How is the story? Does it get any better?

[Hevihenkka]

I bought "Divinity: Original Sin" some time ago and now that I saw this on sale, I suddenly decided "Oh yes! I should start investing some time on this, since I loved Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games and this has alot potential!"

However, I've been playing this for nearly 4 hours, mostly figuring out what classes and characters I would like to play as and Iam now in Cyseal with problems with orcs and undead while investigating murder of some councilor dude I honestly don't care about.

So far, Iam not really impressed with the story. What really got me into BG1 and BG2 was the intense story that had personal meaning for the main character. This game has lots of dialogue, but Iam not really sure who are these "source hunters" and the story dosen't seem to hold anything personal for the main characters.

Remember how Baldur's Gate started? The prologue was intense and after the events the whole thing felt personal to main character and it kept me playing. "Divinity: Original Sin" feels like Iam just some mercenaries, doing some stuff without any background or motivation.

Did I just get bad first impression, was I expecting too much or does the story get any better?

[PB Livin]

It does get better hell sometimes its downright interesting but its not what keeps me playing.

[Bratty Moth]

Me and a friend went into the game blind and we wandered the first map for almost 60 hours trying to sort things out so I would advise sticking in past at least the first map as I hear its gets much better after act one clearly you can get through the first map in much shorter time then we did but as I said we went in blind with a lot of time just spent bsing on skype.

[RestarttGaming]

Yeah, you've actually missed a bit. before you even get control of your characters, it explains what source hunters are, and that you were sent as part of your job to solve this murder. Before you enter the first town you get some dialog about the orcs attacking. In the first town you learn a lot about the orc attacks, the murder, the undead, and the town. After you solve the murder you start to learn a bit about how it all ties together. The rest of the game, each major quest ties in more and more of why all this different stuff going on is actually more tied together than you think.

Throughout the story you learn more and more about the main characters, and it makes sense why you didn't know a lot at the start, why they seemed a bit generic. It's a casual buildup as part of the storytelling, and it fits in logically, and ties in to an epic story. But they purposefully dont throw in the generic "here's your guy in a normal life, oh no tragic event, get going on an adventure", because they had a specific storyline in mind.

[bronze_aged]

I'm having trouble too... LOVED BG 1&2, and thought this would be a no-brainer. But so far, I'm really not enjoying it. Don't care about the story, hate the amount of verbose text I have to wade through, don't have a clear sense of where I can buy/sell/repair stuff, am apparently penalized for taking characters into my party (I can't get the tanky woman now, because I already recruited two others and have a max of 4?). I also dug up a grave and found a zombie that killed my entire team and I couldn't even damage him :/

I'll try to keep sticking with it, but any specifics on how the game gets better would reallty help!

[Bratty Moth]

Originally posted by Restartt:

Yeah, you've actually missed a bit. before you even get control of your characters, it explains what source hunters are, and that you were sent as part of your job to solve this murder. Before you enter the first town you get some dialog about the orcs attacking. In the first town you learn a lot about the orc attacks, the murder, the undead, and the town. After you solve the murder you start to learn a bit about how it all ties together. The rest of the game, each major quest ties in more and more of why all this different stuff going on is actually more tied together than you think.

Throughout the story you learn more and more about the main characters, and it makes sense why you didn't know a lot at the start, why they seemed a bit generic. It's a casual buildup as part of the storytelling, and it fits in logically, and ties in to an epic story. But they purposefully dont throw in the generic "here's your guy in a normal life, oh no tragic event, get going on an adventure", because they had a specific storyline in mind.

Not to mention all the intresting bits of lore, hints etc that you find in random books along the way even the crafting books are intresting imo

[Bratty Moth]

Originally posted by bronzeager:

I'm having trouble too... LOVED BG 1&2, and thought this would be a no-brainer. But so far, I'm really not enjoying it. Don't care about the story, hate the amount of verbose text I have to wade through, don't have a clear sense of where I can buy/sell/repair stuff, am apparently penalized for taking characters into my party (I can't get the tanky woman now, because I already recruited two others and have a max of 4?). I also dug up a grave and found a zombie that killed my entire team and I couldn't even damage him :/

I'll try to keep sticking with it, but any specifics on how the game gets better would reallty help!

