Divinity: Original Sin II - Review @ GRS

Gamingrespawn has reviewed Divinity: Original Sin II:

Divinity: Original Sin II Review

Divinity: Original Sin II is the sequel to Larian Studio’s 2014 RPG hit. Having been funded by an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign and reaching its initial goal in a matter of hours, the game has now emerged from Steam Early Access for a full release. Much like its predecessor, Original Sin II is a classic-style RPG featuring an isometric viewpoint, turn-based combat, and party quests. Can it deliver on the hype surrounding its development and build on the original game? Let’s take a look.

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No doubt about it, this is a fantastic game. The established lore of the series has been built on to create a detailed, immersive world with a dynamic combat system and the possibility to approach the game in many different ways. This is all underpinned by fabulous voice acting, appealing characters, and, most importantly of all, a well-written and engaging story with plenty of replay value. Larian Studios have set an example on how to crowdfund a game and how to make the most of Early Access. With Divinity: Original Sin II, they have set a potentially genre-defining example of how to make an RPG.

Score: 9.5/10 - Amazing


Good

• Immersive, well-written story
• Engaging cast of characters
• Impressive range of choice for quests and interactions
• Fantastic voice acting
• Great replay value

Bad

• Need to rotate camera takes a little getting used to
• Lack of character animation during some dialogue exchanges

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More information.

"Bad...

...Lack of character animation during some dialogue exchanges"



Although I guess that's good, if that's all he can come up with.

There's something that isn't usually pointed out, but the game is gorgeous. And if we consider ther isometric view RPGs, it's the best. And the UI is good and fluid. The game just feels good to play.

im just on the point of dropping it after killing some of the reds.
characters are meh, i feel no immersion, fighting is okish, but the constant oil water etc surfaces are annoying + poor performance with all the blow ups

dialogs are still meh.

the writing is ok i guess, the problem is more with the world building. just too much stuff in it, way too much to feel anything for that world. its like the lores from 10 games combined. its like star trek on steroids, way too many changes of scenery and context . it feels like American Gods, neil gaiman, ENFP wackyness

Capt. Huggy Face said:

"Bad…

…Lack of character animation during some dialogue exchanges"



Although I guess that's good, if that's all he can come up with.

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I did kind of want to see Sebille hold the dagger to my characters throat when the narrator described it. I'm playing Beast as a rogue. It would be cool but alot of extra work for Larian I imagine.

People always seem to want more and are seldom happy with what they have. I am thankful we have so many great games coming out each year and we get to play them. For that matter I feel blessed enough in life to be able to afford the time and resources to be able to play a game ... many people can't.

I have some minor issues with the game but I can find issues with any game. Overall its a great well done game and a lot of fun. I keep getting amazed at how many options there are. Looking at the tips and tricks I am constantly surprised with what people are discovering for options - all the things you can combine and make. Last night I spent a few minutes just trying combinations with bottles and plants and came out with 3 new types of potions. Also discovered some new cooking items, and added some runes to armor for the first time.

I'll just chime in to thank Larian for including a proper PC UI like they did with the first game. It's not perfect, but I'm thankful that it's built for mouse and keyboard. So, again, THANK YOU.

They did go a bit overboard on all the elemental surfaces, making it feel more like terrain types than the actual terrain.

rjshae said:

They did go a bit overboard on all the elemental surfaces, making it feel more like terrain types than the actual terrain.

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This was just as true in the first game. I felt the whole game should have been called Battle of the Elements!

Why are you even bothered with elemental combos? Use the damned physical damage already! Am I the only one who runs just one mage in the party with three physical damage based sidekicks?

joxer said:

Am I the only one who runs just one mage in the party with three physical damage based sidekicks?

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Nope!!! Although, my mage is a sidekick and my main is physical damage based.

Warfare increasing all physical damage just make physical damage way better than magical one. I think it's bugged though, it apparently multiply while everything else just add damage bonus.

joxer said:

Why are you even bothered with elemental combos? Use the damned physical damage already! Am I the only one who runs just one mage in the party with three physical damage based sidekicks?

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I'm two physical and two mages although I am probably going an odd path. Ifan is a soldier high in strength and constitution with 2H weapons and warfare. But also some in summoning since I like the idea of boosting and buffing his wolf.

