read about this in rpgdot.com. i couldn't link my post to that site so i just copy-pasted this instead.
made me feel a bit low as i just got the game, but hey, to each his own anyway. you can't please everyone.
fyi.
Beyond Divinity Review
Review by
Stephen Macek
Larian Studios’ Beyond Divinity is an RPG. In days past, this description would have been enough to let a gamer know what to expect as far as the "how" of gameplay. Fortunately, over the course of time, I believe two distinct styles of RPG have developed (arguably): The Diablo style and the Baldur’s Gate style. The Diablo style game involves endless point-and-click fighting and potion chugging with the ultimate goals being character development and item collection. The Baldur’s Gate style involves a deep story line and deep tactical combat system, the ultimate goal being finishing the story. When you finish a Baldur’s Gate style game, you are done. When you finish a Diablo II style game, however, you are most likely just getting started. It is really more of an addiction than a game, teasing the player with better items and they become higher and higher levels. Beyond Divinity tried to mesh the two styles together by offering a story that serves to move you forward, while implementing a skills-based character development system that encourages fine-tuning through multiple skill paths. Does it work? Read on.
Story
In Divine Divinity you, our hero, sets out to vanquish evil from the world. It’s a one-man job but you now find yourself in a bit of a different situation. It seems that you, the defender of all that is good, have somehow become entangled with The Deathknight. You are so entangled in fact, that your souls are connected, and your only hope is to find the fiend who played such a cruel trick on you both and eliminate him.
In the opening scene, you wake up in a prison cell and your soul-mate (no romance here) informs you of your unfortunate bond. You set out together to, ultimately, free yourselves of each other.
Gameplay
The basic point of Beyond Divinity is to move your characters through the story. Unfortunately, it often feels like you’re on a wild goose chase looking for keys or solving bizarre little quests that have little or nothing to do with the story. Foes are either ridiculously difficult or too easy and combat becomes annoying at times. In the first Act, you’ll face a foe that had me restart the game several times just to figure out good character development. Spending several hours doing this was not my idea of a good gaming experience. I don’t mind a challenge, mind you, but I don’t like being frustrated within a few minutes of starting a game.
The interface provides a good map and journal feature and keeps track of what you have accomplished nicely. This is not a title without polish, it just missed a few spots.
In an effort to give you a clear idea of what to expect throughout the game, I have tried to break the gameplay elements into neat little categories.
Your Character
The game begins with character creation. You’re presented with three basic character types: warrior, wizard or survivor. While the first two types are self-explanatory, survivor sounds a bit odd. Essentially, it’s a combination of a thief and an assassin. If you wish, you can opt to fully customize your character’s attributes rather than settle for one of the preset configurations. (I must admit that I would love to have had this option in Diablo II).
You can also customize the following: gender, body type, face, hair style and color which reminded me of Dungeon Siege. You also have the following attributes with minimal initial stats: strength, constitution, agility, speed, intelligence and survival. Fortunately, when you mouse-over any category, you will be reminded what effect each has on your character.
You character has three personal statistics to which you’ll want to pay close attention. Vitality indicates the amount of "life" you have left during the course of the game and as you engage in combat, hits scored against you rob you of these points. If either of your main characters drops to zero vitality it’s game over. Mana is the energy used in performing magic feats and the more powerful the feat, the more mana consumed. Finally, stamina indicates that you have enough extra energy to run. If the stamina meter drains fully, that character is only capable of walking.
All three statistics can be refilled and there are three methods of doing so. First, you can just sit and wait, stamina fills very quickly this way. Vitality and mana, however, take a bit of time. Secondly, you can consume potions and specific potions will refill one or more categories. These are either found or purchased throughout the course of the game. Finally, provided you have food and a place to lie down, you can go to sleep, refilling all statistics. Oddly enough, you can actually do this in the middle of a fight!
Attributes
As you progress through the game, you are awarded attributes, which should be improved accordant with the character type you wish to focus on. Although it’s a good idea to pour points into logical categories, you’ve the freedom to place them wherever you wish. As you reach higher levels, you’ll wish that you’d paid more attention initially to this area of the game, because you’ll be limited in what items you may use. I found it helpful to keep a small bank of attribute points so that I could add one or two when I found an item I really liked.
Skill System
Underneath a horribly confusing allocation tree, there is a very deep skill tree. You’re not limited by character type in the skills category; however, you must find a NPC or a book to teach you a new skill path. Learned skills can be unlearned for a price just in case you screw things up. Skills fall into three basic types: wizard, warrior and survival.
