Key

This post is going to be getting some special treatment because it is time to finally get to two of the absolute best RPG's I have ever played. Yes, I am of course talking about Divinity Original Sin & Divinity Original Sin 2. Now, the reason I decided to do this as a double feature instead of their own separate posts are for two reasons. One, I consider both of these games to be true masterpieces for a lot of the same reasons as each other, so I feel like combining the opinions would allow for far less monotonous repetitiveness. The second reason is because while Divinity Original Sin is the first in the series, you could literally play either one and get an amazing experience. However when it comes to true quality, I think the sequel certainly takes it one step further.

Now, what is it that makes Divinity Original Sin & Divinity Original Sin 2 worth the hype it gets? Well, everything. Honestly. Think of a traditional RPG. What do you want from it? Freedom? Check. Full character customization with varying stats and attributes per character? Check. Do you want a humongous open world filled to the brim with really interesting side quests, a great main quests, and perhaps the most NPC's I've ever talked to in any RPG? Check and mate. I'm serious when I say this: I think Divinity Original Sin & Divinity Original Sin 2 are the best RPG's we've seen to date in this particular genre. I've not seen any other game pull off the little itty bitty details that truly makes this game shine. You can actually figure things out in the game that the developers purposely put there for you to find and use. Like using the teleport spell to fully skip the first part of the game because you just teleport all your characters over the castle wall and out to the bridge. You can do it, because I have. Or maybe you just feel like having a conversation with one of your party members, and another party member gets offended by what you said to the other one. It happens with NPC's as well and it's great because your whole party will have something to say about it in some way. Makes dialogue choices really interesting and sometimes fun and a little goofy. But hey, that's the charm.

Next to the gameplay is of course the graphics. I'm a little bit biased of course because I actually full played through Divinity Original Sin 2 before I ever played through Divinity Original Sin, but I also picked up the Enhanced Edition, so your first experiences may have varied depending on when you played the original. But, I will go on record as saying that both of these games are breathtakingly good looking. For it to be in the style of RPG that it is, i.e. mostly top down, graphics may seem like something you wouldn't focus much on, but you'd be wrong in that case. A lot of games tend to focus more on graphics in this gameplay style because it's something to focus on while fighting everything. So god damn I'll just show you:



I know it may not look like much but for people that have played it, they'll understand what I mean when I say the game is absolutely beautiful. So many different mixtures of seasons and textures that makes the world feel alive. It's not just some dead graveyard. The world lives around you and you feel it.

But not only does the game look great and feel great, the combat system is also one of the coolest things to be implemented into an RPG like this. When I actually went into Divinity Original Sin 2, I don't really know what I was expecting in terms of combat because what I had seen on Twitch etc, I had fortunately been able to avoid most of the fights because it was usually just on in the background. However, I was very surprised to find that they went with a turn based style combat, and god damn it works so well in these games. I will say from experience, regardless of which game you play, the combat is going to feel really good. You have to be somewhat crafty and smart to really get into the combat, because not only are you trying to make sure you can take the enemy down, but you're also trying to make sure that none of your party members actually die. Resurrection Scrolls are tough to come by early in the game so just be careful. But the game continuously throws different environments and different styles of fights, so I'd also highly recommend trying to make a pretty well rounded party. Like....have one party member be an archer and necromancer for instance. I basically ended up having most combinations taken care of in just four characters because I leveled up certain things per party member. My main character had 3 different styles of fighting in just one row of abilities. It made the game a lot more fun too because the combat was always different and interesting.

I have a combined 100+ hours of total gameplay between the two games. Unfortunately, I did sort of rush through my first playthrough of Divinity Original Sin because I had already experienced the sequel and it ruined it slightly. But I still heavily enjoyed the game and think its a masterpiece of its kind. But I say without hesitation that not only are these two games worth your money, they are also worth your time. You are going to have an unbelievable experience running through cities and taking down bad guys with your powerhouse team. I'd even go as far as saying that this may have been very close to the best gaming experience I've ever had. Fallout 3 still takes that cake, but very very very just slightly.