Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Tactician mode feels busted

And you can tell when something is a clear exploit and when something is not.

For example, armor system is terrible but it's a part of the game that is not an exploit.

Neither is setting up the field so you have the advantage.

Meanwhile, hitting their buddies while they are talking so the boss don't join the fight or rejoining the fight in real time for infinite turn ? That's an exploit.

I remember playing a game of Last Remnant where I always use the best moves to beat harder bosses and people just go into E-peen contest, calling strong moves "exploits" for some reason.

Everyone has their own definition of fun and tactical so there's no reason trying to push it on other. I will agree that Tactical mode bloated stat is horrible and should just be labeled as "hard mode" but I will take what I am given and see if it can be cleared anyway without me outright breaking the game with stuff that I know will certainly be fixed.

This is not at all what people are saying. They are saying that it's hard in a way which is uninteresting and very poorly implemented. This especially stands out when compared to Tactician mode of the PREVIOUS GAME IN THE SERIES which was done very well in a way which was challenging AND interesting.

Perhaps this was just inevitable because the previous game's Tactician difficulty was good because it was designed based on many hours of feedback from players, feedback which they simply didn't have past the end of Act I.

Lol wut?

First of all nobody mentioned anything about "insane" anything, so dont strawman your arguments.

Second off all, importance of tactics is exactly what TB systems are all about - because they negate player skills influence on the gameplay itself - because character skills take precedence over player twitch skills.

Player handles the meta strategic levels and decisions - characters handle the in game tactical performance.
Thats what Tb systems and RPG are.

The other version of this approach are action games, or other kinds of hybrids in which player twicth skills take precedence over game mechanics.

And no, there is no "everyones opinion about what is tactics is equally valid" - thats absurd nonsense.
Else me eating a banana or taking a walk is a tactic.

There is no such insane absolute relativism about it.

You and anyone else can enjoy this tactician mode, nobody is saying you shouldnt - but these mechanics are not tactical, except very, very indirectly through meta strategic decisions made outside of the game world - and thats not tactic. Thats cheesing.

But then you take a look at the current state of act 1 and realise they hardly even bothered changing anything despite having one year's worth of feedback, playtesting and player submitted logs. I'm fairly certain I can count the amount of encounters where the enemies clearly had new abilities or mechanics such as an aura buff on one hand. Similarly I can't remember a single time where I ran into a fight that featured additional enemies like tactician in DOS:1. I realise that whether or not adding more enemies counts as a proper way of increasing difficulty is an entirely different discussion, but it still adds something to the fight that's more than just a flat stat increase.

The Devs may be "reading it all" but that doesnt mean they will do something with it.
Its a nice marketing shtick which all videogame companies use.

Naturally not all suggestions and ideas can be taken, but thats not what anyone would want anyway. Over time some of the suggestions and critiques do crystalize but... then you have the necessities of game development itself and in cases where there is a big feature bloat... some things get left behind.

I cant criticize or complain about co-op, or GM mode or the moding editor, but one thing that is sticking out are full voiceovers which are again - done most of all as a marketing tool, not something majority of players really want or appreciate. Sure you can see a few posts here and there saying they like it, but even those players dont listen to all of the voiceovers and regularly skip them, especially when playing again.

You can considering both eating a banana or taking a walk as a tactic if you want if the topic is about taking a diet. On the other hand, if it's about playing the game, it's not. It's either wrong or right depending on the situation.

But to consider a method that is already doable in the game that will likely not be removed cheesing? At this point, you're putting personal feeling over the point of tactical plays, mechanical prowess.

It's like the discussion I had before with prefight buffs and pre emp first. Some of the people here called them cheesing and should not be used but those are legit strat in any turn-based game that has real time out-of-combat movement.

At this point, everyone might as well discuss what should be called and not be called tactical plays before we even discuss what tactical mode should be about.

Thats just ridiculous absurd nonsense.

And thats what people regularly succumb to when they try to make their enjoyment of something extra special.

I guess i would now need to explain how eating a banana or taking a walk have fuck all to do with any diet, but just the fact you pull that nonsense means you are out of your mind and cannot be reasoned with anymore.


No, thats what you are doing. Projection.

And now you can only go into more and more absurdities to try and forcibly prove your nonsensical absurd opinion is somehow true - which cannot be done, because it simply isnt.



False equivalence fallacy.



No, we really dont need to "discuss" anything more.

Maybe I should have bloated my persuasion stat instead of accepting the changes they stick with and just try to enjoy the game, huh?

The thing is, tactician mode in D:OS EE was ridiculously easy. So they made it harder.

For me exploits are such things, that defy logic and exploit the way how AI works.

Preparing an ambush in which you want to lure the enemies: tactic
Sneaking in the camp and plastering everything with explosive barrels: exploit

Killing a minion out of sight of all others: tactic
Keeping the Boss in talk, while you slaughter his minions in his sight: exploit


Honestly, I don't care that much, how people exploit to win, I'm just pretty disappointet once more, like many squels falling short to their predecessor.


50% more on every stat is just cheap for a hard mord and also questionable resonable, even more because of how armor system works.

Harder in a boring, un-fun, poorly thought-out way.

