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[A.Romero]

Lately I've been trying to put a dent on my backlog and stop buying new games until I actually finish some of the ones I have. One of the games that has been waiting for quite a few months is Divinity: Original Sin.

My interest in this game came from the really good reviews it got from PC. It's probably the first game in the genre I play so the learning curve has been quite steep but after 12 hours (that went by really really fast) I'm finally starting to get a hang of it and enjoying it.

D:OS is a really deep RPG. I realized it after a few hours when I noticed that unlike many games in the genre, the way you design your character really impacts the way it will play. The first time I tried it I decided that I wanted to have a rogue character. However, I dropped the game after an hour and didn't come back to it until recently so I totally forgot what it was supposed to be. Leveling is slow and you have a complete control of your character's sheet so these decisions really matter. I noticed it after I tried to equip a sword on my character and it didn't have the stats to be really effective. This means that you can make a mess of your characters and still play but you would be making the game unnecessarily difficult.

Combat is very dynamic and there is a huge strategic component. Saving constantly is a must because battles can go either way based on many factors. Elements interact and cause mayhem. For example, you could shoot a poison cloud arrow with one of your characters that poisons enemies but if your tank is around it will be affected too. If on top of that someone lights a match (or casts a fireball) the whole area will explode and leave a fire patch that will burn both enemies and friends alike.

Even the actual role play matters. Your personality stats really affect the conversations you have with characters. Whenever there is a disagreement, a rock, paper, scissors minigame will start and the amount of times you can lose is related to your stats.

There is little to no hand holding so if you a conversation you start detonates a quest and later on you accomplish it, you better remember where the NPC's that detonated the quest are because the game will not remind you.

The game seems to have a huge amount of different items and crafting.

The game supports online coop. I tried it but I think it's too slow to play with someone else unless you call a friend once you start a dungeon. Running around town talking to characters gets annoying quick and enemies don't seem to respawn (so leveling is limited, better make the best decisions possible).

Graphics are OK. I looks pretty good on 4K. Sound and music are OK, nothing to write home about.

All in all I'm enjoying it and plan to keep playing until I finish it. It took me a while to understand the game so I'm level 5 with almost 15 hours. It seems it could be a long game.

Any tips?

 

[mcz117chief]

Did you play the enhanced or the OG version?

 

[A.Romero]

Did you play the enhanced or the OG version?

Enhanced.

Is OG better?

 

[mcz117chief]

Enhanced.

Is OG better?

It is different, I vastly prefer the OG, it is more ridiculous and thus very charming and different from your classic, serious RPGs. In any case, don't be afraid to look at the guide from time to time to see if the quest you are on can be completed during the part of the game that you are in, some quests can be started very early but finished almost near the end of the game. Also, use these maps, they are very handy.

 

[A.Romero]

It is different, I vastly prefer the OG, it is more ridiculous and thus very charming and different from your classic, serious RPGs. In any case, don't be afraid to look at the guide from time to time to see if the quest you are on can be completed during the part of the game that you are in, some quests can be started very early but finished almost near the end of the game. Also, use these maps, they are very handy.

What kind of stuff changes? For some reason I thought there were only quality of life improvements.

Thanks for the maps! Very helpful. I've been looking at guides from time to time. Never do but this game really had me against the ropes. I was expecting a more traditional experience so I thought I was doing something wrong because I felt there was no progress...

 

[GHG]

This game is amazing.

I might actually play through it again if this quarantine stuff goes on for too long. I still wish I could go back and experience it for the first time again though. When it clicks it really gets it's claws into you.

 

[mcz117chief]

What kind of stuff changes? For some reason I thought there were only quality of life improvements.

Thanks for the maps! Very helpful. I've been looking at guides from time to time. Never do but this game really had me against the ropes. I was expecting a more traditional experience so I thought I was doing something wrong because I felt there was no progress...

They remade the voice acting, which was very funny in the OG version and I think even generally better, especially when it comes to the main characters, I didn't enjoy the new actors at all.

The one thing I love about the game are the endings, I got an incredibly romantic ending, the kind you would find the rosiest of Visual Novels .

"Well, our saviours were fine companions, one slightly love-struck, the other a respectful friend. Many more adventures had they, side by side, slaying beasts and evil barons with ease. After battle, Erza would gaze affectionately at Michael, and in time... well, in time Michael began to gaze back." well isn't that the sweetest ending?

 

[A.Romero]

This game is amazing.

I might actually play through it again if this quarantine stuff goes on for too long. I still wish I could go back and experience it for the first time again though. When it clicks it really gets it's claws into you.

Yes! It can be so frustrating but at the same time so rewarding when things go well. Battles can be slow but still be so exciting.

Is the second part better as the reviews suggest?

 

[mcz117chief]

Yes! It can be so frustrating but at the same time so rewarding when things go well. Battles can be slow but still be so exciting.

Is the second part better as the reviews suggest?

I started the second one a couple of months back but it didn't grab me as much, mostly because you only play as one character and not a duo anymore. You eventually get access to companions but nothing nearly as intimate as the first game unfortunately. I dropped it a few hours in but I plan to go back eventually.

 

[A.Romero]

They remade the voice acting, which was very funny in the OG version and I think even generally better, especially when it comes to the main characters, I didn't enjoy the new actors at all.

The one thing I love about the game are the endings, I got an incredibly romantic ending, the kind you would find the rosiest of Visual Novels .

"Well, our saviours were fine companions, one slightly love-struck, the other a respectful friend. Many more adventures had they, side by side, slaying beasts and evil barons with ease. After battle, Erza would gaze affectionately at Michael, and in time... well, in time Michael began to gaze back." well isn't that the sweetest ending?

Character development is definitely interesting. I wonder what kind of ending will I get...

I started the second one a couple of months back but it didn't grab me as much, mostly because you only play as one character and not a duo anymore. You eventually get access to companions but nothing nearly as intimate as the first game unfortunately. I dropped it a few hours in but I plan to go back eventually.

I see. I think this is a 50 hour game at least. If I'm not too burned afterwards (or if it comes as part of the Humble Bundle) I might jump in.

 

[Fbh]

I need to get back to this.
Started it in coop mode some years ago but the person I was playing with insisted we go with the Tactician difficulty and it made the beginning really hard and since neither of us had a lot of experience with this type of game we ended up spending hours on every battle and we both ended up burning out on it.

But I really liked all the different systems and the large amount of freedom it provides so I want to go back to it at some point and play through it in classic mode

 

[mcz117chief]

Character development is definitely interesting. I wonder what kind of ending will I get...

I see. I think this is a 50 hour game at least. If I'm not too burned afterwards (or if it comes as part of the Humble Bundle) I might jump in.

There are a ton of endings, you can "see" them all here (it is just a text with 0 spoilers, the story ending is, I think, always the same), and my playthrough was over 80 hours, the game is just massive despite how tiny it is. The content is very tightly packed in the game.

 

[A.Romero]

I need to get back to this.
Started it in coop mode some years ago but the person I was playing with insisted we go with the Tactician difficulty and it made the beginning really hard and since neither of us had a lot of experience with this type of game we ended up spending hours on every battle and we both ended up burning out on it.

But I really liked all the different systems and the large amount of freedom it provides so I want to go back to it at some point and play through it in classic mode

The coop mechanics are pretty good but I felt them too slow to play online. It's OK on your own but all the inventory and equipment management as well as the non combat stuff gets boring when doing it with another person.

Any particular reason to go for classic?

There are a ton of endings, you can "see" them all here (it is just a text with 0 spoilers, the story ending is, I think, always the same), and my playthrough was over 80 hours, the game is just massive despite how tiny it is. The content is very tightly packed in the game.

It is. It's one of the things that impressed me the most. So many hours and the game is pretty much beginning.

 

[Fbh]

The coop mechanics are pretty good but I felt them too slow to play online. It's OK on your own but all the inventory and equipment management as well as the non combat stuff gets boring when doing it with another person.

Any particular reason to go for classic?

Classic is just what they call normal mode.
Tactician is the equivalent of hard but from my experience unless you are really familiar with games like these it's quite punishing. We never reached a point we couldn't beat but almost every battle devolved into dying a ton of times and spending hours trying different approaches until we finally managed to beat it.... which was fun at first but brew tiresome after some 10 hours or so

 

[Slings and Arrows]

I lone-wolf D:OS 1 and 2 in sofa co-op with my brother.

We've completed each game 5 or 6 times.

1 has better set pieces

2 has better character builds

 

[The Bloody-Nine]

I got to the battle under the church and got old testament style wrecked. I gave up and moved on. Still bought the sequel. Didn't finish it, either. I don't have the creativity to be good at these games. And I don't like turn based combat.

 

[mcz117chief]

We've completed each game 5 or 6 times.

Mein Leben! How many hours is that? Must be near a 1000!

 

[Soodanim]

This game and Titan Quest are both in my backlog and I can’t decide which game to play first. It may be a biased place to ask, but I’m about to move onto my next game so one of these could be the choice.

 

[A.Romero]

This game and Titan Quest are both in my backlog and I can’t decide which game to play first. It may be a biased place to ask, but I’m about to move onto my next game so one of these could be the choice.

I also have Titan Quest waiting in my backlog but I decided to go for D:OS on account of it having a sequel and seems to be better reviewed. I'm sure you can't go wrong with either.

 

[diffusionx]

I really like Divinity Original Sin, but two problems, one the game is kind of inscrutable at times, maybe a bit too old-school in that regard, and inventory management is an utter nightmare. Other than that, it's a great game and I love love love the combat.

