Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) General What a great game (and am I late to the party!)!

Hello all. New to the forums and this game. I actually bought it years ago (2004?) and kind of forgot about it - never played it. Stumbled across it the other day cleaning out some boxes and decided to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised! The hack n' slash fun of Diablo II with the character development, depth and humor of and Elder Scrolls game (pretty close). Even with just 2D graphics (which are very well done) I'm enjoying it a lot and finding it very addictive. Since it's been out so long I'm finding a lot of good tips and "caveats" here in the forums and my warrior seems to be doing well (level 12 after about 10 hours of play). Only really question I have (and it maybe should be posted in Hints) is should I pursue the Lockpicking skill? Will it gimp my game not to have it as time goes by? Anyway, kudos to Larian for this hidden gem of a game that I discovered very late!

[color:"orange"]should I pursue the Lockpicking skill?[/color]

Yes, but you do not need to if you are trying for a specific role playing character type. Aside from loot in locked chests, there are a couple optional quests that required Lockpick (though one can use Telekinesis). There is one quest item that requires level 5 Lockpick to get (for the easter egg area), though you might be able to use the teleporter stones for that (don't recall if the locked door is solid or made of bars).

Once you get to Verdistis you can get a couple free levels of Lockpick (<span class='standouttext'>Spoiler : </span><span class='spoiler'>one by joining the thieves' guild, the other by loosing a bet</span>), and eliminate the need for carrying around a stack of lockpicks.

Warriors tend to have lots of spare skill points, especially if you rely on purchased or found spell books for wizard skills.


Did you install the patch before starting the game?
Some re-release versions of the game may already be updated to the latest 1.0034A version, as shown in the bottom right corner of the main menu, so would not need to be patched. The DVD version is already updated, and the patch (designed for the CD version) should not be installed.


Early Starter Tips (NON-Spoiler Version)

Free skills, and spell books you can buy

If you quick save before running your mouse over an item/chest/merchant or hitting the alt key, you can identify the item or trade with the merchant, then quick load to get different stats or inventory. This can be done repeatedly to get the best stats or specific bonuses on an item (save after finding good candidates) or looking for specific items (such as spell books or charms) from merchants. Don't waste too much time with this, though, it really isn't necessary to get the best possible equipment.



Welcome to the forum. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Welcome to the forum.

You can also find (or buy) some items like rings or amulets with skills : lockpick, telekinesis, pickpocket, repair.

Thanks for the tips Raze. Yeah, the very first thing I did after installing was to download the latest patch from Larian's site. It game is running just fine on my 8800 GTX machine (talk about overkill). <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> I may go ahead and take a couple levels of lock-picking at this point. The only glaring mistake I've made was to put two points in mace mastery in addition to two in sword (which makes no sense - I know from other games never to spread weapon skill points around). I don't think that will handicap him much though. I also read somewhere that Wisdom is a good point or two to invest in from the Survivor skills, so I'll try to do that soon as well.

Thanks again and I can't wait to get back to the game! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

There is no harm in putting skill points into other weapon expertise, but as far as number and strength of weapons goes, the game is pretty biased towards swords.

Wisdom - is it worth the skill points?

Thanks for putting my mind at ease about the couple points in the other weapons skill. Oh, and thanks for the welcome Barta. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I have a belt with +1 to Wisdom. I think I'll just leave it at that and concentrate on offensive skills with the points I would have put in it. I didn't examine the thread on Wisdom very closely, but it just seems like it's not worth the investment.

Had a very fun (and profitable) night exploring the sewers under the market. Discovered that two points in Enchant is very much worth it along the way! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> One more question: I game upon several stairs. One got me killed immediately (ran into the Executioner), so that was a reload and move on. The other was a creepy place (building) with no one around - just the sound of a crackling fire in the distance and lots of spider webs. I was attacked by some sort of magic that damaged my health and I wasn't able to use my Restoration spell in that place for some reason. I back out there and did not reload. Was I in a "quest breaking" area? I don't have an invite to the castle yet. I want to keep exploring the sewers, but I don't want to mess up any quests in the process. Do I need to be careful while I "buff up" my char in the area?

You can return to the executioner whenever you are stronger.
In the other location, you would have found the door in the next room locked had you kept going, not to be opened until you get a quest later (after going to the castle) specifically sending you to the sewers to enter that building (clearing the sewers before then will make it a little easier later). There are several traps in that area, though they shouldn't do too much damage. You can use Aura of Guarding and Spell Shield before entering, if you wish, after which you will have to rely on potions (there are several in there for the taking). Just stick a flag on your map, so you can easily find it later, and keep exploring.

There is an exit in the Rivertown sewers which goes to the Verdistis sewers. If you take it, make sure you have a spiritual resistance of at least 10 or 12, or save before opening chests. There are a couple trapped chests in the Verdistis sewers which can permanently turn you into a frog or rabbit (if you can not resist them), requiring a reload (during the game development, polymorph was made permanent, and all such traps were suppose to have been removed, but two were missed).

I found the North Sewer Tunnel last night. My character hit 20 today (he's really coming along for two play days old!) and now has gear that gives him 15 spiritual resistance, along with a +1 Spellshield drop. Should be o.k. to explore north. Thanks again for the tips - it's helping a great deal. Have three points each in Alchemy and Lockpicking so things are moving along a bit better. I still haven't hit a lot of quests yet. I'm enjoying exploring at this point.

Again, this is such a great little game. Can't believe it took me five years after it's release to "discover" it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> Better late than never! I haven't had this much fun with a game since I first started playing Oblivion over a year ago. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I don't consider it odd that you're only just now playing <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" />. I know I personally finished this game for the first time earlier this year, and I've had it since its first release as well. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kitty.gif" alt="" />

Ha! Glad to see I'm not the only one! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />