I wake up with a memory loss, trapped in chains. My long arms and legs are hurting as a magic-repellent metal-collar squeezes my throat. Around me I can see torture-benches lined up, benches with the same chains that I am trapped in. My only company is a human skull that rests towards the wall beside me. Suddenly a voice is heard and the chains are broken - I am free but were am i? Suddenly I see the shadows from flames hitting the nearby wooden wall and after hearing a few footsteps coming closer I am finally faced with a lady dressed in a red, extravagant dress.
It becomes clear that this lady knows more about my memory-loss then I do, and partly is also my superior - or captor. I speak with the lady for a short while and she explains that the ship that we are travelling on, will take me (a "sourcerer" that harnesses the power called source) to the prison-island called Fort Joy where I will get to experience being whipped and worked to-the-bone every single day. This because the world is afraid of the source-magic that these "sourcerers" hold. If they only had known that the only one that will be able to stop the upcoming magical monsters, angry demons, manipulative psychopaths and scared gods will be yours truly. From being a magically-oppressed slave on a boat, to a demi-god with the power to save worlds - talk about one winning concept.
Early in the game you are pretty weak as the collar you wear act as a magic-repellent.
But before becoming a demi-god I must first get off this boat. As I said my chains were broken and so I start going out to the deck of the boat, just to find a magistrate lying dead in the first door opening I face. And by the looks of it it was not a pleasant death as there are pieces of meat and blood everywhere. I quickly explore the body and would be able to play detective to find out how he died, but rather I continue walking towards my goal of escaping the boat. With that said, there is an abundance of side-mission in Divinity II but you never feel obliged to do any of them (while still being awesome if you do play them). Once on deck I meet some other captives that are much more courteous then my captors. Some stand out with their dialogue and personality, and in a very good way that makes me want to know more about the characters.
These characters come in the flavors of the very mysterious Lohse, and the undead zombie Fane, the charming and shy archer Ifan Ben-Mezd, the strong and magic-wielding pirate Beast, the grumpy and quick assassin Sebille and the royal lizard warrior The Red Prince. These characters can all be played and you can also create your own character with it's own appearance if you wish to. But except for just being playable classes these characters also work as companions that can follow and help you on your journey. You can even better the relationship between characters by doing companion missions and even develop a love relationship if you so choose.
You can use the environment in your battles, and also place tactical poison barrels,
So basically you either choose on of these characters - but you can also customize your complete own character. Once you get the game booted up and started playing you get to choose between 4 difficulty levels and then you hit the character customization screen that has been beefed up since the first Divinity. You get to choose between eight races: human, dwarf, lizard, elf and the four races undead counterparts. All have special, unique racial abilities.
Humans for example have the boon of getting better prices when they shop, more initiative-points (basically stamina) and a bigger chance to land so-called "critical hits" when in combat. Dwarfs are more resilient and are blessed with higher health, better stealth abilities and a smaller chance of being hit. Lizards are better in manipulating people to follow their will and are more resistant to poison and fire damage - they can also dig without having to look for a shovel first. What about elf's special abilities then? Elf's can eat the parts of dead bodies to relive their memories, and get special possibilities in dialogues with exclusive choices in what to say. If you instead choose one of the races undead counterparts you will get the bad luck of taking damage of healing potions and getting health by drinking poison. You can also pick locks with your bony fingers without the need of lock-picks and also get a bonus skill dependent upon what race the character were before being undead. The skull that I mentioned earlier, can also be talked too if you play as a undead - either if you create your own or choose to play as Fane.
With the talent Pet Pal you can avoid some confrontations by speaking to animals and resolving problems that way instead.
Once you chosen your race you afterwards get too choose a class and this is what determines what weapons your character should use in the game, what powers they start with and what stats you get. There are 14 classes to choose from, some focuses on magic, and some on quick back-stabs and stealth gameplay. Some are projectile based, some have shields and swords and a bunch of hybrids between all of these exist. Except for these choices you also get to choose from a bunch of different background stories for you character that opens up different possibilities. This also comes with "talents" that you can upgrade and tailor as you level up, and some talents are much more interesting then others (my favorite is Pet Pal that lets you talk to animals). If not all these choices are enough you also get to choose a instrument that the game soundtrack will play during your play trough at selected moments.
