Divinity: Original Sin Post-funding Update #56: New Alpha Update

Yet another Kickstarter update for Divinity: Original Sin to mark yet another alpha build, which brings some new music, combat improvements, status effects and more. Here’s a snip:

What new features have been implemented?

We’ve squashed lots of bugs, made some big leaps and bounds in the area of status effects, improved the look of the Cysealian hinterlands, and amended some of our rule systems. Check out the following video in which Farhang highlights some of the more exciting changes available in the latest Early Access update. Read on for more info, or click here to see a full changelist for this update.

Cyseal: Reloaded

The most well-explored region of the game has gotten a bit more depth and style with a new tunnel leading out from the graveyard (a tunnel under a graveyard? Curious… curious indeed…).

Through the beach beyond the skelebot cave, you’ll find a revamped region with lovelier scenery leading up to your favourite wizard-poet.

Furthermore, and to Arhu’s tremendous relief, the city’s zombie-zapping ballistas now effectively zap zombies.

Combat improvements

• Enemies now enjoy smarter target selection, meaning you’ll no longer reap the benefits of what you thought was simple orcish idiocy.
• Combat now offers decreased experience points. You’ll have to flex your muscles a bit more to get that next level-up! In addition, fewer ability points may mean an existential crisis (and a push to explore, fight, and quest even more) for the wizard who dreamed of being a charming, telekinetic, body-building powerhouse.
• You’ll be able to plan fireball launches, winter blasts, and earthquakes with more precision now that skill previews have been implemented, meaning you’ll see exactly how and where your spell will launch before you commit to it.

New (unfinished, but still very cool) music added

The hills are alive with the sound of Kirill! Our composer has leant some new music tracks for this update. Expect further improvements before launch, but these should add some new flavour to the areas you’ll be exploring.

Statuses! Statuses everywhere!

Stoic heroes be damned! Now you can enjoy (or not) the thrill of being Chilled, Warm, Burning, Wet, Bleeding, Crippled, Blind, Cursed, Weak, Invisible, Slowed, Hasted, Raged, Lucky, Diseased, Infectious Disease, Fortified, Petrified, Blessed or Drunk.

Be careful! Each of these statuses will affect game play in some way. It may be fun stumbling around Cyseal as a drunken Source Hunter with increased luck, but be wary of your decreased initiative and intelligence. (Also, that buff to charm is only in your mind. Trust us on this one.)

Improvements to generic behaviours

Our in-house puppet masters have been hard at work regulating and improving the way NPCs react to you. Acts like theft, vandalism, murder, and breaking out of jail will now have more consistent consequences.