Original Sin - Review Roundup #3

Myrthos

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Here is a new set of reviews for Larian Studios' Divinity Original Sin.

Front Towards Gamer, 9.5

Although the balance if Divinity: Original Sin sometimes feels a bit askew – for example, Wizards are so utterly paramount that to not have one almost spells game over; Magic is flat out OP – Divinity: Original Sin is probably the most fun I’ve had in an RPG since Baldur’s Gate, and I don’t have to search my screen for a single pixel concealing a hidden ring in Divinity: Original Sin either!
NowGamer, 9

Despite all this, it is worth drawing attention to a handful of flaws. Larian Studios is not a behemoth developer, and there are issues in how the game plays outside of its core ruleset.

Inventory management, for example, requires clicking on arrows in the menu rather than a character’s profile icon – making swapping items around unnecessarily frustrating.

Some longer quests can be fairly loose in their descriptions, requiring you to accidentally happen across a solution through exploration – or just resort to Googling it.

Requiring you to drag an ability to the spell bar to use its explicitly stated number of action points is frustrating too.
Just Press Start

Overall, I can say that despite its flaws and a punishing learning curve, there is fun to be had with Divinity: Original Sin. It’s just a matter of how much you’re willing to deal with to get to it. If you want the old school feel and challenge, then you should grab it without hesitation. Everyone else should study up and see if it’s right for you.
Video Game Writers, 4/5

Divinity: Original Sin is not an easy game. It assumes familiarity with the RPG genre and banks on players’ ability to read text and sleuth out their next move. This isn’t an isometric, turn-based version of Dark Souls, but it does get challenging pretty fast. Followers of the Divinity franchise will attest to the games’ technical quirks and failings, which are far less pronounced this time around and that, coupled with outstanding visuals and copious hours of well-designed story and gameplay, mean that Original Sin could steal many of your summer hours.
Game On Girl

My only real issue with Divinity: Original Sin is also one of its strengths. The conversation. On one hand you have these great moments of dialogue between your two main characters that can reveal a lot about their personalities and back story and reward you with in game bonuses. On the other hand dialogue with random citizens is the same thing over and over. I would have preferred that there be no conversation option with the background players because they all pretty much have the same dialogue options which tend to be pretty jarring and pulls me out of the immersion of the game.
RealGamerNewz, 9.5

Divinity: Original Sin isn’t perfect. There are some core problems with the game that need to be ironed out plus the normal fun glitches and bugs that most games suffer from. Overall this is a very pleasing addition to the rebirth of CRPGs and with the way it is designed could keep players entertained for quite some time. Larian Studios has done old school gamers a huge favor with this release. Will you love this if you loved Skyrim? I can’t guarantee that. But if you are open minded, love RPGs, a challenge, and want to play the next big thing then I believe Divinity: Original Sin won’t be something you regret. With around 60+ hours of time in the base game, it’s above the average RPG scope. With content creation and just overall fun factor I can see this game lasting a player thousands of hours of enjoyment.
Chalgyr's Game Room, 9.25

I was not a big fan of Divinity II: Ego Draconis, so this is not a series I necessarily gravitate towards. I feel that this makes what Divinity: Original Sin has...More information.
 
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This is the most important thing:
Divinity: Original Sin is a quality role-playing game with excellent PC optimization to match.

Those who play it (not on low RAM) can only agree.
Those who played so many recent games and ports totally unoptimized on PC will definetly give 8 or 9 to D:OS even if they don't like something in the game.
 
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Good news :)

I wonder what the most established sites will give it. Eurogamer, Gamespot and IGN have yet to review it, no?

I'll be pleasantly surprised if they go above 8.5 and that would surely serve to promote the values of old-school stuff where it's most needed, namely with the mainstream audience.
 
Gamespot throws out 9s and 10s like Halloween candy so I have pretty much zero interest in their reviews anymore. I'll be interested in seeing what Eurogamer says though.
 
