Completed the main game (Ego Draconis) + DLC (Flames of Vengeance), with all side quests. Character was Female Ranger + some skills from other classes. The review contains no story spoilers.
Pros:
+ Writing and humor
The game manages to keep up the high level of writing and humor set in previous two games. All dialogues are written in the way that manages to balance seriousness and humor, and makes you both engulf in the story and then make you laugh when needed, The characters are not bland, each having their problems and personality.
+ Story
The story initially seems like a classical "you are the chosen one and only you can prevent the bad guy from winning" type of story. However, as the story progresses, you face many challenges and twists, making you sometimes feel wary and unsure, and sometimes you feel like a higher being that obliterates its enemies. Some perceive ending of Ego Draconis as disappointing, although I liked it. The add-on Flames of Vengeance of course goes through a safer route, but I didn't find it as exciting.
+ Side quests
The side quests are not mandatory of course, but completing them all feels necessary to understand and perceive the true nature and atmosphere of Divinity games. They are done very creatively, and in my opinion much surpass the ones in likes of Skyrim (a la go to the arrow on the map, kill the highlighted enemy and go back), You will need to properly read dialogues, ask around people, read books and notes, use your memory and creativeness in order to solve many mysteries that lay in those quests.
+ Soundtrack and sounds
The soundtrack by Kirill Pokrovsky is just as incredible as in previous games. He truly managed to make something so beautiful that fits the game and gives it such an incredible atmosphere.
Neutral:
= Gameplay
Unlike the previous two games, which were 2D isometric games similar to Diablo, this one is a third person ARPG. It is definitely a different approach to the Divinity series. but not necessarily a bad one. Obviously, being able to roll and jump, look up and down and rotate your camera adds to the immersion, but it also kind of gives a different feel of the game, and I am not sure if this style fits better than previous one.
= Progression
As in previous games, you complete quests and slay enemies and get experience points to level up your character. If your level is lower that enemies', you get more EXP, if yours is higher, you get reduced EXP, or none at all. Similarly, for every level you get attribute points and a skill point. Enemies mostly do not respawn (except in the add-on), but them respawning would not really be of use for the reasons above. However, unlike in previous games, most enemies do not drop items, and given that there are not that many treasure chests, your selection of items is much smaller than in previous games, where you could hoard hundreds of items.
The aforementioned system removes the need to grind, which I like, but also limits the player a bit, and given how those limited items drop based on random values, you will have to save scum in order to get a desirable item. Or don't, because the dropped item will be mostly useless anyway.
= Enemies
The enemies are not that diverse, but diverse enough to not get bored. Typically, you get a mage enemy, two or three ranger enemies, and some melee enemies, which have very similar stats, and don't belong to that class strictly. Mages can throw a projectile, and then teleport and attack with melee weapon for example. For some reason mages get a hitscan spell that doesn't damage you a lot, but interrupts and stuns you a little, allowing you to get encircled and almost killed. Also some enemies get a Polymorph spell and a Stun Arrow, so that can be annoying, because there are typically many of them and one of you, so you can die easily if unprepared. But the enemies feel the same with different skins - you can imagine Black Ring humans are the same as skeletons, that just look different, but they have similar abilities.
= Game world
Apparently the game world was cut a bit during development, and because of that, you get the feeling that the game is not the original vision of developers, and how some areas should have been more than what they are. Nonetheless, I think that the current regions are not too big to get lost and not too small to get bored, just good enough for exploring.
Cons:
- Poor optimization for modern PCs
Unfortunately, if you just download the latest Steam version of the game, you will face many issues and terrible stutters. There is a patch, however, that fixes most of them, and having installed it, the game ran at 120 fps without any issues, besides two or three crashes during my 35 hour playthrough.
- Difficulty curve
Since I have played as ranger, the game was easier, because other classes are less powerful. However, somewhere at the middle of the game, the enemies abruptly became much stronger than me, so I died quite a bit, and had to save-load a lot, and had to optimize my build and get the best equipment possible to even barely get through. Often times I found myself dying very fast, while I dealt miserable damage. However, at about 80% of the game, having unlocked Ranger Strength, Way of the Ranger and critical hits passive ability, the game became easy again and I dealt thousands of damage, so that even bosses died from several hits.
- Console-like feel
The game was made for Xbox as well, but the PC version has a bit of console-like feel. With how the abilities work, how you move in game and how you automatically aim at enemies and switch by a button - it all feels very unnatural on PC with mouse and keyboard. Luckily, the interface and inventory is not as bad as in Skyrim, so I can't complain much here.
Overall, the game is incredible, and easily became on of my most favourite games of all time despite its minor flaws. It is a worthy continuation of Divinity series, and should be played even by those who don't know anything about Divinity.
