Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Review
Customizable Characters: At the character creation screen, you have two main characters that you can customize. There are presets with different fantasy-familiar class types such as Knight, Wizard, Rogue, Archer, etc. You can look over and customize their skills, attributes, and body. Though, if youâre just starting out, Iâd recommend finding something you like and going with that. I ended up going with a Cleric, which is kind of like a Warrior with Healing that uses one-handed weapons and a Knight (I think) that has a little bit of healing, too, but uses two-handed weapons. I later met a Rogue, Wizard, Archer, and another Warrior. I now have a well-balanced team, although I typically stick with the first two characters I created along with the Wizard and Archer. I use the Rogue mostly when I need help with lock-picking.
As for the loot system I mentioned thatâs similar to Diablo, weapons and armor are also very similar. You may find something you have to identify to see what attributes it has. You can do this with the Loremaster skill and an Identifying Glass. There are also levels of rarity, which like Diablo can give the weapon or armor extra attributes and make it much more valuable.
There are a variety of spell types such as Earth, Air, Wind, and Water, these are the four main elements in the game. There are also skills or spells for Scoundrel (Rogue skills), Marksman (Archer Skills), Man-At-Arms (Warrior skills), and Witchcraft (more Wizard skills). When you level up, you can put points into skills that will allow you to learn these skills from a skillbook, which you can actually craft. Otherwise, there are scrolls any class can use, but they disappear after one use, so itâs better to try to save them for making skillbooks, although the scrolls arenât too rare.
Crafting: There are different types of arrows use with a bow or crossbow and grenades that anyone can use. These can contain many of the elements and also things like poison, charm, and more. You can craft these. In fact, you can pretty much craft just about everything in the game, so itâs good to have at least one party member level up their crafting skill. Blacksmithing is another good skill to level up, which will aid in crafting, too.
There are a lot of other attributes you can learn, I wonât get into them all here, especially since I donât use most of the, but I will tell you about one of my favorites. Pet Pal is a skill that lets you talk to animals. This is funny (as are most things in this game), but itâs actually quite helpful. I recommend getting this skill very early on in the game as youâll run into a dog that can help you on your quest.
Speaking of quests, there are very many. You have a log, which you can read about different things youâve done, read, or people (or animals) youâve talked to. I pretty much ignore the log and just know what Iâm doing. Sometimes Iâll forget about something and I end up doing it anyway. Many of the quests are optional and there are actually many ways you can complete a quest. You do have choices and sometimes your choices will be reflected in the game or affect your reputation.
Outside of game play, one of my favorite things about this game is the music. It is very good, I think. It gets stuck in my head, too. The soundtrack seems to be included in the Enhanced Edition. This edition of the game seems to be much better than the original. It used to be a top-down isometric game, but that was changed and it looks really good! It has more of a 3D look to it and you can move the camera all around.
Minor annoyances:I really like this game and Itâs pretty much a must-play. I would love to give it a 5 out of 5 (stars or whatever you want to use), but I find some minor annoyances. Itâs hard to click on a person or animal that is always walking around, which is why I pretty much never talk to rats and very rarely get to talk to chickens. Sometimes I accidentally click on something I didnât mean to. Sometimes this makes me start a dialogue that I didnât mean to start. Sometimes I have to move the camera around to click on a person, so that I donât accidentally steal something (you can steal pretty much everything). Also, it is sometimes difficult to click on an enemy during battle. There have been times where I tried to click on an enemy for my character to attack and ended up having my character move to a spot instead. The game is fully voiced, which sometimes is a big annoyance. Standing for some time in one area while a character repeats the same lines over and over can be quite annoying. Yeah, listen to that old Elf angrily shouting about his hatred for "Victoria!" Other than that, I donât see anything game breaking. It is an enjoyable game and I think itâs well worth playing. I havenât finished yet, but I feel like Iâve reached a good time to write a review for it. Iâm looking forward to playing D:OS2 afterwards, which is what got me started playing this game. I donât think itâs really required, I believe I read that this takes part many years before the sequel and may be unrelated. Still, from what little Iâve seen of the sequel, these two games look and behave very similarly, though I expect D:OS2 has some improvements.
Multiplayer:I know you can play these two games with others, but I havenât tried nor have I run into anything that makes me feel like I should. There is one really tough boss about mid way through, but I figured out how to defeat it. There are also invulnerable enemies later you need to sneak by, but itâs real easy if you use the Rogueâs âBecome One with the Shadowsâ skill.
