Divine Divinity

Divine Divinity is a single-player fantasy computer role-playing game (RPG) created by Larian Studios, a small but reputable Belgium developer. Divine Divinity was released in 2002 and has a spin-off, Beyond Divinity, and a sequel, Divinity 2 – Ego Draconis. Divine Divinity is an RPG that combines the classic play style of the best of the Ultima series with the fast-paced action of titles like Dungeon Siege and Diablo.

The story behind Divine Divinity is traditional RPG fantasy role-playing game. It takes the player on a fantastic quest in the land of Rivellon, torn apart by corruption and dark magic. Throughout the journeys, player gets the chance to develop his/her personal character based one of six character types, and meets a variety of people and fantastical beings. The game combines monsters, magic, and medieval sensibility under one roof. It is populated not just by humans but also by dwarves, elves, orcs, the living dead, and other fantasy archetypes. The game takes place in an immediately recognizable fantasy world, evidence that Larian Studios didn't take risks with every aspect of Divine Divinity. The designers and developers were wise in this and chances are it won't take long before the players get accustomed to the game. Players will appreciate the similarity once they are immersed in the game.

Character Classes

Divine Divinity has 3 character classes: Fighter, Mage and Survivor (basically a rogue), each with a special move. Character classes differ somewhat and the spells and skills of one character class are available to all other character classes. They are organized in three classes, four sections per class and eight skills per section. The choice of genders is equally able and talented. Except for the initial choice of skills, the gender offers no significant difference in gameplay experience. A player begins the play by choosing from a male or female version of one of three character types. A chosen character determines the rules of gameplay in the setting. Each character looks distinctly different and begins with different skills, and each also has its own special attacking skill. The warrior is capable of performing a special whirling strike moves that damages every adjacent enemy. The wizard can perform a magic trick causing him or her to switch positions with an enemy. The survivor can crouch and sneak more efficiently, unbeknownst to nearby creatures. These come in very handy for each respective character and will probably govern how the players play them.

Game Description

The story is very nicely implemented. The adventure starts slowly and inconspicuously, gradually gaining in leverage, allowing players to adapt, explore the surrounding area, but occasionally players get more heat than they hoped for.

There are four core abilities (strength, agility, intelligence and constitution) and ninety-six skills that any of the character classes can choose from, each with five ranks of their own. Deadly gift allows the player to lay traps, including some extremely powerful steel scorpions, and with aura of command. A player has to make sure those steel scorpions stay at the player side until the player decides to rest. Another useful skill, alchemy, lets the player combine potions to make new potions and use herbs and mushrooms lying on the ground to make potions with the empty flasks where the player will acquire alone the way. By the end of the game, the player will probably have a smattering of different skills, such as a few spells where the player can cast, some weapon specialization, etc.

The game features some nice details, such as wild life and butterflies, romantic encounters, alchemy, cooking, generally loony conversations and hilarious NPC's. There are four huge maps totaling over 20,000 screens, with a wide range of environments such as elven forests, a demon wasteland, farmlands, towns, fortifications and extensive sewer systems. The fantasy world is extensive, and includes numerous details such as epitaphs on tombstones. There are more than 150 non-player characters, many with detailed background stories and depth, and a large number of varied villains. These details feature and the wide range of environments are well thought off by the designers and developers, allowing players to experience and engross in the world of fantasy play.

In the game logic, players are allowed to choose one of two scenarios: players can decide whether or not to involve in political tensions, social disorder, secret factions, and various guilds, cults, and pockets of resistance; or alternately, players could just roam the countryside slaying villains and other wicked creatures, earning riches and using them to buy better and better equipment. The players are given the choices of starting the sequence of the gameplay.

The dynamics of each character type are their special attack skills and the initial starting abilities are all that distinguish that character from the others. Each character from any class can later proceed to learn any other class' skills as they gain experience levels. A warrior may learn the wizard's restoration spell and the survivor's ability to gradually regenerate health. A wizard may learn the survivor's lock-picking and thieving skills. A survivor may learn the warrior's crossbow specialization skill or the warrior's repair ability. The ability of the players to transform from one skill level to another skill level of the character type makes the game un-deterministic and introduces randomness, challenging players to mentally switch roles during gameplay.

The game encourages players to create a multitalented character. Each time a player gain a level, the player finds them self facing a tough decision on which skills to learn or which skills to upgrade. This is a tough decision not because there are many wrong answers, but because there are so many right ones. Almost every skill in Divine Divinity is useful in character building.

The game setting of Divine Divinity looks very similar to Diablo II, though the former looks much better. The gameplay seems quite similar at first; i.e. character vs. character setting. Controlling the character class is simple using just the mouse. Each player can attack their opponents just by clicking on them once. Actually, the game has a very handy feature that lets the player automatically target the nearest foe, so the player doesn’t even have to click on it directly. Hotkeys are available for revealing all items of interest onscreen. Occasional the path finding issues and a few slightly awkward aspects of the interface do popup during gameplay.

