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Autsj posted:This is definitely not true, if you know how to min-max a build you can easily outscale enemy armor and health even on tactician, regardless of how their armor balance leans. it's still more effort, more faff, and more ways to screw it up than just going 2 and 2 so imho it is not optimal at all. but that can depend on what your definition of optimal is. unrelated and toward a few other posts: scoundrel is indeed the weakest of all the 'main' paths, just because it relies on those guaranteed crits which are a pain to set up and don't actually help you that much in many situations. its reliance on finesse (by virtue of half the skills requiring a dagger) is annoying too just because its armor choices make you equally mediocre at all resists, which in practice means pretty much any enemy formation can spank you in a round if they decide to focus, which they frequently will. archers get around this by being far away but sneakbois don't have that luxury. i've also tried doing a dagger plus a shield and while it's better than 2x dagger that's because bouncing shield is one of the best skills in the game. there's a few decent things in scoundrel (chloromorph and adrenaline, as noted, are super nice, i'd also point out cloak and dagger is one of the best teleport skills in the game), but all the combat skills explicitly rely on you screwing about in melee with the prime stat that is least suited to surviving melee.
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May 31, 2023 21:13
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afaik all physical damage dealer sources benefit more from maxing warfare than from their own schools, because of the way damage is calculated. this is the same for (obviously) the actual warfare tree, but also for scoundrel, huntsman, even necromancy builds. double nine fucked around with this message at 21:38 on May 31, 2023 |
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May 31, 2023 21:35
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double nine posted:afaik all physical damage dealer sources benefit more from maxing warfare than from their own schools, because of the way damage is calculated. This is correct and indeed because of how the damage formula works, which is roughly (don't have it on hand): Base * Attribute bonus (+everything else) * Elemental bonus (Warfare, Pyro, etc) * Critical + High Ground * Guerilla perk (for some reason, but it's still not worth it). This makes the core template of maximizing damage roughly: Max out main attribute, then Wits (with some Memory and Wits throughout the game as needed), max out your primary elemental ability (apart from some utility points like Scoundrel, Aero, Pyro), then max out either Scoundrel or Huntsman, stack runes and stack + attribute/ability bonuses from your gear. Elias_Maluco posted:Do you got any guide with crazy powerful builds? I’ve been wanting to give this game another run but I don’t want to go with the same fighter+ranger+2 mages I’ve did the first time Because of the above formula, you kinda don't need builds. You can pick out any concept you want and apply the above to spec your points in support of your damage; the game is kinda "pick your skills first, then put your character points in support of that". There are builds online, and the best I've seen are from Sin-Tee/Lost Sinner on Steam, but those are obnoxious to read because they do a whole list of level by level point attribution that is both clumsy and completely unnecessary since you only really need to understand the basics of the formula to do it yourself just as well. Other thing to keep in mind is that though there is a hard cap on how many points you can put in your stuffs, you can still stack more via gear and buffs (there is no hard cap on that), so you can keep stacking if you are diligent. And the rest is up to simply playing well, like as Savage Cracker suggested, using Teleport to pile your opponents together for nuking and aoe disables (though you don't actually need to be all intelligence characters to benefit from Teleport this way). Of the top of my head, the highest non-gimmick damage "classes" are probably Necromancer (with Grasp of the Starved, act 2), Two-Handed Warrior, Geomancer (with Pyroclastic Explosion, late act 2), and Ranger. But you can do well with anything you fancy as long as you understand the above concepts. Autsj fucked around with this message at 22:28 on May 31, 2023 |
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May 31, 2023 22:15
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A lot of the early combat is figuring out good ways to approach specific fights. Stuff like figuring out good placement for your party before you trigger a fight, shennigans with teleport, finding which fights around are best to take given your level, etc etc. Often times a difficult fight can be avoided just by finding another way to solve a problem or doing some side quest too. I don't think there's too much benefit to min/maxing builds right out of the gate. Just explore and try stuff. Eventually you'll get access to a mirror that lets you do full respecs which will let you pick better builds for mid/late game if you happen to need it. But for a first playthrough I think stumbling around blind is the best experience. The only thing as people have said don't try to spread your points too thinly, but other than that a lot of stuff works. (Oh and make sure you have one person with the Pet Pal talent)
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May 31, 2023 22:46
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you get a free and infinite respec thingy after the first act of the game so builds are very fluid and not something you need to worry about, ostensibly. the problem with that is that the game's difficulty curve is U shaped. the first act is really hard compared to the majority of the game because you have very few buttons to press and few resources to acquire more buttons. so builds can matter there, and sticking to elemental bonus skills like warfare/pyro/geo or specifically focusing on poly for the extra stats it gives you is well advised. the last act is also a big step up because the game assumes that you have every salient button and are fully prepared to use them to their cheesiest potential - which is a bridge you can cross when you come to it.
