Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Suggestions Sigh... I hate to say this, but...

... I think I hated most of the Cool New Features that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> added on top of Divine <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" />.

For instance:

Summoning Dolls - When I received the first doll, I was fairly excited to have discovered a "new party member". Upon discovering that the poor skeletal sod was next-to-useless, had absolutely no personality, and couldn't move more than a few steps without poofing back into whatever poor hell he came from... well... I was a bit miffed. I splurged a couple points of my death knight's skills into "Add Summon Radius" (or whatever it's called) and still wasn't really impressed. Never used any dolls whatsoever after that except for the rather undignified purpose of being pack mules.
(The only dynamic I did sort of like was the rather peculiar course of events regarding the Act 3 doll, but even then it could've been a lot better. She needed lines, for instance, even if it was just something like "Ack, I am a doll, etc". I guess that with a very multi-national game like these are, more text equals more translation cost and is therefore bad, but... I guess I've never given up longing for another game with Planescape: Torment-style dialogue...)
Plus, the stupid skills are unforgettable, so I'm stuck with them. Poor death knight; now he's stuck with both stupid skills and bad acting. What more does he need?

Battlefields of endless... everything - Battlefields, while an interesting idea and a fun thing to hunt for the keys to, quickly became really, really repetitive and boring for me. Sure, it's kinda fun sometimes to deal with all the random crap you can stomach, and when you go into it at least being aware of what's in store for you, it's fine, but... (At least they didn't somehow try to tack the random stuff onto the "real" storyline, etc.) Also, I'd really rather have had the "good stuff" merchants be the ones in the real acts and have the BF merchants inherit the mediocre-at-best stuff I seemed to find in shops in the main game.

Shadow, Ethereal, Bone, Spiritual, blah, BBQ, blah, etc - Okay. One resist for each element, plus one for poison... got it. A generic "magic-like" resist... okay. A specific resistance for shadow and bone? Umm... A specific weapon skill for shadow and bone?! What the... What is the difference between spiritual and ethereal, anyway? And why bother differentiating them?
All non-funny attempts at humour aside, all the extra resists and weapon types (and especially the fact that I needed a separate skill to use them) just bugged me. I'm thinking that simple is probably better in regards to this matter.
What's next? A weapon skill and resistance specifically for weapons made out of pressed ham? Special resistance to paper cuts and lethal newspaper projectiles? Charms of +5 Resist Bread Products? Avoid the carbs! /shrug

Supar Combined Everything Window~! - Just kind of annoyed me, especially since it obscures a pretty good chunk of screen, even at high res.

Lockpick is still broken - Okay, so this is probably just a bug and not a design decision, but since I'm ranting about things, I thought I'd throw it in.

Super-Classless Skill System - Alright, another very personal gripe, but I seem to prefer class-based systems, or at least something that pretends to be one. It just somehow seems more fun to me to try and make the best character out of a given tree of skills (or whatever set of constraints you prefer) as opposed to being free to develop the combined tank-mage-thief of my dreams. In addition, some of the skills struck me as supremely useless, and that did really irritate me; why do we need separate skills for every damn type of arrow and trap? Ah well...

Things I did appreciate:

The ability to dictate more aspects of your hero's appearance: I was able to, for instance, make a fit and muscular paladin-type hero for my first game, a skinny mage the second (though the thin model is a tad too thin, I think), and then for fun, play as an overweight anti-hero who started out as the cook for the paladin camp and survived by sheer survivor's luck. (Oh, and she used a sharpened frying pan as her weapon of choice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> )

The multi-character thing in general - Though poor Death Knight is saddled with some slightly substandard voice acting and a few goofy lines, I appreciated the chance to run around with two characters, though I'd still have liked the chance to vary his appearance (and maybe even gender/other characteristics). It always seems to make a game more interesting to have another perspective on things than your main character's. I'm not suggesting that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> become another Final Fantasy with more character interaction than actual game, but eh well.

well, i'm only in act ii, albeit the end of it, but...

