Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition (PS4/XBOne/PC)

[Zen Monkey]

This intelligent and lovingly crafted adventure game reminds me of Baldur's Gate in many ways. It has an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons vibe to it, albeit with the wit and humour of the Discworld novels.

Graphics are great, not in-your-face-amazing, but everything is very well drawn, looks good and has a certain charm to it. The effects (fire, rain, magic) are very well done, and everything runs at a solid 30fps. Voice acting, music and sound effects are all excellent and really stand out. Gameplay is very deep and surprisingly cerebral. Don't expect to progress by just mashing the attack button. Includes online multiplayer and local splitscreen.

The only negatives I can think of is the width and breadth of things to do and places to go is overwhelming, furthermore the menu and inventory system seem a little clumsy.

I'm only 6 or 7 hours into the game (which is supposedly 100+ hours long) so very early days, but I'm very much impressed by it and can see myself playing this for months to come.

But enough of what I think, pictures say a thousand words:

[Golgo]

Thanks for first imps. I have this and have been meaning to get into it but got sidetracked with Bloodborne, which means I'm now fancying something a little less demanding in terms of difficulty and RPG menu shananigans ... :/

[Zen Monkey]

It is a really good game, and the more I play it the more I like it.

If you're in the mood for something less demanding however then I'd hold off playing it for a while as even classic mode (which is the default/normal difficulty setting) is tough going. Saying that, I'm a long time console gamer so am overly used to having my hand held and certainly not used to the depth of complexity of PC roleplaying games, so maybe you'll have an easier time of it.

Another thing I'll say is it's pretty slow going for the first few hours. Consequently it can seem pretty boring. But once you realise what kind of game it is and, instead of waiting for things to happen, simply begin appreciating meeting NPCs and crafting and experimenting with combat and magic then it becomes much more enjoyable. It's a game to play slow, soak up the atmophere, and savour.

[Zen Monkey]

Patch 1.04 was released for the PS4 version yesterday, which:

- Added a feature that allows equipping items from other party members' inventories.
- Added a party gold sharing feature. This allows for a shared gold pool between all controlled party members.
- Added several tutorials and tooltips.
- Improved the default audio levels and fixed audio issues with dialogs.
- Improvements to balancing and usability.
- Several minor bug fixes to the interface.
- Fixed several story related issues. These fixes are available via new game only.
- Fixed a possible crash in Luculla Forest.
- Fixed a possible crash related to pickpocketing.

Full list of fixes here.

Sunk a shedload of hours into this now and it puts most rpgs to shame. So much depth and humour and dollops of that thing that so few games today exude - character. One of the best PS4 games. Up there with Bloodborne.

[Zen Monkey]

Completed this now. Brilliant game. And the best RPG I've played in a long, long time. Once you get your head around the game's scope, open-ended nature, and freedom it affords (some of which can be pretty daunting), it almost feels like a sandbox game. Need a key from an NPC? You could complete the quest he set you. You could murder him, loot the key from his corpse, and deal with whatever consequences come your way. Or maybe you could pickpocket the key. It's that kinda game. Can't recommend it highly enough.

[Atticus]

Is this game designed for solo play too?

[Zen Monkey]

Yeah. It can be played solo. That's how I played it. But it also has split screen co-op, and online co-op, for those who don't like gaming alone.

[Atticus]

Cheers for that, I might take a punt (when the pile of shame whittles down a bit more)