Coop makes you miss out content because of party system

[Bleiser]

In singleplayer, all companions you take with you, offer their skills for ability checks, like shadowheart with guidance and can offer their opinion, say stuff.

In coop, for example in 2 player coop, only the companions that are "in your command", offer help for ability checks and say stuff. The "other player party" doesn't offer their abilities for ability check bonuses for the other party that initiated the conversation.

For example shadowheart doesn't offer her "guidance" spell as a bonus for the checks if she is under command of another human player. As example, she doesn't say anything when gale mentions clerics if she is not "under command" of the player that initiated the conversation.

You can of course, for example, buff guidance before you start the conversation but it seems silly when a better mechanic already exists for bonus rolls in the game. Not to mention missing out on companion remarks etc during conversations that would occur for you if you did them in singleplayer.

So practically you miss out on companion mechanics in conversations if you play with human players. Game doesn't think that other human players are your companions. They are separate party that really only just votes in conversation options if they wish to do so.

I would love if things like this were "fixed" to be more close to singleplayer experience. I don't like missing out on content just because I'm playing with human players instead of npc companions.

P.S.
Not to even say that you can miss conversations if you are in inventory management or whatever when someone else is starting a conversation.

You may argue that's a problem of human communication outside of the game. I say it's a lack of option in the settings for everyone to join a conversation automatically if anyone starts one.

Not to say conversations sometimes cut off if it ends with no conversation options and the conversation "iniater" is a bit ahead of you because of desync and lack of automatic conversation joining option and other bugs that are especially annoying for the players "listening in" the conversation instead of starting them.

Some conversations can be done again by multiple human players but others get locked after the first conversation if this point wasn't clear to someone.

Generally, I went in the game totally blind and I love the game! Coop though leaves a sore taste compared to how it cuts the mechanics compared to singleplayer.

Sorry for the wall of text. I hope it's not too long for you guys.

[Vamppire]

Yes to all of this, I also posted all of this yesterday, and I am seeing the same requests in other threads. Dialog is broken, and even more broken in co-op, to the point where its ruining the enjoyment of the game. We played Divinity 1 and 2 and didn't have a problem, but the dialog issues here were apparent from the very first click on that tadpole pool at the start, and continued with every item and npc interaction since, and even worse now knowing my companion is LOCKED OUT of conversation if the my human player partner is the one who clicked on the npc.

I wasn't keeping up with early access, was there already a push for this in EA, and it was ignored by the devs? I'm tempted to just pause playing rn hoping they will change this soon, but if it's been something players have been requesting for years, I have much less hope it will be added now. Maybe so many more new players bringing this up with prompt a change...??

And yes, listening in co-op mode is broken too and needs to be addressed. Dialog should start from the beginning and play in full for the player who clicks to listen.

[MrsJekill]

There's so many ways around these "problems" that I don't know why you all are complaining...

[Vamppire]

Originally posted by MrsJekill:

There's so many ways around these "problems" that I don't know why you all are complaining...

Enlighten us?

What's the way around the problem of other party members not being able to contribute to skill checks, or contribute based on their class/race, and the NPC being blind to your party members?

What's the way around the problem of my origin companion being locked out of the dialog if my co-op partner is the one who entered the dialog? eg. if Shadowheart has something to say if I talk to NPC, she will only say it if *I* talk to NPC, does not say anything if my co-op partner talks to NPC, even though we are right next to them. There is no way to know ahead of time who has scripts for each npc.

What's the way around the problem of the co-op partner missing dialog/cinematics, either in part or completely, no matter how fast they try to join, because listening mechanic is broken?

The only "way around" I've found is quicksaving every 2 minutes and reloading the game repeatedly, or having to replay NPC dialog multiple times, and you can't even do that with all conversations - and obviously this is not the way anyone should have to play.

[Bleiser]

Originally posted by MrsJekill:

There's so many ways around these "problems" that I don't know why you all are complaining...

So many ways around? Like what? If there were "many", we'd not be here. Are you being serious or just doing something like trolling?

We're trying to give a constructive feedback here while you are not, at least yet and I hope you can give your feedback too instead of mindlessly white knighting?

[Exero]

Adding to your suggestion, you cannot remove custom characters from your party and take origin characters. so you're stuck with your friends characters for the entire game.

I also think you should be able to drop in/drop out with your own custom characters, not only at the very start of the game

[Flow]

+1, I think everyone playing coop is encountering these issues. I start to lose hope as they didn't fix any of it in all the years of early access.

[Edstyles]

Play solo 1st playthrough . Its primarly a single player game.

[SolidSnek]

Absolutely agree with OP.

I tried playing co-op multiple times and it's a frustrating mess.

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Play solo 1st playthrough . Its primarly a single player game.

Telling people who bought the game to explore the world with their friends to play through the 100 hour+ campaign and spoil the whole plot for themselves isn't helpful.

I agree with you that it definitely seems to be designed that way though. I wish I knew this before going in since I bought it mainly to play co-op.

[TurksTeeTime]

Originally posted by Bleiser:

In singleplayer, all companions you take with you, offer their skills for ability checks, like shadowheart with guidance and can offer their opinion, say stuff.

In coop, for example in 2 player coop, only the companions that are "in your command", offer help for ability checks and say stuff. The "other player party" doesn't offer their abilities for ability check bonuses for the other party that initiated the conversation.

For example shadowheart doesn't offer her "guidance" spell as a bonus for the checks if she is under command of another human player. As example, she doesn't say anything when gale mentions clerics if she is not "under command" of the player that initiated the conversation.

You can of course, for example, buff guidance before you start the conversation but it seems silly when a better mechanic already exists for bonus rolls in the game. Not to mention missing out on companion remarks etc during conversations that would occur for you if you did them in singleplayer.