You picked lone wolf attribute didnt you? really should read the text that says what they do first.. you also relize you can dismiss companions right? though if you took lone wolf thats pointless, well grave robbing is kinda a crime for a reason didnt you know thats where they hide zombies?

jokes aside though head over the the guides section of this games forum theres many general tip guides in there that will not spoiler the game but should clear things up

"Don't care about the story, hate the amount of verbose text I have to wade through" Why did you buy a game that was advertised heavily as story driven then?

[Raze_Larian]

Originally posted by bronzeager:

I can't get the tanky woman now, because I already recruited two others and have a max of 4?

Have a main character talk to one of your current companions and ask them to leave the party (after clearing out their inventory, if you don't intend to use them again), then you can recruit Madora. Party members who leave will go to the King Crab tavern at the start of the game, or the hall of heroes once you have access.
Dismissed companions will get an experience boost, if necessary, to match the character that re-hires them if they fall behind while not in the party. Henchmen will not.

Grave robbing in Rivellon can be dangerous.

[Hevihenkka]

Originally posted by Karma Overdose:

"Don't care about the story, hate the amount of verbose text I have to wade through" Why did you buy a game that was advertised heavily as story driven then?

He just said that he loved Baldur's Gate series that was also story driven. Many people say in the reviews; "If you love Baldur's Gate, give this game a try". He seems to be disappointed about the story, since it's rather complicated and not "nice and simple" and memorable like Baldur's Gate was.

[Syrris]

Originally posted by Heavyline:

So far, Iam not really impressed with the story. What really got me into BG1 and BG2 was the intense story that had personal meaning for the main character. This game has lots of dialogue, but Iam not really sure who are these "source hunters" and the story dosen't seem to hold anything personal for the main characters.

As has been pointed out, the intro (if you skipped it somehow) gives some background on who the two protagonists are and what their job is as source hunters.

As for the personal aspect? It's there, but unlike BG it doesn't get slapped in your face from the very beginning. Keep working on the source hunter business and it will become apparent that there's something very personal involved for the two of them.

[Gregorovitch]

Mnay people find the beginning of the game boring and confusing in equal measure, then find themsleves with overwhelming difficulty spikes as they wander off somehere out of sequence in a desparate attempt to break the monotony and feel like WTF, why did i buy this pile of crap. In may ways i would say this is a fair critisism of the game's start, the problem exarcerated by the fact it's designed to get you up to level 3/4 before you venture out of Cyseal and start fighting stuff for real which may in hind sight be seen as a questionable design decvision.

But i would say two things:

1. The start is very much in keeping with how the narrative unfolds.
2. Once you get through the beginning, things pick up in a big way, the beginning is not representative of the rest of the game.

The whole Cyseal thing works in the narrative becasue you get there as Source Hunters sent investigate what looks like a routine crime of passion murder but there is a slight suggestion that some sort of nefarious source shenanigans might be involved and then there are all these alledged undead supposed to be around, also Orcs sniffing around etc which is why you, sort of FBI style, have been sent to invenstigate in case there's anyrthing in it.

Of course as you investigate it gradually becomes apparent that there is more to all this than a simple murder and a bit of Orc trouble, "a bit of source shenanigans" barely covering it, but the narrative is constructed so that the evidence of the threats behind all these early events only slowly come to light. This is why the first part of Cyseal is a bit slow, but it is absolutely in line with the narrative and it plays a lot better is you look at every early step on the basis of "I wonder WTF is going on here, if anything" and investigate everything you can.

My advice is to press on with the game, you won't hit this sort of problem after level 3 or 4.

[Bratty Moth]

Originally posted by Heavyline:

Originally posted by Karma Overdose:

"Don't care about the story, hate the amount of verbose text I have to wade through" Why did you buy a game that was advertised heavily as story driven then?

He just said that he loved Baldur's Gate series that was also story driven. Many people say in the reviews; "If you love Baldur's Gate, give this game a try". He seems to be disappointed about the story, since it's rather complicated and not "nice and simple" and memorable like Baldur's Gate was.

I know what he said at the start and then he complained about the ammount of text he had to wade through, plenty of "good " storys out there are not clearly explained or simple to understand so my question is still valid. Also heavy why does a story have to be short to be memorable? It is a person themselves that decides if it was worth rembering or not I for one loved the story so far