Game Mechanics FAQ

1. What is the story like?
2. Is the world seamless, or am I limited to a set route?
3. In what way are dialogs presented?
4. Are you free to have conversations with any NPC?
5. How is the game controlled?
6. What is combat like?
7. Is dual wielding a weapon supported?
8. How does aiming work?
9. What are Flying Fortresses and how do they affect gameplay?
10. What abilities do you have as a dragon?
11. Can I reach locations as a Dragon that I cannot as a human?
12. If the player transforms into a Dragon, will he still be able to walk on the ground?
13. Do you as a dragon have equipment?
14. How do you fight dragons?
15. Can the dragon fly in different ways?
16. Is there a party?
17. Are we free to go back to quests not done yet?
18. Are there evil vs good decision?
19. In what way is the game saved?
20. Does the game has voice acting?
21. Are there NPC schedules?
22. What perspective is the game in?
23. Are there different atmospheres?
24. Does the game have morality?
25. Is there blood in the game?
26. What is the playing time of the game?
27. Can we fall off ledges and cliffs?
28. In what way is gold acquired?
29. Will there be set items?
30. Is the way items give bonusses equal to Divinity?
31. Does equipment still use durability?
32. Is the entire skill tree available from the start?
33. Is mindreading a skill?
34. Can we sneak around?
35. Will there be skill combos and synergy?
36. Is death permanent?
37. What are the silver eyes for?
38. Can we jump and run?
39. Is Aleroth still there?
40. Will there be different difficulty levels?
41. What is the battle tower?
42. Are the user interfaces on the Xbox and the PC the same?

1. What is the story like?     ^ back to top
The story is set some 60 years after Beyond Divinity and players will learn what has happened to Rivellon since then. As a reminder, in Divine Divinity, the player becomes the Divine one and is late in preventing Damien, the child of chaos, being born. He can't bring himself to kill the child though and takes him home to raise him as his son. In between Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity, as told in the novella by Rhianna Pratchett, we learn that the Divine one is forced to kill his adopted son's lover and that this event unleashes all the evil within Damien, leading to a great war between the forces of good and evil. Damien is banned to another universe but manages to escape with the help of the player, which is the story of Beyond Divinity. And now, in Divinity 2, we'll learn what Damien did when he got back and how he corrupted the proud race of dragons to kill the Divine one. The latter is immediately the reason why dragons are hated so much in the world of Rivellon and why there are so many dragonslayers.
There is a general story continuation and in addition there are ots of winks to the other Divinities that only the vigilant gamers will notice

2. Is the world seamless, or am I limited to a set route?     ^ back to top
The Divinity II world is seamless, although at times you are restricted within a certain area due to story requirements, but most of the time you are free to explore.

3. In what way are dialogs presented?     ^ back to top
Dialogs are presented in a cinematic way with all the graphical fluff you'd expect.

4. Are you free to have conversations with any NPC?     ^ back to top
Yes you are, it is encouraged by witty dialogs all over.

5. How is the game controlled?     ^ back to top
Several approaches have been tried, at the moment the best solution appears to be a keyboard controlled movement with mouse-controlled camera.You control the camera using FPS controls and move with the WASD keys or cursor keys - that means there's no mouse cursor on screen. The mouse cursor pops up whenever necessary, e.g. when you access your inventory or quickmappings. When you move the mouse backwards, the game zooms out to a top down view, when you move the mouse forward, the game zooms to a behind the character view (as you see in the screenshots). Left/right turns the camera.
This is done the have the same type of controls for both the human and the dragon as flying with a point and click interface is difficult.

6. What is combat like?     ^ back to top
There's multiple ways you can handle combat - there is a pause mode allowing you to be more tactical, if you are skilled you can use rolls and jumps to gain an advantage, or you can be a bit more traditional and rely heavy on the stats of your characters and your equipment. In all cases you will need to use your skills and spells however to overcome the enemy.

7. Is dual wielding a weapon supported?     ^ back to top
Yes dual wielded weapons are part of the game.

8. How does aiming work?     ^ back to top
The game uses auto aiming, which is active at all times to ensure smooth and easy gameplay. Tactical decisions become more important when skill based aiming is minimized.

9. What are Flying Fortresses and how do they affect gameplay?     ^ back to top
Flying Fortresses are the massive siege tools used by the Black Ring armies commanded by Damian. They consist of floating islands on which ballistae and lightning towers have been built, and where nest towers bring forth endless hordes of undead drakes and vicious Demons. Hovering monstrosities, it takes but one of these Fortresses to annihilate and entire city.
They are the ultimate test for your Dragon to pass and as such the ultimate playground for aerial combat. You'll have to dodge, fire and destroy as you figure out the Fortresses' weak points and combine your human and Dragon form to take out their structures and ultimately vanquish the commanders that control them.