Pros:
+ Writing and humor
The game manages to keep up the high level of writing and humor set in previous two games. All dialogues are written in the way that manages to balance seriousness and humor, and makes you both engulf in the story and then make you laugh when needed, The characters are not bland, each having their problems and personality.
+ Story
The story initially seems like a classical "you are the chosen one and only you can prevent the bad guy from winning" type of story. However, as the story progresses, you face many challenges and twists, making you sometimes feel wary and unsure, and sometimes you feel like a higher being that obliterates its enemies. Some perceive ending of Ego Draconis as disappointing, although I liked it. The add-on Flames of Vengeance of course goes through a safer route, but I didn't find it as exciting.
+ Side quests
The side quests are not mandatory of course, but completing them all feels necessary to understand and perceive the true nature and atmosphere of Divinity games. They are done very creatively, and in my opinion much surpass the ones in likes of Skyrim (a la go to the arrow on the map, kill the highlighted enemy and go back), You will need to properly read dialogues, ask around people, read books and notes, use your memory and creativeness in order to solve many mysteries that lay in those quests.
+ Soundtrack and sounds
The soundtrack by Kirill Pokrovsky is just as incredible as in previous games. He truly managed to make something so beautiful that fits the game and gives it such an incredible atmosphere.
Neutral:
= Gameplay
Unlike the previous two games, which were 2D isometric games similar to Diablo, this one is a third person ARPG. It is definitely a different approach to the Divinity series. but not necessarily a bad one. Obviously, being able to roll and jump, look up and down and rotate your camera adds to the immersion, but it also kind of gives a different feel of the game, and I am not sure if this style fits better than previous one.
= Progression
As in previous games, you complete quests and slay enemies and get experience points to level up your character. If your level is lower that enemies', you get more EXP, if yours is higher, you get reduced EXP, or none at all. Similarly, for every level you get attribute points and a skill point. Enemies mostly do not respawn (except in the add-on), but them respawning would not really be of use for the reasons above. However, unlike in previous games, most enemies do not drop items, and given that there are not that many treasure chests, your selection of items is much smaller than in previous games, where you could hoard hundreds of items.
The aforementioned system removes the need to grind, which I like, but also limits the player a bit, and given how those limited items drop based on random values, you will have to save scum in order to get a desirable item. Or don't, because the dropped item will be mostly useless anyway.
= Enemies
The enemies are not that diverse, but diverse enough to not get bored. Typically, you get a mage enemy, two or three ranger enemies, and some melee enemies, which have very similar stats, and don't belong to that class strictly. Mages can throw a projectile, and then teleport and attack with melee weapon for example. For some reason mages get a hitscan spell that doesn't damage you a lot, but interrupts and stuns you a little, allowing you to get encircled and almost killed. Also some enemies get a Polymorph spell and a Stun Arrow, so that can be annoying, because there are typically many of them and one of you, so you can die easily if unprepared. But the enemies feel the same with different skins - you can imagine Black Ring humans are the same as skeletons, that just look different, but they have similar abilities.
= Game world
Apparently the game world was cut a bit during development, and because of that, you get the feeling that the game is not the original vision of developers, and how some areas should have been more than what they are. Nonetheless, I think that the current regions are not too big to get lost and not too small to get bored, just good enough for exploring.
Cons:
- Poor optimization for modern PCs
Unfortunately, if you just download the latest Steam version of the game, you will face many issues and terrible stutters. There is a patch, however, that fixes most of them, and having installed it, the game ran at 120 fps without any issues, besides two or three crashes during my 35 hour playthrough.
- Difficulty curve
Since I have played as ranger, the game was easier, because other classes are less powerful. However, somewhere at the middle of the game, the enemies abruptly became much stronger than me, so I died quite a bit, and had to save-load a lot, and had to optimize my build and get the best equipment possible to even barely get through. Often times I found myself dying very fast, while I dealt miserable damage. However, at about 80% of the game, having unlocked Ranger Strength, Way of the Ranger and critical hits passive ability, the game became easy again and I dealt thousands of damage, so that even bosses died from several hits.
- Console-like feel
The game was made for Xbox as well, but the PC version has a bit of console-like feel. With how the abilities work, how you move in game and how you automatically aim at enemies and switch by a button - it all feels very unnatural on PC with mouse and keyboard. Luckily, the interface and inventory is not as bad as in Skyrim, so I can't complain much here.
Overall, the game is incredible, and easily became on of my most favourite games of all time despite its minor flaws. It is a worthy continuation of Divinity series, and should be played even by those who don't know anything about Divinity.