Divine Divinity

I have owned a disc version of this game for quite a while, and I'm glad to see it here on GOG for others to enjoy who may have missed it when it first came out. I would like to respectfully disagree with some of the reviews that compare this game with the mighty Diablo, because other then sharing the isometric world view, they are nothing alike. This game is a story focused, deep, free world RPG. There is a main quest, but its up to you to follow it or not. Hundreds of side quests, NPCs, places to go, things to discover. There is a fast travel system that is quite unique involving teleportation stones. You choose from male and female versions of three base classes, but after that the entire skill tree of all classes is open to you to use. Want to be a spell slinging, axe wielding, rogue in full plate armor? Check. Everything in the world is able to be interacted with, picked up, stolen, or looted. See a table in a tavern? You can pick up every cup and plate on it. You can pick locks, steal out of peoples homes, move around boxes, chairs, drop things in to the world... unlimited world interaction. To wrap this review up, its a fantastic open world RPG. If your looking for a Diablo type game however, this is not it. Check out Sacred Gold for something like that. This is more like Morrowind, in an isometric view. Freedom, and choice are the rules here, both in the gameworld and in character building. If that sounds interesting, then you owe it to yourself to pick this game up. Its a very overlooked and fantastic RPG. I hope my fellow GOG'ers enjoy this one as much as I have over the years.

Divine divinity is not Diablo. It is not "frustration free gaming". But it has this huge world to explore and really lets you play your way. Of course, it also won't stop you from dying your way, but that is just part of the exploration of the world. It may not be as structured or streamlined as Diablo. But it offers something like freedom. It took a while, but after spending some hours with Divine Divinity it really grew on me. And it is LONG! I spent something like fifty hours with this game and thought to be near the end, when suddenly I entered the second map that was just as vast and interesting as the first one. Really, gotta love it!

I often find myself stuck between two worlds when it comes to RPGs; I enjoy the character building, deep storylines, and numerous side quests found in games like Baldur's Gate, but I find the combat to be stiff and slow. And, while I enjoy the fast-paced combat of games like Diablo and Sacred, I usually end up getting bored by the otherwise shallow gameplay very quickly. So it was with delight that I dove into Divine Divinity, which cleverly combined the best of both ends of the spectrum. The game starts with a character selection screen that appears, at first glance, to come straight from the Diablo side of it's family tree, but that proves to be misleading. You choose to play as a male or female warrior, wizard or survivor (rogue) character, so I assumed that I would end up climbing a skill tree appropriate to each character. That isn't the case though; regardless of which character you choose, you will be able to pick skills from any of the other classes as you see fit. The class you choose determines only your starting stats (high health and low intelligence for the warrior, vise versa for the wizard, with the rogue falling in the middle). It makes the Diablo-style character selection a bit strange since it belies the true depth that you can put into any character. I feel it would have been better off with a Fallout style character creation screen, where you take a generic character and and skills to your liking. But, it doesn't really matter since the system in the game works so well once you understand it. No matter how you build your character though, the game will be difficult, even on the easiest setting. This is mainly because it truly is a game without bumpers; you can totally ignore the main quest if you wish and go adventuring in the woods by yourself. However, you will most likely end up getting yourself in a fix pretty quickly; if you wonder into a forest, the game gives you no indication of it's difficulty. You may find a pile of treasure, or you might run into a platoon of orcs who will tear you apart in seconds. Items are realistically limited also; you will not find a magical two-hand sword of orge mashing just sitting in a crate in some guys barn. In fact, even decent weapons and armor are somewhat difficult to come by until you are well past the first dungeon and town, as most of the better weapons you find there will be beyond your ability to use. I would recommend sticking with the main story for awhile, at least until you get your bearings a bit. The main story is pretty good, too. It will be very familiar to anyone who has any experience with the fantasy genre at all, with dwarves and elves, magic and orcs and all that type of stuff. There is even a friendly white haired, bearded wizard who looks suspiciously like one seen in a certain fantasy novel and film which you may be familiar with. But, it is interesting enough, and it's well told. The writing is very well done and the voice acting is decent, with very little lost in translation from it's original language. Plus, even just going along with the main story you are bound to run into dozens and dozens of cool, rewarding side quests. The graphics are not bad for the time. Outdoor settings are detailed and character animations are good, though I felt that the dungeons where a bit generic and had a randomly-generated look to them. Colors are drab and washed out, akin to the color scheme found in Diablo 2. I like it, as it makes the world seem sort of grimy and realistic, but people who are fond of World of Warcraft's bright, cartoony graphics may find the game to look a bit muddy and depressing. The GOG version of the game installed easily on my computer, but it has crashed on me twice. Not often enough to complain about, but i would recommend saving often just to be safe. All in all, Divine Divinity is a very fun and unique RPG experience, more than worth the price GOG is asking for it. Buy it, so long as you don't mind losing weeks of your life immersed in a brilliant game.

I first played this game several years ago. I thought it was a great game, yet I stopped playing it after I entered the massive world (over the bridge). Basically, I didn't have a clue what to do.. Too much freedom for me to handle? Possibly.. A couple of years later, I decided to give it another try. I ran around in that huge open world, slowly understanding the map, the locations, etc. After I started to understand this, the game wouldn't let me go anymore. Once you cross that first bridge, prepare for an amazingly detailed world filled with interesting characters, innovative quests and much, much more. Try it! You will not regret it. And please take my advice: Don't give up at the start, you will be rewarded greatly afterwards!