Divinity: Original Sin Beginners Tips

Role-playing games are the life blood of millions of players. Getting lost in a fantasy world isn’t hard, especially when the universe is as diverse and lore-filled as Divinity’s Rivellon, but we can’t forget where we are. War is brewing and the land grows more treacherous with each passing day. That said, we compiled a few tips that will help you stay ahead of the enemy and save the world.

For the Love of Money 

Divinity: Original Sin is chock full of items waiting to be bought from merchants. Whether you’re in need of lock picks, potions or crafting ingredients in general, there is one easy way to ensure you have enough to afford everything, become a thief. 

There is so much waiting to be taken from the world around you. Unlike other RPGs, Divinity doesn’t fault you for stealing. Sure, you get in trouble if caught, but any stolen item can be sold to any merchant for enough gold. This makes stealing items and selling them back to their rightful owners a lucrative business.

Don’t be Afraid to be Different

That statement may not make sense, but it will in a second. Many RPGs these days force players to choose what they want to become. They give you a set of skill trees, and once you choose one you’re locked into and can’t stray from it without great cost. Divinity: Original Sin drops this pre-decided idea of who your characters should be and allows you to more openly shape them.

This means melee characters are no longer forced to always be up close and personal. You can drop a few points into any magic skill, and now you have a fireball (or ice, air or poison) wielding warrior who is useful both up close and in ranged battles. This freedom to make your character who you want allows players to step out of the constraints of modern RPG ideology, and makes those battles where melee characters were useless more attainable victories.

On that note, don’t be afraid to experiment with your character and build a little. One of our favorite builds to run is a Marksman/Scoundrel class, which allows us to make use of the Scoundrel skills while at the same time allowing ourselves the opportunity for expert ranged attacks against enemies.

Don’t be a Hoarder

Whether it’s potions or one-time use spell scrolls, hoarding is never the answer.

Many times, we’ve come across meteor-strike or fireball scrolls and thought, “maybe we should save this for the final boss. After all, it has to be a rare occurrence to get these, right?” 

Wrong. Scrolls are all over the place. While some have lower drop rates than others, they are in the game for you to use. Don’t hoard them all until the final boss fight, because we assure you that fight won’t give you time to use them all. 

Shop Until You Drop

Sometimes it seems like we spend most of our time in RPGs sifting through the marketplace looking for new items to buy. You could do the same thing in Divinity if you really wanted, but we don’t encourage it. The world runs off a permanent-like system, meaning the things that happen in the world can’t be undone. People you kill won’t come back to life, missions you fail can’t be replayed and the merchants continue to hold onto everything you sell to them.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. Every time you level up, the merchant stocks replenish and refresh. This means the potions, crafting ingredients and even equipment and gear are always up to date with your current level. Keep an eye on the shops, buy whatever supplies you may need and check it again when you level up. As far as spending hours upon hours in inventory screens, don’t do that.

The Sky’s the Limit

Sometimes we expect to get rewarded for going out of our way to take on a challenge. Sometimes the rewards can be great. Other times, however, they can be excruciatingly bad. With the use of Action Points to dictate combat moves and the steady but sometimes slow accumulation of levels, taking too big a bite out of crime could kill you.

If you’ve never played a game like Dark Souls or Dark Souls 2, then allow us to explain. Divinity runs off a strict you can go where you want but you just might get slaughtered type of system. This means that while there are some limitations (for example, you have to beat this quest – to go to this quest – to beat this quest), overall, the world is yours to explore and destroy as you see fit. 

Sometimes you’ll run into higher level enemies, which makes knowing what you can handle very important. Don’t blindly rush into battle. Scout your enemy, check your surroundings and decide if you can safely handle the situation. If it isn’t a resounding, non-hesitant YES, then we suggest you take a few steps back and return to this encounter once you’re more confident in your abilities.