Additional note
A primary goal in the game is to collect blood stones, or more than your enemy. Actually using them will unlock more portals at the End of Time (you'll discover this rather quickly when you start a new game). Blood stones will turn into inert stones after they are used. I very strongly recommend saving all of your blood stones (if you have any, and you may) and inert stones. You can sell them, but don't, it's not worth it. It's much better to know how many you have collected. I sold mine, so once I got to a point to where I needed more and therefore needed to know how many I had collected, I had no idea, so I've restarted the game from the beginning (I was pretty much at the end).
So, have you played this or D:OS2? Have you tried multiplayer? What do you think about all this? Does it sound like something youâd like to check out? Let me know!
- Recommended
- RPG, turn-based combat, similar to Final Fantasy games
- Customizable characters and classes
- Loot system and weapon attributes similar to Diablo games
- Variety of spell types and skills
- Craft (and steal) just about everything
- Humorous
- Many quests
- Great music
- Some minor annoyances
- Enhanced Edition > Classic
- Multiplayer
- Recommended
- RPG, turn-based combat, similar to Final Fantasy games
- Customizable characters and classes
- Loot system and weapon attributes similar to Diablo games
- Variety of spell types and skills
- Craft (and steal) just about everything
- Humorous
- Many quests
- Great music
- Some minor annoyances
- Enhanced Edition > Classic
- Multiplayer
Customizable Characters: At the character creation screen, you have two main characters that you can customize. There are presets with different fantasy-familiar class types such as Knight, Wizard, Rogue, Archer, etc. You can look over and customize their skills, attributes, and body. Though, if youâre just starting out, Iâd recommend finding something you like and going with that. I ended up going with a Cleric, which is kind of like a Warrior with Healing that uses one-handed weapons and a Knight (I think) that has a little bit of healing, too, but uses two-handed weapons. I later met a Rogue, Wizard, Archer, and another Warrior. I now have a well-balanced team, although I typically stick with the first two characters I created along with the Wizard and Archer. I use the Rogue mostly when I need help with lock-picking.
As for the loot system I mentioned thatâs similar to Diablo, weapons and armor are also very similar. You may find something you have to identify to see what attributes it has. You can do this with the Loremaster skill and an Identifying Glass. There are also levels of rarity, which like Diablo can give the weapon or armor extra attributes and make it much more valuable.
There are a variety of spell types such as Earth, Air, Wind, and Water, these are the four main elements in the game. There are also skills or spells for Scoundrel (Rogue skills), Marksman (Archer Skills), Man-At-Arms (Warrior skills), and Witchcraft (more Wizard skills). When you level up, you can put points into skills that will allow you to learn these skills from a skillbook, which you can actually craft. Otherwise, there are scrolls any class can use, but they disappear after one use, so itâs better to try to save them for making skillbooks, although the scrolls arenât too rare.
Crafting: There are different types of arrows use with a bow or crossbow and grenades that anyone can use. These can contain many of the elements and also things like poison, charm, and more. You can craft these. In fact, you can pretty much craft just about everything in the game, so itâs good to have at least one party member level up their crafting skill. Blacksmithing is another good skill to level up, which will aid in crafting, too.
There are a lot of other attributes you can learn, I wonât get into them all here, especially since I donât use most of the, but I will tell you about one of my favorites. Pet Pal is a skill that lets you talk to animals. This is funny (as are most things in this game), but itâs actually quite helpful. I recommend getting this skill very early on in the game as youâll run into a dog that can help you on your quest.
Speaking of quests, there are very many. You have a log, which you can read about different things youâve done, read, or people (or animals) youâve talked to. I pretty much ignore the log and just know what Iâm doing. Sometimes Iâll forget about something and I end up doing it anyway. Many of the quests are optional and there are actually many ways you can complete a quest. You do have choices and sometimes your choices will be reflected in the game or affect your reputation.
Outside of game play, one of my favorite things about this game is the music. It is very good, I think. It gets stuck in my head, too. The soundtrack seems to be included in the Enhanced Edition. This edition of the game seems to be much better than the original. It used to be a top-down isometric game, but that was changed and it looks really good! It has more of a 3D look to it and you can move the camera all around.