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Jun 1, 2023 05:54
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there is a mod (even an official 'goodie bag') that places a respec mirror in fort joy. this feels like the devs admitting the need for it. however this does disable achievements, if you care about those
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Jun 1, 2023 07:24
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Coolguye posted:you get a free and infinite respec thingy after the first act of the game so builds are very fluid and not something you need to worry about, ostensibly. Yeah, that’s how I remember too. Kinda brutal until halfway act 2, than easy, than pretty hard again at the last act Autsj posted:This is correct and indeed because of how the damage formula works, which is roughly (don't have it on hand): Base * Attribute bonus (+everything else) * Elemental bonus (Warfare, Pyro, etc) * Critical + High Ground * Guerilla perk (for some reason, but it's still not worth it). This makes the core template of maximizing damage roughly: Max out main attribute, then Wits (with some Memory and Wits throughout the game as needed), max out your primary elemental ability (apart from some utility points like Scoundrel, Aero, Pyro), then max out either Scoundrel or Huntsman, stack runes and stack + attribute/ability bonuses from your gear. I’ll try to apply that, thanks. But I was more interested in cool and fun (and powerful) combinations of skills and etc I finished the game in classic a while ago, than started another in tactician, but got bored around act 2 cause I was playing almost exact the same way again Elias_Maluco fucked around with this message at 11:12 on Jun 1, 2023 |
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Jun 1, 2023 11:09
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Holy MOLY the ship fight was dumb. Had to divide teleport scrolls amongst everyone and just play hot potato with her to eke through.
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Jun 7, 2023 18:37
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You don't actually have to divide up items if you play SP, you can always just move them between different characters inventories if you have "magic pockets" turned on (which I'm pretty sure it is by default,) it is a very nice convenience feature.
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Jun 7, 2023 18:41
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Autsj posted:You don't actually have to divide up items if you play SP, you can always just move them between different characters inventories if you have "magic pockets" turned on (which I'm pretty sure it is by default,) it is a very nice convenience feature. with the caveat of 'peace of mind' scrolls for everyone, just in case the party member with that skill gets mind controlled.
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Jun 8, 2023 08:01
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I've been thinking of jumping back in with a mostly magic party, but I'm kinda bored out with the ole 'fire/earth, water/air' combo are there any fun builds that combo aero with geo in some way?
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Jul 25, 2023 11:15
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Got caught in the BG3 hype but I don’t have a way to play it on PC, and PS5 version comes out in a month, so I figured I’d play one of Larian’s previous games. Is Divinity 1 still worth playing or should I just start with 2?
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Aug 4, 2023 21:46
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RatHat posted:Got caught in the BG3 hype but I don’t have a way to play it on PC, and PS5 version comes out in a month, so I figured I’d play one of Larian’s previous games. Is Divinity 1 still worth playing or should I just start with 2? It is, imo DOS2 is a lot more polished, but I prefer DOS1 maps, specially the way its less linear (you can freely travel between maps, unlike in 2). The combat changed in some fundamental aspects in 2 too, in relation to armor specially, and some prefer the way it worked on 1 (Im on the fence on this one) Both are great games
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Aug 4, 2023 21:53
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RatHat posted:Got caught in the BG3 hype but I don’t have a way to play it on PC, and PS5 version comes out in a month, so I figured I’d play one of Larian’s previous games. Is Divinity 1 still worth playing or should I just start with 2? I played D:OS1 pretty recently, and it's a great game that can be pretty steep on difficulty in the early game. Like, you get to the first city and if you venture outside when you're very low level, you are going to get whomped unless you know exactly what you are doing. It evens out pretty soon, but unless you are a very experienced rpg-er who knows how to build a very balanced party, you might get a little frustrated.