The dynamics of the combat tends to be very challenging, requires the player to make hasty retreats at times, use various skills in quick succession, and liberally quaff various magic potions to restore the player health and magic power. The game is punishing at times. Critical hits to unarmored areas can slay the character class easily, and enemies will pursue the player seemingly to the ends of the earth. The unique feature of Divine Divinity is the player can pause the action at any moment and issue further instructions to change the behavior of the character class. The feature is essential for surviving some of the tougher bouts. A player combat expectation has a generally solid feel, and much like in the Diablo series. A player will often pit lone character against droves of enemies - Character vs. Character - and somehow scrape by with a hard-fought, satisfying victory.

The quests in Divine Divinity are varied and there are a lot of them. There is the basic 'fetch me this and that' mission. It also has complex tasks which have their own sub-quests. The entire story and quest system is vast, but not cumbersome, which is a definitive high for this game.

Divine Divinity is a single-player, single-character game. Depending on the player setting and response, at time the player won't have to do the fighting all by them self. Sometimes the player will get to take part in great pitched battles, and at other times player can have companions join in the fight, a unique distinct feature for this single player game.

Good Points

Divine Divinity has an impressive graphics setting and music sound effect. Its combination of hack-and-slash action and pure role-playing says a lot about the effort and the design of the game. Even despite its conventional fantasy setting, it clearly takes inspiration from other games. Divine Divinity manages to have its own distinct style - thanks in large part to a truly incredible musical score. The good sound effects serve to enhance the action and the ambience in the game, and the musical score, credited to Kirill Pokrovsky, deserves special mention.

There are massive amount of detail that lies underneath the game's superficially generic style. This is one of those uncommon role-playing games where the world actually seems rather alive.

Considering the game's been imported from Europe, the English translation is surprisingly good and some of the dialogue is intentionally comical which serves well to cut through the game's otherwise grim look and style.

The dialogue with characters is always to the point and never overbearingly long-winded. Players who prefer social discourse to nonstop action in their role-playing games have plenty of chatting to be done. Some of the dialogue can be heard in full speech, and here the player may be surprised by the effectiveness of some of the performances. Most of the voice over is ham-fisted and some of it is decidedly awkward, but at other times, the voice acting is quite good.

The game supports graphical resolutions up to 1024x768 and it gives a sharp picture. The details are small but sometimes seem photorealistic. It has very short loading times. Player can stomp across miles of countryside without the game ever pausing to load up new scenery, and though the frame rate can bog down at times on lower-end machines trying to run the game at a high resolution, the game generally runs smoothly and looks great.

A mini-map on the screen let the player see enemies approaching from afar. The audio and sounds effects are not a huge part of the game, more like a regular part. Combat sounds could've been more interesting. The spell effects more mystic. Music is quite nice and ambient, though sounds of the wilderness are not as wild-like as one would expect. In short, the sound could be better!

The game does have a cohesive central story to it, just like many classic computers RPGs. Divine Divinity is just as much about creating your own adventures as it is about following a linear plot.

Bad Points

The worst thing about Divine Divinity is its title, a strange name especially from Belgian developer Larian Studios. Divine Divinity is ranks 21 in the Worst Video Game Names of all time. The name Divine Divinity would likely due to marketing or focus groups. Looks like the publisher did not explained their reasoning and even tell Larian about the rename in advance.

Sadly, Divine Divinity is single-player only game. While the solo campaign is well done, it would have been nice to be able to traverse the game world with a few friends in cooperative mode. The game would be fun with multiplayer and the enhancement of interactive functionalities with the co-players.

Probably the worst bug next to the occasional crash was the drop in frame rates that occurred in Verdistis and to a lesser extent, the Dark Forest. Whenever the character left an inside area for the outdoor areas of Verdistis, the game would slow to a crawl for a few seconds before resuming its normal speed. It also happened at times without having to go inside a building first. This never happened in the main map, so this sudden change was confusing.

Divine Divinity is not without its technical glitches. The majority of them are merely annoying. Divine Divinity did crash to the desktop without warning on a few occasions, and quick save didn't always work, either. The game doesn't always acknowledge when a player no longer encumbered, such as when a player would eat a couple of hunks of meat or swallow potions. A player can fix this by moving something around in their inventory, but it's a rather bothersome problem until one learns this.

On the technical front, the 2D isometric graphics are nice looking and are up to the current gaming standards. All the dungeons tend to be either brown cut stone or brown cave walls hence distinguish the buildings become difficult. Character images change depending on what gear they are wearing and monsters are well done. Spell effects and lighting really show off the graphics engine at it best.

Closing

Divine Divinity is an exciting, additive, well-designed, open-ended and lengthy role-playing game. It has sporting impressive graphics and sound, lot of replay value and enormous fun that will keep players at their computer in the wee hours of the morning for weeks. Combining many of the best aspects both of action-driven RPGs like the Diablo series and epic, open-ended RPGs like the classic Ultima series, Divine Divinity is a real pleasure to play. A player can easily spend hundred hours of gameplay when fully engrossed in lots of interesting quests and nice graphical effects.

Though Divine Divinity might seem lacking in originality at first, if a player ever enjoyed another computer role-playing game before, then chances are the player will find ample liked quantities here. Divine Divinity simply is one of the best efforts at capturing all the best qualities of the role-playing genre: the experience of growing more and more powerful while leaving an undeniable impression on a memorable, richly detailed world.