Gaming Nexus has a short review of The Divinity Anthology, with a score of 8.5/10. On the included Developer's Mode for D2:

My personal favorite, however, is the “Developer's Mode”.  Turn it on and you have access to tool that allows you to do things like add arbitrary skill levels and experience points, equip any item in the game, teleport to any location, and all sorts of other things.  Basically, the sort of thing that cheats allow one to do in other games.  It is so cool.  There are two types of RPG'ers – ones who don't cheat, and ones who do.  I love to cheat.  Every game should have cheats.  I don't care if they turn off achievements when used.  An RPG has two points – action and story.  If I can't get to the end of the story because of some stupid twitchy trick I can't get it is the game that's a failure, not me.  It would be like buying a book and finding out that you won't get the last 50 pages until you win an MMA bout.  Finally, a game that's with me on this one.

In summary, “Divinity II: Developer's Cut”.  If you have already played the previous installments the only reason to buy it would be for the additional, making-of style materials.  If you haven't played it and are looking for an RPG fix until the really good Christmas games come out, this will do.            

An English PC retail version of Larian's Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga is available in the UK as of today. Since mail order is strong in the UK it should be relatively easy to get your hands on a retail version now, if you still prefer boxed to digital.

Thanks, Dark Savant!

That was fast...Larian has released the DRM-removal patch for Dragon Knight Saga - it's a drop-in .exe replacement and make sure you pay attention to details (v1.4.9.70 required).

From Lar on the Divinity II forums:

It's been promised for quite some time and it took us a lot of effort to convince people, but we finally received the greenlight to release a community patch that removes Securom protection from DKS, including the Steam version. It might take us a couple of days to get everything sorted out and prepare the patch, but it should be here very soon.

Larian announces the Dragon Knight Saga is now available on OnLive (the stream-it-over-the-'net service), including a free demo if you want to take it for a spin.

Lar writes they have started initial discussions about possibly removing the DRM from Dragon Knight Saga:

As it happens, the discussion on this was started today. We need to get a green light from our publishers for this, but from the first sounds they're not against it. If they give us the go, it'll take us some time to prepare it, but eventually it should lead to a no-DRM patch being released. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks, Alrik.

Focus sent in this press release that announces The Dragon Knight Saga is now available in Europe through Xbox Live:

Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga now available on European Xbox LIVE

Released in November on Xbox 360 and PC, Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga, offers original role-playing-game Ego Draconis fully remastered & the brand new adventure Flames of Vengeance. With nearly 100 hours of gameplay, two epic adventures, and hundreds of quests, Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga has attracted a legion of RPG fans and established itself as one of the surprises of the year. For all those who missed this gem from Larian studio, the game is now available on the European Xbox LIVE. This is the perfect opportunity for those not going on summer vacation, to afford themselves a long and exciting adventure in the lands of Rivellon.

The Dragon Knight Saga is now available during this weekend with a 50% discount from steam, which results in a price of $19.99.

Larian has spotted the first review of the Dragon Knight Saga for the US X360 release. The score at Just Push Start is 4/5 and here's a snip:

What makes The Dragon Knight Saga a great game is the classic feel it gives off. Comparing Dragon Knight Saga to other RPG titles from the 90s, players can see that Larian Studios did a good job in preserving that classic RPG feel that veteran gamers experienced over a decade ago. The Dragon Knight Saga is no Elder Scrolls game, but it does a pretty good job of delivering a true and unique RPG experience. Throughout the player’s adventure in Rivellon, tons of quests await and deep character customizations are to be expected.

Larian Studios announce that the Xbox360 version of the Dragon Knight Saga is now available in stores in North America .If you want to know what the contents is of this physical distribution you can watch the video on unpacking it, which shows it has the game, a user manual, a 52 page artbook and the soundtrack.

I imagine most of our readers have looked at The Dragon Knight Saga if they are interested but if you need to see more gameplay before buying the imminent NA X360 release, Atlus has organised some live stream demos from April 6-8.

Thanks, Alrik.

