I'm half way through my second play through and I have to say whereas i thought this game was merely very good first time,this time i am starting to think that maybe it's a triumph, one of the great RPGs.
I was consequently horrified (slight exaggeration perhaps) by some of the comments made on the recent Twitch program featuring Jesse Cox. There are reasons why this game is so good, and some of the ideas kicked about on that program threaten the very heart of it IMO.
TL;DR version is that people have been drawn to this game in droves because it's brilliant, because it's hard, because however much they might winge about how hard it is or not knowing what to do next or the RNG gods they can't help themselves in wanting to play it and finally beat it, because it's the real deal. Dumb your next game down at your peril. Just improve what you already have here.
Specific issues:
Open world Vs Narrative development
Most RPG fans want an open world game that has a deep and compelling story line but the reality is the deeper and more compelling the story the less open world it can be. DOS has the balance about right - it is technically open world but in practice you can't get too far off the beaten track that elements of the story timelines get mixed up to breaking point.
Jesse Cox wants to go round doing any crazy stuff he wants anywhere he wants - no Jesse, not if it means canning and boxing the narrative into mundane sludge and routine quest fodder, or making monsters scale with you wherever you are so you never feel like death awaits round the next corner, or you can so go wherever you want to go that it no longer matters where you go anymore.
Tell me where to go and what to do!!
No. Part of the magic of this game is the mystery, the decisions, the consequences of taking the wrong decisions, the dangerous exploration, the uncertainty Take that away you might as well play Skyrim.
Do people whinge about this? Yes. Does it stop them playing? No. Are there clear clues (dialog, environmental, log, monster levels etc)in the game that signpost where you should be looking next? Yes. Are people used to looking for signposts like this in RPG these days? No. What do they feel like when they can't figure it out? Frustrated. What about if they do finally figure it out? Elated, supreme gamer. Will they get better at it with practice? Yes.
The bottom line on this is that if you really get stuck or just don't have the time to spend figuring out the puzzles (and many people don't)the answer is only a Google or Steam post away and there is no shame in doing so occasionally. There is no need to break the magic, and deep down most players really do want to solve puzzles and mysteries themselves if they can, it feels great to do it, and so many people have had some practice with DOS and WL2 now that really they'll be ready for a step up next time, not down.
The one thing I would do is this. The main Source Hunter's Journey quest log gets updated to tell you what you just did or what just happened, but nothing about what you might do next. It is entirely reasonable that the Source Hunters would discuss the current situation in the light of the latest developments in the light of what they now know, therefore adding additional notes to these entries along the lines of "I wonder why....", "Perhaps we should be looking for..... or even "There doesn't seem to be much more we can do here" would be very helpful without interfering with the mystery or canning the solutions because otherwise you forget the conclusions you drew or the dialogs between the Source Hunters you heard at the time.
Consoles and joysticks
I have no principled objection to Divinity games going out on consoles. XCOM, DAO, Skyrim etc all do and with a few simple mods especially they all work fine on PC as well.
However I watched the Larian team nodding sagely as Jesse Cox expounded how the console army would want to sit on the couch for a hour or so killing stuff and having a few giggles then move onto something else. I'm not sure what that sage nodding signified, but I can tell you my response to that would be unbroadcastable.
If the idea is to enable console owners to experience the real deal Divinity experience, I'm all for it so long as it doesn't alter that experience for the worse on my beloved PC, but if the idea is to cater for the player demographic Jesse was talking about I will be inconsolable.
IMO the biggest danger for a studio like Larian with this is exemplified by the X:Rebirth disaster. As I understand it Egosoft flirted with consoles for the X3 sequel and as a result simultaneously ripped the heart of the fabulous X3 series thus completely alienating existing fans and replacing it with a half-baked attempt at a run-of-the-mill action space game that they hoped would be more "accessible" but was treated with derision. X3 was not massively successful but it consistently gained new players and grew a significant reputation. That's why X:Rebirth had so much hype and sold so many day zero copies. Egosoft are heroically trying to fix their mistake now by retro-fitting what made X3 great back into the X:rebirth engine, but the damage to their reputation and the X franchise has been done.
Please, Larian, do not try to do that with Divinity. I hope it's not too impertinent to speculate that Bethesda, EA and Firaxis have got the resources to realise a top game on consoles as well as PC but you haven't without massive risk, even after original Sin's success. You could try to port Original Sin or make a lower budget spin off to see how it worked, but please don't bet the mortgage on releasing Original Sin's successor proper on consoles straight off and rip the heart out of it.
Uncontroversial improvements some mentioned in the program
These are definite To Do list candidates IMO
- Inventory junk tab, send to junk, sell all junk.
- Record each new successful craft recipe in log.
- Display current inventory stock of ingredients for recipes in log
- Inventory Quest Item tab working like keys
Loot
My biggest beef with loot is the bizarre mixture of buffs quality items have. Armour with Strength +1, Intelligence +1, Dexterity +1 and Barter +1? No thanks, just give me Strength +2 or at the very least Strength +1, Willpower +1.
Last might I got an item that had Balcksmithing +1, Telekinesis +1. But I have two different characters that specialise in these skills, so who do I give it to, or do I keep switching it around when needed? It's just a continuous headache. What I want is a Blacksmithing +2 or a Telekinesis +2, but of course I reaslise that would be over-powered since there are only five ranks total.
It makes collecting the right equipment for each character appropriate to their skills and class extremely difficult especially as all equipment is continuously obsoleted as you level so replacing well matched items is almost impossible. You are left with dozens of candidate items in inventory with all sorts of bizarre or overly-complicated, annoying trade offs with no clear winner which to choose and which to sell.
Personally I think the the real issue is few ranks with escalating rank cost means any buff over +1 is too powerful leading to legendary items having lists of such +1's that don't synergise. I would say the solution is to increase the number of skill ranks and reduce the cost per rank enabling better single purpose (or closely related purpose) buffs on items to be found.
Anyway my final word is that you have made a wonderful game, really hit the spot, with Original Sin so please be careful with what you do with it next.
Last edited by Gregorovitch; 14/11/14 11:54 AM.
