Divinity Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

[VentilatorOfDoom]

as for the music, I kinda recognize quite a few tracks from Divinity 2

 

[Black]

An honest review from a non fanboy
My favorite game, or RPG, of all time is Baldur's Gate 2. Nothing has ever come close to surpassing its excellence in storytelling, immersion, sound and overall design. I've played every CRPG that came out since, and although many people might disagree with this, the only games that ever came close for me were The Witcher 2 and (yes) Skyrim. I kind of liked Dragon Age: Origins, but it just didn't grip me. I even liked Dragon Age 2, but again, it didn't grip me enough. I liked Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas, but after playing Oblivion, they just felt like more of the same. Mass Effect 1,2 and even 3 were great, but they were not RPG's in the same way The Walking Dead is not an RPG. I've played Diablo 2 & 3, and they were fun hack&slash games, but nothing more. I've played Avernum and Abadon, but even though they came out a decade later, they felt older than the Baldur's Gate series and so I couldn't enjoy them as much. I've played many more game, but nothing ever came close.

Now as a Belgian myself (sorry about last night US people), I remember being all hyped up when Larian released Divine Divinty more than a decade ago. I bought it, played it, and... I didn't like it. It lacked all the good qualities the Baldur's Gate series had. An epic story with personal stakes, excellent companions with their own personal stories, and quests which would take you all over the world and would take weeks to complete. Divine Divinty was "meh". It tried, it did it's best, but it never came close to the brilliance that Baldur's Gate (or even Fallout) was. I remember Larian promoting it as if they combined Diablo 2 with Infinity Engine games. This was simply not true. It wasn't a bad game, not at all, it just wasn't great. The misplaced "humor" and unepicness caused me to not finish the game and simply to forget about it after 20 hours or so.

Almost a decade later, Larian released Divinity 2. It had exactly the same problems as Divine Divinity, and this time I didn't like it at all. The story made no sense, there were literally no interesting characters and moving from a topdown RPG to a 3rd person action adventure was completely the wrong way to go. Next came Dragon Commander, not an RPG, but again, they promoted it as a hybrid between an RPG and an RTS. I didn't like it at all, it had the exact same problems.

I have no clue as to why, but when Larian announced Divinity: Original Sin, I got real excited. A promise to go back to the days of the old infinity games. An epic story! Memorable companions! Top down perspective! Turn based combat! New graphics! This was almost to good to be true. I'm not for the whole Kickstarter, Steam Early Access, idea. In my opinion it doesn't work and I still have to see the first game that gets released through these mediums which is actually good. Against my better knowledge I decided to buy it anyway. This couldn't go wrong right? They promised all the right things...

And here we are, and after 15 hours in, I can safely say that Larian did it again. Once again they made a mediocre RPG which promises to capture the same feeling the old infinity games did, but fails in the execution. It's quite easy to pinpoint where this went wrong: the writing. Again; a dull story which nobody will remember in a few weeks. Bland characters you don't really care about. And a journey that will take you through 4 kind of the same maps with not that much to do. Where is our epic villain? Who doesn't remember Jon Irenicus? What about Minsc and Boo? Did Cyseal have a serial killer who escapes you but turns up 30 hours later in a different city? Divinity Original Sin doesn't have any of that. It's a pretty nice dungeon crawler with a sort of decent combat system and filled with forgettable characters and quests. I'm 100% positive that if they hired the right writers, this could have been a game of epic proportions. But once again they failed to attract the right talent and what we are left with is a game filled with "funny" dialogue where your actions have no consequences and your companions are the stereotypical "imma gud fiter" or "Im a very intelligent wizard". After all this negativity it might sound like I hate Original Sin, I don't. It's a good RPG, and I will finish it in the following weeks, but it is by no means the revelation it was supposed, or could, have been.

If you want a true successor to the old CRPGS, I suggest you watch Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity, that looks like the game (I for one) have been waiting for all these years. But still, congrats on a nice game Larian, I hope it sells well and that it brings enough money to the table for you to hire a decent writing team for your next game.

7/10

bgfags never fail to amaze.

 

[Cyberarmy]

"An honest review from a non fanboy"

"My favorite game, or RPG, of all time is Baldur's Gate 2. Nothing has ever come close to surpassing its excellence in storytelling, immersion, sound and overall design."



And it gets worse with each sentence, I can accept Witcher 2 up to a point but Skyrim...?!?
...

 

[Black]

Yeah, after this part you quoted there's no point in reading further.

 

[Angthoron]

That's like a vegan delivering an objective review of a steak.

"Meat is murder but this one appears to be made well. 7/10"

 

[Cyberarmy]

Game is still first on steams top sellers list! Good new for Larian and for us those who wait for an expansion pack/enchanced edition

 

[Darth Roxor]

What's the advantage of playing co-op again?

Ridiculously tense mindgames during rock-paper-scissors arguments.

 

[J_C]

You're being awfully rude for someone who received free stuff from me.

I actually meant on a day-by-day basis. D:OS's peak from today was 13,598. Shadowrun Returns's daily peak from day 3 was 17,146.


