RPGWatch - Divinity: Original Sin Review

With everything that has been said about Divinity: Original Sin in the reviews that have appeared over the last months, what is there left to say?
Not that much, so Corwin penned down a review focusing on some elements of the game, leaving the rest for yourself to discover.

Where would an rpg be without combat? Here there is plenty and fortunately, it's one of the outstanding strengths of the game. Everything is tactics, EVERYTHING. From your use of the terrain, the choice of weapons, spells, order, focus and various combinations of all of the above, you have to be continually aware of everything that is happening and plan ahead how you will deal with every eventuality. Let me offer a simple example. While a summoned water elemental will do good damage against a fire creature, it won't last long, but on the other hand, a summoned fire elemental won't do much damage in the same situation, but it will last a long time and perhaps prevent the fire creatures from attacking your main characters while they deal with someone (or something) else. Some enemies are healed by elemental attacks, while others are totally invulnerable to all attacks and must be avoided. The good news is that anything you can do to them, they can do to you and the AI is usually quite effective.

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More information.

A short review, yet I like it for some reason.
Probably because the game is so rich with different content a huge review could "forget" to meation something, which wouldn't be fair towards the game.

Except: "the inventory can be clumsy and sometimes cluttered".
IMO the inventory is brilliant, such luxuriance is hard to see in modern games. Some aspects of it can be improved, but then that's what sequels are for, right?

I can only hope new RPGs, not just Larian's, learn something from this game design.
If someone ever asks me to explain why am I saying Diablo and it's clones are not RPG, the answer would be play Divinity: Original Sin, then you'll understand.

I'm about 20 hours in the game and like the review as well.
But I wouldn't list the "Typical Larian Humour" as a Pro, but as a Con. But that's a very subjective thing for sure.

I'm having some other complaints though:

• visuals are a little too cartoony for my taste
• AI personalities: It's unclear how they actually should work (no documentation) and they still seem to be buggy.
• map design: At least on the Cyseal map there are "artificial" borders. When you want to reach the north western beach, your party can't go there directly, despite it's being seperated by some rocks only, which "shouldn't" be a problem for your party to pass. Instead you need to find another way. Of course that's story related, but that's too gamey for my taste, it's bad for immersion.
• profane magic: There are abilities (4 elementals + witchcraft) with classical magic skills. But the profane abilities contain some supernatural abilties too, which I don't like. For example there's the companion Madora who is a fighter and a clear enemy of everything magical, but nevertheless she's able to crush opponents being 15 meters away. There's now explanation given how this is actually done and it very much looks like magic, which imho is totally out of place here. Immersion killer as well.
• The positioning in combat is a little fuzzy. When moving characters it's difficult to avoid burning or poisoned regions because their borders are unclear. Additionally when I'm moving my backstabber I can't tell if the new position is valid for backstabbing. There should be some kind of display where some information about the planned path and the resulting position is given. Something like this is already done when you walk close to an opponent who would get an attack of opportunity.

Considering the whole game these issues are negligible. It's a fantastic game, which I'm really having fun with. So far it would be a 8.5-9/10 for me, which would translate into 5/5 stars as well (I think).

Morrandir said:

So far it would be a 8.5-9/10 for me, which would translate into 5/5 stars as well (I think).

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As the stars are not numerical it doesn't directly translate. Five stars means the following:

An outstanding game that will be remembered as a classic. A score of 5 indicates a game that is equal to the best gameplay available in the genre at the time of writing. It is, however, important to understand this does not represent an absolutely flawless game.

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"the AI is usually quite effective." - there's enemy AI in the game? From what I played, enemy combat tactics just boiled down to using a select skill or two against the closest party member....

Thanks Corwin!

I agree with the 'best RPG I've played in a while' sentiment. This really is 'my kind of RPG' more than stuff like Skyrim, so I have thoroughly enjoyed playing it since release.

Perfect? No ... but no game ever was, is or will be

Solid review. Unlike Joxer I don't like the inventory at all, it's much to cluttered and after while fills up with gazillions of crafting objects that I never could find when I wanted them. No big deal though.

