Divinity: Original Sin II review

Divinity: Original Sin is one of those stories born thanks to Kickstarter that is nice to tell. Larian Studios was in dire straits economically and as a last resort chose crowdfunding to finance a hardcore prequel to the Divinity series. A bit like what happened with Obsidian and his Pillars of Eternity, the result was one of the best hardcore role-playing games of recent years, a true evolution of a genre that the big publishers have long since abandoned. Even with critical acclaim and sales success, it was natural that Larian would follow up on that experience, returning to Kickstarter with an even more ambitious project: create a sequel that would improve all the most critical points of the original, reported by the press and players. The result is Divinity: Original Sin II, a title that amazes for more than one reason. But let's not rush too much, because there is so much to say.



Divinity: Original Sin II review

Divinity: Original Sin II tells of a witch who is voluntarily taken to the prison island of Fort Joy, where anyone with powers related to the magical energy Source is segregated, of which we will learn more in the course of the game (or of which he will know almost all those who have played the other titles in the series) to carry out an unspecified mission. After creating a character, or selecting one of the pre-generated ones from the developers, we wake up on a ship at the mercy of a storm. We only wear rags and a collar that inhibits the use of Source-based spells. We too are headed to Fort Joy, but we quickly understand that something is wrong. Exploring the ship we discover that a murder has been committed and we talk to our future adventure companions (they can become one once they arrive at Fort Joy), also prisoners: the lizard man Red Prince, the assassin Sebille, the dwarf Beast, the shady Ifan Ben-Mezd, the musician Lohse and the mysterious Fane. We also run into the witch in a sequence that kicks off the events that will be explained and developed over the course of the game. Already in this first section, obviously designed to become familiar with the various mechanics, which we will talk about in the next paragraph, you are called to make a series of choices in the dialogues and you can test some of the main features of the gameplay, such as the presence of small puzzles to access certain areas, or the versatility of the combat system. The best, however, has not yet arrived.



Evolving

The game system of Divinity: Original Sin II is particularly complex, but it gives great satisfaction. The party can not only talk to other characters, collect and leave objects, interact with some elements of the scenario and fight, but also create or enhance objects through recipes (or through experimentation), exploit the skills to discover hidden treasures, to pick locks. , to infiltrate without being seen, to identify magical items, to snatch non-player characters and much more.

Obviously there is no lack of all those systems related to the growth and enhancement of the characters, with features on which to spend the points acquired by leveling up, equipment to manage, skills to learn by reading books or unlockable as you progress through the story. The best part though isn't the amount of mechanics per se, how much their ability to coexist and intertwine naturally, without compromising gameplay. After doing some practice with the controls, easy to manage via mouse and keyboard (at least if you have practice with the genre), a little more cumbersome if you decide to use a gamepad (we do not recommend it, even if it can return useful for playing in split screen with some friends) it is understood that it would have been difficult to make such a profound title by cutting summary screens or inputs. The same game diary, which gives general information on the missions without placing annoying indicators on the map for amateurs in disarray, is designed for those who love role-playing games in their most ancient sense, that is, the one that did not provide help at every step, but left the player free to experiment and, why not, to fail. After all, only those who consider you an idiot think they should also help you tie your shoes. At most in Original Sin II there is a tutorial made up of pop-up windows in which the basic concepts are explained and that's it. Those who explore more deeply are always rewarded and those who study the control system more, trying to understand all its facets, too. Talking with the characters you meet during the adventure, through a classic multiple choice system, gives great satisfaction, partly because the dialogues are written better than those of the first episode, partly because they offer more options, some linked to the background of the characters (each selected trait can unlock one more), others to their history (some non-player characters could be more or less suspicious depending on the travel companions chosen), and a little because in general, Larian's guys have done a great job not only on the script, but also on the mythology behind it, creating more detailed and interesting references to follow. In short, the money spent on hiring other writers was not wasted. But after all we are talking about a job done with great care, which also went to review aspects that worked very well in the first episode, such as the combat system.



Nothing Spanish

Divinity: Original Sin II features, among other things, a huge amount of text. Unfortunately it was not translated into Spanish due to the excessive costs of the operation compared to the potential public of our country. Among other things, the English used is not the simplest, between slang and particular stylistic choices for some dialogues. The conclusion is that, although it is an excellent title, if you do not have a good knowledge of Shakespeare's language we advise you to avoid it, because you would miss a lot of details along the way and would have more than a few difficulties playing.

Combat tactics

Divinity: Original Sin II has a turn-based combat system based on spending points to perform the various actions. Each turn you can decide whether to attack, move or use special objects and abilities. Each action has its own specific cost. Once the available points are exhausted, the turn passes to the next character. On paper this is a very classic system, but Larian has revised it in such a way that each fight is a challenge in itself. Meanwhile, we specify that there is no identical clash to the other: of course, there are similar enemies, but the circumstance in which they are encountered can completely change the tactics to be used to defeat them. Let's take a practical example, which will clarify the matter better than any generic description: after a few hours of play we had to infiltrate a dungeon. While exploring it, we encountered magisters who were plotting.


