Ah, another Troll post? No. Legitimate issues with Beyond Divinity. I hope Larian takes them to heart.
Some SPOILERS ahead, folks.
Before I start, let me say that I loved Divine Divinity. Great game. Wonderful game world, lots of areas to explore, good story, etc. I'm a DD fan. Thus, when BD was made available, I waited (as customary for me) a couple of weeks to pick it up and then snagged it. Got patch 1.43 and then 1.44 a few days later. That's the background. I'm through Act III on tactical level...but haven't yet finished the game.
Overall, I'm pretty disappointed in Beyond Divinity for a number of reasons. The foremost is a lack of polish and that will be evident in the reasons listed below.
- Lack of gameplay balance with monsters. Some 20th level monsters are "one shot drop" monsters. Others, like Earth Elementals, are significantly more difficult at the same level. Death Knights at level 23 are hard. Spellcasters at level 33 aren't. Some of that can be attributed to the skills my characters have, I guess. But some of it can't. And what the heck is up with accidentally clicking (while running) on a creature and having every type of that creature attack you for the rest of the level? Oops, running, clicked on pig. Now I have to stop and fight every pig on the level. WTF?
- Lack of gameplay balance with "stuff". I've accumulated more gold than I know what to do with. I can't spend it on any great stuff. I've pretty much left items scattered all over the place now. Perhaps it's because I have a high luck skill. Innkeepers have $6k to $10k in money. I have over $1,000,000 in stuff. The stuff I'm finding is worth between $1k and $8k. I can't even sell it half the time. I know some of this is random. But it's a wee bit absurd. God only knows what I would have if I had actually gotten to play the Battlefields in Act II (see below).
- Lack of ameworld polish. I don't know what else to call it. *RUN-ON SENTENCE ALERT* From potions that don't work (large stamina potions have no effect on stamina whatsoever); to objects mislabled (I had two doors in Act III alone that didn't say "door" - they said "ojbect 12345" or something like that); to characters not responding when you click on something to areas of the maps that you can't get to (and the monsters can't get to you because the land that they're on can't be reached or they're in the walls of the dungeon), there's just a complete lack of going over the finer details that just yank me out of the gameworld.
- Lack of stability. Please don't say it's my computer. I've been reading much of the same issues for many other people. Crashes, lock ups, slowdowns, etc. are prevalent. Not horribly now that it's patched, but still too often, especially after so many patches. I've had no less than half a dozen lockups/crashes. The Act II Battlefields were almost inaccessable and I haven't been back since. Once I did get there, I found reproducable crashes that prevented me from going forth. Not good. Very discouraging, especially for an engine that's already been used.
- Voice quality. God, I don't know who did the voices, but Larian should get their money back. They're horrid - almost all of them. Some of the worst I've heard in quite some time. Yes, you can turn them off. Thank goodness. But they're supposed to be part of the game. The Death Knight doesn't even have the same voice from the cut-scenes. That's more than a bit weak.
- Lack of "clues" on some quests. Perhaps it's because it's my first time through but I found many quests to be extremely vague. *SPOILER ALERT* For example, the guy who was turned into a Tibar. Found the witch that did it. She didn't want to turn him back and the only clue I get was from my death knight that we'd have to find some incentive to get her to act. I mean, the maps are huge. And all I have to go on is "incentive"? Perhaps I should have gone back to talk to Mr. Tibar again, but again, that's not a great quest. And that's just one example - I could come up with more but my fingers are getting tired.
- Lack of "clues" on transitions from Acts. Ok, we have Acts now and we can't go back. I don't like it, but I can live with it - it didn't bother me much in Baldur's Gate. But could someone give me a clue that I'm about to enter an area that I can't go back? (SPOILER ALERT) I entered the temple in Act III. Stairs collapse behind me. I go through said temple, get transported to another area and *poof*, there's Act IV. Great! Except that I didn't know I'd be blocked off from visiting half a dozen previously started quests in Act III! Those are my experience points!!! So it's either reload (groan, not again) or forget them and go forward. Bummer. I got the sword and the gem and the beasts in the tunnel and the apprentice to swear an oath and...I can't go back. *Sniff*
- Cheap deaths. Exploding chests. Hidden traps. Insta-death on both. I've run into no less than half a dozen cheap deaths like that. In places that you wouldn't expect. Most players HATE cheap deaths and I'm no exception. I have only two players - I don't have a "dedicated" thief. Don't make chests/traps explode where they can kill my 20+ level characters AT FULL HEALTH instantly.
- Skills. Enormously complicated and counter-intutitive, especially when starting the game. Some, like sharpening, are extremely powerful. Especially when you level up to 8, sharpen, and then buy them back and reapply. You can do those sort of things with $1,000,000 in the bank. A couple times. But overall, it's just a large, overly complicated mess. I appreciate the attempt, but better descriptions and better "paths" are needed to help the player through the maze that is the skill system. It wouldn't be as much of a problem the second time around, but RPGs are quite often 1-shot deals with many players.
There are other minor gripes with graphics (a bit repetitive), some of the areas simply being cumbersome or too large, the story being a bit thin, alchemy problems, lack of descriptions on crystals and charms, the disconnection between the battlefield and the rest of the game world, lack of upgrade patches for those of us on dial up, etc.
Now, if you're still with me dear reader, you may infer that I hate the game. No. If I hated it, I wouldn't be in Act IV. I'd have already stopped playing. But the above stuff really prevents BD from being more than an "average" RPG. Which is a big step down from DD. I hope Larian takes this list to heart and focuses on the finer points of polishing the next go-around. But unlike this time, I'll be reading reviews carefully before I buy because I'm feeling a bit burnt on this one.
