Deuce Traveler
2012 Newfag
I've been playing Divinity 2: Developer's Cut for a few weeks now and I'm a bit on the fence about the experience so far.
Pros:
The Lore: I actually really like the lore in this game. The setting seems to have a deep history, and there are books you can find throughout the game that reveal more of the background as you play.
The Characters: The main characters are pretty cookie-cutter. However, the general population are filled with interesting personalities, such as charlatan merchants, soldiers that have different quirks and moral codes, and love triangles and all the drama that comes with such a thing.
Skill Trees: There are some worthless skills in the skill trees, but there are also enough of them to make leveling something you have to really ponder about. You should determine early what you want your character to be like and focus skill points into those fields, so a melee warrior focuses on special attacks and weapon proficiencies while a spellcaster seeks to increase mana regeneration and spell power.
Exploration: The world is full of places to explore, many of them underground. There are dungeon entrances spotted all over the place, and just some really odd stuff laying around such as levers whose purpose is not always evident, and quirky characters who will throw quests your way, trade with you, or dispense with plot information. Some of the scenery is actually quite pleasant to look upon.
The Side Quests: I really enjoy the side quests and find them to be the best part of the game. Some quests lack a clear cut solution, so you sometimes have to choose which citizen to side with. There is also a lot of humor in these side quests, such as the one time the one time a bandit I was hunting asked me to choose my money or my life, and instead I hurt his brain with a philosophical speech on which I should value more. Good times.
Mixed Bag:
Character Generation: So I went along and created my character, choosing a male portrait and a male voice. The problem is that every one of the portraits made my character look like a punchable douche-bag and most of the male voices were quite annoying. The game actually allows you to change all this in the introductory town, and so I gave up my normal inclination to play a male, and made a tough melee warrior named Red Sonja. She doesn't look punchable.
Mind Read: The game has this very cool ability where you can read the minds of others. Unfortunately, it's mostly shit in implementation. I was hoping to use it in disputes versus citizens so I could better choose who to support on some of the side quests, or to find out what a possible bandit was doing loitering around the woods, but instead mind read typically gives useless information for an XP cost. It is sometimes helpful, but rarely in moments when it makes logical sense to employ.
Cons:
The Controls: I think this game would probably have played better as a console RPG. Walking uphill is harder than it should be and I find it sometimes easier to walk up slopes by mashing the jump button. I still haven't gotten the mouse sensitivity set-up right in this game to make it more playable. On top of all this, parts of the game are meant to be played as a platformer, whereby I have to jump from elevated platform to elevated platform with crappy controls. You all should know how I feel about this shit, but I'll reiterate once more for the newbies. Platform controls and RPGs do not fucking mix. They didn't work out for Ultima 8 and they don't work out for this game.
The Combat: Fighting is merely a click fest, as this is an action CRPG. I screwed myself early playing a melee fighter, as ranged combat is far superior. When I get surrounded by ranged attackers who flee upon my character's approach, I know I'm in for a bad time. I think I should have went with a spellcaster with a ranged magical attack and a circle of radius magical defensive attack. Spell points and hit points regenerate quickly anyway. Also, the enemies aren't that diverse and simply increase in levels to match your own advancement.
The Main Quest: Oh man, this is all over the place and hardly any of it makes sense. At first you are to join an organization. Once you do that you are asked to ask the villagers to help locate a monster. When you finish doing so, you are told go beat up a ghost instead of helping chase down the monster. That done, you are told you can't help with the monster hunt and to just hang out. When you run out of things to do and ignore that order, your game goes into a completely new direction where you meet a generically evil character who has every reason to kill you but decides to leave you alive for no good reason at all. Then you run into a second exposition-laden NPC who tells you to seek another character who can explain what is really happening. Why Mr. Exposition can't help you isn't really explained. When you go to seek out this other fellow, you find his place of residence is sealed and you have to fight through armies of undead to get to him.
And that's where I am right now. There are a lot of things I enjoy about this game, but I find myself unsure if I want to continue. The main plot feels like a series of dungeons strung together by a writer who had no fucks left to give, and the enemies have all been variations of goblins, bandits, and skeletons. So here I am having an internal debate over whether I should see this game out until the end, or whether to play a more tactical game that will have me thinking a bit more. After all, I still have the Realms of Arkania trilogy, Knights of the Chalice, Betrayal at Krondor, and two Jagged Alliance games still waiting for me.