And after you have created your character you are met by a gang of guarding magistrates on a boat... - oh yeah right, the boat. After meeting the whole gang with my elven battlemage-class I decide to recruit Ifan, The Red Prince and Fane to hold my back safe. Suddenly the ship starts to give an eerie sound and water starts flowing into the boat - and my character is swept away into the depths of the ocean with the ship. Fortunately I float to land without being hurt too much (and so do my companions). Our first goal is to escape the prison island of Fort Joy, so me and my companions just start exploring to find a way away from the island. I can't help too wonder though if my companions still would have followed me if they would have known we would lurk around on demon-infested beaches all day.
The sequel for the masterful Divinity: Original Sin is just like it's original, a huge and very charming choice- and consequence rich, text-heavy RPG game with almost an infinite amount of content. There are so many possibilities when it comes to battle-tactics and so many different paths to fulfill your goals that you will never feel like you don't know what to do in the game.
Divinity: Original Sin II is one of the absolute best RPG games of this generation.
The round-based battles in this masterpiece enables you to think one step further, or rather demands it. Once you take a decision the consequences become clear immediately. Fire a fireball on a oil-barrel and watch it spread it's fire against your allies and instead become a hazard for your team instead of your enemies - or perhaps the fire reaches a poisonous cloud that creates a explosion and disintegrates your physical shield while taking out some of your foes at the same time. This was just an example of how small things like blowing up a barrel can force you to rethink your tactics right on the spot. This also goes for other aspects of the game and not just the combat. Perhaps you sell a eye you collected from a monster for some coins, to just realize later that they eye was a very special one, and could have been used to create a potion that position's your companions strategically in a magical way before every fight. The surroundings can also always be used and enemies can be lured into their own traps. If the player bestows a character that has excellent dialogue skills the player can even talk himself out of conflicts at certain points, which is nice if you want to avoid some of the bigger armies. If you just want to go in and slay everybody without saying a word, that is of course also possible (and more fun in my opinion).
The games story is, in contrast to the unbelievably large game-world, very focused and extremely well written. The serious tone is lightened up with Larians delightful humor, even if it for the most part is very dark and violent. Most of the side-mission are spread out across islands and oceans and many of them are directly tied to the main story, and the many individuals and creatures you face along the way are not just well-written, but they also hold a fantastical voice acting quality. That Larian Studios has taken their time to not just put these dialogues in the game, but also tied them into the main story in different cunning ways is - in some cases - stunningly impressive.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 Trailer
The huge gaming world is just as varied as it is dangerous. With fogy valleys, hot and sunny fisherman-villages, green, vast, lush fields, dark and sinister graveyards, dragon-infested, demonically looking mountains and God-like dreamland's makes the exploring never feel dull. And this says a lot as the gaming experience can be played for hundreds of hours before reaching the end, depending upon how you play. I have put 90 hours into the game and even though many hours were spent with journals, skill books and upgrading menus while chewing on a sandwich, I can without a doubt say that I enjoyed the experience immensely. Divinity: Original Sin II is a game that I've had high hopes for and Larian has, according to me, beat every expectation I had for the game (and also it's amazing predecessor). Here we have one of our generations best RPG games and even though I don't usually give ratings for games in my reviews, this one would be a 10 out of 10 if i did. It may be overwhelming for new RPG players for a couple of minutes, but this game is something every RPG fan absolutely must play.
Sources
- https://www.divinity.game/
- store.steampowered.com/app/435150/Divinity_Original_Sin_2/
I've been observing the game since it's kickstarter days, I'm very happy to see how well it's doing now. I think I'm gonna play a necromancer shapeshifting rogue.
I have been waiting so long to get my hands on this game and am mainly sad i haven't gotten it yet, cant wait to pick this gem up
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