Larian has released an X360 demo of the Dragon Knight Saga in anticipation of the NA release in a couple of weeks:

Seen talk of Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga and curious to try it out for yourself? Or perhaps you played the original Ego Draconis and you’re excited to see the completely redone graphics engine and overhauled user interface?

You’re in luck! The Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga U.S. demo has now gone live and is available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace! Experience the remastered version of the Divinity II Saga and get a taste for the full adventure by visiting Xbox LIVE Marketplace and downloading the free demo for Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga today!

Coming to North-America for Xbox360 on April 12!

Larian is pointing out a couple of Dragon Knight Saga reviews. The first is at Manapool, where the score is 8.8/10:

It came as a bit of a surprise to me, but Divinity 2 is one of the best RPGs I’ve played for a while. It certainly stands head and shoulders above Fallout: New Vegas and I can’t remember any other RPGs recently that came close to the level of entertainment that Divinity 2 managed to deliver. The Dragon Knight Saga combines a re-mastered ‘Ergo Draconis’ with the ‘Flames of Vengeance’ add-on and makes it one smooth experience. The game looks, feels and plays brilliantly and should easily keep you occupied for a good 60-100 hours, depending on how quickly you rush through it. The game can be purchased for £29.99 on Steam, or £29.95 on Gamers Gate, which is worth it if you enjoy this sort of game. Otherwise, grab it at the first opportunity that they offer it on sale again – as it’s a must-buy for any fan of RPGs.

...and GameGavel, with a rating of 'B':

In closing, I have to say that I enjoyed Divinity II- Dragon Knight Saga quite a bit more than most other titles I played last year. Lush and beautiful level design, well written story, and a great combat engine make this a title well worth its price. I highly recommend to anyone who plays RPG’s to pick this one up as soon as possible. Its deep and engrossing plot will keep you entertained for quite a while, and I cannot stress how much fun it is to destroy an entire military base as a giant flying fire breathing lizard. Loot hounds like myself will find no end to the plunder that can be plucked from chests and dungeon crawling. Pick this one up and take the dragon for a spin.

Somewhat related, Larian's Lyn is pointing out a fan's complete video walkthrough series for Flames of Vengeance.

If you preorder the NA X360 release of the Dragon Knight Saga from participating retailers you'll get some nice additions: a soundtrack disc and a 52-page art book; not bad for $39.99.  Head to their forums for the full details.

Are console patches called "title updates" to make them sound better?  Anyway, the X360 version of DKS has been updated:

Just log into Xbox Live and you'll be prompted for your update. The update fixes the following:

-Fix: the game no longer freezes during the Sassan summoning scene
-Fix: NPC characters can no longer disappear
-Fix: various cut-scene/dialog issues have been addressed
-Fix: various story and gameplay/balancing issues have been addressed
-Fix: no longer able to start a new game before the character model is loaded in
-Feature: by popular demand, a Nightmare difficulty mode has been added to provide players with the ultimate challenge!

Larian, Focus and Atlus have announced a Divinity II competition to celebrate the upcoming NA console release.  From the Larian forums:

Launch of Divinity II competition!
Win exclusive prizes by participating to the competition organized by GamesMediaPro

We are very pleased to announce that GamesMediaPro has come together with the games developers Larian, as well as Focus Home Interactive and US publishers Atlus to offer a bumper harvest of gaming goodies in an exclusive prize competition.

So you have until the 11st of February to visit GamesMediaPro website, answer a few questions, and take the chance to win 5 digital versions of Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga as well as 10 exclusive CDs of soundtracks from the game.

Good luck to everyone!

Visit GamesMediaPro for more information

Thanks, Alrik!

Larian has announced a publishing deal with Atlus to bring The Dragon Knight Saga X360 version to NA in April:

Atlus is proud to announce their partnership with Focus Home Interactive and Larian Studios in bringing Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga for Xbox 360 to North America!

Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga includes a fully remastered version of the original adventure, Ego Draconis, plus Flames of Vengeance, which brings the Divinity II story to a thrilling conclusion, offering numerous new quests to complete, new monsters to fight, and new weapons and armor to collect!

