I'm inclined to disagree with you on a few things.

Firstly, I actually find it REFRESHING that despite you being 'the chosen one out to save the world', you're still not treated like God King of the Village after doing two and a half side-quests for them (hello Skyrim). Some side activities like tavern-gambling or 'true' open world would be nice, but I do think that there's other games that would do those things better. I'm happy the game stays focused on doing well what it sets out to do, and doesn't succumb to feature-bloat that murdered so, so, so many games in the past.

No cut scenes or animations? Are we playing the same game? Or do you require a party-wide dance number every time you finish a quest? Far as I can tell the animations -- for what they are -- are gorgeously crafted, and there's -just enough- variety there. have you seen the staff-twirling, the dagger-sheathing, or literally any ability used by your characters? I may be biased because I study animation, but I do think it is the last thing you should complain about in this game if you just take the time to look at what's on offer, without expectng Blizzard-tier full-CG movies after every chapter (it is, after all, essentially a high-tier indie game).

The story and the characters... I mean. Yeah, it's generic fantasy, but I still found it to be one of the better stories in the past 5-10 years, surpassed only by the likes of Witcher 3. I honestly missed classic, no BS western D&D fantasy RPG with dragons, knights, elves and wizards. If you're looking for something else you should look elsewhere, as Divinity games have always been about cheesy, over-the-top, cliche Generic Fantasy. And I hope they stay that way, because GOOD generic fantasy is very, very hard to come by these days.

Not to say you're entirely wrong -- there's always room for improvment. But it just feels like you're looking for a different kind of game than a old-school CRPG with a lot of what you're saying. It's always been part of the charm of CRPGs to use your imagination for things that aren't directly shown to you. And while you -are- correct about excellent core behind DOS2's combat system being bogged down in shoddy execution (predominantly down to just how much numbers go up with every level), I just can't agree with most of the rest of your post.

Last edited by Sil; 30/01/18 12:42 AM.