Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Stabbey's General comments and criticism

Yeah, I was never a Larian fan, honestly. I know some people are, but not me, I never could get through the.. clunkyness, I guess I could call it.

But D:OS is an amazing foundation, and hopefully a new start for Larian. If they keep working on this and keep polishing, maybe get some better writers overall, too, there's some really serious hope.

...now they just need to can Rivellon, because it's just.. eh.

Rgeo actually Divine DIvinity was pretty good, yeah its kind of old now, but it really was not bad at all, I played through it at least 3 times.

But yeah I agree D:OS is a much better game.

The unfolding skill-bag idea isnt bad, I admit I like the skillbar as is, but that does not mean it couldnt be better. I would have just suggested making the rows 15 spaces long or adding 2 more rows for a total of 70 spaces, but your idea sounds better.

To add "flavor" to the world, its economy and trade, but also due to the strength of the ability and the possibility to "boost" items I would humbly suggest splitting crafting into several job/profession based skills abilities. This would allow a much greater freedom/customizability/variety of character builds. For example:

(1) tailoring(robes, boots)
(2) bowmaking/carpentry(bows, crowsbows, arrows)
(3) alchemy(potions)
(4) scholar/scribe(scrolls, skillbooks)

Additional already existing abilities:

(5) blacksmithing(weapons, armor)
(6) merchant(bartering)
(7) scholar(loremaster)

These "jobs" would then fit better role playing wise with certain character archetypes, for example a mage could take scholar, alchemy or scribe, a warrior could take blacksmithing, a ranger bowmaking etc.

This could be combined with certain pre defined character archetypes:

(1) Hunter: Bows, Marksman, Sneaking, Bowmaking
(2) Fighter: One Handed, Shield Specialist, Man at Arms, Bodybuilding
(3) Blacksmith: Two Handed, Man at Arms, Armor Specialist, Blacksmithing
(4) Merchant: One Handed, Man at Arms, Merchant/Bartering, Alchemy
(5) Scholar: Magic School, Scholar, Scribe, Willpower
(6) Nobility: Two Handed, Man at Arms, Leadership, Charisma

Interesting idea, but unfortunately, I do not think that it fits with the vanilla Original Sin campaign, simply because combat is far too integral. You're proposing the existence of seven different skills competing for ability points. Seven skills implies a much larger focus for crafting than actually exists in the vanilla game. I've gone through the entire thing crafting basically nothing at all.

I think I remember some complaints about the recent Shadowrun game which had skills in it that you couldn't really use often enough to justify it. Will there be any quests can be solved with the Tailoring or Scribe skills?

Splitting up crafting like that will create many new non-combat skills, which carries the false implication that you can get through the game without fighting. In terms of creating new builds, I believe won't be the case, because this change would be reducing the functionality of the existing crafting skill. It encourages different archetypes to divert some of their ability points away from combat skills to crafting.

The proposed system would be better served with a separate pool of points just for crafting/non-combat skills. But even so, what about "Lone Wolf" players? Those players will nee

The main characters history and past is left open, but the only fixed thing is that they are Source Hunters in the field, so the Merchant/Scholar/Nobility archtypes don't quite fit.

There are also some recipes which are ambiguous which category of crafting skill they'd fit under. Sure you an use a bowstring with a bow, but you can also use it with an amulet. So what category does Sinew + Sinew = bowstring fit under? What category does lockpick crafting fit under? Food recipes are a substantial proportion of most of the crafting things, so should there be a Chef skill to put points into?

So, in terms of roleplaying and making sense, the idea might be good. Gameplay wise, it would require a lot of changes, it would be confusing, it promotes crafting skills to an undeserved higher level of importance, it would make Crafting less accessible to Lone Wolf characters. It's another change that would have to be designed in from the start, and can't be added in 10 months later.

I agree we already have enough things competing for skill points. It is not a terrible idea though, and it is a lot like some skills and their uses in PnP RPG's.

BTW a couple of things about those who manufacture primitive weaponry,

Bowyer/Fletcher someone who makes bows and/or arrows.
All swordsmiths and armorers are blacksmiths but very few blacksmiths are swordsmiths or armorers.

Yes - it's not a bad idea, just one that doesn't quite fit into Original Sin as it is.



