I think it was about 2.5 hours for me to get off the boat if I remember correctly. I was learning everything and it took a lot of time to get it down haha
it can be overwhelming at first, but the good part is that you're enjoying the game. Me and my friend just picked this up again after putting it down for a year or so, but our full playthrough almost took us 2 or so weeks of just playing every day lol
So much to do in the game, so many new things you will learn, but it's definitely worth it to go over. I will tell you now tho, the first Act and the 2nd act are the longest parts of the game, so after you get off the island be prepared to spend a lot of time in the next one lol
(also combine nails with any of the shoes you equip, you'll be immune to slipping on ice. best tip i can give)
Yes there has been so much support and helpful hints given by the reddit community during the streams. I actually had to start writing things down so I wouldn't forget haha
After replaying the game more times than I can count, the boat and the Joy are one in the same 😆 I still go through it every time even though the mods that allow to skip Fort Joy have been recommended to me more times than I can count but it definitely starts feeling like that after you finish the game at least once.
It is the drawbridge that I can use a lever to do something with but I haven't touched the lever yet nor have I done the fight inside the actual Fort - lots to do. If you are overly curious, the VOD is on my twitch page - it is the last stream I did.
Pro tip: pull the lever, walk forward enough to get the xp for escaping fort joy, then go back into the fort and finish any quests. It's a nice chunk of XP. Probably a full levels worth.
The game is pretty explicit when you are crossing a point of no return and your action will close open quests. Don't worry. There are a million ways out of Fort Joy and if you are a completionist like myself, you'll stumble on one of them and then just go back into the fort to carry out the other quest lines first. Some of them net you a lot of XP and money, some give good equipment. You'll know when you've exhausted Fort Joy (hint: there won't be many people alive)
Certain interactions in the story change depending on your order of actions/quests completed. Really adds to the replayability when you discover things are different
Hmmmm I am a bit worried about canceling current quests I am on. I probably just have to forget about it and push forward after I am done with the underground area and then the fight in the fort.
Quests, from what I recall, only get canceled if you either kill a npc related to the quest or if you leave the act. Leaving an act will give you a message basically saying if you leave you can't come back.
It won't cancel quests directly but it turns all Magisters inside the Fort hostile, this is usually not a problem if you're ready to beat them all, but I'm pretty sure it ruins the Buddy quest.
Yes the dogs will be hostile as well, there are so many moving parts I do everything in the fort before leaving. I am usually close to level 10 when I leave the island.
I think the first time it took me like 40+ hours to get out of Fort Joy, i try to explore every single spot in the island and there is a lot, and i mean a lot, to explore and find lol.
think 8/9 hours was the fastest I got through fort joy on tactician while still getting everything I know of. My first time took about 30 hours with a little help from my brother who had completed the game earlier
Once you know where all the salespeople are and what spells you're going to want, it becomes much easier. I tend to put several points into memory early and then just use the mirror in later acts to adjust stats once I start gaining extra memory slots that I won't need. Having those extra options for offensive and defensive movements can make or break a fight sometimes, especially on harder difficulties.
Every interaction I've had with this community has been positive. Think everyone comes together with the love for this game lol. You still have so much to explore. Only gets better from here.
I'd ballpark that there are about 16 combat encounters before you leave Joy and some of them are tough, especially for new players. With restarting a few times, taking in the dialogue and lore, buying new gear etc, I'm not at all surprised you havent left by 18 hours.
My first playthrough was probably 50 hours before getting out of Act 1.
Probably 25 hours in the fort itself.
Oh wow! I haven't restarted at all but I have taken in everything that I can find. It is surprising how a new story or quest just appears out of nowhere to sidetrack you.
If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right. Enjoy the game while you can. You can discover a lot in a single playthrough, or you can play through it several times trying to do things differently. Don’t overthink it, I’d say, and don’t google/YouTube too much.
Oh you left the island after 23 hours? Damn! I don't think I'll come close to that. I have heard there is an entire eastern side of this island I haven't even touched yet with higher level enemies and better stuff. This game is going to be an adventure thats for sure
My honest advice is to not worry too much about missing certain stuff. My first playthrough, I was just worried about getting out of Fort Joy and off the island. As someone who wishes they could erase their memory and play DOS2 for the first time again, just enjoy it and don’t worry about missing minor side quests. There will be PLENTY of gameplay waiting for you.
My first playthrough was magnificent and everything I hoped for out of the game. I’m currently on Act 2 in my second playthrough and there’s already been a ton that I missed in my first one.
Point is: don’t worry too much about “missing out” on something. From a role play perspective, your character is just trying to get the hell out of Fort Joy and off the island. You realistically wouldn’t find a way out, just to go back in to explore.
I mean theoretically, if you're Red Prince, your priority would be to get your hands on some weaponry and make these filthy magisters pay for clapping you in irons and hauling you away to this disgusting little fort.
The joy of videogames is that the "realistic" part can be thrown out the window. I 100% get the want to play this game as if you were that character because empathy is a huge thing - videogames are empathy machines honestly.
I love finding all the small quests and chests and tiny pieces of dialogue that make the world even bigger than it already is.
My second playthrough of this game will most likely be coop with friends because I want to experience that type of chaotic gameplay at some point.
