Divinity: Original Sin II

This may just be the best game I have ever played. I hadn't played the first Divinity Original Sin game, but I purchased this because I enjoy rpgs, turn based games, and games that can be played local coop, but never did I expect what came next - my girlfriend liked it too. We played this game every day for weeks and weeks, loving the exploration, expansive story, and difficult but rewarding combat. Finally we beat the game, after maybe 200hrs, in what was a campaign where we thoroughly explored every corner of the game. So then we bought Divinity Original Sin 1, beat that, then started a lone wolf campaign on 2, beat that, and still we were finding stuff we missed through the first playthrough. I seriously cannot recommend this game enough. Also, the aforementioned girlfriend is now my wife, and I am not saying that is because of Divinity, but it certainly didn't hurt.

slept with a lizard

I started this game during COVID in August 2020, when a couple friends suggested that it’s like a tabletop RPG (“TTRPG”) and might be fun to play together weekly. I couldn’t get into it at first, mostly due to distraction, but once we got a good third of the way through the first act, I was intrigued. I then became more hooked each session and by the fifth or so, I was loving the game and actively looking forward to our game nights. Once we were halfway, I started a solo save to catch up to where we were, more thoroughly following the story on my own. It took us about 6 months to finish the game, but we never missed a week of playing in all that time and I completed my solo game soon after. While it was partially the social aspect of hanging out with friends online, it’s not an exaggeration to say that this game helped me stay sane during one of the craziest times of my life thus far and it will always hold a special place for me because of it. But that was also in large part because this game is simply awesome. It’s probably the only game that I ended up loving despite not enjoying the first solid 8 hours or so of gameplay.
OS2 is essentially a TTRPG adapted to a fully realized digital world. While it has mechanics you might expect for a game going for that feel such as dialogue options, it does several other unique things to achieve that feel. For instance, one of the appeals of a TTRPG is that you can do whatever you want within the logic of the game, not just narratively, but with how you maneuver in combat. Considering the limitations of a finite game, OS2 allows for a multitude of combat options that never feels limited, even though obviously it is to some extent. The environment is highly interactable and can be used to your advantage with dynamic and creative environmental conditions. Skills like teleport and various battlefield-warping abilities also do much more clever things beyond just dealing damage. There’s also the system of physical and magic armor that prevents conditions, adding a layer of complexity that encourages strategic play, even though it’s deceptively simple on the surface. I still felt like I had the variety of options available in a TTRPG, even if it was limited to a finite combination of options. It says a lot when being stuck on a given fight could be solved by a better approach rather than simply trying to level up.
Other TTRPG elements deal with the world-building, story, and tone. There’s a rich world with lots of peoples with their own rich histories and varied proclivities, interacting with internal and external factions and nations with their own agendas. I like that the different peoples and factions aren’t the usual monoliths common to fantasy and demonstrate internal diversity. There’s plenty of lore to be explored in Rivellon that makes the stories and locations you encounter come to life.
The tone achieved by the narrative is also on point. One commonality to a lot of TTRPGs is a serious story that inevitably has some silliness as the players get up to some mischief or another. This leads to dramatic and intriguing storylines that are willing to step back for a moment of humor that (ideally) doesn’t break you out of the story. This is exactly how I’d describe OS2. The story is fairly serious and involves some dark themes at times, but at numerous points, especially side quests, there are amusing NPCs and conversations galore that never quite break the narrative but add a good deal of clever humor and even some laugh-out-loud moments without straying into the just plain goofy territory that pulls you from the narrative.
This isn’t the prettiest game I’ve played for its time, but still looks great and I think it’s balanced very well with the playstyle, offering vivid, immersive, appealing scenery that isn’t too confusing to navigate. The audio design is amazing. Sound effects are fine, but the soundtrack is superb. I generally dislike the sort of generic DnD folksy tavern style music that this soundtrack mostly fits into. But for whatever reason, these songs just click with me and never blend together like much of that kind of music usually does to me. If I hear a song from this game, I’ll recognize it immediately. Some tracks are better than others, but overall, they all work quite well. The vast majority of the massive script is also competently voiced, which is incredible.
I found the story pretty strong. There is a main quest full of twists and turns, personal to your character that you must progress to move on with the game. There are a number of side quests as well, a staple of RPGs that can be really hit or miss. While not quite as good as some of the best side quests like Witcher 3, I think the side quests are generally very good. OS2 dodges dull fetch quests and “please kill the rats in my cellar” quests. Even the simplest quests often are made more interesting in some way, such as an early quest in which you have to fight a trio of saltwater crocodiles who have swallowed a pair of teleportation gloves that will be super useful once you get them. The quests are almost always engaging in some way given the strong writing of NPCs and the worldbuilding features that makes these quests entertaining in their own right even aside from the consequent exploration and challenge. None of the quests did I feel like was just some random bullshit I was doing solely to get experience.
There are 6 pre-made characters to choose from. I’ll call these “canon PCs.” Each canon PC has a continuing personal quest such as Lohse’s quest to rid herself of demonic possession or Sebille’s quest for revenge. These quests are a great way to flesh out the main characters, even if they’re not super long and only come up intermittently. Through several playthroughs, I played through the story quests of every canon PC. While my favorites are Lohse, Fane, and Sebille, none of the personal stories fell flat and I can’t imagine playing through the game with one of them in your party without doing their personal quests. Beware, if you make a custom character, you don’t get a personal story.
The gameplay is great. This is almost definitely my favorite combat system for a pure turn-based RPG. The combat is in a lot of ways closer to “turn-based strategy” than purely “RPG,” but this fits the TTRPG style with line of sight, distance, range, positioning, area of effect, enemy weaknesses, and build diversity all being important to your success in a given battle. There’s a wealth of options for each of your four party members to invest in and combine. Even after three playthroughs, there are still styles and skill combinations I’m interested in trying out some time.
This game can be played in a group or solo. In a solo game, you get one main character and fill your party with up to three of the other canon PCs. As a group, each of you has plays their own main character, filling any other slots with side characters. It was really fun experiencing, commentating, and poking fun at the story’s events as a group of three. I enjoyed my group game a bit more on balance, but that will depend on your group. If you have a hard time following the story when communicating with your group, it may not be as enjoyable but we mostly were able to follow it despite talking the whole time on voice chat. The gameplay is solid, but you’re really missing out if you can’t pay attention to the narrative this game has to offer so I’d prioritize that. I found solo play easier as it gives you more control over party synergy and coordination and I was better able to engage with the story and learn the basics of gameplay and strategy. The other major difference is in a group, you have to make sure to listen in on conversations with NPCs or you simply miss story, so you have to coordinate.
Ultimately, this game rocks. On the whole, I loved it and would have to look for things to complain about, the majority of them very minor.

