forcing him to do it

As long as you can see the opponent's level if they are near or below your own level, you can tell if they may be too though for you.

I agree, adding a penalty for fleeing when it's the only logical course of action seems unnecessary.

I just thought up another different possible way to cue the player into the difficulty of a fight: If the music is different for different difficulties of fights, so one theme for an easy battle, another theme for a normal battle, and a couple more music themes that tell you "uh-oh, this battle is going to be tough", although it'll probably take a couple beatings to learn the connection. Plus, it won't work with boss fights or other instances that use unique battle music.

Okay, maybe music on its own won't be a solve-all for knowing when to escape, but in some instances it could work as an instantly identifiable cue to run even without looking at the enemy stats.

Slightly related I wonder if the escape mechanic will be disabled for certain story fights that shouldn't be possible to escape from (or you can't run from), such as the final boss.

Back again.

I think that fleeing should be in general possible without pusnishment.
But some wya to make it more interesting might be that there is a chance for for failure to flee which could be influenced by the chosen game difficult setting but also by a skill, let's just call it 'feet of the hare' or whatever which can turn you into an expert for disappearing in a dustcloud.

I also like the idea that overused/extended use of escaping caninfluence to some degree your reputation and modify other skills like intimidating, influencing your prices for hirelings, haggling, etc.
In return, someone keep tackling tougher enemies should benefit of beneficial effects, e.g. lower prices from hirelings which feel more safe with someone which sticks with them and not hides just behind them, weak enemies maybe fleeing from the badass, etc.

A color coding of the enemy should be good enough to give a general idea but not blowing all the tension by displaying every single value. Too many games ruined the fun for me when you know your enemies too well, there should be a bit uncertaincy left as that gamble of deciding to attack or not is half the fun.

As fleeing or not is not essential for the game plot itself it should/could be also optional as simple slider or on/off function and/or a simple lower, normal and increased fleeing chance to customize the thrill after personal flavor.
Another way to handle it is instead of changing the chance to flee from a fight is to give an option for consequences of defeat which could be e.g. different strong gear damage, reputation, etc.
The real hardcore masochists like me could also pick maybe both options ;9

Escaping should not carry a permanent penalty. At no point the player should be encouraged to reload rather than run away; I'd even say that (invisible) experience should tick per HP subtracted from the target to make running away and preparing for the repeat encounter more appealing on an emotional level.

(Exhausting a certain quantity of a finite resource is a permanent penalty. I wasn't keeping track of development so far but I sure hope enemies are infinite. Breeding mobs in D1 was fun but not particularly immersive.)