Gerin: This thread made me want to have a go at Divine Divinity. There are several sequels and spinoffs, so does it matter which one I play first? And are some of them bad and worth skipping?
They are all quite independent of each other, taking place in the same setting with the same history, but none of them is a direct continuation of another one's story, they all have their own characters and stories, and they also differ in gameplay and genre: Divine & Beyond Divinity are isometric hack and slash / ARPGs (but with a greater focus on story, quests and exploration, instead of random loot), Divinity II is a 3D, third person, (somewhat gated) open world RPG with real time combat, and Original Sin 1 & 2 are tactical turn-based RPGs. Dragon Commander isn't even an RPG.
I think the general consensus is that Beyond Divinity is the worst in the series and can be skipped. It's seems to be just more of Divine Divinity but also with more bugs and filler content. And I believe Dragon Commander has mixed reviews? All the other RPGs seem to be mostly favorably received, with Original Sin 1&2 probably being the most popular at the moment? But it's hard to compare since they all cater to different tastes. What they have in common is a special sort of humor, they don't take themselves very seriously.