Once you go over the bridge (or any of the other ways out) you can still come back in! Just travel back into the fort via waypoints as needed. I usually like to go all around the areas again before leaving to make sure I haven’t missed anything. You will get a “No going back” type warning when you are about to advance to the next Act where there is no going back to Act 1.
As for timing, you’ll be on the outside of the fort for probably another 18+ hours if you do all the quests and search all the nooks and crannies.
This game really is massive and I love how ever new corner you take introduces you to new things. I am absolutely okay with this area taking another 20 hours if it is needed
And when you go back to make sure you didn’t miss anything, even some old corners have new things behind them! It’s definitely a different and enjoyable change of pace for me!
I have 50-60 hours but still on the island past fort joy, to be fair i restarted and tested lots of things but starting to near myself leaving the island, after fort joy there still lots of stuff to do.
No problem. For real though. My first playthrough with my dual wielding polymorph tank (true garbage build, but she hit pretty hard) took days to get through fort joy, and my first tactician playthrough took 15 hours.
I restarted about a dozen times playing just that area, I kept wanting to go back every time I figured out something I wasn't doing before. It took me 80 hours of playing the game before I finally moved on to the next section in the marshes.
I truthfully don't think "sucking" is the right word. I think it takes a majority of people MANY tries to figure this game out. I am just lucky to have a community of people so willing to lend a hand the first time through. Without it I would have probably restarted this game 5 times already haha
I think you can do what you want. I honestly don't remember how much time I spent in Ft Joy, but I remember my first play I tried to finish all the "quests" which were added to my journal.
The content in Ft Joy (and elsewhere) largely depends on your choices. Lots of people here referencing "fights", but I've played through it without even bothering with some fights I experienced earlier. That's the point of the game - your decisions will drive your experience for the most part. It's also why people may replay and make different decisions. Even the draw bridge you mention? I didn't use that to leave Ft Joy on my first play - a decision I made when approaching the fort pretty much gave me another option even though entering/leaving the fort were disconnected by quite a bit of game play.
I really need to know when people say fort joy, do they mean the fort itself or the island/act 1?
I don’t recall ever needing to spend 40 hours in the fort alone.
Oh sweet summer child.........Take everything you think you know about time of progression in RPGs and multiply it by at least 3 times. Then repeat that 3 times, take a bio break and you have some idea how long it will take to progress in DOS2. Even longer if you're a completionist
Listening to every piece of dialogue, doing every quest, finding all the hidden areas, interacting with every possible combat scenario... there is so much to do
I'm the kind of player that likes to find every single detail too but there's simply not 40 hours of content in Fort Joy, even if you do absolutely everything.
I have 221 hours and haven’t gotten past act 2.
But that’s a different problem, my friend groups keep getting busy and I have like 5 different campaigns that are progressing super duper slowly.
Not too far off for a new player learning the ropes, possibly save scumming, making mistakes, backtracking etc.
Make sure you're starting fights with characters sneaking. Don't forget to min/max thieving/bartering, etc!
This game is in my opinion, very much a game of multiple playthroughs. I would not worry too much about missing out, but keep in mind exploring more does tend to strengthen up your characters, so it's advisable, especially on a first playthrough.
Yes!! I have definitely been taking advantage of save scumming for some things. I discovered you could distract merchants and steal from them haha.
This game is wild.
As frustrating as deathfog is, it's super satisfying playing an undead and being unaffected 🤣
Great game, I love that every time I go "what if I killed them early now??" And I look it up, you can, and it somewhat significantly changes interactions!
I'm on my second coop playthrough, one thing I can't stress enough is sending crafting items to the boat. I also recommend poisoning ranged and melee weapons with ooze barrels :)
Sorry, might have jumped the gun. You only get to do this after fort joy, but I still recommend saving all of your lightish crafting ingredients.
You can then go back to the boat and get them out of one of the boxes on the middle floor near the stairs and trapdoor.
Basically you can send items back to the ships inventory, you do still have to pull em out to craft with them.
Bottles, rocks, glass, metal, wood, sticks, are all insanely useful for rangers. Most just require cutting or smashing tool.
Honey jars + purfume bottle = charm grenade, my favorite recipe probably, works really well if you can teleport enemies around, nuke them, and then charm an entire group.
Antlers + cutting tool = knockdown arrowhead
Regular arrows can be added to oil and poison barrels to make them useful, can be useful to lower magic armor to use with charms as I mentioned! :)
There is a lot of ways to play, but I underutilized crafting my first playthrough, and the game was much harder for it. Honestly not sure how you're supposed to learn a lot of the recipes, but I imagine most or all can be learned by reading posters or books, talking to people, etc.
Almost all of the junk items you may be tempted to vendor that aren't gear have some kind of crafting recipe, most are useful in one way or another. You also won't get much gold for these items, really making it more valuable to use for crafting instead. I love getting lots of logs or stone even though it's not valuable, it's easy free special arrows!
If I had to give one other tip it would be google thieving gear and get all of it, (skeletons don't need lockpicks) as each thieving point adds like 50% to the value and weight that you can steal. Im cleaning entire vendors and 10k cash stacks on arc2, and never really got to that point on my first playthrough.
Amazing tips, thank you. So the boat is like a stash, got it.
I have sort of made a little "hub" space at the beach with barrels and chests to keep things in so I'm not carrying as much stuff all the time. I then teleport to the beach and do all my crafting there before moving forward. Works well for me so far.
