Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Game is impossible for casual players

I have successfully beaten all Larian games so far, from the original Divine Divinity to Original Sin, most of them on somewhat higher difficulty levels (where applicable).

With D:OS 2, all I get is frustration. I don't have three hours to figure out how to solve some impossible seeming fight, I have a live, too. The frustration level has risen to a point, somewhere on Reaper's Coast, that I have stopped playing. I doubt I will care for another Larian game - they only get more difficult without improving much of anything else. Inventory system and crafting is a bad joke, quests are buggy as hell. Story is meh. Perceived difficulty compared to D:OS 1: plus 250% - and judging by the release notes, they are still in the business of making the game more difficult.

Sorry, this is niche geek gaming only - for those that have unlimited time to invest to endlessly fiddle around with one unbalanced fight after another. I am out of here.

You need a good build. The game can be gruelling if you do not know how to build your characters but an absolute breeze with a well-optimised cookie-cutter build. Have a look around the forum - plenty of good builds being presented. Also, Explorer difficulty.

You know, you are just proving his point. A casual gamer will hardly check the forum for the best builds, he wants to skill his way.

Don't even need to check forums for "good builds". Just basic understanding of the environmental effects, combos and how combat and AI works really. A lot of the basic builds work in this game. Like just Knight/Fighter or Wizard with Pyro and Geo.

Are you playing on explorer?

It is sad this person chose to lash out in anger and disparage not only the art but the people who enjoy it. If he had not left permanently in a huff I would have simply told him the easiest way to progress is simply to walk away and find a less challenging encounter, of which there is at least always one.
Sadly that opportunity slipped us all by.

I teach at CS at a uni, here is what I tell students that simply cant seem to figure out concepts in certain classes.

People are not the same. Period.

What you might call hard, i call completely trivial. In fact, I cant play certain genres like 1st person shooters, and console games (generally speaking) because they are so easy that they might as well be baby books. To me, DOS2, is intermediate at best. Easy after the initial 5 levels of figuring things out (didnt need a guide except for boring stuff like figuring out recipes which I ended up not using anyway). This game does not throw any wrenches at you. The only difficulty was measuring when to shop for new gear. Once you figured out the scaling, it was just a matter of making adjustments.

Its simply a matter of how you problem solve. Not everyone thinks the same way. You can teach yourself to think differently, but if you dont want to, then that is fine since this is just a game. If this were a classroom, I would tell you to suck it up, study smarter (not longer), or change majors. For the record, I am not trying to be mean, in fact, I really care about students but sometimes the best advice is the cold hard truth. Not everyone is cut out for sciences (though I will argue that anyone with a healthy brain can do it with enough diligence). Also for the record I have very few drops even in hard stuff like algorithms and data structures.

Since this is a game, I would say "95/100 games are made for casuals...". there is no shortage in selection. Or play an easier mode. Or download some mods to make it easier.

Just play on the lowest diffuculty I did the same and still had fun.

Original Sin 2 on Classic Mode is easier than D:OS and D:OS EE (Classic), period.
Tacticians Mode - ye, there are some places where you have to absolutely cheese it through or die trying. But if you are playing on Tacticians, after all the warnings ingame, well, that's on you and you alone.

Have you tried the Explorer difficulty? Supposely Larian balanced it so that the player should be able to enjoy the story and complete the game without excessive straining.

I agree that there are some points where i "feel" there are some balancing issues, some fights are a breeze and others feels like you are at severe disadvantage, but that also depends on what build and gear your character is running.

Example: i got battered several times when dealing with the incandescent skeletons in act1 (increased in spawns from a mod) until they forced me to invest in fire resistant gear before i was able to clear these encounters.

And a question, are you dealing with a forced fight in that instance? If there is an area filled with enemies that i can't currently beat, i sneak or use alternative routes to get past them.

Just play on explorer if you are that much of a casual.

I tried a lot of builds since the release, and while I had a hard time at lvl 5 for a certain fight (the skeletons with the teleporting void mini boss in the forest), now I understand the game, and his new shield system.

