@Morbo, I have a scanner, but I have it put away.
As promised...
The following is the article in P.C. Gamer magazine, page 12, March 2004 issue.Copied lovingly by me, Mslynx
Scoops
Beyond Divinity
In a nutshell - The RPG you should have played in 2002 gets a sequel you'd better play in 2004
Far to few of you played Divine Divinity, a poorly named but extremely excellent RPG (PCG rating 84%) lovingly crafted in Belgium by Larian Studios. When it was released in late 2002, gamers here in the states didn't know what to make of it's doubly divine designation, and most passed it by at retail assuming it Sucked Succulently. But luckily it didn't, and lucky for you, it sold enough worldwide to spin off two sequels. Beyond Divinity (formally called Riftrunner), plus a game still in early development, Divine Divinity 2.
Beyond Divinity starts you off shortly after the conclusion of DD. You play as a necromancer hating goody-goody who's been unwittingly sucked down into the demonic plane and soulforged to an evil deathknight. Neither of you is pleased by this turn of events, so together you'll set off on a journey to break the unholy bond.
With this new emphasis on dual-avatar gameplay, project lead Swen Vincke tells us that combat tactics in Beyond Divinity will be much more refined than before and involve quite a bit less hack-and-slash. Adding to this new level of complexity, "monsters should be a lot smarter this time around" Vincke says, "and they'll have access to the same competencies as the player" hopefully making for more-varied beastie whomping.
In Belgium they call them "competencies", but we call em "skills". Expect to have access to up to 420 of them as you level up. Vincke tells us that the system is extremely customizable, and should allow you to craft some truly unique characters: " Imagine you're a ranger- type character and have learned the art of converting normal arrows into multiple elemental arrows, but because you're a wise man, you've also learned how to recover shot arrows. You can't recover all your arrows, though, so you've studied the art of bartering, allowing you to buy more arrows for less coin. You've also boosted your accuracy, reload time, point- blank shooting, and critical- hit skills for bows specifically, and, of course you have also learned how to repair bow's". Trust us the list goes on and on!
Yup, with it's multitude of skills and pockets of real- time generated levels, quests, and content, Beyond Divinity is likely to offer a tremendous amount of replayability -despite it's single- player- only status.
Vincke promises far fewer bugs this time, too. If his team is able to deliver on that goal and the new content, Beyond Divinity could be a real contender for RPG of the year 2004. Greg Vederman
F.Y.I. (footnote)
Category: Roleplaying
Developer: Larian Studios
Publisher: Hip Games
www.beyond-divinity.comPercentage complete: 80%
Release date: Q1 2004
What's so special? : Like Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity promises to be a wonderfully fun action RPG. Larian is aiming to add even more story and features this time around, with fewer bugs (and a better name).
Developers track record: Divine Divinity is the only high-profile game Larian has made. But hey, that's good enough to get our juices flowing. We can't wait to install this one and Orc out! (or is it Dork out?)
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