I don't understand the camera issue. I switched to 360 mode right away and experienced no problems whatsoever with glitches or things looking strange. Did you even try it Corwin? Especially in battlet it's a must to be able to rotate the entire way around.

All in all, D:OS is absolutely deserving of the 5 stars in my book also.

I agree with this....inventory actually makes you NOT want to do any crafting with it....it isn't horrible but it gets overly cluttered quickly.

I think I may restart my game because I took a mage and a cleric....when I should have done a mage and archer...

Best game I have played in a long time - in fact twice already - enough said.

Thank you for the review, Corwin!

I see the point about inventory, but at a certain stage that becomes a serious non-issue when you can just send things "home". I'm still in love with the game, just killed the king in the snow area, and now I'm in some forest fighting goblins and orcs, having a great time. I can also see how some wouldn't care for the cartoony look, I assume they went that route because of cost and ease. I don't care for it myself, but I'll tolerate it for the sweetness underneath ))

Great review and thank you for not spoiling things. I just started my first real play through of the game last night and loving every minute so far.

I've enjoyed it thus far. The archer character finally started to feel like a significant contributor at around level 7, while the rogue felt effective right away. Many of the battles thus far have felt tactically challenging. The humor is decidedly daft, but not unpleasant. Some of the bark strings of the townfolk are getting pretty tedious though.

The only issue I've had so far has been finding upgraded gear. I've killed several named opponents, and gotten a few items, but most of the stuff I'm using is several levels behind my characters. And no, I don't craft. I kill stuff. Only a minor peeve, and the only thing that's bothered me so far.

By several levels behind I don't mean 1-2 levels......it is more like 5-6.

Thanks for the review. D:OS is next up in my backlog. I got it when it was released to Kickstarter backers, but been busy with Might and Magic X, Risen 3, and now Wasteland 2 so haven't spent but maybe an hour or so with it.

Thank you, Sir.

It's no mystery that I love the game, for some reasons I find it so addictive I cannot put it down. I started my fourth run when the 2 new companions were made available. I still find it enjoyable.

There are several minor problems, I concede, but the biggest is that Original Sin is making a lot of other games almost unplayable by comparison. For example, I started Transistor and I cannot see myself keep playing it.

Thank you for the review and your time in writing it - I still have not gotten to far with the game yet but so far think its great!

Nice review!

I still haven't had time to play it. I'll get around to it though, sooner or later.

Gee, Corwin... quit beating around the bush: Did you like it or not?

I'm a little dizzy right now with the resurgence of turn-based RPG goodness. Especially since I've been too busy to play much! But this was one of my "dream scenarios" with the whole indie revolution thing - that game developers would finally produce these kinds of RPGs again, that they'd do *WELL* and prove that there's still a decent audience out there.

Swen Vincke honestly "gets it." Both from a game design and a business reality standpoint.

Cheers Corwin! Concise and focused review, I like the extra editorial quotes section as well at the end.

I'm really enjoying the game myself at the moment, having just finished the main quests in Cyseal at level 10, some 30 hours in, still so much to learn and do! Beautifully deep interactivity a la Ultima VII and a truly relaxing sense of pacing which I can be as deliberately slow as I like with.

The combat is an absolute sumptuous treat for any turn-based fan. My most recent victory against a particular group of Undead was a truly undulating yet satisfyingly tense affair which I had to return to a couple of levels later after getting soundly whopped the first time.

The UI is perfectly fine, I don't mind the inventory management at all.

Basically my party consists of:
Wizard x2 (My PC and Jahan)
Madora (Fighter/Ranged)
Battle Cleric (Second PC)

For me the only slight negatives would perhaps be the re-usage of several Pokrovsky musical tracks from Divine Divnity, as it sometimes pulls me out my immediate experience emotionally. More companion options to make different party configurations possible would also be nice; though perhaps player mods can be of service here.

Thanks Corwin! Nicely done. Like you I found the inventory awkward and also led to my not really trying crafting. Otherwise excellent - Old Skule as you say