So good that, despite being in Alpha it made me return here to post this.
Many games never get as good on full release.
Sure there are things to balance further, quests to enhance or make a bit deeper but ill mostly talk about the good stuff. Stuff i think needs to be strengthened, evolved and supported even more in the rest of the game.
This is only about the single player.
I started with Lohse as a shadowblade which i then enhanced into a aerothurge hybrid, as i usually did in OS.
I liked her story, and i liked even more that it surprised me a few times. It is very well written.
(i would remove any direct reveal of her... condition, from the character creation menu, a hint should be enough)
The way dialogue options are presented doesnt bother me at all and i immediately got accustomed to it.
I even like it. Im not sure why but it just glides together with the theme and discovery of the story and the plot.
I find the new approach to the overall story much better, even if i never had any great dislike for a more light hearted tone of the OS. (even if it was disjointed in places)
Im pleased to see there is still some humor in the game, but this time it is applied much more reasonably and believably. People do tend to joke around even in most dire of circumstances, because thats one of the last ways we maintain our humanity in the face of horrors and worst tragedies. But such things must be reasonable, measured and not overdone, which i think this game does almost perfectly. So far.
Even better, the personal reactions of NPCs in the camp to the circumstances we discover throughout he start are diverse and in line with their apparent personalities or small backstories they reveal.
Most of them dont know what situation they are in exactly so it all seems internally believable and logical.
All those little personal stories of NPCs are very, very good.
The overall story seems very good by itself and it does provide some reflections on some of the issues of our own history and present.
Im also satisfied with how, at least so far, you dont try to make every villain be some fake gray morally relative character. Some assholes just need to be put down and are beyond any redemption or forgiveness.
Yet not all of the people in the opposing force are equally evil and that is as it should be.
I like that we are playing source users now. Which was the core theme of a mod i thought to make for OS. I like the collars at the start preventing me from using souce powers and preventing us from wearing/using amulets or necklaces. That turns into a neat little extra reward we get naturally once we manage to take the collars off.
I also liked very, very much how we get the teleportation skill, through a fetch quest that does not simply end once we find the item, but actually leads into a small further quest of its own that teaches the player how to figure out other possible uses of that skill for him or herself.
If its possible, there should be more stuff like that, where new skills or abilities are gained through such story based quests. I would do something similar for telekinesis too, but i understand that skill is more of a fun gimmick in divinity games then a full fledged ability.
I think the magic armor is a good mechanic because it prevents magic spells to be always 100% accurate and effective which was one of the problems in OS.
With further balancing it will be great.
Void creatures are all great and seem much improved compared to OS. Every combat encounter is great and made just right for that specific part of the story progression. It all makes sense and is logically consistent. Keep at it.
I find combat overall to be already better then the OS:EE which was a hit and miss for me.
And i know that with further balancing it will get even better. Very nice to see enemies are able to use more abilities and spells including healing.
Of course i love how many things are left to player to figure out, including things like figuring out how to get to the Seekers camp exactly. Keep at it.
Music is great and unobstructive, i like the choices of the main instruments too.
The whole world seems to glue together very well. The atmosphere is good. Environment art is very good and even if the very start of the game seemed a bit confusing in the very first play, once i stopped minimap from spinning in the game options and played some more i got familiar with it. If you enable us to zoom the PoV a bit further out it will greatly help in that regard too.
The game runs smooth as silk in max setting, no crashes, no problems - on my relatively older hardware. Lots of fps.
I played once to get my bearings, letting things happen as they did from quest to quest, then immediately wanted to start another run to see the differences and try out other stuff and skills and tactics.
Some other stuff:
- make Butter romantically engage only certain characters, not all of them. Once that is achieved make it possible for the player main character to talk her out of helping Griff in the fight. It does not make any sense that someone that likes you that much tries to kill you that easily. And that should be possible to do for other people in Griffs gang too.
Isnt that what persuasion is for?
If Butter is only playing us - give us a hint that may be so.
- make other such romantic options for other races. Plenty of Lizards and Elfs around... right?
- when i talk to the prodigy elf with Lohse, even if i win all the persuasion checks the combat is still initiated. Fix that please. Make more persuasion checks if necessary but if i manage to win them all combat should not start anyway.