[quote]

Summoning Dolls
uck. same here - loved the idea at first. i usually play a summoner if it's a character option in a game. now i got 6 freaking points on *my* character that i can't sell invested in worthless summondoll points AND IT ONLY WORKS FOR ONE OF THEM. can't complain strongly enough about this. the lack of skill selling should have been pointed out strongly in the manual. not to mention i've gathered from these boards that i'm really going to get hosed by it later.


Battlefields of endless... everything - Battlefields, while an interesting idea and a fun thing to hunt for the keys to, quickly became really, really repetitive and boring for me.

agreed on all points

Shadow, Ethereal, Bone, Spiritual, blah, BBQ, blah, etc - Okay.

agreed.


Super-Classless Skill System

while i agree the skill system could use some work, i actually like the classless system, so have to disagree here.


The multi-character thing in general - Though poor Death Knight is saddled with some slightly substandard voice acting

"slightly"? i think you meant "seriously" there. i did like the additional character interaction though.

I, too, don't use dolls much. They make good mules - and when you leave them at the entrance to a dungeon, they'll save you some time walking back. And they are good for setting off traps so my chars can walk through safely. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I have one char that I continued playing with in the BF after the game. And there the doll is a bit more handy. I transferred all my DK's skillpoints to it, so I wouldn't completely lose his supporting skills (alchemy, lockpick, etc.). And also added a lot to the radius, so the Ranaar-skelly rarely winked out of existence.


I really liked the class-less system. At first I wasn't completely sure - as I thought "too many options" but then I found it fun to create the char of my dreams, the melee-fighting mage. What annoyed me, however, is the high amount of mana the spells cost.


Concerning the different weapons, it does make sense to have different skills for slashing, piercing, etc. If you ever should try fighting with such weapons, you'll soon notice that a dagger needs very different handling from a club. The Shadow and Bone part was annoying, though. I wanted to use swords, thus learned slashing - and then at one time in the game I found a cool weapon - and realized it was shadow... So I unlearned the slashing and took shadow instead. (But as I didn't want to unlearn skills every time I changed weapons, I was then set for all times to use shadow-weapons...)


As for the resists, well, I agree that there is a bit much. The difference between Spiritual and Ethereal is clear to me, though: ethereal is the damage dealt by ghosts, spiritual by int-based weapons (and thus raising your own Int will help with the resists). Well, resistance against bone is a bit weird - but the one that confuses me is Shadow. What type of dam is that?!
I still managed to have nearly all of them nearly maxed by the end of the game - with my lowest around 56.

Hm, it's quite handy if you meet clerics and their stunning Shaman Hammer => does bone damage, same goes for skellies and their bone arrows/bone clubs etc.

Ethereal => insect swarm comes to my mind, and that damn trapped chest.

About shadow => have a blackout atm, will investigate. I can only think of shadow arrows (28-58) and of course, the shadow weapons, but a spell? Hmmm <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ouch.gif" alt="" />

I think your argument is a very good one, you nailed pretty much everything wrong with the game. However, something that I wanted to throw in is the statistic upgrades. It's fine that they put more than four statistic classes (Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Constitution) but I think they should have included at least one extra point to spend with each level. The game also confused the hell out of me when I first started playing it because of all the new features like the new skill system where you have to choose from crushing or slashing, one handed or two handed, instead of swords, daggers, maces etc., no matter how many hands it takes to use them or whether you have a shield or not.


P.S. The whole resistance to bread and all of that, that's funny shi- I mean stuff. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" />




<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" />

I found the different weapon classes (slashing, piercing and bludgeoning) utterly pointless. The weapons in each category are identical. In Divine Divinity they had their place; swords being fast, axes powerful, hammers fatal, etc. I have seen no difference between any of the statistics for weapons in the three categories in Beyond Divinity, nor in their skills. So all you get from training in a particular path is proficiency with one third of the random weapons in the game.

