Larian Studios Forums Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (English) Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis 7 Years.....and back.

Hi there.

Just found DDII on the web. Funny old story really.

Myself and a friend waaay back in 2002 were looking for a D&D style PC Game. We came across two at the time on a cover demo disc (PC Gamer). One was Divine Divinity the other was Dungeon Siege. Divinity demo some may remember was massive. Ending somewhere in the catacombs. We couldn't believe how long the demo lasted and it really pulled us in. Dungeon Siege although had 3D graphics was far more linear and we wanted a truly open ended world.

DD won us over and we played it to completion and then moved rapidly over to Morrowind which by then had become (and still is IMO) the best RPG game out there.

Anyway a few days ago we were discussing over a cup of char whilst our two sons ran amok outside any new games to play as we were hoping 'Mortal Online RPG' would make an appearence soon. Sadly the game is far from finished so it looks as if we will have to wait till next year. On the way back from the lav I clocked his old DD box on the shelf. Much reminiscing and nostalgia was discussed over a second cup of the brown emulsification fluid and a ginger biscuit on DD when i recalled a small article PC Gamer had written a year or so ago on DDII.

So here I am 7 years later looking forward to playing a game that kick started the whole PC Gaming RPG side for me. Since then much water has passed under the bridge with games such as Morrowind, NWN, NWN2, LotR online, WoW, EQII, Oblivion all having been played to death.

Anyway it's good to be back but and see that Larian have created what looks to be a really good follow-up. Sorry to say that the music is still dire as ever though Larian. I know a lot of people love it but seriously to me it sounds more like an entry into the Eurovision song contest than a decent piece of RPG inspired music. Take a leaf out of Morrowinds book!

Welcome to the forums!

Funny as DD and morrowind are still considered one of the best RPGs ever made, so many years forward into the future (for me also).

My story is a little diferent. I'm 30 years old now and i was realy tired of this new "high-tech" games with little depth, that are nothing more than a graphical demo wrapped around a poor story. I stumbled across a video of D2 and it looked "something more" and i researched larian and found out they had a game called divine divinity. After a couple hours searching where i could get the game legaly (trust me, was very hard), i got it.

I can say that now in 2009, in an era of 3d graphics with super-cutting edge technology and graphics like crysis, etc, it was the game i spent more hours in. A "tiny" game in 2D made 7years ago. Kinda ironic.


I'm realy realy looking forward to play D2 and can't wait for it to be released in english and with the new "fix-it-all" patch.

I take it neither of you guys ever played Baldur's Gate II... right?

I did play it on a demo that was kicking around. Little too much hack and slash for my liking but then to be fair I didn't play it all the way through.

At 37 now it is funny to think back before I had kids and was married. Simpler times haha!

Funnily enough my mate has reloaded DD up and is playing it till the new one appears. For me I seldom revisit old ground.

Still DDII will hpefully be released next month and that will give me something to wind down on during the dar winter months.

Yes, i did, and i enjoyed it a lot. But morrowind and D1 are somewhat more special for me, dont realy know why.

One that is on my "special list" is Lands of Lore I, but that is olddddddd........

I personally felt morrowind was awfully annoying in the combat department. I don't think I'll ever get those mudcrabs out of my head... you're a giant friggin' crab, I'm like half a yard away from you, and i'm hacking at you like a madman... why can't i hit you? Am I drunk?

Also didn't like the freeform leveling system it had. and the 3rd person view, couldn't pick anything up with it, cause your belly was blocking the crosshair. Was still a great game though. Much better than Oblivion. I especially liked how they did character creation. Seyda Neen was really beautiful... and there was lots of imagery in the design. But Divinity's music is definitely better than Morrowind's was, IMO.

Anywho, Baldur's Gate will always be the greatest game, to me. It's the little things that do it. Minsc and Boo, Ariel the beautiful Avariel, the fantastic foe, Jon Irenicus, the relationships you created with your companions... they had so much to say, to me and eachother. There's nothing a non-party-based game can do about that. Only an MMO with RPG-friends, mayhaps. Missed that a lot in NWN2 and Drakensang.

NWN1 will always be one of my favorites as well, though, with its two great add-ons and its memorable characters. NWN2, while being party based, never even got close.

don't know if it interests you, but I heard that Bethesda recently put Daggerfall up for free download. It's Morrowind predecessor and really generated a lot of their fanbase. Perhaps check it out while waiting for Ego Draconis?

Hello, HamishUK, did you have another screenname back then ?

Anyway, hello from on older inhabitant.

You can find more of us here : http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=354581#Post354581

Hello Hamish,

I've been hearing about the 2nd and 3rd elder scrolls on these forums lately. I know the first 2 are free downloads so might give them a try since I like more quantity over quality. I still consider the best console RPG's to be from the SNES as they didn't drag out too long like playstation ones. It is hard to find the quality in games that Larian produces. I haven't tried many old PC rpg's since I got heavy into playing games on a computer back around when DD came out. Of course this lead me to a large problem, couldn't find any other PC games as good as DD so really haven't played many.

