Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Combat difficulty

Alright so first off i wanna say that i think combat mechanics are really good, and they are a big part of what i love about div: os

But i have to make a note on two key issues.

1. The game starts out with really challenging combat, but as the game progresses it becomes easier and easier to the point that everything is just a cakewalk.

2. There should be an extra difficulty setting. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a boost in npc power, would make me very happy.


The problem really arises from the fact that if you make sure to do all the quests and invest your stats properly. Your character goes from being sort of weak, to a highly specialized killing machine.

Really? It was a major issue in the first Sin, but I didn't notice OS2 becoming a cakewalk as you progress, especially with that final fight. Guess it could always stand to be a bit more difficult though.
And yes, there'll be an extra difficulty setting on release, as well as honour mode.

Its all based on how good gear you have. If you try to tight stuff while your party is still dressed in rags, every fight is going to be difficult. BUt if you walk around and loot fort joy before fighting stuff every fight becomes very managable. You can kill magisters at lv 1 if you just have good enough gear.

what i saw is that a single bad roll or a bad positioning makes an easy fight lost in one round of combat with nuking abilities. combat is much based on elemental environment abilities (frozen, electrostunned, knock-back etc).

I went from struggling sometimes, to buying a two handed weapon that does 120, and changed the Prince, who had sword and shield points, to just giving him another big 2 handed weapon because the damage increase was crazy, and I just murdered everyone so far

Then i'm perfectly happy tbh. case closed

I played the harder difficulty and found many fights up to the end challenging. I did not find much in uber equipment ( played party of four solo - i hear folks who play co-op are getting better equipment). Also money was scarce so I was only able to buy a few items. I found combat in d:os very easy for the most part of the hardest (but not honour) difficulty. So yea I think d:os-2 was much more difficult and required more in the way of 'luck' and positioning.
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If you play co-op or there are other methods to get uber equipment then you should note such in your comments here because part of pacing is the equipment available. I suppose classes also make a difference as well as build.

Yeah, the game is way too easy currently and doesn't have a chance to show off all the fun stuff in the system.

I've played the harder difficulty and it wasn't that hard, mainly because the IA of the enemies neeeds to be improved: enemies climbing up and down on the same ladder multiple times on a turn, or teleporting away and walking back to where they were initially.

It's true that there's less money, but you can still save/sell stuff and get decent gear.

I'd say the difficulty is leaning to the easy side, I know it isn't supposed to be the hardest one, but it wouldn't hurt to improve the difficulty curve, because the second half of Chapter 1 was way easier than the first half.

I'm having a different experience. I find the early combat to be quite easy, and the most difficult fights so far have been in the Marshes. So I think there are anecdotal issues of character build and party composition.

I'm more concerned that some build types seem far less useful and effective. 1H weapons, for example ...

This feeling is mostly reinforced I feel by the first part of Act I being all magic-using opponents (read extremely powerful enemies). And all encounters are set up to harm the player (surrounding them with 4 magic users in 4 corners, all on higher ground).

However second part they become melee's and rangers (weak) who also generally are located in one line infront of you, or locations where they actually have to fight the map itself to reach you in the first place (The temple where you find the Seeker leader comes to mind where the enemy AI just totally presents itself 1-by-1. Heck I fought the mage in melee while the tanky melee was on the entire other side of a pit.

With fairness though, this is pretty much every RPG ever. The genre is notorious for an inverted difficulty curve and the power creep that comes with progression mechanics.

Even Tactician mode in the OS:EE became a cakewalk once you passed a certain threshold of acquired skills and experience using them.


That said, it depends heavily on your party mix, and when you take on certain challenges. Ive started this game now with several characters/party mixes, and I've struggled with some even with superior gear, and blown through the early game in simple rags with others. All characters can become powerful, but they don't all start out that way.