So, I absolutely adored both D:OS and D:OS EE. So much so that I went and bought all of the games and devoured them. No game is without flaws but these were pretty fantastic.
For my birthday I got EA to D:OS 2! I was so excited to launch it and once again set off into the amazing world you guys created.
Without further ado, here's my feedback:
Things I am loving:
Multiple races at character creation (and in the game in general) This is awesome! It's a surefire way to make sure I'll come back and play over and over. It expands the lore and the world so much. As a story oriented gamer this is super important to me. I especially love the dwarves!
Updated character pictures. No more having to find one that somewhat resembles your character!!
The looks:
The graphics and world are gorgeous. I'm fond of more 3rd person than isometric views but I understand that's not how this game works and that's fine with me!
The story so far:
This game grabbed me much more easily than Original Sin. The beginning scenes and prologue were really cool and helped me establish my character's personality fully within my mind. That's a really important thing to me.
The combat:
Turn based combat is rarely something I enjoy but just like OS I find myself loving it in this game, partially because of the amazing interactive environments and necessary strategies! Honestly there's nothing I'd change about combat. The addition of high and low ground really cements combat as fluid and entertaining throughout the entire game.
The characters:
So far I've enjoyed the characters I met. Most of them are interesting and feel real.
Things I'm not loving so much:
Only one character? I can understand the change for this but it's slightly disappointing. I really enjoyed creating two characters that I could control who worked well together and roleplaying them with separate personalities via dialogues. It was one of the most fascinating and unique aspects of Original Sin.
Too easy to involve NPCs in combat even unintentionally. I hate that, it makes me feel horrible and I have to re-load a save. Any NPC that is not originally hostile shouldn't be able to be engaged unless you trigger it specifically. Maybe a safeguard or a way to disengage if it does happen would be useful. A surrender or talk down option that is based upon stats or something could work well.
Movement is still a pain. I much would prefer to move with wasd and use my mouse for camera and interacting. Even better if I could set an interact key to select something my mouse was hovered over. Please allow us to move with the usual pc game movement keys instead of clicking!
Character customization was really limited. Like more than for OS. There were very few hairstyles, skintone options, and facial options for my dwarf. That was kinda disappointing and I hope more will be added upon release.
Suggestions for release:
VO - when it comes to voice acting no one can really seem to agree. I suggest giving players options in the matter that they can enable or disable in settings. For example there would be an option like thus:
Voicovers:
Full with ambient dialogue
Full without ambient dialogue
Quests, story, and greetings only
Quests and story only
Main quests and greetings only
Main quests only
No voices
Character voice:
Full
Main quest only
Combat only
None
For my own personal preference I'd like to see it either like OS or OS EE. Either fully voiced or partially. I'm not fond of completely silent games in that area. I know full voiceover work is expensive and difficult (and quite frankly most of the voices in EE were awful) so I suspect it'll be most like OS which is a-okay with me!!
Mounts? That could be cool.
Friendships and romances with companions or npcs? Also cool.
Multiplayer looks fun but I've no one to play wth and I suck so hard no one would want to play with me. (Plus story-gamer. I'd get so annoyed if someone skipped dialogue!) I'm glad it's involved for people who like that sort of thing though!!