135) Leadership Rank 3 bonus sucks

Here are the bonuses for all 5 ranks of Leadership.

Rank 1

• Initiative +5
• Damage +10%

Rank 2

• Initiative +5
• Damage +10%
• Chance to Hit +10%

Rank 3

• Initiative +5
• Damage +10%
• Chance to Hit +10%
• Critical Chance +1%

Rank 4

• Initiative +10
• Damage +15%
• Chance to Hit +10%
• Critical Chance +1%

Rank 5

• Initiative +10
• Damage +15%
• Chance to Hit +10%
• Critical Chance +1%
• Willpower +1
• Immunity to Fear

They are generally good, except for Leadership 3.

When you go from Leadership 2 to 3, you gain: +1 Critical Chance.
When you go from Leadership 3 to 4, you gain +5 Initiative and +5% Damage.

+1 Critical Chance is nothing at all. An additional one out of every hundred attacks will now crit. You really won't even notice that. Fortunately there are a couple easy fixes that could be done:

- Since the Critical Chance bonus stays at 1% for the other two levels, why not up it to 5% (and keep it at 5% for all higher ranks)? That's much more significant.

- Alternatively, since the Rank 4 bonus is two things, you could move one of them to Rank 3.

- Or possibly, Change the Rank 1 Leadership bonus to +5% Damage, add the second +5% at Rank 3, and move the Critical Chance to Rank 1, and increase it by 1% each Rank so at Rank 5 it's a 5% Crit chance.

The rest of the bonuses for all ranks are fine, it's merely the Rank 3 one which looks unappealing.

Just noticed a little error. I actually meant abilities :O I always mix up abilities and skills in divinity.

It's basically inspired by old school ultima online/later mmo. I just suggested it because I want to play a mage with alchemy/potions and found it weird to also make bows and boots.

But of course it's not important, just a thought.

Non-native english Thanks for the correction.

Oh its fine we knew what you meant Arne your english is very good, but lets give a skilled specialist craftsman his due! The terms are pretty archaic and most people wouldnt know the difference anyway. The way you explained your concept came through clearly, regardless of the verbiage. And sorry I was not trying to be nasty about the terms, just more specific. I understand why we only have Blacksmith and Crafting as manufacturing skills, it is so there doesnt have to be Bowyer, Fletcher, Armourer, Swordsmith, Blacksmith, Shieldwright, Taylor, Tanner, Alchemist, Scribe, Jeweler, etc etc. That many skills would be maddening and difficult to get proficient in and still be good at combat skills. Crafting and the skills for it are a big enough hassle as it is, I like it but think it could be improved.

Stabbey you are 100% correct about level 3 leadership( +1% crit chance isnt a bonus at all its a placeholder or worse- very meh!), also what is the bonus for level 6 leadership and what do you think it should be for level 7, yes 7 doesnt exist but it should because you can get it using gear, I have.

oops, wrong thread.

What about including a "special bag" for every hero in their inventory at the start of a new game.
This special bag is on it's own your "crafting" window wherein you can/have :
1) different tabs (OR: a sorting menu!) : like Arne wrote is a possibility ... a tab for alchemy, tailoring, blacksmithing or weapon-making (in general), scholar/scribe, ALL ITEMS
2) you can also repair all your gear in this special bag window (if you've a repair hammer).
3) you can identify all gear also (if you've an identify glass).
4) a "search" function ?
5) ... maybe more ideas or possibilities ... ?

OR maybe the window wherein you've your Journal/Secrets/Recipes/etc ... also a tab for Crafting ?

Just some tips

136) Wolgraff's starting dagger is an ordinary level 1 weapon
It's level 1 and does 12-17 damage, instead of a level 3 doing 17-27. Not a big deal as a free level 3 dagger can be found on the southwest beach, but it should probably be changed anyway, because it IS his primary weapon, after all.


137) Why is Hearing a thing?
It takes up space on the UI and can appear as a magic mod on items, but I can't really see the point of it existing. I thought that perhaps it might help in the cases where it's too far away to see enemies but you could hear them, except sight range is much farther than hearing. So... what is it useful for?



