Overview of the game Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition

I've always believed that classic computer role-playing games are not available to game console owners for a number of reasons. First of all, the absence of a computer mouse for easy control immediately comes to mind, which automatically turns an overloaded interface of such games into a branch of hell on Earth. Occasionally, however, there have been attempts by developers to adapt the genre for game consoles, remember at least Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for PlayStation 2, but this is more likely an exception to the rules. However, with the release of the game Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition for PS4 and Xbox One, I realized that computer RPGs can be quite comfortable on consoles.

Belgian studio Larian Studios from the date of its foundation in 1996 mainly produces the games of its franchise-locomotive Divinity. And they can be understood, because if something turns out to be especially good for you, it's better to do just that, and not to spray your forces anywhere. There were educational projects at the studio like Adventure Rock and Ketnet Kick, but they were brought to the world by a series of surprisingly deep in their content and abundance of the possibilities of role games Divinity. The original game Divinity: Original Sin was released for PC in the summer of 2014, but in May 2015 it became known that the studio plans to re-release it for consoles Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Given that the game won the title of "The best game of 2014 for PC" as well as a hundred and fifty other awards and nominations, I was waiting for the release of the console Divinity: Original Sin with great impatience. Finally, I am ready to share with you my impressions of the "improved version" of this already wonderful game.

Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition, like many other classic role-playing games, begins with the creation of characters. And I'll tell you honestly, in the game editor of the characters without problems you can get stuck for a few hours. From the abundance of parameters, all sorts of skills and talents, the head starts to circle. You can create two characters for yourself, customize their appearance, assign classes, teach some valuable skills and even choose underwear for them. Here it should immediately be noted that the developers are very fond of making fun of prudish classic RPGs, in which everything is infinitely pretentious and extremely serious. Similar deviations from the usual canons make players smile, not at all breaking with traditional game mechanics. The humor in the game is really very important. Something he echoes with the works of Terry Pratchett, while absolutely not straining the player, only improving his mood.

I sincerely advise, when creating my characters, to give at least one of them the ability to communicate with animals, which is called "Animal Friend". Inconspicuous, at first glance, the talent will allow you to look at the game from a completely different angle. The world of Rivellon is inhabited not only by people, orcs and other evil spirits, but also by various animals. In appearance they are quite common, however, if you are endowed with the ability to communicate with them, they can tell you a lot of interesting things. The rats in the dungeon will prompt the location of the hidden treasures, the cat that has been tattered will tell how it survived the shipwreck, and the cock, running away from the cook, will yell about the revolution, during which it is necessary to overthrow the bloody chefs' terror. Conversations with animals are not only filled with humor, but they can also activate unique quests that will not be available to you if you do not have the above skill. And there are enough such important skills in the game. In the game in general, every detail is very important, but it takes a lot of time to figure out all this in detail.

The plot of Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition tells of the adventures of two members of the Order of the Hunters of the Source, who are persecuting members of the mysterious cult of the Source Guardians around the world and are trying to eradicate the evil that the cult followers are sowing everywhere wherever they appear. It all starts with the fact that two heroes arrive in the port city of Seisil to investigate the murder of a local official. Apparently, the members of the evil cult are directly related to this murder, therefore the participation of "Hunters behind the Source" during the investigation was not even discussed. Well, then everything turned and turned like nobody could imagine. Parallel measurements, evil magicians, tombs full of secrets, desperate ghosts, mysterious body kidnappers and the devil knows what else. And this is only the very beginning of the game, which you will have to pass for at least 100 hours. And if you want to explore the entire game world, be ready to take a vacation and send your family to rest in warm countries for a couple of weeks so they do not interfere.

In the course of your travels through the amazing world of Rivellon, you will meet many colorful characters, some of whom will agree to join your team and help with an important mission. In your team at the same time there can only be four heroes: two main characters and two additional ones. Each additional character is endowed with a unique worldview. For example, you will meet a magician, who for a number of reasons can not tolerate demons. And if after he joins your ranks, you make a deal with a representative of the demonic race, the mage may well take offense at you, which will lead to undesirable consequences. And what are the only talks with members of their party? They comment on what they see, discuss your actions, share their thoughts about a variety of phenomena, talk about their past and many, many other things. Do not miss a chance to talk with your comrades, as from these conversations you will learn a lot of interesting things that will allow you to immerse more deeply into the atmosphere of the game.