 

[diffusionx]

This game and Titan Quest are both in my backlog and I can’t decide which game to play first. It may be a biased place to ask, but I’m about to move onto my next game so one of these could be the choice.

They're very different games. If you're in the mood for a game like Diablo then go with Titan Quest. If you're in the mood for a RPG, then go with Divinity. Both are fun games.

 

[A.Romero]

I really like Divinity Original Sin, but two problems, one the game is kind of inscrutable at times, maybe a bit too old-school in that regard, and inventory management is an utter nightmare. Other than that, it's a great game and I love love love the combat.

Yes. I agree on both of those things.

I don't know how many times I'd have to play it without a guide before discovering the quests and all that.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Mein Leben! How many hours is that? Must be near a 1000!

I think it's about 300 hours on each game. We can get through div 2 pretty quick to be fair. Magic archer + Dual-wield fighter with witchery is an unstoppable combo. You can one-shot most enemies with the archer

 

[Urprobablyright]

I didn't play this.. much like with its sequel, a Pillars of Eternity title stole me away and i haven't gone back to either OS title (yet)

I like these games and I'm sure they're worthy as all get out but i don't like the combat system very much, and to be honest i just didn't have the RL ram to perceive and mentally map the gameworld on top of my adult duties~ Pillars had a different feel~ maybe linearity had something to do with it

 

[chriskun]

I liked this game alot, but got to
a certain boss fight that was literally impossible to beat. Also this game seems like you have to play it with a guide, which was a huge turnoff to me. Think I might have a go at it again but Im just going to cheat my way through that boss somehow.

 

[A.Romero]

I liked this game alot, but got to
a certain boss fight that was literally impossible to beat. Also this game seems like you have to play it with a guide, which was a huge turnoff to me. Think I might have a go at it again but Im just going to cheat my way through that boss somehow.

I think it's very possible to complete the game without the guide but it would take a long time. I'm 15 hours in and only level 5. Not even sure how many quests are completed because it doesn't seem to be very clear.

 

[chriskun]

I know everyone touts that the non-hand holdy nature of the game is “old school” but to me it just seems like bad game design.

 

[GreenAlien]

Been playing this for 25h... Movement speed is so slow, it can be really annoying. I modded it to be 50% faster and it's still slow. Story is alright, but nothing that blows me away. Party members have almost zero personality. The huge dialogue boxes that block the whole screen are an obvious bad idea.. I really wonder why they decided to do this, especially since all that space is never used.

The big draw is the turn based tactical combat. It's really fun. Right now I'm stuck at a boss that one shots my entire party with a fireball at the start of the battle.. Will probably have to cheese it by sneak attacking him instead of starting a conversation, so I can get at least 1 hit in and spreading out my party ahead of time to avoid most of the fireball. Maybe I can manage to keep him stunlocked or something, don't know his immunities yet..

Anyway, the real reason to play this kind of game are the gravestone messages.

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

Great games. But seems to be popular to hate on them because old BG fans are butthurt they're making BG3.

 

[Loope]

I started the second one a couple of months back but it didn't grab me as much, mostly because you only play as one character and not a duo anymore. You eventually get access to companions but nothing nearly as intimate as the first game unfortunately. I dropped it a few hours in but I plan to go back eventually.

i started the 2nd one first. You think i should've started with this one? I grabbed both on a steam sale, most people told me the 2nd one is better and i should start with that one.

 

[mcz117chief]

i started the 2nd one first. You think i should've started with this one? I grabbed both on a steam sale, most people told me the 2nd one is better and i should start with that one.

I tried to play two on and off for the past year and it just didn't grab me at all like the first one did. One of the main issues I have is that it is filled with cliché tropes and so far exactly nothing surprised me or excited me. Another issue I have is that the 1st game allows you to create two characters which interactive with one another, this gives you a very strong core of the game that revolves around these two characters. The 1st game isn't without flaws, however, but they are minor and don't detract from the overall experience. I, myself, vastly prefer the 1st game still.

 

[FreedomOfSpeech]

Played this back in the day.

Pretty great game I think, nice pausable combat, spells that combine to do cool stuff (like ground in place, then hit with another spell to trigger special-attack). Cool story also, bro.

Enchantment? Enchantment!

Edit: Oh wait I'm thinking of Dragon Age: Origins. Never mind. Also played D:OS, it's better than part 2 at least.

 

[Sentenza]

Both this one and its sequel were THIS close to become modern classics for me, except for the fact that I absolutely despise the way Larian handled itemization and (especially in the sequel) the progression curve.

There's a very bad mismatch between a game where encounters are all unique non-repeatable events and where the loot you get is a bunch of randomized, level-scaled trash like in Diablo.
If they went for unique hand-placed items like in Baldur's Gate, it would have made the overall package so much more enjoyable.

Still, solid titles and with one of the best combat systems in the genre out there. Probably top 3 or so.