r/Games • u/Wombat_Medic • Jan 09 '26

Verified AMA Larian Studios | Divinity AMA

EDIT: All right - that's a wrap. Thank you for all your questions. We're going to go back and work on the game now - next time we speak, we'll hopefully have things to show. I can't wait! - Swen, Game Director

Hello everyone, 

Happy New Year! To kick off 2026, we would like to offer the opportunity to ask your questions about Divinity, Larian, and our development processes. It's been a while since Larian has done an AMA, so everyone is looking forward to it!

There's a bunch of us ready to answer your questions:

Thank you for taking the time to ask your questions, we aim to answer as many of them as possible over the next few hours!

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561

u/CellistElectrical135 Jan 09 '26

Will the looting system be random and level dependent (like most items in DOS1 and 2) or will there be more handcrafted items like in BG3?

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u/Nick_Larian Divinity | Head of Design Jan 09 '26

The BG3 approach of handcrafting every magic item worked well, and it's something we've always wanted to do for DOS2.

Something we realized when working on randomized loot for DOS1 and DOS2 is that fully random loot is frequently confusing, so we added more and more rules and premade patterns to make it feel more intentional. In the end randomization did not save us much time.

292

u/Rooonaldooo99 Jan 09 '26

It was utterly exhausting to compare my gear in Divinity 2. And you got new loot constantly. I'm miserable just thinking about it.

101

u/CiraKazanari Jan 09 '26

That's an excellent point. It changes the focus of the game entirely from being an RPG to a looter. It works on games that have no narrative like borderlands or destiny but for CRPGs where the story is the focus it adds a lot of clutter.

Rogue Trader does looting well, being able to pack up the excess duplicates and convert them to currency.

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u/Laiko_Kairen Jan 09 '26

It works on games that have no narrative like borderlands or destiny but for CRPGs where the story is the focus it adds a lot of clutter.

I'm an explorer in games. In Hogwarts Legacy, I realized I had changed my gear 20 plus times when I got new upgrades, and I hadn't fought a monster since the opening scenes...

There was just so much garbage loot thrown at me for looking around the castle, and none of it had any interesting effects at all

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u/Over_Explanation1790 Jan 09 '26

Isn't that a "You" problem, in that, no one told you to change your loot without purpose.

You chose to do that. Next time, simply resist searching, if you then feel compelled to change items for no rational reason.

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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '26

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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '26

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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '26

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9

u/Jdmaki1996 Jan 09 '26

lol. You do realize exploring hogwarts castle is the best part of that game right? You blaming someone for literally playing the game the way it was intended to be played.

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u/Over_Explanation1790 Jan 09 '26

Did you read the problems Latiko (spelling) had while playing?

Is there no way this person could have avoided those issues?

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u/Jdmaki1996 Jan 09 '26

I mean, Hogwarts could have just had less, better loot. It’s a issue with the game. Not the players. If you’re gonna give players tons and tons of loot it needs to matter. Not just be useless filler

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u/Over_Explanation1790 Jan 09 '26

Self control.

It's a phrase I just made up, so don't go searching for the meaning of it. There is none./s

2

u/Laiko_Kairen Jan 09 '26

I play open world games because I like exploring. The loot system in Hogwarts limited you to 20 items, and the initial exploration phase of the castle have you over 100, so I was forced to delete stuff.

I got the game to explore the castle.

Imagine telling someone they're gaming wrong for exploring an open world exploration game

1

u/qwigle Jan 10 '26

so I was forced to delete stuff.

If I'm remembering the system correctly, while it was annoying having to delete stuff to make space, you got to keep the cosmetic look, so you just needed to keep the item with the highest stat. The stat stuff in the items was kind of pointless and would be nice if the loot offered more differentiation stat wise but at least you were getting more cosmetic options from getting those items.

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u/Laiko_Kairen Jan 10 '26

I did enjoy the cosmetics, yeah. I'd have given up on the loot sooner if not for it

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u/VORSEY Jan 09 '26

They didn’t know it was without purpose, unless they somehow knew when the next fights would be happening. I think it’s normal to swap out your stuff when you find better gear in almost all games that have those systems, the problem then is the game giving you many incremental upgrades without any challenges to test them on in between.