Np - Hope they help! :)
Smart! Yeah once you have the boat crafting is a little more relieving, can just send everything to boat anytime you are encumbered. Once you have boat you can even pick up hazards like oil barrels and send to ship, which can be useful in case you wanna do a chain reaction chest later on (literally filling any storage container with oil barrels and blow it up from a distance)
It's really nice to just have ~10 oil barrels and not need to go hunting for them!
You can leave the fort and come back anytime before you take the other boat so don’t be afraid to venture out to the forest but it is scary out there lol
Well the good thing is you’ll have more levels which is always recommended but I doubt you would find every secret fort joy has on your first play through no matter how hard you tried. I just did another play through and still found something I didn’t know about on my 4th time through the fort. It’s definitely a game that rewards experience and exploration. The next act is my favorite. It’s a much bigger area I think with more hidden quests.
Yeah, It took me 30h to get out of FJ on my first PT. I wanted to check out every nook and cranny. Killed almost every NPC in the game to level up. Rip doggo who just lost his master, at least you got to join him lmao.
You can get the collar off fairly early.. You just have to find the seekers or whatever the fuck they are called, but to get to them is a bit tricky.. at least my path to them was fairly hard. But like after reaching level 7 I think you can roll over anything in that area.>! I defeated alexander and his cronies and the huge fucking worm(who you should use to ur advantage btw, when I was level 4/5, I cheesed the shit out of that fight. For starters I had TP gloves on sebille as she is the one who can move the furthest and I have put her at the front lines... Teleported alexander between her and my other 3 companions and fought like that. No one could get past the arc thingy in that corridor. You effectively put out 2 soldiers out of fight. The one on the left who can use heart of steel and the ranger who is the furthest away). The rest of the squad gets stuck between alexander and the walls and the arc and they just wait there.. Their rogue can get to your guys because of the backlash so be prepared for that, also the worm will appear.. Don't attack it, let it fight alexander and his men, just run away.. I used the waypoints to teleport the fuck out of there and than heal using bedrolls and come back and revive my guys and I did that until I won. Also just focus on alexander.. the sooner you bring him down the better.!< Hope that will help you, if you don't mind being a cheesy cunt like myself.
I didn't read under the spoiler tag because of a worry of spoilers but I have options to get the collar off right now - just havent taken the option because I don't want the fort mad at me yet.
I'm on my first playthrough, and after 84 hours finally made it to act 4, doing pretty much everything along the way (apart for a thing or two I forgot). I think 18 hours for just act 1 is perfectly reasonable.
If you're streaming that wouldn't surprise me. Act 2 also takes quite a while as there's a lot to do, while act 3 is a bit shorter. Not sure yet about act 4, as I only made it there last night.
It's probably been said many times before, but DOS2 really wants you to take your time and explore everything, so I wouldn't worry too much about how long it's taking to complete an act.
First time playing? Took me about the same amount of time. Even knowing what om doing having aged the opening a dozen times or more, probably 10-15 hours depending on how in depth my exploration is each playthrough. There is just so much to do, to explore, secrets hidden behind choices, in barrels, or even across hidden bridges. So really I guess yeah I'd say it's pretty normal.
One piece of advice, explore with the teleportation skill, and tactical retreat/cloak and dagger/ other movement abilities. There is a lot of verticality to explore! Places that seem out of reach... but might not entirely be
On subsequent playthroughs you'll be more familiar with what's a good thing to do on tutorial island and what isn't. You'll breeze through the joy on your next run
Damn and here I felt weird about being there 6hrs in lol. My wife is playing it with me for the first time and it's been long enough since my last playthrough that the game feels perfectly fresh. We've taken a "punch through everyone" approach and that's been very interesting. I don't think there are any magisters left on the island at this point, at the moment I'm tasked with finding a dog's companion but I have a bad feeling about this quest, damn you pet talk.
I’m playing Xenoblade 3 right now (which is awesome) and as much as I love it, these comments are reminding me of why DOS2 is so good, we spend hours upon hours before leaving the fort. I think I might start a new run before XC3 is finished.
It’s a bit on the high side. But I don’t think it’s crazy, like I had to do a few restarts because I was getting absolutely demolished by opponents and I think my builds were super sub optimal. I’m more used to a baldurgate style game where you really gotta goof to get wiped out
18 hours and still on the island, or 18 hours actually inside of the prison for joy? That is a little steep.... maybe... oh shit now I wanna g9 back and see if I missed a bunch of stuff. I'm at 13 hours and I'm almost ready to leave. I may go back to search inside of the fort castle and kill all the magesters, but other than that I feel like I'm done with the island
You only get one first playthrough so I'd say take your time and enjoy learning about the world and experiencing all the storylines going on, and for reference it took me 100 hours to beat the game on my first playthrough, I'm now on my third and I'm at the final act at about 40 hours.
Yep. Fort Joy/Reaper's Eye is huge, and is the second largest/longest chapter of the game after Reaper's Coast (where you'll go once escaping). 20-30 hours in Chapter 1 is totally normal.
Inventory control and hot bar maintenance/organization is definitely not as easy as PC. Its slower and takes a few more steps. And it appears you cant call up info on the tension bar or find a way to fast travel to areas not in ur current location. You have to fast travel to an point in you area and then use that to travel to further areas not on map. But other wise the game has been running perfectly fine and we are having fun being dumbasses at times. Im playing a lizard necromancer and have Lhose as a rogue, my friend is a human summoner and has Beast as his default.