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Aug 4, 2023 22:02
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With the caveat that I played DOS1 after DOS2, I'd say yet it's worth playing, but the second game is refined in pretty much every way. First game has some degree of companion quests and character banter, but it's not as developed, the combat system is close-but-different and while both have their charm, the DOS2 one feels better with no % chance to apply an effect, DOS2 has an extensive respec system that becomes available after Act 1 and allows you to learn everything you want (you just then make your skill bar with a limited set of these) when DOS1 kinda locks you into what you leveled/learned, and possibly more importantly: DOS2 has almost zero repetitive trash mob fights (with a single area being an exception) when DOS1 suffers from a lot of areas having many repeat fights which don't offer much. In DOS2, every fight is its own puzzle and has its own twist, it's pretty awesome. The world is the same, but in a different area and the stories are a long time apart, so while it's cool to pick up reference between the two games, I don't think you'll miss out on much, DOS2 is very much its own story. I'd start with 2, you have a lot of game ahead of you, and if somehow you want more, then going through DOS1 will always be an option. Just make sure that you play an "Origin" character to get the full background, dialogues and story experience. And make sure one of your party members gets 'Pet Pal' early on. You'll be able to respec later and give it to someone else instead should you wish to, but it's a cool skill and without it you'll miss out on a few fun quests/dialogues.
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Aug 4, 2023 22:06
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I kinda liked the trash fights in 1, myself. What I like about both games is tactical combat and in 1 there’s more of it, with those many common encounters, while in 2 almost every fight feels like a sub boss fight. Which is cool too: less encounters but they surely are more elaborated Character wise, 2 is really much better, as in 1 your companions barely have any personality or history What I most missed in 2 is that in 1 you can travel between the maps so there stuff like quests and places from early maps that you will only be able to visit/complete much later, optional bosses and areas on early maps that are very hard when you first get there, but you can leave them aside and come back later stronger and finally beat, stuff like that. Exploration is more fun and interesting In 2 each map is tied to a chapter and when you advance to the next, you can never go back The tactical combat is more refined in 2 for sure, but the change in how armor works makes it very different, so some might prefer (though there a mod to make armor/status modifiers in 2 works more like in 1 too)
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Aug 4, 2023 22:20
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OS1 is great and it's a shame that it's so overshadowed by 2, which makes some combat tweaks for imo the worse (the armour split was an interesting but not super successful idea). The one thing I'd say is that if you only play one of them, play 2, and playing both and then going straight to BG3 will probably burn you out
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Aug 4, 2023 22:25
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I prefer the second one, but the first game's combat system is fun in its own way too, and well, it also ends up as a hilariously insane power trip come endgame when your builds are complete. However, I really didn't care for the hard committed leveling and skill learning. Free respec and out-of-combat memory-based build was a lot of fun to experiment with skills as bad and niche as they might be. It might have been made worse by the fact that I played the errr, revised/upgraded edition whatever it's called, and I believe they reduced the number of skills you can learn at high level.
