Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) General I'm still playing but............

Was the game designed to be boring until act III ?

I remember playing DD and being completely immersed by the plot from the start , Now it's taken me over a year (i completely uninstalled it 3-4 times out of lack of interest) to get to Act IV of BB basically because i couldn't get into it due to it's lack of plot , Now i am there however it is very interesting and it seems to have made the previous 3 acts worthwhile .

So i'm not really complaining just wondering what happened to the creative genius's that made DD?

Not designed, but dictated by the story, I guess. What do you do when you've got to escape a prison ?

I agree that it is dictated by the story...

In <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> you start as an unknown hero.... with a basically "save the realm" mission. You are a chosen one, so you have this ideal of becomming the hero and the divine one... Your only true enemy is the black ring. So you have a story with you as the good guy (weather you help the old lady over the street, or splash up mud at her is your choice)... This allows for a very "open" plot line... they can put quests of almost ANY nature into the story line.... the only guideline being you beating the black ring and becomming the divine one.

In <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> however, you are a trapped prisoner. You "know" the history of the plot (DD and if you read the novella, you know even MORE of the history - how you got to be a trapped prisoner on an "unknown" dimension). Because you are a prisoner, there are only so many quests you can do.... its limited to mainly escape... with a couple of smaller quests to try and keep you going... After you escape from the prison, you find yourself trapped in a bigger prison.... Nemises. So you have yet MORE escape quests... I think that all the acts are equally interesting... the reason why most people say that act 4 is the most interesting, is that you can "see the light at the end of the tunnel" You are almost there.

IMHO the main reasons why people prefer DD to BD:
In DD you are
"free" and you are the hero in training.
THere are trees, greenery lovely landscapes (this has a major psycological effect).
You get to BEAT evil (well sort of, since you are fighting your failure in BD)
You finish as the HERO.

In BD you are
In prison, with an evil entity attached to you (even though Larian did a brilliant job of makign this FUN, there is still that lingering side effect of you are bonded with evil)
Nemises is a mainly GREY world.... make no mistake, a beautiful world.... but the lack of bright colours, trigger a condistion known as S.A.D. (Seasonal adjustment disorder). Even though there are no seasons involved in playing a game, the lack of bright colours (sunshine and green surroundings, or bright and happy environments), causes us to feel some how depressed to an extent. (Its called seasonal adjustment disorder, only because they first discovered it in the UK, during winter months when people became depressed, later on research and case studies showed that it is actually the absense of "happy colours and environments".
When you finally win in BD, it feels like you actually LOST... I mean... You just spent a fair amount of gaming hours, trying to escape , and then you discover that your alter ego is the BAD bloke, and he ESCAPED with your help!!!!

REasons why i think that BD is better than (or at least Equal to) DD
The game playability was improved a lot (they forgot to migrate a few small things, but mainly i thought that BD was easier to "click through" than DD.
IMHO the game was much better balanced than DD. I had to FIGHT my battles, with no aid of "quick kill tricks" like in DD... even though i exploited some of these in DD, they did act as a game spoiler (casting scorpion traps and drinking an invisibility potion etc.... ) In DD i also found that some monsters were way too easy, while others were just much too hard (for the XP you received or the importance of the monster in the story line)
The humour in BD was brilliant... (sarcasm, my favourite pastime)
BD was much more intense and much closer to the real way that "REAL LIFE RPG's are played. There are much more factors affecting your chances to do / receive damage etc...
There was this feel of "be bad to be good" about the game... i COULD be the real nasty thief / villian because i had no HERO reputation to uphold. So for those who like to play games evil, this was the perfect chance to do so....

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> Lady Rain, i love the way u write the differences.

u're right about SAD as i felt the same way though i live in tropical country. i recall my aunt who's new to north american weather suffered the same thing until she moved to southern state. which is why the crystal fragment gathering quest is a great inclusion as we get to see some green & sun.

what i think is great about DD is that it was a new thing for me at the time when i discovered it. but for BD, unfortunately DD has set very high standards & therefore expectations of players who loved DD thus making BD seem to be less attractive though i attest both are different somewhat.

BD is very much geographical in acts while DD is story-based in acts (thanks to Morbo for pointing that out). BD world is focused while DD world is blown wide open right from the start.

thanks J <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yea i agree, BD had a predesessor to try and beat. And DD is no easy competition <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> But IMO, they are equal fun <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Act 2 was so damn boring. You had to run from forest to forest to save imps!

Ok finally finished it last night and wow what an ending i kinda figured it would be something similar but if i'd known i definately wouldn't have given him so many critical hit/death blow skills.

I still stand by what i said earlier but the last 2 acts really did make up for whatever boredom i endured.

Larian spoiled the end of Divine Divinity.
So they started by making the end for Beyond Divinity.
It's why the last acts of Beyond Divinity are very great and the beginning of the game is not so great.

I don't agree with Lews. Act 2 is not boring !
There are nice quests to do like "the lich cave" or "steal a box".

Barta

I loved the village because it was a village. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> And because of the sad song ...

"Larian spoiled the end of Divine Divinity."

I agree the boss at the end was so ridiculously easy compared with the other so-called demi-bosses.

Also i have to agree to some degree that Act II wasn't too bad but it was hard work (and dull after a while(run here get this , oh you've completed this area but i bet you didn't notice the obscure web you have to pick up to complete the other area you were convinced you'd finished)) running from one place to another when i would much rather be somewhere continuing the plot , As shocked as i was to find the Imp village wiped out i still went looting especially where the merchants were (c'mon you all know you did it too admit it hands up folks)

I couldn't do it. It was too sad for me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Not even for the crystals and charms? I'm shocked!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

Well, it had personal reasons, too.

I finished Act II around the time when Forummember Rashida died. So I was a bit "emotionally depressed" so to say, especially in conjunction with death in general.

I was just completely shocked by seeing them all dead. I ran up, stole all the loot, and then immediiately went to act 3. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

It was boring running form forest to forest! I liked in DD you could use the teleporter pads to go back to a villadge/forest/area quickly again.

Lady Rain has highlighted some good differences...i am going to highlight what i said a bit before and that is in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> there is more object/interaction than in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" />.

E.g you want to make a potion...you need an empty flask and the correct mushroom..
In <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> you only need the plant.....

Also in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> you need lockpicks to pick a lock....not so in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" />.

This is what bothered me slightly.

Also the fact that there was no reputation,personality traits in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" />.

Also i felt that in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> you could bond with the characters in question....again not so in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> becuase every Act you had new characters and so youd forget them after a while.

Also there were only 3-4 races <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />

I liked Act 2,it was different to the other acts.

Coming back to acts...it could work in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> 2 if the terrain/People was the same..say like moving along the main quests in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> and every so often you get some cinematics but not in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> whereby you leave the people behind.

Tragic