Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Improving Gameplay: To cheese or not to cheese?

Hello everyone,

First of all, I want to thank everyone at Larian for producing such an excellent game. I think everyone who enjoys this game as much as I do understands what makes this game so special. However, I do think there are areas that need improvement, but the problem is so difficult from a mathematical standpoint that I am not entirely certain where to begin (or if I should charge you for a detailed analysis of this nature ;).)

As far as the artistic/design elements of this game are concerned, I have no criticism to offer. This post will mainly concern itself with gameplay.

The big disclaimer here, before I continue, is that I am assuming certain things about how this game should work, and this might be in disagreement with Larian's intentions. My concerns are only applicable as long as our assumptions are in agreement.

Let me begin with anecdotes:

I beat the Alpha once before the patch and twice after the patch. My first approach was similar to the second in that I chose to maximize party size and balance classes. Explicitly, my aim was to achieve balance with a party consisting of Warrior/Hydro, Ranger/Rogue, Pyro/Geo, and Aero/Hydro/Necro, to minimize saving/loading, and to never use the flee mechanic (for a less fearful, seamless gameplay experience, so to speak). In my first run, I believe one of the Hydro offense skills was heavily unbalanced, so it was very easy to beat.

I like what you've done with the AI update. I do not think it is too difficult by any measure (Pro tip: you can steal CC items like Knockdown arrows from the enemies before engaging them). Also, the Hydro skill I was talking about before was nerfed. Now it's 3 circles with some overlap; less focused damage. That seems like a fair solution. No complaints there.

One strange thing happened in my second run, and I am not sure if this is intentional or the real cause. There is a chest on the northeastern-most part of the map past a room with 3 Shriekers. The simple act of sneaking across this area caused all of the Shriekers to die, even the 2 Shriekers west of the room guarding the entrance to the area with Bishop Alexandar. Is this a bug? Also, in the Illusion cave, it is possible to kill the guardian in the beginning and after the first battle for a significant amount of XP, and no actual combat sequence. He just sits there and takes the damage. Is this intentional? Also, the Dragon Knight never showed up in the final fight, although I gave him the wand and he promised he'd be there. Did I miss something? Also, are the Silent monks just free XP?

My third run, by far the most interesting (and the shortest), was motivated by the desire to see if it is possible to beat Act I with a single character. This time, there would be no reservations in using flee, or abusing save/load. I was surprised at how easy this was (All 3 runs were in classic mode). The (obvious) strategy is to gain as much experience as possible via quests before engaging in combat. My idea was to roll an Elven Ranger/Rogue with Glass Cannon. Explicitly, the idea is to deal damage from sneak (I also took Guerrilla at level 3, and 0 points into sneak) before engaging in combat, and taking advantage of a possible late reaction from the AI to maybe land a second hit. This is greatly facilitated by the Gloves of Teleportation, which allowed me to isolate vulnerable targets, pick them off in one turn, flee and repeat. Generally, even if it takes 2 turns to kill a target, if they do not CC and it is possible for me to position myself so that I am not vulnerable to CC from other enemies, this strategy does not fail. The most difficult fights were against the skeletons that come up when you break the soul jar immediately clockwise to Withermoore's, and against the Witch, but ultimately they reduce to a problem of strategic positioning, teleportation, and fleeing. Even if flee wasn't a mechanic, as an Elven Ranger/Rogue, the combination of (Sacrifice + Adrenaline = 3 extra AP and 20% dmg on top of Glass Cannon) with (Snipe + Invis = guaranteed sneak for double damage with Snipe, 25% with Guerrilla and free 3 turn wait for other cooldowns) is more than sufficient. In one particular instance, I was able to defeat the Magisters immediately outside the entrance to Rex's shrine by positioning myself on high ground just east of the Shrieker by only using Hunter's Fang. They were never able to "find" me, so I was never in "official" combat. That aside, some potentially game-breaking things happened in this run:

1) I fled from the battle with Gareth thinking I'd come back to it, but upon return he was dead, and I could not complete the quest line with Exeter.
2) Once again, the Dragon Knight doesn't show up.
3) Gawin never showed up in the Alcove (no I did not kill him)
4) Maybe this is my oversight, but even with all of the soul jars in my bag, Gratiana made no mention of this, nor did the necromancers. I think this has to do with (1), but I am not sure.

Basically, some of the quest triggers are out of whack, but I am not sure if this is intentional. In any case, I was hoping to have backup for the final fight (more than just the Dragon Knight). In spite of this, I was still able to cheese my way through the final fight (at level 6).

I wasn't writing these things down as they were happening, so maybe there are other things I am forgetting but I'll leave the anecdotes where they are. Having said all that:

Is what I did in my 3rd run something that should be possible? If not, the effectiveness of this strategy would be mitigated by eliminating the possibility of doing damage before "officially" engaging in combat. The regeneration of armor is not enough to stop this. Also, sometimes the AI isn't very smart. In particular, I was able to teleport one of the big Voidwoken crocs outside the Illusion cave onto high ground next to a rope ladder knowing it might cause issues. These Voidwoken can teleport, so I am wondering why he didn't teleport down to the first level instead of literally just standing there although I was in visible range and not sneaking? There must be a general procedure by which the AI will not behave in this way.

I have much more to say but I think whoever has taken the time to read this is truly a champ, and I thank you. I enjoyed "cheesing" my way through the 3rd run. It certainly took thought to plan the order in which I'd approach quests and engage enemies, and so on. Therefore, it didn't quite feel like "cheesing", but I wonder what you guys think.

Again, thanks for reading if you got this far.