Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Some questions to devs

Hi all, congratulations for presentation of this awesome arpg in E3-2012...
I have some question if possible...
- I read that italian localization in not confirmed yet, but I don' t Larian will not do that, or not!? O.o
- The interation with the scenary is very powerful, better than Divine Divinity...; but apart the barrels, will there be another elements to interact with?
- Will the trees be infiammable with our fireballs?
- Will the world be open and bigger than DD one?

Ok thx again Lar...
PS: the music of Kiril in the gamespot video at 8.30 is awesome...:)

You are correct; more languages will be announced, but so far the only confirmed ones are English, German, Polish and Russian.

Anything not too heavy and not nailed down should be movable. There should be more world interaction in D:OS than there was in DD (lighting candles, filling mugs from a keg, etc).

I'd guess there may be some standing deadwood, or something, around to burn (not just oil barrels), but I'm not sure allowing you to start a forest fire would be a great idea. Maybe you can burn trees, but if you target more than a couple you get attacked by Smokey the Bear.


IIRC I read somewhere the world in D:OS is about the same size as DD.

I read that italian localization in not confirmed yet, but I don' t Larian will not do that, or not!? O.o

We'r working on it - we'd like to, that's for sure. It really is a money issue where we need to figure out if the costs of localization in a particular language can be recuperated from a specific market.

- The interation with the scenary is very powerful, better than Divine Divinity...; but apart the barrels, will there be another elements to interact with?

Yes - we'll cram in as much of these as we can.

- Will the trees be infiammable with our fireballs?

That idea has been dismissed so many times in the past because of the problems it'd cause, that nobody on the team thought of it this time, at least not that I know. It'd be cool though, so we'll discuss the idea. Mind you, no promises

- Will the world be open and bigger than DD one?

It's pretty big, but it's very hard to compare directly. Measuring the size of the world is not just a questions of measuring the relative size, you also need to take into account how much you can do in that world and what parts are accessible, what not. I actually don't know how large the world was.

Another question: why o why is'nt there any DC or OS poster for sale?
I'd like to get a Divinity poster (you were giving away posters at E3 for free, so don't claim they don't exist !),
where o where can I sign up for one? thank you!

ps really looking forward to both DC and D:OS ! the OS world designer looks great! and yes, I was glad to hear kirill's new songs in the OS video

Hi guys,
first of all I wanna say I'm REALLY impressed by everything I've seen and read about this game. So, keep the route unchanged and you will have at least one purchaser .

Now - seriously - my questions:

1) I love your ideas about co-op and dialogue system, but how exactly do dialogues work in single-player? I mean, you choose a character and the other one takes his/her own decisions independently? You take decisions for both characters or what?

2) In Ultima VII you could make your own bread,your own sword and a lot of other useful items, but the great thing about that game, in my opinion, was the way its quest design asked you to make/use/examine those items. You know: world interaction is meant to be functional to quest design, otherwise is meaningless, at least for me.
So what I'm asking you is: in OS we're gonna have an adventure-like quest design like in the later Ultma games, or a combat-focused quest desing like in the 99% of the modern cRPGs?

From a comment in the blog post Divinity – Original Sin revealed ! about the dialog system



I don't know if or how world interaction may be involved in quests, but previous Divinity games didn't have a predominantly combat focused quest design, and D:OS will have less combat overall than the previous games.


Welcome to the forum.

Thanks, man. For the answer and for the warm welcome

>>1) I love your ideas about co-op and dialogue system, but how do exactly dialogues work in single-player? I mean, you choose a character and the other one takes his/her own decisions independently? You take decisions for both characters or what?<<

It's up to you - you can pick a primary party member, and opt to have the AI make choices or disable it. In the latter case, the personality dialogs still take place to further the storyline, but the quest decision making is always as you want it .

2) In Ultima VII you could make your own bread,your own sword and a lot of other useful items, but the great thing about that game, in my opinion, was the way its quest design asked you to make/use/examine those items. You know: world interaction is meant to be functional to quest design, otherwise is meaningless, at least for me.
So what I'm asking you is: in OS we're gonna have an adventure-like quest design like in the later Ultma games, or a combat-focused quest desing like in the 99% of the modern cRPGs?<

The idea is definitely to involve the item interaction in the quest design. I'm always amazed how people who didn't play the original games now consider that to be a novel approach

That's exactly what I want to read. If you guys ever go with Kickstarter, you already have one backer :beer:



That's the modern RPG market. Enjoy !

i think only modern generation can enjoy such kind of "RPGs", unfortunately >_>

Thx Lar for your answers

That's why we need to support small developers like Larian, CD Projekt RED or Frictional Games with our money. We also need to spread the word about their ambitious creations among other consciouss gamers. Many people are seriously fed up with with this new "business model" of major gaming companies [150 separately sold DLC's, crazy DRM's, streamlined & compromised gameplay to appeal "broader" [dumber?] audience].

Are multiple endings planned for the game?

In the information we've been given there is a suggestion that our affinity with the other party member will affect the ending.

