Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition

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I had a search through the forum to see if there had ever been a thread about DOS 2. I found a short thread for the first installment from 2014, but nothing on the second game. This game however is so good it deserves a thread of it's own.


I've been playing isometric RPGs for a long time, and have the experiences of classics like Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Fallout, Neverwinter Nights and so on to judge this new wave of old-school gaming goodness against.

I dare say DOS 2 tops them all. Blasphemy right? It's all subjective anyway, but when taken as a whole, I can think of no isometric RPG that I think is better. In DOS 2 the graphics, voice acting, music, story, writing, quests, character building, combat and companions are all top notch. It has a couple of missteps, which I will detail in a moment. But overall, I rate this game the finest of the genre.

The first game was a fantastic game in it's own right. I played through once on Classic difficulty, and then again on Tactician after Larian was kind enough to give owners the Enhanced Edition for free. I loved it, especially the combat, but the rest of the game was great as well. Inventory was a bit of a mess. A few other niggles as well, but overall, a superb game and firmly planted Larian on my gaming landscape.

Combat stood out because it was so much fun and, on Tactician mode especially, challenging. It's turn based, which is what I prefer (over RTwP). The way it incorporates the environment, elements and terrain is masterful. Tactician mode removes the shackles from the AI, and they can and will use all of their abilities. As one example, I've never had a party member teleported by the AI on Classic, but certainly on Tactician, and sometimes straight on to lava, which is insta-death. Cool

Character building is great too. Many RPGs these days have mutli-classing. I've recently also played through Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire and Pathfinder Kingmaker. Both of those game have it, though each handles it quite differently. In Kingmaker, you can multi-class as you go, in Deadfire it's all chosen at character creation. The upshot is in those games, you are class-restricted. The choices you make open some skills and abilities while closing others off. It works well, and each of those games are excellent in my view.

Original Sin however is classless. You choose a starting class, but it's just a template, and itself can be altered at the start. From there, how the character develops is simply limited by you imagination, points and skillbooks. Any character can have or use any ability potentially, if you invest the points. It allows more freedom than other systems. In addition, repecs are free and unlimited. So if you regret the path you chose, made some mistakes, or simply want to try something new, you can do this any time (after unlocking it, not available early on)

In Original Sin 2 just about everything from the first game was improved upon. I say 'just about' because there were a couple of major combat changes that I don't care for. For me the first game's combat was close to perfect. In the second the armor system was changed. Armor was divided in to both physical and magical. In order to reduce an enemy's vitality one or the other type of armor must be stripped away. It's only then too, that certain spells and statuses can be applied, like CC for example. The trouble is that unless you build your party to deal exclusively one damage type of the other, your damage is split between the two types of armor, each working to reduce it, but hardly working together. It encourages a single-damage party instead of a mixed party. On Classic or below it really doesn't matter much. But on Tactician you need all the advantages you can get.

They also made a change to the way initiative works which I don't care for, but I'll spare the details.

Those two niggles aside the rest of the game is epically fantastic. Inventory is still a bit of a mess, just less so and the map and journal could use some work. But the graphics are beautiful, the story is awesome, the writing is top-notch. Voice acting might just be the best I've ever heard. Quests are great. Combat is the best in the genre, in my view.

I could go on about all the finer details, and why I rate this game so highly. But I'll save you the rambling. If you like isometric RPGs, you need to play this game. If you are a RPG vet who is good at character building, party synergy and combat, play on Tactician. It's where the game truly shines, although I wouldn't recommend it for folks new to the genre. Like they did with DOS 1, Larian has made a Definitive Edition, with a myriad of fixes, improvements and new content. It's even better now than before. It's a game well worth your time.