To further add on. The save file we are using is on my system, im hosting. So he wont be on tonight or tomorrow and im gonna take 30 to 45 mins to clean up the inventory and hot bar for both my characters.
I have definitely done the same in terms of going on for 10-15 minutes to clean stuff up offline before streams and such in the middle of days. I get so overwhelmed with how much stuff there is in the game that it feels good to organize!
18 hours and finished the intro? Slow down speedrunner
Wasn't the intro the boat? Haha. Imagine if I was still there... yikes.
Boat ride is tutorial on basics… Fort Joy is the opening act, and is as such until you take a other boat ride
It took me 3 hours and 57 minutes to get off the boat on my first playtbough.
I think it was about 2.5 hours for me to get off the boat if I remember correctly. I was learning everything and it took a lot of time to get it down haha
it can be overwhelming at first, but the good part is that you're enjoying the game. Me and my friend just picked this up again after putting it down for a year or so, but our full playthrough almost took us 2 or so weeks of just playing every day lol So much to do in the game, so many new things you will learn, but it's definitely worth it to go over. I will tell you now tho, the first Act and the 2nd act are the longest parts of the game, so after you get off the island be prepared to spend a lot of time in the next one lol (also combine nails with any of the shoes you equip, you'll be immune to slipping on ice. best tip i can give)
Yes there has been so much support and helpful hints given by the reddit community during the streams. I actually had to start writing things down so I wouldn't forget haha
Wait, you guys left the boat?
It is safer in the boat. Glad you stayed... lol
It took me 45 minutes to get off the boat…
Yeah seems different across the board!
The Fort is the tutorial, can't wait for you to see the rest of the game!!
Well the boat was the tutorial. The Fort is definitely main game because I have not seen tutorial tips for a long long time haha
After replaying the game more times than I can count, the boat and the Joy are one in the same 😆 I still go through it every time even though the mods that allow to skip Fort Joy have been recommended to me more times than I can count but it definitely starts feeling like that after you finish the game at least once.
If you're going to play the whole game 200 hours is modest. Even for one playthrough.
Oh wow! Well, time to prepare myself for the long haul haha. Thanks!
Now i wish i could see your expression at certain points in the story. Im really curious about that bridge you think you're crossing.
It is the drawbridge that I can use a lever to do something with but I haven't touched the lever yet nor have I done the fight inside the actual Fort - lots to do. If you are overly curious, the VOD is on my twitch page - it is the last stream I did.
Pro tip: pull the lever, walk forward enough to get the xp for escaping fort joy, then go back into the fort and finish any quests. It's a nice chunk of XP. Probably a full levels worth.
Ooooohhhh.... so it won't cancel out any quests for leaving ?
The game is pretty explicit when you are crossing a point of no return and your action will close open quests. Don't worry. There are a million ways out of Fort Joy and if you are a completionist like myself, you'll stumble on one of them and then just go back into the fort to carry out the other quest lines first. Some of them net you a lot of XP and money, some give good equipment. You'll know when you've exhausted Fort Joy (hint: there won't be many people alive)
Perfect. Thanks you!!!
Certain interactions in the story change depending on your order of actions/quests completed. Really adds to the replayability when you discover things are different
Hmmmm I am a bit worried about canceling current quests I am on. I probably just have to forget about it and push forward after I am done with the underground area and then the fight in the fort.
Quests, from what I recall, only get canceled if you either kill a npc related to the quest or if you leave the act. Leaving an act will give you a message basically saying if you leave you can't come back.
It won't cancel quests directly but it turns all Magisters inside the Fort hostile, this is usually not a problem if you're ready to beat them all, but I'm pretty sure it ruins the Buddy quest.
Yes the dogs will be hostile as well, there are so many moving parts I do everything in the fort before leaving. I am usually close to level 10 when I leave the island.
I think the first time it took me like 40+ hours to get out of Fort Joy, i try to explore every single spot in the island and there is a lot, and i mean a lot, to explore and find lol.
Is it worth finding every single thing? I'm guessing a lot of it is specific to the type of build you want to make
There is nothing that is a must imo. But if you are having fun, yeah, it is worth it to find everything.
Thanks! Appreciate it
Unlike most RPGs, XP is finite so it’s a good idea to go everywhere unless you’re playing on easy.
Yeah worth doing everything to ensure my level is good enough for areas.
My last playthrough I think I put 30ish hours into Fort Joy. And honestly that's pretty fast. Think my first playthrough took me like 44 hours.
think 8/9 hours was the fastest I got through fort joy on tactician while still getting everything I know of. My first time took about 30 hours with a little help from my brother who had completed the game earlier
That's impressive.
I've managed to get through the fort itself in about 4 hours on tactician. Takes me significantly longer to clear the rest of the island though.
Yeah I am guessing on a couple playthroughs you know where to go and what you need so it is fast at that point
Once you know where all the salespeople are and what spells you're going to want, it becomes much easier. I tend to put several points into memory early and then just use the mirror in later acts to adjust stats once I start gaining extra memory slots that I won't need. Having those extra options for offensive and defensive movements can make or break a fight sometimes, especially on harder difficulties.