-using and then buying the skill points back with gold is a big reply value killer!...if i want to master one specific skill i have to risk it! thats the fun..and later after finishing the game i can try the game with other skills..but with this option you can try every skill and experience it...
-being able to change your pc s class during game is another reply value killer...if i choose warrior i must go with it..but after 10 levels i can change to wizard?? this is absolutely odd! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> yep thats Divinity style..of course the game has its own qualitys and some unique properties..but if i can try both warrior and wizard trough the game and be able to try every skill, what is left for playing the game further? it has no multiplayer too.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

Yep, I pretty much agree with what you've said. I'm only in Act II, but I'm finding all of these "add-ons" to be fairly useless, and in some cases, annoying.

The BF idea is great, but having 6 BF dungeons in act II seems like a bit much. The 3 in Act I were sufficient. Having 3 per act would be enough, I would think.

The only use I've found for the summoning dolls so far is to set off traps. With the teleporter stones, I find I don't really use them as mules.

I'm still enjoying the game, but sometimes "less is more" as in DD.

*Sigh* & Double *Sigh*......Summoning Dolls-have 2 now ...Skeleton & Demon,
and they take 5 steps and "Poof" they are gone. I'm not about to put any of the
very few Skill points I get into these Dolls--especially now that I have learned,thank goodness,before it was too late that these are not recoverable.
I kept hearing about how good Summoning Dolls were for setting off Traps that would kill you....seemed like a good thing to me. About the "only" trap they are good for setting off is one that you are nearly on top of (meaning YOU have already been killed by it so you know precisely where it is) then get within One Step of it and Summon...pretty Lame if you ask me. Well,Nobody asked me but there it is anyway.

Battlefields? Holy Mackerel--I Do agree that 3 Dungeons are Enough. And theres a Big reason why I say that. In Act 1 All my Quests were in the Last Dungeon--of Course--I'm LUCKY! Now,in Act 2 I have Six---Whoopee! I've already gone through 4--very time Consuming--and not a single Quest finished. I bet,with My "Luck" All the Quests will be in the Last Dungeon #6...just like in Act 1---

Another thing...Pyramid Stones,got the 2 in Act 2 fairly soon. Never used them.
About half hour ago I decided to try them. Could only find One in my Inventory.
Dumped everything I had on the Ground--Had the DK do Likewise--Still only One Stone. I have no friggin idea where it could have disappeared to. Thinking it May have been possible that I dropped it somewhere accidently (Zero Chance of that I believed but cover all the bases just to make certain) so I click on the Stone and get Msg " It seems as If you cannot find the other stone" or something to that effect. heh--as I said..I'm just "Lucky" i guess!

Hey, actually, it's entirely possible that some of the BF quests will never be finished simply because the quest monsters/items refuse to spawn. So good luck, because you'll need it.

www.kiya1.de/beyond/fixsaves/pyramidsAct2.rar

www.kiya1.de/beyond/fixsaves/pyramidsAct2.zip

@Sigarr, about your missing pyramids =>

Procedure =>
1. Download and unpack these 6 inv files called "pyramidsAct2.rar". Unpack them, if you have Winrar. If you have Winzip, use the xxx.zip download.
2. Start your last save and chuck out the one pyramid into a chest/barrel/container, ok?
3. Save this save 2x under "bettersafe" and "nopyramids"
4. Go into programs/Beyond Divinity/savegames/nopyramids
5. copy my inv files (pyramidsAct2) into your save "nopyramids". Save and exit.
6. Start your game with the save "nopyramids". Search for both stones and place them on the ground in front of your char. Save under "havepyramids"
7. Go into programs/Beyond Divinity/savegames/bettersafe and copy/paste these 6 inv files into the save "havepyramids". They will replace your inventory content. Save and exit.
8. Start your game under "havepyramids" => the pyramids are now in front of your char and you have your old inventory back.

Just a guess about your missing pyramid => did you leave one behind in the BF?

Nope,I never used a Pyramid Stone while in the BF. But your Solution has worked out Ok. Thank You very much kiya.