Since you said DOS EE tactician was challenging, while it was actually stupidly easy, I'm going to assume you are not very good at the game. Therefore, your opinion on DOS2 tactician difficulty doesn't really mean much. For people like you there is always explorer mode, while those who don't have problems beating the game do not have the option of increasing the difficulty.

Er, I was asking a question, not proclaiming doctrine. Take it down a notch, Reaction-Rick.

Stop being an arrogant asshole.

SUBJECT:
If anyone wants to kick this into action, it works the same as DOS:EE.

You can download the extracted Character.txt file here:
http://www.filedropper.com/character

Edit it with Notepad or Notepad ++ variant. See post above for area to modify, for example:
new entry "HardcoreNPC" section

Save it here:
You will need to create a few sub directories
..\Divinity Original Sin 2\Data\Public\Shared\Stats\Generated\Data

Start the game, there will be a warning about a modified version, run it and you can see the changes in Vitality for example using before/after.

Q:
What does this do and what should i edit?

A:
The goal is to adjust the stat boost NPC's get in Tactician mode.

Q:
That file in the game directory? Or do i copy this file you posted and paste it into the appropriate directory?

A:
Yes copy that. Go to your game directory, however as you drill down the sub folders will no longer exist, add those in as shown here. ..\Divinity Original Sin 2\Data\Public\Shared\Stats\Generated\Data

Once copied in here, edit the file.

Q:
I should edit only the "hardcoreNPC"?
What do i edit to lower their hp bloat and armor bloat?

A:
Yes. You can edit what you like, but the topic is NPC hp/armor bloat etc.

Q:
ok then, so

HARD:

new entry "HardcorePlayer"
type "Character"

new entry "HardcoreNPC"
type "Character"
data "ArmorBoost" "0"
data "MagicArmorBoost" "0"
data "Vitality" "0"
data "DamageBoost" "0"
data "Accuracy" "0"

hows this?

Or do i just delete those last five entries alltogether?

A:
You can do either, set to 0 or remove the line.

I also suggest you go into HardcorePlayer and add:
data "Vitality" "100"

Check your Vitality before, then do this whole step above, run the game and check vitality after, it should be noticeably higher. This is to make sure this mod has kicked and you done it right. Then when it is working, exit, remove the Players Vitality 100 and play the game with adjusted NPC stats.

This is all based on if Tactician mode is more than just stat boosts. I don't think that has been clearly answered. If is it just a stat boost, play another difficulty level then.


Q to RAZE: Are you able to confirm Tactician mode is just stat boosts or is their additional AI behaviors, mob formations, etc? Thanks.

I always have say this but most people seem to refuse to understand it.

Fun is subjective.

The lack of gear and skill really is the major reason the mode leaves such a bad impression but with proper build, the mode is actually more fun than classic because even with the extra stat and damage, your characters are still way stronger than all the normal enemies.

The game becomes a puzzle game on how to deal with all the key targets based on what they're capable of, something that will never happen on Classic because enemies are too weak.

You remove that damage bonus and bosses can gank up on you and you won't even come close to dying.

Also, in case anyone is still worrying about perma CC.

Certain buffs can be used to negate CC now.

Rested (use the bed) can be used to prevent first turn knock down.

There are also necklaces that prevent cc (I got a mage necklace with Immune Stunned).

There are also drinks that grant you CC immunity made from that CC immune flower.

Turns out you still have a major advantage even in the CC battle on Tactician.

Yeah its all subjective, everything is relative, bananas are also airplanes, its all a matter of opinion.
Especially when the difference is whether you can win a fight by cheesing or not. If you can cheese it and you start winning suddenly the "tactics" are great! But if youre losing then tactics are bad. Right-e-o.
Larian should hire you as a tactical developer.

This is not a tactical mode, this is HP, Damage and Armor bloat mode.

Until further notice or additional rebalancing and patches.


Anyway, much appreciated Horroscope.
Just wanted to be clear on what and where.

Ill try that very thing and see if i can notice any difference, playing on normal classic and "HP/Damage/Armor bloat mode"

The advantage are all on your side. If you still considered prebuff, sneak attack and using proper protection with dedicated person to prevent the CC battle, that's your fault now, not the game.

So if you still get rekt after level 3, it's time to just admit your build is bad or that you are bad at the game. Enemies, even without buffs, are WEAKER than you especially with the change they made to wit and turn rotation so you can put every point you get into damage and 20 str laugh at your enemeis because the enemies still get something like 14 int 13 con 12 finesse on their warriors with the auto distribution the game uses.

Don't just call everything "Cheesy" because you can't accept that it's a legit method that requires absolutely no overlooked exploit to be used. It's like asking for a fist fight in a ghetto and screaming that it's unfair the enemies have knives and poison.

Again, absurd and nonsensical comparisons you pull out of your behind.
Also dumb, because you can have no idea how i am playing or how much im losing or winning.

Enemies cannot be fundamentally weaker then me if we are using the same mechanics, dumbass. And i went through all encounters just fine in ea, where situation was much the same as now in some earlier versions.

Havent even started playing the full game yet, so you are simply a retard now.

And i have no wish to play a game for retards, using retarded cheese and exploits against bloated enemies.
You enjoy it and call yourself great tactician.

Considering how mad you are, it says a lot about how the game challenge is treating you and why you will want it nerfed or modded out.