10. What abilities do you have as a dragon?     ^ back to top
As a dragon you will have the entire arsenal of skills you have as a human and you can fly while emitting fire (without it costing any energy). For this there are skills such as firebreath and fireballs.

11. Can I reach locations as a Dragon that I cannot as a human?     ^ back to top
Yes, there are many interesting places that you can only reach by air, and flying allows you to explore the world from a much better vantage point and at a higher speed than on foot. But being such a big visible target does have its own innate disadvantages.

12. If the player transforms into a Dragon, will he still be able to walk on the ground?     ^ back to top
No, the Dragon is the master of the sky. Human combat is very versatile as it is, so a walking Dragon would actually spoil the fun. But don't for a second think there won't be enough to burn to cinders in the air. On the other hand there are areas that are unreachable by dragons such as dungeons.

13. Do you as a dragon have equipment?     ^ back to top
Yes, but dragon equipment such as armor can not be bought it has to be found or earned by completing a quest. The different types of armour will give your Dragon a unique flavour

14. How do you fight dragons?     ^ back to top
It's a world in which dragons are considered the ultimate evil, so there's different "things" in the world aimed explicitely against dragons, like dragontraps. When you are a dragon you can disable them in your human form.
The claws and mouth of the dragon are not usable as weapons in combat.

15. Can the dragon fly in different ways?     ^ back to top
You can dash (bursts of acceleration for a limited period of time), accelerate by diving and fly at fast/slow speeds.

16. Is there a party?     ^ back to top
No there isn't, you play alone although you can summon creatures.

17. Are we free to go back to quests not done yet?     ^ back to top
In general you are free, though there are some events happening in the main story that at some point can close off some of the side quests. For instance, dragon slayer specific quests become obsolete when you become a dragon knight yourself. In general there's a lot of choice in the quests and they've tried to give all those choices cool consequences. Meaning that often entire different quest chains open up because of a choice you make. For example, there's a quest where you have to throw out some drunkards from an inn. When you do that, an entire quest hub opens up as the people start coming back to the inn. Furthermore, depending on how you handled the quest, two very different quest chains open up too.

18. Are there evil vs good decision?     ^ back to top
It shouldn't be seen as just 'good vs. evil' decisions. Divinity 2 is not built up as a black-and-white game -- the choices you make during the game go a lot deeper than that.
The designers have done their very best to make each choice as valid or viable as the other, without you being able to say: "this choice is only for good characters, and this choice is only for evil characters."
Besides, each choice has a different effect on the different characters in game. Take, for example, the well-known love-letter quest: if you deliver the letter without opening it, you may help the two lovers but hurt the husband at the same time. On the other hand, if you open the letter and confront the wife, you may have done the exact opposite (or even something completely different -- who knows?) And the other choices in this quest have even different outcomes, some beneficial and others not.
Just remember, there is no absolute evil and no absolute good. Everybody in the game has his or her own reasons for doing what they do. All this reflects in the central theme of the game: a Dragon Slayer turning Dragon Knight. Who is good and who is evil?

19. In what way is the game saved?     ^ back to top
There are multiple save slots and the game makes autosaves at specific points throughout the game.

20. Does the game has voice acting?     ^ back to top
Yes, the game has complete voice acting and lip sync. As there is nothing known about the languages the game will be at the very least in English

21. Are there NPC schedules?     ^ back to top
The schedules of the NPCs are done in such a way that they serve the story. There is a fairly extensive system of choices and consequences in the story, and the schedules are such that they represent those consequences. Because of this the developers had to back off a bit on the classic schedule system but it should still be a living believable world with a lot of animation going on.

22. What perspective is the game in?     ^ back to top
The game is primarily played in third person view. It is however possible to zoom in close to the player or out to get something like an isometric view.

23. Are there different atmospheres?     ^ back to top
The idea is that the atmosphere of the game changes continously depending on the mood and where you are in the story. Only the beginning of the game is shown at the moment which is quite cheerful but that's not the only mood you'll encounter in the game.
The World design is such that it starts all nice and open in a green area with people feeling relatively happy. It all goes down from there, so the later areas become more grim, dangerous with plenty of nasty surprises, though there are the occassional safe harbors. There's quite some visual variation. There are however no swamps.

24. Does the game have morality?     ^ back to top
Yes there is. The player will be put in some very tough moral situations, there even is a cave that called the "Morals Cave".

