My relationship with Divinity: Original Sin II started a tad rocky. My introduction to Larian (and to turn-based games) was with Baldur's Gate 3, which I love to bits. Still on Act 1, I nearly gave up on Divinity.
Part of the reason was the characters. While I was intrigued by Sebille and Lohse, I couldn't say any of them had fascinated me as much as nearly the entire cast of BG3. But the biggest reason was that I didn't "get" the game. The mechanics are significantly different and more complex than BG3, and I found myself losing a lot of battles, even to enemies that looked simple and weak. But when I finally understood how the game works, I was able to play it and properly enjoy it!
The characters grew on me, especially my corpse-eating sweetheart, Sebille, and the narrative with its twists and turns kept me engaged even as the game seems a lot longer and denser than BG3. The technology gap - and the more limited resources, no doubt - is extremely clear here. I mean, just compared the sex scenes... 😅
In the end, Divinity proved to be another of Larian's fantastic works, even if I don't see myself creating 10+ characters as I did with BG3. (I am, however, currently playing a Tactician run with Sebille as my MC! I'll probably stop at two runs, though.)
Part of the reason was the characters. While I was intrigued by Sebille and Lohse, I couldn't say any of them had fascinated me as much as nearly the entire cast of BG3. But the biggest reason was that I didn't "get" the game. The mechanics are significantly different and more complex than BG3, and I found myself losing a lot of battles, even to enemies that looked simple and weak. But when I finally understood how the game works, I was able to play it and properly enjoy it!
The characters grew on me, especially my corpse-eating sweetheart, Sebille, and the narrative with its twists and turns kept me engaged even as the game seems a lot longer and denser than BG3. The technology gap - and the more limited resources, no doubt - is extremely clear here. I mean, just compared the sex scenes... 😅
In the end, Divinity proved to be another of Larian's fantastic works, even if I don't see myself creating 10+ characters as I did with BG3. (I am, however, currently playing a Tactician run with Sebille as my MC! I'll probably stop at two runs, though.)