He hasn't bought it, which leads me to believe that line about having a credit card canceled and not correcting the info in time was just politeness.

Setting and systems = junk = not very likely.

Thanks for the free stuff. Really. But i still don't scale to your level. :D


Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

 

[deuxhero]

After half an hour of trying to lure the abomination into the poison (and finding out it's immune despite being able to get the "poison" status and took little damage from the explosion setting that gad on fire makes), finally killed it by having a summon suicide in the nearby traped room (no idea how it killed the thing or how I was supposed to disarm it)

Was I supposed to find a star stone in this cave? Couldn't find a key. Checked the corner with the package the rat talked about and didn't find anything

 

[Cyberarmy]

After half an hour of trying to lure the abomination into the poison (and finding out it's immune despite being able to get the "poison" status and took little damage from the explosion setting that gad on fire makes), finally killed it by having a summon suicide in the nearby traped room (no idea how it killed the thing or how I was supposed to disarm it)

Black cove?

Spoiler

There is a button in that trapped room under a create, you just push it with another member. That trap deals massive fire damage to a large area probably ends up killing it. But just kill it normally and survive that room for extra xp and STEAM ACHİVEMENT!1!

 

[deuxhero]

Not sure I CAN kill it normally.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Just blind it (pretty sure only thing works on it) and surrond it with summons. Fortify your melee guys with a geomancer. It is immune to poison/burning dot effect and still gets damaged by that spells. Also stun/knockdown little crabs it summon around to prevent/limit his movement.
Its one tough cockscuker but no match for 2 handed weapon users with good armor. Didin't try to teleport it but if you can, just try teleport it upstairs and kite a bit?

 

[Kem0sabe]

An honest review from a non fanboy
My favorite game, or RPG, of all time is Baldur's Gate 2. Nothing has ever come close to surpassing its excellence in storytelling, immersion, sound and overall design. I've played every CRPG that came out since, and although many people might disagree with this, the only games that ever came close for me were The Witcher 2 and (yes) Skyrim. I kind of liked Dragon Age: Origins, but it just didn't grip me. I even liked Dragon Age 2, but again, it didn't grip me enough. I liked Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas, but after playing Oblivion, they just felt like more of the same. Mass Effect 1,2 and even 3 were great, but they were not RPG's in the same way The Walking Dead is not an RPG. I've played Diablo 2 & 3, and they were fun hack&slash games, but nothing more. I've played Avernum and Abadon, but even though they came out a decade later, they felt older than the Baldur's Gate series and so I couldn't enjoy them as much. I've played many more game, but nothing ever came close.

Now as a Belgian myself (sorry about last night US people), I remember being all hyped up when Larian released Divine Divinty more than a decade ago. I bought it, played it, and... I didn't like it. It lacked all the good qualities the Baldur's Gate series had. An epic story with personal stakes, excellent companions with their own personal stories, and quests which would take you all over the world and would take weeks to complete. Divine Divinty was "meh". It tried, it did it's best, but it never came close to the brilliance that Baldur's Gate (or even Fallout) was. I remember Larian promoting it as if they combined Diablo 2 with Infinity Engine games. This was simply not true. It wasn't a bad game, not at all, it just wasn't great. The misplaced "humor" and unepicness caused me to not finish the game and simply to forget about it after 20 hours or so.

Almost a decade later, Larian released Divinity 2. It had exactly the same problems as Divine Divinity, and this time I didn't like it at all. The story made no sense, there were literally no interesting characters and moving from a topdown RPG to a 3rd person action adventure was completely the wrong way to go. Next came Dragon Commander, not an RPG, but again, they promoted it as a hybrid between an RPG and an RTS. I didn't like it at all, it had the exact same problems.

I have no clue as to why, but when Larian announced Divinity: Original Sin, I got real excited. A promise to go back to the days of the old infinity games. An epic story! Memorable companions! Top down perspective! Turn based combat! New graphics! This was almost to good to be true. I'm not for the whole Kickstarter, Steam Early Access, idea. In my opinion it doesn't work and I still have to see the first game that gets released through these mediums which is actually good. Against my better knowledge I decided to buy it anyway. This couldn't go wrong right? They promised all the right things...

And here we are, and after 15 hours in, I can safely say that Larian did it again. Once again they made a mediocre RPG which promises to capture the same feeling the old infinity games did, but fails in the execution. It's quite easy to pinpoint where this went wrong: the writing. Again; a dull story which nobody will remember in a few weeks. Bland characters you don't really care about. And a journey that will take you through 4 kind of the same maps with not that much to do. Where is our epic villain? Who doesn't remember Jon Irenicus? What about Minsc and Boo? Did Cyseal have a serial killer who escapes you but turns up 30 hours later in a different city? Divinity Original Sin doesn't have any of that. It's a pretty nice dungeon crawler with a sort of decent combat system and filled with forgettable characters and quests. I'm 100% positive that if they hired the right writers, this could have been a game of epic proportions. But once again they failed to attract the right talent and what we are left with is a game filled with "funny" dialogue where your actions have no consequences and your companions are the stereotypical "imma gud fiter" or "Im a very intelligent wizard". After all this negativity it might sound like I hate Original Sin, I don't. It's a good RPG, and I will finish it in the following weeks, but it is by no means the revelation it was supposed, or could, have been.

