Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General An argument against new dimensional areas

I don't mind something in the concept of a house if it won't be interdimensional thing available any time by your call. It just ruins consistency of immersion and gameplay/gameworld to me. It did made sense in D2, but in DOS? Too far-stretched for user's needs.

Divine Divinity had teleporter stones, which most people used to be able to jump back to a home base whenever they wanted to. Beyond Divinity had the battlefields, which you could teleport to at pretty much any time.

Well, most people seem to immediately like this but some of us still doubt, maybe we just misunderstand the whole idea. I only want to add that I am not arguing against a player's house, only against its location in another plane. (I am also puzzled that so many people willingly accept the pyramids of teleportation but I said that I wouldn't argue hehe).

I think the player’s house is a good achievement of RPGs, it is not only “a place to store all our trifles”, also is an organization system who adds a strategy touch. But if a castle is too common for the Divinity series, imho there are still ways to do that, keeping the immersion: abandoned town, ancient ruins, behind a waterfall, the top of a mountain, the underground, a vault (in context), my favorite is a sailable ship, and many more options.

But I'm just speculating and Larian's idea could be much better.

It is something that came from DD and part of the series's legacy. Think of it as of town portals in Diablo.

I really don't see how a house adds a "strategy touch" or how it even is an organization system, could you elaborate on that?

In BG2 I just used a couple of containers in Waukeen's Promenade to store and organize all my stuff, worked just fine.

They *can* add to a game but only if you get sufficient freedom to decorate them (and I've only really seen that in one game, an MMO: EverQuest 2). Even in the Elder Scrolls games your freedom to decorate your home(s) is minimal and their main use is for the non-respawning containers.

So far the only (single player) RPGs I've encountered where a "house" added anything of value (except for storage/crafting) was KotOR (and by extension ME, if you count those as RPGs), because your house was also your main means of transportation.

If someone could enlighten me as to what I'm missing, because I must be missing something given the popularity of housing...

I was fine with a bed and enough room for a few chests, but lots of people in Divine Divinity arranged furniture, looted thrones or a piano, etc, to bring to their home base, spread gems out as lighting at night, and put a lot of time and effort into making some place their own.

It may be interesting seeing how things you do in Original Sin effect your homestead, though. You could make upgrades to the battle tower platforms in Divinity 2, but they were relatively minor in appearance, and not exactly huge in effect.

The one game that stands out in housing (that I've played) is the fortress you earn/occupy in Neverwinter Nights 2. That was soooo unbelieably cool how you could manage it and stuff.

That concept (of owning and managing a fortress plus your surrounding lands, like trying to secure your reputation and family's power while upholding the rights of your kind, protecting the borders and such..) should be made in a game on its own, man...

I eventually converted the council of 7 teleporter room into a house, with the portable bed and a half-dozen chests to contain the ton of loot I wanted to get around to selling.

It always depends on how is implementing, in Oblivion your house is almost a warehouse, but in Neverwinter Nights 2 your stronghold is central part of the game where you chose companions according the task and you can repair your golem and make upgrades to resist the invasion. Compared to most recent mods the NWN2 Stronghold looks pretty basics today, but this is the idea in how a housing system may be more than a warehouse.



mmm I remember the first time I played Diablo II, it was in single player and I discovered many waypoints without knowing what they were. I enjoyed those long maps running to and fro, but when I finally discovered the waypoints utility it was a little frustrating and I decided to not use them anyway; but at last I have finished using them only because they gives advantages, not for fun...

That is the reason I am against all unnatural manners to do things, because you will end using them even if you don't wanted.

As long as I play the Divnity games they're RPG WITH Fantasy - elements :
And fantasy means : things could happen what in a real world is impossible, like the Teleporter Stones, but also many other things ! You can simply "learn" magical spells and use them ( named "skills")! What about that ? No problem with magic ?

I really LIKE fantasy mixed with reality: some things can, other can't in reality in a RPG and I like that concept because I play RPG's just because it's ALSO a magical fantasy world to BE in for awahile and forget all the sh**t the real world can have !
I never WANT to see coming a RPG with TO many real world things in! Gaming = entertaining and not a "trying to copy a real world" !
Please no ... I want FANTASY in a RPG !!

I love strange dimensional happenings/alternate universes or locales and find them interesting rather than immersion breaking so long as they are in keeping with the overall game and have some reason for being there. A lot of games have portals or ways to other places (e.g Elder Scrolls: Oblivion where you can visit the daedric places and indeed in Divinity 2 many, many times!). Day/Night cycle would be great too especially if there's time and funds and perhaps certain skills chosen can be affected by the cycle.