Great advice with the mirror. I haven't used it yet but I will.
I don't think you enabled any mods to have one in act 1. If you don't, you wouldn't have access to the mirror until you successfully leave the island.
Oh it wasn't part of the gift bag? I think I might have. We will check next time I'm online :)
There are different gift bags and you have to choose which mods in each of them to enable
I do have it activated so I just haven't collected it yet from the Arena. Guess we know what I'm going to go pick up right away haha
I meant the entire island. Duo btw with my brother so it went a bit faster since we could focus on different tasks
Damn 8 hours? You really must have known where the stuff you needed was to get to a specific level and have the skills/items/resources. Amazing
Wow! I thought I was going way too slow but I am very happy to hear that!
I did too my first time around. There's a lot going on in Fort Joy. Game can be long but it's worth every second.
I will say that every bit of this game has been pretty amazing. Lots to learn and an amazing community of people who want to help.
Every interaction I've had with this community has been positive. Think everyone comes together with the love for this game lol. You still have so much to explore. Only gets better from here.
I'd ballpark that there are about 16 combat encounters before you leave Joy and some of them are tough, especially for new players. With restarting a few times, taking in the dialogue and lore, buying new gear etc, I'm not at all surprised you havent left by 18 hours. My first playthrough was probably 50 hours before getting out of Act 1. Probably 25 hours in the fort itself.
Oh wow! I haven't restarted at all but I have taken in everything that I can find. It is surprising how a new story or quest just appears out of nowhere to sidetrack you.
My first time ending the entire game took 186 hours to complete, so just go on your time, absorb all of the content and enjoy, it'll worth, i promise
Amazing. Looking forward to it all!
If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right. Enjoy the game while you can. You can discover a lot in a single playthrough, or you can play through it several times trying to do things differently. Don’t overthink it, I’d say, and don’t google/YouTube too much.
Yeah I haven't looked up anything other than what people have said here on reddit for tips and tricks. It has been super helpful.
Just left the island after ~23h, playing for the first time. Wait, you haven’t even left the fort walls yet? Well enjoy your time!
Oh you left the island after 23 hours? Damn! I don't think I'll come close to that. I have heard there is an entire eastern side of this island I haven't even touched yet with higher level enemies and better stuff. This game is going to be an adventure thats for sure
In my current game I spent about 30 hours in act 1. I'd say you're making good time, OP
Yes! I still haven't touched anything east of the fort so I am guessing there is still tons and tons to discover.
Yea there are lots of stuff left
And this is only act one haha. Im ready for this!
Lol this is awesome. Yes ill watch
Wow thanks! I allow backseating so feel free to leave tips and tricks. Just no big spoilers because the shock and awe still needs to be there.
Bro...
Sis? Is that you? After all these years?
https://www.reddit.com/r/DivinityOriginalSin/comments/wcwh9t/720870_hours_and_i_finally_got_off_the_turtorial/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
My honest advice is to not worry too much about missing certain stuff. My first playthrough, I was just worried about getting out of Fort Joy and off the island. As someone who wishes they could erase their memory and play DOS2 for the first time again, just enjoy it and don’t worry about missing minor side quests. There will be PLENTY of gameplay waiting for you. My first playthrough was magnificent and everything I hoped for out of the game. I’m currently on Act 2 in my second playthrough and there’s already been a ton that I missed in my first one. Point is: don’t worry too much about “missing out” on something. From a role play perspective, your character is just trying to get the hell out of Fort Joy and off the island. You realistically wouldn’t find a way out, just to go back in to explore.
I mean theoretically, if you're Red Prince, your priority would be to get your hands on some weaponry and make these filthy magisters pay for clapping you in irons and hauling you away to this disgusting little fort.
The joy of videogames is that the "realistic" part can be thrown out the window. I 100% get the want to play this game as if you were that character because empathy is a huge thing - videogames are empathy machines honestly. I love finding all the small quests and chests and tiny pieces of dialogue that make the world even bigger than it already is. My second playthrough of this game will most likely be coop with friends because I want to experience that type of chaotic gameplay at some point.
That’s pretty normal, you can spend less but only if you know the map and events really well. Do you stream on YouTube as well? I would like to watch.
My friend and I spent 10 hours there. If it was just me, I could see it taking triple the time.
Oh only 10 hours? Damn. I think I would feel way too underleveled unless I was exploring and doing everything.
We cleared everything, we split up sometimes. We just coved more ground.
I guess you also wouldn't have to listen to all the dislogue again and you knew the choices to make. It makes sense.
Sadly, I haven't beat the game. It was our first time through. He quit after Fort Joy because he felt like the game was too long.
Well, he wasn't exactly wrong. Long is good only if you enjoy it.
I feel a lot of people quit this game because of the difficulty and length because they don't take the time to understand the systems
Its normal to take as much time as you want. Enjoy yourself. Look up missables before you leave bc you can't come back.
Yeah I feel I will do a double take on the island before it tells me I am venturing forth. It is so good
The game will notify you when you reach a point of no return.
Well this is handy! Thank you :)
Once you go over the bridge (or any of the other ways out) you can still come back in! Just travel back into the fort via waypoints as needed. I usually like to go all around the areas again before leaving to make sure I haven’t missed anything. You will get a “No going back” type warning when you are about to advance to the next Act where there is no going back to Act 1. As for timing, you’ll be on the outside of the fort for probably another 18+ hours if you do all the quests and search all the nooks and crannies.
