Larian Studios
Posted By: Rostelle Faceshifter Mask/Respec Mirror - Too Easy ? - 01/10/18 12:34 PM
Have just completed first playthrough of DOSII;
Enjoyed thoroughly but have the feeling that two features led to certain problems being too easily resolved.
The following does contain information that would definitely be Spoilers for new players.

Must say first have thoroughly enjoyed the game and hope these comments will be taken in the spirit they are intended which is as the view of someone with their own particular set of preferrences.

I know some will immediately say "Well don't use them". The problem with that assumption is that until someone has played a significant part of the game they have no idea what will be thrown up in the next section. So until I was in Arx and nearing the end game I was never really sure if these would become essential. Certainly if I decide to replay the game I would deliberately not use them.

I feel both of these detract from any character build planning which I feel is a fundamental part of RPG. I appreciate an occasional ability to overcome certain character restrictions (eg. disguise) can add to role play but I feel both of these are too indiscriminate.

The Faceshifter Mask. This allows a player to switch race at will. Either to make use of special attributes (eg. lizard fire breath, elf create pool of blood) or to pass an NPC interaction check. Now that I've completed the game my feeling is if you could only Faceshift if you had a handily stored face in a Gruesome Jar filled with craftable embalming fluid. And if you could only obtain a face from a freshly generated corpse (ie. killed in battle) and it had to part of the action (costing 2AP) and you obviously need to use the Gruesome Jar with Embalming Fluid you prepared earlier and any adversary killed inappropriately (eg. with fire/acid/maces/axes) would have an unusable face. Then this would be much more interesting. Because even if the party has a handy dwarf face ready they may choose to hang onto it in case it's needed later.

The Respec Mirror; Just seems too easy. I kept expecting it to run out or something. My feeling is perhaps this should exist but every character in the party (and each hireling) can only use it once. Or using it costs a dozen Source Orbs or some other significant cost. Perhaps one use each on first arrival in Reaper's Coast then massive cost for any subsequent use.

The problem is if I made rubbish decisions early on I can wriggle out of them too easily. I rather like having an excuse to use obscene language at the computer screen
for a while before going back and starting again.

The game has an Honour Mode. Certainly if Larian produce more prequels or sequels I would love to see a Consequence or Ramification Mode where this type of readily accessible respecifying of character were strictly limited.

Just want to finish with a reminder that I did enjoy the game and many thanks to Larian.
usually the main reason for me to use faceshift mask is to have a flesh sacrifice on my undead elf. and that's probably the only reason. cuz I've completed the game even without using it a single time during the run.
so it's definitely not mandatory.
also most of the persuasion checks can be solved either by high persuasion skill(my mage passed str checks with ease, even though her str is 5) or by simply killing everyone who disagree with you.


same with a mirror. at first it seems that having 5 in barter, persuasion and etc is a great thing. but in reality you don't need all of it. just think your build.
if you're playing with 4 heroes you can use your main to have persuasion5(cuz he'll be the one who will speak the most), someone to have thievery5(to pick few locks you can't destroy, and the money you'll get from stealing will allow you to skip leveling barter at all), someone with lucky charm(for free loot, not needed at all, but very useful once you get past 6) and the last one with loremaster(mainly for monster's stats, cuz you can identify at the traders).
stealth is useless. and telekinesis is cheesy. so you don't really need to invest in them.
so with setup like this you'll never need to go to the mirrir ever. unless you'll be bored with your build
Originally Posted by Rostelle

The problem is if I made rubbish decisions early on I can wriggle out of them too easily. I rather like having an excuse to use obscene language at the computer screen
for a while before going back and starting again.

then do it. swear cuz you've made a mistake and throw a keyboard at the wall. but it will not change anything. the game is not random. all enemies are pre-placed. so you'll either use a mirror and save a lot of time to fix a mistake. of you'll load a save at the time before the mistake and fix it. and then you'll waste a lot of time by going through the game to the moment where you've stopped.
even completing act1 can be boring sometimes if you've done literally everything in the act... I guess during my playthroughs I've chosen every dialogue option possible laugh

same with a honor mode. you can complete is without ever using a mirror by having a plan before the game.
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