This is one of the most well designed games I've played through, and I firmly believe it should be 2023's Game of the Year. It is not even nearly perfect though! My solo playthrough of this game lasted 170 hours. I micromanaged every single thing that I possibly could, tried to finish every quest, completely explore everything I could, and I thought I couldn't get enough! Well, I did - much more than enough.
I sat in the character creator for probably more than an hour, which was a bit of a nightmare in a good way. It was surprisingly not as in-depth as I've been accustomed to with many games lately, but still extremely solid. I enjoyed looking at my character for most of the game, which is great!
The mechanics are incredible for a game this diverse in options. From the incredibly fun to finagle combat system, to the mind blowing amount of loot and misc. items to parse through and potentially arm your characters with, the game does not disappoint with the array of options it gives you. The class system works mostly flawlessly, if a bit Not once did I believe that I was lacking in the tools to accomplish any task put before me, the only limit I had was my patience and knowledge. It was wonderful to feel so in control for most of the game!
The characters give this game a lot of life, to the point where I feel very stupid in hindsight for not switching my team up regularly. Since your party all gains experience equally, even not when in combat, you can theoretically use anyone and everyone in the squad. However, with how much of a loot goblin I was, it felt incredibly tedious to move my hoard around between characters and the shared party chest. This made switching characters and equipping them properly a massive chore which took more than an HOUR to do for the whole team, and I even optimized their builds a few times, which takes ages... I rolled with my player character, Shadowheart, Gale, and Lae'zel for almost the whole game, and really regret not seeing more of the others. By the end of the game, I was really fed up with Gale's character despite having warmed up to him halfway through. But by the end of the game, his role on my team felt far too important to switch out for another character, and I regret not axing him for Karlach immensely... Also of important note, this is the most queer game I've played short of a visual novel or dating sim. It's both loud and quiet about it, and it really sets the bar in that regard.
Back to the shared party chest, it sucked! While nice to have, its small menu and lack of extra sorting and searching features in a game with a gorzillion piles of loot really hurt, and makes me gnash my teeth when I think about it. If it had more quality of life feature, this one single chest would've improved the feel of the game immensely. I am an awful hoarder though, so this probably affected me disproportionately to the average player.
Now, the first two acts are some of the most polished and exciting gameplay I've experienced, but the third act really let me down. Whether in the quantity of glitches, dialogue mishaps, quest malfunctions, and the disappointing Gather Your Allies, everything seemed to let me down. One of my largest disappointments was how the game handled max level; rather than rewarding the player for continuing to quest and explore with an alternative to EXP, it did absolutely nothing. It felt punishing due to the lack of progression from that point, with blended terribly with the lack of endgame polish. The story kept strong until I neared the final battle, where it was passably decent. And how Act 3 droned onward and onward, I felt like I wanted to play something else many times near the end. However, I finished the game proud and happy. Had it not been for my character model's head glitching and vibrating wildly up and down every frame, the ending might have done something for me...
Act 3 really hurt my experience of the game, which admittedly is easily remedied: play less of it, just go for the end when you feel strong and fulfilled with the story. Playing the game the way I did almost felt masochistic, and in hindsight there's a lot of ways to enjoy it more. Even with all of the faults I stated, the game is a masterwork, and leaves me in awe of just how incredible a game can be when this much work is put into it. It's far better than its predecessor by Larian, Divinity: Original Sin II, in pretty much every way. I recommend that anyone and everyone that likes tabletop games should play this, whether by yourself or with friends. btw it has good multiplayer too which I'm pretty sure would eliminate much of my gripes with the game! I hope to revisit this with friends eventually, and hopefully by then my gripes with the game will have faded away.
All in all, 4/5 only because of the last leg giving me a soured experience due to my own playstyle and choices, really an amazing game in need of a few small touchups.
I sat in the character creator for probably more than an hour, which was a bit of a nightmare in a good way. It was surprisingly not as in-depth as I've been accustomed to with many games lately, but still extremely solid. I enjoyed looking at my character for most of the game, which is great!
The mechanics are incredible for a game this diverse in options. From the incredibly fun to finagle combat system, to the mind blowing amount of loot and misc. items to parse through and potentially arm your characters with, the game does not disappoint with the array of options it gives you. The class system works mostly flawlessly, if a bit Not once did I believe that I was lacking in the tools to accomplish any task put before me, the only limit I had was my patience and knowledge. It was wonderful to feel so in control for most of the game!
The characters give this game a lot of life, to the point where I feel very stupid in hindsight for not switching my team up regularly. Since your party all gains experience equally, even not when in combat, you can theoretically use anyone and everyone in the squad. However, with how much of a loot goblin I was, it felt incredibly tedious to move my hoard around between characters and the shared party chest. This made switching characters and equipping them properly a massive chore which took more than an HOUR to do for the whole team, and I even optimized their builds a few times, which takes ages... I rolled with my player character, Shadowheart, Gale, and Lae'zel for almost the whole game, and really regret not seeing more of the others. By the end of the game, I was really fed up with Gale's character despite having warmed up to him halfway through. But by the end of the game, his role on my team felt far too important to switch out for another character, and I regret not axing him for Karlach immensely... Also of important note, this is the most queer game I've played short of a visual novel or dating sim. It's both loud and quiet about it, and it really sets the bar in that regard.
Back to the shared party chest, it sucked! While nice to have, its small menu and lack of extra sorting and searching features in a game with a gorzillion piles of loot really hurt, and makes me gnash my teeth when I think about it. If it had more quality of life feature, this one single chest would've improved the feel of the game immensely. I am an awful hoarder though, so this probably affected me disproportionately to the average player.
Now, the first two acts are some of the most polished and exciting gameplay I've experienced, but the third act really let me down. Whether in the quantity of glitches, dialogue mishaps, quest malfunctions, and the disappointing Gather Your Allies, everything seemed to let me down. One of my largest disappointments was how the game handled max level; rather than rewarding the player for continuing to quest and explore with an alternative to EXP, it did absolutely nothing. It felt punishing due to the lack of progression from that point, with blended terribly with the lack of endgame polish. The story kept strong until I neared the final battle, where it was passably decent. And how Act 3 droned onward and onward, I felt like I wanted to play something else many times near the end. However, I finished the game proud and happy. Had it not been for my character model's head glitching and vibrating wildly up and down every frame, the ending might have done something for me...
Act 3 really hurt my experience of the game, which admittedly is easily remedied: play less of it, just go for the end when you feel strong and fulfilled with the story. Playing the game the way I did almost felt masochistic, and in hindsight there's a lot of ways to enjoy it more. Even with all of the faults I stated, the game is a masterwork, and leaves me in awe of just how incredible a game can be when this much work is put into it. It's far better than its predecessor by Larian, Divinity: Original Sin II, in pretty much every way. I recommend that anyone and everyone that likes tabletop games should play this, whether by yourself or with friends. btw it has good multiplayer too which I'm pretty sure would eliminate much of my gripes with the game! I hope to revisit this with friends eventually, and hopefully by then my gripes with the game will have faded away.
All in all, 4/5 only because of the last leg giving me a soured experience due to my own playstyle and choices, really an amazing game in need of a few small touchups.