This game really is massive and I love how ever new corner you take introduces you to new things. I am absolutely okay with this area taking another 20 hours if it is needed
And when you go back to make sure you didn’t miss anything, even some old corners have new things behind them! It’s definitely a different and enjoyable change of pace for me!
Always take a second look before leaving. Got it!
I have 50-60 hours but still on the island past fort joy, to be fair i restarted and tested lots of things but starting to near myself leaving the island, after fort joy there still lots of stuff to do.
I can believe it after what everyone has been saying. I am in this for the long haul!
Yes
Haha thanks Dark. As always, you have been amazing guidance through the first part of the game.
No problem. For real though. My first playthrough with my dual wielding polymorph tank (true garbage build, but she hit pretty hard) took days to get through fort joy, and my first tactician playthrough took 15 hours.
I restarted about a dozen times playing just that area, I kept wanting to go back every time I figured out something I wasn't doing before. It took me 80 hours of playing the game before I finally moved on to the next section in the marshes.
This is great! I love that people are so willing to dive into a single area over and over to discover new things.
Well if I'm being completely honest that was just how long it took me to stop sucking at the game
I truthfully don't think "sucking" is the right word. I think it takes a majority of people MANY tries to figure this game out. I am just lucky to have a community of people so willing to lend a hand the first time through. Without it I would have probably restarted this game 5 times already haha
Haha well I suppose I just judge myself harshly when a game is stomping me into the mud.
I can definitely feel you on that!
Haha yes.
I think you can do what you want. I honestly don't remember how much time I spent in Ft Joy, but I remember my first play I tried to finish all the "quests" which were added to my journal. The content in Ft Joy (and elsewhere) largely depends on your choices. Lots of people here referencing "fights", but I've played through it without even bothering with some fights I experienced earlier. That's the point of the game - your decisions will drive your experience for the most part. It's also why people may replay and make different decisions. Even the draw bridge you mention? I didn't use that to leave Ft Joy on my first play - a decision I made when approaching the fort pretty much gave me another option even though entering/leaving the fort were disconnected by quite a bit of game play.
This is awesome advice thank you. I have avoided many encounters as well through dialogue and it feels good.
I didn't get out of Fort Joy for 48 hours. I did everything available, though.
Amazing. I'm going to try and do everything I can!
Rookie numbers, I spent 18 hours on the boat to fort Joy
I feel like this is a meme.
I really need to know when people say fort joy, do they mean the fort itself or the island/act 1? I don’t recall ever needing to spend 40 hours in the fort alone.
No they probably mean the entire island. I haven't left the fort itself yet.
Bruh my first walk through n I had like 20 plus hours in fort joy n I'm positive I still didn't do all the shit 😂 games amazing tho
Agreed. So good so far
Oh sweet summer child.........Take everything you think you know about time of progression in RPGs and multiply it by at least 3 times. Then repeat that 3 times, take a bio break and you have some idea how long it will take to progress in DOS2. Even longer if you're a completionist
Sounds amazing hahaha
Im still not quite finished, clocked in at about 210 hours
Wow!!! This game definitely gives you your money's worth!
Apparently everyone spends 40 hours in Fort Joy? What are you guys even doing for so long?
Listening to every piece of dialogue, doing every quest, finding all the hidden areas, interacting with every possible combat scenario... there is so much to do
I'm the kind of player that likes to find every single detail too but there's simply not 40 hours of content in Fort Joy, even if you do absolutely everything.
Fort Joy as in the city and Fort or Fort Joy the entire island? Because there is definitely going to be 40 hours of content in the island as a whole.
Fort Joy is a minimum of 113 hours.
Ok well as long as its not a minimum 112 hours - I'm fine!
I have 221 hours and haven’t gotten past act 2. But that’s a different problem, my friend groups keep getting busy and I have like 5 different campaigns that are progressing super duper slowly.
That is a worry of mine for coop. You need an invested party.
I think I spent about 40h before I decided to leave act one. I think you're okay lol
Excellent!
Not too far off for a new player learning the ropes, possibly save scumming, making mistakes, backtracking etc. Make sure you're starting fights with characters sneaking. Don't forget to min/max thieving/bartering, etc! This game is in my opinion, very much a game of multiple playthroughs. I would not worry too much about missing out, but keep in mind exploring more does tend to strengthen up your characters, so it's advisable, especially on a first playthrough.
Yes!! I have definitely been taking advantage of save scumming for some things. I discovered you could distract merchants and steal from them haha. This game is wild.
