Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Game Master Glaring Oversights

Hey guys,

So I pretty much bought this game for the GM mode. I knew going into the purchase that there are currently major shortcomings of the GM mode engine. So before you crucify my please understand I am just looking for info on the following MAJOR oversights:

-No persistent player characters between campaigns or ability to save/export characters (this makes playing have zero appeal and I won't touch GM mode until this is a feature)

-No ability to allow for AI reactions (i.e., someone attacks an NPC, prompt GM to take control or allow AI to handle the encounter)

So, I know these issues have been brought up several times. My concern is that I see no response or updates regarding these issues.

Maybe I've become spoiled by BlueHole recently on Twitter, Discord or via Steam update notes. If there is an issue or a major missing feature, Playerunknown, their community manager (PoopieQueen) or another member of the company will promptly address it and give some insight as to if it is being address or soon to be released. Maybe Larian has these communications somewhere and I am missing them?

I hear you...

Unfortunately I'm sitting back waiting until the modding community steps in to fix it. However, my current gut instinct is that there simply isn't enough interest in modding this game to fix the massive laundry list of holes that need plugging.

There is a lot to love about the toolkit, however I really want to hear an official response from Larian on their dev roadmap for this component before I sink any more time.

Honestly, there are other things that are far more glaring than these two issues, the first of which Swen mentioned they are looking to implement in a future update. The 2nd one is just roleplaying on the GMs part. The GM can pause the game at any point, turn peace mode off, possess any npc, change their alignment, etc. I'm not sure why'd they'd even need to address it. Other things such as making custom skills in GM mode, being able to control multiple npcs at once while outside of combat, and not being able to have a player create a new character at any point after initial setup are more glaring I'd say. Not to mention the limited amount of monsters included on release.

But, having said that, this game's GM mode is still miles and miles ahead of Sword Coast Legends laughable attempt. The editor really opens up so many possibilities.

It's certainly much easier to use than Sword Coast Legends, and far less bug riddled. Sword Coast Legends lacked branching dialogs, which was a massive limitation. But in contrast, DoS:II won't let you develop playable stories, and won't let you import characters. So they are quite different.

Yeah, the sad thing is, GM Mode is amazingly well done (save for these massive omissions). It will be a huge tragedy if they don't salvage the situation by fixing these issues.

I was excited to play the main game, but GM mode was really what captured my attention. It would allow me and my buddies who don't have the time to sit down at a table and play DnD for 4-6 hours straight to be able to jump into a game remotely and hopefully have an equally good time.

Lack of transparency from Larian is pretty disappointing at this point.


P.s., still loving playing the main game/story.

I probably would have put off my plans to run a full campaign without the mods people have been putting out which is sad considering what a great tool it could be. Its almost like they thought people just wanter to make tons of small combat encounters and call it a campaign.

Thanks to some larger maps, creatures being added, and other mods its viable again. I feel that gm mode was a big part of the traction the game got from the get go ( and 100% the reason i bought it) but it doesnt feels like any things are being addressed. Instead, its all about the editor. You should not have to learn the editor to put a simple campaign together.

I understand the editor is a great tool but a lot of simple things should have been doable in gm mods like tweaking a skill or adding fire damage to a sword.

This was advertised to run a D&D campaign by Larian. The lack of typical fantasy races, creatures, and the inability to reroll characters should have kept them from pitching it that way. They go and show us this great gm mode video with Matt Mercer then we get the game and no goblins.

I think the game is good and gm mode is good though notnwhst it should have been.

Its frustrating that this forum is becomming the same comments over and over about the same issues without any real comment from Larian, just people saying well you have to go learn the editor.

Were starting the campaign this weekend or next we ill see how it goes.

Exporting characters and importing them in a new campaign (and back again into the saved old one) is the number one thing on my list. The only other things I can think of would be the ability to delete "saved/exported creatures", to be able to "watch combat as if participating" and the ability to posses one creature without also having to play all other "enemies" during combat.

For everything else I unfortunately do have to say: use the editor, and I do think that's where most of the things I see requested on these forums and elsewhere actually do belong.
The editor is a lot less harder to use than one might think and the community is providing a lot of tutorials that are very helpfull.

I most certainly don't think one can blame Larian for lack of transarency as they have been very open about what the GM Mode would be like, what it could do and what it couldn't.

I followed Larian on Twitter. Does anyone know if there is any other form of communication they use? There are obviously mods in this forum, but is there a community manager or anything of the sort that actually speaks to players?

It would be really nice to see something like how Jeff Kaplan does his updates for Overwatch. Or how Sammie Kang (Community manager for BlueHole) pretty much instantly answers questions on Twitter to the best of her ability.

It looks like Seter is commenting a few issues. Have anything to say about the issues brought up in this thread, Seter?

I've only seen comments on bugs not features. The making new characters, transfering characters, and party size are such huge issues it's really disappointing not having them addressed.

Hi!

We read carefully every post you made but I cannot comment on the features we may or may not developed yet. However, we aware of things you brought up and I agree that they are pretty important.

We (and I personally) very grateful for feedback you posting here. This is really important for us to know what you guys think and what is limiting you for having sessions via Game Master mode.

Thank you, sir. Your post is very appreciated.

Just an update to anyone following this thread. So I Tweeted to Larian with a link to this forum thread stating that it is sad that they don't share any info with their customers on the status of development.

This is the response I received from the official Larian Twitter:

"We do plan to continue to develop the GM Mode!"




....GG.

I'm pretty sure their focus is:
1. Campaign bug fixes.
2. Balance and skill tweaks.
3. The Editor and tutorials for it.
4. Something else.
5. Something else.
6. What's for lunch tomorrow.
7. Something else.
8. GM Mode.

I'm sure it's not really that bad though and they probably just don't want to make us promises they might not be able to follow through on. I will admit that the basics behind GM Mode and great and I'm still making a campaign to be played starting next week thanks to the modding community. I just feel there are a few key things that would push it over the edge and possible even steal some of the virtual tabletop market.

This games SP and co-op campaign might be a shoe in for GOTY but I am only here for GM mode...

As the above post says, I have a feeling the "official" changes will be few and far between but i also feel like the steam workshop is going to be overflowing with GM mode add-ons and extras in no time.

I'm certainly hoping on it at least. As it is right now, i can do some real nice things but the perfect GM mode campaign cant quite happen yet until a few options i'm missing are added into the mode.