Divinity: Original Sin Critique | A History of Isometric CRPGs (Episode 10)

Before making the actual sequel to Baldur's Gate 2, Larian Studios made Divinity: Original Sin, the spiritual sequel to Baldur's Gate 2. Let's see how it turned out.
Buy Divinity: Original Sin on GOG (aff link): www.gog.com/game/divinity_ori...
Gameumentary video on Larian Studios (definitely worth watching and subscribing to the channel): • Divinity: Original Sin...
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Fallout 1 Retrospective (Episode 1): • Fallout 1 Retrospectiv...
Fallout 2 Retrospective (Episode 2): • Fallout 2 Retrospectiv...
Baldur's Gate 1 Retrospective (Episode 3): • Baldur's Gate Retrospe...
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (Episode 3.5): • Baldur's Gate: Siege o...
Planescape: Torment Retrospective (Episode 4): • Planescape: Torment Re...
Icewind Dale Retrospective (Episode 5): • Icewind Dale Retrospec...
Baldur's Gate 2 (Episode 6): • Baldur's Gate 2 Retros...
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Retrospective | A History of Isometric CRPGs (Episode 7): • Arcanum: Of Steamworks...
The Death and Return of Isometric CRPGs | A History of Isometric CRPGs (Episode 8): • The Death and Return o...
Shadowrun Retrospective | A History of Isometric CRPGs (Episode 9): • Shadowrun Retrospectiv...
Thumbnail by / leavedavidalone
Intro - 0:00
Making of - 2:17
Combat - 14:50
Quest Design - 37:15
Story - 59:30
Conclusion - 1:12:55
#Divinity #DivinityOriginalSin #IsometricCRPGs #LarianStudios #OriginalSin

[@ChrisDavis_Games]

Here's some timestamps: Intro - 0:00 Making of - 2:17 Combat - 14:50 Quest Design - 37:15 Story - 59:30 Conclusion - 1:12:55

[@Dimvou83]

i'd like to see a video and hear your thoughts about NWN2 Chris! i think its the most underrated CRPG ever

[@Napoleonic_S]

also want to know your thoughts on Torment Tides of Numenera, and Disco Elysium too.

[@Pedone_Rosso]

Instead of replaying the 1st game, go and play DOS2 directly: the combat is very similar but improved, and the story and quests are done better, imho, making the game as a whole feel more cohesive than DOS1 did. Balancing of the difficulty curve is done better, also, at least at tactician difficulty (I didn't try other difficulty levels...): even when the very start of the game can still be the hardest part (i.e. the part when you can die the easiest if you are not careful in what battles you try to face and in what order), the middle and end game enemies do scale better. Thanks for your videos! p.s. Almost forgot: in the latest versions of DOS2 the menus and journal are also improved and more functional than in the 1st game.

[@ben5056]

I really liked hearing about the early history of Larian. So glad they survived to make great games.

[@michimatsch5862]

I hope baldurs is more like divinity1

[@TheGamingBeehive]

You should watch the documentary on Larian. The link is in the description. It's fascinating to see the whole journey.

[@ben5056]

The Gaming Beehive thanks for the suggestion, I’ll definitely do that!

[@ben5056]

michimatsch in what ways?

[@JBrandonMercer123]

@@michimatsch5862 No thanks. DOS2 was way better.

[@elastichedgehog6339]

It's crazy how many hurdles they had to jump over before eventually releasing not only this game but the absolute juggernaut that is its sequel.

[@iqwrjwqioprwjriopqrjpqowir]

Larat studios development history is a better story then their games

[@Guitar-Dog]

Looking back now

[@VerdictsDC]

“The characters have less personality than people who base their identities on what fandoms they belong to” struck a chord with me

[@shodanxx]

Yes, because he was pointing at people in his audience, not actually the characters in the game

[@boggo3848]

I can't wait to see your review of the second one!

[@courier7049]

The one which got dumb down to extreme, not only they made abilities and talents useless the whole balance was thrown out in name of even prettier graphics and somewhat good story. The only thing they learned from DOS1 is that you need to make the game as accessible as possible, so even game journalists will not have an issue completing them.

