Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General This game is a trap

You don't say. Is that why these last few years "open world" games are becoming a thing? You know DA3 is open world now, the new Witcher is open world, compared to before. It's a trendy thing, isn't it?

You should categorize games properly. Morrowind is open world, Skyrim is open world. Shockingly both of those aren't exactly story driven RPGs, they can't be, because there's nothing to keep you focused on the story. Those are games, that give you freedom to forge your own story.

KOTOR, NWN, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale etc... Those are story driven games where your progress through the story is linear. It's an immersive experience handcrafted by the creators of those games.

D:OS is neither Fallout, nor Baldur's Gate. It falls somewhere between those games. It's non-linear enough to ruin it's story and pace, and not open enough to make you really feel like you're exploring.

By the way if you don't consider Morrowind an ARPG, then you shouldn't consider Mass Effect 1 an ARPG, or Skyrim for that matter.

So what exactly are your claims? Is D:OS really the stellar game, that most reviews present it as? Is my criticism invalid?

New games are being advertised as open world, because every time a game is open world, they advertise it as a feature. That doesn't make it new, that just makes it a selling point.

Remember in Mass Effect, where you could go fucking anywhere in the universe, once you got the Normandy?
Remember in Baldur's Gate, where you left Candlekeep and all of a sudden you had access to areas that were way above your level?
Remember how in Dragon Age Origins you could walk across the entire map and back again while ignoring the main quest line?

That's what open world means. You aren't locked into "level 1-1, level 1-2, level 1-3". You can walk off the beaten path and find sidequests, or backtrack to where you started, or accidentally walk into a high level zone.

That's been a staple of WRPGs for a long time. The only games you mentioned that are arguably linear are Icewind Dale (which is a mindless hack and slash version of Baldur's Gate) and KotoR - and even KotoR is much more open world than your average Call of Duty or The Last of Us.

I'm not even sure why some of you are defending the game. Most of the stuff I list is actually factual. Like reloading a save game to get some value out of a chest you spent 30 minutes figuring out how to get to. That's just bad game design right there.

It is factual retard. Not the game design, but actually doing it, while complaining that the game is to easy. If it is easy you do not need the loot, so doing it becomes stupid min/maxing without any purpose outside of it self.

Yes, you can reload exploit every chest in the game until you get a legendary that is useful for you, but that is hardly a game design problem, it is just that you have a min/maxing quirk that forces you to do it.

Besides that: Someone correct me if I am wrong, but the unique items seem to be more than enough to itemize your characters and they come at certain points of the game when you actually need them, right?

The itemization is truly awful and unrewarding. There's no loot hunt to speak of because of this. Items are generic garbage and you have to spend tons of time reloading quicksaves at big chests, if you want to get something even remotely useful, especially late game, or you have to spend hours with the clunky crafting system.

Really now are you writing just to belittle me? How is it relevant why I did it, when it's a fact that's just bad game design? Of course I could have finished the game geared with greens. But it would take much longer, because battles are about damage. When your damage is low, it doesn't mean it's harder, it means you're not clearing stuff fast enough and the enemy turn is freaking long.

I exploited chests to get a proper 2 hander and a bow. Because for 20 hours I was running with the stock bow, that the mercenary came with and a unique level 13 2 hander, that I got from a vendor. There are no unique high level 2 handers. Your only good bet is to get a legendary tenebrium 2 hander, but you should be so lucky. If I didn't exploit the chests, I would have finished the game with that level 13 2 hander and some lowly bow.

Come now, explain to me how going on for 30 hours without finding an upgrade is proper game design. I really won't be surprised.

There are no unique high level 2 handers.