Well, in order to use spells or CC, you need to break through the armor that resists them, almost always magical armor. Your spells will work if magic armor is gone, even if physical armor remains. That probably wouldn't be so bad if you went around with a party of mages, but who does that?

I have a mixed party (ranger, fighter, fire/earth mage and hydro/air mage) and I've made good progress despite the way armor works. Most of those dabble a bit in other schools as well, since this game has some cool skills that combine disciplines, and the classless system encourages it. Try combining unused skillbooks for some new ones.

I couldn't win the Griff fight on Tactician, so switched to Classic and glad I did. Some fights, especially in Act 2, are very hard.

I play in Explorer mode and have had several fights frustate me, the lastest being new second "Voidspammer" fight - where you get wave and wave of Voidwaken thingiebobs. Not sure I'll bother loading up trying to finish that fight.

The whole round robin #%&*$# pisses me off as well - when you seemingly get enemies going 3 times before you and wipe out parts of your party due to it.

For me this game, and the first for that matter, is basically a probing action. I have to search around looking for fights I can handle. So I go here and get beat, so go there and whoa! 3 levels over mine. Back over here and OK there are some enemies I can handle. On Classic at least, a group of enemies 2 levels above you is almost impossible to beat. So I spend a lot of time probing like I said looking for places I belong to be. After a while I've levelled and can go back and take those fights I put on hold. Levels seem to go fairly quickly though. But of course that's a double-edged sword since it quickly makes your gear obsolete, It feels to me that DOS 2 is more gear driven.

^ This was what soured a little my enjoyment of the first game. Open World in theory, in practice it seemed quite linear which mobs you needed to handle in which order so that your levels would match. Since there are no random enemies you basically level as you follow the red thread trough the game...

It's either a blessing or a curse depending on perspective, but there is no farming in this game. No respawning wolves or whatever to use to gain experience.

Without spoiling too much, when you get to act 2 there is a very noticeable spike not only in enemy level but in health and armor. I was level 8 when I arrived in Driftwood and I've felt underlevelled most of the time. I'm sure there is easy XP I'm missing with quests I haven't found. But combined with the fact that my gear isn't keeping up -- due to fewer useful drops and lack of funds -- I find most fights I get in to difficult. But honestly I prefer this over just wading right through anything I encounter. In a way it forces me to seek out everything, leave no stone unturned. There are many things I've come across where I just don't know what to do. I don't read guides or that sort of stuff as I want to figure it out on my own. So I leave and move on, hoping the answer or missing piece or whatever will be found later on.

As an example *minor spoilers* in a graveyard there is a crypt with two revolving statues at the entrance. One turns freely, the other does not and needs to be repaired. But I have zero idea how to repair it. Every time I pass near the graveyard I return to try out any new crafting things I've found. Maybe these armor scales? Nope. That sharp rock? Nope. How about these metal rods? It could just require a spell to be cast on it or something. I dunno.

I could have the solution in seconds just by googling it. But I would rather find it on my own. Another example is the Mother's Nightmare quest from Act I. I really wanted to help that poor lady, but I never did figure it out and that quest remains unresolved since it closed on leaving the island. Perhaps in another run.

I found the solution to your graveyard thing before I found the statues.

Dammit!

Who knows, I might have sold it, crafted it, tossed it aside or have it in my inventory lol.

New patch dropped today

http://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=435150

Lots of fixes listed. Quite a few I've noticed, but the one I think I like the best (if it's actually fixed) is Reactive Shot. My main is a Ranger and that skill has never worked right, so would be happy if it does now.

I've hit level 14 and a few random thoughts....

The 'gear gap' I talked about has faded. I'm getting some really great drops in Act 2 fights. In addition, I dumped a couple of points in to Lucky and have gotten some fantastic kit. Random barrels with levelled Epic gear for example. Definitely worth a few points, especially as the other civil abilities are lackluster IMO. Levelled gear is more important than in DOS 1 I think. The stats increase from level to level is significant.

On top of that the skills/spells for my party are much more complete now. Especially with buffs (armor and vitality) and CC like Charm. My characters are in the fight a lot longer now and we can control things. I've mostly ignored (or just dabbled in) Necro, Poly, Scoundrel and Summoning. Just not enough points to go around without diluting. Gives me a good reason to play a second time to mess around with that stuff.

I've grown accustomed to the combat changes. The round robin initiative thing... what it really does is make combat harder. Frankly, when all of your party members get to go before any enemy does it makes it far easier. Not worse, but easier. That's the way it was in many fights in DOS 1. So while I am not ready to say I like it better, it does make it more challenging. If only the order wouldn't be reset every turn so that enemies get to go twice when one dies I'd be at least comfortable with the new system.

The art in this game is really beautiful. The landscapes, spell effects and so on are beautifully rendered. I'd like a different fire animation though.

It has it's flaws but overall I think DOS 2 is one of the best CRPGs ever made. If anyone likes classics like Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment they should play this game.

Oh, and I still haven't fixed that statue

Thanks for the headsup. I think I'll give it a few days (to be sure) and then redownload the whole installer, as it's quite a sizeable patch...

Bringing up this topic again... this is what I just posted on the GOG Forums. Basically I'm having trouble enjoying the game because it seems to me there is no logic or red thread to follow.

