Your opinions about Divinity games.

[Mister K]

Good day to you, escapists.

Here is a thing. I went to GoG once a few months back and I saw that this game called Divinity: Original Sin is really high on the list. I checked it out and while I saw many positive reviews, they didn't really tell me anything about the game. Then I saw a Dragon Commander. This got me intrigued. Then I watched AngryJoe's review of it and I think it is on my wishlist now.

It got me thinking though. I know nothing about those games and there are apparantly a BUNCH of them on GOG. 5 to be precise:

-Divine Divinity
-Divinity 2
-Beyond Divinity
-Divinity: Original Sin
-Divinity: Dragon Commander.

So, here is a question: What can you tell me about those games and what do you think of them?

 

[UberGameLord]

Hi there.

I played Divine Divinity when I was younger. It had a great story and pretty good game-play for the time period (2002). All in all I remember it as a fun experience, so I might re-play it.

 

[shrekfan246]

[Bad joke about religion and/or playing as God.]

OT: They're on Steam, too, as it happens.

The franchise is a mixed bag, and is almost certainly one of those "love it or hate it" things.

Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity are old-school isometric ARPGs, open world with lots of dungeon diving and quest doing and loot grabbing. Divine is strictly a solo affair while Beyond gives you something of a party to toy with, but the latter also unfortunately has more problems running smoothly on modern systems, even with the updates they've had over the years.

Divinity II is a third-person ARPG where, after a certain point in the game, you can also turn into a dragon. Its initial release was pretty infamous for being buggy, but it's had an expansion and a few updated re-releases since then. It's still pretty ropey from a mechanical standpoint and has some rather hilarious animations, but in my experience it's a solid enough title these days.

Dragon Commander is a turn-based wargame + RTS + dialogue choice thing where you also get to control a dragon during combat encounters. Again, it's mechanically simplistic and fairly frayed around the edges, but an enjoyable enough experience to someone who doesn't play much RTS (the difficulty is all over the place, though, which is a problem at the beginning of Divinity II as well).

And Original Sin is an isometric RPG with turn-based combat and lots of elemental manipulation. Also lets you role-play both of the characters you initially make for your party, which I find pretty intriguing. It's probably the strongest any Larian game has yet been, mechanically.

All of the games share a similar style of writing that I believe will either draw people in or turn them off. The games don't take themselves very seriously at all and have a lot of silly or self-referential moments, but it's kind of impossible to overstate how not subtle the writing is. Personally, I enjoy it because to me it shows a game that has a heart and soul. While there aren't many memorable characters across the franchise, I still find the good majority of them to be a joy to interact with.

In summation, I'll leave it with this moment from Divine Divinity that still makes me laugh:

 

[Johnny Impact]

I've got Original Sin. It's an isometric RPG in the vein of the old Baldur's Gate games. The game has a retro feel. It is not interested in holding your hand. There are no quest arrows, you have to actually pay attention to what people say. Investigation means you actually friggin' investigate until you happen upon the answer. Combat is brutally difficult and features an action point system. Every move must be carefully weighed. Be warned, the game also allows you to enter areas you can't handle yet.

Special note for the tons of elemental and status effects. In most games, things like "on fire" or "stunned" are icing on the combat cake, a bit of complexity and a nice but unnecessary addition to the damage you're already dealing. You were already winning by simply bashing the monsters in the face, you just win a little faster if you set them on fire.

In D:OS these effects are more powerful than any weapon and they are everywhere. They are the icing, the cake, the candles, the knife, and the plate beneath it. Forget enemy health bars, forget your supposed DPS. Seriously, don't even look at them. What you need to watch is effects. If you do not understand, employ, and exploit elemental and status effects to their very fullest at every turn, you WILL lose, and you will lose HARD. Plan your party accordingly. It's a good idea to start, play three hours, and restart with custom characters once you know what you're doing.

If you're old enough to have grown up playing the old D&D top-down adventures, or if you like a serious challenge, I recommend it.