Minor annoyances:I really like this game and Itâs pretty much a must-play. I would love to give it a 5 out of 5 (stars or whatever you want to use), but I find some minor annoyances. Itâs hard to click on a person or animal that is always walking around, which is why I pretty much never talk to rats and very rarely get to talk to chickens. Sometimes I accidentally click on something I didnât mean to. Sometimes this makes me start a dialogue that I didnât mean to start. Sometimes I have to move the camera around to click on a person, so that I donât accidentally steal something (you can steal pretty much everything). Also, it is sometimes difficult to click on an enemy during battle. There have been times where I tried to click on an enemy for my character to attack and ended up having my character move to a spot instead. The game is fully voiced, which sometimes is a big annoyance. Standing for some time in one area while a character repeats the same lines over and over can be quite annoying. Yeah, listen to that old Elf angrily shouting about his hatred for "Victoria!" Other than that, I donât see anything game breaking. It is an enjoyable game and I think itâs well worth playing. I havenât finished yet, but I feel like Iâve reached a good time to write a review for it. Iâm looking forward to playing D:OS2 afterwards, which is what got me started playing this game. I donât think itâs really required, I believe I read that this takes part many years before the sequel and may be unrelated. Still, from what little Iâve seen of the sequel, these two games look and behave very similarly, though I expect D:OS2 has some improvements.
Multiplayer:I know you can play these two games with others, but I havenât tried nor have I run into anything that makes me feel like I should. There is one really tough boss about mid way through, but I figured out how to defeat it. There are also invulnerable enemies later you need to sneak by, but itâs real easy if you use the Rogueâs âBecome One with the Shadowsâ skill.
Additional note
A primary goal in the game is to collect blood stones, or more than your enemy. Actually using them will unlock more portals at the End of Time (you'll discover this rather quickly when you start a new game). Blood stones will turn into inert stones after they are used. I very strongly recommend saving all of your blood stones (if you have any, and you may) and inert stones. You can sell them, but don't, it's not worth it. It's much better to know how many you have collected. I sold mine, so once I got to a point to where I needed more and therefore needed to know how many I had collected, I had no idea, so I've restarted the game from the beginning (I was pretty much at the end).
So, have you played this or D:OS2? Have you tried multiplayer? What do you think about all this? Does it sound like something youâd like to check out? Let me know!
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Limited Run Games will have the sequel for switch up for sale tomorrow:
https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/switch-limited-run-55-divinity-original-sin-ii-preorder
Cool. I don't have the Switch, but I do have D:OS2 on Steam.
The switch version has cross-play with the steam version.
Awesome! I don't think there are a lot of cross-platform cross-play games, so that's pretty cool. I intend on playing D:OS2 when I finish w/ this one, but I have other things coming in January that might distract me. I feel like I'm near the end of the game, but I'm not so sure. Thanks to this game, I'm most definitely looking forward to playing the second. I definitely feel that if this one is pretty much a must-play, then the second must be as well. I can see, even though I haven't played that second one, why it's so popular. I'm sure it's really good as is this one.
Will: that LRG copy looks great. Iâd get it but I have a few switch games I have yet to get through. LRG is doing some great work.
Woot, I just won the D:OS2 Switch from LRG.
Whoa, that's awesome!
You are incredibly lucky. How many free games have you won from them now?
4 or 5 and then one from the charity stream.
@Will_Ball, are you going to play D:OS before D:OS2? As I said in my review, from what I've read, I don't believe it's really necessary. Also, if you read my review, you may want to take a look at the additional note I just added. I haven't played D:OS2 yet, so I don't know if this will apply. I expect to get to that game before the end of the year or during the beginning of next year. We'll see, but I will probably very likely write a review for it when I've played enough of it that I'm ready to write about it, just like I've done with D:OS.
I don't have D:OS, so I don't know if I will play it before D:OS2. I too hear that they are pretty independent, so it is not necessary.
As for the note, thx! I will try to remember it when I get to the either game.
Are you going to play D:OS2 soon? Feel free to let me know what you think of it. You can post here if you want, send me a message, or connect to me on Steam (gregopeck).
Probably not soon. LRG takes a while to ship games.
What is LRG?
LRG == Limited Run Games. They release limited numbers of certain games that don't get wider physical releases.
https://limitedrungames.com/
Yeah, I think I've seen you, Jon, mention it here before, but I never paid much attention to it. Thanks for sharing that with me!
Jon knows whatâs up. Kids and their boutique publishing houses!
Hey Will, have you started playing D:OS2 yet? I've already written a review for it, even though I haven't finished it yet. I like it, I think it's popular and I fee like I can see why.
I just got my copy yesterday!
Wow! I restarted my game yet again yesterday. LOL