Release Date: Look for it in stores April 12, 2011!

GameMediaPro reviewed Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga and found it worthy of a 10.

The game is played through at a quite leisurely pace that will lull a lot of gamers into a false sense of security as they strap on their backpack and sword and traipse off across the open plains in search of adventure and maidens to rescue, but make sure that you save often during your time in Rivellon as the quests main storyline picks up the pace at an alarming rate after acquainting you with the laws of nature in this gargantuan environment. Treat the meandering opening as more of an introductory tutorial for those gamers who are new to the way of things in Divinity. But be warned all you Draconis virgins out there, ( and if you are new to this stunning series then we do readily advise you to back catalogue this awesome franchise and start at the beginning and work your way through what has to be one of the greatest stories ever told in the RPG genre ), Dragon Knight Saga is role-playing at its finest, it is not an expedition to ‘cutesy-land’ where you are led by giggling minstrels,glowing trails or ruddy-faced devotee’s who fawn over your very existence. This is you and a sword and your wit’s, and that’s it! You want to know where your next objective is? Work it out for yourself. You want to know how to kill the next giant adversary? Then its your job to collate the evidence and piece together your strategy for attack or you will suffer the same fate as the twenty-seven other broken and limbless torso’s that are lying at your foes feet. In essence, it is how role-playing should be…it is the experience of it. The sense of being there and having to overcome and adapt to all manner of trials and tribulations that stand in the way of your ultimate goal and roaring success throughout your realm. If you want to be led by the hand and deliver books and letters to ungrateful peasants all day long then there’s always Fable III for you. If you want to sit in a glitch and stare at every shade of brown known to man then Fallout New Vegas is your baby. If you want some sizzling RPG action that will keep you engrossed for the coming few months then do yourself a favour and go for the educated role players choice: The Dragon Knight Saga. You won’t be disappointed.

The Dragon Knight Saga is available (worldwide) on Direct2Drive for $19.99.  Not sure how long this lasts but a bargain if you haven't already picked it up.

The Dragon Knight Saga has been reviewed at a site called The Gamers Paradise, with a score of 7.5/10.  English clearly isn't the author's first language but they like it quite a bit:

Divinity 2: Ego Draconis can really be said to be of very dedicated gamers. The game is the strict opposite to the contemporary digestible and streamlined games; Ego Draconis requires a significant effort by you, the player. We do not speak of a triple A-title; production values may disappoint the most demanding.

Part of the time you spend on the game will be characterized by confusion, and frustration, above all, if you're anything like me you'll still be able to enjoy the game great. Divinity 2 is namely so packed full of atmosphere and charm that one should be pretty cold and cynical to manage to load down the game for some of its flaws.

The Dragon Knight Saga has hit Steam on a daily deal for $19.99 - this is my personal "surprise of the year" game, so take a look.  Around 20 hours left on this deal, as I write.

A playable demo is now available for the Dragon Knight Saga on both the PC and X360 (the X360 version is Europe only, presumably because of publisher rights).  I've been enjoying the heck out of this, so worth a look if you haven't already got it.

Patch 2 for both DKS and Flames of Vengeance has also been released, primarily fixing the "black screen" issue.

...and Lar comments on the forums that they are just about to sign contracts for the US:

Actually, the contracts for the US are about to be signed and the process for submitting it to Microsoft USA has started I think an announcement will be made beginning of next year on when the game will be released in the US.

There's a beta version of Patch 2 for the Dragon Knight Saga for anyone interested in taking the risk:

Hello,

The following patch is a beta-version of DKS patch 2. The purpose of making it available at this point is to help people who are facing difficulties with The Dragon Knight Saga without having to wait until we finalized testing on it.

So we assume the patch works, and we've tested it on all languages here, but we still need to validate it. Therefore, use of this patch is at your own risk.

http://www.larian.com/dragonknightsaga_support_beta.php

The download on that page will install an auto-updater for The Dragon Knight Saga which will automatically download the latest patch.

