Divinity Original Sin

What party setup did you all use to finish this?

I've heard this game has a reverse curve in terms of difficulty (hard start easier finish) but I'm really struggling. After a few restarts I've gone lone wolf Knight to soak damage and have 2 mages to get the killing done (they cover healing and spider summons too) but I find the enemy groups (despite stacking resistances) just put out insane damage and stun lock me half the time.

Am I missing a trick or is it just that brutal at the start?
 
I had a cookie-cutter standard RPG party of two-handed warrior, fire/earth mage, water/air mage and bow ranger.

Bow users take a while to really get going, although special arrows are abundant and easy to manufacture and can tide you over in the harder fights until you get the more devastating skills.

Keep an eye on your AP as you level up and try to take attributes to increase them (both starting and per turn points) alongside your main attribute. This makes a huge difference.

All my characters had at least one summoning skill or item as well, which helps. Everyone I think also had fast track to manage APs. One of my mages also went into witchcraft to get the top tier skills as some of them are very useful. Both mages were able to cast oath of desecration.

Think I remember hearing lone wolf was nerfed a bit in one of the patches, so it maybe a four character set-up will be easier going.

I found some fights up to the mid-game very challenging. It got very easy later on, though. Any parts in particular you're getting stuck on?
 
Not any fight in particular I just find that larger groups put out sick damage then when they start tossing cc into the mix I find I'm spending all my turns AP on healing just to stay alive or I toss our damage and everyone starts dying. Can't keep up with both. I've tried cc but I find with there being so many of them I'm only controlling a few mobs the remainder are slapping the spit out my mouth.

Basically not enough AP to go around! I'm increasing constitution and speed stats but it's slow going (only level 5) boils down to a numbers game.
 
No1newts said:
What party setup did you all use to finish this?

I've heard this game has a reverse curve in terms of difficulty (hard start easier finish) but I'm really struggling. After a few restarts I've gone lone wolf Knight to soak damage and have 2 mages to get the killing done (they cover healing and spider summons too) but I find the enemy groups (despite stacking resistances) just put out insane damage and stun lock me half the time.

Am I missing a trick or is it just that brutal at the start?
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The start can be a tad harder if you engage certain enemies too early. Gets easier as you play however.

For myself I did few play through, but my Primary play through was starting with a Aerotheurge / Hydrosophist mage and a Geomancer / Pyrokinetic mage. For characters I picked up, Madora with 2 handed / tank (sort of) and Bairdotr.

By mid game however the two mages maxed out in the two classes so also by end game maxed out in withcraft so pretty much had spells for every scenario between them.

Agree with a lot of strums comments, they have nerfed lone wolf somewhat with the additional party member being a lot more valuable IMO.

Crowd control is real key in the early part of the game, laying tar pits then setting them alight with a flare or rangers flaming arrow, using teleportation to transport an enemy far away to give breathing room. If you have not already, try to ensure you set up a part formation whereby at the start of battle your warrior / tank comes to the front of the fight and mages on the rear. Summon's also work a treat and keeping the enemies engaged.
 
No1newts said:
Not any fight in particular I just find that larger groups put out sick damage then when they start tossing cc into the mix I find I'm spending all my turns AP on healing just to stay alive or I toss our damage and everyone starts dying. Can't keep up with both. I've tried cc but I find with there being so many of them I'm only controlling a few mobs the remainder are slapping the spit out my mouth.

Basically not enough AP to go around! I'm increasing constitution and speed stats but it's slow going (only level 5) boils down to a numbers game.
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Yeah, I remember using the environment effects being crucial to survival early on. Mostly for CC. Throwing barrels, using existing ones, looking for flammable poison, oil, etc.

I can imagine it being pretty damn hard with only three characters even if one had the lone wolf trait. A bow user can help out with special arrows that can do some CC early on too, and it seems you're sacrificing that for extra AP on your knight? Not sure that's a trade-off I'd make.

I remember having to reload a few fights four or five times before the mid-game, but all were definitely doable with four characters and careful use of the environment.

Guess both mages have far out man? I had one glass cannon as well I recall. Used midnight oil a lot too, and I guess it's obvious that you need to watch enemy resistances to plan stunning effects.

It's a pretty unforgiving game early on if you don't have a balanced party I found and you definitely need to use environment effects, but it does get much, much easier once you level up if you can get over the hump.

Edit: Yeah, also a lot of what Radox-0 said... :)
 
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Aye I'm tempted to reload with a 4th character to balance out, it's blobking tough going (which is good) I think I could be using environment effects better but I thought using rain/electric for cc would be a good call but it's too wild and end up stunning half my own group :p

At what point would you say you clear the "hump" and it picks up?
 
No1newts said:
Aye I'm tempted to reload with a 4th character to balance out, it's blobking tough going (which is good) I think I could be using environment effects better but I thought using rain/electric for cc would be a good call but it's too wild and end up stunning half my own group :p

At what point would you say you clear the "hump" and it picks up?
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I'd say rain and midnight oil were my go-to early fight spells early game. Those along with other effects (oil spills, poison clouds, barrels, etc.) can help set up your CC. Remember chilled precedes frozen, warm precedes burning, wet gives vulnerability to chilling/freezing, etc. Setting up CC and DoTs is important this way. But yeah, you also need to be wary of your own party. If you're characters have the wet status, be wary of using shock, if they're oiled don't use fire near them, etc. But there are enough combinations and with managing the battlefield in terms of distances these effects will be the difference between success and failure early on. I don't think you can get through the early game without using them, tbh.