You don't have to confirm or deny that, but I hope that means that there's a possibility for the party members splitting because one sides with the good guys and the other with the bad guys - no matter whichever party member you're playing as.

Two little questions:
Are there only 2 dialogue options in each dialogue?
Will we be able to create our own items in toolset?

If the previous Divinity games are any indication, there will be dialogs with more than two options (and probably some with only one). It would be very unusual to limit the number of options that much, but have a dialog system where stats can influence what options are available. Also, talking about the editor, Lar said "As far as dialogs are concerned, that's pretty straightforward too, yet you can still pretty much do anything you can think of." Two options are appropriate for lots of game situations, but it isn't very hard to think of some where you could easily have 3 or more options.


Welcome to the forum.

And to answer the other question - yes, you'll be able to create your own items

Thanks for the answer. And, one more - does the Survivor skill tree have lockpicking or barter skills? Well, some social elements.

Lockpicking will be item based, not skill based. Bartering otoh will be based on npc's opinion of you & your charisma stat.

Well, I think you misunderstood something thre.

It won't be an "Action-RPG" like Blizzard's games, or the Sacred series or Titan Quest or so.

And... two more)
What about Sleight-of-Hand/Pickpocket stuff? I want to create a Bonnie-Clyde pair)

Most of the people like journal from DD very much. All those "your mum says that you've got wide imagination and deep inner world..." (wrote it as remember, I've played last time kinda 2 or 3 years ago) were incredibly funny. What would we have in D:OS?

So, basically: better/"cooler" the lockpick - better the skill/chance?

Hey Sven, got a question about the skill trees. Are we going to see the classic Warrior/Mage/Thief division that can be intermixed or you plan to take a different approach ?

I personally wouldn't mind pre-defined classes ala Diablo :P


But pre-defined paths with original talents/skills would also be nice [for example: path of the death knight or path of the templar and each with different set of unique skills].

As with previous Divinity game, the system is classless, so characters can learn any skill.
We know that 4 of the 6 skill trees are magic (Earth, Wind, Fire and Water). The remaining two may be warrior/survivor, or combat/other...

Thanks for your answer Raze, but I think that the ability to access and mix all the skills during your playthrough leave less room for replayability.

You can choose to play specific character builds, if you wish, rather than mixed-class ones. It is unlikely there will be enough skill points to try everything in one game, anyway.

Item-based lockpicking sounds like it might require different qualities of lockpicks, so there are a lot of common lockpicks which are cheap and plentiful and can only be used on cheap locks, and there are master lockpicks which are rare/expensive and are only used on expensive locks.

I want many secrets !!
Secret locations, secret quests, secret loot etc to discover ! Some puzzles to solve and best to give more than 1 possible way to solve the puzzle(s) !
To explane I give an example :
Let's say you find a book or an incription market in stone (a rock somewhere in the world) and you see many symbols on it you don't understand ! Now the first part starts here of a (maybe) long quest !
You now can search for NPC's who you can ask about what you found and if you're a lucky one some NPC can show you a way to gain knowledge to understand the symbols .

Suppose you already killed that NPC or you reputation against him/her is too low ... you've a problem indeed ! But their are more ways to find the knowlegde you need ... maybe in a library ?

Next part of the quest is to translate the symbols and discover (for example) that their excist a secret location and the symbols give some "scripted info" (like a rebus: word puzzle) where to search for the location and again, some of just 1 NPC can help you or you can try to find it on your own ... Or you must do tricky things like steal a book or a note, or break in a abandonned house/castle to find what you need, with the unpleasant suprize of undead lurking around the place ... Maybe another possiblility to find the required info is to use a specific skill on a specific place or whatever (if you invested in the right skill)
Third part of the quest is to finally discover that secret location, well hidden behind a "puzzle of a gate" ... whatever you like and at least that location have 1 or 2 unique "random" gear/items it was well worth the great effort to do this quest to the final end !

I say "final" because it's also an idea to build up some (1 or many more?) Quest in different levels:
so how deeper (and logically required a longer time to spend on the quest!) the player go in a quest, the better the rewards begin to shine at you
For the example quest I write above :
if the player discover the symbols and find an NPC the player CAN ask for a reward for the info he/she give to the NPC (and so the NPC can go for the quest haha and a bigger reward!).
Or furhter on you discover a book in a library and find a secret little chest with a yewellery item to wear (giving you a skillboost or statboost or whatever). Or you go deeper into the quest and find better weapon in the abandonned house/castle, which required some battles against undead or so.
One thing is certain : how deeper you go in the quest (you needed lots of patiently searching/thinking about ... ), the more the loot start to become bigger and bigger !

I really love Quests in RPG's, quests are for me the power that give me the energy to play and replay rpg's !

About skill system:

Would we gain new skills to learn with levels or there will be skillbooks (like in Beyond Divinity)?

I feel excited about the Developper tool. You should make this adventure if no one else does. Gonna think on a good adventure this summer...