You do not need patch 1 to install this. The auto-updater will automatically bring any version up to speed with the latest version. It will also recognize your game language and version.

People who are having trouble with resolutions and black screens since the previous patch, may want to try this one.

If anyone is trying this, please provide us with your experience and comments.

It will not work on Steam installations. We are planning on sending the patch to Steam this week.

Cheers,

FT

Update: will now also install latest German patch (patch 2).

GameBanshee has posted their review of the Dragon Knight Saga.  There's no score as usual for them but the piece is generally positive:

The best part of the expansion pack is the quests, during which you get to do things like rescue a baby from a burning house, assist a chef so he can impress a food critic, and help three men who have been transformed into vegetables. Larian has always had a good eye for detail, and they're good at writing amusing dialogue, and so their quests are fun even when a lot of them involve well-worn objectives like going to a place and finding an item, or going to a place and killing something. As with Ego Draconis, there are also a lot of secret places and hidden objects to find, but because inventory objects now sparkle when they're on the ground, you don't search for keys so much as for buttons and levers. But the concept is the same, and so if you like carefully exploring places for secret prizes, then Flames of Vengeance is a rewarding game.

Less impressive is the combat. Since I couldn't import a character from Ego Draconis, I had to create a brand new level 35 character when I started Flames of Vengeance, and that character was weak to say the least (you don't get a weapon or jewelry or crafting recipes, and the small amount of money you start with isn't nearly enough to cover the losses). So I struggled early in the game, but then after gaining a couple of levels and getting my character squared away, everything got pretty easy, to the point where I never needed to quaff a potion during a fight. Part of the problem is that you receive something like 40 skill books during the course of the campaign, making character development sort of a joke, and the other problem is that combat is just too easy on the default difficulty setting. After playing through the campaign once, I can see why Larian added a "nightmare" difficulty setting in their most recent patch.

I'm a bit surprised to see a positive review of the Dragon Knight Saga at Something Awful, but there you go.  The score is 9/10 and here's a snip:

The writing is consistently terrific, from the genuinely creative quests with multiple solutions to the NPCs which are all hand-crafted and infused with personality. Where other games would have copy + pasted Unclickable Villager A and B a few dozen times, Dragon Knight Saga gives you an actual village, complete with gossipers, philanderers, military deserters, the occasional secret murderer, and even a few normal people.

God is a Geek has reviewed the Dragon Knight Saga, resulting in a solid 8/10.  The reviewer played the X360 version and avoided mages to keep things simple, so don't expect a deep examination:

There are plenty of quests to keep you occupied in Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga, quests that range from the standard, mundane, “go get me X amount of Y” quests to the less mundane “go kill that 1,000 year old, extremely powerful, necromancer”. You can probably imagine which are the most interesting, but that doesn’t mean that the simpler quests don’t have their charm. Some of the character conversations are genuinely amusing and some of the strange stuff the villagers get up to at times is just plain ridiculous, but it all adds to the entertainment value. My only major problem with the way the game works is the saving system, there is an auto save feature but it saves so infrequently that it becomes almost redundant. Using the ‘Save Game’ feature in the start menu is a must for anyone attempting to play the game. There’s nothing more frustrating than charging headfirst into a single enemy only to find he has friends that you didn’t see because there was a rock in the way. In order to continue playing once your characters life has been abruptly ended, you must load a previous save file which, if you were only using the auto save feature, could have been literally hours ago. All those nice quest rewards and experience points you’ve just been gathering? Gone. I speak from experience.

This review at Strategy Informer actually focuses on the differences between DKS and the original Ego Draconis release, rather than looking at it as a whole new game.  The score is 8/10 and here's a quote:

Extra quests have also been added in here and there, some of which seem to be padding but you could also argue that it helps balance out one of the games major problems - choke points. This was probably the single greatest flaw in the game, and in some instances a gamebreaker. For some reason, enemies that were a higher level than you in Ego Draconis would be more powerful than you than one would normally think considering that we're only talking about a couple of levels here.
 
