Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta My thoughts so far!

So after having a look on YouTube and deciding I liked the idea, I decided to give the game a try.

Bought it, downloaded it, launched it up. So far it's been a surprise, I've played a lot of early access games that are far worse than this. I've only had a few hours of play so far, and not gotten very far even in that (creating new characters is an addiction, please send help). But I'm looking forward to it.

I'll try and leave out obvious this-is-an-alpha issues (unequipping and dropping a summoned elementals "weapon" will crash the game, for example), and give my opinions on what's gone well and what's not.

Character Creation:

I'm pretty happy with character creation so far. The option to basically create whatever you want out of the initial stats is always welcome in an RPG. More than just that; what the stats do is clearly explained.

Some games go the woeful route of having no tooltips (in character creation, or in game at all) and though it's usually obvious, it is nice to have it confirmed exactly what is changing. Though they could use a bit more work (how much damage does 8 str give, compared to 9str?) overall it's sufficient.

The variety of visual options is always pleasant, though after a quick bit of testing, it seems the armour you choose in character creation, is the armour you get ingame. (launch a game with 2 rogues, for example, give one the plate armour visual and the other the half-naked leather one, and they'll start with different armour ingame). Not really that important, given that you'll replace your armour before level 3, most likely, but it still would be nice to have it clearly stated that the visuals impact the gameplay in that way.

On the topic of dynamic starting equipment, it would be nice to have your weapons/spells adjust depending on what you chose for stats. If I pick a warrior and go full two-hander, it would be nice to start with a two-hander, instead of a sword and shield. Though that option is perhaps planned, given the hand and feet toggles that do (as far as I can tell) nothing as-of-yet.

And on the same topic: The option to change abilities would be nice. If I want to start an Earth Mage, starting with an Earth spell, instead of a Fire one would be cool.

Initial Impressions:

The lack of a load between character creation and taking your first steps in the game is a great start to what ends up being a beautiful experience.

The movement so far has been my biggest gripe, gameplay-wise. It feels like the hold LMB to move activates just a little bit too quickly, leading to my character lurching forward half a step then stopping. Delaying the change from click-to-move to hold-LMB-to-follow by just a few more hundredths of a second would make me a lot happier with the movement.

But other than that, the movement is nice. Pathfinding does as I would like, finds the easiest way to places without me having to babysit my characters. Especially when it comes to opening all those boxes.

The inventory is a low point for me. The lack of an auto-sort (or even an auto-compress) can make it annoying to deal with once you get more than a handful of items. Though I assume that's coming in the future, given the variety of inventory tabs that don't do anything as-of-yet. Hopefully an easier way to trade items between your two characters will also make an appearance. Dropping and item on the ground, then switching character, then picking it up again is not very smooth (unless I'm missing something obvious). (EDIT: Oh it is obvious. Drag and drop to their portrait, not to the actual character).

The inter-character chat is interesting, and provides a little bit of character building outside the norm. I'm looking forward to seeing how many chances we'll get to use it, and how in depth/important it will be.

The chat with NPCs is mostly good, the numbered responses are, as always, appreciated. The lack of a hotkey to initiate/end trade, and end chat is a nuisance though. Letting escape end trade, and then escape to end chat would make everything a lot smoother in my opinion.

Levelling up and gaining power:

I only got to about level 5, I think, and didn't get to do too much combat yet, but so far it seems like a decent levelling system. The constant stream of ability points and the less-frequent stat and talent points could make for a system that both rewards each level up and still allows infrequent jumps in power.

Though I didn't find any skill books for my melee class (and not immediately finding any for my Earth Mage, both of which I've solved now), the first few upgrades for my Fire Mage felt powerful. Upgrading from the basic Flare to whatever-the-next Flare is was noticeable. Hopefully a similar pace is kept, in that my characters will continue to feel like they're growing in power, not just in meaningless numbers.

Further Impressions:

The first steps into the first city highlighted a minor problem that lead to a kind of bigger one later.

It can be hard to tell if you're stealing someone's property or not. Yeah, if you're in someone's house, picking up their plates and dinner, it's kind of a no-brainer. But picking up a hammer on a seat and only finding out it belongs to someone after you try to take it is kind of annoying. It would be nice to see the hand turn red if you're trying to take something that belongs to someone. Though I suppose that may be a design choice, you wouldn't have that kind of insight in real life.

But beyond that, holy cow is the city big. I spent far longer than I anticipated just walking through the city and opening random boxes/looking in what houses I could. I hope the city (and any other hubs that exist) are fleshed out and come to life. The few ongoing conversations and NPC actions gave some parts of the city a good vibe, while other parts were quite empty and barren.

Another issue I had with trading, is that there is no warning if you're being short changed. If you try to short change an NPC, you'll lose rep with them and obviously the trade won't go through. My initial trade consisted of my giving away a few hundred gold worth of junk, without realizing that I had to equalize before the NPC would give me any money. A simple "You're not getting you're money's worth!" warning would be a nice warning for new players. Perhaps another warning "Offering such a deal will anger this NPC" if you're attempting to unwittingly trade for less gold than you need, I don't know.

The other thing that I only barely started to get into was crafting. I don't know how many crafting recipes there currently are, and how many there plan to be, but I'm already lost with the number of them. I'd really like a separate window that displays all the crafting recipes you've "discovered" (preferably meaning all the ones you've seen in books/pages + all the ones you've discovered through experimentation). Having to keep half an inventory filled with books, or alt tab out and fill a notepad with the combinations is a little annoying.

Besides the actual collection and storage of the recipes, the crafting looks interesting. Combining pieces of junk to make useful items, then pouring more junk into them to make better items is interesting. Though it does lead to me hoarding everything I find. I'm interested to find out where crafted equipment will sit, compared to dropped loot.

Will it be equal to the best drops? Better than? Less than? Will it just end up as meaningless filler, or will I be able to craft God-shattering doomblades?

Combat:

So far I quite like the combat.

Having spells that interact with the environment, both in the sense of a fireball hitting a pillar, and an ice spell freezing a puddle, are very cool. I can't wait till I get enough AP to really make the most of the system.

It would be nice, though, to see the actual arc of spells and arrows. It's all nice and well having great curving fireballs, but it is kind of annoying when I fire them into a wall because I can't tell what angle they'll be fired at. Something that will probably come with time, but as a newbie, can be annoying. Even just a red patch/orb where the spell will land, if fired from the current trajectory would be highly beneficial.

Aside from mechanics, I love the AP/CD resource system, as opposed to mana. It allows growth in your character, as you have more access to AP, you can cast more basic spells, and the spells that once seemed like cataclysmic once-a-turn-if-everything-is-set-up-right spells turn into your new bread and butter. Being allowed to actually cast my spells, without fear that I need to save the mana just in case there's an even bigger enemy around the next corner is a welcome reprieve. Even the freedom of being able to heal outside of combat, instead of having to weigh up the pros and cons of consuming precious mana to heal, or quaffing a dwindling supply of health potions makes it a lot more fun, to me.

All in all:

I'm really enjoying what we have so far. This feels like a solid base for a great game, with the potential for a lot of depth and growth. I'm looking forward to what ends up being made from this, and how much the devs will be able to make improvements, not only in the obvious bug-fixing and content-growing fronts, but on the simple quality of life changes. I often find myself overlooking big flaws in a game, if the little things are done right. It's the constant little nagging that gets to you, rather than the big bang every now and again.

Here's to Larian Studios and what looks like an awesome game!