PAX: Divinity: Original Sin II Aims to Raise the High Bar Set by the Original

<img src="https://p0.pikist.com/photos/440/393/cat-red-mackerel-tabby-domestic-cat-red-kitten-pet-animal-world-cat-face-animal-thumbnail.jpg"; style="max-width:430px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;" alt="" />Dwarves have the Talent Sturdy, which gives a +5% to Dodging and a +10% max Vitality. Dwarven Guile gives players +1 in Sneaking. The Skill innate to this race is Petrifying Touch. Lizards have the Talent called Sophisticated, which gives them +10% Poison Resistance and +10% Fire Resistance. Spellsong gives dwarves +1 to Persuasion. The Skill built into this race of beings is Dragon's Blaze. The Undead are the living-challenged version of the four races. They will have the Talents of whichever Undead race they choose. In addition, they have the Play Dead Skills. The Undead can also heal from poison and will take damage from standard heal Set roughly a thousand years after the events of Divinity: Original Sin, the story begins with all the Origin characters along with the player and other NPCs on board a ship taking them to the prison island of Fort Joy, guilty of all being able to use the power of source like Rivellon's equivalent of a witch hunt. Source was declared an evil force, and all sourcerers have been rounded up and fitted with source muting collars to prevent them from unleashing their powers, which is quite a reversal of circumstances from its predecessor where the player took on the role of a source hunter. The time on the ship serves as an introduction, a way for the player to get comfortable with the mechanics of the game and get a sense of the story. They are free to explore the ship and get a feel for interacting with NPCs and combat. This sequence will end the same way regardless of the player's choices, and that end is unfortunately on Fort Joy, possibly the most ironically named place in Rivellon. Escaping from Fort Joy is the primary objective, but the speed at which this task is completing and how exactly the player goes about this is entirely up to the individual. On the note of killing magisters, combat in Divinity: Original Sin II is a complex but enjoyable affair. Battles are turn based with everyone having a set number of action points every turn. There is no finite MP meter but everything costs AP, including moving on the battlefield, and a lot of skills have a cool down period. Elevation factors into battle as well, with those on higher ground getting a damage bonus while those beneath them suffer a penalty. Trying to damage an enemy typically requires wearing away their physical or magical armor points before their vitality can directly be damaged but there is more to success in battle than just chipping away at someone's life bar. There are numerous status effects and elemental factors that can be used in battle, whether causing continuous passive damage, incapacitating foes or buffing or debuffing. Covering an area with oil for example will inflict slow status on people who wander into it, and if that doesn't sound bad enough a fire attack can be done on the oil covered surface to make everything burst into flames, setting anyone in the effected area on fire and causing passive damage for a number of turns. Should the player find themselves on the receiving end of this tactic, having someone with the ability to make it rain can remove the flames and burning status but can end up creating steam clouds, which sets up the board for a whole new set of problems. Scrolls are helpful, but they're also consumable. Players may also combine items to create Skillbooks, and then memorize the spell. Combining a Tornado Scroll with an Aerotheurge Skillbook will result in a Tornado Skillbook. A Haste Scroll and a Pyrokinetic Skillbook will result in a Haste Skillb While many changes and updates have been discussed, this is not a complete listing of all the new features and improvements present in Divinity: Original Sin. As the <a href="http://Giggetter.com/blog/60844/5-things-from-divinity-original-sin-2-we-need-in-baldur%E2%80%99s-gate-3-5-we-dont/">SLG game story guide</a> continues to develop, more information will be provided leading up to the release of the final product. For those who cannot wait until its completion, this title will be available on Steam Early Access September 15. Stating definitively that this is an improvement on the original is impossible based on only playing a small portion of an early build, especially since the original set the bar to some lofty heights, but it's safe to say fans of Divinity have every reason to be excited about Original Sin II. Several weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get some hands on time with Divinity: Original Sin II at PAX . That experience only gave a brief glimpse into what is offered in this build and I imagine I will feel the same way about the Early Access build when the complete game is released. The predecessor was a massive choice-driven RPG that was in the vein of classic computer RPGs. The bar was set high by Divinity: Original Sin and everything that made that title so great returns here and then some. Making any definite declaration about a game's quality prior to its final release is impossible and I do not want to over hype this title to the point of having expectations it can not reach, but anyone who enjoyed its predecessor needs to keep this one on their radar, regardless of whether they want to wait for the final version to come out or if they want to dive into the early build right away.