Wizard Skills:
Elemental attacks: uses alchemic-inspired attacks implementing air, water, fire and earth
Elemental defense: shield yourself from damage using the same four elements
Elemental curses: lower enemy resistances to elemental attacks
Body magic
Offensive: alter enemy’s physical condition
Defensive: boost your party’s physical condition
Shaman magic
Weather: meteorological carnage
Nature: it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature
Ethereal magic: Teleportation, fireballs, durability attacks
Warrior Skills:
Melee specialties: improve various weapon skills
Ranged specialties: improve accuracy with bows and increase arrow specific damage
Defensive: block, evade, armor and durability enhancements
Whirlwind: a circular attack
Craftsmanship: repair, sharpen, identify, recover and/or convert arrows
Talents: berserk, ranged sight, play dead
Survival skills:
Thieving: pickpocket, lock pick, sneak, poison
Talents: backstab, trade, luck, wisdom, embellish equipment
Alchemy: extract and combine to make potions
Traps: ranging from simple "mines" to swarming insects
Summoning Dolls: creates a summoned creature to assist you in your fight
Combat
Combat in Beyond Divinity is simple enough. When you enter an area with enemies, they’ll attack you and you have the option to stand there and die or you can fight. Pressing the space bar at any time will pause the action so you can pick your strategy carefully. Attacks are of two varieties: primary and secondary. The primary attack is assigned to the left mouse button and will be carried out until the target is killed or, in the case of magic, you run out of mana. As you attack, a life meter above the enemy will drain based on how much damage your character is dealing out. The secondary attack is assigned to the right mouse button.
If your life meter or mana is too low in battle, you can consume potions to refill them. Potions are a shared inventory item, so it’s important to be careful when you use them. In addition, if you have not slept in a while, you can go to sleep mid fight. I find this absurd, but it works. Magicians can also cast healing spells on themselves or party members, provided they have learned the skill.
Teleporter Stones
As you progress in the game, you’ll come upon teleporter stones. One stone can be dropped anywhere you wish and you can use the other to return to that location at any time. Essentially, you can leave a stone in a safe haven and return there in the heat of the battle. You have three options: drop, use or drop and use. You do have to remember however that just using will NOT allow you to teleport back to that location!
Battlefields
Moving through the levels of the game you unlock battlefields. These are essentially random maps which include side quests, towns and a plethora of enemies to fight. The goal here is to provide a place to beef up your character’s stats, find new items and learn new skills (and add replay value!). Once you discover one, you can go to a battleground at any time in the game by selecting an icon. When you finish the entire game, you can go to the battlegrounds through the main menu, providing unlimited, albeit repetitive, replay.
Stuff
Not the most technical term, but it works. You can collect many item types throughout your adventures. This will be the entire point of the game for many people. Although I didn’t find the items nearly as interesting as those in Diablo II, I think Larian tried hard to make things interesting. Here is a basic rundown of what you can find in the game:
Gold: the currency in Beyond Divinity
Potions: used for healing or improving attributes
Weapons: a variety of equipment varying in damage and durability
Armor: protection includes body armor, footwear, shields, gloves and headgear
Charms: can be embedded in other items to boost statistics
Crystals: can be carried to improve statistics (can not be put in items)
Summoning Dolls: summon extra party members
Items can be traded in towns or with characters throughout the game. Depending on your skill in trading, you can raise or lower the value of items and it’s also possible to steal items from traders if you are adept at thieving. A word of caution: there’s no delineation in the trade window as to what you are wearing, so be careful not to sell something in use. I discovered this the hard way.
Options
You tweak graphics and sound settings if you wish, but, since the system requirements are reasonable, you probably won’t want to mess around here too much. Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer to be had in Beyond Divinity, much like the first Divinity title. This is a bit surprising to me because so much of Diablo’s popularity is tied to the online nature of the game. Larian have played on the success of their first game and probably thought it wasn’t worth the development time.
Technical
Beyond Divinity is a decent game, but not without its flaws. Graphically, it is ok. Unfortunately, this is not a selling point in a market flooded with games of this type. Compound that with the fact that it is limited to a single player experience, and then I count it as a technical limitation. In addition, the balance of enemies’ difficulty is apparently random at times. One minute you are in a battle with a seemingly impossible foe, and the next you are mowing down half a dozen bad guys.
The sound is nothing spectacular, although the voice acting has its high points. The Deathknight is a funny character when he chimes in with his belligerent banter and countless insults. It makes the game a little more tolerable.
Fortunately game saving can be done at any time, either via a quick save or from the main menu. I recommend saving often as death is inevitable.
Final Thoughts
When I was growing up (and sometimes, still) I was reminded by my father to "remember where you come from." Why bring this up in a videogame review? It could not be more appropriate, actually. Larian Studios’ Beyond Divinity is the sequel to a game that was presented by more than one review source as a "Diablo II killer." If that phrase is not one you’ve heard before then you’re more than likely new to gaming. The Diablo series shaped me as a gamer in both expectation of quality and fun. Naturally, when I hear comments like that, I don’t take them lightly. Beyond Divinity is, unfortunately not a Diablo II killer or a vast improvment over the first Divinity title, it is however a sometimes frustrating game, with limited replay value. After devoting much time to this game, it will probably sit on a shelf in storage, not alone, but amid countless other titles I played and have forgotten. Beyond Divinity is simply an OK game that players who enjoyed the first title will probably find appealing but it’s by no means a leap forward for the RPG genre or the Divinity series.
Article by Stephen Macek
