Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

Before Divinity: Original Sin (which I played in 2018) the only other turn-based RPGs I had played were Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura, and Anachronox. But, although the latter two are also amazing and cult games, it was Original Sin that made me to actually like the notion and depth of turn-based battles when controlling a team. You start the game creating a team of two and very early in the game you can find four other characters, from which you can have two with you (total 4 characters in the team). The four you find are one each of every class: Fighter, Mage, Thief, Archer. I had created a Fighter and a Mage and I had with me the additionals Fighter and Mage. I took the Thief and the Archer very briefly, and only to complete their personal quests. The side-quests themselves are very good (not only your companions’, but the other NPCs’ as well) and the main questline is very interesting until the very end. The game is long enough, there is no enemy respawn and there is no full-voice in dialogs (and praise to the developers that decided to implement full-voice in the second Original Sin). The game features that which is often called “choose your battles”. There will be many occasions when you won’t be able to defeat your opponents. Even if the opponent is merely two levels above you, and no matter if they are less in numbers than your team, it is a good indication that you should probably leave to search for other enemies, in order for your team to level-up accordingly and return later. Don’t be embarrassed! It is a gameplay feature. It has to be this way. The combat itself has many pespectives, especially for mages. Combinations of spells and interaction with the environment, e.g. fire spell in oily surfaces, or lightning spell on water, or freeze someone so that your fighter can easily hack him, etc., but of course the same could happen to you, so watch your step! A great game till the very end of the story.

Two stars because of: 1. Poor level design. All levels look like parts of one location. 2. Poor user interface. 3. Annoying levels with a lot of stupid traps. 4. Dull and stupid dialogs. 5. An illusion of non-linear RPG.

I am a big Baldur's Gate series fan, so I had some doubts when starting to play Divinity, because of its turn-based fight model. I I couldn't be more wrong about it, turn-based fights are very comfortable to play, mechanics is really well developed. The game itself has excellent plot, very interesting and funny. I am going to try second part immediately. One thing I can complain about: the game loads so fast on my old laptop that I don't have the time to read the tips on the loading screen!

I own and completed the original Divinity: Original Sin and enjoyed it very much. However there were several aspects of the game which were time consuming, confusing or just plain took away from the overall experience. Most of these are fixed in the Enhanced Edition. There's a new crafting system. Say goodbye to remembering what a mushroom turns into; you can now remember recipies. No more drag-and-drop to craft; use the new interface. More information on mouse overs. 360 degree rotation. Richer quests. Overall, a much improved experience. However, while I love the new character voice snippets ("Must have gotten in my line of fire!", for example) I think the new voices in Cyseal (as far as I've gotten in EE) lack the character of the original. The fish monger complaining about "Lousy, rotten, stinking sea-garbage!" sounds too cultured, the cheese vendor sounds almost bored and don't get me started on Victoria the Orc...

I had played through D:OS 2 on Steam...and ended up with 127.8 hours. It was one of the best RPG's I had played. A week or two before BG3 released, I decided I should play through D:OS 1 (which I already owned on GOG) before considering BG3. 127 hours and 55 minutes later -- I just finished D:OS 1 EE tonight. It was every bit as fun as 2, and I thought the game held up remarkably well: Art style is great, music is FANTASTIC, and the story I enjoyed. If you're wondering if this game is as good as the second... ...overall I enjoyed myself every bit as much -- and got almost EXACTLY the same amount of playtime out of the two! Definitely enjoy this one. :)