If you want a true successor to the old CRPGS, I suggest you watch Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity, that looks like the game (I for one) have been waiting for all these years. But still, congrats on a nice game Larian, I hope it sells well and that it brings enough money to the table for you to hire a decent writing team for your next game.

7/10

bgfags never fail to amaze.

He is right about the writing tho, Larian just opened the cliche book of fantasy and started picking random fantasy character types for their game. Game is great and i love it, but after more than 10 hours playing i dont remember any characters names besides some cat named unsinkable blablabla.

 

[pakoito]

For those ahead of Cyseal

Spoiler

Is the Bloodstone needed on a quest or can I just pop it as I get it?

 

[Arkeus]

For those ahead of Cyseal

Spoiler

Is the Bloodstone needed on a quest or can I just pop it as I get it?

I have heard

Spoiler

That you can heal a NPC with it

but you probably get more than one bloodstone, as i got one from Evelyne and i guess the one you are talking about was gotten otherwise?

 

[pakoito]

For those ahead of Cyseal

Spoiler

Is the Bloodstone needed on a quest or can I just pop it as I get it?

I have heard

Spoiler

That you can heal a NPC with it

but you probably get more than one bloodstone, as i got one from Evelyne and i guess the one you are talking about was gotten otherwise?

Spoiler

There's a quest with 2 dying NPCs, Evelyne gives the stone to one of them to save him and then they're both gone. It doesn't matter if you have a second stone or not.

This second stone is the final reward for Black Cove and the descripion says that it can "heal any disease" plus it goes to your inventory rather than just being activated. Big hint.

 

[Infinitron]

Divinity: Original Sin Larian Studios' fastest-selling game ever
Already approaching profitability. So, what's next?

 

[Suicidal]

I don't mind the writing. Sure it's generic and derpy at times, but it has that light-hearted parodic style, which I enjoy, and while it's definitely not as good as in the old story-focused RPGs, it's miles ahead of most modern RPGs, in my opinion.

 

[Cyberarmy]

"There was a certain license we tried to get, but they haven't replied to us," he said. "Maybe now they will reply to us! I'm not going to tell you, because that will ruin the chances of me getting it."

Let the wild guesses commence!

 

[Arkeus]

Spoiler

There's a quest with 2 dying NPCs, Evelyne gives the stone to one of them to save him and then they're both gone. It doesn't matter if you have a second stone or not.

This second stone is the final reward for Black Cove and the descripion says that it can "heal any disease" plus it goes to your inventory rather than just being activated. Big hint.

See, I

Spoiler

didn't get this quest from Evelyn, as Evelyn was already gone to her lab the first time i went to the clinic. Instead, she dropped a bloodstone when i killed her

/

I assume the black cove isn't Evelyn's lab :p

 

[Zed]

Also gonna start a new game on normal because hard is impossible with the wonky builds I went with. ALSO, to change AI. What a stupid decision to have that at the start of the game and not have it changeable.

That's because it's game. They should also force difficulty choice to stay locked as well. (and suggest easy)

Relative to all the options (for characters builds and playstyles), this is one of the worst documented games ever made. It's far from well-balanced, and pretty much everything outside combat is super-exploitable.
So why lock choices?
It would just result in forcing people to re-play the beginning of the game, or more.
Crooked Bee had to increase difficulty to get any challenge (from Normal to Hard), so this goes both ways.
I see no reason to punish players for uninformed choices when the game is as silly and light-hearted as it is. Pillars, or Wasteland -- sure, because that's like starting a CYOA book or something. DOS is essentially a combat sim with silly no-one-can-fail quests on the side. It's just tedious to re-start.

 

[Villagkouras]

The game is great, 2014 = The Rennaisance of RPGs.

One wish though: I wish there will be a game that in the options will have Music & Battle Music. I hate the in-game music, it just doesn't fit, but I miss the battle music when I turn it off (always). Without music, battles seem empty. Damn.

 

[pakoito]

Spoiler

There's a quest with 2 dying NPCs, Evelyne gives the stone to one of them to save him and then they're both gone. It doesn't matter if you have a second stone or not.

This second stone is the final reward for Black Cove and the descripion says that it can "heal any disease" plus it goes to your inventory rather than just being activated. Big hint.

See, I

Spoiler

didn't get this quest from Evelyn, as Evelyn was already gone to her lab the first time i went to the clinic. Instead, she dropped a bloodstone when i killed her

/

I assume the black cove isn't Evelyn's lab :p

Goddamnit, I hadn't gotten that far in the quest. I've been spoiled.

Spoiler

 

[Arkeus]

Snip

There is apparently a respec option in the hall of heroes when you have enough star stone.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Zed What kind of party build did you have? I'm just curious how one gimps oneself in this game, because it seems to have so many options in combat for pretty much all skill schools.