Reviewed: January 29, 2010
Reviewed by: Jason Flick

Publisher
CDV Software

Developer
Larian Studios

Released: January 5, 2010
Genre: RPG
Players: 1

9
8
9
9
8.8

Supported Features:

As I mentioned in my preview I never had the chance to play the predecessors to Divinity II. I however did start to fall in love with Divinity II the moment the music started playing upon loading it up on my 360. Players return to Rivellon as a Dragon Slayer, a warrior trained to protect his/her lands against the Ancient Ones and the Dragon Knights that serve them. You must make the choice if you have what it takes to defeat the Dragon Knights but if you’re worthy enough to become one.

Divinity II: Ego Draconis is a third person perspective RPG with a fighting style much like that seen in The Witcher or Sacred 2. The story takes place in Rivellon, war torn after what was thought to be the end of the Great War against the Damned One, Damian. But all is not as it seemed and Damian is building up his forces in the shadows while the Dragon Slayers seek out the last of the Dragon Knights. You must take your role and stop Damian at all costs and seal the outcome of a war that has yet to end.

The first thing I’ll talk about is the controls. Playing it on the PC with a keyboard and mouse was pretty easy and in some instances still the better way to do it. Having now played it with a controller on my Xbox 360, I found the controls to be more refined and in some areas even better. A prime example of this is seen when using a bow to shoot things on shelves or elevated areas. In the PC version you had to be either at the right elevation or at a certain distance away for the cursor to tag the desired box to hit it. With the 360 controller you still have to be in clear line of sight but you can utilize free look while holding down the Left Trigger and aiming with the right analog stick.

The first thing you do before partaking in your journey through Rivellon is create your human avatar. The character creation system offers various options to customize your human avatar. You can choose between male/female gender, face type, hair and voice presets to make your character yours. Some of the options are somewhat limiting such as the types of hairstyles, but for the most are pretty good. You can alter your players look and even gender later on via an Illusionist if you’re bored of your character’s look after a while. After that your on your way to claiming the title of Dragon Slayer.

Divinity II features a classless skill system that allows the player the freedom to build their character as they see fit with a plethora of skills at you disposal. Divinity II at first only lets you leave the starter village with one of three paths to choose, warrior, ranger and mage. But as you set out on your journey you can follow one set class such as ranger or ultimately become something more like a ranger-mage-warrior. The choice is yours and yours alone. For my review run I choose a slightly different path than what I did in my preview. I still stuck with the ranger skill set for the most part but focused on adding melee abilities as well as a few Dragon Knight and mage abilities to further enhance my combat efficiency on the battlefield. It’s a really good idea not to stick to all offensive abilities as you can get quickly overrun.

One of the things that I will mention, as does the game, is that you should take some consideration into how you distribute the points you earn upon leveling up. It’s not a good idea to throw them in some random category, for a couple reasons. The first being that its makes no sense to be a mage with your hit points through the roof but little mana points, or a ranger with a poor dexterity level but a high level of mana points. The second reason is that all your armor and weapons require a certain level in various areas to be used. Each piece of gear usually requires your character to be a certain level as well as having different stats at a desired level. For instance a certain bow requires me to Level 16 and have Dexterity of 10 to use. Weapons and armor not only require certain levels but depending on the item will give your character boosts in stats or perks. For example the bow I mentioned above would give me: +3 to Magic Damage, +10 to Ranged Damage and +1 to Ranger Stealth, which is beneficial to my build.

Battle isn’t limited to the ground anymore as you can take to the skies and rain fire and destruction from the skies as a Dragon. The Dragon just like your human counter part can equip armor and learn skills. Your Dragon half however levels a bit differently as you cannot set your stat points. They are added in a fixed manner as you level up. You also can only upgrade your skills by reading skill books that you find throughout you journey. As I played as a Dragon for the second time I found that it was even more enjoyable taking to the skies thanks largely to the use of dual analog sticks. It was much easier to maneuver and attack with a 360 controller as the dragon.

There are a few things that I really liked about they way that Larian, designed the gameplay as far as your Dragon self is concerned. You have to take in consideration you current location when you want to shift into Dragon form once you gain the ability to become one. If you’re in a tight location or in water you cannot shift. One of my favorite things to do is jump of a cliff and shift into Dragon form mid-jump and soar off into the sky. This is particularly useful if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew and need a quick escape.

