Finally my ranger has finished Divinity II Dragon Knight Saga (Nightmare all throughout). Probably my last play so I finished the game by reading the entire credits.
Afterthoughts:
I was actually disappointed since after creating the character, I planned on playing as a mage. However, the time I have for playing is a bit constrained so it is natural that I play with the most efficient "killing" build as possible (more efficient killing means faster progression).
At some point in the game it became clear that I needed a bow to keep dealing ranged damage when my mana is depleted by magic missile. Then, further on my character became a ranger with explosive arrows. It's still fine, since at least the gameplay is different from my earlier warrior build.
Now, in FoV I got the impression that the bow Invisible Death might be the most powerful bow in game. My ranger cross classed with the dual wield (Deaodatus' mace and tiger's bite IIRC) and still, the damage by the bow paled in comparison with the dual wield.
Still ok since my character is different from the first since he's deadly close range (at most 3 strikes for a kill) and deadly long range (max explosive arrow). Thus, in my final gameplay everything is dying quickly near and far.
What I'm arriving at is possibly, every player is funneled down to a certain build. I mean, Joram wanted to play a priest but somewhere he had to acquire explosive arrows. I didn't want to play a dual wield character again but given the choice of jumping around with explosive arrows 5 sec cooldown against the close range arc damage of dual wield (yes, there's an arc where multiple enemies are struck by melee attacks)... looking at the clock the choice is obvious.
A satisfying gameplay for different classes must have the player feel that he's playing a totally different character BUT that character is comparably efficient to the other classes. Unfortunately, IMO this balance between classes can only be achieved by multiplayer experience. Right now, from the looks of it, if multiplayer is implemented on Divinity II I think everyone at the top tier will have the same build. Not necessarily my build, I'm not implying that MY build is the most powerful (obviously someone can come up with a build that can kill mine).
Final playthrough:
Ranger Character build Level 48
Max: Explosive Arrows, Ranger Strength, Evade, Life Leech, Regenerate, Thousand Strikes, Bleed, Deathblow, Dual Wield
(many other stats not maxed and are not worth mentioning except for Level 5 Rush Attack, still used that... )
Stats: 80 Vitality, 11 Spirit, Max: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence
Equipment: Everything that can be enchanted with Healing Aura Level 9 (I never got the level 10). All weapons enchanted with Level 10 life leech.
Gameplay Effect on Academy and Bellegar fight: No potions needed, no healing spells needed, no creature needed.
I think this is my final play through Divinity II, sad though there seems to be a lot of good people here in the forums
but it was fun.
