Game the easiest by abusing Mechanics? Mage. Int reduces Cooldown ( i assume Warrior Cooldowns too ). -> Invisibility has 1 Round Cooldown. with Lonewolf + Class Cannon + 7 Speed ( 5 + 2 Equipment ) -> 18 Ap per Round - 6 Ap for Invisibility I can cast 2 Spells and cast Invisibility. Enemies cant do anything against it -> win.
But same can be achieved by Rogue: Invisibility ( long CD ) -> go into Stealth somewhere where Enemies cant see you. Wait for Invisibility to be Ready again -> go in -> Invisibility and repeat.
Right. That is one of the issues programming down to the last minute. There are balance issues. I'll go back to using the phrase you can build your character to how easy you want to make the game. (Unless Chap 2-4 gets a lot harder)
Which does not matter much since the game is non-competitive. I have no problem with Larian adjusting skills but this is just one big hyperbole. Look at BG2, mages were by far the most powerful class there too in the game, yet the game was soloed by a Beastmaster, the weakest class in an unmodded BG 2 game. Clerics and Rogues were still plenty poweful and in their own right more powerful than mages. Only backstab was capable of getting 1k crits in that game just to mention one example.
You're right, the game isn't necessarily competitive, though with some of the dialog options and role-playing elements I don't think you necessarily need to play completely cooperatively either.
So why does it matter if the game is unbalanced? At least part of the fun of any RPG that allows character customization is creatively experimenting with abilities, stats, gear and play styles to find effective combinations. Not all of it, for sure, there's still fun to be had by taking part in the story, reading dialogue, etc, but I think by making these kinds of choices easy and obvious as a game developer you do end up taking some of the fun out of your game.
Consider an imaginary strategy game, let's say it's single player so balance again isn't REALLY a problem since it's just for your own enjoyment anyway. Let's say in this hypothetical RTS there are dozens of units with potentially interesting uses, but there is one unit that is cheap, builds quickly, has insane health, damage, and range. It can be used for anti-air, detects stealth, and moves quickly. It's really the only unit you need, and try as you might to find one you don't have a reason to build anything else. Hopefully you can see how that would suck some of the fun out of the game; the game strategy has now been simplified to the point of being well... pointless.
Simply I would argue that mages in Divinity are currently that unit, and although you could potentially create a viable party without them and deliberately handicap yourself, doing so would mean that I as a player am challenging myself rather than the game challenging me.