[@joshuapemberton5017]

Courier wdym abilities are useless? The mechanics revolve around cc abilities like frozen, knock down, stun etc. which can only be activated by abilities. Talents like opportunist can also double your damage if you position yourself and your enemies correctly. Hell despite its drawbacks Lone Wolf is considered a broken talent by a lot of people for the insane benefits it gives you. There are useless talents just like there are in this game but overall build variety is still as flexible as this one

[@crzyces1693]

@@joshuapemberton5017 I agree. It's like Courier and I played different games. 1. Even if I shared the same opinion, I'll take the story over better balance. 2. I disagree. I found abilities (ei core attributes) less important and was not a fan of the mirror, but I just chose not to use it. Less important does not mean unimportant, it just meant making a "Battlemage" as Chris talks about in this game far easier since you don't have to laser focus min/max'ing to be effective (you can, but like the game itself, it was meant to be flexible and suit many different playstyles which is a good thing imo. Ei I am enjoying Wastelanders 3 but min/max'ing each party member isn't the way I prefer to play, but good luck with a jack of all trades party early on, and even slight deviations on a character quickly puts them behind in experience compared to others). 3. Lol, most journalists did not complete D: OS 2. I spent a good 200-230 hours on my first playthrough. I'd guess most journalists who covered it put it on the easiest mode (or turned God Mode on) and breezed through 35 hours or so of the game. Even most KZbinrs who covered it admit to focusing pretty much on just the main quest save a few that really enjoy CRPG's. I also didn't find the graphics to be much better. They were serviceable for this type of game, but there were very few, if any moments where I was "Wowed" by anything related to graphics. What made D: OS 2 a superior game, _in my opinion,_ was the story and the way they took the puzzle-solving up to 11. Or maybe I should say "Progress the plot-solving" along with the way they made decisions count, very similar to TW3. Between placing pyramids into something you knew someone would pick up then using it to get to another part of the world to environmental effects opening or closing new areas to spell/item combos allowing you to do/find things that are normally only mirrored with a real person running the game session, yeah, I found the lack of limitation fantastic. To say the flexibility and better story made the game worse irl but better to the media is a really odd way of thinking about the game as a whole, at least to me. I've been playing CRPGs since I was a little kid with the Gold Box games on a C64 and I thought Divinity: Original Sin 2 was a top 10 all-time CRPG, right up there with Pool of Radiance, Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2, FF VII, Dragonage: Origins, KotOR, Mass Effect 1-3 and TW 3. Oh well, enough rambling from me. I look forward to him going over D: OS 2 as well. If CD dug the combat but wasn't a big fan of the story-telling in D: OS 1, he is going to absolutely love the sequel.

[@apj501st]

@@crzyces1693 that was a good read, thx

[@distantthunder12ck55]

@@courier7049 Don't agree with you at all, DOS2 was a massive improvement over 1 in pretty much every regard for me.

[@ChrirTFM]

It saddens me that you do not have a subscriber count that reflects the quality of content you produce. I really wish you alot more.

[@-pressxtostart-]

It our little secret to enjoy 😉

[@ChrirTFM]

@@-pressxtostart- :)

[@towermoss]

He would if he didn't engage in political bashing.

[@darron614]

@@towermoss yeah didn't make any sense for the video and just makes him sound really dumb.

[@theexiled1767]

@Henrik really? I didn't notice. What did he say and when?

[@hmmurdockofids]

This was my best friend's introduction to CRPGs and D&D-like systems in general. It was like pulling teeth getting him to roll a character. Then, over the course of a month or two we were fighting the final boss, and the killing blow relied on Madora not slipping on ice. She didn't. As the credits played I went to get us both a drink and when I walked into his room he was on the store page for the (then) recently released D:OS II. He was a changed man.

[@GerSHAK]

Nice. :D

[@sorbpen]

You sir, are a true friend! Your friend truly deserves you!

[@drops7985]

You’re actually my favorite content creator right now. I’m not quite sure what it is but watching someone grow with the games they review offers a unique experience compared to some other games that people are more comfortable with nowadays. Keep it going!

[@GuyIncognitoIV]

You don’t ride a dragon in Divinity 2, you turn into one

[@fistimusmaximus6576]

thus was created the ultimate school of magic, barrelmancy

[@notmynamedammit]

I think you made an incredibly good point in regards how good visalization of is really the ace of D:OS. I *think* in many of the non turn based games, actually a good chunk of these things are also going but "under the hood". And some people, either because they know all these things from pen and paper already or maybe just because they have such number cruncher type brains they can visualize it themselves just from reading a skill description know this and really vibe with this. If you already know all these effects by heart, I can see why you might be drawn to real time with pause because it speeds up the entire process. I for one am the kind of person who usually goes cross eyes and bored every time I just try to read a skill description. Let alone crunch the numbers or be the kind of person who can read a skill, understand it and immediately visualize the possibilities. So usually when I do real time with pause it's just "winging it" and trial and error my way to what seems to work. But there is no denying that there are people who can do that (also think of people who min-max MMO builds and math out minor advantages of taking one skill over another; or who plot out those big "first people in the world to take out the raid boss" fights). I'm just not that kind of person at all. You brought up imagination and I think this is really it. I can't read a skill description and immediately muster up the imagination on what to do with it. I watched a solo run let's play of Baldur's Gate 2 once by a guy who really knew the game and the lore (name is veriax) and it was fascinating for him to explain the little detail decision he was making during combat or when picking gear and what kind of tricks he had to come up with in order to make it through certain encoutners. (there is a game called Aarklash Legacy which I keep meaning to play/finish which seems like it wants to celebrate exactly what is the beauty of party based real time with pause with complex skills and positioning and skill interactivity. and it's like I can feel the love and imagination just below my fingertips, but man, imagination is a bi***)

