Kris,
First, I'd say that a vast ammount of stats/modifiers is what I look forward to in RPGs (even seen the Arcanum or Fallout stats?).
If you'd say that BD doesn't use them enough, I'll agree, but remember: this system is developped for future Larian games too.
Out of interest, what do posters here think the major differences are between D2 and BD? The addition of battlefields seems to take it much closer to D2 than DD was. The BD story is not that strong, and many of the quests are still "kill someone or find this item". Where is BD better, or different in a major way? I'm not saying that it isn't, but I wasn't the one that made a comparison to Diablo so I'd be interested to hear what people see as the difference.
This is my honest opinion of Riftrunner, also known as Beyond Divinity.
I think it was made for several reasons: one of them is to raise enough money to successfully develop Divinity 2 afterwards. Another reason is to test several team ideas and see how they will be accepted: the new Stat/Modifier system, tactical combat, Battlefields and such. Those are the main changes.
Beyond Divinity is more linear than the original game, yet it's more than an expantion. It's a mini-sequel. I think the new RPG system is much better than the last one and being a fan of tactical combat, I like the way it is in Beyond Divinity. However I expect more for Divinity 2 ([color:"red"]cloaks[/color] for example).
I didn't
mean BD should be compared to Diablo or is a Diablo clone.
WATER EFFECTS etc.
I do take the point that these things do make a difference. However, when I tested out how great that difference actually is it seems to be minimal. In other words, you may get a Role Play benefit from playing a certain type of character, but there won't really be a lot of difference in the way the fights play out, and certainly no change in the way the story unfolds.
My preference is for games with stronger stories and a genuine chance to take a variety of paths. This is obviously more expensive to do and may involve such things as multiple choice dialogue lines (whereby your choices effect the sort of character you develop), different story paths opening up depending on your choices, and an all round bigger difference in the game experience depending on what style of character you play.
I haven't finished BD yet, but so far the "Depth" seems to be more of an illusion than a reality. I'm not saying this makes it a bad game, just that it isn't the game I hoped for after DD. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
The difference is minor, you are right. However, sometimes a hit point or two might make the enemy stay alive for one more attack. Considering several strong monsters in the game with area attacks, I'd say that the small difference a special arrow gives, might turn the tides of the battle.
The character doesn't change the story, true, but the game isn't an "Epic-Humongous-RPG-With-Tetris-Elements-Which-Took-Eight-Years-To-Develop". I mean it's what it is: Beyond Divinity is a hack and slash game. No matter how you put it.
