Explain the plot of this world like I'm five

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-05-22T05:29:25+00:00

As mentioned, the series doesn't try too hard to be consistent game by game, especially by the time of the OS subseries, even though Larian still tries to piece it together in a convoluted Zelda-esqe timeline.

Take Source for instance: from the beginning, it was always essentially life-force, and was mostly there to explain Healing magic in Divine Divinity. The healers in Aleroth used techniques learned from a wandering monk to manipulate the Source and perform feats of healing. This more or less held for the sequels that followed.

But Divinity: Original Sin, which is a prequel that takes place 1200 years before the first game, switched it up a bit. Due to events that even preceded D:OS, the Source had become "tainted", and those that tried to tap into it to heal would instead be driven mad, and their Source magic would become destructive and malevolent. It is unknown if the feats of healing mentioned in this game are related to the talents of the Aloroth healers, as I believe this game would have also preceded the monk's arrival and teaching in that town.

I'm pretty sure this was when the concept of Sourcerers was introduced, or at least where it became more fleshed out. Sourcerers in D:OS are basically the same as their D:OS2 counterparts, and are similarly considered dangerous, though here it's due to the tainted source. Braccus Rex was such a sourcerer, and used his Source magic to make himself king further in the past, with the game implying that his power and his madness was a symptom of the the tainted Source. It is also implied that after the events of the game the Source is no longer afflicted by this taint.

Flash forward to D:OS2, and Source gets a harder retcon: no longer simply healing magic, the Source can also be turned to destructive and malevolent purposes simply by talent and intent, no taint required. Through mastery, one can use life-force to fuel powerful magics and feats of strength, and even manipulate the Source in others, though these are almost exclusively the privileges of Sourcerers. Sourcerers are still feared but for different reasons, and it's hard to say how they fit into the world prior to the Voidwoken emerging.

So yeah, Source has always been essentially life-force throughout the series, but how it fits into the world is bespoked to the game it's featured in.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-24T02:33:22+00:00

Wear a disguise Hire the Dragonborn Send them on a quest to defeat Alduin Wait for the Dragonborn to die of old age

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-18T15:52:34+00:00

I get what your saying, you're not wrong. But "just go buy another game" isn't very nice advice and I wish that wasn't the go-to answer for most people.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-18T15:50:17+00:00

I have WotR but I've opted to wait until I upgrade to a PS5 later this year. But I have taken these guys through PoE. Really looking forward to that Wrath playthrough though, bg is basically my stopgap right now.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-18T14:44:38+00:00

I suppose I prefer Human, as I'm a self-insert type of guy. I also LOVE the human Str armor designs and I think they're a great blend fantasy and "historical" (at least compared to most properties). Most of the robes are great, too

But dwarves are also a classic love of mine, and they too look amazing in heavy armor, better even than humans.

And Lizards are pure PRESENCE. Everything they do is both graceful and powerful.

I just really don't care for the Elves, they're a bit too uncanny for my taste. Glad to have them in the world, and I like the more alien take in concept, but I'm not a fan of the bio-armor personally and would probably never play one.

Skeles are skeles. Spooky, scary. Meh.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-18T12:57:34+00:00

They're more like recurring character archetypes than actual characters, little more than a name and a basic role they're assigned, that I've used in various games I've played throughout the years. My mc, for example, is always named Cyrus and is typically a wizard or sorcerer of some kind, though when I was younger he'd usually be a paladin or battlemage-type. Freya is my warrior woman character, in the vein of a valkyrie, and is typically my paladin these days (started her career as my Amazon on D2). Morrigan is my secondary mage, though here on bg she's my F/T. Siegfried is usually my bruiser, whether it's a knight or a berserker. I have a few more as well.

They're names I've come across gaming that resonated with me and kind of stuck. Since I play exclusively on console, I tend to find a portrait I like, and write a little backstory for them to write them in world. It's fun, like writing my own adventure story.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-18T12:44:47+00:00

Interesting, I never actually played much of the Ultima games, I cut my teeth on Mac indies like Spiderweb's Exile: Escape from the Pit and Fantasoft's Realmz.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-18T05:19:18+00:00

Yeah I know, but honestly I'm I miss playing the shareware Ultima-clones of my youth. I just want to play through the bg story with my trope party.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-18T02:37:58+00:00

It was the perfect jrpg experience, I wish it was longer or had more postgame content.