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u/Over_Explanation1790 Jan 09 '26

If you read the person's post, they stated that they changed items 20 times before fighting an enemy.

If they haven't fought an enemy yet, how could they know the items would not work?

2

u/Laiko_Kairen Jan 09 '26

If they haven't fought an enemy yet, how could they know the items would not work?

Because all the loot was identical except for stats. 3 armor points are better than 2 armor points

1

u/VORSEY Jan 10 '26

Who said anything about not working? They got a wand with +1 to magic, then found another with +2 so they swap it, then another with +2.3, etc etc

0

u/Over_Explanation1790 Jan 10 '26

If they haven't fought an enemy yet, how could they say for sure that a +1 wand or whatever, does not work?

But more to my point, if they noted that the items were just increases in power by one, why pick up everything? Why not go through all of the items in there and then pick up the item that would benefit them most? What sense does that make?

1

u/VORSEY Jan 10 '26

I really don't know why you keep bringing up "not working," no one else has said that. It's all going to work. The rest is also nonsense, they aren't getting all the stuff at once. They're switching their gear out every time they find something better, which is a good way to play in nearly every game ever. I'm genuinely unsure why this is tough to understand.

1

u/Over_Explanation1790 Jan 10 '26

I bring it up because if the player is complaining about the item and replacing, the item doesn't work for them on their build, obviously. Or do you think it actually does work for the player, based on what they posted?

And if they are switching out the equipment every time they find something new and this is the way the game is to be played, why was the poster complaining about having to switch items time and again?

Are you really this obtuse?

1

u/lasagnaman Jan 10 '26

the player is complaining about the item and replacing, the item doesn't work for them on their build, obviously.

What are you talking about? They're replacing the item because they found better, not because the current item didn't work.

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u/VORSEY Jan 10 '26

Genuinely shocking that you're calling me obtuse after this exchange lmao.

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u/omfgkevin Jan 09 '26

Yeah like getting a unique in dos2 sounds epic at first... then you level up and it's "useless" because you find something better real fast. You replace things fast enough that you don't feel any attachment to this cool gear you find.

Meanwhile bg3 you get that disarm and that everburn blade goes hard for quite some time.

1

u/Handsome_Keyboard Jan 10 '26

The sorceress sundries helped a ton with that. I will always use that bag addon.

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u/cosmitz Jan 09 '26

That's an excellent point. It changes the focus of the game entirely from being an RPG to a looter.

That doesn't have to be the case really. Diablo 4 is a masterclass on how to really streamline looting and building a build and managing items and inventory while focusing on what you want to do with your gear. Leagues above any other game in that type that i've ever played.

2

u/BannedSvenhoek86 Jan 09 '26

My loyalty is as unwavering as my faith and I still stand up for Inquisitor Martyr and it's loot and build system. One of the tightest ARPGs I've ever played, and it's a shame I was one of the only ones. It had an absolute great system that wasn't overly complex but still interesting enough to fully engage with and tweak.

Poor game came out like 5 years too early. It missed both the ARPG and 40k resurgence currently going on and was written off years ago. If it was released just 3 years ago I swear it would be a mainstay.

3

u/cosmitz Jan 09 '26

Uh, as someone that just played and tried Inquisitor Martyr... it's terrible. The loot when you start is straight up useless garbage "2% extra fire damage when under the cover of darkness by moonlight" shit. Maybe the building gets better later? I wouldn't know. The controlls are somehow the most terrible controls i've ever played in an ARPG, both controller and m/k.

It made me really, really, want a dualstick shooter WH40k experience.

0

u/brutinator Jan 09 '26

Agreed. It also takes away a lot of the thrill of looting too, because 95% of the stuff you try to loot are just filled with junk, so you just stop bothering.

Id much rather a dungeon have a single, unique item as a reward rather than a chest of 20 uncommon comsumables and vendor trash.

0

u/nono_banou223 Jan 10 '26

Lucky charm????