So practically you miss out on companion mechanics in conversations if you play with human players. Game doesn't think that other human players are your companions. They are separate party that really only just votes in conversation options if they wish to do so.

I would love if things like this were "fixed" to be more close to singleplayer experience. I don't like missing out on content just because I'm playing with human players instead of npc companions.

P.S.
Not to even say that you can miss conversations if you are in inventory management or whatever when someone else is starting a conversation.

You may argue that's a problem of human communication outside of the game. I say it's a lack of option in the settings for everyone to join a conversation automatically if anyone starts one.

Not to say conversations sometimes cut off if it ends with no conversation options and the conversation "iniater" is a bit ahead of you because of desync and lack of automatic conversation joining option and other bugs that are especially annoying for the players "listening in" the conversation instead of starting them.

Some conversations can be done again by multiple human players but others get locked after the first conversation if this point wasn't clear to someone.

Generally, I went in the game totally blind and I love the game! Coop though leaves a sore taste compared to how it cuts the mechanics compared to singleplayer.

Sorry for the wall of text. I hope it's not too long for you guys.

I am able to offer guidance on every roll for other players in the party. I just have to be part of the conversation

[Bleiser]

Originally posted by TurksTeeTime:

Originally posted by Bleiser:

In singleplayer, all companions you take with you, offer their skills for ability checks, like shadowheart with guidance and can offer their opinion, say stuff.

In coop, for example in 2 player coop, only the companions that are "in your command", offer help for ability checks and say stuff. The "other player party" doesn't offer their abilities for ability check bonuses for the other party that initiated the conversation.

For example shadowheart doesn't offer her "guidance" spell as a bonus for the checks if she is under command of another human player. As example, she doesn't say anything when gale mentions clerics if she is not "under command" of the player that initiated the conversation.

You can of course, for example, buff guidance before you start the conversation but it seems silly when a better mechanic already exists for bonus rolls in the game. Not to mention missing out on companion remarks etc during conversations that would occur for you if you did them in singleplayer.

So practically you miss out on companion mechanics in conversations if you play with human players. Game doesn't think that other human players are your companions. They are separate party that really only just votes in conversation options if they wish to do so.

I would love if things like this were "fixed" to be more close to singleplayer experience. I don't like missing out on content just because I'm playing with human players instead of npc companions.

P.S.
Not to even say that you can miss conversations if you are in inventory management or whatever when someone else is starting a conversation.

You may argue that's a problem of human communication outside of the game. I say it's a lack of option in the settings for everyone to join a conversation automatically if anyone starts one.

Not to say conversations sometimes cut off if it ends with no conversation options and the conversation "iniater" is a bit ahead of you because of desync and lack of automatic conversation joining option and other bugs that are especially annoying for the players "listening in" the conversation instead of starting them.

Some conversations can be done again by multiple human players but others get locked after the first conversation if this point wasn't clear to someone.

Generally, I went in the game totally blind and I love the game! Coop though leaves a sore taste compared to how it cuts the mechanics compared to singleplayer.

Sorry for the wall of text. I hope it's not too long for you guys.

I am able to offer guidance on every roll for other players in the party. I just have to be part of the conversation

We have played more and now I've noticed that I've been able to offer "bless" to my friend. Guidance doesn't work though, might be a bug?

It's still not the whole picture and I might add it is a minor problem relative to other problems, especially if you're save scumming, like we mostly do. The other issues are the main problem.

[運 MAJOR]

+1

[Fractured]

+1

I've also noticed a few times when Thaumatury doesn't take effect either. Even in Single player. When it comes to dialogue bonus's, there are quite a few issues.

[Vamppire]

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Play solo 1st playthrough . Its primarly a single player game.

The literal first line of the game store description is "Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms". This is expanded under the "Gather Your Party" heading with "Gather your party. Take the adventure online as a party of up to four."

If its built as a single player game with intentionally broken multiplayer aspects, then it was wildly misadvertised. Offering "play solo" as a solution isn't helpful.

Divinity 1/2 worked better in co-op as well so there was no reason to suspect this game would suffer in this department. (some of the same lack of party mechanics were present in Divinity but they were MUCH lighter on skill checks so it did not matter so much. Here, it feels like its in every dialog. Listening also was not as frustrating)

[Bleiser]

Originally posted by Vamppire:

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Play solo 1st playthrough . Its primarly a single player game.

The literal first line of the game store description is "Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms". This is expanded under the "Gather Your Party" heading with "Gather your party. Take the adventure online as a party of up to four."

If its built as a single player game with intentionally broken multiplayer aspects, then it was wildly misadvertised. Offering "play solo" as a solution isn't helpful.

Divinity 1/2 worked better in co-op as well so there was no reason to suspect this game would suffer in this department. (some of the same lack of party mechanics were present in Divinity but they were MUCH lighter on skill checks so it did not matter so much. Here, it feels like its in every dialog. Listening also was not as frustrating)

Yup, You know what you're talking about.

The more human players you are playing with, the worse the experience of the game is relative to singleplayer mechanics in how the game works.

For me it feels weird that there's a heavy emphasis on a ton of rolls (that I think majority of people will save scum through anyway) in dialogues but the dialogues themselves feel far away from true dnd experience anyway because you don't really get your party involved.

Especially in coop where 4 human players are playing a solo-solo-solo-solo game simultaneously without being able to recruit companions which makes coop a handicap in that regard.

[Chimbo]

Originally posted by MrsJekill:

There's so many ways around these "problems" that I don't know why you all are complaining...

Tell me how there is a way around Player 2's characters being ignored and not even seen in dialogue?

Tell me how there a way around a conversation with a NPC ignoring the character they are looking for even though they are in the party but under player 2's control.

The only work around I have seen is manually casting guidance and such on characters.