How bad am I?

[Fastpass]

I'm playing on Explorer difficulty because I'm not really after the tactical challenge. I just want to breeze through a good RPG. But I just can't stop dying!

Battles are still sort of hard and party members tend to die a lot if I don't fully dedicate a party member to spam healing. Even then, one or two party members are going to die either in combat or shortly after from walking through traps or poisons... And then, even though I'm not in combat, I need to waste resurrection scrolls on the dead party members and then stand around doing healing spells and first aid until all members are back to 100%.

Is it supposed to be this tedious or am I just really bad? I had no problem finishing similar games like Mutant Year Zero or Shadowrun on higher difficulties...

[Wovan]

Game has plenty of ambush and traps. If it's killing you, that means they're working as intended. Dying outside of those two... is another story.

Whether you're bad or not depends on your playstyle or if you're stubborn to adapt. There's nothing wrong with dying as new players to the game. If you give out "more" details of your playthough we can dissect the issues more clearly.

[SpiderManDS]

As a new/first time player who is now 60 hours in, my advice would be just to stick with it. The first 10-15 hours were the hardest, essentially it's not that the game was hard at the start but it takes time to learn the pacing and style and the nuances of combat. Be mindful of your level and the level of your enemies, if your going to areas where enemies are higher, that means you are not ready for that area yet.

[gregfromthepeg]

Yeah, you suck - but we all did our first time through! It is a tough game. Traps are a pain in this game. So save a lot.

In battle, early on, grenades are extremely useful. Pick up every empty bottle and fuse you come across. Combine with oil and ypu have a fire grenade. These are powerful and really can control the direction enemies move in battle as well as give lots of damage. Lots of early fights are against undead so the fire lights their poison on fire. One member should have pinpoint so the throws are accurate.

For the rest, getting equipment equal to your level is also key.

[mistress miaura]

Also a beginner here, (though Ive played DOS2), but here`s some ideas. Higher perception might help with detecting traps, and remember you can counter ground effects with other elements: poison areas can be burned away with the 1st level "flare" fire spell for instance. 1st lvl "Rain" spell (Jahan the mage companion has that) is very usefull when for instance facing an area with many fire traps, cast rain on the area, run through :)! Summons are usefull, maybe get summons on more then one char, I started with the geomancer spider summons on both chars and am very happy I did.

[red255]

yeah, couple recipes help me out.

antler + knife = knockdown arrowhead
Teeth + knife = stunning arrowhead
Empty Bottle + barrel of oil = bottle of oil, bottle of oil + fuse = firestorm grenade
Empty potion bottle + ooze barrel = vial of poison, vial of poison + empty grenade = toxic grenade.

easily purchased from shops.

you take 1 level of man at arms, 1 level of scoundrel you can get pinpoint (grenades go where you throw them) and grenades have greater distance)

[Fastpass]

Thanks for all tips! But there is no getting around having to bring a lot of resurrection scrolls initially then? :)

[red255]

not sure why you are dying, you should have 4 man party, I typically use Jahan for 'heals' as needed. but you could go buy the fish from the vendors, then you could combine a campire with a cookpot for a mobile kitchen and use that to make dinner (fish + mobile kitchen)

which heals 15% HP for 3AP. or 30% if you take the trait to double the power of food. Found myself using that more to top myself off in between fights but not during fights, what is causing you to die? per se? seems like you were approaching the combat wrong.

I mean just drop a teleport pyramid, start combat, and teleport to the pyramid, this keeps you from those nasty combats where you are either surrounded or otherwise like to withdraw, and then just either burst some barrels or otherwise use grenades or arrows to make the terrain damaging. everything should die before it hurts you, then have jahan fix the terrain with Rain.

oh you are dying from... walking thru traps? stop doing that.

have someone with high PE detect the traps, then typically shoot them from range with bows to explode them or if that doesn't work some barrels thrown on top of them generally shuts them off.

scoundrel skill gets you the walk on air skill that allows you to... ignore terrain damage while active. I dont get why you are getting trapped all the time.

I suppose a large stack of food on hotkey helps survive that sure. fish are like 3 gold for dinner. but you are supposed to avoid traps.

[frmrfran]

Yep...I am old school. Havent played a game like this since Baldurs Gate (2) and yeah, my people just die all the time. Not fun at all and I am not a person who likes easy games. I want a challenge. My ranger with 70%+ to hit misses 90% of the time and I aggro 10 or 12 mobs no matter how much I sneak. And yeah, the crafting is not worth it. no matter what i put in, i get nothing. Traps are not killing me...just the skeletons.

[gregfromthepeg]

Originally posted by frmrfran:

Yep...I am old school. Havent played a game like this since Baldurs Gate (2) and yeah, my people just die all the time. Not fun at all and I am not a person who likes easy games. I want a challenge. My ranger with 70%+ to hit misses 90% of the time and I aggro 10 or 12 mobs no matter how much I sneak. And yeah, the crafting is not worth it. no matter what i put in, i get nothing. Traps are not killing me...just the skeletons.

Rangers are a bit stupid early. Always use a skill or an arrow to hit properly. Higher perception improves your aim over distance later in the game. But early on, you miss normal shots a lot. The only Ranger skill early is ricochet so you will use arrows a lot. There are lots in the game though.

I don't have the calculation offhand but the accuracy isn't just your stats. It is your stats combined against theirs for accuracy. Early in the game is brutal.

I usually make my Ranger a hybrid with magic. That way they are useful in multiple ways. If all my ranger skills are in cooldown, I can cast a spell to help my party.