We decided to face them openly, but we didn't manage to do much: the group of enemies was made up of two resistant hand-to-hand fighters and two archers positioned on elevated platforms that gave them excellent visibility. Things immediately got bad: one of the two fighters summoned an infernal hound and we ended up outnumbered. In the meantime, the archers were punching us from above. As you will understand it was a total failure. So we decided to completely change our approach (not retouching anything at the level of equipment). We explored the prison again and developed a somewhat treacherous tactic, inspired by the historical story of the Horatii and Curiazi, which despite the centuries has proved to be decidedly effective: put the group in a room, we detached the assassin Sebille and the 'we sent in stealth mode to the magisters. We got as close as possible and threw a Molotov cocktail at the two fighters, attracting their attention. Sebille is a very mobile character and it only took one turn to make her escape to the room where the rest of the party was (another character would have employed two, making the tactic in vain). The fighters chased it, distancing the archers, who, having no visibility, were unable to attack and had to get off their positions. The fight took place in the room, where we were able to face up to three enemies at a time. Obviously things went completely different than in the previous attempt and we defeated them without major problems. It should be noted that the same tactic used on other occasions has proved unsuccessful. For example, in one case, pyromancers transformed our shelter into a furnace and forced us out of the closet. When we found ourselves surrounded by many enemies and were about to lose the last character of the party, we realized that we had to study another tactic (or try again after gaining a few levels). These few examples, among the many feasible, should make you understand the goodness of the combat system of Divinity: Original Sin II, capable of transforming every fight into a unique moment that requires the player to observe the battlefield, develop a tactic, keeping always remember not to underestimate even a single enemy.


A new world

As with all the other aspects of the game described above, Larian did a really huge job responding to the criticisms leveled at the engine of the first episode, which to be honest was not exactly great. Rest assured, because Divinity: Original Sin II is much more beautiful to look at than the original, with more defined and detailed characters, a world rich in elements, varied and alive, capable of responding effectively to the player's requests, and with effects of spells of considerable spectacular impact. Let's say which is more than a notch above not only the first Original Sin, but also many other representatives of the hardcore RPG genre (the action ones are a different kettle of fish ... but they usually have other budgets as well and offer much milder gameplay systems).

Too bad only for the lack of a more marked and peculiar visual style, one that makes the world of Divinity unique. Currently the one chosen is the result of a very conservative vision of fantasy, both in form and in representation. A few steps forward have been made compared to the rest of the series, also thanks to the enrichment of its mythology, which however has been implemented above all at the narrative level, but in our opinion we could aim for something more original, which would give it greater autonomy and strength. We'll see what Larian does in the next few episodes (assuming it sells enough). Finally, it is impossible not to mention the immense soundtrack, linked in part to the character's favorite musical instrument (selectable during creation) and made up of intense and dramatic songs, which fluidify the epic tones of the entire game, creating a remarkable amalgam thickness, which keeps you glued throughout the adventure. We leave to the comment the task of giving a definitive vision on what is the overall quality of Original Sin II, here we can only add a couple of details of general interest: to finish the game it takes tens of hours (more or less depending on of the selected difficulty level), but the adventure can be easily replayed at least twice, to discover all the stories of the protagonists. If it seems too much, you know that it is definitely worth it, also because with different characters the fights change completely and it seems to play a title, let's not say new, but at least different, which does not make you regret the time spent on it.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

  • Intel Core i7-4770 processor
  • 16 GB of RAM
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 video card
  • Windows 10 operating system

Minimum requirements

  • Sistema operativo Windows 7 SP1 64-bit o Windows 8.1 64-bit o Windows 10 64-bit
  • Intel Core i5 processor or equivalent
  • 4 GB of RAM
  • Scheda video NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 or ATI Radeon HD 6XXX o superiore
  • 35 GB of hard disk space
  • DirectX 11

Recommended Requirements

  • Intel Core i7 processor or equivalent
  • 8 GB of RAM
  • Scheda video NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 o AMD R9 280

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam, GoG Price 44,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

9.4

Readers (82)

9.2

Your vote

Divinity: Original Sin II is the perfect sequel to an already excellent game of its own. The finishing work done by Larian Studios is truly commendable, as is the increased attention placed on all the most criticized aspects of the original. The result is a deeper, broader, technically improved RPG that now has a more interesting narrative side, qualitatively close to the level of some of Obsidian's best productions. Not playing it would really be a crime, both for fans of the genre and for all those who love video games and are not frightened by more complicated than average systems. In short, do yourself a favor and buy one of the new benchmarks for hardcore RPGs.

PRO

  • Vast and deep
  • Hugely improved the narrative side compared to the previous chapter
  • Excellent tactical combat system
  • Significant steps forward on a technical level
AGAINST
  • Maybe something more could be done for the overly classic visual style
  • Sometimes the playmates get lost along the way
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