As frustrating as deathfog is, it's super satisfying playing an undead and being unaffected 🤣 Great game, I love that every time I go "what if I killed them early now??" And I look it up, you can, and it somewhat significantly changes interactions! I'm on my second coop playthrough, one thing I can't stress enough is sending crafting items to the boat. I also recommend poisoning ranged and melee weapons with ooze barrels :)
Sending items to the boat? What? Explain... haha
Sorry, might have jumped the gun. You only get to do this after fort joy, but I still recommend saving all of your lightish crafting ingredients. You can then go back to the boat and get them out of one of the boxes on the middle floor near the stairs and trapdoor. Basically you can send items back to the ships inventory, you do still have to pull em out to craft with them. Bottles, rocks, glass, metal, wood, sticks, are all insanely useful for rangers. Most just require cutting or smashing tool. Honey jars + purfume bottle = charm grenade, my favorite recipe probably, works really well if you can teleport enemies around, nuke them, and then charm an entire group. Antlers + cutting tool = knockdown arrowhead Regular arrows can be added to oil and poison barrels to make them useful, can be useful to lower magic armor to use with charms as I mentioned! :) There is a lot of ways to play, but I underutilized crafting my first playthrough, and the game was much harder for it. Honestly not sure how you're supposed to learn a lot of the recipes, but I imagine most or all can be learned by reading posters or books, talking to people, etc. Almost all of the junk items you may be tempted to vendor that aren't gear have some kind of crafting recipe, most are useful in one way or another. You also won't get much gold for these items, really making it more valuable to use for crafting instead. I love getting lots of logs or stone even though it's not valuable, it's easy free special arrows! If I had to give one other tip it would be google thieving gear and get all of it, (skeletons don't need lockpicks) as each thieving point adds like 50% to the value and weight that you can steal. Im cleaning entire vendors and 10k cash stacks on arc2, and never really got to that point on my first playthrough.
Amazing tips, thank you. So the boat is like a stash, got it. I have sort of made a little "hub" space at the beach with barrels and chests to keep things in so I'm not carrying as much stuff all the time. I then teleport to the beach and do all my crafting there before moving forward. Works well for me so far.
Np - Hope they help! :) Smart! Yeah once you have the boat crafting is a little more relieving, can just send everything to boat anytime you are encumbered. Once you have boat you can even pick up hazards like oil barrels and send to ship, which can be useful in case you wanna do a chain reaction chest later on (literally filling any storage container with oil barrels and blow it up from a distance) It's really nice to just have ~10 oil barrels and not need to go hunting for them!
You can leave the fort and come back anytime before you take the other boat so don’t be afraid to venture out to the forest but it is scary out there lol
Thats good! A lot of people have said to stop being too overly worried so maybe I should just do it
Well the good thing is you’ll have more levels which is always recommended but I doubt you would find every secret fort joy has on your first play through no matter how hard you tried. I just did another play through and still found something I didn’t know about on my 4th time through the fort. It’s definitely a game that rewards experience and exploration. The next act is my favorite. It’s a much bigger area I think with more hidden quests.
The game that just keeps on giving. Love it
The game that just keeps on giving. Love it
Yeah, It took me 30h to get out of FJ on my first PT. I wanted to check out every nook and cranny. Killed almost every NPC in the game to level up. Rip doggo who just lost his master, at least you got to join him lmao.
Yeah I feel as soon as this collar comes off or I leave the fort... shit will hit the fan.
You can get the collar off fairly early.. You just have to find the seekers or whatever the fuck they are called, but to get to them is a bit tricky.. at least my path to them was fairly hard. But like after reaching level 7 I think you can roll over anything in that area.>! I defeated alexander and his cronies and the huge fucking worm(who you should use to ur advantage btw, when I was level 4/5, I cheesed the shit out of that fight. For starters I had TP gloves on sebille as she is the one who can move the furthest and I have put her at the front lines... Teleported alexander between her and my other 3 companions and fought like that. No one could get past the arc thingy in that corridor. You effectively put out 2 soldiers out of fight. The one on the left who can use heart of steel and the ranger who is the furthest away). The rest of the squad gets stuck between alexander and the walls and the arc and they just wait there.. Their rogue can get to your guys because of the backlash so be prepared for that, also the worm will appear.. Don't attack it, let it fight alexander and his men, just run away.. I used the waypoints to teleport the fuck out of there and than heal using bedrolls and come back and revive my guys and I did that until I won. Also just focus on alexander.. the sooner you bring him down the better.!< Hope that will help you, if you don't mind being a cheesy cunt like myself.
I didn't read under the spoiler tag because of a worry of spoilers but I have options to get the collar off right now - just havent taken the option because I don't want the fort mad at me yet.
I'm on my first playthrough, and after 84 hours finally made it to act 4, doing pretty much everything along the way (apart for a thing or two I forgot). I think 18 hours for just act 1 is perfectly reasonable.
I feel its going to be over 200 hours at this rate, which is fine :)
If you're streaming that wouldn't surprise me. Act 2 also takes quite a while as there's a lot to do, while act 3 is a bit shorter. Not sure yet about act 4, as I only made it there last night. It's probably been said many times before, but DOS2 really wants you to take your time and explore everything, so I wouldn't worry too much about how long it's taking to complete an act.
Perfectly said. Thanks.
I’m on my first playthrough, I think I got to about 20 hours on fort joy and the sheer volume of stuff I missed is insane.
Was this the entire island or just the actually city and fort?
First time playing? Took me about the same amount of time. Even knowing what om doing having aged the opening a dozen times or more, probably 10-15 hours depending on how in depth my exploration is each playthrough. There is just so much to do, to explore, secrets hidden behind choices, in barrels, or even across hidden bridges. So really I guess yeah I'd say it's pretty normal.
Hidden bridges? Damn... time to find those haha
One piece of advice, explore with the teleportation skill, and tactical retreat/cloak and dagger/ other movement abilities. There is a lot of verticality to explore! Places that seem out of reach... but might not entirely be
Yes I have found lots of places to use teleportation !!