One of the main advantages of the game is the ability to pass it along with your friend in Split Screen mode on one screen. The uniqueness of the integration of this system into the game is that when you move away from each other, the game automatically divides the screen into two equal parts, each of which follows its player. As soon as you approach each other - the screen again becomes a single whole. You can take control of all the NPCs that joined your team, or transfer control over one of them or immediately over both of your comrade. In the case of screen sharing, each player can do what his heart desires: engage in battles, pick his inventory, craft, read books, talk with the NPC and do many other things. In this case, one player does not interfere with the other. In case you are lost and want to find your friend, each of you in the inventory has a magic pyramid, which can be activated instantly to transfer to a friend, wherever he is. The surprisingly convenient and intuitive co-operative game system literally falls in love with you once and for all. If you are by nature a typical wolf-loner, you can play for the whole team yourself. In doing so, you can safely divide the characters into subgroups, leave someone behind, and, in general, display miracles of strategic planning.

In some moments of the game you and your party members can enter into a dispute on this or that topic, choosing variants of phrases from several provided. From this choice depend changes in the characters' characters. For example, if you only care about yourself, then the indicator of selfishness will increase, and if the character admires the beautiful sunset - his romanticism will increase. On the nature, in turn, useful extra charges for various parameters of the character. Increased courage will allow the hero to become more resistant to intimidation from opponents. When you play together, each player chooses the answers based on his own worldview, and if you play alone, the characters can be assigned a certain pattern of behavior, according to which he will make his own decisions or manually choose the answers for everyone, acting as a director of a kind theatrical production. All this looks so harmonious, that you simply marvel at how the developers could realize something so simple and simultaneously brilliant.

In the dialogues there is also a belief system based on the game "Scissors-paper-stone". You are given several attempts, depending on the skill of convincing your character, and with each won attempt a special scale will be filled. If the scale is full before you run out of luck, you will convince the NPC to be right, if not, he will remain at his opinion. Also directly from the dialogue menu you can trade with the characters. And you can trade with anyone at all. A completely nondescript soldier can buy some rare item that he got during one of the battles, so - do not miss the chance to bargain with everyone you meet during your travels. If you do not have enough gold to buy the necessary items, you can resort to the old good theft, but remember that if you get caught in a hot, you can get a hat. Save yourself often and act as carefully as possible, without forgetting to activate stealth mode, when your character turns into a huge bush or stone, merging with the surrounding landscape. On the screen in this mode, the "cones of sight" of NPCs are indicated, which are highly undesirable. The most convenient way to steal is when one of your team members talks to the victim, and the second creeps up to her from behind and cleans the pockets. Only if that, then I did not tell you that!

Game quests, regardless of whether they are part of the main story or simply optional tasks, are worked equally well. In this game, performing any task is very interesting. In my head immediately surfaced the recent game "The Witcher 3", the quests of which are performed at the same high level as in Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition. Take here, for example, the quest, during which - do not ask me why - you need to steal from the street magician an amazing talking head, with which he speaks to the people of the city of Seisil. First you need to go to the city library, which holds a book with scenarios of classical theater productions, and learn one of the productions of your choice. Then you need to negotiate with the owner of a small theater so that she allows you to perform on stage with your performance. In order for the audience to know about the upcoming performance, a barker is needed - he must be found and hired to his service by paying an appropriate fee. After the beginning of the performance, the audience is distracted from the performance of the magician and begins to pull together to the theater. At this point, you switch to one of your free characters, run to the magician and stealthily steal his talking head. But that's not all, because the head asks you to find her body, so the quest, you can tell, is just beginning. And this is another example far from the most difficult task in the game.