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Aug 4, 2023 22:38
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:OS1 is great and it's a shame that it's so overshadowed by 2, which makes some combat tweaks for imo the worse (the armour split was an interesting but not super successful idea). Yeah I'll probably play 1, then BG3, and play 2 at some point in the future
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Aug 4, 2023 23:09
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Pookah posted:I played D:OS1 pretty recently, and it's a great game that can be pretty steep on difficulty in the early game. Like, you get to the first city and if you venture outside when you're very low level, you are going to get whomped unless you know exactly what you are doing. Yeah that's the thing about OS1's difficulty that takes a little to learn. The encounters and xp gain are situated in such a way that the order of encounters that you need to take is almost set in stone. So if you try to skip the order and do a fight that's one level higher you will probably get murdered. Instead you have to search around the area for the next fight you need to take to get the level to do that other fight you saw first. Later as builds get more developed and you are probably learning ways to cheese the game its not as strict. But you definitely feel it in the first area. That said, cheesing the game in OS1 is insanely fun. There is so much stupid stuff you can do that shouldn't work but does. OS2 is a better game by far but they shut down a lot of the cool stuff you could get away with in the first game. Teleport alone has countless uses, then there's all environmental stuff, Telekinesis, all the dumb barrel things, independently controlling one hero while the other is in a cutscene to do shenanigans, etc etc. So it's definitely a game that rewards you for testing a bunch of stuff with all your abilities.
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Aug 5, 2023 02:35
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E: wrong thread.
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Aug 5, 2023 05:29
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So while the encounter order is set on a "recommended" level, you can take on fights a level or sometimes two higher, and it'll be brutal but possible if you know what you're doing. I accidentally did that because I missed a whole area and it turned out great because I could then steamroll other encounters.
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Aug 5, 2023 05:57
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Larian have always weighted level way too heavily imo, but that's been a pet peeve of mine since the original Divinity 2 so they're probably not going to stop any time soon lol
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Aug 5, 2023 13:53
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I hope this is appropriate to ask here, but I'm trying to get back into DOS1 after it not clicking originally, and my crossbow-wielder is applying poison damage for no apparent reason. Since I'm fighting undead this is an issue. It happens regardless of the crossbow and even if I strip down to my skivvies. It didn't happen when I shot up some guards. I feel like I'm missing something here, can anyone help?
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Aug 17, 2023 15:46
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Twobirds posted:I hope this is appropriate to ask here, but I'm trying to get back into DOS1 after it not clicking originally, and my crossbow-wielder is applying poison damage for no apparent reason. Since I'm fighting undead this is an issue. It happens regardless of the crossbow and even if I strip down to my skivvies. It didn't happen when I shot up some guards. I feel like I'm missing something here, can anyone help? A few things I can think of: * Poison bolts (you'd probably know) * Talent that gives you the damage type of the surface you're standing in (you'd probably have mentioned if you were standing in poison) * A poison aura on another character?
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Aug 17, 2023 16:02
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No, nothing like that, as far as I know. I don't think I've encountered auras yet. I did see a mention on a forum that zombies 'bleed poison' but it seems very weird that the damage is interpreted as poison that heals the target.
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Aug 18, 2023 00:42
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I do remember something like that. They self-poison and because they are undead it heals them.
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Aug 18, 2023 00:59
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RatHat posted:Got caught in the BG3 hype but I don’t have a way to play it on PC, and PS5 version comes out in a month, so I figured I’d play one of Larian’s previous games. Is Divinity 1 still worth playing or should I just start with 2? I started replaying D:OS1 today after bouncing off of Act 3 in BG3, it's clearly years behind on production value and story presentation but it's incredible how much better it feels than BG3 mechanically and in I guess "gamefeel". Everything feels so snappy and satisfyingly gamey, movement doesn't feel sluggish and awkward, the camera doesn't suck, combat is a whole lot better and more intuitive than 5E D&D, picking up loot is less of a chore. It has a lot of quirks and oddities of its own but having recent experience with both I think I'd actually recommend the D:OS games over BG3 to players who are more interested in the mechanics and combat in RPGs than the story/immersion/presentation, though that might change in a few years when we get BG3 Enhanced Edition. They don't feel dated (in mechanics/UI/playability) at all. This is to say that Larian has been great all along, not that BG3 is bad. BG3 just doesn't have the benefit of years of polish the same way that D:OS does and it's less focused on being a combat-heavy tactical RPG. deep dish peat moss fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Aug 18, 2023 |
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Aug 18, 2023 04:55
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Twobirds posted:No, nothing like that, as far as I know. I don't think I've encountered auras yet. Ah yeah, it's this. You can get the effect yourself if you pick up the "Leech" talent. It heals you if you stand in blood, and when you get hit you bleed but immediately re-suck your blood back in for a small heal. You can probably get around the zombie thing by setting them on fire.
