RPGWatch Feature: Divinity 2 Review

Divine Divinity is a classic that uniquely combines Ultima with hack'n'slash combat. With the move to full 3D and consoles, how does the sequel stack up? Our review has two complete opinions - one from Corwin, and one from txa1265. Here's a sample:

Having detailed my frustrations, let me outline why I think this should be considered as one of the most enjoyable games released in 2009. For my first 20-30 hours or so, I found this game to be an absolute blast. It drew me away from Dragon Age: Origins and kept me playing. The game makes much of your eventually getting a Dragon Tower, but don’t rush it - the first half of the game is easily the best. Once I got my tower, all the things I really love about rpg’s virtually disappeared and I was left with an action/aerial combat game.

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Nice one. Agree with most of it, especially about the 1st/2nd half. I was looking forward to the Tower/Dragon so much, I ended up rushing to get it, which made me lose out on quite a few quests and what not. During my 2nd playthrough, I intend to take it slow, so I can clear everything.

Oh, by the way, I think you forgot to mention that skills have a maximum of far more than 5 once you upgrade the Battle Tower. Most skills can reach at least 10, some even higher. The bonuses they get above 5 tend to be significant compared to what you get below 5, so maxing out a few skills is something I highly recommend.

I loved the game, but I haven't touched it since I got the battle tower. I'm not sure why that is or if the game just turned into something else. I just kinda lost interest, but that happens to the best of them. I'll get back into it at some time.

Had a great time with it so far, though.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
I loved the game, but I haven't touched it since I got the battle tower. I'm not sure why that is or if the game just turned into something else.

From what I hear that is very common … and why I think it is good that Maylander pointed out the skill increase after that point - it does give some extra incentive to continue, but sadly I think I agree more with your "game just turned into something else" assessment. Divine Divinity is one of my all-time favorite games, making me even more disappointed in Divinity 2 as just an average overall game.

Good reviews,This just got back on my radar.
I think the score is a bit harsh since Corwin's review sounds like an 4.x anyway I'll probably get it once I see a good deal.
Where's the review version?

Good reviews, I think it sounds like 3/5 in both reviews too… as me and Mike argued another time score is very hard though.

Coriwn is negative about the second part of the time, a good beginning should not be enough for a 4 IMHO.

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
Good reviews, I think it sounds like 3/5 in both reviews too… as me and Mike argued another time score is very hard though.

Coriwn is negative about the second part of the time, a good beginning should not be enough for a 4 IMHO.

There was definite score debate …

Just had to add a little something: Like you, I really like the character building. Very interesting. It's open, yet with enough restrictions to not make you redicilously powerful right out of the box. Makes it possible to build quite a few interesting characters.

In fact, I'd say it's one of the most (if not the most) interesting character systems I've seen in this type of game (open world, 3D-action-adventure-RPG-thingymabob-Gothic-Risen-MW-Oblivion-FO3-etc).

Edit:
The savegames are located in the following folder:
C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\Divinity 2

Seen several other games that also use the AppData (hidden) folder to store savegames. Always takes me ages to find savegames when they're located there. Rather annoying to say the least.

Kinda sounds like Lionheart: great beginning area followed by a rush to the finish line once they've figured out they're way behind schedule. I've never gotten to the Battle Tower, so maybe my restart-itis is a good thing in this case. I've only had the little 30 second experience with being a dragon and it was dull. Are there any quests similar to Broken Valley on the Sentinal Islands or at the Fords?

There are some in Fjords. I liked High Hall among other things. Some interesting caves and secrets too. Generally, Fjords are very difficult though, especially in the 18-22 level range. After that, it gets easier.

Overall, I consider the flying fortresses the most boring part.

A very good middle-ground review set with 'about right' rating.

Personally i have to commend the Larians concept idea of two separate character forms which are changeable (swapped) to allow access to the game's otherwise restricted areas via gameplay progression, while at the same time each character form can build in level-ups and stat increase distibution.
The summoned followers 'made the game' - switching automatically between shooting fireballs or hacking away with melee weapon was a cool purposeful distraction, by carefull positioning, the follower took most of the flack.
The game played seamlessly. I played from start to finish with full archer stats using melee weapon only on Amdusia.

The game's style will not suit some 'traditional' rpg'ers.

All most of your non game configuration files (photoshop, firefox, ect…) are stored in your "C:\Users\YourUser\AppData" folder. So I'd really recommend to simply make a backup of your user folder next time instead of your documents folder

But about the review : I agree with that the first part was the best. But I wouldn't blame the "dragon form" for that, I'd more likely blame the change of scenery.

Instead? Why would I want configuration files in preference to data? At any rate, that goes to the core of the issue - Microsoft's guidelines says appdata should be used for non-user files. Clearly, a save file is specifically user data and therefore, should not be there. Larian's Sven Vincke already talked about this on our forums and acknowledged they should have thought about it more.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Instead? Why would I want configuration files in preference to data? At any rate, that goes to the core of the issue - Microsoft's guidelines says appdata should be used for non-user files. Clearly, a save file is specifically user data and therefore, should not be there. Larian's Sven Vincke already talked about this on our forums and acknowledged they should have thought about it more.

The sad thing is that more and more games are dumping crap just about anywhere … heck, STALKER: CoP has it in the 'All Users' area without option …

Originally Posted by txa1265
The sad thing is that more and more games are dumping crap just about anywhere … heck, STALKER: CoP has it in the 'All Users' area without option …

I agree with your comment. I always thought the whole 'games for windows' label was supposed to be about standardizing these kinds of things. As it relates to save game data, it has actually gotten worse since the pre-games-for-windows xp days.

Re the score. Both of us felt that 3.5 would be the correct score for the game, but we don't have that option. Therefore, we had to choose between a 3 or a 4. Again, we both felt the first part was a 4 and the second a 3. Overall though, it just didn't quite measure up to what we expect of a 4 in our ranking system.

Nice review guys. I too am a big fan of the first Divinity game.

I have been on the fence whether I want to buy this game now or wait a while, based on your review I think I will wait a while being that Im a traditional RPG'er and the "actiony" dragon parts don't sound very fun.

Tempted to buy it just for the Soundtrack, Love Kirril's Stuff!

Cheers

Hmm. Thanks for the reviews. I played the demo fairly thoroughly a few times - how much of the 'good' half of the game have I already seen would you say?

Anyone…?

Well, the demo isn't more than a few hours in length, and they said 20-30 hrs were "the good half," so I'd say about 10%.

Thanks for the review, guys. You echoed the experiences of a lot of people I listened to, who played through the game. Their enthusiasm seemed to drop off about 2/3 of the way through, and most of them stopped playing. They gave a variety of reasons (e.g., loss of interest, difficulty, being a dragon wasn't all it was cracked up to be, etc.), but the bottom line was, they enjoyed the first half but the game just wasn't able to sustain their interest over the long haul. A couple guys finished it, but most did not.

Anyhow, nicely done review, thanks to both of you. You reinforced my sense of what the game had to offer and my decision to wait a bit before picking it up.