Is Divinity similar?

[Carynara]

Title, basically :)

In the promo videos it looks like Divinity is also a turn-based RPG style game. Is it similar to BG3 in terms of questlines, story depth, and NPC/party/romance interactions?

[NegativeZero]

Yeah, it's similar.

[4FCG]

You will find it a quite similar experience. Just not DnD and less depth in character relationships and interactions.

[Hawke]

Divinity: Original Sin are relatively similar, except the system (not D&D 5e) and the absence of the cinematic camera. Also, they are significantly more "Larian" ("humour", gore, surface effects, etc.).

Divinity, Divine Divinity, and Divinity: Ego Draconis are action-RPGs with 1 playable character, instead of a party. The depth of interactions was mostly lower. Dragon Commander is an RTS with dialogues. The advisers and the wife could count as companions.

[Carynara]

Not DnD...? Does that mean a different combat and character development system...?

[Jimmy]

it's the same game with a different ruleset. It plays the same but for example, you can't pool action points in this game, as the cost of each action is restricted to it's own turn. Aside from these it's practically the same game, same engine, same physics, same controls, et cetera.

[jonnin]

yes its very similar but the core engine of divinity is NOT D&D and so character building is very different. The world interactions (loot, 3d climb etc, bombs, surfaces) are the same. Fly as a uberjump is the same. DOS2 at least supports a solo/duo mode for a reduced party with a 'feat' you can take to buff you when the party is 1 or 2 only in size. Surfaces are everything, so you spend a lot of time strategically on making blood into ice or wetting down fires or whatnot, and summoning a pet is a much bigger thing as summoner is a full class role and there are many summoned pets that are very powerful unlike this game. Mobility is a bigger deal as most mid game characters can fly at will, making archery/ranged magic/etc characters and enemy very powerful. The dialog, romance, and other such are clearly the same authors. Hey, a shipwreck and you landed on a beach? (Dos2 and BG3).

You will feel at home in the interface and world and combat strategy, but find the character building mechanics very different, is the best way I can describe it.

Dos2 is not hypersexed. I don't recall full nudity nor pushy 'just got out of prison and ready for some' companions.

[PurpleXVI]

Very similar, but what's worth keeping in mind is that it has no D&D cruft, its Larian free to design a good system without being limited by needing to adhere to something, so it's much different mechanically but also much better AND it'll beat you viciously. It's MUCH harder, which I personally like, but may not be to everyone's tastes.

[Hawke]

Originally posted by Carynara:

Not DnD...? Does that mean a different combat and character development system...?

Yes. It is classless, the non-combat skill checks are static instead of chance-based. The setting is Larian's. Can't think of anything else.

Edit. It is also different between D:OS1 and D:OS2. E.g. armour and CC.

[Mörkö]

Yes they are pretty similar. Though i did not like them very much yet i like BG3.

[Jimmy]

Originally posted by PurpleXVI:

It's MUCH harder

I disagree on this, I beat all 3 games on tactician and they were very similar in difficulty. You could do a lot more cheap tricks in divinity and abuse much more mechanics, such as teleport.

[talemore]

yes

[Carynara]

Originally posted by jonnin:

You will feel at home in the interface and world and combat strategy, but find the character building mechanics very different, is the best way I can describe it.

Ah, tx, this is helpful to know. No way I'm reading 180 NEW spell descriptions, lol :D I figured it would be better suited to play on my old laptop (as it struggles with BG3 badly) but the effort seems too steep if I have to learn a new system. Pass.

[Quillithe]

I'll also mention that Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2 basically aren't related so there's no need to play 1 before 2.

Honestly it's more confusing if you do because 2 appears to rewrite every concept and character in every previous game that pops back up

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Hawke:

Originally posted by Carynara:

Not DnD...? Does that mean a different combat and character development system...?

Yes. It is classless, the non-combat skill checks are static instead of chance-based. The setting is Larian's. Can't think of anything else.

It sort of has classes. But nothing like D&D. Each skill (like, say, grow a pair of wings and fly around in combat) belongs to a 'class' (in this case, the polymorph specialist) but you can allocate points to learn skills from several 'classes' much more easily than multiclassing in D&D. Its more like skyrim, where you can be good at a half dozen things at once, but eventually specialize in a couple that define your role in combat (tank, support, whatever).

Magic is NOT like D&D with a bajillion spells. Spells are just a skill you have, like any other, and most are simple (set that guy over there on fire) or (summon a giant demon here) or (heal my buddy). Its not at all complicated -- D&D, even neutered 5e, has far more details.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Carynara:

Originally posted by jonnin:

You will feel at home in the interface and world and combat strategy, but find the character building mechanics very different, is the best way I can describe it.

Ah, tx, this is helpful to know. No way I'm reading 180 NEW spell descriptions, lol :D I figured it would be better suited to play on my old laptop (as it struggles with BG3 badly) but the effort seems too steep if I have to learn a new system. Pass.

I was going to say there aren't nearly as many spells in DOS 2, it's not that bad to get into...but I think there are ~240 skills that you can attack with total.

They're mostly pretty straightforward though and the system is a lot friendlier to just jump into.

You pick abilities like aeromancy, warfare, necromancy and then they let you learn skills like shocking touch, battle stomp, mosquito swarm. Once you pick a ability there aren't a ton of skills with it though, usually a few attack spells or the like and some situational things

And skills only have a cooldown, no long resting and stuff.