[@dannewhall5256]

I appreciate your opinion on Turn-Based Games vs. real time combat. My first introduction to CRPG's was Pillars of Eternity, and the real time combat was so overwhelming because planning your moves felt very cumbersome. But with so many combat situations, turn-base would have slowed it down so much. DOS and DOS2 made me really appreciate the tactical strategy that turn-based allows you to have, and the game was designed to have less battles that are much more interesting and unique to compliment that turn-base combat. Larian really put the time in to also make all the Skills really unique as well so turn-base is much more satisfying.

[@dannewhall5256]

Also one more thing you said about this that is soooo true is about using spells like fireball: In real-time combat trying to use AoE spells is truly frustrating, as you have to tediously make sure your allies aren't in the way. Where as in turn-base combat you can plan those thing so much easier, and it just results in more satisfying combat situations.

[@keinname1896]

Ich couldn't bring myself to finish this game. Which is a shame, because everytime I picked it up, I enjoyed it quite a bit, thanks to the incredible combat. But at some point I just get so incredibly tired by story dialogue and especially all the interactions between the characters in my party that I just drop it again. It's by far the best unengaging game I've ever played.

[@-pressxtostart-]

Thats what happens to me in D:OS2 every time i get to act 2 i think it is, driftwood if youve played, i think it overwhelms me with how free and open the area feels, and i often get squashed when i explore the higher lvl area by accident, but i love act 1 ALOT so i just start again 😂 i finished the first game but the first act was weak and drawn out imo, but enjoyed it alot more as i got out of the first main city properly. I hope you one day can play again and enjoy 😁

[@Gagandeep4121]

These Critique videos are so good , i appreciate all the time and effort put into these..

[@rooneye]

The speed of the running in this game looks pretty nice. In these older games they always felt slow af, but this one looks nice and quick.

[@talkingtoast1200]

Going back and rewatching the series, you made some amazing work here. Would love to hear more of your thoughts in the future, hope things are going well man !

[@GOAToatoat]

Wow, has it really been three years? It always surprises me that everytime I think of this series, Chris uploads another in that month.

[@Neo-Midgar]

YAAAAAAAAY!!!! I was so looking forward to you getting to this series, I adore it. If you liked this one, just wait until you play D:OS2.

[@0Gumpy0]

Seeing this get posted reminded me I've been planning on binging this series. Finally caught up (thanks, work from home!) I loved hearing the story of Larian studios. Keep going friend!!

[@Fa1thIn0thers]

Such an amazing video game series great vid as always

[@admiraltonydawning3847]

Thanks for actually talking a bit about the starter stuff of Larian.

[@homelessguyswifi]

Big Suze- Super Hans 😂😂

[@FinneousPJ1]

What a pairing eh 🤣

[@mayman4255]

Amazing stuff per usual! It's crazy how much effort you put our into these retrospectives,From script to footage to editing,Too underrated in terms of Subscribers and views.

[@BinniBoy]

Great video series! Thanks for all the hard work.

[@adriac1291]

Love these type of backstory videos, great video! :D

[@taylorclukey2314]

Just like to pop in and say that I love your deep dive reviews ! Keep it up!!!

[@KarmaExtonline]

I’m so glad you covered this game. Divinity original sin 2 is a fantastic rpg but the first game is also VERY good in its own right. Most people are always talking about its sequel and rightfully so. however I’m glad to see some creators out there giving some attention to what came before it. That’s why I love this channel. Keep up the amazing work man, your content is incredible 👌

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

Did you watch the video? He was actually pretty hard on it. I haven't played it but I love DOS2.

[@kalacs32]

I have never finished either game, but I tried playing DOS2 twice and I always stopped after finishing the starter island. I got MUCH farther in DOS1. I have no idea why, but I definitely found it much funnier and more gripping.

[@zaratustra00]

This game was super important for me, that was actually my proper full-on introduction to cRPG, even if i am gamer since 1994 :) Thanks for this excellent content.

[@pendantblade6361]

Hell yeah, waiting for a long time for this!

[@DJ_Milky_T]

I love love love these videos! long form critique reviews. Played half of this game and all of the 2nd. Got stuck knowing where to go at one point and sort of shelved it temporarily / permanently. Might return to it one day.