[red255]

yeah you hit if you use an arrow or skill, so you have 100% chance to hit with richchet or splitered arrow, otherwise use knockdown arrows or stunning arrows, unless the target is already stunned.

[CzapkaKloszarda]

Well I started the games a few days back. The factory where I work is closed since Covid-19 is killing people in my country. So as a citizen in germany I am supposed to stay home and not to go out right now. Under this circumstances there is nothing else I can do right now than starting an epic adventure in Divinity.

As a gamer with absolutely no experience in this kind of game genre I picked the easiest difficulty level. The only similar game with tour-based combat mechanic I played is Darkest Dungeon (where I was very successfull). I started Divinity with completely no wisdom about the game at all.

Right now I am about ~20 hours into the game. I just got to the forest... In my opinion picking the easiest difficulty was a mistake. Unfortunately the fights are just too easy for me... for now. I don't know what will come next to me to fight against. Please do not spoil the future.

My team:
- sorceress (fire3 + earth1) ... I am thinking about teaching her black magic or water. Is it a good idea? I think there is no talent worth investing a point or am I understanding the game wrong?
- The guy with crossbow who is able to speak to annimals... I don't know how do you call this class with English. I have no idea how to build this character. Blind guessing... I am investing the points to whatever I think it might be a good idea.
- The fighter woman I meet in Cyseel tavern.
- The wild archer woman which "the legion" caught in a cage

There was only 2 situations where I had to resurect one of my characters. The fight in black(Pontius) cave with some weird red monster. He instant killed my sorceress in the very first turn. And the second fight was in a cave north of Cysell where you fight against some monster-robot which was built by the Mage who greeted you at the begining of the game. He's name is Archi(?) I might misspelled his name.

I think the most important element to be successful in this game is to understand the combat mechanics. From a certain perspective it is simmilar to Darkest Dungeon. You need to know how to properly utilize your team. You need to know how to use the skills efficient. If you are missing something then go to the merchant and take a look if he sells other skills in your branch which you might use correctly in some situations. What is also very important is to take advantage of the terain you are fighting on and the elements you fight with. Put oil on the ground so the enemies are slowed down. Fire it up to burn them. You can put some ice on the ground so the enemies slip and fell on the ground. Throw poison cloud on the skelletons and then put some fire into it to make a nice explosion and blow them out. Throw a water baloon and then electricute the area to stun you enemies. What I want to say here is that you just have to be crative. That is all. Do not underestimate your enemy and don't be excessively overconfident.

[gregfromthepeg]

I believe you can change to Classic difficulty at any time. You can't switch to Tactician though.

For OP, one tio for arrows it to buy every antler or tooth you see at vendors no matter what. They are only 5 each and can be made into knockdown and shock arrows. That way you always have a good supply for cheap.

[red255]

So yeah, if you invest some in lore you can see the resistances of the monsters. which helps vs certain monsters you know if they have high fire resistance to not use fire on them. more lore gets you more information Bairdotr comes with 2 points in lore as I recall at her start.

magic wise, if you want to go multiple routes.... its 15 points to master a skill, going to 10 points for 4 points in a skill gets you 1 less master spell slot.

you get ~45 skill points in a run. + the initial ones so 50ish

so you could go 3 mastered skills, or 5 skills to level 4. I managed to get Jahan to level 4 with most spell schools, I think he's level 3 with witchcraft. Fire, Earth, Ice, Wind, Witchcraft

he functions well. because they are all INT based skills. and he's not that weaker than a full master.

so your team is apparently a mage, a Crossbow user, Baidotr, and Madora.

Never really been tempted on Madora. but I use a similiar team.

2 bow users, 1 mage and 1 sword and shield user.

the bulk of the sword and shield user's utility is its ability to carry things, (barrels, grenades, etc) so I didn't give it a 2H weapon because it didn't seem worthwhile to give up safety for more damage.

but you are doing fine. i'd prefer the thief over madora. give him some man at arms and two super daggers.

[CzapkaKloszarda]

I looked it up.
The "guy with crossbow" is a Wayfarer class. Any hints in which way build this character up? So far he is doing just fine. I made him a glass cannon. He's is able to give some punch with his crossbow and what is more important he can summon a spider which sometimes helps a lot. Anyway there are 6 unused points right now. Not sure where to invest them.

It seems teaching the sorceress 2'nd branch spells is not a bad idea after all. Any hints which talent should I give her? I can't decide. Everything on the list looks worthless to me. (To the OP. Based on enemies you are fighting against you can always change the weapon. For example. My sorceress is not able to cast water spells (yet...) so someone could say she can do nothing during a fight against fire elementals. Not true! Give her a wand with water damage and she will shred them into pieces in no time :)

Same thing with Baidotr... Do not sell magic wepons (bow for this example) with certain elemental damage. You can use them against some enemies in the future. I made her glass cannon as well. Needs to stay behind otherwise she will die very soon. However she has this talent where enemies rather to attack other party members first (not sure how to call this talent in English) so being a glass cannon is'nt a problem after all and extra AP are very useful :)

Madora is using double-hand sword in my setting. I like the character to be honest. She is able to traverse a long distance while hitting multiple enemies and throw them on the ground at the same time. (Baidotr has a talent with a damage bonus against enemies on the ground). If she is surrounded by multiple enemies she can hit them all with her wortex skill. If HP goes down under 30% she will hit stronger (talent). I give her every time lot of potions and elemental-avatar scrols to get some bonus resistance in case she needs to be poisoned or fired up :)

I hope I have made some sense out of it... Creativity is a key in this game.