I've been talking to a lot of people on the forum and have played until after becoming a dragon. Going to be removing the game until the English comes out as there are some bugged npc's and if I'd patch it, probably will really screw it up even more.
Reviewing as if Divinity didn't exist (will be comparing further down).
Grading system A+ for best, D+ is failing, but close to being improved while F would mean best to just remove it from the game.
Story, it is a nice ride. Damian is evil, he is as bad as Sauromon from Lord of the Rings. Things he'll do will make you think "Oh man, that sucks!" Not in a negative way, but in a story sense of the result of certain events. So far I'd have to give this an "A+", Larian knows what their doing when it comes to this part. This is a game that involves a lot of reading, it is one thing that I expected of Larian and there isn't anything I can "nit pick" at either!
Character/Environment Interaction - This is a solid "A+" though I do miss npc's not having you arrest for stealing items off them or killing livestock. They all got something to say and you don't walk around talking to 20 npc's that just say "Hello" or "It's nice out" like in so many games where they are just dull filler to make a town look populated. Each one feels like they are there for a reason other than to make a town look populated.
Example (minor spoiler - you'll come across this in the first 20min of gameplay)
In the tavern. After solving a quest to remove a bunch of drunks. NPC's that were sitting outside will actually walk in the tavern, up the corridor and sit down at their table.
Graphics - I'm gonna hold this with a "A-" as I don't have the best of hardware. The shadows are blocky when talking to npc's and the camera is zoomed in. When swimming in the Fjord, I'm unable to tell if my character is really in the water or ontop of it. This really looks screwed up. The rest of the game really looks nice and those are the only 2 things that really bothered me.
Level Design - This will be a "B+" as some of it looks repetitive. Fortunately there is a nice variation between what you see. There are some nice puzzles and looking for some switches on walls, levers, and there are even more books to fill you in on the background. They may look repetative, but are not dull. You can expect interacting with npc's to do a quest as well as the usual finding keys, pushing switches and levers.
One level, I expected to find a boss chamber and it was a room filled with chickens. I still don't know what the point is, but there was quest material was found in there
Combat - "C" not going to spend a lot of time on the controls here, it is a learning curve and Larian has work to improve range/made targeting. How and what your character can do in each class is upgradeable in their skill charts. You can make cross breeds instead of a pure warrior, have some mage (heal) ranger (evade) and even summon stuff if you want. It is however best to be at very strong in at least one field. Warrior is the easiest to get used to at the moment.
Monster AI (artifical intelligence) This is really good, probably too good in some cases. It is hard to lure monsters away from their mages and ranger friends and they like to dog pile you (get EVADE). I also got polymorphed by a boss, so they can have all the skills you can learn. Believe it or not, a monster 1 or 2 levels above you really does make a huge difference.
Dragon: it flies as I'd expect it to. The skills you get are nice. I really can't see how to even suggest improving dragon flight. Though like mage and archer, cannot manual target (yet), though it isn't hard to hit your opponent once it is targeted.
You get a taste of dragon flight early on before you have to conquer the battle tower. You don't even expect it when you become the dragon knight, it is when you...ok that be too much of a spoiler!
Skills/Stats/Menus: This is an "A" it is simple, yet vast. Firstly, you don't spent a lot of time in menus doing stuff or changing equipment. You get hot keys to set spells, skills, and food. Also can press enter for the "tactical pause" and change a set of weapons. I have 1-handed weapon and shield, Bow, and 2-handed Sword. This is really nice to have! Also can manually use food/drink instead of hot keying 8 different kinds of foods. Actually you spend more time in the inventory window in Divinity 1 than in this game.
Stats: you get the following
Vitality - Everyone needs to invest in this one. I try to have it just a little less than my main stat. Each point gives you +7
Spirit - This is for how many mana points you get. Each point gives +7
(main stats)
Strength - Effects weapon damage, HP recovery , melee defense and Conditioned body (weakens poison spells).
Dexterity - Improves range damage, critical hit bonus, and range defense.
Intelligence - Improves spell damage (including mage attack for melee/range weapons!), Indomiant Will (weakens curse spells) and mana regen rate.
Character setup, spoiler tag if you really don't want to know. There isn't anything story wise in here.
For my warrior.
Vit - about close to what Str would be.
Spirit - points as needed, you get a nice skill that lowest the cost of spells by up to 50%. I think this stat is too weak or useless, normally int raises mana points.
Str - majority of the points in here, I have like 5-10 more here than in vit, at first it was even.
Dex - as needed for bows. It is nice to use a bow to pluck off mages if you don't want to fight them like a man...(a.k.a. avoid dog piles from warriors). Archers and mages are cowards, they like to run and this saves time and hp!
Int - I have a total of 8 for a level 24 warrior. I avoid armor that requires this stat as stuff that doesn't will offer the same protection, if not better, but is rarer. I try to get jewlery that has magic resist.
I guess at looking at everything, the game is a high B. Matches those of the other reviews, didn't realize this until I had a log run (marathon training) and really thought about it. I guess to say it isn't as good as Divinity: Sword of Lies would be an utter lie. There is some work for improvement but that game wasn't perfect either, as much as we'd all like to say it was. Nothing ever is, there is always a flaw in everything. This isn't just a game, it is a masterpiece and well done. Since there are enough threads on the negative, here is what I really did like.
Improvements I wish where in Divinity: Sword of Lies. And stuff I really liked in general.
+ pushing and knocking stuff over. I don't know why, but I find it funny having crates and barrels laying all over after a fight, like a real brawl took place.
+ Tactacle pause, basically a stripped down version of your inventory to use food/items and change weapon sets (Sword Shield, Bow, 2 hand sword, for example)
+ NPC's saying stuff without you needing to click them and can read at the bottom of the screen. This is either from NPC's that are not significant in the game or holding a conversation with another npc. A shop merchant will use this feature to advertise his stuff for example.
+ Rewards system. I love being able to chose your rewards instead of getting the same thing all the time.
+ Tabbed shop, nice to not have everything mixed up when buying and a quick "buy back" if you clicked wrong item.
+ "Take all" from chests/corpse instead of clicking each item.
+ "inventory bag" hovers in air, instead of junk all over the ground when monster dies. Same thing if a barrel or crate smashes.
+ busted barrels/crates are removed from the game, helps to ensure I looted them all
+ Summon class, nice to separate mage from a summoner.
+ NPC voice over. Even though I cannot understand a word of German, they do sound really nice. What ever you invested in them, it was well done and I really hope it pays off so you can do it again in Divinity 3.
+ weapon/armor enchant. Unlike Charms, these can be removed and upgraded later on!
+ Nice that the dragon gets armor and skill points, didn't expect that and is well liked!
+ Can use your trainer in the battle tower to train some skills without using skill points.
+ Pet (though I really don't use it, kinda fun to have)
+ Item runners, really nice to have. Of course the one must be sick of gathering Ginseng by now and is about to jump off the tower.
+ Quick send item to Battle Tower storage
+ Mindreading, often very interesting. It has made me change my mind, especially choosing an enchanter. Radcliff went back to Hogwarts...
Stuff that did carry over that I love! (might be more that I've missed).
+ right click still exits shops, inventory, and menus.
+ can close doors
+ food heals (drinks restore mana)
+ tables and desks are loaded with stuff, the environments never look empty or dull.
+ shops and quest rewards are randomly generated. You can save/load until you get something you'd really like!
+ Graves still have a little (often humorous) story when read.
+ All graphics are in high detail, nothing was done "cheaply".
