Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

If you aren't a fan of turn based games you'll love this game anyway!

I played the early access of this on Steam, and now have almost completed the full game. Not a fan of D:OS 1 (so far), but I like this game a LOT. Best game I've played in a LONG time. It's probably better than Baldur's Gate II. Very compelling, and varied gameplay. The attention to detail is excellent, and the fully voiced dialog is a huge boost to the feel of playing. Graphics are great, music is very suitable and atmospheric. I sought this game out because of descriptions of the flexible magic system. However, I actually don't like the magic system much: there's a ridiculous amount of burning (or freezing, or whatever) going on, in almost every battle, and a ridiculous amount of people not caring much about being surrounded by flames. I also don't like the way you have to "collect" source instead of regenerating it. I was hoping that the magic system would have a lot more depth; more of a "learn arcane magic from the masters, and then learn to be creative with it" kind of feel. BUT, that's a small point. Compared to many games, it DOES have a more varied and interesting magic system. Just not like in some awesome Fantasy books I've read. Speaking of that, it does "borrow" some ideas from a few fantasy books I've read: The Liveship Traders, and some others. But that's not really a bad thing. The ideas in those books are great, and getting to play IN a world that has them is fun. If all that weren't enough to deserve your money, then... it's modable, and includes an editor. You're going to get a lot of enjoyment out of this, beyond just the supplied basegame. There are already some mods that fix some of the niggles I mentioned above, for people who share my opinion on things like source regeneration. HIGHLY recommened if you like RPGs. Especially if you're looking for the next BG:II.

Without the bugs I would give it 5/5, but there are bugs especially in endgame (Act 4). Act 4 feels somewhat unfinished and I even encountered bugs, that wouldn't let me progress in the main quest. This was very frustrating, because it shouldn't be necessary to search forum posts on workarounds and things to try to get certain events triggered properly. All in all I enjoyed the game 100+h and it was well worth the money, but please Larian, fix the bugs.

There's not much more to say about this game besides the review title. I have played it for 190 hours so far, multiple different runs, and still am not done with ALL of the content. On top of that, it's hitting a niche that is far too quickly disappearing in my opinion. That niche being real turn-based combat. Many RPGs are moving to real-time with pause or straight up action and the amount of good turn-based ones is dwindling. That said, this is not just good because it's turn-based. It is just good because it is an absolutely solid game. I am pretty picky when I critique games these days because so many have glaring issues that I used to try to ignore but they became too commonplace. I do not have those issues with this game. I have enjoyed every second of it solo or with friends and I will continue to play it more. My only regret is not having purchased it sooner as I waited a good while after Definitive released to pick it up. I hope Larian does as well with Baldur's Gate 3 as they did with this. It's a blast.

All Time Great This is the game that the studio made before Baldurs Gate 3. I think it is quite good.