SPOILER ALERT:
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BBCodes in this thread are not supported, I don't know why. So if you don't want any spoliers I recommend to look away, until mods fix this.
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Hello, this is my first topic here.

Well, DOS has been my first experience in the wolrd of Divinity. Somehow I missed out all previous Divinity games, but by the looks they were good. So, after finishing Wasteland 2 last week, I started out with DOS. I especially waited several months after release, so I could be sure, that the game would be properly patched to an 'as intended' state.

I liked very much the welcoming music in the game. Really, the composers did a great job. Also, the possibility to interact with objects looks nice. Sort of fresh.

Unfortunately at this point, my fun with the game started to decline slowly, so from hereon the critique will follow. For your info: I'm an avid crpg player, been playing since 80s. Started off with Gold Box series (Pool of Radiance and others). My fav crpgs are BG1,2, Fallout 1,2, Torment, Witcher to name but a few. So, I think I understand a thing or two in crpgs, as probably you do as well.

I will try to be as reasonable as possible, but DOS fanbois please look away, you won't listen to reason anyway.

1. Character generation.
a) I want to have different 3d models. I for one, don't like chars with bulging biceps, but the game won't let me choose anything other than that: a high fantasy bloke. With jrpg-like immense swordz and tank-like armorz. And I wanted to customize the loadout of my Knight. Not possible, ok.

b) Why would my party consist of two PCs? I would prefer either to have a full party of 6 or so PCs, or a single one. I tried then to make the first one a younger lad, and the other one - a wizened old man. Both were males. I failed, because the models were the same: bulging biceps, tank-size armor and... same heads. [b]And not even a bald one[/b]! This is purely ridiculous, but ok. I can live with that. Two lookalikes, but ok.

2. A game-breaking bug with Cecil's key. /extremely important/
I usually tend not to notice any bugs in games. Y'know, beta-testing isn't my thing. I prefer finished games. But in DOS, I was extremely surprised when I've noticed that the key [spoiler]in Cecil's room [/spoiler][b]cannot be picked up[/b], although I see it lying at my feet. If I hit ALT and click on 'KEY', the key is picked up BUT does not appear in my inventory and is gone. I had to reload, and try that again. Same result. I went to the internets, and the first thing I've encountered is the same bug being discussed. So, this is a quest-breaking bug, which made me [spoiler]use the pyramid to enter that room[/spoiler], but this is not how I wanted to solve that part of the quest.

I thought the game was supposed to be functional at least at a basic level. It obviously is not the case (maybe not just yet).

3. That Ornate Chest behind a rope.
A game sort of 'breaks the fourth wall' by mocking the fact that the game engine would not support stepping (jumping) over ingame objects. I understood at a later point that [spoiler]I had to use the pyramid [/spoiler]to get to the chest, but it was very annoying in the beginning, and felt not funnt but stupid. Like, what the hell? Using game-engine deficiencies to kinda taunt me as a player, and totally out of the game atmosphere? This wasn't fun at all, if not plain stupid.

4. "Rocks fall everyone dies".
So I stepped to that part of the coast with [spoiler]a crying orc[/spoiler]. I was warned by the game that I had to have perception to spot traps. I didn't have free XP points to raise perception to 1, so I decided to explore the coast at my own risk for a little bit (not going too far away). BANG! My party was immediately killed - reload. Without even a smallest hint on the ground: like a thin rope, or bloody patch, or crows feeding on a freshly dug earth trapped with mines (like in Wasteland 2, for example). I know it's unfirgiving, deadly and all, but it ain't fun. The game is supposed to hurt me maybe, but not kill outright. Especially when I'm still getting used to it's controls, physics and other specifics.

So, yeah, 'rocks fall everyone dies' concept is indeed as unforgiving, as reloading is not fun.

5. Objects lack description.
I was surprised to realise that none of the objects in the inventory are lacking any sort of description. This is not only does a bad service to immersion, but is also not too convenient, as I have to recall, which quest item is for what. Not to mention, that description in words serves the immersion. I don't get it, Larian Studios: was it really that hard to make a description of each item in the game? I mean, really?

6. No quests in the log.
This is very inconvenient that I don't have a list of quests. Only a list of events, which I have to re-read fully in order to establish my next 'stopping point' in the quest. I understand that the devs wanted to make it look as less casual as possible, but they finished with exactly the same quest logic only in a less convenient form.

7. That 'isle in the space'.
Storywise it was very strange to launch the PC to space so early on in the game. When I just start exploring the world, and everything is very new, and I'm not accustomed yet to this new city of Cyseal, it does not add to fun to find myself in a very abstract/unnatural set of rooms full of weird teleports. Abstract things are not interesting to explore because they do not reflect the reality, and are the pure product of the devs' imagination which can be anything (as opposed to the city of Cyseal, for example, which rests on the (pseudo)historic background, as all generic fantasy setting does). But I admit, maybe I'm too subjective here, sorry for that.

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I personally stopped at a point where I've activated the second portal on that space island without any explanation whatsoever. I entered it, and I felt that I was bored and didn't want to go on, and I wanted to share these thoughts with someone. This happens rarely in my gaming practice, when I can positively tell that there are severe flaws in gamedesign, story and graphics (although the latter is less important, but still serves the immersion). But maybe I was just expecting too much from DOS. Maybe this game is just not for me. I am not sure, if I'm ready to continue playing it, anyway.

What were your feelings about those points? Do you agree, or do you think I'm missing something out?








Last edited by egalor; 15/12/14 11:20 PM.