Divine Divinity Review (no fat)

Game Description

Divine Divinity is a hybrid RPG that combines the popular ‘hack & slash’ combat (Diablo) with an immersive storyline and a large number of side-quests (Baldur’s Gate). The events of Divine Divinity take place in a fantasy world called Rivellon, a huge interactive world, free to explore, filled with political intricacies, mysterious guilds, monsters, powerful magic and a myriad of quests to solve.

Rivellon goes through troubled times, a large force of orcs is invading the land and there are signs of much more powerful forces working in the background. But there is a legend about the three Marked Ones and the Divine One who could solve this conflict and bring peace to these lands.

Divine Divinity – Gameplay

At the start of the game you have three classes to choose from: the warrior, the mage and the survivor. You can also be male or female but this is a purely aesthetical choice, it has no impact on skills. However, you choice will matter in a few side quests you’ll encounter.

Each class has a special ability in combat and they also start the game with different skills, but apart from that you have access to all skills regardless of what character class you choose. You can learn spells with a warrior or specialize in weapons (like a warrior) with a mage. The only difference is that mage's get more Mana per intelligence point while warriors get more health per constitution. The survivor represents the middle road. This leaves the player with a lot of possibilities to experiment with.

The world of Rivellon is huge and you can explore it at your own leisure solving side-quests and gaining better equipment and gold. Travel is made easier by two devices. At first you can use two magical teleporting pyramids. By leaving one of them somewhere and activating the other one you’ll get teleported back to the first. Later you get access to teleporting portals (similar to waypoints from Diablo 2) that are scattered around the world.

Instead of doing quests you can of course just go around and kill monsters if that’s what you like and concentrate only on the main quest. The main quest is interesting, with turnovers and surprises, and you can always leave it to do something else then return to it.

Side quests are not of the typical “go to a kill b” or “go to a fetch b” type either, most of them are very original and varied. Some quests can be completed without even fighting at all. Your character also has a reputation. Depending on your actions, your reputation can rise or fall (yes you can be evil if you want…). This directly affects merchant prices and the way NPCs talk to you.

There are also a lot of dialogues, and a large portion of them is accompanied by good voice acting. These features give a true role playing depth to the game. In fact the only thing that drags down gameplay is the combat. Divine Divinity is a lengthy game (up to 200 hours of gameplay!) and the usual ‘hack & slash’ style combat gets repetitive after a while.

During your adventures you’ll stumble upon a lot of magical items of various qualities each denoted by a different color. There are even some exquisite item sets in the game, they can be collected from secret places and by solving certain side quests. The magical items can be further enhanced by charms. Charms are rare and valuable stones with magic properties that can be inserted into weapons, armor or other equipment if you have the skills to do so. Each item has a certain number of charm slots, better items usually have more slots. Charms give various bonuses but especially resistance's that help in dealing with the more powerful monsters.

Divine Divinity – Visuals and Sound

Divine Divinity has only 2D graphics but it’s quite possibly the best 2D graphics ever seen in an RPG game. Everything is highly detailed, starting from the surroundings, the monsters and especially your character. Almost each piece of equipment changes the appearance of your hero. And these details are not only drawings, most objects can be picked up or examined.

However, the game is not without glitches, sometimes you can encounter minor problems with the 2D engine when entering a closed area (like an inn for example) and some walls don’t get transparent when they should. Fortunately this rarely happens. The in-game music is excellent and it fits perfectly to the usually dark atmosphere of the game.

Divine Divinity – Summary

Even with such big competitors like Neverwinter Nights or Morrowind, Divine Divinity has a lot to offer. With the unique combination of Orc bashing action and rich storyline, Larian Studios has created an enjoyable mix. It certainly has its flaws, but it’s a game that no RPG player should miss.

Divine Divinity – Cost

Divine Divinity currently retails for $12.95US at the time of writing.