Beyond Divinity

Alright. So I haven't played much of Beyond Divinity, and I don't know if I will. Too much of it feels unfinished or just designed for save/load spamming. I really liked DD and wanted to like this title. It sort of isn't happening. Life is short, there are too many better things out there. On to the problems with an hour or sample of the game: * Ghosts in first level: Open the wrong door at random, die. Not that you have any way of knowing which is which. It's just ctrl+S, ctrl + L to win. Um....... yeah, that's not what makes a game a game. * Interface wackiness. Going between two character menus is rigged up badly. Press I to open inventory, then press I to close inventory... not bad. But then if you open one inventory, then the other, then press I, then it just toggles between the two. The X to close the window is hidden underneath your portraits, and you have to drag the window down and to the left so that it's half-off the screen in order to either close the window or level up stats. Whoops. There's also no real indication of which character you're leveling up skills for, other than you just remember which is which and which one's open. * Bug - I don't know how, but on the first level, I somehow ended up on the other side of a wall that had nothing on the other side. I could just run around in the endless darkness. I have a save game of it for the lulz, but... it gets boring pretty fast. I have no idea if this is common or if I'm just... super duper lucky. * Ally AI is more or less MIA. You can pause, give orders for both, and then unpause, which makes it playable. But the only AI options are Comatose and Leroy Jenkins. Anyway, I'm not sure I want to wrestle with the interface *and* play the ctrl-s ctrl-l game. I liked DD, but if the first impression is to be believed, then this is simply an unfinished game with save-load gameplay thrown in for no good reason. It seemed to have potential otherwise, but... man, these basic things. How did it happen?

I know that many fans of the Divinity series think that Divine Divinity is much better than Beyond Divinity, but for me, the second installment in the series is one of my favorite games of all time. What makes this game for me so good is that we play with two characters who (kind of) build relationships with each other. The Death Knight is snarky and witty and that creates a great dynamic with our hero. The twist at the end only adds up to it. The locations are very atmospheric, and the supporting characters with whom we have only some short encounters are interesting, funny, and memorable. Isometric games age much better than 3D games from that time and after many years Beyond Divinity still delivers for me.

First, let me start by saying: Ignore the reviews that gave this game incredibly low scores. This is a good game! At times, it even seems to reach the level of Divine Divinity. However, if you're just going to be lazy and not even get past Act 1, you hardly gave the game a chance. With that said, the good news is that after Act 1, the game opens up much like what is akin to what is seen in Divine Divinity. So, why do people harp on this game? Well... for one very big reason. It is different to Divine Divinity. Instead of being a Diablo clone, which was essentially Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity takes a mixture of Diablo mechanics and mechanics that are shared from games like Baldur's Gate. You now control 2 characters, and there's a mouse scroll and pan button. Meaning, no longer is your camera stuck to your character. The setting is similar to something like Planescape (in no way would I compare the games, however). I'm just comparing the setting. The story is absolutely essential to understanding the ending to Divine Divinity. It's also way better than Divine Divinity's story. I ended up completing (100% playthrough) of this 100+ hour game. But the biggest flaw are the bugs. Almost all of them aren't game breaking or quest breaking bugs, however. Below, these are some of the bugs I noticed: Wearing a plate helmet gives the image of a fancy hat on your equipment screen. Some stairs in the game read as "Object 100074." When equipping Ranaar leggings, they are invisible on your character. Making it impossible for you to wear a complete set of Ranaar armor (the effects on your character are fine). These are the sort of bugs that are in the game. In my opinion, they hardly detract from the experience. Reviewers are also incredibly overblowing the problems. Divine Divinity fans were upset because this wasn't Divine Divinity 2. But looking at Larian Studios now, none of their games are same. They're *all* different. Get this game, and ignore whiney critics.

I really enjoyed the first game in the series, Divine Divinity, but this one not as much. Working with the Death Knight in a two-person party was just fiddly and annoying. The story is OK and there are some interesting locations, but I just felt it wasn't as compelling as Divinity. It plays more like Diablo than the Baldur's Gate games. I experienced some bugs and crashes, so if you venture here, I'd advise saving early and often!

This game is the bomb! i wish they made more like this these days that look like this.. sadly they dont make many because everybody now is OOOooo the best graphics etc...fudge your graphics this game is funny and fun....i give it 4 stars/5 Solid as f