Hello everyone, i just wanted to share a review i wrote a while back, hope you`ll enjoy it and give the game a try if you havent. Looking forward to your opinions and critique.
Divinity 2
The Dragon Knight Saga
Divinity 2: Ego Draconis (Latin for "I, of the dragon") and it`s expansion - Flames of Vengeance, or both together as The Dragon Knight Saga, is a sequel to the Divine Divinity computer RPG series. Developed by Larian Studios and published by DTP.
Storyline
After the fall of Lucian, the Divine One, savior of Rivellon, betrayed and killed by the Dragon Knights, they have been made the main enemies of the society. You are a young Dragon Slayer to-be, you acquire all necessities you need to be able to slay a Dragon. But as soon as you`re about to go back to the academy to finally become a Slayer, something unexpected happens. A Dragon appears to have been seen not far from a small town in Broken Valley, and it takes priority over everything else. In a twist of events you become from a Dragon Slayer to a Dragon Knight, power granted to you by the last Dragon knight - Talana, a being capable of taking the form of a Dragon. You are no longer the Slayer, but now the enemy of the Slayers, the prey. Talana tells you about a certain evil that will unleash it`s wrath upon Rivellon if not stopped, The Evil that goes by the title - The Damned one, the foster son of the Divine One - Damian.
A promising beginning and good till the end - 8/10
Quests
The developers promised non-linear quests, with more than one solution, the question is - did they really keep their promise? Sort of, yeah, they did. While some of them do infact have multiple solutions, very many of them have just one way of doing things - the hard way. It`s very difficult to rush through the game without doing the little, unnecessary things, You will either end up lacking the level requirement or equips. The quests are fun with a little edge to them, so be ready to get entertained.
Not as dynamic as they should have been - 7/10
Graphics
The engine used for the game was Gamebryo engine that was also used for games such as Oblivion and Fallout 3.
Alot of attention has gone into the world detail, very high quality work right there that was even more enhanced with the update that Flames of Vengeance comes with. I cannot say that the world is beautiful, you won`t see great or impressive landscapes, more like ordinary, but the world is big and for a reason.
The game has a cartoonish feel to its graphical design.
Unfortunetly, however, it lacks an advanced character creation, NPC grimase diversity and high quality cutscene animations, and no anti aligning making the game feel unrefined and rough.
NPCs, monsters and even your character are all very well built and textured however they are not what you`d say fantastical design.
While the game lacks day/night cycle, which in my opinion is a huge con, the atmosphere changes depending on different sections of the map. As if the game is trying to tell you, here it`s sunny, here it`s dark and gloomy and here it`s a pleasant sunset.
Good design, bad performance 6/10
Sound
Now, while video tends to be the games weakest point, sound is just great. The in game music is simply genious, written by Kirill Pokrovsky.
A large complaint however is voice acting. It feels It`s so misplaced, as if the actors just don`t know how to perform, i`ve heard much better voice acting in low budget games. But it might just be me, because voice acting here also seems a little comical.
In game music is great, but voice acting kills the score 7/10
Gameplay
It`s a 3rd person action RPG, you`d expect a lot of mouse clicking, but combat somehow feels a bit clunky. The game feels much better if played with a controller.
Combat doesn`t require a lot of tactics, however you can pause the game whenever you wish to look around you and think of the better strategy. But somehow it doesn`t feel needed, by the time your character weilds the best armors and weapons, with the best charms and enchantments you`re pretty much invincible. However, if he doesn`t, expect a lot of dying.
Your character isn`t class based, you can learn skills from any class you wish, so you can adapt your character to your play style. Be it a dual weapon weilding battle mage or a bow weilding summoner.
Later in game you gain the ability to shapeshift into a Dragon, the trump card of this game. First it`s a little difficult to get used to, but later on you find that being a dragon is really easy. I just wish it was more involving, great concept, poor performance, yet again.
The world, like i mentioned is huge, just for the sake of shapeshifting into a Dragon, but it`s also full of various hazards and puzzles that are sure to keep you busy.
I just wish it had more to show 7/10
Overall
That`s about all i have to say about Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga.
Pros:
- Interesting story
- Nice character development
- Fun battles
- Astonishing music
+4
Cons:
- Not so good graphics
- No day/night cycle
- Poor execution of concepts
- Feels like an adventure game, not an RPG
-4
Overall rating- 7/10
Final word
Larian studios promised us a great game, and they kept their promise, despite it`s flaws. No, it`s not the best RPG, there`s too little freedom and it lacks C&C, but if you`re looking for a fun experience, you should definatly give it a try.
Thank you for reading, this was DeviRyuuD. See you next time.
Last edited by DeviRyuuD; 04/02/11 10:15 AM.
