Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta Difficulty options.

Simple, higher difficulties award higher exp for battles.

normal:300exp
hard:450exp

Orc killed in normal mod would award 300exp when killed, if killed on hard awards 450exp. and change it so that you cant change difficulty mid fight.

Levelling faster would at least partly defeat the purpose of having a harder difficulty.
In Beyond Divinity the hardest difficulty doubles up some of the opponents, which initially makes the game harder, but the extra experience points (and other bonuses) makes the game easier.

I have to agree with this. The difficulty settings should be about allowing players to find the level of difficulty they enjoy best, not about altering improved rewards at higher difficulties.

If you make people feel like they have to compete at the hardest difficulty setting to get the best rewards, the hardest difficulty setting usually ends up getting nerfed in order to meet demands of making it more accessible. That shouldn't be the point of the difficulty settings here.

Yes, with more risks come more rewards, but in this case I think it's ok if the rewards are just a more enjoyable experience from less trivial combat, or a greater satisfaction from beating challenging content.

Some games actually reward you with less at higher difficulties, as part of the measure to make the game more difficult. "Blackguards", for example, awards less Action Points (XP) at harder difficulty settings because having less developed characters makes the content more challenging. "How to Survive" is another game that goes this route, making drops more scarce to make survival harder.

Like with the other suggestion about "more Magic Find on hard" I agree with Raze's sentiments (and had stated those there as well).

Do difficulty modes work now?

And what does the harder difficulty do, if it works?

You can change the difficulty in the options; it just isn't shown during character creation. Easy, Normal and Hard difficulties modify your vitality by +60%, +15% and -25% respectively.

Ive seen they can be changed. I just wanted to know what does it change.

Only that? Thats all?

I was hoping for different harder composition of enemy groups, more of higher level enemies appearing earlier, better and more dastardly Ai, wider selection of enemy spells, and so on..

If not then i dont need to bother with it.

I haven't had time to play much since the update, let alone at different difficulties, so don't know what effect that may have on the AI, etc.

It would be nice if the differences are listed under the options in the game main options screen.
For ease of use and clarity purposes.

Whatever they are, eventually.

Yes, when choosing a difficulty option I like to know every single detail that's changing about the gameplay. Specifics rather than general statements (e.g. "Monsters are harder" - tell me how monsters are harder).

Im noticing that the new upgraded Ai and spell abilities of mages and archers isnt that terrible really.

Archers just shoot two or three basic type of arrows, - worst being the poisonous cloud.
Mages just use two or three most basic spells. Blitz bolt being the worst offensive one they can throw.

None of the early ones in the west and in the Burial Mounds area use any sort of environment spells, like firefly, or even a flare, no teleports, ... (ok, that is the starting area... )
- but they are level five enemies most of the time.
Which then would be a good set of features for the actual Harder difficulty.

-

(im still hoping the more advanced enemies and mages would perform better than that but i haven't gotten that far yet in this newest build)

Hiver, I believe Forktong said somewhere (can't remember where right now) that the AI in the west Cyseal area is indeed deliberately easier to deal with, because it's the first major combat area and they want to get players used to that to prepare for the nastier stuff.

The damn poisoncloud arrows are bad enough to deal with on their own.

I didnt notice anything much worse in the Burial Mounds either... or at the start of the Black Cove.

Im still hoping.


Lighthouse is actually a bit easier then before now.
Although the Ghoul does teleport into my team and hits them.

They did pull back all the ... err, "nasty doggies". So you can approach closer. And then shoot the barrels so nicely placed right there.

like so:



There is a small kind of a bug there because the fight doesnt start, even if the oil bursts into flames because of those torches - but if you take just a second or two to adjust the positions fo your team or a character - and then take another shot to start the fight - the fire surface disappears.


If you dont wait but instantly take another shot the fight starts, and then... its rather easy, really.

Even with a level 4 party. I didnt even have to use the special arrows i had. Firefly handled almost all of it. It damaged the ghoul whenever he would teleport back to his spot and relatively quickly killed him.
Moping up the rest is a piece of cake.


That particular fight could certainly use more undead, at the very least.


There is one single place, in the fields before the Lighthouse, with the scarecrow and one exploskeleton, few archers and one mage - where if you approach from the passage - two undead suddenly spring up from the ground either behind you or right inside your party.


Thats an excellent and very appropriate mechanic and should be used more often.

Lighthouse would be perfect for it, since there are some undead and corpses behind you when you start a fight...

Well, at least in the harder mode.