Divinity: Original Sin

Despite the name, we will see little original in this game. The developers, Larian Studios, seem to have been more concerned with digging into the past and arousing nostalgia. Divinity: Original Sin is the kind of game one would expect when Overhaul Games was preparing an upgraded version of Baldur's Gate from a few years back, and it gives you the same experiences as Dungeons & Dragons adaptations with updated graphics and more modern systems. . It's all here: zenith perspective that allows you to see your characters and the world as small figures moving on a board, turn-based combat and menus that indicate that it takes more skill to play than simply clubbing a sword at enemy. For those who have a fond memory of those old RPGs, Divinity: Original Sin, only these elements will catch your eye.

Fortunately, there is much more to it than that. For example, we have the story of two "Fountain Hunters" (the name given here to the origin of magic) who hunt down and capture terrible beasts and demons. In other RPGs like Skyrim or Mass Effect, the plot of saving the world does not usually marry very well with other types of activities, but here it has been tried to make everything more balanced and even to have moments with a sense of humor . The narrative mastery of other games may not be achieved, such as Planescape: Torment, but the writers of Divinity: Original Sin are competent enough to make everything go smoothly.

Much of the appeal of Divinity: Original Sin's missions is the treatment they have been given since Larian, peppering them with a sense of humor and veiled references to pop culture, as well as including small contextual mini-games in the same texts, which are almost always solved through the ancient "stone-paper-scissors" system. These games add fun while the two main characters participate in them, fun that increases in cooperative mode and expands the possibilities of gameplay beyond combat and passing a handful of objects.

The missions themselves are beautifully written adventures featuring themes like old blood debts or racism. Will you help an elf whose family has been killed by orcs destroy the descendants of that tribe of creatures, will you try to talk to them or trick them into feigning the death of the orc and stealing an amulet to prove that you have killed it? Divinity: Original Sin missions are full of these kinds of moral choices and almost all of them had a couple of exits that really made me feel like I was in control of the characters' fates.

But it is in combat that Divinity: Original Sin breaks free of that aura of tradition and finds its identity. There is a bit of Magicka in the way she uses spells and item combinations to achieve devastating effects , but Larian has made it possible for all fights to do crowd control and take advantage of terrain features. they require some thoughtful exercise, even at the simplest level of difficulty. What I did with the rain is just the simplest example of what can be done. In later engagements there are challenges that force you to dispel a poison cloud with one fire spell and then quench the flames with another water spell. Sometimes we can get shot in the butt, like when I accidentally discovered that it is a bad idea to throw electricity at an enemy who is standing in a puddle ... that also spread under my feet. And not only that, but all enemies can use these tricks to their advantage. It is a smart way to introduce tactics and make all matches memorable.

The first ten hours of this combat system involved constant learning, ranging from using fire magic to burn closed doors, rather than spending weapons hitting them. There's a tutorial that teaches you the basics, but the rest of Divinity: Original Sin is full of trial-and-error examples and figuring things out on your own in true Dark Souls style. This has its downside, because it is also capable of creating some situations that ruined the fun, situations that must be considered. Sometimes the key that was needed in one mission is obtained in another, and the mission journal rarely mentions these kinds of things. The strange inventory is confusing and requires organization every two by three and passing items from one character to another. At least twice I didn't realize that I already had an item needed for a quest because the character that had it wasn't actively participating in the conversation. When your group has the object it asks about, like the Holy Grail, one would believe that the one who has it would at least say it. Sometimes Divinity: Original Sin leaves you feeling like you've been wasting time.

But at the same time I liked the feeling that they didn't give me everything chewed. When I discovered that you can loot an entire house by having one of your characters distract their owner while the other one fills his pockets, it was fantastic. Actually, aside from inventory issues and the occasional wandering clue as to what to do next, the challenge of learning Divinity: Original Sin shapes is a lot of your fun. It forced me to think about my actions and choices , which more than we can say about RPGs today. The option to "unlearn" a skill does not appear until the game is really started, so I had to stop and start several times until I found the two hunters who were better prepared for all the challenges that awaited us.

Even though Divinity: Original Sin is out now, there are a few issues that Larian is still dealing with, such as the lack of named followers and voices other than the warrior and wizard you pick up in the first city. But we are talking about one of those games that will probably win the public's favors if only for the possibility of creating your own adventures thanks to a whole set of tools for modders . But it is a point in favor that these tools do not feel like something that is essential for Divinity: Original Sin, as it happens with other RPGs.