- first time i helped Gareth we finished the fight near the Shreeker, and then Gareth tried to run past it. After a reload we finished the fight further away closer to where we see him at the start and then he got away safely by running in other direction and jumping over the wall. Fix that. Also, the girl that is waiting in front of that castle seems to get stuck there and you cannot tell her you saved Gareth. Fix.
- I did notice we cannot use resurrection on anyone else except party members, and i do know those scrolls actually break any internal logic the story has - but im willing to let it slide, as i was in OS, since it is clear its there to help players get through all the elemental magic effects more easily. If i ever make a mod for OS thats the first thing that will be cut. But its not something easily done in the core game. Just so you know i know.
- The cursed ring of Bracus Rex is great. Thats how cursed items should be always done. With a hint and nothing more. I also have a feeling getting all of his items wont have a happy ending. I hope my feeling is correct.
Once i let one of the party equip it, the curse cannot be removed just by taking the ring off. Thats excellent.
(But the cursed status simply disappeared after some time by itself, although the quest is still open. Fix please.)
If i then use the shrines to go to seekers camp, it seems that Bracus ring creates a cursed effect in the healing mist of that goddess shrine there, which either kills the priestess or makes Gareth attack us if he gets damaged by its effect, which results in entire camp turning hostile.
I actually liked that. Its probably a bug but i would like to see that effect kept in some way. It fits very, very well with the story of Bracus as we discover more of its details.
(if one of the party members is dead and left back at the location of the fight because i didnt have any resurrection scrolls left - i cannot initiate dialogue with the priestess in the Seekers camp even if i have all the soul jars with me - once i went back to Fort Joy, bought one resurrection scroll, returned to the fight location, resurrected the fallen companion and went back to Seekers camp the dialogue started fine. Fix please.)
- I dont see whats the problem with durability or with bashing down doors and loot boxes. Not everything in the game needs to please the laziest of your players.
Some things are there to enhance the internal consistency, believability and verisimilitude of the gameworld.
But i doubt you will listen to me rather then those cry babies, even if fixing stuff was never easier and you have removed the option of items getting completely broken beyond repair.
***
Suggestion:
Make physically bashing destroy some of the "soft items" in the crates and boxes, but not any of the harder, sturdier ones like weapons, armor and similar.
Because it makes sense.
That and making bashing attract guards, raise alarms and similar (where it should be logically expected only) will provide good balance versus stealth thievery.
You already have doors that cannot be physically broken, so why not a few of special crates of that kind too?
Make burning, freezing or electrocuting loot boxes destroy more items, including sturdier ones.
Also, i think if you make it that once i select attack on an item the animation of hitting it becomes automatic and repeats until it or my weapons break - so i dont have to select attack fifty times myself - will remove majority of the complaints about it.
If it was me, i would make durability have tiered negative effect on the item stats. So a player with low repair stat could only fix them partially.
(same thing for loot from enemies, which will make high repair skill more valuable but players could still play without it)
I would then also use that mechanic to make items in loot boxes slightly or more damaged caused by physically or magically forcing them open.
That would also make thievery even more valuable and i think some xp for success wouldn't be amiss either.
I would also like to see lockpicks break only occasionally, due to low skills and critical fails - not all the time.
So a skilled thief would not break her lockpicks all the time even if she fails to open the lock immediately.
That would then become a natural sign that a lock is too difficult for that level of skill - if attempted by a skilled thief, but nothing more.
The point is, skilled thieves do not break their lockpicks.
And they usually dont jam the locks either.
Low skilled thieves would then break the lockpicks all the time and jam the locks all the time.
Necessitating a more robust approach and loss of some items depending on whether physical or magical force is used.
If a character doesnt have any thievery skills i would completely disable the option to even attempt lockpicking.
***
- if i liberate the Dragon, he comes flying over us just before the last fight... and that applies the chilled effect on my party? Maybe that should happen only when the fight starts, maybe only after the worm appears and then the enemies should get chilled?
Also, weren't Gareth and the Seekers supposed to help in that fight? They just run away... assholes.
- It would be nice if we could save some of the people in the Fort Joy, once we killed all the magisters and helped Seekers. It doesnt feel finished or internally logical we achieve all these things and then just leave the people there while they show no sign of noticing anything happened.
- Nobody notices we removed the collars either. Fix pls.
/
I thought you will mess up with all the features you are trying to implement instead of focusing on whats important, but you seem to have avoided it.
Congratulations. Very good work so far.
