Divinity Original Sin II is actually not bad for a game that was developed back then by a team of only a mere 200 employees, it also had to be backed by fans to even get anywhere too.
You can tell a lot of effort has been put into it, however it isn’t without its flaws.
For a tactical RPG game it does well with what it has to offer, with the combat system feeling more realistic than most given the fact that you have to keep the environment in mind too, as it can either be an ally or a foe.
Through the use of fire barrels, oil cans and various other objects at your disposal you can easily turn a deadly devastating battle to your advantage.
There are also plenty of optional side quests to complete too, though a lot of these can give you vague descriptions on what to do next. Thankfully a lot of these are also marked on the map anyway, so it isn’t too bad but it certainly doesn’t hold your hand like a lot of other titles do.
The game also has plentiful of different dialogue options to choose from and the narration is quite different from the usual typical games out there too, it uses the narration to describe the different actions that the characters take rather than actual cinematic cutscenes of which there are next to none.
It plays out more like an interactive visual novel than a typical RPG title that you find today.
The soundtrack is rather calming and relaxing and makes for an overall enjoyable experience. It actually reminds me of a few titles I grew up with in some ways, as its calming and different.
The game also has romance options in it too but its rather basic and the interaction is very limited. Having said that though we still managed to enjoy this aspect and romance isn’t exactly a massive selling point for us anyway.
OVERALL:
Though the game also supports multiplayer so you can enjoy the story with someone else too, we personally didn’t bother with this aspect as we enjoy playing solo instead.
Having said that though, after a while we did end up finding this game to be quite boring and perhaps it is best to play alongside someone else after all.
We enjoyed it at first but several hours in we ended up getting bored of having to listen to the narration, though the narration is still really well done and we have no qualms with it exactly, it is just too heavily focused for our liking. Maybe if it managed to mix more cinematics
with the narration we would of appreciated it more, but like we already mentioned it was made by a small team and we appreciate that.
The quests are also confusing too as none of which are marked as being a side quest and/or a story quest and thus you can easily get lost as to what you are doing.
All of the quests are just bundled into your journal and you have to practically guess as to which one is which, also side quests are not marked on the map and you have to
hunt to unlock those yourself.
The combat system is rather enjoyable but its difficult to see where the different characters are and the camera angle doesn’t do much in order to help with this.
It would be nice if they added little markers so we know who was who and where everyone is.
Still despite all of this it really isn’t a bad title and perhaps we would of managed to complete it if wasn’t for the confusing quest layout, poor camera angles and lack of markers during
combat and if they managed to add a bit more cinematic scenes to go alongside the wonderful narration. We would still recommend it regardless but it is definitely for a much older audience and those with a bit more patience for slower paced games.
Developer: Larian Studios/ Publisher: Bandai Namco
Release Date: September 2017
Platforms: PC, PS4, XBox One, Switch
Genre: RPG
Main Story Length:
Platinum Trophy Length:
Platform Reviewed On: PS4
SCORE: 3/5
Has been playing video games for her entire life so far. Grew up with the Sega Master System II. Her favourite games include both Resident Evil 2 (OG) and Final Fantasy VIII.
She now writes articles about video games.
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