Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Viewpoint from a new player

Agree with your points.
The start of this game nearly turned me off, I didn't have anything else similar to play, so I stuck with it. It gets better once you read a Walkthrough guide, and a guide that tells you how to build your characters.

The initial character profiles don't give you enough info to make a choice, and some of the classes are gimped, or less than effective in-game.

The Merchant system is a mess, yeah. I think you are expected to put down little flags on the map and make your own notes as to which merchant has what. OR, consult an online game guide (since the game is obtuse with this info, I think this is "old school").

And yes, combat in Cyseal (start of game) is terrible. The game isn't a sandbox type game, so not gating and guiding the player is just going to be frustrating to new users.

ANd don't listen to the other posters. If you went through the "tutorials" and didn't understand it, that isn't your problem. It's the developer's problem, because you are probably not alone in not understanding and that means they could have provided better tutorials, and more information. Or, altered the way they taught you how to interact with the various elements and spells. I understood because I am accustomed to playing Computer RPGs, and pen and paper RPGs and I know what to expect. Not because the tutorials were sufficient, or great. This is compounded by the fact that, of course, there is no game manual.

There is probably a reason that less than 5% of players have actually finished the game according to Steam's Achievement stats.

In short, I'd prefer that "Old School" did not mean dated UI and game design decisions from a over a decade ago.

I can also say that if you use some mods such as RunSpeed, putting the Resistance Cap back to 200%, using the savegame editor for spell books so you don't need to consult a separate website or write your own notes to find much needed and required spellbooks...you can enjoy the game. I do...pretty much.

I would admit, if there was another RPG out now I would be playing that instead and wouldn't have spent the time getting to learn D:OS. The fact that there was nothing else is why I bothered. And once I got around the little archaic interface and other issues, the game is enjoyable. Great graphics, nice turn based combat, and a decent story!