As for when it gets easier... I'd say it starts easing up a lot at the second town/hub and gets progressively better from there on in providing you level well.
 
I think I may have cracked the worst of it, as soon as I unlocked the adept spells giving me better environment control plus a few better synergies (plus I invested in a few buff spells) I've found encounters a lot easier. I'm onto the Bracus Rex stuff and need to work out how to get into the tomb. Really though I haven't had a bad fight in a while (the church one was tough but that's just because I didn't expect the Rez :p)
 
Got Braccus on the second try, just lured him into the little antechamber and it was relatively simple especially when you weaken him.

Just entered the Lucella Forest bit now, must admit I am loving this game!
 
No1newts said:
Got Braccus on the second try, just lured him into the little antechamber and it was relatively simple especially when you weaken him.

Just entered the Lucella Forest bit now, must admit I am loving this game!
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Grats man, that is a hard fight, took me three or four attempts I think. It's going to keep getting better. :)
 
First try was just embarrassing, I walked in and he done that meteor ability then the lighthouse undead sprayed poison which went up off flames and wiped me in 1 turn :p

Second time im not sure if its a bug but when I ducked into the antechamber only the luietenants followed so I took them out then Braccus walked in so that helped a lot! (Also helped when I stopped fireballing him haha)
 
Loving the Lone Wolf knight now, so OP.

At level 10 I thought I had found 2 orcs at level 12 to pick a fight with, turned out there was 7. During the fight at one point both mages were down and my LW knight was fighting 5 of them solo. :p has nearly 1600HP and invested loads of points in def and he just strolls through damage.

Got a little hairy at times but took out the full group :D had 2 use 2 Rez scrolls on my Mages and bust my 2 large healing pots on my Knight but couldn't believe it when I actually won :p made and making a lot of use of summons as well, they don't necessarily do a lot of damage but they are sponges for taking the damage load when it gets hairy.
 
Started this again yesterday.(already played it, but not the enhanced version) Is there any mod that alters the dialogue UI at all? It really is appallingly designed!

I mean, who designed this-
m9pCT5u.jpg

The omst ridiculous thing about it is that the NPcs talking do actually have animations as they speak, but for some reason they have put a massive box over them:confused:...So much wasted space!


I'm playing it with a controller and I've got to say it works really well.
 
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I've just got going again with this, I'm in the winter zone at the moment. My lone wolf warrior is still amusingly impossible to kill sitting on 2.3k health he just strolls through most combats with the odd top up heal.

Must say this game would be impossible without a guide, I was wandering round for an age trying to work out the white witch shield and would never in a million years have worked out what you have to do.

Don't mind working with a guide though as it's the combat I really love in this game.
 
Playing this after Torment- Tides of Nemenara it really shows that game up(released years earlier with a smaller budget!). Torment is completely stuck in the past compared to this. I am really liking the changes the Enhanced edition made too(though crafting could still use better implementation. It is quite deep, but need some structure to it imo).

Out of the new crop of Isometric RPGs released over the last few years, this is easily the most progressive and fresher game. It would be a hard pick between this, Wasteland 2 and Pillars for me. All truly great games in different ways, but Larian are the ones really pushing things. They don't quite reach the quality world-building and RPG expertise of Obsidian or the complexity and story-telling of inXile, but they are the ones trying new things the most and introducing interesting new mechanics.

DOS 2 will be incredible!
 
Just playing this for the first time. Still on the fence about it. I just find it very hard to get into games where I am controlling more than one person.
 
I have thoroughly enjoyed my latest playthrough. Just got the last bit to do now. A few things-

1. The crafting is impenetrable. Needs more guidance, as it is too easy to get lost.
2. Controller support is good, and well implemented, but unfortunately it butchers the UI making it more console-like. It is nowhere near as good as the KB/M UI. Also, you lose some options for some reason, such as hide helmet which you can only do with KB/M.
3. Combat still gets tedious mid-to-late game. Up against 5+ opponents they will each have 2-3 moves each so at the start of a battle they basically cast every status you can imagine at you and it can takes ages. I had a fight earlier where I was up against a boss and two minions. The boss went first and cast slow on my entire party, then blinded one, then hit them with a fireball that had them all burning!...And then it was the minions turn to cast haste on themselves and charm one of my party!...It gets really bogged down.
4. Dual dialogue. Good idea, but it really doesn't work

This game shows up every single supposed RPG from other studios in recent years bar Wasteland 2 and Pillars, but I would give it the edge over them, just.


Original Sin 2 is easily my most anticipated game right now.

Edit- also, I have to say, they added voice acting to every character in the game for the Enhanced Edition, and honestly, it is worth playing the game for on it's own!... It is absolutely spot on and often hilarious. The animals especially are really funny. Mist only have one line, or maybe two, but they really add to the game. My favourite is a rabbit called Timfred who sounds completely disinterested.
 
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Quick bump for this as it's in the Steam sale and, as a Baldur's Gate veteran, it's tempting me. Is it fairly easy to get into? I have seen that the action is turn based - can you pause it to issue commands like in BG?
 
Combat is completely turn based like xcom.

It is fairly easy to get in to, but there are lots of hidden mechanics that they don't tell you, and the game really doesn't hold your hand at all, so you will need to read up on it.

It is a great game. Especially the Enhanced Edition. Controller support works really well too.
 
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