Whenever you entered a new area, the enemies would often be a level or two above what you are, and given the games love of trying to overwhelm you with numbers, this would then create 'chokepoints' - sections of the game which were an incredible slog to get through. Eventually, you would manage to scrape enough experience points together to level up and even the playing field, but it was certainly very annoying to say the least. Thankfully, things have been improved dramatically on that score.

Larian has officially released their Dragon Knight Saga patch:

The following features and fixes are included with this patch:

• Nightmare difficulty mode has been added
• The graphic options have been extended
• A number of balancing changes were included (overpowered enchantments, empty containers)
• The interact button now also takes all items in a container
• Compatibility fixes are present for various graphic cards (black screen problem)
• A system fix was introduced that solves issues like invisible npc's and overpowered enemies
• A number of minor fixes were done

Patches for digital versions are included on the page but some versions (Steam) have their own patching system, obviously.  Note the comment on the page about Windows Vista/7 and fixing graphical issues.

Larian had a false start with the new DKS patch yesterday with some players having trouble switching resolutions and the file getting pulled.  An updated one is available, although Lar says it isn't official yet, so I'll call it a Beta:

Great - thx for the feedback.

If anybody wants to give the updated patch a go (so with fix for the resolution problems in it), you can get it here:

http://www.larian.com/dragonknightsaga_support_forum.php

We're not making it official yet, because we want to hear confirmation from the people who had problems yesterday that all is fine now, but if we don't hear anything bad, we'l make it official tomorrow morning.

Steam versions should be along shortly...

Not yet - Steam has a special patching system. We'll probably upload it to Steam tomorrow, but they'll probably want to verify it so it might take a bit more time before they release it.

A site called Beefjack has reviewed the Dragon Knight Saga, awarding a score of 8.5/10.  Once again, this link comes via the Larian site so take the inherent bias in promoting reviews into account.  A bit on characters:

It’s the believable characters, though, who are mostly responsible for keeping you coming back. A mostly excellent voice cast from every corner of Britain dishes out quests, serves you in trade and threatens you in combat. They are varied in personality and speech, and successfully add to the illusion of this fantasy world. The writing is occasionally oddly patronising but equally occasionally brilliant, and the result is a striking balance which maintains the right tone of drama and light-hearted humour.

RPG Codex caught up with Swen Vincke to discussthe Dragon Knight Saga post-release.  A bit on the RPG-focus of the Flames of Vengeance part:

Having played ED and FoV I had a feeling that with FoV you were pouring more R into your ARPG, considering that the questing/combat ratio was shifted a bit in favor of questing, quests had some choices or multiple solutions, combat areas were intense but rather short and less tedious. Do you plan to continue down this path?

The formula of any Divinity has always been to mix various gameplay styles with one another, and in ED this was no different. You got RPG intensive parts mixed with action intensive parts mixed with the occasional puzzle or platform bit. We thought there was already sufficient action in ED, and that’s how we came to putting a very RPG intensive part in there, which is what we thought was missing there.

To be perfectly honest, we actually wanted to put in another area that featured more action, but during production figured out that it would take us too long, so we cancelled that. One of the things we also did in DKS was make the combat part in the middle shorter, at least for those who rushed through the game, because we felt that for them the action bit might be a bit too much without too much interesting things happening. But in the same breath I have to say that the middle part can be quite rewarding for those that really explore – there’s a lot to be discovered there and I think that the lesser focus on action there encourages that exploration.

As to what we want to do in the future – we have a nifty little plan that we’re putting to execution now, but it’s a bit too soon to talk about it. The team is quite excited about the design, and I hope all the ideas in there will work, but we’re taking some risks with certain things, so I hope they’ll pay off in the end.

Here are four Dragon Knight Saga console-version reviews, courtesy of the Larian site.

• XBOXDynasty.de - 8.4/10
• Gamgea.com - 9/10
• Impulsegamer.com - 8.7/10
• Videogame UK - 8.5/10

In a very short review All About The Games review the Xbox version of The Dragon Knight Saga. Don't want to quote the entire article so here is just a short bit:

While Divinity II: DKS isn't the prettiest game on the Xbox 360, it's certainly one of the best RPGs I have ever played on the console. And to let my inner nerd show, if Fable 3 is Dungeons & Dragons, then Divingity II:DKS is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Special Edition.