So I tried full ranger, solo death knight, duo summoner, mixed team etc... no need to cheese a lot of fights really.
Even the famous worm/Alexandar fight : hard the first time I did it, but know it's a breeze (even if the worm attack pattern is a bit random)
But I'm on tactician, so I guess explorer is like "you can solo the game with solo dual wands build while watching Netflix".

Boring troll tbh.

Like something bad

You do not need to check forums for good builds, it was just a friendly suggestion to help him because he appears to be struggling. The information is all there ingame and it is just a matter of taking the time to read it and figure it out.

Also, I am not sure I have ever played an RPG that rewards "skilling your own way" over a well-thought out and synergised build. Given that you can respec everything after Act I, it really could not get any easier.

Clearly you aren't the target audience for the game, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm sure there are some awesome low attention span iOS games out there with your name on them.

Yes, this game is definitely not for point & click aficionados--it's not a Diablo II clone with nothing any more involved than clicking on things to kill them and automatically gathering loot. This is a real RPG in every respect. But if you finished OS 1 this game should be a breeze--I see very little in the way of fundamental differences between the two games, save that OS 2 is better in every way, imo. Something about your post doesn't ring true--because if you finished and beat OS1 on the "higher difficulty levels" (which don't increase the game's complexity but just make it easier for you to get killed and harder to kill things in a fight) you should have *no trouble* with OS 2.

None at all. Hopefully you didn't start this game on the highest difficulty mode...;) You sound like you should be playing in Story mode--and that you maybe are not following the story and completing quests and so on. I mean, doing those things is just like OS 1--just like it--so it's really hard to see you having these problems.

Now, you will from time to time invoke fights that you aren't advanced enough to win--and the way to handle them is to *go do something else* until you are strong enough to come back and win. I can say for certain that if you don't have the patience to advance your character in his skills then you never finished OS 1...;)

I can understand your complaint in a way, This game is not for casuals unfortunately and if you go into this thing expecting that then you are going to be very disappointed. And especially if you love the characters and the story which only adds salt to the wound. But I have to be honest here even if it pains me to tell someone this, if you don't like the game then simply walk away hell even get a refund and play something that you really would enjoy because there is no sense in stressing yourself out when you could be happy somewhere else. I have even had a hard time playing and in my opinion there is a thin line between enjoyment and frustration on this one, unless you plan to cheat but I would not recommend that becuase it takes away the excitement but hey it is your game.

Having just completed Honour Mode with a co-op partner, I can safely say the game is very difficult for novice or casual players.
It is, however, hilariously easy for players experienced with the first OS game or the genre and turn based combat as a whole; even a basic mastery of the mechanics and some preparation can allow you to complete every encounter without serious resource loss, and it only gets easier from there.

In order to challenge players that know what they are doing or exploit mechanics effectively, self-imposed restrictions must be created (thematic action restrictions, no source abilities, no civil skills, etc); the game itself does not have the encounter design or mechanical polish to really challenge players of high skill frequently enough.

i am a complete casual who managed to win on explorer and classical mode, and am now in act 2 on my first tactician run, all the while likely not doing ideal builds or playing completely strategically soundly

it is a difficult, punishing game, but nowhere near unplayable for "casuals"

Are you playing explorer mode? I only played tactician so far, but I imagine that explorer should be suitable for casual players.

Btw, I really don't get the amount of people complaining that tactician is too hard and that ruins the game. Just play an easier difficulty and don't feel so emasculated about a freaking video game.

Wow man. You should find a new line of work. If your student is stuck in a hole, asking for help, you need to reach out a hand and toss him a ladder. Saying "you're too weak to get out" or "you got yourself into this mess" is not in the spirit of education. I teach much younger students but even college kids still need help from a caring adult.

I'm in the same boat as OP-- I chose tactician due to the "special abilities" used by enemies. Now I'm 15 hours in and every single fight is a chore at level 5. I do not want to have to fail to learn, or search google to learn, or save scum to advance.

Bottom line: game attracts all types but the way it teaches certain types of players is just awful.