Divinity: Original Sin Post-funding Update #54: Release Delayed, New Alpha Build

The fifty-fourth Kickstarter update for Divinity: Original Sin is out, and the most important nugget of information it contains concerns the title’s release date: while there’s no precise release date for the title yet, the team currently expects it to come out in Spring, and not February 28th as previously announced. On the positive side of things, the latest alpha update looks to be a significant improvement on the ruleset side:

Which rule systems have changed?

Magical skillbooks now require you to have invested a certain number of points in magic abilities. So if you want to learn the improved Winterbreath (aptly named Winterblast), make sure your Water Specialist ability is up to speed.

Items now have a requirement on a primary stat and are no longer level-locked. So if you want to create a glass cannon just so you can wield that impressive two-handed axe you just found, go ahead. But before you do, check out your alternatives, because every weapon, stat, and type of armour has its pros and cons.

The Way of the Warrior ability and the Way of the Ranger ability have completely changed. For every point you put in them, you receive a unique advantage. Check out their tooltips in game for more details!

One important change to the primary stats is that Intelligence now also boosts the damage you do with your elemental magic. Over time, it will also decrease the number of Action Points your magic costs. The more powerful the spells become in the game, the more Action Points they will require, and you will need Intelligence in order to cast them at all! This is also an interesting stat if you want to hang on to your “low level” spells longer: their damage output will shift, and they will cost less AP. The same goes for your elemental specialisations: boost them, and you’ll boost elemental damage.

These are only some of the enhancements we’ve made to the in-game systems – there are plenty more ways to strategise with this update!

What about balancing?

Enjoy a world of better-balanced weapons, armour ratings, damage, resistances, saving throws, statuses, gold, and treasure distribution and generation.

Balancing is, of course, an ongoing process and while this update offers much improvement, you’ll find that we’ve still got our share of tweaking to do.

You can watch Swen Vincke talk about the release date, the latest improvements for the alpha, and the Mac version here, and see some of the new changes for yourself in this video.