Yep, it's just that good. Hats off to Larian Studios, I await your next surprise with baited breath.

Incgamers reviewed The Dragon Knight Saga and awarded it with a solid 9.

There's very little hand-holding from the game. No quest compass. No, 'ok, you've done this, now go directly here' instructions. If, in the course of your travels, you learn that somebody keeps the key to his stash under his pillow it's up to you to find the person's house, and then find his loot. It's the kind of open, free-roaming (albeit limited by the boundaries of each map hub) which more RPGs used to exhibit. Once you've hoovered up a decent list of quests, it's entirely up to you which order you pursue them in. The game won't prevent you from entering an area full of enemies that are too powerful for you to deal with, it'll let you figure out that you're outclassed and should come back later. All the necessary information is at the player's disposal, it's just never spelled out in neon letters. In short, it credits the player with a modicum of intelligence.

Here are a list of reviews fromt he last couple of days of Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga, which we have not reported about yet. There are PC and Xbox360 reviews in English and other languages.

• Now Gamer : 8.2
• My Gamer: 8.8
• Gaming Shogun: No score, but they liked it
• Jeuxactu: 17/20
• Meristation: 8
• Xboxygen: No score, but a positive result
• Made2Game: 8.5
• Power Computer: 8
• Nowgamer: 8.2

I believe reviews up to now have reached a consensus.

Computergames.ro reviewed Divinity II: Dark Knight Saga and gave it a score of 80/100, saying amongst others this:

The direct comparison for DKS is without doubt The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, a similar pack released with mainly the same reasons: solving technical issues, adding new stuff and improvements. Still, I don’t think that DKS sports such huge differences to entice a gamer that already has Ego Draconis to buy the package.

It’s true that the graphics are better, but ultimately these aren’t the point, we want quality gameplay with attractive quests and loot for the more packrat oriented adventurers. Thus, if we consider DKS to be 100%, then about 25% of it is new, including Flames of Vengeance. There are still technical problems, even some that I didn’t encounter in Ego Draconis. And the irony is that back then I had a weaker video card and the game was running much better.

The framerate in Flames of Vengeance can vary wildly as well, from 40+ frames to some 2 or 3 in moments when the game acted like I had 128MB RAM and a Pentium I. A game restart solved the problem for another four, five hours, but this was an ongoing issue, one I didn’t have with Ego Draconis.

and this:

Judged on its own, Flames of Vengeance isn’t that tempting, although the price is decent for an expansion pack. But the Dragon Knight Saga is a very good package, especially for those who didn’t play the original in the first place. You get an improved Ego Draconis with balance tweaks, better graphics and loot, plus the add-on which offers some closure to the story.

Greg Howson gives a very favorably review of Divinity 2: DKS. The game was reviewed on the Xbox 360:

Once you are out in the world you have relative freedom to explore. Venturing off the beaten track almost always rewards the player with a dungeon to loot or a quest to solve. At the very least there will be enemies to defeat and often tough ones too. Divinity 2 doesn't hold back in offering a challenge. Grinding – killing enemies in hefty numbers – is essential to complete some quests. A lack of quest markers or hints is similarly old-school. Many will be put off by this but it is refreshing to find a console game that doesn't treat you like the Xbox 360 is your first experience of gaming.

 

The lack of handholding generally will make you despair or smile, probably depending on your age. Older gamers will enjoy a nostalgic – if occasionally painful – trip down memory lane as regular saves are needed to avoid losing progression. This is a long way from the glowing trails and forgiving combat of the Fable games. Generally though it works. There are some overly obscure objectives at times but finally finding a hidden tower in a valley feels much more satisfying than simply following a breadcrumb trail.

 

.........

