Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Let's get a speculation thread going on here. Ass

Let's get a speculation thread going on here.

Assuming Larian is being smart about this game, the title, "Original Sin," has some meaning with regard to the setting and characters and narrative of the game. But what might that meaning be?

"Original Sin" is a very loaded term. In the Abrahamic mytholigies, the term "original sin" refers to the temerity of Eve when she, after being influnced by the Serpent, consumed the fruit of the tree of knowledge (of good and evil). Attaining this knowledge went against the will of God, and resulted in the banishment of mankind from the garden of Eden.

This is an interesting starting point, because (in the Abrahamic context) the original sin wasn't something inherently immoral or unethical--Eve's "sin" was losing her innocence, or rather, her ignorance. The "sin" was the sin of learning. And through that process of learning, the "home" was lost. (It can very much be read as an allegory for transitioning from childhood to adulthood). So there's a great deal of potential weight with regard to the world of Rivellon (the setting for the Divinity games, in case you've forgotten).

[Of course, to me, the term "original sin" makes me think of the "first evil," which--again, in Abrahamic mythology--was the first murder (Isaac and Ishmael)].

What do you think "Original Sin" might mean in the context of Divinity's lore?

In very general terms, I think that the "knowledge of source magic" may very well be the analog to "knowledge of good and evil." But it's not a sin unless it's forbidden by God... and in Divinity, there are no Gods... they disappeared/died in their war against chaos. And it's also not a proper analog unless there's a "lost Eden" in Rivellon.

So... what if the knowledge of source magic is the "sin" that leads to Rivellon being banished from the "grace" of the Gods--in other words, what if the players' actions in bringing source magic back into the world directly contribute to the gods of order dying/leaving, and thus necessitating the concept of making mortals into gods--i.e. The Divine Ones?

What do you think the "Original Sin" might entail?

Interesting thread idea, although maybe a bit too soon. I'm not interested in speculating on this myself. From what I've heard - you can kill everyone and still finish the main quest - there isn't going to be a very deep main story.

The guy who did the Stategy Informer preview spent the entire first paragraph complaining that letting the main characters be man/man or woman/woman was terrible pandering to political correctness because the story hinged on a key piece of biblical lore.

He said that without actually knowing anything at all about the main story of Divinity: Original Sin except the title.

From the Kickstarter page:

4 AR - Original Sin

Sadly I must confess that once more my knowledge about these long forgotten times is diminutive at best. Very little is known about the strange and spectacular events that befell two so-called Source Hunters. Nevertheless, if one can put faith in the fragmented stories told by old wizards, they both prevented and set in motion events that changed the destiny of fair Rivellon herself.

I'd sell my soul to know more, but those damned mages are so damnably reticent! Zandalor knows all, of that I am sure, but not even two carafes of spiced elven wine stir his tongue to speak of what happened back then. Something must have! Shortly after, we even changed the way we count time! AR to AD ... Was it truly just to honour the gods?
The history of this world; I swear more of it is secret than is known.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bS3xK8jqjaw#!

But thats not much. we will have to wait.But i think the Lord of Chaos may be part of this game.

Because 'Original Sin' sounds more sexy then 'Original Screwup' ? ;p

The backstory of Divine Divinity started in The Age of the Damned, with a group of wizards in Stormfist Castle being driven out due to the nature of their research, and the experiments they had started performing, with their leader killed by Duke Hark Ferol. The outcast wizards made a pack with demons in order to survive and, just as importantly, get revenge. Thirty years later they made their first attempt, with an army of demons and wizards. The Lord of Chaos was able to return to Rivellon in spectre form, though largely powerless. After four months the loosing allies in Rivertown were eventually forced to retreat to Stormfist castle, and would have been defeated if not for the timely arrival of an army of dwarves. A short time later (20 years?) the Demon of Lies was able to enter Rivellon in physical form, with a much larger army, and required the sacrifice of the Council of Seven in order to defeat (DD's 'The Prophecy' pdf). Divine Divinity was the start of the third attempt of the Lord of Chaos to return to that realm.

The Original Sin may be whatever those wizards were doing. They became the damned after making the pack with demons, and eventually developed into the Black Ring.

Perhaps it is much to early in the history of Rivellon before the events of Divine Divinity but id wager money that the original family of the Duke of Ferol will be present. And if so id be tempted to destroy them, if the wizards are not condemned then the events of the Chaos wars will not even happen, and lets not forget that brat "Janus" will not be born!

I like this thread.

Then make a contribution to it lazy bugger :P

Never!

Btw. Causing a fight with the Duke's family (granted that it'll be in the game) wouldn't solve much now, would it? That 'brat' janus was simply possesed...He's a good kiddo. Kinda like Joffrey from Game of Thrones...Perfectly sane.

The sacrifice of an elder dragon?

Perfectly sane he says, he killed his father before he was possessed. If I could go back to Divinity and actually kill him outright I would, and the same goes for that jerk Joffrey, Ed Stark was my favorite character before he went up and had him killed.
See all child monarchs are tyrants.

He became possessed after taking a toy dragon into the castle treasure room to play, and finding the Sword of Lies. I'm pretty sure that happened before he had his father assassinated. He undoubtedly was a spoiled, self indulgent brat to start with, but probably not a power hungry sociopath who had the intelligence to execute a plan to become the duke, and then go play with a child's toy.

I'm all for side quests and being able to go anywhere etc. But if that's the case I'm going to be severely disappointed. Even though I've been enjoying Divine Divinity (I'm playing it for the first time now and it's how I found out about DOS) I'm finding it's shortcoming is that the main storyline is almost a footnote in the huge vast world they've created. I was really hoping for the main storyline in DOS to be something worth remembering.

It's so hard to find exactly what I want in an RPG. Can't I have my sweeping 70 hour epic main storyline like those found in some old school JRPG's yet have the freedom and side quests found in western RPG's? Evidently no I cannot. When I want open ended side quests I have to go with western RPG's and when I want sweeping main storyline epics I have to go with JRPG's.

/sigh

Yes, yes, I know there are some exceptions, I can name a few on one hand as well but for the most part they tend to follow the rule.

Just because you can kill everyone and still finish the game doesn't mean there is no story.

This. Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide had a good story, and you were able to kill almost everyone.

That said, it's a feature that could hinder potential good plots.

By the way, this thread's premise ^_^ Personally, I don't think it's going to be a deep connection with the myth, but maybe just a little hint to something a bit more fantasy oriented -maybe the primordial corruption that lead to the enforcement of chaos.

Allow me to contradict you there!

Yes, you can become a homicidal maniac, kill everyone, save the world nonetheless and being the only one left to attend the after party, but that doesn't mean there isn't a deep main story at all! I assure you there is, but it's up to you to participate in it.

If you talk to everyone; read everything; explore every corner, a rich and deep story will unfold. If you're more nonchalant in your approach, you may miss some of the details. If you cut the throat of every character you meet, well, information may be sketchy indeed.

It just depends on how you play the game. That's the total freedom you'll have.

You hear it from the source people now be happy.
And the story behind the other Divinity games was prety good so im not worried at all. I cant wait to put on the garb of the mighty battle mage and ride of into battle.

I'm glad to be corrected.

I knew you would be!

Now posting in a legendary thread.