[@davensipe9042]

Woah, pretty good critique. I played this game completely differently and found crafting, grenades specifically, to be incredibly strong. I also found that CC with status effects like freeze, shock, and hazard grounds so strong that spreading out magic points for many spells let me stop enemies in their tracks and chunk them with grenades.

[@MaxSchmerz1986]

Great video, game is now on my wishlist thanks to you😊

[@ShaneBaxter]

Love this series. Great work

[@cashnelson2306]

Been dipping in and out of this series for years and years but only now have I finally seen Peep Show to appreciate your character names

[@SamsButterscotch]

Hells yes I've been waiting for this. Larian is imo leading the march of the crpg renaissance and I cannot wait for Baldur's Gate 3.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Really waited for this!

[@professor00179]

By far, the biggest problem with the story and the characters I've had with this game is line delivery. It's difficult to know if a character you speak with is serious or tries to trick you, when every single conversation is done in the theatrical style of the oldschool 'the butler did it' stories. It's particularly bad in an RPG where trying to guess motives of the characters you meet is important and influences your choices. I hope to still give it a shot, but I've tried 3 times already and it always got in the way of enjoying other aspects of the game.

[@Axetwin]

It's possible I said this on the appropriate video, but I'm going to say it again here. Don't sweat your lack of D&D experience with Baldur's Gate. I consider myself a 2nd edition veteran, so believe me when I say knowing how 2nd edition works does not make Baldur's Gate smoother or easier to play. I will say this to the day I die, 2nd Edition does not work well in the video game space. The majority of it is RNG based and the main way in the tabletop version to tip those odds in your favor comes from the ability to role play your character. I'm not talking about the RNG that just happens in combat, I'm talking about the kind of RNG the player has that gives them the ability to see through and disrupt the scripted events the DM has set up. Like, for example, the Ranger being able to realize they're about to walk into a scripted ambush and have the party adjust accordingly. Baldur's Gate has a LOOOT of scripted ambushes and even if you know they're coming, there's nothing you can do to disrupt or change the flow of events because it's a scripted event and it needs to happen the way the game says it happens. I didn't used to like Baldur's Gate because I was constantly at odds with how it played vs how I expected to play based on my experience with the tabletop game. It wasn't until I stopped doing that and started playing the game the way it wanted me to play that I started to have fun and see the charm in the game. My advice to you would be the same. Stop trying to figure out the game by trying to understand the core ruleset it's based on and instead learn the game from the game itself. It's like the difference between Diablo and Path of Exile. Knowing how one game works gives you a bit of insight into the other, but you still need to learn that other game the way it wants you to learn it. So again, believe me when I say knowing how tabletop 2nd Edition works doesn't give you the edge in Baldur's Gate you seem to think it does. So I would advise you do revist Baldur's Gate sometime in the future and start fresh. Forget "trying to understand 2nd Edition" and just learn the game as it teaches you, and then you'll understand how to make the systems work for you instead of against you.........most of the time...........RNGsus willing.

[@neroblood1]

I love game critiques, and you do an amazing job of doing just that, balancing the good and bad, and you just give your honest opinion. I know you have done Baldurs gate one and two, but I would love to hear about Baldurs gate 3 or Divinity original sin 2. But I feel like that is going to be in the future because you are following the history of how far the genre has come

[@Francisco-Danconia]

I love your videos, thank you!!

[@McKampfschnitzel97]

I really like the making-of bits of these videos. It's always really fascinating, especially in this case. It feels like there's a novel worth of unique stories to be told about the creation of all the CRPGs you talked about in this series. Also, do you intend to eventually include Disco Elysium in this series? I can't comment on this (yet), but many players and critics compared it to Planescape Torment (minus the combat) and generally held it in high regard as one of the best isometric CRPGs. I absolutely love Disco Elysium and it's currently my favourite RPG of all time.

[@Stansgroda]

That is some good Peep Show representation!

[@saumann450]

Hell yeah

[@daydev2599]

38:30 and onward: Hunter's Edge in general wants to railroad the player SO HARD, presumably to have them go through with the scheme to make the two factions fight each other. You can openly announce at the gates that you're Source Hunters, here to take out the trash, and still only the gate guards aggro and everyone else remains yellow. You can kill the leaders of the two factions, and still their subordinates in town remain yellow and attempt to give you side quests.

[@Hieufin]

The thing with your videos is that I love them, but I cant watch most of them. I worry that I ruin the experience from myself since these games are on my to-play list. Love the content anyway keep it up

[@TheShinyShow]

Yeah I'm actually watching this one because I've played D:OS. I've not watched Icewind Dale yet because I still want to play it.

[@MaitreMechant]

here's a tip : watch the video anyway since by the time you'll finally bring yourself to actually play the game you'll forget about it

[@jseger9000]

Watching this makes me wish you had gone more in depth on The Temple of Elemental Evil. That's one of my favorite CRPGs, partly because I enjoy the combat so much and appreciate that is not your typical 'prevent the apocalypse' storyline. You likely wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. But I do appreciate it more than the other D&D games.