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Gamespot throws out 9s and 10s like Halloween candy so I have pretty much zero interest in their reviews anymore. I'll be interested in seeing what Eurogamer says though.

In my experience, they only do this for certain mainstream AAA games or trendy crappy indie games with pretty art directions. Something like Original Sin would have to be really, really good to qualify for such a score at GS.

Even so, GS is an important site where the mainstream is concerned.
 
I stopped visiting Gamespot quite awhile ago, but it seemed to me that any game from a major publisher with a high level of hype would automatically get at least an 8.5 or higher from them.
 
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I stopped visiting Gamespot quite awhile ago, but it seemed to me that any game from a major publisher with a high level of hype would automatically get at least an 8.5 or higher from them.

That's an exaggeration, imo :)

Even Watch Dogs didn't get more than 8 - for instance.

But, don't get me wrong, I don't trust Gamespot at all - I'm just saying it's (sadly) quite a popular site.

Eurogamer does seem to give lower ratings overall, but I don't find their reviews particularly good.

I don't really like any of the established sites.
 
That's an exaggeration, imo :)

Even Watch Dogs didn't get more than 8 - for instance.

But, don't get me wrong, I don't trust Gamespot at all - I'm just saying it's (sadly) quite a popular site.

It's not much of an exaggeration from my experience. As I said, I stopped going there quite awhile ago. Watch Dogs was just released a couple of months ago so maybe they've toned it down a bit.

For instance, they gave Mass Effect 3 a 9/10. I think that was the last review I read from them.
 
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It's not much of an exaggeration from my experience. As I said, I stopped going there quite awhile ago. Watch Dogs was just released a couple of months ago so maybe they've toned it down a bit.

For instance, they gave Mass Effect 3 a 9/10. I think that was the last review I read from them.

I can't really argue against your experience, so this is rather pointless :)

Back on topic!
 
BTW, Eurogamer gave the game 9/10. If they give the lowest scores....
 
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They did? Cool :)

Well, they're usually a little more forgiving of non-mainstream stuff - but still. Great news!
 
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I wonder what the most established sites will give it. Eurogamer, Gamespot and IGN have yet to review it, no?
Gamespot's review isn't posted yet but their guy that's reviewing it has been posting nonstop on his Twitter for the last couple weeks about how great the game is. I'd be surprised if it their score for it ends up being below 9.
 
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This might be the first time a quality old-school game gets the score it deserves with the mainstream sites.

An important step in the right direction for people like us ;)
 
Seems to me that with Larian still being considered an indie, making a type of game that has been largely absent for a decade, that the reviews it is getting are almost perfect as they get no advertising bonus points and no name recognition bonus points. It is really amazing how well reviewed it is.

I would give it a 10 but it definitely needs some improvement in character appearance, inventory and crafting UI, conversation, companions, etc...but I am confident that Larian will iron it out.

Going on 16 days now at #1 on Steam even above their super discounted daily deals.

Amazing amazing game. Combat I think is the best I have ever seen. It is so deep, but more importantly fun
 
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Can you really consider Larian an "indie"? Their last big game (Divinity 2) was basically a AAA game with a normal publishing arrangement, they have investors funding their later games (D:DC and D:OS), etc. Is inXile now "indie" because they are self-publishing Wasteland 2? Same situation basically.

Maybe we need a thread to figure out the definition of "indie", I'm sure that'll go well…
 
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They're probably not indie, but Divinity 2 was certainly not an AAA game.

It's what I call middle-market stuff, much like PB games.
 
Can you really consider Larian an "indie"? Their last big game (Divinity 2) was basically a AAA game with a normal publishing arrangement, they have investors funding their later games (D:DC and D:OS), etc.

Maybe we need a thread to figure out the definition of "indie", I'm sure that'll go well…

All indie games have funding, it's not because it's from your own pocket or from dad that it's not funding.
 
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