this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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Recently I've discovered the joy of CRPGs, having previously only dabbled in them without spending any significant time on the genre.

With Baldur's Gate 2 just around the corner, which I'm sure many of us are hyped for, I wanted to try a similar CRPG to get a feel for whether I'm going to want to play it. Enter DOS2; this game is made by Larian Studios, the same studio making BG2, and is an absolutely incredible game.

From the graphics, which are stunning even 6 years on from release, to the combat which makes you think about your moves in a manner similar to how you might do in a game like chess, and best of all stories which are for the most part genuinely interesting. I frequently found myself surprised at events / characters / quests I found throughout the world, even small things like hearing someone screaming nearby then discovering they had been torn to pieces by voidwoken.

I recently just finished Act I and just started Act II but wanted to share a bit of love for this game as it is an absolute masterpiece with a well deserved 95% positive rating with 144k reviews on steam.

gameplay

Please share your experience with DOS2 and whether or not you have fully completed the game!

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of my favourite games and the only reason I purchased the Early Access of Baldura Gate 3.

Wish I could play it for the first time again. Have fun!:)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Same here

DOS 1 is also good but obviously the second one is better

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I wanted to like this game but I found the combat to be really tedious and the story felt dull. I hope BG3 takes it to another level.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm one of those who doesn't get the praise.

It's probably just me, but I've always felt like if you're not going to hold the player's hand, then it's important to be intuitive. DOS2...is anything BUT intuitive; not only is the game open-ended, the way forward isn't always clear. Some early fights are difficult enough that you might assume it's a beef gate, when it's actually required to proceed and you just need to cheese it.

For me, it might be because the RPG mechanics aren't familiar to me. I picked up Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous and fuckin' loved both of those games, but Pathfinder is a game system I'm familiar with. Maybe since Baldur's Gate 3 uses a variant of 5th edition D&D, it'll click for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I share your opinion about DoS2 being not intuitive and also not holding hands. I also agree that the way "forward" is often unclear when relying on the built in dysfunktional quest journal. However I disagree with your statement that there would be fights that you have to cheese to win in DoS2. The game seems to promote cheesing but it does also not require it.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's great but too big and sprawling for me. I got drowned in side AND main quests in the second act and couldn't get back into it. Probably a me problem but still.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The single big complaint about DoS2 I have is the horribly dysfunktional quest journal. Instead of giving the player a sense of what to do and where to go next, it just outright confuses me and makes me feel super lost. That quests don´t have a recommended character level makes this mess even worse. I worked around those issues by using Quests by Levels Guide and it worked very well - never felt lost again, always knew what quest to do next.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you, that looks great. Might help me back into the game.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I liked the first game more. The introduction of armour bars in DOS2 made each fight a huge slog; I understand the intention of promoting strategic thinking, but it just felt un-fun to me. Also, I liked the light hearted nature of DOS1's story more.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

For me it was the other way around, I liked the combat in 2 a lot more, because 1 felt way more random. In DOS2, status effects are more predictable, in 1 you can get really lucky or unlucky with status effects hitting or missing, leading to more reloading and "save-scumming" (or maybe we were just bad lol)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I haven't played a lot of games like this but from all of the games I've played in the past 20-ish years, this one shot up to near the top of my list. I must have dropped at least 200 hours on this game on my first playthrough, just appreciating every little detail there was and doing all of the side quests.

The gameplay itself is already amazing, but to me what really shone was the brilliant, brilliant writing. I have never read such intensely hued writing in a video game.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I liked the game but I was a bit disappointed that nearly every fight ends up with everything covered in necrofire. I bet that if you were to just spec into a build that likes being on fire you'll probably be super overpowered.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the only dumb reason I stopped playing after 25 hours was just not having a convenient storage chest as I tend to be a hoarder in games.

I even went as far as figuring out how to make a mod to improve the storage chest.

My thought was to see if I could edit the ship's chest to show a bigger screen of items and have either tabs or separaters for the name type.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Now that you say it. Item management is my second big complaint about DoS2 - right after the nearly useless quest journal - it is truly horrible and the "improved organization" gift bag sadly does not fix the problem but makes it even worse imo.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, I just finished the game, and inventory management was probably my number one gripe. Hours were spent micromanaging all the luggage. I had the same experience with the gift bag. If I had it to do over, I'd go Lone Wolf, just to simplify the logistics.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only problem I have with the series is that the average battle takes around half an hour. Wish there was a way to speed that up. But fun games with awesome graphics no doubt.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I could never get into it, tbh.

Me and my partner at the time figured it'd be amazing for a couch-co-op thing, but it was so chaotic around NPCs due to the spam of random interactions flying off from two interacting characters, we just gave up on it. Breaking combat was a lot of fun though.