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Aug 18, 2023 09:57
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Yeah I've restarted DOS1 as well, I got about 80%? through three years back and want to see it through this time. Then I'll finally play 2 and then restart bg3, where I'm still in act 1. All the systems are there, it's still such a gorgeous and we'll presented game, at only 10gb lol
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Aug 18, 2023 11:21
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Thanks folks!
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Aug 18, 2023 11:49
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deep dish peat moss posted:I started replaying D:OS1 today after bouncing off of Act 3 in BG3, it's clearly years behind on production value and story presentation but it's incredible how much better it feels than BG3 mechanically and in I guess "gamefeel". Everything feels so snappy and satisfyingly gamey, movement doesn't feel sluggish and awkward, the camera doesn't suck, combat is a whole lot better and more intuitive than 5E D&D, picking up loot is less of a chore. It has a lot of quirks and oddities of its own but having recent experience with both I think I'd actually recommend the D:OS games over BG3 to players who are more interested in the mechanics and combat in RPGs than the story/immersion/presentation, though that might change in a few years when we get BG3 Enhanced Edition. They don't feel dated (in mechanics/UI/playability) at all. Always wait a year for the Enhanced Edition of a Larian game. Note that I love them too much to follow my own advice here
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Aug 18, 2023 11:56
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Play Larian games immediately and then play an even better version of a Larian game one year from now at no additional cost.
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Aug 18, 2023 12:00
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I forgot how much I loved that every single line of dialogue in this game sounds like it came from a CLASSICALLY TRAINED THEATRE ACTORRRRR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta4Hfaihgy4&t=515s
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Aug 19, 2023 20:10
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sorry to resurrect an old thread but i only just now started getting into this game and i havent been this hooked on a game in years i tried it a couple times years ago and bounced off because it was "too complex" but i had a bunch of forced downtime recovering from a surgery and this was exactly the right thing, now im pretty much recovered and have all kinds of life and work stuff im supposed to do but i cant stop playing, its just too good. im like 12 hours in, i escaped from the prison part of fort joy then realized i escaped way to early and went back in and hunted down every last magister in the place and pretty sure i got all the good loot, now im out in the swamps, got all my collars off, got fane his face-switching gizmo, everyone is level 6, i think im ready to go find and kill alexander and get the hell of this island!
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Nov 1, 2023 19:41
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I just read your post, and even though I haven't played D:OS1 in a least a year, the fight music just started playing in my head. They are drat good games.
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Nov 1, 2023 20:34
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DOS2 rules.
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Nov 1, 2023 20:53
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If I'm probably only ever playing this game once, are there any mods that I should try? I saw a guy doing an LP using Divinity Unleashed and he seemed to think highly of it, should I use that or just raw dog it?
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Nov 1, 2023 22:17
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Cool Dad posted:If I'm probably only ever playing this game once, are there any mods that I should try? I saw a guy doing an LP using Divinity Unleashed and he seemed to think highly of it, should I use that or just raw dog it? Most of the Quality of Life mods have been added to the base game, so probably not. I haven't seen that LP but I'm guessing it was done by someone who had played the game through multiple times already and the changes reinvigorated his interest. Fake Edit: and looking at the mod it fundamentally changes base mechanics and eliminates cheese, so mechanically it's a completely different game, and if you are only going to play a game once, eliminating cheese is the opposite of what you want to do because at a certain point you are going to get stuck and want an easy way out of something and so you can cheese an encounter and continue playing or you're using a mod that got rid of that exploit and you're going to stop playing the game. It's definitely a mod for people who know the game well and want to experience it in a different way.
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Nov 1, 2023 22:29
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The only mandatory mod, which you can now enable in-game, is the one that gives Pet Pal to everyone.
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Nov 1, 2023 22:29
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