25. Is there blood in the game?     ^ back to top
There's actually quite a lot of blood, especially in the dragon gameplay. It's possible that rating boards might result in  tuning these down .

26. What is the playing time of the game?     ^ back to top
This is unknown yet and it has everything to do with balancing as well as still having to put parts of the world together, but it is estimated at around 50 hours at the moment.

27. Can we fall off ledges and cliffs?     ^ back to top
A dragon knight can jump from great heights without hurting himself so there are few hard terrain blockers, except the edges of the world and some specific areas where it is blocked it to help the player, rather than constrain him (e.g. in areas where there is lava all around you, you don't necessarily want to fall off when engaged in very dynamic combat on a very narrow ledge or in the tutorial, you don't want to find yourself immediately dropping down from 3 kms).

28. In what way is gold acquired?     ^ back to top
Money drops as part of loot and money is given as a reward. Also there are enough junk and valuable items to be found in the world that you can sell to traders throughout the game.

29. Will there be set items?     ^ back to top
It looks like it. Divinity 2 has a new random item generator that allows to handcraft certain items (such as set items).

30. Is the way items give bonusses equal to Divinity?     ^ back to top
The item system was rewritten but has a lot more options for bonusses than Divinity had. As a result items will definitely be as varied as they were in Divine and Beyond Divinity, so to weapon damage and armour rating you can add the augmentation of skills and attributes, and on top of that, many of the more powerful items can be charmed as well as enchanted!

31. Does equipment still use durability?     ^ back to top
Equipment does not use durability anymore. Durability slows down the gameplay, in order to keep it streamlined and avoid traveling back and forth to blacksmiths it was removed.

32. Is the entire skill tree available from the start?     ^ back to top
Right now the entire skill tree is available from the beginning. Some surprise skills which you discover later on in the game might be added though.

33. Is mindreading a skill?     ^ back to top
It's a skill that will be available to you in the early part of the game. Using it will cost you some of your experience. You cannot go down a level, but you can get negative experience points, which will cause you to take a while longer to reach the next level. As the results of mindreading are not always usefull, it should be used with care. Still, it's worth trying, because only in this fashion can you earn some rewards, find other quests or complete a certain quest far more quickly.

34. Can we sneak around?     ^ back to top
There's a skill called "world of the dead" which allows you to become invisible for some time and sneak around.

35. Will there be skill combos and synergy?     ^ back to top
The entire idea behind having a classless skill system is to actually provide both skill combos and synergy. The philosophy behind all of this goes actually one step further - by allowing equipment/stats/items and skills to affect each other, you allow for a great variety of character builds, increasing the depth of your character development system.

36. Is death permanent?     ^ back to top
Right now, death is permanent. If there are only minor consequences for dying, then there is no real suspense in dangerous areas and no tension or excitement during combat.

37. What are the silver eyes for?     ^ back to top
The silver eyes allow you to see the ghosts of the undead and communicate with them. They will be available to you when you become a Dragon slayer initiate.


38. Can we jump and run?     ^ back to top
Jumping/running - it's up to you if you jump or not, but if you don't you will be blocked by obstacles like a fence. Jumping gives a sense of freedom in navigating through the world. And yes, you can go to walk mode instead of running.


39. Is Aleroth still there?     ^ back to top
Aleroth has changed quite a bit since the first Divinity, but it is still there.


40. Will there be different difficulty levels?     ^ back to top
They're fooling around with the idea of multiple difficulty levels but haven't made a decision.

41. What is the battle tower?     ^ back to top
The battle tower has to be conquered from an evil alchemist and can be visited by you after that at any time. You can teleport at any time to the tower, which might save your live at times. 
The battle tower acts as your home base. Here you can spend experience points to improve in a number of different areas, including necromancy, alchemy, combat skills, and enchantments. You can also spend resources to outfit runners with armor and weapons, and then send them to fetch valuable items so you can devote your time elsewhere. You can upgrade areas of the battle tower, but usually at the expense of another area. This lets you specialize in skills you're most interested in rather than level up straight across the board.
In the tower there is a large chest in which all objects can be saved.
In the tower you can also create a creature that can be summoned in battle to help you. The creature is created by collected limbs. The head of the creature determines the class of your minion, such as warrior, archer or magician, and the other limbs have an influence on its overall stats. So some limbs are better than others resulting in a continuous upgrade of the creature.

42. Are the user interfaces on the Xbox and the PC the same?     ^ back to top
No, they are different. The user interfaces are on each of the platforms are designed to fit that platform best, without changing the underlying functionality.