In summary: This is my favorite RPG-type game since Gothic 2. They basically improved every single flaw that I had with DoS 1, and created game that is the closest thing to what I would call a "perfect" RPG game. Must play for any RPG fan in my opinion :)
Things I disliked most about it:
❌ Nothing major really, only slight nitpicks like Necromancer costing too much AP, slow-ish walking and small things like that (which are either optionally included in gift bags, or easily fixed by mods - this game has really good modding support)
Things I liked most about it:
✔️ You can kill everybody (including main NPCs and even yourself)
✔️ All lines are voiced - and it also has really good voice acting
✔️ If you do good things you unlock unique "hero" tag in dialogues, and bad things give you "villain" tag
✔️ You can interact with all objects in the world and even move / throw objects around (you can even kill people with these objects, ex. throw something really heavy on somebody and he will die or get damaged)
✔️ Interesting story and side quests with very well written lines
✔️ Beautiful & diverse world, with great graphics and music
✔️ Amazing class system and spells - it's really fun to explore all of the different combinations in combination with environmental effect (it almost feels endless)
✔️ Freedom to solve quests however you want. Just like in Gothic games you don't have to pick quest in order for some NPC to appear, you can go ahead and explore however you want, and if you already found some certain item for dungeon you can go "oh you mean this?" and just end quest right there
✔️ Skills / attribute system - one of the best in any video game I've seen so far, each point can be useful for all of the classes, and you can create very cool variations.
✔️ Very big replay value! - I can see myself replaying this game for years to come
NOTE: I didn't even play multiplayer yet but I heard from friends that It's also really good! :)

