Hey Garod! I'm the Senior Editor of Middle of Nowhere Gaming (MONG) and just wanted to point out that our reviewer absolutely LOVED the game -- we tend to use all points of the review scale [unlike the IGN's which will give a game a 7 just for merely working].
This is what an 8.1 would mean on our site, according to our review scale: "A great game is exactly what it sounds like: great. The game has its (sometimes obvious) flaws, but the vast majority of the game is expertly executed. The flaws may be that it has underwhelming value, that the audience is too niche, or that the story is bland. A great game would be one you would recommend to a lot of people while you may not recommend it to an everyday Joe (or possibly someone who doesn稚 enjoy the genre), you think it exemplifies what makes a great game. While it is not the best game in your collection, it is a worthy selection that is well worth the time and money."
I believe the only reason it was given under a 9 was some technical issues [which will undoubtedly be patched soon!] and how it is naturally difficult for beginners to get a hang of things -- it is a great game in the genre, but not something we could actively recommend to people who may not be fans of the genre. The story was, for the most part, left out of the decision.
If you have any further questions, let me know! I'll forward them to the reviewing staff member!
Thanks again for taking the time to read the review, we always appreciate it!
Hi Lou,
First off thanks for responding. Let me clarify what I meant with that I don't quite agree with some of this review. I wasn't saying that your score is wrong or that it's a bad review. I was more mentioning that there were a couple of things in the review I didn't agree with as a personal opinion.
Here some points I wouldn't agree with:
"Divinity: Original Sin, isn?t a visually stunning game; the title is mostly played from a zoomed out perspective and as such, there isn?t any extreme levels of detail on the world?s objects. The game?s environments, while lacking in extensive detail, are brought to life by the many interactive objects on screen. While the game?s bright visuals and saturated color pallet might not appeal to everyone, it strongly encourages exploration of the world which befits the game?s adventurous tone. Just don?t expect to see any awe inspiring landscapes.."
I love the vibrant colors of the game and really enjoy the art style as such the visuals for me are pretty good. Also if you read allot of other reviewers you'll find that the majority laud the graphics taking into consideration this is a CRPG and probably the best looking CRPG up to date. Also I'm not quite sure why objects being movable is a criteria for visuals? I didn't see any mention of the artwork, spell effects or simply "completeness of the environment" (wildlife, cutlery on tables etc etc)which adds to immersion. If you compare visuals to Skyrim or Witcher 3 etc yes the graphics aren't that good, but compare it to other similar games "BG revision, Wasteland, etc" they are better than anything out there.
"There are 11 different starting classes to choose from and their diversity adds a lot of depth to the gameplay. There are straight-forward classes like the melee powerhouse fighters, specialist classes in certain elements like the wizard and then there are hybrid classes like the healing warrior clerics. The variety of classes lends Divinity: Original Sin great replayability and diversity as a whole. These classes are customizable by adding points to their attributes, skills and abilities, all of which have a profound effect on the gameplay both in and outside of combat."
Actually there are no classes in D:OS, if you look a little deeper into your character creation as well you are completely free to chose whatever starting skills,stats and abilities as well as spells.
"Divinity: Original Sin also has a robust crafting system where players can collect materials scattered around the world or dropped by monsters which can then be used to craft new items. However, unlocking item crafting can only be achieved by locating the many crafting recipes scattered across the world, encouraging exploration and interactivity between players and the many npcs and objects in the world."
As far as I know you don't need recipes to craft, they are simply there to help you find the available combinations.
"The game does have its fair share of bugs, and this has lead to a infrequent number of game crashes and resets. The most prevalent encounter of one I experienced was within one of the game?s many loading screens upon the transition between areas within the game."
I've personally not crashed once, I know Larian had an issue on release day but that was fixed in a day or two with patches. Not quite sure what "fair share of bugs" means there's no clarification and feels more like something thrown in the review without evidence to back it up.
So as I said, overall I like the review and it does a good job and you can clearly tell the reviewer enjoyed the combat element of the game. So please don't take this as too harsh a criticism, but I thought I'd give some color to my statement of not quite agreeing with everything.