[@sg137iu]

I love that you used Peep Show names for your characters (or whoever's footage is shown in the video)

[@snooz3d998]

I had no idea Larian studio was belgian. Go us I guess ???

[@DonYagamoth]

You mentioned, that it is handholding to an extent, when the game so clearly communicates which areas are the ones that you can visit reasonably thanks to having a high enough level, and which areas it discourages you from going to. I do agree, that it is clearly giving a strong direction to move in. But I wonder: What would be the alternative? As someone who strongly dislikes the concept of enemies and areas dynamically scaling with your level/progress, I like to think there could be other options you would consider to be better? Mainly curious on your thoughts

[@dudeguybro]

Great job on the video, man. You definitely got a new sub from me. I guess I'm "glad" to see someone else wasn't compelled by the story as well. I think I was really into the game only for the combat. I couldn't tell you any specific moments in the story that really gripped me - that actually includes the second game as well. I generally lean towards the Infinity engine, real-time combat, but I really enjoyed the combat in the DOS games. They really are more like puzzles with various ways to solve them. I think they will nail down the combat in BG3 using the D&D system. I actually tried playing the turn-based combat in Pillars of Eternity 2, and it was awful. There are too many encounters, and they drag on forever (while not being the puzzle-like, tricky encounters in DOS and DOS2). I think game developers really need to choose one or the other and stick to it. You may not appeal to the masses having one and not the other, but it becomes wasted development time to try to have two systems in a cRPG. The only thing that worries me about BG3 is the potential of having a lackluster story. I really enjoyed all of the characters in BG1 & BG2; the companions and NPC's were so memorable. I hope they can hash out a great finishing story for BG3 (maybe not the end of the series, just a guess). Edit: I hope Larian makes dual-classing viable in BG3 versus their DOS series. It really suffers in the DOS series as you've pointed out.

[@kirinkappa5662]

great critique, thank you

[@sigigle]

I like these deep dive videos, very informative and thoughtful. Some more to consider: Tormet: Tides of Numenera Pathfinder: Kingmaker Tyranny Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2 (and maybe Neverwinter Nights? although I'm not sure you could call it isometric, so maybe not) If you're this familiar with isometric crpg's then no doubt you're aware of all of these, but yeah. Cheers! :)

[@megamike15]

he is doing them in production order so next is wasteland 2, then pillars, then tyranny, then tides, then deadfire, the pathfinder and inally disco elysium

[@billlyons7024]

Looks like Baldur's Gate 3 is following DOS with it's combat, which is great because the combat is super fun. They have a solid history of learning and improving, so I'm betting they come through on the writing and characters.

[@NieJestemWikingiem]

Och god, yeeees. I was waiting so long for this , more then 2 f

[@Fisho1997]

You deserve way more subscribers

[@Morfeucomvoce]

Great video.

[@corielldoghc]

I’m hype for this! This is my favorite game I played on the Xbox and my gf and I loved the personality perks in the game to make characters feel unique. I think that loss alone is what made me dislike the second game

[@Avonaeon]

I hope you end up taking a look at the Expeditions series!

[@Songbearer]

Man, Divinity is a great game, much like another divine game, Disco Elysium, you should play it, you should play Disco Elysium, you sh

[@zaratustra00]

yes, Disco Elysium is THE RPG! :)

[@kylekopac5685]

I have been meaning to play that one. What makes it so good? Got to justify spending countless hours ignoring the wife lol

[@Bassist-Beneath]

Ruin Red the writing is second to none and it does skill checks better than any game has ever done them. Be warned, the game will break you emotionally. It’s tragic

[@Napoleonic_S]

@@kylekopac5685 It's like divinity original sin except the puzzle is not at the combat but at the "dialogues".

[@Anonim_Anonimovic]

Great video! It superbly underlines most of the gripes I have with the game. While I appreciate the level of effort put into the game, and it had so much potential, I'm currently playing through the game with a friend in co-op and we are getting seriously frustrated it because: 1. You can play whatever you want, except if you do not play an absolutely optimized cookie-cutter build, you will die 2. You have the freedom to explore the world, but if you do not explore it in the exact order the devs imagined you to, you will die 3. You can roleplay your characters however you wish, but you absolutely must loot and steal the entire town in order to have enough gold to buy anything, otherwise, you will die 4. The game will reward you for creative gameplay, except not, so you will most often end up cheesing the game, in and out of combat, otherwise, well, you will die 5. Activities in the game are split into the main story quests and optional side quests, except they are not optional, because if you do not finish every single side quest in the game, you will constantly be underleveled in combat encounters, and then you will die 6. If you play the game smart, you will never lose, so make sure to utilize the most important lore-friendly and immersive tool an adventurer can have - save scumming. Because you will die. A lot. I can not, for the love of god, understand how people believe this game is actually well designed. All of the above, coupled with a truly boring story, makes it really just a chore to get through. It may be a great mechanical puzzle with few viable solutions, but a role-playing game, it is not.