138) IDEA: Poisoned status should do less damage over twice as much time
There's little differentiation between poisoned and burning damage. They both do substantial damage over 3 rounds. In terms of the player inflicting it on enemies, poison never seems to that effective, except as a method of delivering fire damage. So here's a thought: what if the poisoned status effect's damage was cut, but the amount of time it lasted increased, making it a less immediate danger, but something which would sap your strength over time if you let it build up.

This may be too big of a change for D:OS, it could be too hard a thing to balance right here. However in a future RPG, maybe poison could be altered like this.

You mean like an extra backpack which sits in your inventory and can be moved around like the other backpacks?

Assuming that's what you mean, that's the kind of solution that I'd expect from a modder, but I think it's a little too clunky for an official fix.

The Repairing and Identifying parts could be fixed by Larian by adding in a couple of buttons in the inventory screen, one for repairing and one for identifying. They only light up if you have Blacksmithing AND a Repair Hammer, and Loremaster AND an Identify Glass. That way you just click the button to toggle on the icon (changing its appearance) and can click the hammer/glass icon over all items needing repair or identifying, and you hit escape or the button when you're done to get out of Repair/Identify mode.

I don't think there should be a new bag for crafting, but it could get its own new UI, also accessed through a button on the inventory screen.

I'm not sure how a "search" function would work, that sounds complicated and probably a bit unnecessary.

I don't see the need for adding a new bag which has its own tabs, when there are already so many existing tabs. It would just be confusing.


I do think adding a new option to the right-click menu "Tag as Junk" would be a good idea, it would tag the items as junk for sale, and add a little $/gold pile icon over top of them in the inventory, it would add a new Junk tag to the sort-by menu, and of course when bartering, you would have a new "Junk" tab on the barter screen letting you see exactly what you have tagged as Junk for faster sale.

I like the tag as junk idea, thats good.

Reapairing and identifying could use some level of ergonomic improvement, that sounds like a step in the right direction.

I would not use a new bag, but it isnt a terrible idea, I just dont have many inventory management issues.

Crafting and loot however.....

Yeah, it was just "an idea", no more, no less ! Larian can read all ideas and see what fits best into D:OS !
In first place I didn't dare to write my idea down because it sounds a little bit stupid ... but I thought : it can't hurt .

What I like to see is that I can , at least(!), paint my bags into different colours so I can have immediately a overview which bag contains what kind of stuff I wish to sort for crafting ...

Let's say golden (with the Golden Grail perhaps?) for all magic items (for example), etc ... a 3 or 4 different colours would be great ...
Or just the 3 basic colours: yellow, blue and red "dye" to mix our own colours

So I've had this game unplayed in my Steam list for quite a while. Should I start playing it now or wait for the final rebalance patch?

Why wait? If you are waiting cause its too easy, just play on hard and dont savescum and make both party members lonewolves, and do not Glasscannon, which I do not think breaks the game ( some people think it does) but it is easier-no easier isnt it, it is that your toons are so much better they are not innately crippled.

Otherwise it is going to be a work in progress and you may be waiting quite a while, heck I have played 7 times through it and over 800 hours, game is good right freaking now! No time like the present, besides your gonna play it through probably a few times and once it changes you get to revisit it and see new things and fall for the game all over again.

Stabbey: Your first post is missing the end of a sentence.

"I note that direct damage spells do not seem "

This special bag is already there. It is a card Craft in your inventory. However, the item filtering need improving becouse not every item, who could be used in craft is shown in the craft filter.

The Junk tab and inventory management
- Junk tab is usefull, I waste time on every merchant checking if some of my wares are my wares or junk. Again, and again.
- New items should be placed to the junk automaticaly. They have special background as newcomers. If you mouse hover, then background change to standard item background. If you simply leftclick then it shows the transfer menu. Preferably, menu should have a graphical form of their faces.
- the junk bag should be shared pool. That means, the available weight of toons is combined. My fighter has high power, my mage not. My fighter wears heavy armor, but still have a lot space. The weight which is not used for "usage bag" is shared to Junk.
- Shared pool is only the junk card. Portion of the weight is rebalanced before the battle, so you still could be pinned down by strenght reduction.
- shared pool also means that anyone could access the same tab as they are close together. Also shared bag can not be used in combat. RP explanation>>> its not clear where the item is , so your toon must search in they bags which takes time.
- for multiplayer - every player has his own Junk card. This card is shared for all his toons.