Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

I tried a friend's copy of the original Original Sin release when it was released... (yes, I just wrote that sentence on purpose)... and thought it was pretty good, but I gave up on it before finishing the first quest. Why? Because (and you may judge me for this) it required me to sit up straight at a desk with a mouse and keyboard and read large chunks of text at a time. Oh, woe! Reading? Ugh. Using PC input devices with my aching old hands? Ugh. Who has the time and energy for that? (rhetorical question: do not answer). On a whim I decided to give it another go when the Enhanced Edition rolled around, and I'm pretty sure I'm being wholly sincere when I say I've never been so impressed with a developer's dedication to their own work, and the respect they have shown their community. The game is actually Enhanced, in a number of really significant ways - the most important for (absurdly lazy) me being the full voice acting and controller support... but there are countless other improvements... and I understand it was free for those who owned the original version. Amazing. This is the first game in a long time that I've paid full price for, rather than waiting for a heavy discount in a sale, or *cough* y'know, whatever... and I did this out of pure astonished respect for the effort Larian have made to improve their game. That's also the reason I'm writing this review, not to praise the game itself, per se, although it is fantastic, but to just take a small step to show my support for such an excellent studio, and excellent business practice.

I'm not good at writing reviews but I'll just say that Divinity: Original Sin is one of the greatest cRPGs ever released on the PC. From the wonderful, full of color graphics and stunning visual effects, to the stellar soundtrack, the mind-boggling detail, the near limitless interaction with the game world, the flawless turn-based combat system, the absolutely magnificent writing, story and sense of humour, Divinity: Original Sin delivers hours upon hours of entertainment, in a way that very few games are able to do that nowadays. If you're a fan of old school cRPGs and prefer games that doesn't hold your hand and insult your intelligence & reading skills, you owe it to yourself to play this masterpiece. That being said and without any doubt, it's a 10 out of 10 and carries Vythonaut's badge of approval. :)

I feel like I was tricked by the positive reviews about the roleplaying and immersion aspects. The game is not without merits, but it feels cartoonish and the story and characters are rather shallow, predictable, and anything but memorable. After trying hard to play and to like it, I was just left very perplexed about some claims of it being a roleplaying gem. For lovers of BG, Icewind Dale and the like, or more recent games like Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity: this does not fall in the same category at all. If it's the atmosphere, enthralling stories and memorable characters and gear that you have enjoyed in those games, then don't expect too much of Divinity OS. While the combat mechanisms are nice, the atmosphere and depth felt much closer to a slow-paced version of Torchlight. Note : I tried both the normal and enhanced version. The interface and voicing are much better in the enhanced edition, but roleplay and immersion-wise it has not magically improved.

I find that this game, while certainly not a bad game, is overrated. I've played all of the Divinity games, but I'd rate this the lowest alongside Beyond Divinity. The game has decent combat, audio and graphics, but is, in my opinion, lacking in most other aspects. My main interests in RPGs are mainly story, interesting character/locales, dialogue and optimizing builds/stats. The game doesn't satisfy on any of these areas. The story is a generic and farily lackluster fantasy tale that doesn't serve to invest you into the game. The characters, with a few exceptions like Arhu and Jahan, are forgettable. The locales are standard fantasy fare without anything standing out. There's also a lack of a world map to put the areas of the game into any sort of geographical context which is really hurting immersion into the gameworld. The writing is mostly decent, but with an unfortunate focus on "funny" dialogue. I know that Larian loves to put humour into their games, but I feel this game is too far over the edge. The character generation and leveling process is nothing special, certainly not particularly unique in the RPG genre. Another thing about the game that has puzzled me is the reference to the game being "old school". There is nothing old school about the game apart from the turn based combat. 3/5 stars.