I really ought to get back into it and just play it solo. 🤔

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I think my most uttered phrase during couch co-op was «opps, sorry!» as I electrified/curse fired yet another surface by accident.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Quite slow paced and inventory management is a mess, but a very good game otherwise!

I heavily recommend the Explorer difficulty if you aren't familiar with CRPGs, on Classic the game is quite hard even in Act 1 if you don't know how to play them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This is a game for which the developers said "you have to cheese it, we made it that way intentionally".

You have to do fights trying to cheese it as much as possible, guess the correct order based on your level as well and often end up in situations that are impossible to resolve unless you do something that doesn't make sense.

And let's not forget the "kill everything that moves to get the most xp possible" because that's the way it's intended to be played.

If it was just a straight up "combat - cutscene - combat" I would agree with the "great game" opinion because the game only shines for the combat system.

Everything else is below average when not straight out broken.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I wish I would love it. It is a really great game but I cannot make it click for me. Looks great, sounds great, feels great.

But somehow it doesn't work for me. Half the time I feel I have no control and have no idea of how to get it, other half I'm steamrolling things. Worst part is winning fights and it feeling undeserved, like a sloppy brawl.

Still a great game.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Speaking of CRPGs, I just played Baldur’s Gate 1 for the first time, funnily enough. It was a great game which is not exactly a controversial opinion but I wasn’t expecting it to be so fucking funny also. It was very very very hard though.

I also downloaded DOS2 but it felt like I needed a breather after BG so I’ll get to it when I can commit some time to it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Have you tried BG2 yet? It's on another level entirely. BG1 is more of an action RPG. BG2 takes same amount of action and throws on a great story, much more developed characters, and some of the best side questing in any CRPG

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The co-op is wildly underrated. Amazing game to play together.

My wife is not an RPG player and it's her favorite game of all time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

500 hours in and a couple of play throughs. There’s so many different ways to progress it’s wild. Every time was different.

Trompdoy forever

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wife and I couldn't even finish act one. Hated it, don't get the praise.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

DoS2 is a truly outstanding RPG - many CRPG nerds say the best ever - but that is ofc only after getting into the game. Unlike most games that are developed today. DoS2 is not at all a casual game, on the contrary, it´s pretty complex and to make it worse for new players, the game also does not explain much. The consequence is a relatively high threshold to get into the game and an extremely steep learning curve, that can be truly overwhelming for new players, especially those who are not familiar with "hardcore" CRPGs - like me before playing DoS2.

The fact that you could not finish act 1 simply means that you didn't get over the threshold to get into the game, otherwise finishing act 1 would not have been a problem. It took me 2-3 attempts to finish act 1, because there was still so much to learn after the first try. What I mean is that you are missing out on one of the greatest RPGs of all times and that you should consider giving yourself another chance to actually get into the game. I very much recommend using guides, at least on your first playthrough.

To not gimp your chars, use class guides by this guy (DON`T use fextralife builds!) https://steamcommunity.com/id/teesinz/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=435150&p=2

To not get lost, use quest guide by the same guy (thank you Lost Sinner, you are amazing <3) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1139237003

I highly recommend using a two person party and giving both the lone wolf talent on your first run. It is significantly easier to learn (and beat) the game this way than with a full four person party.

Another key factor for a successful first play through of DoS2 is to not split your damage imo. This might be counterintuitive but the dual armor system in DoS2 heavily rewards parties that deal only physical or only elemental damage. I recommend a phys dam only party for the first playthrough.

tldr: Yes, the game has a high threshold to get into - that is naturally the case because it is a deep and complex game - it is very much worth to get into - don´t make yourself miss out on it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I didn't say we were bad at it mate, I said we didn't like it. A game shouldn't have a "threshold" to get into it. It should just be fun. We stopped playing because it wasn't fun.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Each to their own, fun is different things for different people. Naturally every game has a certain threshold to get into. The more complex a game is, the higher that threshold becomes. Some games have a threshold that is so low you wont even notice it. Enjoy what you like best and glhf mate!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I love CRPGs and was excited when I got recommended this game - it got a lot of praise. Unfortunately, I found it to be tedious and overall uninteresting. That wouldn't be worth mentioning if this game wasn't on every top-rpgs-of-all-time list... I honestly don't get it and I am confused.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I agree with you. DoS2 is the best RPG I have ever played. The quality and depth of gameplay mechanics, character builds, story line and atmosphere is unmatched and seems to simply be out of reach for other studios than Larian. I will definitely play BG3 - simply because Dos2 is so unique and great.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I want to go back to this game so bad. I played for about 15 hours and loved it but got distracted with something else. Ive tried to start over a couple of times but I just can't get into it again in the same way. Once I've finished Pikmin 4 I might try again.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Do it - it is absolutely worth it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Me and another, took so long to get through the tutorial. Neither of us could figure out the quests that ended with us outside the fort, so we both somehow learned teleport - I'd teleport them a distance to some unreachable nook, and then they'd teleport me to some other farther unreachable nook from there and so on till we leapfrogged our way out. It was a fun time all things considered.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's an incredible game, but it took me something like 20 hours just to finish the first act, and I just don't have the patience anymore for a 100+ hour long RPG. The combat is really good overall, but I didn't like that movement and attacks use the same pool of AP. Compared to something like XCOM, this forces you to be very static since moving is basically wasting an attack, or it makes movement abilities like jump and the likes extremely OP.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Speaking as someone who really enjoyed DOS2, I do have plenty of issues with its mechanics, with the movement ability problem you mention right in the thick of it.

