Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General A new Larian RPG is coming...

Ultima Underworld series were among the very first action-RPGs, actually.

Well, I, for one, have no issues with isometric, old-school approach on this one, I was waiting for it. But the info bits about gameplay (turn-based co-op, really?) and story disappointed and kind of drove me away indeed.

I totally don't mind any new experiments from Larian, in fact, I'm quite encourage them (such experiments with concept and idea - one of the reasons why we have DayZ), but this is the rare case when I was waiting from the developer a game in the series similar to the previous one.

Even better, you may have one character talk to draw attention, while the other sneaks and steal stuff

Apparently, both players can "talk" during conversation, so you may voice your disagrement. Not sure about how it affects conversation.

Actually, I'm ecstatic at the prospect of an isometric view. And in a way, I respect Larian going old school with turn based combat. But I've been weaned on the Witcher series, Mass Effect, Elder scrolls, Fallout 3, etc, and I simply can't get engaged with turn-based systems.

No matter. I wish Larian the best with this title. I had some fun with Ego Draconis and I rank Divine Divinity as a classic, an underrated one at that.

I'll wait for more news and info.

Well Lar is correct, the proof is in the pudding so to speak. It's far too early to say "I'm not buying it because..." Although I said top down RPG's are not my thing, I'm not writing the game off yet. I have played space seige and thought it was OK so although I don't particuarly like the isometric view, if the game is good then I will buy it.

What did put me off is what Kein said - the story / plot and the turn based co-op. However this does not mean Ill be adding it to my don't buy list yet. The game hasn't been officially anounced yet let alone released. When this happens Ill make my decision. I am fairly new to RPG's and (shame on me ) have not played the Ultima games. I have been brought up on RPG's like the Witcher, Dragon Age, Oblivion, Fallout etc so this is what I'm used to.

Hopefully Larian's next RPG which will be "the RPG to dwarf them all" will be the Divinity 3 I hoped for. Raze pointed me to this blog post that explains it all http://www.lar.net/2012/01/16/the-route-to-the-very-big-rpg-that-will-dwarf-them-all/

Our preview of the game can be found here: http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=192&ref=0&id=499
Personally I am thrilled with what this game brings to the table.

*feels like he is dreaming*

Boy, this looks and sounds mighty interesting. Color me excited!

Purrrr ...

Actually the turn-based combat really excites me. Hacking and slashing has always lacked that strategic element (although real-time-with-pause would have been enough to get me giddy, provided all the auto-pause options were available). It's a lot more satisfying when you feel you actually had to *think* (instead of brainlessly click) to win a battle (or that there are multiple ways of doing it), and I was always disappointed that Divine Divinity (for its fantastically realized world, story and interactivity) chose to go 'Diablo' rather than Temple-of-Elemental-Evil/Fallout-1/2/Arcanum etc. Bring back those days of turn-based WRPG combat I say! (and finally, a proper successor to Divinity 1!)

I'm preety sure that most of the people complaining are "playstation-teenagers" who played only in the recent Divinity instalment on their mommy's consoles...

Like it or not kids, but isometric Divine Divinity is the best game Larian ever created [also highest rated by gaming critics], and if Larian decided to stick with that formula I can only applaud them.

But judging from the screenshots, I think that graphics should be a bit more darker & grimmier.

Good preview which answers a lot of my questions and you described the turn based combat well. As above I don't know if Ill like that. Interesting that it is going to be a PC and MAC game only.

Do you know if a demo is planned?

I wonder why it is called "Original Sin" and how the story is connected to Divine Divinity & Co... considering it takes place a couple of hundred years before.

No, I have no info on a demo, but my guess is that a demo will be likely, for what it's worth.