 

Downsides? Not least the lengthy loading times that occur as you leave houses and dungeons. 30 seconds is not unusual. The plot is hardly a classic too. Despite this there is much to love here. Traditional it may be but Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga is an excellent RPG that is up there with the very best on the Xbox 360.

Here's a couple of new Dragon Knight Saga reviews and below, news that the retail version has sold out in the UK.

First, Resolution Magazine scores 8/10 in their critique:

AFTER THIRTY minutes with Divinity II it’s easy to conclude that it shouldn’t work. After all, video gaming provides such an infinite scope for storytelling, so why do so many resort to ‘ye old adventure?’ “Developers who peddle such traditional RPG claptrap in the year 2010 are outright lazy”, you’ll cry! And yet, for all its goblin slaying, Divinity II manages to do something magical, appealing to the inner child before unleashing it on a fantasy world full of charm.

...and 9/10 at Neoseeker:

Divinity II won't be remembered for an incredible story, but it is solid in its own right. The real treat is the dialogue and characterization, both of which stand up to heavyweights like Obsidian, Black Isle and Lionhead.

Conversations are well-written and at times outright hilarious -- I found myself many times having to really stop and laugh out loud. One scene in particular stands out, where I had the option of trading with a skeleton or giving him an existential crisis -- I'll leave the rest to your imagintion and amusement. As with all skilled writing of this variety, it's woven perfectly in with the more serious overarching story, including some horrific bits.

On a different topic, Lar posts on the forums that Mastertronic is rushing more stock after selling out in the UK:

Mastertronic has promised to provide more stock for Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga after the first batch sold out. The launch allocation has run out ahead of it's release today. But the game's distributor has assured retailers that there will be sufficient supply to meet demand. "Our experience with the original Divinity II meant that we were expecting good things for the launch of this expanded edition, but the demand has really taken us by surprise" said Mastertronic's group sales director James Cato.

Elder Geek has a video review of the Dragon Knight Saga.  It's a bit hard to quote, of course, but they recommend the purchase and call it "a profound game experience".

Larian's site is pointing out a review of the Dragon Knight Saga at Made2Game.  The article is based on the X360 version and the score is 8.5/10, even though the author would have appreciated a little more hand-holding:

Not having played the original I can’t compare what this redworking has improved on but the game does look good, offering some huge lands to explore and a large variety of trolls, ogres, goblins and skeletons to fight against. Since the game is presented in a third person view it can at times be hard to control the cursor, especially when looking for loot on the floor, attacking large amounts of enemies and judging distances on some of the platform jumping sections. The main problem however is the quest selection, you are able to see what quests are open but there are no map hints or mini map markers to point you in the right direction, this may be great for some players who relish adventuring but others will find aimlessly wandering around a mite stressful, meaning the mini map in the top of the screen is just an enemy radar that shows the tiniest of red dots, pretty useless. Whilst on bad points, the save system is atrocious, there is an auto save but it is very sporadic and only happens on occasion, and when it does occur game will pause with an ugly grey autosave dialog box. Manual saving is not much better with you having to pause the action and select save from the menu, however it is a necessity as you will die a lot if you wander into the wrong area ill-equipped or too low a level to take on enemies. Why not have an autosave built into the very long load screen when you go through a door is beyond me.

On a side note, Lar made these comments about sales so far:

Considering the limited exposure the game's been getting, and the lukewarm reviews in some press for Ego Draconis, The Dragon Knight Saga is doing pretty well. We can track sales through the online activations (at least PC sales), and they've been quite steady over the last week. It's too soon to tell exactly how well it's doing, and for sure we could use some more reviews (hopefully they'll be good ones) to attract attention, but considering the limited PR we've had, we definitely can't complain. On the contrary, it's beyond expectations, witness that it's sold out already in several stores. We should be able to make a more definitive judgement in a couple of weeks, but at present all I can say is - whenever those of you who enjoyed DKS do mouth to mouth advertising in some forum it seems to have an impact. The more we get, the more we'll be able to invest in our next game, so please keep on doing it But in any case, you already had an impact, so thank you very much !

