Despite its technical shortcomings, "Divinity II" is a satisfactory, and sometimes fun role-playing game.
"Divinity II" is a Euro RPG game from cdv Software Entertainment USA. You play as a novice dragon slayer, and must embark on a quest that spans anywhere from 25-40 hours. Along the way you will encounter many types of enemies, interesting characters, and some nice scenery within the game's world. You will use swords, magic, and even the powers of the dragon the fight your way through this game. Though even with all the obstacles, the larger ones come with the number of technical flaws in this game, that can largely turn away any casual RPG fan.
Gameplay:
This is an action RPG, so you will for the large part of the game, be exploring the world, fighting numerous enemies, and talking to NPCs and taking on various quests.
The combat is interesting, and I like the idea that the developers used. Basically, you can map up to eight actions and abilities to any of the four face buttons, and on the D-Pad. This includes, your standard melee weapon, ranged weapons, summons and magics. You can also map restorative items such as potions and food, though I typically did not do this. Combat is fun and always provides challenges due to the levels of your enemies. During the earlier stages of the game, if you try to explore the world without doing quests, you will probably die extremely often.
There are certain areas of the game where you can get ambushed, and typically, between mages and rangers, they all seem to nail you with their strongest attacks and take you out almost instantly, giving you no opportunity to run. This is frustrating especially when you travel long distances, and don't save. This game teaches you the old saying, "Save early, save often."
Now a major problem with this game is the undertaking of quests. They are extremely difficult to finish due to the lack of direction or some sort of waypoint marker to guide you in the right direction. This can cause quests to take a very long time, and can make you bored of the game quickly, just by working on a simple quest such as finding someone. A little more work, and as said before, even just a waypoint marker would have made this game so much more fun to play.
A huge problem at times are the load times for this game. I found myself waiting for roughly 45sec to a whole minute when you first start the game up from a save file. It is a minor problem, but one that I wish installing the game to the hard-drive would speed up.
Sound:
This game sounds terrific in some areas, and some voice acting is alright as well, though don't expect something good like "Mass Effect" or "Final Fantasy" in terms of dialogue. Combat also has some good sounds, though nothing to be impressed by. The music is where this game hits a homerun, and it sounds terrific. While it may not be the most original music, it is still worth noting its quality.
Story:
You play as a no-name recruit into the group known as the Dragon Slayers. As the name says, you slay dragons. Early on you will go to a small village that has apparently been attacked by a dragon, though no viable info has been reported. It is up to you to talk to NPCs, get info, and report back to your commander, and from there, the game takes flight. The story is very original, and has a lot of untapped potential. I wish there could have been a little more work, though players should enjoy it to an extent.
Graphics and Presentation:
Note: Typically, "Graphics" and "Presentation" are seperate in my reviews, though due to the nature of the review from here on out, they are together.
Now this is mainly where "Divinity II" is hurt in this review. The graphics themselves are okay, and are not the worst seen this generation. Here though is where all the technical flaws in the game begin. The frame-rate is terrible on higher resolutions, and stutters every 2 - 5 seconds. It makes the game painful to play just because looking at the screen for more than 10 minutes can hurt. Though when playing on lower resolutions, and playing on standard definition TVs, the issue seems gone. It could soley depend on the TV which you are playing on.
Overall, the graphics are decent, and some areas look really nice. Shading is sub-par, but as mentioned before, these are not the worst graphics I have seen.
Conclusion:
"Divinity II" is an idea with a lot of potential. Taking control of a dragon slayer, and turning into a dragon (at the few parts) may sound like fun and may even be fun to some, it just doesn't always come together. There are some nice things about "Divinity II", though they are few and far between. If you can get around the horrible frame-rate, this game can be fun, and very challenging. Though if you are an avid RPG looking for a great RPG, you may want to look elsewhere.
Gameplay Score: 6/10
Sound Score: 7/10
Story Score: 7/10
Graphics Score: 5.5/10
Presentation Score: 5/10
Overall Score: 6/10
Replay Value: Very Low