I figured that as much, but since developers decided to simplify lockpicking mechanism down to primitive items (lockpicks) usage, I have a feeling that not so much attention goes towards locked secrets -- chests, doors. May be I'm wrong, though.

Limited Edition with soundtrack?

O Yesssss !!!
Very Good Idea !
I will be pleased
With a Soundtrack cd !

Soundtrack, posters, playing cards, additional pawns for DC special edition's boardgame, artwork, source code, bottle of ale, ... I'd love to buy that!

Me too, but not without ...

... a Jetpack !!

Bottle of ale? Ah why not.

ah yes, or the delightfull comment about for example your vitality ( if somebody sneezes in your direction you are at deathc doorstep OR old ladies beat you in arm wrestling ^^)

and just the diary/trophy/map system from the previous games (you know, in one piece) ..if it ain't broken, don't fix it

I do wonder how I'm going to keep this up, if it were possible I would buy it NOW!!

What about Zombie Jake? He's the kind of symbol)

Zombie & Clyde ?

Hi there,

I read that Divinity - Original Sin "it’s fully integrated with Steamworks for the cooperative play".
I'm afraid I already know the answer but, to make it sure, will Steam be required to play Divinity - Original Sin?

Thank you!

No, AFAIK Steam will not be required for D:OS. Even Steamworks is not required for local multi-player, just online. FWIW, the Steam release of DKS did not require Steam to play (though until the DRM-free patch was released did use Securom).


Welcome to the forum.

Hi Raze,

This is REALLY good news for me. I know that many people like Steam, that's fine, but I don't. I had to pass games like Deus Ex HR, Skyrim and Risen 2 because they required Steam.

I know that Securom was removed from DKS and I appreciated that enough to also buy a digital copy of DKS from Larian Vault.

So far Larian Studios is next to CD Projekt RED one of my favorites developers.

Best of luck with Original Sin and Dragon Commander.

PS No hard feelings for demolishing your fortress, huh?

It wasn't my fortress, just some whiner copying my name (I don't complain about the cold when you can't even see condensation from your breath).

I emailed a couple Larians, and the official word on Steam is that that has yet to be determined (they are looking at several possibilities).

Thanks! It's their decision afterall but I hope that they will not force Steam for D:OS.

Swen himself said this on lar.net:



Please Swen, let us opt out of Steam for single player.

Call me crazy but maybe they should consider GOG as well:

Divinity - Original Sin on GOG[/color]

Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity are already on [color:#66FF99]GOG. DKS is on the wishlist:

DKS on GOG

Yeah, I already mentioned that since DRM-protection was removed from DKS it just would make sense to make GOG release of it. And may be later D:OS as well.

I already own Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity on GoG, so I would gladly buy Original Sin and DKS there as well.

I believe that GOG would be good, too.

I've read the first posts about the italian issue... it would certainly be disappointing that they don't add spanish, too ._.

Lately we are getting a lot of non-translated games here. I can read english with almost any problem, but I certainly appreciate RPGs with spanish translations.

Anyway, the game looks amazing! ^_^

The Spanish-language version of the Drakensang 2 Add-On was faster in the shops than the English-language version of it !

It's been a while since I've posted on these forums but with the exciting news of D:OS I couldn't resist asking some questions of my own.

1: Customisation
How far does customisation go,you have pre-set characters the warrior and the witch etc. but can we customise hair,skin tone,tattoo's and other features to make our character unique?

2: Platform
May have been answered but didn't have much time to look,what kind of platforms will D:OS ship out on I noticed an xbox being used but still unsure?

3: Developing Software
My biggest interest is in the creation of new content. Will D:OS development tools be shipped with all platforms of the game e.g on xbox or exclusively for pc. Map editing was displayed but what other tools can we use e.g. scripting,weather,new models?

4: Mobs
Do the monsters level up progressively as you do and their loot drops?

I won't hold it against you if can't answer some of these questions as some details need to be kept secret until close to release either way much appreciated.
Oh and btw thank you Larian for releasing divine divinity on STEAM just bought my copy to go and relive some old meomories.

I don't think very much has been revealed yet about cosmetic character customization.

D:OS will be released on PC and Mac.

A full toolset will be included, scripting tools, dialog editor, etc. Last I heard (in an interview on Youtube IIRC) they were considering allowing importing of custom artwork / models.
From Releasing the Toolset is a Good Idea;

Opponents do not level with you. The difficulty will be adjusted in co-op mode, though, if additional people join in (or presumably if you take on henchmen in single player mode).

thanks raze

Ok I have a question. Will this game come to the console any time? Either this gen or next gen game console? I don't own a PC, I own a mac and frankly can't really play PC games on it without a copy of Windows which costs and arm and a leg to get.

Thanks for letting me know either way.

There will be a Mac release, but AFAIK no console version. There may be a console release for Dragon Commander, depending on securing necessary financing, which uses the same game engine as Original Sin, so I think at least technically a console version would be possible. However, I'm not sure the interface and game mechanics would translate very well.