I'll try to translate part of it for our English-speaking friends. Mind that the article is quite lengthy and I won't do all of it, but I might do the rest some other time.
(If you think anything about story and quests is spoiler - don't read this)
Divinity 2: Ego Draconis brings us back to Rivellon, where Damian is still in the habit of causing grief, decay and destruction among the populace. It is a time where the dragons in the land are being hunted down and preferably annihilated as swiftly as possible. There are none who care for these hideous creatures, that have been terrorizing parts of Rivellon for decade upon decade. A village that dedicates itself to such draconic slaughter is Farglow, and that, my friends, is where our lengthy journey shall begin.
The call of the Dragonslayer
You start out as a young lout still immersed in the process of education, in order to become a full-fledged dragonslayer. You are quickly shown the ropes on three facets of your education: your discourse with weapons (I said weapons, that's not a weapon and you're still too young, little buddy), a few martial techniques, the ability to see ghosts and to communicate with them, and - perhaps the most interesting of all - the ability to read the minds of your fellow villager. I'll come back to the latter, of course, because how you deal with this ability determines in large part how you will be experiencing the game. First things first, we shall go through the rest of the tutorial, especially the combat system and the character-building process.
In Ego Draconis, you are not bound to a certain profession, such as Warrior, Mage or Thief. The evolution of your skills is utterly in the hands of yourself, and in that respect, there are a lot of options there for the taking. You can choose to chuck a fireball at your foe before entering into the fray with a Whirlwind Attack, sort of like Divine Divinity. What you also fully control is the appearance of your character. As such, you are able to visit an Illusionist and change your gender and facial features at any moment in the game. A nice addition for the beauty freaks among us.
To introduce you to the combat system, you are required to get rid of a few measly Goblins. These pathetic creatures aren't very strong, which gives you the chance to extensively approbate the abilities of your character. Thus, when you successfully strike a monster, you can perform a few quick combos, you can jump and rain death from above, or you can use one of your many skills like Whirlwind Attack or Fireball. As a player, you receive an extra advantage by being able to pause the game. During that pause you can take your time to choose your equipment, quaff a few potions, and queue a few skills in your interface. As soon as you decide to leave the pause menu, or activate a skill, the game will pick up where you left off. Convenient when you're in tight shoes and a short breather is welcome. We'll have to wait and see in which measure the player can keep profiting from this pause feature, but Swen promised us that the many challenges will definitely be difficult enough to get even the greatest pausiacs gasping for breath.
Mindreading
Many RPGs these days are giving the player certain choices that have an impact on the ending, such as Fallout 3. In Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, you will experience the effects of your choice far sooner, and the magnitude of your reward will depend on your chosen path. This is where mindreading comes in. To be used in appropriate and less appropriate situations. During a conversation with any character, you have the opportunity to take a gander into his thoughts, at the expense of your precious experience. A difficult choice, when you know you don't always get something worthwhile out of the bargain. You cannot go down a level, but you can get negative experience points, which will cause you to take a while longer to reach the next level. Still, it's worth trying, because only in this fashion can you earn some rewards, find other quests or complete a certain quest far more quickly.
I could go on about this option for quite a while, but you will gain more clarity on the subject if I give a few examples. Here you are, minding your own business, when you come across a treasurer who will only allow you access to his strongbox full of gold if you can rightly guess the password. Now, you can take this quest and start on a lengthy adventure, defeating various abominable creatures, OR you can choose to just read the old chap's thoughts and there you have it. The reward is a bulging moneypouch at the expense of a few experience points.
Another handy example of mindreading is to convince a soldier to hand you the food he's guarding. The loyal servant is headstrong and cannot be convinced, until you take a gander into his mind and he turns out to be madly in love with a beautiful townswoman. Quickly, you concoct an excuse, telling the guard how pathetically lonely the fair Elisabeth is, walking around town, looking for her beloved guardsman. He soon disappears and leaves the food unguarded, ready to take with you without further ado. This example becomes even more enchanting when you go back to the city; where you see that Elisabeth is being stalked by our good man, who, with surprising effort, recites a few Shakespearian poems to his love.
So far for episode one. Very interesting article.