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I'm really trying to like this game after the few hours I've put in, but right now I feel like shelfing it.

Case in point: "The imprisoned Elf". I finally ended up searching a walktrough, and while it mentions a specific NPC that might have helped me find Griff's stuff, that NPC is not there in the Camp Kitchen in my playtrough.

Other than this one, how would I solve this quest without talking to flat out anyone on the whole place?

There's other stuff, like the (what seems interesting enough) confused cat following me. And no idea/suggestion at all how to progress there or how to find out what's going on. I dug up the grave near where I found her, and it offered no solution at all (which is what I might have expected).

So basically: I like games with little hand-holding and don't need babysitting. But so far DOS2 seems to me to rely on chance and luck and just clicking everything everywhere to find story clues. I can't see how logic is playing any part, there's a lot of things behing hinted at but zero way to get rolling.

Is my impression so wrong, or what am I doing wrong? Or is this really a game for people who like dialoging with every NPC and collecting every item? Is there a trick to get enjoying the game without what feels like tedious hours spent on random chance?
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I loved the game once I got past the new comabt system.

But it really is a game for talking to all NPCs - as for animals, well there is a talent for that.

I like the interactions between your own NPCs and such, the right pairing will cut off some quest paths for you but open other ones.

Colonel, I completely understand. There is a lot of that, things you won't discover unless you talk to a certain character. personally, I like it, but I see where you're coming from.

I've sunk 150 hours in to this game, and am level 20 and very near the end. I've really enjoyed it.

For the Griff/Elf thing



For the Black Cat



I cannot know what I have missed in this game, I'm sure some pretty cool stuff. But I do tend to check everywhere and talk to most everyone, especially any named NPC. Pet Pal is obligatory, as Maddog alluded to.

There have been a number of quests that I never did find any solution to, and I'm completely fine with that, I kinda like it. Those statues I mentioned earlier for example. I don't feel compelled to solve everything, just play and see where it goes from there.

Thanks for the details DBond. I think what kills me is...

I agree Colonel. It can be frustrating, oftentimes there is little to point the way. And there will be more of this if you choose to continue. I can't tell you whether you should stick with it, but for me it's been worth it. Personally I like it as I mentioned. I'm not one for reading guides or googling solutions. Most times if I cannot figure it out I move on, and sometimes I later stumble on to, or discover the next clue or solution. Sometimes I never do.

I viewed the Elf quest as something akin to "OK, so you want him released? Go find my stuff. Now git!" So it's up to me to figure it out. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Most games would say something like "And there was that sleepy lizard slinking 'round here a few days ago" to give you direction. DOS2 isn't like that, for better or worse.

Now that you mention it it's interesting - I'm really bad (in my private life) leaving business unfinished. "Moving on" from an unsolved item is hard for me. Maybe that's what bothers me about the game, the GOG replies to this post also all mentioned how it's totally okay to go about it in a non-linear fashion.

It's perfectly fine to move on to the next thing and come back to that thing later. Except... when you transition from one chapter to the next, for example going from Fort Joy to Driftwood, or from Driftwood to Nameless Isle, any unresolved quests will remain so, you can't come back. The game will warn you at this point and give you the option to stay so don't sweat it.

I used to be the way you describe. I felt absolutely compelled to finish everything and solve everything, discover everything. But now I just play. The completionist thing results in reading guides and googling solutions that reveal too many spoilers and partly ruins the experience for me anymore. Seems counter-intuitive to some I would imagine. The sense of satisfaction of discovery and problem solving is the reward, not the fact that I did everything possible. It's funny and I will sound like a jerk to some, but there's part of me that disdains folks that proudly proclaim how they 'beat' a game having simply followed internet guides, it's like paining by numbers. But since it's a single player game it has no effect on me so whatever, right?

Anyway, there is a lot to like about this game and I hope you continue to play. A few quests here and there undiscovered or unresolved isn't a big deal. And besides, it means that any subsequent playthroughs will offer stuff you've not seen before, which is very cool. And for what'sit's worth I've had no trouble advancing with a very powerful party despite any and all XP I've left on the table.

The interesting thing is that I'm totally not a completionist. Even for Witcher 3 I left about half the sidequests untouched, I'm very good at NOT pursuing a quest.

Yet if the game keeps dropping quests into my lap that I somehow can't find the red thread to follow with, it's unnerving. I will try to go more with the flow... I like what I saw so far, character-wise, visually, lore...

Cool, I hope you will. DOS 2 has me torn, there are things about it that I think are simply fantastic, and other areas where I feel let down, or wish the devs had taken a different approach. But overall it's a great game, if you're in to this sort of thing. I've been so in to it that I wish there was more discussion about it. But I know that's too much to expect at SimHQ. I don't mean that negatively, it's just not the sort of thing that gets much attention around here, and understandably so.

But I enjoy this stuff, having played Pillars and DOS 1 in the past few years as well. I have Tyrrany on my Steam wishlist, but I'm on the fence with that one so never pulled the trigger. I get a 'great setting and concept, but rushed and incomplete' vibe from what I read. I've seen no mention of that game at SimHQ but wonder if anyone here has played it?