Divinity Original Sin 2 had everything I wanted from CRPGs. Rivellon was a huge, immersive and dynamic world, full of secrets to uncover and memorable conflicts to stumble upon in every corner. The story had a somewhat generic start, but was quickly elevated by its cast of interesting origin characters. I was also impressed by how reactive the game was to my decisions, with verisimilitude both in and out of combat. Although I’m usually indifferent towards these typical fantasy settings, I ended up caring deeply about the world and its fate because of my great degree of influence within it.
The combat was amazing. The elemental effects were very fun to manipulate and intuitive to learn, and the armor system added a tactical puzzle that was satisfying to crack. The enemies proved to be quite competent tacticians, and combined with the unique terrain each encounter was designed around, they provided a good amount of challenge that encouraged experimentation. To support this, the game also had great player freedom and lots of tools to tinker with. I could easily respec at any time to try different builds. The crafting system was robust and useful. Skills like teleportation and terrain transmutation rewarded creative thinking on the battlefield with great advantages. I could bend the game as much as I wanted but it never seemed to actually break, but instead became more fun.
This game was very close to perfection for me, but it still had a few flaws that others might find more problematic. The difficulty curve could’ve been smoother, as it was the harshest in the early game and required a bit of XP scrounging until the gameplay opened up. Fortunately DOS2 has easier difficulties available, and a “gift bag” feature that allows players to tune their playthrough with developer supported mods. I also had some issues with the writing in certain spots of the story, especially the ending which felt like a series of rushed revelations and some plot hole ridden choices.
Still, I think the depth and quality of content in DOS2 completely makes up for its shortcomings. It’s no surprise that Larian was able to succeed so well with Baldur’s Gate 3, as the brilliance of that game can be traced directly from DOS2. I’m still hoping they will come back to this series afterwards, because there’s a lot here that can still be explored and fleshed out. Also I just want more games with this incredibly satisfying combat system.
The combat was amazing. The elemental effects were very fun to manipulate and intuitive to learn, and the armor system added a tactical puzzle that was satisfying to crack. The enemies proved to be quite competent tacticians, and combined with the unique terrain each encounter was designed around, they provided a good amount of challenge that encouraged experimentation. To support this, the game also had great player freedom and lots of tools to tinker with. I could easily respec at any time to try different builds. The crafting system was robust and useful. Skills like teleportation and terrain transmutation rewarded creative thinking on the battlefield with great advantages. I could bend the game as much as I wanted but it never seemed to actually break, but instead became more fun.
This game was very close to perfection for me, but it still had a few flaws that others might find more problematic. The difficulty curve could’ve been smoother, as it was the harshest in the early game and required a bit of XP scrounging until the gameplay opened up. Fortunately DOS2 has easier difficulties available, and a “gift bag” feature that allows players to tune their playthrough with developer supported mods. I also had some issues with the writing in certain spots of the story, especially the ending which felt like a series of rushed revelations and some plot hole ridden choices.
Still, I think the depth and quality of content in DOS2 completely makes up for its shortcomings. It’s no surprise that Larian was able to succeed so well with Baldur’s Gate 3, as the brilliance of that game can be traced directly from DOS2. I’m still hoping they will come back to this series afterwards, because there’s a lot here that can still be explored and fleshed out. Also I just want more games with this incredibly satisfying combat system.