The other thing I really like is the fact that when you are in Dragon form certain creatures, such as goblins, doesn’t matter to the Dragon and become phased out. You are not invincible while in Dragon form so you still have to watch out for other hostile flying pest and human defenses but you do have a slew of skills at your disposal to rid yourself of any and all attackers.

To assist you on your quests, you can after a certain quest create an undead creature to help you in battle. Having one of these creatures was a lifesaver in certain areas for me. To create a creature you have to gather parts from your defeated foes if the drop them or from various other places through out the game. Depending on the quality of the parts your creatures will be stronger or be capable of other skills like fire magic. It’s up to you to build your creature to be the best that it can be.

I’ve played countless RPG’s in my time as both gamer and reviewer but I haven’t played anything quite like this. This is the first RPG that I’ve ever seen where you can use XP as currency. Thanks to your newly gained ability to mind read as a Dragon Slayer you can trade XP for the ability to read NPC’s minds. This is a big feature as it can enhance and enrich your experience with quests and ultimately Divinity II as a whole. Reading NPC’s minds can often times offer alternative means to solving a quest, but be forewarned, doing a quest one way can lock out other events later on. Depending on who’s mind you read you can also get stat or skill points to use to improve your character. It’s always a good idea to read everyone’s minds despite the cost as it can pay off big later on if you do.

The world of Rivellon is yours for the taking as you traverse through rich landscapes, deadly dungeons, and beautiful skies. The visuals are as gorgeous and the cut scenes are worthy of a feature film in my book. The first time I saw the cut scene where I was in dragon form and we see Damian again is just amazing. The graphics in Divinity II can easily be compared to those of earlier titles like Oblivion for the most part. There are moments however where Divinity II out shines them all. In a title like this it is apparent that some sacrifices have to be made to keep the refresh rate running smooth during combat.

Depending on the camera angle you can see some of the developer’s handiwork when it comes to the greenery and other areas as well, but I’m happily content with that. There are several areas of Divinity II that make up for those things such as the water effects especially when wading through it. The views are also amazing and sometimes instill a sense of dread like the Maxos Temple. One of my favorite view spots is standing atop the Lovis Citadel Tower and just pointing out different locations in Broken Valley to friends thanks to the draw distances in Divinity II.

The score is simply amazing and set the mood for everything. As I mentioned above, the first time I loaded up the game, the music just caught me and swept me off my feet. Kirill Pokrovsky who did the scores for both Divine and Beyond Divinity (both Larian titles) returns to create some of the most enchanting music that I’ve heard in a long time. I also applaud almost all of the voice acting that I heard while playing. It’s well done and believable unlike some RPGS that I’ve ran across. The one thing I did notice that kind of bugged me was the sudden stop in music and the sometimes-decent gap between when entering different locations. You can still hear any wildlife in the area during this time but it just throws things off briefly.

Divinity II: Ego Draconis will offer hours of entertainment with all of its side quests, hidden location and vast areas. The game is fairly challenging at first and remains that way much of the game. The experience will get easier as you go especially if you build up you Battle Tower, once you earn it that is. The Battle Tower can greatly assist you in your endeavors if you so choose to utilize its more advanced functions. The Battle Tower houses four different platforms, each with their own purpose. You gain use of an alchemist, necromancer, trainer and an enchanter that can create potions, build a creature to aid you in battle, strengthen your skills beyond your normal capabilities or make you favorite weapons even deadlier. The more you upgrade your tower platforms the better off you are.

I really enjoyed playing Divinity II: Ego Draconis as a whole. Sure it had some minor things that bugged me such as the music cutting out or sometimes getting stuck on the smallest twig when in combat here and there but I walked away with a good experience. I loved the small hidden references throughout the title that made me just laugh to myself or in one case tell by friends about. The music is captivating, most of the major cutscenes are film quality, and the environments are nicely designed. You can pick up Divinity II: Ego for the Xbox 360 for around $60 dollars. If you’re looking for a new RPG that isn’t just your standard RPG then I definitely recommend giving this one a go.