Original Sin - Review Roundup #3

Here is a new set of reviews for Larian Studios' Divinity Original Sin.

Front Towards Gamer, 9.5

Although the balance if Divinity: Original Sin sometimes feels a bit askew – for example, Wizards are so utterly paramount that to not have one almost spells game over; Magic is flat out OP – Divinity: Original Sin is probably the most fun I’ve had in an RPG since Baldur’s Gate, and I don’t have to search my screen for a single pixel concealing a hidden ring in Divinity: Original Sin either!

NowGamer, 9

Despite all this, it is worth drawing attention to a handful of flaws. Larian Studios is not a behemoth developer, and there are issues in how the game plays outside of its core ruleset.

Inventory management, for example, requires clicking on arrows in the menu rather than a character’s profile icon – making swapping items around unnecessarily frustrating.

Some longer quests can be fairly loose in their descriptions, requiring you to accidentally happen across a solution through exploration – or just resort to Googling it.

Requiring you to drag an ability to the spell bar to use its explicitly stated number of action points is frustrating too.

Just Press Start

Overall, I can say that despite its flaws and a punishing learning curve, there is fun to be had with Divinity: Original Sin.  It’s just a matter of how much you’re willing to deal with to get to it.  If you want the old school feel and challenge, then you should grab it without hesitation.  Everyone else should study up and see if it’s right for you.

Video Game Writers, 4/5

Divinity: Original Sin is not an easy game. It assumes familiarity with the RPG genre and banks on players’ ability to read text and sleuth out their next move. This isn’t an isometric, turn-based version of Dark Souls, but it does get challenging pretty fast. Followers of the Divinity franchise will attest to the games’ technical quirks and failings, which are far less pronounced this time around and that, coupled with outstanding visuals and copious hours of well-designed story and gameplay, mean that Original Sin could steal many of your summer hours.

Game On Girl

My only real issue with Divinity: Original Sin is also one of its strengths. The conversation. On one hand you have these great moments of dialogue between your two main characters that can reveal a lot about their personalities and back story and reward you with in game bonuses. On the other hand dialogue with random citizens is the same thing over and over. I would have preferred that there be no conversation option with the background players because they all pretty much have the same dialogue options which tend to be pretty jarring and pulls me out of the immersion of the game.

RealGamerNewz, 9.5

Divinity: Original Sin isn’t perfect. There are some core problems with the game that need to be ironed out plus the normal fun glitches and bugs that most games suffer from. Overall this is a very pleasing addition to the rebirth of CRPGs and with the way it is designed could keep players entertained for quite some time. Larian Studios has done old school gamers a huge favor with this release. Will you love this if you loved Skyrim? I can’t guarantee that. But if you are open minded, love RPGs, a challenge, and want to play the next big thing then I believe Divinity: Original Sin won’t be something you regret. With around 60+ hours of time in the base game, it’s above the average RPG scope. With content creation and just overall fun factor I can see this game lasting a player thousands of hours of enjoyment.

Chalgyr's Game Room, 9.25

I was not a big fan of Divinity II: Ego Draconis, so this is not a series I necessarily gravitate towards. I feel that this makes what Divinity: Original Sin has done so much more impressive. Larian Studios feels as though they have found a new direction to take this franchise, and it has plenty of room to grow and improve upon in the future, while still being a compelling offering here and now. Not just an early contender for RPG game of the year, but the current leader in 2014.

Techraptor,8.6

Overall, Divinity: Original Sin is one of the truest RPGs ever made, not only one of the truest in a long time. Larian Studios deftly put a world in place for you to just interact with in any way you see fit. The only places that Divinity: Original Sin lacks are those that do not facilitate player autonomy. Their greatest efforts were put into parts of the game that allow for you to do whatever you want.

And here is a tech review by Rage3D.

Divinity: Original Sin is a quality role-playing game with excellent PC optimization to match. It does host a few minor issues, but these could be easily fixed in future patches (of which I expect there will be many).