just completed the game this weekend with my first character. absolutely awesome game, though it has its own share of shortcomings, shortcomings that i think are dependent on one's tastes and one's gameplay style. dad has said a lot already. i would have to agree with some, not all, of his points.
i'd also like to add a few of my own. the part i liked most about the game is starting out my character and the aleroth catacombs. towards the end however, at the wastelands & inside the black ring fortress, it becomes one long, drawn-out hack 'n slash affair. after much looking for each portal stone and then hopping from one to the other inside the dwarven halls just to get that brooch and to visit grischa, i felt exasperated going through the fortresses of each black ring member. and the entrances are not very evident. same goes for the other dungeons when you go dungeon-crawling. at least, they should be marked on the mini-map. i remember playing an rpg whose title i can't recall as of the moment where doors, entrances, exits are clearly located. i won't call that linearity; i call it streamlined.
i wasn't able to complete the dragon armor set because i couldn't find the door of the house in verdistis where it's supposed to be found. even pressing "alt" didn't highlight it. in the end, i gave up and just skipped that, along with some quests that i found unnecessary. for example, the dark cave quest. my warrior had a pt. in lockpick, but still i couldn't open it. i didn't want to waste another pt in lockpick, which i think is totally irrelevant for a warrior. why can't a warrior just bash that door open? and i didn't want to shop with the merchants for a spellbook, loading and reloading until i get the one i want. ultimately, i left many quests unsolved, most of these in verdistis, like that one where pickpocket skill is required. but still, i ended up with a level 45 warrior, which i enjoyed building up.
also, i found it a bit of a minor annoyance that the cursor pointing system seems to be a bit unpolished. to cite, after i reverted to my human form at the entrance of the black ring fortress, i clicked frantically on the entrance, but i couldn't get in. i had no choice but to fight all those monsters that came breathing down my neck. even so, i couldn't get it in easily. it was much later i found out that i had to stand se of the entrance and then click. *sigh* i was even arrested in the rivertown market area when i clicked on the entrance to walker's apothecary, not realizing that i clicked on his plant. tried to get in again, same thing happened. result: prison. solution: re-load. also, getting to general alix & to general mitox became tedious. i would run to get to them, only to find myself talking to a soldier.
anyway, those are minor things that hopefully will be polished in riftrunner and divinity 2. they don't change my view of divine divinity as an outstanding rpg. i stopped playing diablo & warcraft ever since i got this game. now i'm trying to finish another char, an archer, and start another one. to larian: give us more!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
