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Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition has finally released for SteamOS/Linux. I have picked up a copy, and I am downloading right now to give you some thoughts.

Notice: It's missing the executable. The Linux version hasn't been matched up to any of the ways to purchase it looking at SteamDB. I have informed Larian on twitter.
Update: It's now downloading.

It couldn't have released on a worse day for me. I ended up accidentally playing through Portal in its entirety before going to bed last night, so tired is an understatement. I am also ill, so it wasn't the best idea. I will try to give it some thoughts once I have put a little time into it.

Important: AMD video cards might have rendering defects. This is a game issue and it will be fixed soon.

Initial thoughts and port report
It launches fine, hooray! It loads up in Windowed mode by default for me, if I still had my dual-monitor setup I would have liked this. It's easier to get games working correctly if they start in windowed mode, but now I'm on one screen I couldn't care less. So full-screen 4K resolution it is!

You are greeted with a two-character setup screen with quite a few options and classes to pick for each one. You always have two it seems, and they can be any mixture of male/female, female/female or whatever you want.

Performance wise everything seems fine, with 4K resolution and everything up at Ultra it has been running really smoothly without a hint of stutter. GRID Autosport is the only other game I've been able to get a smooth 4K experience with, so this is really massive points in its favour.

I am testing it with the Steam Controller and it's working like a true dream. The buttons are all mapped correctly, and it just works great. Feels really responsive, and was certainly built well for a gamepad.

I do find it amusing that with your characters, you control both of them when talking to each other. Can't say I've seen that done before, and it certainly makes it interesting, but also easier to do what you want.

Issues
Once you are in-game, you cannot switch to a gamepad/Steam Controller. You can only switch on the main menu, a little annoying, but not a major issue. Same for switching to mouse, the control method cannot be changed in-game.

It pollutes your home folder with a "Larian Studios" folder, seriously developers, please stop doing this.

Overall, it's one of the highest quality ports I've seen for a while performance wise for me. Really liking it.

About the game (Official)
Gather your party and get back to the roots of great RPG gameplay. Discuss your decisions with companions; fight foes in turn-based combat; explore an open world and interact with everything and everyone you see.

You take on the role of a young Source Hunter: your job is to rid the world of those who use the foulest of magics. Embarking on what should have been a routine murder investigation, you find yourself in the middle of a plot that threatens to destroy the very fabric of time. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Action, RPG, Steam
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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81 comments
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Liam Dawe Dec 23, 2015
Working really, really well for me. Added in some thoughts.
Beamboom Dec 23, 2015
And it looks bloody great too. I particularly love the effect when you zoom in, the background becomes gradually more blury the further away it is. Great sense of depth.

Also it's worth mentioning that you can zoom in quite close on your characters (and ergo, explore closer the surroundings) to get a little more sense of "being there" than the often found static isometric view can offer (and that I hate).

Also, great voice acting and lots of humour!

The first impressions are fantastic, and if this is an indication then this game is fast climbing up towards my GOTY vote this year. It's got a fantastic metascore rating too: 90. That's a level for the absolute top releases to reach for.

I won't play no other game this xmas. As far as I am concerned, this is the xmas gift to Linux gamers this year.


Last edited by Beamboom on 23 December 2015 at 9:58 pm UTC
Avehicle7887 Dec 23, 2015
Thanks for the early performance report Liam, are you running it on your 970 card or the new system?
Xzyl Dec 23, 2015
Using radeonsi so far has yielded crashes. Not sure what's up (can't launch game). Maybe something to do with pthreads on my system as that's where the crash is occurring...


Last edited by Xzyl on 23 December 2015 at 10:12 pm UTC
TobiSGD Dec 23, 2015
Now I am surprised. Will buy it as soon I have some spare money.
Mountain Man Dec 23, 2015
Huh... still not sure if I want to buy it after the way they dicked us around.
neowiz73 Dec 23, 2015
Quoting: BeamboomWorks flawlessly here, so far!