The language spoken by the characters is simply gorgeous! He is so literary and chicly stylized for every particular hero or NPC, that the game is fully capable of competing with the works of world-famous writers. At the same time, the text translation into Russian is also performed at the highest level. Sounded in the game, absolutely all characters, including even the most insignificant. The developers claim that during the creation of the game, more than 80,000 lines of text were voiced. But immediately I note that the voice acting is available only in the English version. You will not hear the Russian voice in the game, but maybe it's for the better, since the original intonations are wonderful and fully convey the characters of the characters. For the music in the game the composer Cyril Pokrovsky, famous primarily because he was the keyboard player of the first composition of the group "Aria", was responsible. As part of his work in Aria, Pokrovsky took part in the creation of the albums "Mania of Greatness" and "Who are you with?". Cyril for a long time collaborated with the studio Larian and wrote music for each of their games. Divinity: Original Sin became his latest game project, as the composer passed away on June 1, 2015 at his home in Belgium. I think that the music from this game will go a long way in your soul, as it is really very beautiful and pervasive.

The interface for the console version of the game has been significantly redesigned, given that players are used not to the mouse-keyboard tandem, but to the game controller. I must say that the developers did almost impossible and transferred this RPG from the PC to the set-top boxes, not only not losing anything along the way, but also improving what was in it initially. Collecting loot, traditionally carried out with the mouse and highlighting objects on the ground, now looks like this: you pinch the corresponding button on the controller, and around the character there is a certain luminous zone, symbolizing his field of vision. Release the button, and a window appears on the screen that lists all the items your hero saw. From this menu you can pick up items, open chests, look into the barrels and much, much more. All this is much faster and more convenient than in the original version of the game. In general, in the console version everything is based on the radial menu: I clamped the trigger, there was a menu of character selection, rejected the analog stick to the side of the desired character and the deal was done. Convenient, intuitive, fast. There are a lot of positive changes in the management, as well as improvements in the interface, which only increases the amount of pleasure received from the game.

Changes in the updated version affected not only the interface and management. The game was completely new quests, and many old ones were reworked and expanded. In the game, there are new characters, among whom there are those who are ready to join your team. The new content in the game is so much that its passage once increased by several hours, and you also had the opportunity to see a completely new ending. It is impossible not to note the prettier visual component. Numerous effects have been improved, certain shortcomings of the original game have been fixed, for example, the interior of some buildings is drawn pretty curve, and the owners of the PC version of the game can enjoy it in 4K resolution. But now we are talking only about the console game. Somewhat spoiled my impression is not always a comfortable game camera. Although it is now capable of rotating all 360 degrees, you still can not adjust the angle of its vertical slope, which greatly limits the freedom of view. Another frustrating uncomfortable navigation system. Mini-map in the game is almost useless, and often look at the full map of the location - not comme il faut.

But what has been brought to the game in practice to perfection is the amazingly deep combat system. Fights in the game occur in a step-by-step mode, where each character of your team, as well as each opponent, is assigned a place in the general lineup. The first to go is the one whose index of initiative is higher than the rest. Each action, including moving, attacking, using a skill or item, requires a certain number of action points. An interactive environment of the game world plays an important role. For example, if the enemy accidentally stopped in a puddle, you can use your magician to start an electric discharge in this puddle, and the enemy will be paralyzed for a couple of moves. Dirt slows the movement, and the spilled oil can be set on fire. Fog and smoke worsen the aiming of archers and magicians, and the rain reduces the effect of fire magic. It is necessary to constantly experiment with the environment in order to discover new ways to gain advantage in combat and to avoid undesirable consequences for oneself. For example, during the rain, electric spells are particularly effective, but the current can also hit your heroes standing next to the enemy. If you see a barrel of poison on the battlefield, it can be exploded, and enemies will be inside a poisonous cloud, which you can, in addition, also set fire to a fiery arrow or appropriate spell.

The player is available a huge variety of weapons, including swords, magic staffs, daggers, maces, axes and even homemade grenades, stuffed with various fillings. In general, kraft in the game is a very useful thing, so you can not ignore it in any case. If you want, you can do almost anything. For example, to collect from the well a bucket of water, to collect wheat on the field, to grind it in a metal mortar into flour, mix it with water and get a dough out of the well. Then get a tomato, crush it with a hammer, and put the resulting tomato sauce on the dough. The billet should be cooked in a special oven, and as a result of all these actions you will get a real pizza. And this is one of the most uncomplicated recipes, of which there is a huge variety in the game. When you eat the dishes you have in battle, you give your characters additional bonuses to the basic parameters, which act for several turns. С помощью крафта можно совершенствовать оружие и придавать ему магические свойства, можно собирать уникальные стрелы для лучника, вышеупомянутые гранаты, да и вообще практически всё, что угодно. There would be a desire.