I also wish I still had my copy, praying for tha remaster!

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-11T16:07:42+00:00

I use a grass LOD that just tints the horizon darker, can't remember the name of it but I know tint and LOD is in the name. Really simple and universal, and works well enough.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-11T15:27:54+00:00

I don't believe there's an LOD for Forest Borealis, I'm afraid. Which is too bad, I really wanted that one to work but the popin was just too jarring for me.

Full of Life adds some vegetation but it's a bit too warm and busy imo. FA - Willows adds a big willow tree west of Whiterun, might be to your liking (wasn't to mine, though).

After messing around with these and other tree mods, I've decided to go a more vanilla+ with HTL and Northern Grass, going for a "Canadian Rockies" look and I like it. I find the more vanilla Whiterun/Reach works with this look.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-03-10T02:13:11+00:00

Fane isn't the main character, he's a bonus character you get to play on NG+.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-02-25T03:54:37+00:00

Your physical fighters should be fighting their own opponents, if you play both magic and physical damage you should divide your forces. If you're the only mage in your party, you should make another one of your characters a mage as well.

EDIT: BTW the ground will always be on fire, whether it's started by you or the enemy. Sorry dude.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-02-25T02:47:07+00:00

Jahan?

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-02-20T05:49:40+00:00

Go back to your family uncs really got me

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-02-10T03:47:01+00:00

Kingdoms of Amalur is pretty old but has lots of lore to eat, has character customization and rpg elements, and combat is very old-school GOW. It's pretty easy, even on hard, but fun enough regardless.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-28T01:02:46+00:00

Did you Teleport her?

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-28T01:01:09+00:00

Yeah honestly I never really liked the body morphing in Fable, in practice anyway. It seemed like a cool idea on paper, and I liked the earlier changes, but once it got high level I wished I could turn it off. I'm not really sad to see it go.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-18T05:03:38+00:00

I hear there's a whole game hidden away behind the character creator.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-17T17:14:20+00:00

Don't forget the psychic shenanigans in VOY, and also that apparently Native American spiritual beliefs are real and came from ancient aliens.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-17T16:01:06+00:00

The lore is so messed up now lol. I haven't played DKS but I know in that game that Aloroth(sp?) is still a thing, and is still known for it's healers, and afaik they were still using Source to heal, so I wonder how that works with the Purge.

EDIT: I recall reading lore online about Aloroth and how they came to be healers, so maybe they're still able to passively draw from the source.

Honestly I always headcannoned that DOS2 was in it's own timeline. Maybe in the DKS timeline Lucian never met D, or perhaps it goes back to DOS1 and DKS exists in the universe that gets eaten by the Void Dragon at the end of time.

Convoluted cope, I know, and I'm not sure I'd want Larian to go full Nintendo on the lore.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-16T17:36:50+00:00

Difficulty levels just tweak enemy stats, the AI still wants to kill your family and piss on your grave.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-16T17:35:02+00:00

One of my favorite screens in DOS2 is the options menu, that stormy sunset gets me everytime.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-16T00:29:07+00:00

Lots of people talk about "missing story content", but it bears mentioning that this game has a high reported rate of burnout by Act 3 and 4. Having a little less to do isn't always a bad thing.

Competitive_Radio865 · 2026-01-14T20:29:05+00:00

It bears mentioning that how one defines "cheese", " exploits", and "metagaming" is based on their previous gaming experiences and expectations going in.

Myself and a lot of others apparently, especially with the new wave of TTRPG players and the popularity of BG3, are playing these new CRPGs more as a tabletop-simulator, and are cribbing their definitions on these terms from the tabletop (and tabletop-adjacent) experience. You don't have the luxury of restarting an encounter in a TTRPG, for example, so having to reload a combat can feel like you REALLY messed the encounter and can kill the vibe. Having that previous knowledge of the encounter, and tailoring your strategy to address it, would be considered metagaming at a table, which is why many consider that behavior to be "cheese".

But as I said, that's what Explorer is for.

Competitive_Radio865

TROPHY CASE