[@matthuck378]

I haven't played DOS, but I am currently playing DOS2. I love it so far, and love the combat. It's the best turn-based combat I've ever played. I actually not only look forward to it, but want more of it. I'd love it if Larian had added an area or two where monsters respawn occasionally and dropped random loot and XP just so I could grind a little bit.

[@corvus_monedula]

You discuss handholding versus level-gating, at around 49:00. I find the topic quite interesting and would really like to hear/see your take on the implementation in Gothic 1 and 2. In those games you are more or less free to explore but a new player is limited by the enemies while an experienced one has options for more nonlinear paths.

[@12me91]

Man from only being able to afford weekly contracts in the 90s to making the best crpg of all time and the first one to win goty this millennium. Such a amazing history

[@joppie100]

I would love to hear your opinion on Divinity original sin 2.

[@mango78910]

I think it’s kinda fun that baldurs gate 3 will drop before this series is over and will probs be the last vid in the series for a while. Feels very full circle.

[@sadpee7710]

short (/long lol) list of great combat memories from DAO:2 (i didn't play the original very much since the characters didn't grip me but i got the impression that the games are quite similar). i remember being able to inflict status effects on items in DAO:2 which is mostly relevant outside of combat for puzzles and such. but even inside combat i recall one time needing to light some oil on fire, problem being tho that the oil was outside the line of vision of my mage. so what to do? well i eventually realized i could light a nearby chest on fire and then teleport the flaming chest onto the oil. hypothetically you could maybe even break scripted events if you manage to sneak up and electrify for example a lever that an NPC pulls upon your discovery (or something like that). shocking him when he pulls it. of course you could also plant a trap along their pathway if you where they're headed. still watching so idk if this comes up, but i can't remember if original sin has crafting. i do have loads of crafting related memories from the sequel. i loved the crafting system in that game, especially today after all the updates and mods. i remember taking pause and deliberating wether to waste a turn crafting a vital item during combat. sometimes even gathering materials for it mid battle. like for example if there was a rare flower needed for an invisibility potion or a resurrection scroll ingredient on the battlefield or whatever. another great memory is beating a giant battle against an army barrack by stacking chests and barrels to crowd control the soldiers into certain areas; and barricading my important units behind cover and such. again even needing to craft new items to stack on the battlefield with nails and tools found inside the barracks.

[@senario4]

Good Job!

[@fettcat9766]

Over an hour of review and no mention of my best mate, the cheese vendor? But no one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses!

[@thedarkknight221]

Be the big cheese on your block with a wheel of the good stuff!

[@roberthermann97]

I hate cheese, but even I liked the cheese vendor.

[@Raccoozs]

I started with dos2 and then went to dos. Its amazing to see how much they improved. I honestly never finished dos cause i kinda got bored but dos2 has to be one of the best games ive ever played

[@castrochris94]

I have like 350 hours in dos2 and played dos1 for like 40 but also didn't finish it

[@samsnead7414]

I have both and want to finish the 1st b4 the 2nd but i just cant get into it for some reason

[@liberalideas8224]

To each their own brother, but there is something about DO1's combat that I did enjoy more, though I am having trouble pin pointing what it was. The best stab at it I have right now is that there isnt a "bad" path to go down in divinity's 1 skill tree as long as you build it with a little competence. DOS2 had probably an easier system to understand, but there were so many "bad" ways to build that would get you blown up on high difficulties. Also, I much prefer the resistance system to the armor system as it opened up more builds, but again, that's subjective I guess.

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

I always liked Larian’s rpgs. Divine Divinity and Divinity 2 are really good. Also, with Original Sin I really like how they balanced specialization versus hybrid. The low level abilities are cheap but the high level abilities are very expensive. So you can have a lot of cheap abilities and a few high level ones, but it’s impossible to have lots of high level skills - it’s too expensive. I tried having one very specialized character and one total hybrid - they both have good and bad points, and it would be hard to say which is better. This game has one of the best crafting systems in a rpg. Not using it is to not participate in one of its best features.

[@bl1nder898]

I really liked Ego Draconis, I spent hours jumping of mountains and transforming in to a dragon mid air in beat with the song i was listening to, good times :D

[@afishynado6812]

"Blacksmithing books named for puns eventually annoyed me." You forgot the sequel "He Who Smelt It: Dealt with it"

[@mauriceraat2781]

I´ve been playing Divinity II on the Switch and the bug of the game pausing during the turn of an enemy ( 14:36 )has actually happened quite a few times (and I actually thought it was the game working hard to figure out what next move to make XD)

[@chuck9246]

Been having the same problem on ps4, usually happens when the terrain is lit up and there's a lot of effects going on at once. Its not game breaking or anything but it can get a bit annoying in longer fights.