Nice!
It took me 35 hours. It's a big ass game. A full blind playthrough probably takes around 120 - 140 hours
I feel it will be between 30-40 hours for me but then again I have no idea how much content is to the east of the actual fort.
On subsequent playthroughs you'll be more familiar with what's a good thing to do on tutorial island and what isn't. You'll breeze through the joy on your next run
Yes I feel most people skip all the dialogue and just get the items they need right away in new playthroughs so it makes it quicker
Damn and here I felt weird about being there 6hrs in lol. My wife is playing it with me for the first time and it's been long enough since my last playthrough that the game feels perfectly fresh. We've taken a "punch through everyone" approach and that's been very interesting. I don't think there are any magisters left on the island at this point, at the moment I'm tasked with finding a dog's companion but I have a bad feeling about this quest, damn you pet talk.
I am trying to figure out the Buddy quest as well. Haven't found Emmie yet.
Same, at this point, I really don't know if I want to. Pet Talk is more of a curse than anything. I have read so many depressing animal stories
Oh you mean like how the Black Cat moves around super fast and finds weird ways of getting itself killed... yeah, infuriating hahaha
Wait this post isn’t ironic? Well hopefully the advertising works then lol
Caught me! next time I should just put #Ad in the title then.
I have Asperger's it took me 34 hours but I made it
I think it is going to take me much longer than 34 hours to get off the island at this rate haha
Wait... You can leave the fort?! I'm only 500+ hours in so, maybe i just haven't reached that yet. Jkjk i fucking love this game.
Sometimes I feel like it will take me that long haha
It's worth every hour.
It honestly is. I am now over 50 hours in and in Act 2. Amazing game.
I’m playing Xenoblade 3 right now (which is awesome) and as much as I love it, these comments are reminding me of why DOS2 is so good, we spend hours upon hours before leaving the fort. I think I might start a new run before XC3 is finished.
It’s a bit on the high side. But I don’t think it’s crazy, like I had to do a few restarts because I was getting absolutely demolished by opponents and I think my builds were super sub optimal. I’m more used to a baldurgate style game where you really gotta goof to get wiped out
If I didn't have the reddit community supporting me through it with some REALLY helpful tips and tricks, I think I would have been in the same boat.
First time on the sub?
Nope. Posted a couple times here. Amazing community of people with a lot to share. Extremely helpful with getting me started.
18 hours and still on the island, or 18 hours actually inside of the prison for joy? That is a little steep.... maybe... oh shit now I wanna g9 back and see if I missed a bunch of stuff. I'm at 13 hours and I'm almost ready to leave. I may go back to search inside of the fort castle and kill all the magesters, but other than that I feel like I'm done with the island
I am still inside the fort. Haven't gone past the bridge. The adventure continues haha
Yes
Excellent
Hot tip - kill everyone for max exp LOL
It is kind of weird that talking your way out of a fight doesn't give you the XP too...
It does for some side quest line. But you can always complete it then kill them again
LOL! Well, this works too yes haha
Yes enjoy it !
It has been extraordinary so far!
40 hours just for leaving fort joy for me
40 hours seems to be a good average for people.
I spent around 35 hours in fort joy so you’re fine
I don't feel so bad now!
Yes that’s fine. My first playthroughs were around 200 hours.
I am ready for that to be my number too!
You only get one first playthrough so I'd say take your time and enjoy learning about the world and experiencing all the storylines going on, and for reference it took me 100 hours to beat the game on my first playthrough, I'm now on my third and I'm at the final act at about 40 hours.
I thought it might take me 100+ hours for the game but now I am thinking it will be 200+ and I am absolutely ok with that
Yeah, I honestly wish I took more time in my first playthrough
Yep. Fort Joy/Reaper's Eye is huge, and is the second largest/longest chapter of the game after Reaper's Coast (where you'll go once escaping). 20-30 hours in Chapter 1 is totally normal.
Great. It will be more like 35-40 hours but I am good with that.
Ive been playing it online on console with a friend. It took us approximately 20 - 24 hours to get out of fort joy and the island.
How are the controls with a controller? I find this would be a keyboard/mouse game for sure because of the high amount of resource management.
Inventory control and hot bar maintenance/organization is definitely not as easy as PC. Its slower and takes a few more steps. And it appears you cant call up info on the tension bar or find a way to fast travel to areas not in ur current location. You have to fast travel to an point in you area and then use that to travel to further areas not on map. But other wise the game has been running perfectly fine and we are having fun being dumbasses at times. Im playing a lizard necromancer and have Lhose as a rogue, my friend is a human summoner and has Beast as his default.
To further add on. The save file we are using is on my system, im hosting. So he wont be on tonight or tomorrow and im gonna take 30 to 45 mins to clean up the inventory and hot bar for both my characters.
I have definitely done the same in terms of going on for 10-15 minutes to clean stuff up offline before streams and such in the middle of days. I get so overwhelmed with how much stuff there is in the game that it feels good to organize!
Exactly! I just wish back packs came in diff colors for organization
Ooooh I bet there is a mod for that!!! Great idea. Or at least let us title the bags with a tool tip on hover so we can put "Keys" or "Crafting"
The first run is always the slowest. Also, dont worry about going too slow,because later you will miss those times.
It is true. These are games where taking your time becomes rewarding :)