Once you learn the game systems a bit, you will always gravitate towards a similar set of skills. Mobility is so important in the game that you will frequently find yourself in situations where your character's survival depends on it (and the AI abuses these skills constantly). So everyone gets a jump skill, two if it fits the build - and many of the jump skills are just teleports with rider effects, so everyone's teleporting around. All builds tend to gravitate towards more damage, because you can't apply CC without nuking their armour down first, and CC trivialises fights when it comes into play. Optimisation isn't straightforward, and skills aren't really on an equal footing. Maximising Warfare is how you become the best Necromancer, and the best Rogue, and the best Warrior, and the best Archer. Meanwhile, all the other skills (with the notable exception of Summoning) you can generally just leave between 2-5 to unlock their respective abilities, regardless of your build.

The ultimate end-game of this is that loads of characters end up feeling very similar, even if they appear to do very different things on the surface. Once you get past much of Act 2 there's very little variation in how you play the game and approach combat, and the story becomes the main driver for completion even as the core gameplay loop stagnates. I think I completed the game on my fourth attempt, but that was largely through my stubbornness rather than other factors.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I started playing D:OS2 in 2020, but eventually got distracted around 15hrs in. I started a new playthrough to test out the gameplay again, and have really fallen in love with it all over again. I'm really terrible at the combat, but everything surrounding it is extremely engrossing.

I do plan to pick up BG3, and I've read that the combat is a little more quick-paced and hopefully forgiving, so I'm really looking forward to the release this week.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I do plan to pick up BG3, and I've read that the combat is a little more quick-paced and hopefully forgiving, so I'm really looking forward to the release this week.

Mh, I don’t know. So I’m what’s (rightfully so) considered a filthy casual, I suck at builds, and I suck at strategy and tactics. I played D:OS2 on easy mode, and loved it. BG3 only has one mode at the moment, and I loved the main plot until here, especially since you can sneak around or negotiate with people to avoid direct conflict and still get the mission done. I feel D:OS2 had much more fighting than BG3.

That being said, there was one fight where I did not find any another solution outside of outright violence, and what initially was just my party against a similar sized group rather quickly escalated into a stand-off that had us outnumbered at least 3:1 and took hours. It was nice, everybody made it through, but it was a bit tedious tbh.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I played on the switch and that made it take ages. I got until about act 4 or 5, I can't remember, with a kraken? But I noticed a harsh spike in difficulty at that point. Coupled with the very tedious controls on switch that made me stop playing.

Was a great game until that point

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

In DoS2, when difficulty spikes, that often means that you need to bring your items up to your character level. DoS2 is very much a constant race to keep your items up to date. I recommend playing on a pc nect time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Meh, D:OS2 is a great game until the latter 1/4th in my opinion. Act 1/2 are fantastic, act 3 drags a bit and act 4(arx) is the absolute worst in my opinion. I sincerely hope BG3 doesn't have the same problem, since D:OS1 had a similar issue where it was great until the very end for me(scavenger hunt.)

Arguably the definitive edition makes D:OS2 worse, since it makes side quests damn near mandatory or else you'll be constantly underleveled.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I still think DOS2 is one of the best games I have ever played, and I played it on release when 80% of the 4th act just broke for me. It gives a ton of freedom, interestingly written characters, and once you get the hang of the combat system it's easy to dominate even with weird builds.

I understand why people aren't it's biggest fans, but giving this one a chance is worth it. Overall, I would say BG3 (played a ton in early access) might be the more accessible game. It's less weird, more cinematic etc. Though, I would expect it to be exceedingly buggy on release so keep that in mind.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I really wanted to like this game. But Man it was too linear for me and also too hard. I had to google every quest to know where the fuck is X to finish it. It was just too daunting. And I like hard games. But this one was frustrating for some reason.

Otherwise its probably an awesome game. Not for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Its a great game, its funny trying to break it as its quite arbitrary at some places. Also it needed a few more QOL passes as things like an invisible oil spill will randomly slow your character down and ruin the turn.
Also the ending was very unsatisfying. All this talk about being divine, then it just ends with a book reading.

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