Divinity: Original Sin - Two More Reviews

Here are two more positive reviews to add this week for Divinity: Original Sin.

Strategy Informer - 8.5/10

While in my opinion it has a few flaws that hold it back from true all-time-classic status Divinity: Original Sin is an excellent, beautifully designed and engaging RPG that absolutely never gets boring.

Game Informer - 9/10

The experience is not without a few minor quibbles, such as disastrous misclicks that can occur from enemy/camera positioning and the inability to always have items show up on the ground. The complete freeform gameplay in Divinity: Original Sin can be quite daunting and frustrating, especially as a player navigates the minefield of the early game without any real direction. Embrace the lack of handholding and complete freedom, and you have an incredible title that provides many hours of entertainment.

More information.

The experience is not without a few minor quibbles, such as disastrous misclicks that can occur from enemy/camera positioning and the inability to always have items show up on the ground.

I have to agree with that, sort of. The thing that really annoys me is that every time you or an enemy launches an attack it auto zooms the camera and I have to re-position it all of the time.

i'm not sure if i should complain too much about this, but on the second map it is a bit difficult to get started. the mobs are a bit higher level. a quick google search will get you on the right path though for proper level progression without struggling like i did for several hours against high level stuff.

Originally Posted by cptbarkey
i'm not sure if i should complain too much about this, but on the second map it is a bit difficult to get started. the mobs are a bit higher level. a quick google search will get you on the right path though for proper level progression without struggling like i did for several hours against high level stuff.

I didn't have any problem with the 2nd area for some reason. the first area was a nightmare, but in the Silverglen area I was wiping up everything at lv11. Only tough thing was the Spider Queen, which I had to save for when I hit 13.

I played D:OS for about 8 hours and have stopped for now. I want to wait for more patching but even more, I want to wait for my boxed copy so I can read the manual first. I'm trying to re-create that old childhood experience of Ultima from opening the box to reading the manual to playing the game.

On the subject of 'handholding' I'm definitely in the camp for not wanting too much of that, if any at all. I'm very comfortable taking my own notes.

Thinking back to the early days of games like Ultima, Wizardry, Bard's Tale and their like… there were certainly periods of frustration when I couldn't solve a puzzle or overcome a hostile encounter (damn you Balrons of Ultima). And there were no easy solutions… no hint books… no internet… not even very many friends who might be able to help (most of my friends didn't have computers and/or an interest in computer RPGs).

Many times I'd stop playing a game entirely for a long time because I was totally stuck and without any way to find an answer. But eventually I'd come back and one way or another be able to move forward either by figuring out a solution for myself or perhaps coming across a hint or clue in a gaming magazine or some other way purely by chance.

Back then, the satisfaction of overcoming a previously insurmountable obstacle was an intensely satisfying experience. But looking back, I recognize even more just how special both the frustration and overcoming the frustration were. And now I welcome that.

I hope while playing D:OS I get hopelessly stuck and have to stop playing until I think of a solution (usually this happens when I shower, don't know why but many times I find an answer to a problem while showering). I hope I have hostile encounters where I am so outclassed I cannot proceed in a certain direction. I hope that most of the time I'm lost. I hope that most of the time I'll find pieces of some puzzle when I don't even know the puzzle exists. I welcome all of that kind of thing. I want it to be hard. Bring on the hard.

Back then, we had a lot more free time to waste on trying to figure something out that had nothing to do with being good at games

More than any other game since, this game is truly reminiscent of Baldur's Gate. I'm actually struggling a little to get back into that kind of slow-paced, freeform mindset…

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Back then, we had a lot more free time to waste on trying to figure something out that had nothing to do with being good at games

I can't argue with that. I guess with this game, me personally, I'd find extra time to re-experience that kind of thing. Maybe it's nostalgia talking but I'm willing to give the experience a shot.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I hope while playing D:OS I get hopelessly stuck and have to stop playing until I think of a solution (usually this happens when I shower, don't know why but many times I find an answer to a problem while showering).

Can't say you'll get stuck, but there are some not easy puzzles to solve. I've wasted perhaps too much time on certain puzzle with pressure plates…
When I finally cracked it now, turned off the game to take a break. But I loved it!

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I hope I have hostile encounters where I am so outclassed I cannot proceed in a certain direction.

I can assure you that will happen not just once. You may get lucky and nail a group of hard mobs, but the next one will eat you for breakfast.
You'll turn back and continue exploring other parts.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I hope that most of the time I'm lost.

Nah, you have a map so there is no way to get lost. Unless there is some teleport puzzle like in M&M10 that will make you lost.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I hope that most of the time I'll find pieces of some puzzle when I don't even know the puzzle exists.

