Divinity II : The Dragon Knight Saga

Divinity II : The Dragon Knight Saga

While the entire universe of Steam touches copiously on Divinity: Original Sin II, Larian Studio realizes that Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, and Divinity II Ego Draconis have simply been forgotten by the success of the first Divinity: Original Sin. In this strange situation, I am trying to remake myself or make a lot of games from a bygone era, on outdated machines, to accompany my frequent games on Sea Of Thieves. And the title that has fallen backwards lately on Xbox One is ... Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga. What a lot of consolation for me, while Ashen was STILL rejected. I did not remember exactly what made Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga one of my favorite games on the seventh-generation machine, and then I remembered after a few hours that it was just about a terribly endearing game, and above all: well written.

The fascinating thing about seventh-generation games is that they have aged particularly well. the titles of the generation of HD Ready is indeed quite capable of being beautiful and functional on the Xbox One; if visually it stings a little, and more recent games highlight their technical flaws, we are far, very far from being disturbed by the fact of playing these. Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga has aged even better since it was already a unique game, and even today, it aligns qualities that are unique to it. This is why it is the subject of a criticism, but know that it applies only to the version The Dragon Knight Saga and all editions released after, because the game of Ego Draconis base having great weaknesses.

But let's not dwell on the somewhat tumultuous past of this title, and let's focus on why I decided to bring out a criticism just for him. Indeed, I recently decided to make criticism on more recent games, because I realized myself that, time and hindsight helping, games that I considered brilliant began to displease me in many aspects. . It's the game of criticism; we grow up with what we did, and sometimes things are not in sync. That's why I decided to take more time and measure things to say good of a title of my adolescence.

Eight years after concluding my first game of Divinity II, I have to admit that my return to the RPG very oriented dungeons of the Belgian studio Larian was done with an impressive pleasure. I really remember Divinity II, so I caught myself executing most of the title quests mechanically once received; a proof that I know the place well. And the most curious thing is that I only played the game twice in my life, here being the third time.

It's stupid, but the title is simply striking. Highlighted because these dialogues, written and interpreted in a theatrical way, give each intervention a unique flavor. We are here in a game that takes itself to the second degree, which is generally aware that what he tells is extremely classic and déjà-vu. Yet the dose of humor never comes, oh, never, tarnishing the dramaturgy and tragedy that gradually settles in the world of Rivellon.

This major achievement is to be welcomed, because the game never plays on one level when it comes to develop its intrigues, and in the manner of a good balanced story, you always need a laugh for a cry. The end of the basic game is a fantastic audacity, and comes to skilfully revive the plot where it was thought over, and therefore allows to integrate naturally the bow Flames Of Vengeance, coming continue the adventure where she had to end in frustration in 2009.

Divinity II is funny, intelligent, clever, and captivating thanks to the pen of the Belgian studio. The jokes never fall flat and feed a universe that can, in some ways, recall that of Fable, even if the universe of Divinity is much less Manichean and less potache. Now that I have put there what is the main interest of the title, we can also highlight the richness of the game system and fight. Very strongly oriented action, the game is the focus of many clashes and dynamic.

The player will have the pleasure to draw in a myriad of equipment and other consumables to overcome his opponents. The challenge is quite high and the dungeons are numerous. It will therefore take a lot of time to search the environments to clean the game of its content; count about fifteen hours for the straight line of the original content, rather thirty for the complete cleaning, which is not necessarily very long.

But as the Flames Of Vengeance add-on slips into the main story, we can count on five more hours in a straight line, and probably triple to complete all the (bright) quests that make up the only place of this extension: Aleroth. If Dragon Age II was more like a city adventure, the Divinity II add-on is simply incredible, as it uses its limited space to offer content that is rarely seen. This work on the writing and the exploitation of mechanics, such as the reading of mind or the spectral vision, puts forward a reality: Larian Studio is among the big ones since 2010, and did not wait for Original Sin to be the best in the field.

The game has also visually extremely well aged. It's a 3D without big ambitions, and it allows him to endure the time that passes. Unfortunately, the overall aesthetic is not necessarily the best taste, and only the city of Aleroth or some interiors are really pretty. We feel that Larian Studios wanted to create a huge world without really having the means, and when comes the add-on Flames Of Vengeance, which is much more humble in its intentions and especially in the places you explore, the title comes to get away with a beautiful honorable mention thanks to its baroque architecture.

Now, if you play on PC, the game should run properly on all machines pretty recent. On Xbox One, the machine does a good job of stabilizing the framerate that was somewhat shaky on 360. Too bad the image is beset with aliasing; we do with, but when we are accustomed to a clean image, difficult to rebuild the seventh generation.

Now, let's move on to what works moderately in Divinity II: Fighting. If the game system is very rich and makes you want to invest in the development of his character, it must be admitted that the fighting is quite chaotic, because of mishandled collisions and other technical problems that make that frequently fights end up in the rat race, without good visibility on the action. It is all the more unfortunate that these clashes are rather difficult and are interesting when they are well prepared in a good arena.

The fighting in dragon form, they are similar to a shmup very limited in terms of possibilities. The challenge is extremely weak, and if it is exhilarating to turn into a dragon, the movements with the latter are limited by a lot of invisible walls that give this freedom a framework a little too strict. Remains a beautiful idea that makes its effect with each transformation, giving a nice feeling of change of scale. The best part of the game is probably its multiple riddles, platform phases, and other multiple choice dialogues that make Divinity II a varied game, if not rich in terms of roleplaying possibilities, or consequences to our choices.

The Dragon Knight Saga is an exceptional game, with great writing, great exploration, some really cool battles, secrets to draw, complex quests, and a lot of ideas that make that in general we are in front of a game with many things that we will not see anywhere else. So, certainly, we will have to deal with some big technical weaknesses, sometimes problematic trips in the open areas that make up the first big part of the adventure, but what we find at the end is remarkable. Perhaps even more than the original Origin Sin offers, which suffers from a serious worry of rhythm that has prevented me from reaching its conclusion.

That's it, so do Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga, and discover the Original Sin front. You will probably realize that Larian Studio rarely does the same thing, and that despite the variety of games they develop, they are still extremely good. With that, it's time for me to stop playing junk, although I have to admit that right now, it's only with them that I'm having fun. Gerontophilia, when you hold us ...