Игра отличается довольно высокой сложностью, в результате чего даже самые незамысловатые битвы порой приходится перепроходить по нескольку раз. Хотите вы того или нет, но вам придётся очень серьёзно готовиться к каждому поединку. Вы должны будете искать у торговцев обучающие книги с новыми заклинаниями и навыками, крафтить бутыли с лечебными снадобьями, улучшать своё оружие и искать броню, повышающую определённые параметры. Во время битв в любую секунду всё может обернуться против вас, поэтому необходимо тщательно рассчитывать каждый свой шаг. Из-за этого во время поединков игра часто напоминает невероятно продвинутую версию шахмат с блэкджеком и жрицами любви. Высокая сложность игры поначалу пугает, но затем ты начинаешь ею проникаться, ведь только так игра научит тебя, как стать лучшим воином Ривеллона. Любая победа будет приносить вам невероятную радость и удовлетворение, так как каждый бой – серьёзное испытание ваших тактических и военных навыков. Игра вообще не прощает ошибок и не любит вести игрока за ручку, как это делают многие другие ролевые проекты. Чувствуется в этом некий шарм «старой школы», напоминающий вам, что когда-то давным-давно все RPG были именно такими.

Признаюсь вам честно, я очень давно не играл в классические компьютерные RPG, сконцентрировавшись на консольных видеоиграх. Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition сумела вернуть мне давно забытое чувство восторга, и всё это при помощи PlayStation 4. Разве это не чудо? Игра, вне всяких сомнений, заслуживает вашего пристального внимания. Я сейчас говорю совершенно серьёзно. В ней так много контента и возможностей, что в этом фэнтези-мире буквально растворяешься весь без остатка. Если вам категорически не хватает RPG уровня Baldur's Gate и Arcanum – немедленно покупайте Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition и приступайте к её прохождению. Это штучная игра ручной работы.

Плюсы:

• Сюжет, способный конкурировать с произведениями знаменитых писателей.
• Полноценная RPG, в которой вы сможете отыграть персонажей на все 100%.
• Очень увлекательные и тщательно проработанные до мелочей квесты.
• Комплексная пошаговая боевая система с тысячами нюансов.
• Удивительно насыщенный игровой мир, полный сюрпризов и приключений.
• Замечательный умный юмор, который не надоедает и не раздражает.
• Необычная система характеров и общения между персонажами.
• Умные и интересные головоломки, решать которые – сплошное удовольствие.
• Управление отлично адаптировано под игровые контроллеры консолей.
• Игра по-хорошему сложная, не сюсюкается с игроком и не ведёт его за руку.
• Интерфейс был переработан и оптимизирован под новые платформы.
• В игре озвучены абсолютно все персонажи. Даже самые незначительные.
• Очень красивый и обволакивающий саундтрек от Кирилла Покровского.
• Возможность играть с приятелем в режиме Split Screen.

Minuses:

• Сложность игры отпугнёт некоторых любителей современных RPG.
• Кого-то может напрячь общая неспешность игрового процесса.
• Наличие в игре совершенно бесполезных навыков.
• Неидеальная система отслеживания квестов.
• Довольно медленный процесс загрузки.
• Не очень удобная игровая камера.

Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition – это лучший и самый яркий представитель жанра классических ролевых игр за последние годы. Разработчики из студии Larian вложили в своё детище всю душу, и ты отчётливо ощущаешь это на протяжении всего прохождения. Удивительная система кооперативной игры на одном экране позволит вам разделить восторг от Divinity: Original Sin со своим приятелем, отчего играть становится ещё интереснее. Удивительно, но словосочетание Enhanced Edition в названии в данном случае действительно означает улучшение игры во всех отношениях, а не только небольшие исправления ради того, чтобы продать её по второму кругу. Ты просто не можешь не влюбиться в этот сказочный мир, полный опасностей, юмора и увлекательных приключений. Без тени сомнений ставлю игре 9,5 баллов из 10 и ещё раз настоятельно рекомендую вам с ней ознакомиться.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/games/obzor-igry-divinity-original-sin-enhanced-edition.html.