I was wondering about that... it does look a little Torchlighty/WoW-y the dungeon walls especially (but less so the eerie night-time shots in the RPGWatch preview's 'combat' section) - the cottage is showing a bit of modern bloom-disease too, haha. That said, I'm not going to complain about graphics if we get everything else (and it still looks damn pretty, with some hint at its own charm) - I don't think it will get in the way much, and might be a practical compromise. If the textures are too rich it will be more difficult to see the interactive objects (plates, candles, pots) at a distance, and divine-divinity-esque art would probably end up looking generic when rendered in 3d.

The conversation system looks like a major piece of innovation (although the dialogue in the RPGWatch screenshot is a little disjointed - I wouldn't call 'risking life and limb for gold' particularly philosophical...) and the environmental effects sound refreshingly involved.


There were demos for all the other Divinity universe games, so I imagine there will be. With an open-mind and some patience maybe you will find that you enjoy turn-based? It hasn't exactly been well implemented in many games of late, but I think Larian knows what it's doing.

Myrthos, when you say 'the game can also be played single-player, where the player controls the whole party' in the RPGWatch article, do you mean a single-player can create a full cooperative play equivalent 4-character party from the beginning as well - or just the 2 main protagonists?

There was no definition of "Action-RPGs" then.

The term "Action-RPG" *only* arose in the aftermath of BLizzard.

Because Blizzard's RPGs were about NOTHING BUT fast-paced "action".

The term "Action-RPG" has since then evolved into a very distinct meaning : Fast-paced hack & slay.

There is not a thing like fast paced social interaction, for example.




I have a suspicion : The birth of the first Dragon Knights ...

Never owned a console, never will. And I want the isometric view. Anyway...

Yes, the art design should be darker and grimmer. It's reminiscent of Torchlight, Diablo 3, Dungeon Siege 2, Pixar, Disney, etc. Not my thing at all. Somewhat cartoonish

Yes, you are right. This is why I am hoping there is a demo & not yet writing off the game. I dislike turn based combat but if I actually play the thing I might be swayed and find it works. As for the setting / story / plot that was more of a disapointment; it would be stupid not to buy the game just for this reason.

Well, from I've read here the plot of this game will be concerned with the birth of the Black Ring, some exploits of Zandalor and Arhu when they were younger, and struggles with the Orcs after their tenuous alliance with the Council of Seven. These seem all pretty much tied in with the main story to me. It's filling in a big, open gap of time between the DD backstory and the events of DD itself.

Personally I have been hoping for a game set BEFORE the events of DD (which seemed like much more interesting time period) since the very beginning.

So in some ways this seems more connected to the "original story" than the meandering adventures concerning Dragon Knights and Goblins (neither of which even existed until they were invented for Divinity 2).

Realised that RPGWatch has a lot more screenshots than the ones shown in the actual article, and I'm starting to like the art style more and more as I go through them - if you try to keep the art direction in Divine Divinity out of your mind, the slight cartoony touch seems a lot more like... Ultima 7 (surprise surprise) [bloom is still excessive though].

Turn based is bad. It's tipped the balance from 'get' to 'not get' on a few games for me that might otherwise have been tempting.

HOWEVER, with that said, if the game looks to be awesome despite the combat, I will certainly be picking it up, anyway. Great plot and characterisation will get me playing turn based games, as both are vastly more important to me than how much boring combat I have to endure (And, yes, real time combat can be boring, too. But turn based has the possibility of REALLY boring!).

One final caveat: DRM. Lousy DRM is an absolutely certain no-buy from me, no matter what!

Beyond those observations, I have nowhere near enough information yet to decide one way or the other whether this game will interest me or not. Doubt that'll change any time soon, either. I'm certainly not prepared to condone or condemn with almost nothing known.

Though I have to add that the concept art for the lead couple (Or I presume the lead couple) does look pretty awesome...

(And also this may be where the totally new part is. Does anyone recall any RPG with a couple who are paired up/married right from the start as the leads? I don't...)

I'm curious whenever someone says something along these lines - can you give some examples of turn-based games you found really boring? and for what reasons? Not that I disagree with you in some cases, often when it comes to, say, non dungeon-crawler JRPG turn-based combat, but obviously we're talking about different beasts here.