I'm curious, what does OS2 do better than OS1?

[Roy]

I own the first game, I didn't have a co-op partner who I could play it with regularly from start to finish, so I abandoned it unfortunately, although I really liked the game.

Now with Original Sin 2, the thing the mostly gets me excited is the Game Master mode - but I can't rely on this mode alone.
So besides that, looking at the game, it looks cool and all, like the first game, I can only guess that you've got like.. more spells, more items and such, but apart from that I don't really know what it does better (if anything at all), so my question is what the Original Sin 2 main campaign does better than the first game?

Should one even play it before playing the first game campaign?

Thanks.

[fauxpas]

In my opinion the story feels more "grown up" than OS(1) did.

[Hobocop]

The story is darker and more serious in tone compared to the often slapstick mood of the first game, though it still has it's fair share of lighter moments. I really enjoy the inclusion of playable non-humans and noticing how much differently several characters treat members of each race.

[raubrey]

Story I agree wholeheartedly that it's much better and more mature.The characters as well, in my opinion, are more interesting.

The combat might be better in the first one, subjective of course, but in any case it is a bit different. I do like some of the changes better in OS 2 -- summoner class is quite fun, for one.

I feel the access to gear is better, though it was improved in the Enhanced version of OS1, I vaguely recall my rogue lagging far behind in decent gear at times.

The quests feel more story-oriented, although they've never been particularly fetchy-kill-6-rats type anyway.

Music is superb.

[Neks]

Originally posted by raubrey:

Story I agree wholeheartedly that it's much better and more mature.The characters as well, in my opinion, are more interesting.

The combat might be better in the first one, subjective of course, but in any case it is a bit different. I do like some of the changes better in OS 2 -- summoner class is quite fun, for one.

I feel the access to gear is better, though it was improved in the Enhanced version of OS1, I vaguely recall my rogue lagging far behind in decent gear at times.

The quests feel more story-oriented, although they've never been particularly fetchy-kill-6-rats type anyway.

Music is superb.

Music is a huge step back. It is good technicaly, but not good in creativity. Only 3-4 catchy tracks instead of almost all in the first game.

[Cosmic Cat]

For me the art, the music, the armour-sets and the characters/story itself is better and more interesting!

[Leto]

story definitely more engaging.
and it has the red prince. prince is awesome.

[Damashi The Kaotic]

It does everything accept crafting better. The story is amazing, and choices are more meaningful. The sound desgin, dynamic music system, and the soundtrack in general is amazing. Combat is significantly more polished and tactical while retaining the freedom the previous game had. I cared about every character I talked to in DOS2. In DOS1 I wanted to murder almost everyone on sight.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by Damashi The Kaotic:

It does everything accept crafting better. The story is amazing, and choices are more meaningful.

^^ pretty much this.

Except I wouldn't say the story is amazing, just much better than the first game, less cartoony and cheesy.

[dlux]

The graphics and art are better... writing is also slightly better... but that is about it. Everything else is just as good or worse.

[Sloth[AGHL]]

Haven't finished DOS 2 yet, but I prefer the start of the game a lot more than DOS 1. In the first game you had to trek around cyseal talking to a lot of characters and if you tried leaving town too early you are likely to get killed as you would be too low level. The latter applies to DOS 2 as well but there is a definite aim (escape the prison) and multiple ways to do it.

[Ka'shurio]

Originally posted by Neks:

Originally posted by raubrey:

Story I agree wholeheartedly that it's much better and more mature.The characters as well, in my opinion, are more interesting.

The combat might be better in the first one, subjective of course, but in any case it is a bit different. I do like some of the changes better in OS 2 -- summoner class is quite fun, for one.

I feel the access to gear is better, though it was improved in the Enhanced version of OS1, I vaguely recall my rogue lagging far behind in decent gear at times.

The quests feel more story-oriented, although they've never been particularly fetchy-kill-6-rats type anyway.

Music is superb.

Music is a huge step back. It is good technicaly, but not good in creativity. Only 3-4 catchy tracks instead of almost all in the first game.

Exactly my thoughts too.

The music in DOS 1 was so excellent that I downloaded the whole track to my album.

However, in DOS 2, only a few are catchy, such as the Rivellon or Lady Vengeance soundtracks. That's pretty much all.

[raubrey]

Originally posted by abc:

Originally posted by Neks:

Music is a huge step back. It is good technicaly, but not good in creativity. Only 3-4 catchy tracks instead of almost all in the first game.

Exactly my thoughts too.

The music in DOS 1 was so excellent that I downloaded the whole track to my album.

However, in DOS 2, only a few are catchy, such as the Rivellon or Lady Vengeance soundtracks. That's pretty much all.

I have both D:OS 1 and Ego Draconis/Flames of Vegence downloaded as albums, and am a huge fan of the late, most admired creator. That doesn't negate the quality of this game though. Even if only one song is good, if it's a theme song it's worthy of mention. I lost count of how many orchestal productions of Skyrim's Dragonborn I've seen...

I like how they took the one song though and altered it for the mood, instrumentally and such throughout the game. Anyway, I found nothing lacking with it.

[Backend-Giraffe]

I like the new different races and it feels like there are a lot more different builds possible than before. Also, i think height was not a big deal in the first game and having high ground is now very important, which is cool. Also, I really like the origin characters and their backstory. I remember, that my characters in the first game looked like clowns, because each armor piece had different colours somehow. Now the armor pieces do always match in colours, what I like

[Rage]

It's easier to point out what OS:2 does worse.

In my opinion these have been downgraded:
1. Number of fights. I'd argue the number of enemies in the first game is much more fun.
2. Currently, bugs. While I always got annoyed at bugs in the first game, the second one loses hardcore when it comes to bugs. In the first game, maybe you couldn't finish a quest. In the second one, the main story can break, sequences can break, skills can break, dialogue can break, and movement can break. It's disturbing.
3. The story from the first game isn't required to understand 2, but 2 also does not fill in the gaps well. I wish it did that better.
4. Your party composition really matters, and that's not always fun. If you pick 3 physical and 1 mage, your mage will probably never do anything except support your fighters. You'll never have enough bang to break the magic shield and inflict statuses or vitality damage.
5. The most egregious thing that bothers me is the huge nerf to dual-wielding. I cannot stand the fact that you can't remove the damage penalty over time. It's directly from DnD where you could become fully ambi-dextrous and not have penalties and it did not need to change.

These are notable improvements:
1. Choosing a dialogue response that translates into an action and having it narrated rather than choosing your exact words. Tons better.
2. Ability to respec for free, anytime (after a certain point).