THIS GAME IS CRACK. This may be my new favorite game of all time. There is nothing this game doesn't have. It is so much fun. I come from a backround of mostly shooters and have never really played a full blown RPG like this before. I BEAT THIS GAME IN 2 WEEKS IT TOOK ME 69.5 HOURS NO JOKE. It was such a challenging and rewarding experience.
GRAPHICS: This game looks so damn beautiful. The visuals from all the spells are so cool and the different areas that you quest in are all very unique and pretty stunning. I really wish I had a 1440p monitor to experience this on it is awesome!
GAMEPLAY: I FUCKING LOVE THE GAMEPLAY. Each encounter with an enemy is so much fun. This game is all about strategy and how you play your turn with the turn based mechanics. It is so rewarding to take out an enemy or two in one turn after you have strategically buffed or moved yourself into an advantage and had the CC to death. It's actually addicting and some fights are extremely tough if you don't use the right spells or get yourself into the advantage.
AUDIO: The game sounds great. The voice acting is great. Spells and skills have their own unique awesome sounds to them. The music and themes for each area are nice touches as well!
STORY: The story was really entertaining with a great pace that didn't ever bore me. I actually took the time to listen to every encounter with NPCs and really enjoyed it. By the end of the game you know what you were here to do and is rewarding with multiple different endings to give you the option of how you want to fulfill your destiny. The final boss fight was the COOLEST final fight I've ever played in a game. No spoilers, but the part of the final fight that I loved was that for a part of it the sound was muffled and it was just EPIC. As mentioned before it took close to 70 hours to complete the game, which brings it to the longest game I've ever beaten.
My final thoughts on this masterpiece: I loved the turn based fighting. That really separates this game from others in my opinion and it was so good! Each fight is unique and you can use the environment to your advantage(or the enemy can.) The story was awesome as well as the places you go and explore. You can create a ton of different builds and play how YOU want to play the game. I LOVE that you can reset your build at anytime after ACT 1 and chance how you play completely. If you started the game a pyro mage, you can completely change to a ranged huntsman at any time. Each character had a great backstory along with their own fun character quests. There is just so much you can do in this game. It deserves a second playthrough no matter what! I have no problem giving this game a 10/10, it is truly a masterpiece.

One of the best RPG's I've ever played. It most definitely has its flaws but the challenge you can get from this game is absolutely mint.
Some things to note before buying this game
1) It's armor system is unlike most other games. It blocks status effects and crowd control until it is removed then they can be applied (a couple of feats you can pick up can bypass this on enemies but that's the exception not the norm)
2) If you're playing through this game for the first time, don't feel bad if you can't play it at the highest difficulty. It's not meant for a first time playthrough but to challenge experienced players on subsequent ones with more enemies, more intelligent enemy AI and (of course) stronger enemies as well.
3) When building your party composition, it's better to do all 4 magical, all four physical, or two and two. I do not recommend you go with one person solely as one thing and the other three as another as that one person all by themselves will not be contributing much to fights.
4) There is no "tank" in this game. That sort of role doesn't exist. There are also no traditional classes, optimizing for certain builds is of course a thing (and for harder difficulties almost mandatory) but the sky is the limit with your imagination so long as you play within the confines of the system
Hope you enjoy the game, feel free to hit me up if you're new and would like someone to play with. Game plays just fine solo as well but games are always more fun with others. =)

wait.. you can leave Fort Joy?!