That will be hard… Since when you read something… Wait. Just don't read notes and books and that's it!

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I want it to be hard. Bring on the hard.

On normal it's not that hard. But it's not that easy either.

Originally Posted by joxer
On normal it's not that hard. But it's not that easy either.

So basically it's a normal normal difficulty.

Originally Posted by joxer
Can't say you'll get stuck, but there are some not easy puzzles to solve. I've wasted perhaps too much time on certain puzzle with pressure plates…
When I finally cracked it now, turned off the game to take a break. But I loved it!


I can assure you that will happen not just once. You may get lucky and nail a group of hard mobs, but the next one will eat you for breakfast.
You'll turn back and continue exploring other parts.


Nah, you have a map so there is no way to get lost. Unless there is some teleport puzzle like in M&M10 that will make you lost.


That will be hard… Since when you read something… Wait. Just don't read notes and books and that's it!


On normal it's not that hard. But it's not that easy either.

Very well put, that sum's up my experience so far in the game.

The only thing I would add is very very very addictive.

I just received my boxed collector's edition and am excited to play it…
But, due to the various bugs and annoyances I've been hearing about, I must resist the temptation until another patch or two is released… only because I hate putting dozens of hours into an rpg only to have my saved games nuked by a patch.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Back then, we had a lot more free time to waste on trying to figure something out that had nothing to do with being good at games

Exactly.

Nowadays I'm looking for games with a gradually increasing difficulty that allow me to get better at playing while playing, not games with brick walls that you put down out of frustration or simply because you have to find the needle in the hay.

Originally Posted by Vindicator
But, due to the various bugs and annoyances I've been hearing about, I must resist the temptation until another patch or two is released… only because I hate putting dozens of hours into an rpg only to have my saved games nuked by a patch.

Another one?!

Cmon!
The game has a few bugs, but none of those is critical or annoying!

Yea, you can't dig an item or chest on a certain spot, so what. There are so many such spots that one missed is irrelevant.
Or you can't pick up a painting. One painting of them 763458273456238453847. Seriously, do you really need that one with so many others you… Found and since there was no owner around, it'd be a waste to let them rot.
Right, there is a "serious" bug with barrage skill, on sidekicks that skill doesn't work properly. So? You won't use it. Instead you'll use ricochet which is in fact the better version of barrage.

I'm still trying to find some heavy bug to gloat and there is none to find.
Failing to find a juicy bug resulted me happily dancing like a small child when after hours and hours of playing the game finally crashed!

And there is no way patches will corrupt your savegames nor will render them useless.

-

A word of warning on those who decided to play GOG version like me.
If you used one of previous patches then the latest patch, it'll screw game data. Not saved games, just game data. You can still play, but the game will crash on quickload.
Dunno how GOG patcher exactly works, but in this case, it messes up things.
Solution is: Download the new full installer, reinstall the game, it has the latest patch included, you don't need to download it separately.

I'm loving this game. Have restarted a few times. No spoilers:

If you don't have it yet, I'd recommend to wait, not because of bugs, but available companions. I specced a character out, progressed along, ran into the first of only 2 currently available, and it was almost a carbon copy of what I had made. And the other one was kind of close to my second character. Yes, there are henchmen available but no back stories, and some are specced out really stupidly.

I have encountered only a few minor bugs with the interface. No big deal though.

Originally Posted by joxer
The game has a few bugs, but none of those is critical or annoying!

Well, that's good to know. I still want to wait for the next patch before I start the game… but I won't wait too long.

Originally Posted by joxer
Cmon!
The game has a few bugs, but none of those is critical or annoying!

Actually, I've run into some nasty weirdness with quest progression. Things keep happening out of order and it's starting to get annoying. I'll start another topic to explain so I can mark the whole thing as spoiler-full.

Originally Posted by joxer
Another one?!

Cmon!
The game has a few bugs, but none of those is critical or annoying!

You have to realize that the occurance of bugs may depend on the machine the game is played on. Of course not those bugs like not being able to pick something up, these should be independent of the machine.
But all these more technical things like problems with savegames and performance may not happen to you, but to others.

You're talking to joxer

If you've followed his "unbiased" attitude towards bugs in Skyrim, you should have some idea of how reasonable he's likely to be when it comes to things like this.

Only real problems I've run into so far are the extremely long/infinite save/load times. Minor one was sneaking close to mobs, being discovered but not entering combat despite filling the area with oil then igniting it and damaging several of them. Finally entered combat mode by directly casting a spell on one of them.