This review contains spoilers
I don't even know where to begin with this one. What an amazing RPG.
For context, I played the game in 2022 with a friend for a couple of hours but we eventually dropped it. I came back to the game and started a solo campaign in July 2023 because Baldur's Gate 3's imminent release made me want to give DOS2 another shot. I played up to around 3/4 of Act 2 until BG3 came out, I then dropped DOS2 to play BG. I wasn't sure if I would come back to DOS2 since it can be a bit hard for me to go back right in the middle of a huge RPG after some time away. But I did and I got back into the swing of things in no time, even after 4 months.
I was honestly really surprised by this game's narrative, but to be fair, I think my initial expectations where a bit low. Even then, the writing of the game is simply amazing and pretty funny ! Even though there is a lot of reading/dialogue in this game (I personally don't really mind game with a lot of reading or dialogue, and quite enjoy them, but I know it's not for everyone), almost all of it is voice acted, which made the whole thing a bit more "fun" to go through, The voice acting especially helped since there's not a lot of animations nor close ups for dialogue or story moments (except some of the major ones). I found the lore of the game's universe to be really interesting, I liked learning more about the races, their relations to one another and their culture as well as learning about the origin of the world and the gods.
The companions I had with me during the entirety of my playthrough were Fane, the Red Prince and Lohse. I liked all three of them, even if I thought that the Red Prince was initially the least interesting. I still liked seeing how he evolved throughout the story just like the other two, and I always enjoy some sass. I would've like to see more interactions between party members, or even just more dialogue between my character and my companions. At least Baldur's Gate 3 is a step in the right direction on this aspect. Each of these character's quests were pretty good and I especially liked their act 4 quests since they felt really different from each other and some even had their own unique environments, which I thought was neat. Fane and Lohse were definitely my favorites, their voice actors did an amazing job portraying them and gave these characters a lot of charm, their story and development were also really well written and fun to go through. Although I will say that the romance aspect of the game felt a bit tacked on and could've been fleshed out a lot more, it's not necessarily bad, but it could've been better (And it did become way better in Larian's most recent game)
All 4 acts of the game were really solid in my opinion. Act 3 is really short compared to all of the other, but it's honestly welcomed after going through the second, and by far the longest Act of the game. Some may also say that Act 4 could have more content, but honestly I think that after going through the 3 previous acts, I can appreciate the fact that it's not as massive as Act 2, because I think I would've been a bit tired or overwhelmed by even more content. And honestly Act 4 is still pretty beefy, probably comparable to the first act of the game. Speaking of which, the first is also a lot of fun to go through and honestly surprised me by the sheer amount of content it had despite the size of the map, and also when considering it's technically a "tutorial" or an introduction to the game. It may look like i'm complaining about Act 2's length, but it probably still is my favorite of the bunch, in part because of the sheer amount of content it has, and the fact that none of it feels like filler ! The town of Driftwood was a great hub with a lot of repeating NPCs' dialogue I could never forget even if I tried ("keeping it together Bree?"). It's also in this act that you go through the most growth and getting stronger felt really satisfying. Every act is a bit overwhelming at first, because you don't really know where to start, but every time I started going through them very naturally, the way the game is structured in a sort of non-linear way really helps.
Gameplay-wise, I think that DOS2's combat is a ton of fun. from the very beginning I had a lot of fun playing as a rogue and my mages got really strong as I found new spells for them. Fighter was probably the most underwhelming class of me, but I'm pretty sure it's mainly because I built it "wrong". The elemental and surface system really makes for a chaotic, but also strategic experience. Altough, I will say that the game was pretty difficult, for me at least. I played on normal and some encounters were really hard or annoying (the black pit fight with all the oil monsters comes to mind) and it could be a bit frustrating. However, it was surprisingly fun to cheese some of these annoying or hard encounters, and it never really felt like I was cheating because that's just how the game works, it just lets you break the rule and play how you want and I think that's really cool. What I also love about this game, just like BG3, is that every level matter. I'm used to games letting you level up to level 50, 80 or even higher, but each level isn't really that meaningful since the difference between each level is generally pretty small, but in this game, I was level 20 when I rolled the credits, and I did most of the side content, I believe. Every level up is really significant and makes you feel a lot stronger. The build variety present in this game is also really crazy, I personally went with a pretty simple party of a rogue, tank/fighter, Fire/earth mage and a water/air mage, but I've seen the sheer amount of crazy build you can do and it honestly seems like a ton of fun to try out, This is certainly one of the best turn based combat system I've ever experienced.
The one thing I liked the least about the game was the last boss/encounter. You have two choices right before the fight and depending on what you choose, you either make the final fight way too chaotic and hard (well at least in my case) or stupidly easy, which makes the ending a bit underwhelming.
The ending in itself was alright I'd say, nothing too crazy, but it was nice to talk one last time with my party and seeing some of the results of my choices and actions I've made throughout the game.
After coming back from Baldur's Gate 3, I honestly expected DOS2 to feel like a downgrade, but I was pleasantly surprised, the game is still phenomenal. Even if it doesn't have the nice and pretty cutscenes/dialogues of Larian's most recent game, the game manages to captivate me with its good writing and voice acting. The combat system, while similar, is its own thing which I enjoy just as much as BG3's adaptation of 5e DnD.
Graphically, I think the game looks beautiful, even to this day. It was made in the same engine as Baldur's Gate 3 and it shows. It may not be as heavily detailed and realistic looking as the latter, but I personally love how this game is stylised. The lighting is also really nice, nothing more to say on that front.
In conclusion, I think Divinity Original Sin II is probably one of my favorite RPGs (might be recency bias, we'll see). It really goes to show how much love and passion Larian Studios put into their games because they're really is nothing like these games. I had an absolute blast during my 100-ish hours with this gem.