My own character is rogue with hydro magic for healing and clearing statuses. Damage is mainly from daggers and bow.

Lohse is focused on Air and Summoning

Fane is focused on Earth and Fire

crpgnut said:

This was just as true in the first game. I felt the whole game should have been called Battle of the Elements!

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So true!
I almost find it overwhelming..... almost, but not quite!
I think I would prefer smaller areas of elemental surfaces, and perhaps less visual impact. I am often loosing people in the visuals.

I've just finished act I with myself as wizard (Pyrokinetic/Summoner), Lohse (Aerotheurge/Hydrosophist enchanter), Sebille (dual whield backstabbing rogue) and Beast (1h weapon/shield tank/meatbag).

To me it feels that the distinction between physical and magical armor is more important than the elemental stuff this time. Keep in mind that status effects only apply if (depending on the used skill) either physical or magical armor is down to 0.
That means you more or less need to decide for every single enemy which armor type you want to reduce. Under normal circumstances it doesn't make sense to attack an enemy with both physical and magical weapons.

I guess having a party with physical or magical offense only is a really good option.

I'm still unsure about Warfare and combat skills. If the bonus is really multiplicative here and applies to all physical damage you're better of with leaving your combat skills at 0.

It's similar with intelligence-based skills (magic!) and Polymorph. Every point in Polymorph gives you a spare attribute point that you can invest in intelligence. This +1 from intelligence raises the damage of all intelligence-based skills. So it looks like it doesn't make sense to invest more that 3 points into the magical skills to be able to learn all spells.
However I've played around a bit with the respec mirror and Lohse:
After setting 5 points to Aerotheurge and 0 into Polymorph the Electric Discharge spell had lesser damage than ivesting 1 point to Aerotheurge and 4 into Polymorph to increase intelligence by 4.

I wish we had the actual formulars for each spell.

You need 5 in a skill to learn every move/spell, not 3.

joxer said:

You need 5 in a skill to learn every move/spell, not 3.

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Yep, and I just learned that you can't raise skills past 10. So the other skills aren't useless indeed.

Over the weekend, D:OS2 passed up Witcher 3 in terms of peak concurrent players on Steam. Witcher 3's peak was 92268, D:OS2 hit 93350. May go even higher next weekend I guess, who knows.

Also has a 94 on Metacritic right now which is actually higher than Witcher 3, and if it stands, would be the highest Metacritic score for any PC game since GTA5, 2.5 years ago. Also would be the highest score for any PC RPG since Skyrim (which it's tied with).

Haven't played the game yet so can't really comment, but that's all pretty amazing for Larian...

While I don't see D:OSII that strong personally (yet), I think the success is really really great for a niche folk like us here on the watch. Perhaps the audience for this type of games is actually bigger than we thought.
There could be hope that the big guys in the business take note. While we won't see EA making a game like this, we'll perhaps see an end of streamlining and some more classic RPG features in some future titles.

Morrandir said:

While I don't see D:OSII that strong personally (yet), I think the success is really really great for a niche folk like us here on the watch. Perhaps the audience for this type of games is actually bigger than we thought.
There could be hope that the big guys in the business take note. While we won't see EA making a game like this, we'll perhaps see an end of streamlining and some more classic RPG features in some future titles.

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I agree. I'm also not of the opinion that this is some 10/10 game, but I still think its sucess is excellent.

Morrandir said:

Yep, and I just learned that you can't raise skills past 10. So the other skills aren't useless indeed.

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But there *are* useless skills and some are less desirable. Not to mention perks.

In current state, Loremaster IMO is utterly useless skill. It needs an additional item (magnifying glass) to identify an item which means having an additional junk in party inventory - and merchants ask some pocketchange for the service.
Sure, max Loremaster apparently can detect all trashmob details, but cmon, we're not stupid not to see if something is immune to fire or something.

Memory attribute is pathetic. Allows one more slot per invested point. And... Well, that's it. All dialogue checks that have memory as an option also have checks on other attributes. Even worse in the game itself, a certain encounter gives "good" rewards only if you pass intelligence check, not memory (if it's even offered there, I forgot). Sure, you'll add a point or two in it so you can "memorize" enough moves/spells to use till cooldowns expire, but it generally feels like a waste.