[@EnglishInfidel]

The best thing about this game was the ability to take any pair of boots and a handful of common nails and turn them into hobnail boots so you never slip on ice etc.

[@sadpee7710]

57:53 this is likely due to multiplayer and roleplaying reasons. someone can try to turn in the NPC to the guard without the other player's consent. they have a lot of flavor stuff like this which is mostly there for groups who may be roleplaying as their characters in the game while they play.

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

Interested to see if you feel any different about the sequel, I haven't played the first one. DOS2 still suffers from the same sort of cliche story, but I really enjoy the characters and the writing all the same. In terms of combat/gameplay/quest design, it's right up there with the old Fallouts IMO. The feeling I get is that it's aware of its own cliche-ness, and it has some fun with that. I would prefer a darker tone (like Baldur's Gate 3 seems to be), but DOS2 does a pretty good job of balancing between whimsical and more serious tones, and most of the humor lands for me. Some of the voice actors were really in sync with the script and gave some excellent deliveries, others less so. I really need to play the first one now to see if the characters are as bad as you say, because that's one of DOS2's strongest points. I find the main party characters to be extremely likeable, same for a lot of the NPC's... including animals. Although I will say I bounced off of it once or twice before getting into it. I was a little turned off by the whimsy, but when I finally gave it a chance I just fell madly in love with it.

[@JerdMcLean]

This was my true introduction to Crpgs. Ive dabbled in the old Fallouts but this game really did it for me. Then the second game kicked my ass to hard i barely made it off tutorial island i need to get back on that and redeem myself.

[@aliasv6964]

Way late to the party, but I loves Original Sin 1. The custom chars I did 2 lone wolves and watched their story unfold one magic one melee. I accidently wiped out an entire goblin village not knowing it was a village I was just so into the world and the moment. I instantly backed Original sin 2 in early access and have had nothing but regrets since. What a stupid follow up. Less emphasis on custom chars and the CC system was just so dumb why would you not all phys or magic really. They wanted to tell a story with their characters and your involvement was an afterthought. The only game I've ever had true remorse for.

[@courier7049]

Most issues were fixed with Epic Encounters mod, not only it added more spells and items, it made abilities and talents actually useful and hard to choose from. But of course it fixed mostly combat as there is nothing to really fix about better story or quests. The conversations between characters are ok at first, but later you pick specific lines because they provide specific bonuses that are more useful, unless you're fixed on roleplaying a specific way. Also in practice the open map design is very easy to exploit so you can get up to level 6 just by visiting places and succeeding at charisma checks. This means that just by sneaking around you open up most of areas and their teleports so getting to all merchants after each level up to check new items is very easy.

[@billylee322]

Ive had the divinity games on gog for years, but never got around to trying them. I was never much for isometric or turn based games unless they were really something special. Dos and dos2 are truly something special and im hooked. I find myself trying to find the best of these types of games, but the dos series and bg3 are pretty uniquely awesome

[@ravipeiris4388]

Almost seems like the successor to 2001's Dungeon Siege by Chris Taylor, doesn't it? I do admire Larian Studios' passion and survival through difficult odds, Ravi Peiris M.D.

[@ladooshka]

Crafting in DoS is OP after lvl 20. Especially for weapons. Very useful indeed for final part on tactician difficulty.

[@cloudbloom]

The humor in this game was so good

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

Not really onboard with the criticism of quest design. The criticism boils down to: I like how there are a lot of options but I don’t like how some options didn’t work out in my favor. Personally, I liked how the personality of your characters affects the quest option. If your characters are merciless, and you don’t spend time teaching a merciless companion to be forgiving, then you can’t suddenly be forgiving to get the good outcome from a side quest. I like that you can’t have your cake and eat it. Also, lack of handholding is praised but then having NPCs give hints is criticized as handholding. But surely having in-world clues is the right way to help the player. Having a NPC say “don’t go that way it’s dangerous” seems perfectly acceptable to me. If the game didn’t do that, the complaint would be that you can wander down a path and get slaughtered. Personally, I like the somewhat silly nature of many European rpgs. Not every game needs to be serious. Also, the voice acting if really good. I’m not sure why people complain about AAA games being all the same, and then complain when AA games dare to be different.

[@Matthew_Jensen]

I wish there was a divinity game with more of an X-com 2 pace. I really liked the combat as well, I don't mind the lack of story but to your point, 80 hours of it is a bit much. The story in Original Sin 2 is better but I still enjoy the combat more than the rest. Hoping the story for BG3 + divinity style combat is the winning combo. Thanks for the video sir, I dig the work.