For context, I played the game in 2022 with a friend for a couple of hours but we eventually dropped it. I came back to the game and started a solo campaign in July 2023 because Baldur's Gate 3's imminent release made me want to give DOS2 another shot. I played up to around 3/4 of Act 2 until BG3 came out, I then dropped DOS2 to play BG. I wasn't sure if I would come back to DOS2 since it can be a bit hard for me to go back right in the middle of a huge RPG after some time away. But I did and I got back into the swing of things in no time, even after 4 months.
I was honestly really surprised by this game's narrative, but to be fair, I think my initial expectations where a bit low. Even then, the writing of the game is simply amazing and pretty funny ! Even though there is a lot of reading/dialogue in this game (I personally don't really mind game with a lot of reading or dialogue, and quite enjoy them, but I know it's not for everyone), almost all of it is voice acted, which made the whole thing a bit more "fun" to go through, The voice acting especially helped since there's not a lot of animations nor close ups for dialogue or story moments (except some of the major ones). I found the lore of the game's universe to be really interesting, I liked learning more about the races, their relations to one another and their culture as well as learning about the origin of the world and the gods.
The companions I had with me during the entirety of my playthrough were Fane, the Red Prince and Lohse. I liked all three of them, even if I thought that the Red Prince was initially the least interesting. I still liked seeing how he evolved throughout the story just like the other two, and I always enjoy some sass. I would've like to see more interactions between party members, or even just more dialogue between my character and my companions. At least Baldur's Gate 3 is a step in the right direction on this aspect. Each of these character's quests were pretty good and I especially liked their act 4 quests since they felt really different from each other and some even had their own unique environments, which I thought was neat. Fane and Lohse were definitely my favorites, their voice actors did an amazing job portraying them and gave these characters a lot of charm, their story and development were also really well written and fun to go through. Although I will say that the romance aspect of the game felt a bit tacked on and could've been fleshed out a lot more, it's not necessarily bad, but it could've been better (And it did become way better in Larian's most recent game)
All 4 acts of the game were really solid in my opinion. Act 3 is really short compared to all of the other, but it's honestly welcomed after going through the second, and by far the longest Act of the game. Some may also say that Act 4 could have more content, but honestly I think that after going through the 3 previous acts, I can appreciate the fact that it's not as massive as Act 2, because I think I would've been a bit tired or overwhelmed by even more content. And honestly Act 4 is still pretty beefy, probably comparable to the first act of the game. Speaking of which, the first is also a lot of fun to go through and honestly surprised me by the sheer amount of content it had despite the size of the map, and also when considering it's technically a "tutorial" or an introduction to the game. It may look like i'm complaining about Act 2's length, but it probably still is my favorite of the bunch, in part because of the sheer amount of content it has, and the fact that none of it feels like filler ! The town of Driftwood was a great hub with a lot of repeating NPCs' dialogue I could never forget even if I tried ("keeping it together Bree?"). It's also in this act that you go through the most growth and getting stronger felt really satisfying. Every act is a bit overwhelming at first, because you don't really know where to start, but every time I started going through them very naturally, the way the game is structured in a sort of non-linear way really helps.
Gameplay-wise, I think that DOS2's combat is a ton of fun. from the very beginning I had a lot of fun playing as a rogue and my mages got really strong as I found new spells for them. Fighter was probably the most underwhelming class of me, but I'm pretty sure it's mainly because I built it "wrong". The elemental and surface system really makes for a chaotic, but also strategic experience. Altough, I will say that the game was pretty difficult, for me at least. I played on normal and some encounters were really hard or annoying (the black pit fight with all the oil monsters comes to mind) and it could be a bit frustrating. However, it was surprisingly fun to cheese some of these annoying or hard encounters, and it never really felt like I was cheating because that's just how the game works, it just lets you break the rule and play how you want and I think that's really cool. What I also love about this game, just like BG3, is that every level matter. I'm used to games letting you level up to level 50, 80 or even higher, but each level isn't really that meaningful since the difference between each level is generally pretty small, but in this game, I was level 20 when I rolled the credits, and I did most of the side content, I believe. Every level up is really significant and makes you feel a lot stronger. The build variety present in this game is also really crazy, I personally went with a pretty simple party of a rogue, tank/fighter, Fire/earth mage and a water/air mage, but I've seen the sheer amount of crazy build you can do and it honestly seems like a ton of fun to try out, This is certainly one of the best turn based combat system I've ever experienced.
The one thing I liked the least about the game was the last boss/encounter. You have two choices right before the fight and depending on what you choose, you either make the final fight way too chaotic and hard (well at least in my case) or stupidly easy, which makes the ending a bit underwhelming.
The ending in itself was alright I'd say, nothing too crazy, but it was nice to talk one last time with my party and seeing some of the results of my choices and actions I've made throughout the game.
After coming back from Baldur's Gate 3, I honestly expected DOS2 to feel like a downgrade, but I was pleasantly surprised, the game is still phenomenal. Even if it doesn't have the nice and pretty cutscenes/dialogues of Larian's most recent game, the game manages to captivate me with its good writing and voice acting. The combat system, while similar, is its own thing which I enjoy just as much as BG3's adaptation of 5e DnD.
Graphically, I think the game looks beautiful, even to this day. It was made in the same engine as Baldur's Gate 3 and it shows. It may not be as heavily detailed and realistic looking as the latter, but I personally love how this game is stylised. The lighting is also really nice, nothing more to say on that front.
In conclusion, I think Divinity Original Sin II is probably one of my favorite RPGs (might be recency bias, we'll see). It really goes to show how much love and passion Larian Studios put into their games because they're really is nothing like these games. I had an absolute blast during my 100-ish hours with this gem.