Mini review (I've played enough of the game to be able to make one):
I'm a fan of all types of RPGs and tend to prefer the games that either go full hardcore (Fallout, Baldur's Gate, etc.) or try to make an RPG version of Tomb Raider (Gothic). Divinity 2 is clearly part of the latter and it even hits the mark better than Gothic ever did. Why? Read on.
When you start the game, you may be put off by any number of things. Combat feels a bit basic (you just use the first mouse button to shoot your bow or swing your sword), the animation feels a bit odd, the location is pretty small and limited, etc. But this is just a kind of tutorial. You're only level 1 and weak and like with many RPGs, you only get the better skills later on.
But quickly, the game starts to pick up. The story is interesting from the start, there's tons of quests which bring the village to life (at least half the people you'll find have quests and there's loads of them), there's lots of locations to visit and they ... wowzers. They're gorgeous. The engine may not have the best textures all the time, but the designs of the locations are brilliant. The dragon tower, the ruins, the enormous statues, the temples, etc. It's more jaw dropping than anything I've seen in recent years.
You can pick up loads of stuff:
- weapons
- armour
- gems
- jewelry
- books
- spells
- recipes
- all kinds of good
- items you can turn in for gold (quest items really)
- potions
- plants
- ore
- another type of gems
- body parts
etc.
And all of these have their use. Plants can be used to make potions - recipes can be gotten through quests, loot or just bought. But you can also create enchanted armour, enchanted weapons, necro pets that help you in combat and you can even use gems to enhance your outfit on the move. You can really tailor your gear to your own wishes.
And skills: you can pick between priest, fighter, mage, hunter and dragonkiller ones. I personally combined the increased healing of a Fighter with the poisoned arrows of the hunter with the lock picking of the dragonkiller. You can even have 3 different weapon sets so you can switch from your bow to a sword in a split second. Poison an enemy with an arrow, draw him near, and then finish him off with a sword. Or if you want to be a mage, free him on the spot & use fire balls. Really, if you're smart, you can really find ways to make the game a hell of a lot easier.
The story is a very strong one too - I won't spoil it but later on, you'll get access to an enormous tower with your own staff. There, you can sent your staff on hunts for gems, plants, etc. (in case you run out). You can give them better weapons which lets them get the quicker too. You also get a big chest and you can teleport any item you pick up to your tower which is very nice since it's easy to get overloaded (I used the skills to get maximum carriage capacity).
Also, if you win a quest, you got a base reward and then extra rewards. For example, you get 1500XP and 1000 gold, and you can chose between
a) more gold
b) more experience
c) a weapon
d) a recipe
e) a gem
Some quests will let you choose several extra rewards too. It's a good system that gives you a choice over what you get.
Oh, and did I mention you get to turn into a dragon later on? As a dragon, you have armour too, and flying is really sweet. There's not a lot of depth to the combat there (I mean, you're a dragon - you spit fire) but being able to just change into a dragon and crossing large distance, only to land on top of a mountain is just awesome. It vastly cuts into traveling times.
So, it has a great story, tons of quests (that are very fun and interesting a lot of the time too), fun combat, great locations, etc. etc. So is there anything wrong with the game? Well, yes:
- there's a few small bugs. For example, if I reload, it sets my health to the maximum if I didn't wear all my enhancements. So say I got 300 health and 450 with armour & enchantments, then if I were to reload, I would have 300/450. Also, you can get stuck in a few rare places - depends on where you jump. It only happened to me 2 times so far but still, better to be warned Smile
- some quest rewards are random. This can be a plus and a minus. It means that if you save before getting your reward, you can reload until you get a reward you really like. This is both good & bad depending on your patience
- it takes at least 10 hours of playing before you get your tower. Because you can't drop or store items before you got your tower, it means dragging along TONS of items forcing you to increase your carriage capacity. They should have let you use another chest before.
- if you're starting to attack an enemy, they will detect if you're in a place they can't reach. After a set amount of time, they'll run off to their original point and they will regain their health. This is a typical MMO system to prevent you from exploiting the engine and it's understandable yet also means that some tactics will just not work
- there's no difficulty setting. This may annoy some - the game is the right amount of difficulty for me, but those that want an easy or harder experience may need to hope for mods.
- once you reach a certain stage in the game, all old locations are no longer reachable (due to part of the story). It means that you have to finish all quests before a certain point or you'll never be able to do them anymore.
As you can see, the negatives are not that important. Heck, they're still working on improving the game so you can bet they'll iron out some of the problems & bugs.
9/10
thanks for this interesting review Red Avatar,but do you mind me asking you a weird question lol??which one is "creepier":Divine divinity or divinity 2:ego draconis??thanks for your time