Pros:
The Lore: I actually really like the lore in this game. The setting seems to have a deep history, and there are books you can find throughout the game that reveal more of the background as you play.
The Characters: The main characters are pretty cookie-cutter. However, the general population are filled with interesting personalities, such as charlatan merchants, soldiers that have different quirks and moral codes, and love triangles and all the drama that comes with such a thing.
Skill Trees: There are some worthless skills in the skill trees, but there are also enough of them to make leveling something you have to really ponder about. You should determine early what you want your character to be like and focus skill points into those fields, so a melee warrior focuses on special attacks and weapon proficiencies while a spellcaster seeks to increase mana regeneration and spell power.
Exploration: The world is full of places to explore, many of them underground. There are dungeon entrances spotted all over the place, and just some really odd stuff laying around such as levers whose purpose is not always evident, and quirky characters who will throw quests your way, trade with you, or dispense with plot information. Some of the scenery is actually quite pleasant to look upon.
The Side Quests: I really enjoy the side quests and find them to be the best part of the game. Some quests lack a clear cut solution, so you sometimes have to choose which citizen to side with. There is also a lot of humor in these side quests, such as the one time the one time a bandit I was hunting asked me to choose my money or my life, and instead I hurt his brain with a philosophical speech on which I should value more. Good times.
Mixed Bag:
Character Generation: So I went along and created my character, choosing a male portrait and a male voice. The problem is that every one of the portraits made my character look like a punchable douche-bag and most of the male voices were quite annoying. The game actually allows you to change all this in the introductory town, and so I gave up my normal inclination to play a male, and made a tough melee warrior named Red Sonja. She doesn't look punchable.
Mind Read: The game has this very cool ability where you can read the minds of others. Unfortunately, it's mostly shit in implementation. I was hoping to use it in disputes versus citizens so I could better choose who to support on some of the side quests, or to find out what a possible bandit was doing loitering around the woods, but instead mind read typically gives useless information for an XP cost. It is sometimes helpful, but rarely in moments when it makes logical sense to employ.
Cons:
The Controls: I think this game would probably have played better as a console RPG. Walking uphill is harder than it should be and I find it sometimes easier to walk up slopes by mashing the jump button. I still haven't gotten the mouse sensitivity set-up right in this game to make it more playable. On top of all this, parts of the game are meant to be played as a platformer, whereby I have to jump from elevated platform to elevated platform with crappy controls. You all should know how I feel about this shit, but I'll reiterate once more for the newbies. Platform controls and RPGs do not fucking mix. They didn't work out for Ultima 8 and they don't work out for this game.
The Combat: Fighting is merely a click fest, as this is an action CRPG. I screwed myself early playing a melee fighter, as ranged combat is far superior. When I get surrounded by ranged attackers who flee upon my character's approach, I know I'm in for a bad time. I think I should have went with a spellcaster with a ranged magical attack and a circle of radius magical defensive attack. Spell points and hit points regenerate quickly anyway. Also, the enemies aren't that diverse and simply increase in levels to match your own advancement.
The Main Quest: Oh man, this is all over the place and hardly any of it makes sense. At first you are to join an organization. Once you do that you are asked to ask the villagers to help locate a monster. When you finish doing so, you are told go beat up a ghost instead of helping chase down the monster. That done, you are told you can't help with the monster hunt and to just hang out. When you run out of things to do and ignore that order, your game goes into a completely new direction where you meet a generically evil character who has every reason to kill you but decides to leave you alive for no good reason at all. Then you run into a second exposition-laden NPC who tells you to seek another character who can explain what is really happening. Why Mr. Exposition can't help you isn't really explained. When you go to seek out this other fellow, you find his place of residence is sealed and you have to fight through armies of undead to get to him.
And that's where I am right now. There are a lot of things I enjoy about this game, but I find myself unsure if I want to continue. The main plot feels like a series of dungeons strung together by a writer who had no fucks left to give, and the enemies have all been variations of goblins, bandits, and skeletons. So here I am having an internal debate over whether I should see this game out until the end, or whether to play a more tactical game that will have me thinking a bit more. After all, I still have the Realms of Arkania trilogy, Knights of the Chalice, Betrayal at Krondor, and two Jagged Alliance games still waiting for me.