Divinity: Original Sin II Preview

While Gamescom has been over for two weeks now, previews and reports from the event are still trickling out of Cologne, Germany. The latest we found was a Divinity: Original Sin II preview from Gamepressure. An excerpt:

There are plenty new features that the veterans will appreciate. The tactical layer has been deepened with a height factor – going up a ladder (another novelty) and getting you character onto a tower will increase their range and the power of ranged attacks, as well as make them harder to hit. The tactical depth is further improved by a plethora of previously unavailable curses and blessings, such as Bloody Rain, which causes bleeding to enemies within the given area. Using Contamination after Bloody Rain on the same area will produce a very dangerous acid. An icing on the cake is provided by the mighty powers of the Source. The crafting system has also been overhauled.

Larian Studio definitely pays a lot attention to the combat system. There will also be a totally new multiplayer game mode – a pure PvP arena. Four-player groups will be able to compete on cleverly designed battlefields, fighting in iterations of classic modes such as Free-For-All, Capture the Flag, or King of the Hill. The players will use predetermined characters, and matches will last as long as 20 minutes.

There is some innovation in terms of the plot, too. Most of all, the number of possible interactions has been increased. For example, players will be able to talk with spirits, and elves will gather knowledge by… consuming other characters’ limbs. Talking with animals, known from Divinity: Original Sin, will also be there. Probably nothing will stop the players from killing every encountered NPC if they wish to, without making the quests impossible to finish (including those that are part of the main arc). If you add up the tag and origins system, then it seems there’s a lot more freedom in completing the missions than before. Let’s just say that there are 11 different possibilities to escape from Fort Joy. Furthermore, the AI algorithms have been revamped – they are supposed to provide more realistic reactions of the game to the player’s actions; especially interesting is a three-level scale, which represents the leniency of the guards in a given area to “odd” actions of the player.