DD was really done well and hard for Larian to ever improve over that game. Though D2 is awesome (I've played about 50% it myself via English hack) I still think DD is better. As long as you don't compare D2 with DD, you'll think D2 perfect and what an rpg should be.

You will feel like your playing Divine Divinity at times but only in 3D, it is how I felt. The game is worth getting.

Were you here when DD was suppose to be called Divinity: Sword of Lies?

In RPGs I prefer 'free-roaming'/'exploration' above 'story-based'/'railroading'... that's why I've always liked Icewind Dale & Fallout better than Baldur's Gate 2. And of course Bethesda's games which are the ultimate free-roaming games.

@OP: strange how opinions can differ... I think the music in DD2 is among the best I've ever heard in a game... especially the main theme (which luckily is not repeated every 5 minutes like in Morrowind ;))

I never understood what was so great about Morrowind. I tried to play it several times and it graphics are ugly (even back then, all yellow) and it's made of pure boredom.

But I also do not get what the Hype about those medicore games called "Oblivion" and "Fallout 3", apart from graphics, Bethesda makes, imo, only average games. Well, shiny graphics still seem to blind.

@virumor
Strange, Baldur's Gate 2 is at least as non-linear and free as Fallout (1 and 2).

But as we currently think about nostalgia and "greates games from the past"... Planescape: Torment. Still my "all time #1 favourite" (not only RPG!).

I've played it and for some reason didnt find it all that apealing. I understand that the rather un-ortodox way of storytelling can be awesome for some ppl, for me (at that time) it wasnt

I'll try it again now that i'm older and wiser Have to kill time till D2 launches in english anyways :P

What? Torment or Baldur's Gate?

The graphics of both are rather outdated. What's cool about Planescape: Torment is that it is basically only text. I write this and I mean it. It's (english) script contains 800,000 words, no one ever will do something like that again.

For me Morrowind was a natural progression on from DD. Morrowind had greater character development, deeper story and immersion. It wasn't purely point and click but much more freeform and being able to explore your surroundings in a first person perspective. Plus there was the long term playability of the game with mods and player made content. That for me ensured that Morrowind remained on my HDD for well over two years!!

Oblivion however felt lacklustre as it sold out to the console crowd with a god awful UI.

Anyway this is not about Morrowind but DDII. What I enjoyed about DD was the humour and vague sillines about the whole game. Not in a childish way but it was entertaining in a mature way.

Anyway I am looking forward to exploring Larian's work.

D2 Looks good for you then (and for me aswell!)


Atmosphere (8/10)
+ nice mix of traditional fantasy setting and humour/irony
+ fun to explore the world
+ spot on humor
- change of character too quick (not even sure what they mean in german)
- some weak plotlines

Game length (10/10)
+ huge amount of quests, most of which are optional
+ huge and varied world
+ upgradeable player fortress

Quests (10/10)
+ nice story
+ good/evil paths
+ interesting characters
+ surprise twists

Character/Skill system (9/10)
+ you're free to choose what skills you want
+ opportunities to experiment
+ lots of useful skills
+ dragon has own skills


http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=366235#Post366235

You forgot to add - lots of useless skills (unarmed,one handed, experience, mindread, polymorph)and more

Mindread is awesome. You just do not have to put skillpoints in them.

And who says that one-handed is "useless"? If I want to fight/play with only one sword, I can do that... I find that great.

I mean the bonus you get for it is worse than using a shield or a secons weapon
I understand if the one h. attack was faster than others or at least cooler...
Two hands FOREVER!!!

One-handed is very useful. I've been to more than enough communities to know that every game has a number of fans who prefer using just a one-handed sword. Personally, I always whine when another great game comes out without sword-and-dagger dual-wielding options, so I can understand their perspective, as well. It doesn't have to be the most powerful thing, really, it just has to be viable.

same goes for unarmed. polymorph i wouldn't know, i don't play mages =)

I've found 2 handed to be the most effective in this game. I found the shields in this game too weak and you do more damage duel wielding then with a 2 hand sword. You can duel wield any weapon combo, dagger and war-hammer, axe and mace, it doesn't matter.

Just keep the most powerful weapon in your right hand as the left hand weapon has the weaker attack.

It is really nice when both do mana leach.

If Larian would double the effectiveness on the shield (at least) it be a toss up between which one to use. As of now, only the mage class would benefit from a shield.

I totally agree, I also found Oblivion to be a huge let down after Morrowind. Another point that made Morrowind great was the rather fresh scenario compared to most other fantasy games. Those mushroom forest and towns for example were something that wasn't done and seen at least a 1000 times in like 100 movies and games before. The complete artwork in Morrowind was great. I loved the design of the towns.





10/10 for game length? I know that games in most other genres are usually a lot shorter, yet for a RPG, Divinity2 is rather short.




Well, it could definitely not hurt to balance those skills a little to get ithem on an equal level with dual wield. A shield for example could give more armor bonus. And maybe add a certain chance to protect against range and magic attacks. And just using one one hand weapon could give a bonus to speed or evading attacks, or both. And two hand weapons should do more damage and get more slots for enchantments.