This is the first English review of Larian's Dragon Knight Saga, with The Examiner awarding 4/5:

At times Divinity II seems to channel the spirit of games even as old as the Ultima or Wizardry series, as well as games such as Daggerfall and Morrowind. Divinity II re-introduces the thrill of exploration and discovery that is often missing from more linear RPG games—wandering off the beaten path into a lost valley, stumbling upon mysterious ruins, and then finding a hidden door to a cavern, for example. None of it may have anything to do with the primary story line, but you can find entire dungeons, quests, and other interesting locales (and monsters and treasure, of course) if you’re game to look for them.

A reviews in French for Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga can be found at Jeuxvideo.com where they give it a rating of 18/20. It is in French, so there are no quotes, but I guess they liked it.

dtp sent us a PR explaining that Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga is available in Germany for PC now and will be released for XBox 360 on Nov 12th.

Dragon Knight Saga is a combination of Divinity 2: Ego Draconis and the add-on Flames of Vengeance. The main game's content has been heavily overhauled.

For those looking to pick up the Dragon Knight Saga this week, Gamersgate already has preorders up and Lar says Steam and their own store are close:

Hello,

I just playtested the Steam version, so it should be up there in time. You should also be able to get it from Larian's store directly this week, most likely from thursday on.

Also, I just opened up the retail version for both PC & Xbox360, meaning that retailers should be getting them soon too, at least in Western Europe, Canada and Australia.

For those into such things, the Dragon Knight Saga x360 Achievements have been revealed at Succes Full.fr.  Many of them are secret, so not too many spoilers.

Five new screenshots from Divinity II: Dragon Knight Saga  can be found on the official site.

The Larian site is pointing out the first Dragon Knight Saga previews, which both happen to come from France.  They have small excerpts in English, so head over for those and links to the original French articles.

A new website has been launched for the Dragon Knight Saga and a new trailer has been released to go with it.  From the Larian website:

We're happy to announce that the brand new Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga website has just gone live. Head over to www.divinity2-saga.com to learn more about the game and also see a brand new trailer.

Alrik writes in to point out Focus Home Interactive will publish Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga (presumably in Europe).  The PR on the website isn't clear if they will also distribute the separate Flames of Vengeance addon or only combined Dragon Knight Saga.  Here's the text:

We are pleased to announce that Focus Home Interactive will publish in October, Larian Studios' role playing game: Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga on PC and Xbox 360.

Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga includes the original adventure “Ego Draconis”, and “Flames of Vengeance”, the Dragon Knight's new adventure that continues the epic story and adds dozens of hours of additional gameplay. Divinity II – Ego Draconis appears here as an entirely new and re-mastered edition with improved graphics and content that make the game even more beautiful and more impressive than ever before!

As for Flames of Vengeance, this new adventure brings players new quests, new creatures and many new items. Flames of Vengeance also benefits from all the graphical improvements made to Ego Draconis, and delivers a spectacular finale to the Dragon Knight Saga!

Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga offers an epic total of over 60 hours of gameplay and more than 180 original quests that combine into a fantastic role playing experience. We invite you to discover more about Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga throughout a series of new images, that offer a glimpse into the new adventure Flames of Vengeance.

Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga includes the complete and re-mastered adventure Ego Draconis, and the brand new adventure Flames of Vengeance. The game will be released in Europe in October 2010 on PC and Xbox 360.

In a new status update, Lar mentiones that besides a release of Flame of Vengance also the release of the Dragon Knight Saga is eminent. The latter release combines a revamped Ego Draconis and Flame of Vengance game in one

Release Ego Draconis (remastered heavily) together with Flames Of Vengeance on PC & X360 under the name The Dragon Knight Saga.

You can take that "remastered heavily" part seriously as we've literally redesigned almost all dragon parts, especially the flying fortresses, drastically changed loot/enemies and retouched quite some artwork. The net result is a much more streamlined experience that is a lot more fun (we think)

The international PC versions of FOV will be released simultanously with The Dragon Knight Saga whereas the German version of FOV is about to be declared gold, as in, next week I think.

Thanks Alrik and Omega.