And for those it may matter to: You can create the two protagonists from scratch, including gender. They don't need to be a male and a female, like all screenshots I've seen earlier has indicated .

there's even one trait you can pick that is "lone wolf" that gives you bonus health and stats and allow you to go about the quest solo without a protagonist.
Pangachat Dec 24, 2015
Unplayable on SteamOS only random flickering+music, btw not expected too much after i read the comment on AMD videocard flickering issue. So just a few weeks more waiting for patch i guess.
sigz Dec 24, 2015
Runs very well, no bugs found in my side, but there is a crash when exiting the game (so not really anoying but strange).
neowiz73 Dec 24, 2015
there seems to be a bug with the traits as well, for kicks I recreated a character with the Lone Wolf trait and supposedly it should remove your companion at that point but It in fact does not. So apparently you can have a protagonist even with one character having the Lone Wolf trait. So if you want 1 really OP character that would be the way to go, haha.
adolson Dec 24, 2015
It's a Christmas miracle!
BillNyeTheBlackGuy Dec 24, 2015
More CRPG goodness is welcome. Now here's hoping for Underrail (and perhaps undertail as well :p ).
Cmdr_Iras Dec 24, 2015
While it's good the game is released, it would be nice to see some sort of official notice from Larian. Nothing on twitter so far by way of announcement or fanfare.
Avehicle7887 Dec 24, 2015
Quoting: neowiz73there seems to be a bug with the traits as well, for kicks I recreated a character with the Lone Wolf trait and supposedly it should remove your companion at that point but It in fact does not. So apparently you can have a protagonist even with one character having the Lone Wolf trait. So if you want 1 really OP character that would be the way to go, haha.

It doesn't exactly work like that, I digged up some Steam thread about this, here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/373420/discussions/0/490124466456579487/#c490124466459796011

EDIT: In Short, if one of your 2 characters has Lone Wolf Trait, then you can't have the 3rd and 4th companion later in the game (aka you're stuck with the 2 main characters you create).


Last edited by Avehicle7887 on 24 December 2015 at 4:49 am UTC
Cmdr_Iras Dec 24, 2015
Also anyone tested to see if you can coop with a win/mac user.
PublicNuisance Dec 24, 2015
Awesome news. Hopefully GOG gets the Linux version soon.
Beamboom Dec 24, 2015
QuoteI do find it amusing that with your characters, you control both of them when talking to each other. Can't say I've seen that done before, and it certainly makes it interesting, but also easier to do what you want.

I haven't tried this myself, but if you make one of them with a personality "AI" I bet they will reply in the conversations according to the profile you set.

Also, if you play in coop I bet it makes more sense as well.

This game is *all* about options and I love it!
Liam Dawe Dec 24, 2015
Quoting: Beamboom
QuoteI do find it amusing that with your characters, you control both of them when talking to each other. Can't say I've seen that done before, and it certainly makes it interesting, but also easier to do what you want.

I haven't tried this myself, but if you make one of them with a personality "AI" I bet they will reply in the conversations according to the profile you set.

Also, if you play in coop I bet it makes more sense as well.

This game is *all* about options and I love it!

Ah yes, that does make sense, maybe I should have given my companion some AI heh.
Renzatic Gear Dec 24, 2015
Quoting: BeamboomI haven't tried this myself, but if you make one of them with a personality "AI" I bet they will reply in the conversations according to the profile you set.

They do. If you set the AI on both characters, the one you're not playing with respond automatically when conversations between them pop up.
Beamboom Dec 24, 2015
So, I got to play it a bit more and I just gotta say: Finally. FINALLY a good RPG on Linux. "Good", not as in "good to be an indie" good, not "good for the budget they had" good, but just plain good.
This is the best RPG available for Linux today. There's not really any competition, even. If only the Shadowrun games were like this...

But yeah - I'm ready to vote for this years GOTY.


Last edited by Beamboom on 24 December 2015 at 11:37 am UTC
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