[@Bassist-Beneath]

Hey Chris, are you ever going to play Underrail?

[@fearsomewarengine8228]

Go Lone Wolf summoner and a fighter in OS2, it's so much fun

[@Xertaron.]

You didn't mentioned Honour Mode - the one when you have only one savefile and if someone in your party dies it autosaves so when everyone dies you have to start the game all over. If you think you get familiar with Cyseal in regular playtrough, then in Honour Mode you'll memorize the whole place. You'll also redefine save scumming and make even simple battle tense as hell :D

[@rationalbimbo8811]

do you think you'll do a video on DOS2 or BG3?

[@eyoshinthemaximum]

For me, Dos1 is similar to Baldur’s Gate in the way that its a fun game, but hard to get into. Dos2 is what Baldur’s Gate 2 did for Baldur’s Gate 1 but with Divinity. I find Dos2 much more fun due to the expanded systems, better story, more interesting lore, and more customization. Generally, Dos2 is one of my favorite games of all time as it took what I loved about 1, and made it 10 times better

[@MrWhyck]

Why do you left Dragon Age: Origins from this CRPG list?

[@michiyaslana5974]

I love Divinity, it's one of my favourite game series of all time despite its many, many flaws (I'm looking at you, mandatory platforming sections in Divinity II!). I love the humour, and the fact one quest in D2 required you to fight a full team of evil Power Rangers, with a glorious cutscene of them posing included. I love that you can jump in to pretty much any game you want, because each of them is a self-contained story on a very long timeline, and recurring characters are always a reward for players who recognize them, and not roadblocks in understanding the plot you're trying to follow. (I played D:OS after playing D2, and my reaction to meeting young Bellegar went along the lines of "you cunt, I'll lock you in this cave forever". Definitely not a sentence that could be said by someone who hadn't played D2, and it was exciting despite my vengefulness). But one annoying thing I found in D:OS that is worth noting - the entire game is designed around the idea that the player is a creative person. Every puzzle, encounter and quest has multiple ways to go around it, and the things that limit you are mostly your available tools, your characters and your own smarts. UNTIL THEY AREN'T, and you fall face first into a segment where there's only one possible solution. That mine you ran through while invisible? There's NO other way to go through it, because the enemies are invincible and can one-shot you (which is cool), and there are so many of them you can't avoid one without immediately calling the attention of another (which can go suck a rock). Or, well, there is another way, but it made me rage quit the game for over a year.

[@nefaest]

Is Underrail going to be part of the series?

[@Jeffmetal42]

I thoroughly enjoyed this game quite a bit. Exploring, combat, and just generally messing around were way too much fun! Using a heavy chest to crush enemies with telekinesis was probably the best things I've ever been able to do in an RPG. Not to mention filling chests full of explosive, oil and gas barrels and setting it off in the middle of town is something I recommend to anyone, just remember... your video card WILL HATE YOU! They weren't lying when they said there were tons of ways to handle different situations.

[@FinneousPJ1]

Lmao super hans 2:00 Crack is well moorish 🤣

[@Nopityforthemajority]

Fuck yeah Chris Davis

[@vladimirtchuiev2218]

The combat in tactician in the first DOS game in my experience has a bowl-shaped difficulty curve; the game starts pretty hard, you need to precisely know which skills are powerful early on, later it becomes easier once more and more powerful skills come to kick in, and towards the end it becomes harder again when the enemies hit like a truck, requiring you to somewhat min-max. Your biggest mistake in character building is ignoring crafting and Tenebrium skill; the crafting systems outshines anything you can buy from stores in terms of raw firepower and armor, making looting particularly un-appealing, but it serves well during the later stages in the game where you can reach very high damage figures. Tenebrium is like a damage add-on that almost can't be resisted, and it doesn't suffer from the problem in DOS2 where the Phy and Magic armor system makes crafting elemental add-on damage into weapons irrelevant unless you somehow do this for staves. Also, to succeed you must embrace the concept of one point wonders. Some skill categories have skills that a single point is all you need to make a good use of them, and the leveling up system makes spending that one point really cheap. As a side note, I made a successful battlemage in the non DE edition of DOS via the magic shields each elemental skill offered. Sadly in the DE they got nerfed into oblivion...

[@GerSHAK]

+

[@Pakanahymni]

Oh shit here we go

[@leopard2690]

A lot of the writing choices make a lot more sense when you realize they only had 1 writer for this game. Glad they hired more writers for dos2

[@Silath01]

I feel like I'm one of the few who love Divinity 2

[@probablythedm1669]

Ah, Dragon Commander... that's a silly and fun game. I enjoyed that.