Divine Divinity: should have tried it sooner!

[opium fiend]

The thing that catches my eye the most about the game is the retarded title, so I always assumed it was a crappy diablo clone. Why is it called Divine Divinity?

 

[Lesifoere]

I understand it was meant to be titled simply "Divinity," but Larian said the publisher thought that was too plain. Mind you, "Divinity" alone is pretty... vague and pointless.

 

[Zomg]

My initial mild dislike of Diablo mousefightin' was intensified by years of it being the default RPG interface to the point that I hated Div Div for that first dungeon thing and I never played it past that.

 

[ghostdog]

I think the player eventually becomes one of the "divine" or something , but yes it's a stupid title. I found the game far better than diablo though and it's not a diablo clone. It actually has a plot, some nice quests and a good sense of humor. It reminded me a bit of Ultima7.

 

[Gragt]

I understand it was meant to be titled simply "Divinity," but Larian said the publisher thought that was too plain. Mind you, "Divinity" alone is pretty... vague and pointless.

The original title was actually Divinity: Sword of Lies if I am correct.

I think the player eventually becomes one of the "divine" or something [...]

*mild spoiler*

The story revolves around the "Divine One" that should save the world from Lord Chaos (now how original is that?), also the term "Divine Divinity" is used in the game once by the main character to show his doubts about one important npc claiming he is the Divine One.

Not really clever, I agree.

I found the game far better than diablo though and it's not a diablo clone.

Only the combat system is reminiscent and the character building is reminiscent of Diablo and there DD still handles things a bit differently (allows you to pick skills from other classes, no tree) and it gives you a few useful tools such as the pause (certainly the best RTwP I've seen yet, simple but effective) and the ability to target the nearest enemy from the cursor with ctrl (hard to go back to playing Diablo without it). For the rest, the game is about exploring the very large world and solving quest, a few of which do not involve combat and some give you different way to solve them (though only the good part really rewards you, the evil choices when present are mostly there as token choices). I would say that while Larian took inspiration from Diablo for the combat and character system, they looked at Ultima for the world and the ways you can interact with it.

It really seem like a complete Diablo clone from the start but as soon as you're done with the first dungeon, the game changes for the best. So for those who hated the game and couldn't complete that first part, I'd say try to give the game a second chance and get past it as there is a lot more to it than just that.

 

[Texas Red]

My initial mild dislike of Diablo mousefightin' was intensified by years of it being the default RPG interface to the point that I hated Div Div for that first dungeon thing and I never played it past that.

How can you hate the first dungeon when you are first immersed in a well done, atmospheric village?

Also, the skills are unbalanced and bugged. The stat text on one screen differs from the other. I saw no point in getting news spells because improving the basic ones was better, which is lame. And having some starting spell I pwnd absolutely everything with ease

 

[Zomg]

I can't remember it that clearly. I just recall a shitty dungeon and thinking, "Man, I hate these fucking click-the-monster games! Gah!"

 

[opium fiend]

Mind you, "Divinity" alone is pretty... vague and pointless.

Divine Divinity is even more so, it doesn't mean anything. But, yeah, it's a stupid complaint if the game's decent.

 

[DoppelG]

Wasn't the title supposed to be "the warrior, the lady and the mage", or something similar? Can't remember it exactly.

 

[Serious_Business]

And having some starting spell I pwnd absolutely everything with ease

You mean like in Arcanum.

What up!!!

 

[Ryuken]

Wasn't the title supposed to be "the warrior, the lady and the mage", or something similar? Can't remember it exactly.

Yeah, LMK: the Lady, the Mage and the Knight. Was based on Das Schwarze Auge I think. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to problems with the publisher. They re-used much of that game's assets in DD though, there is even an easter egg about LMK in it.

 

[thesheeep]

IMHO DD is very good crpg game with interesting story, dialogue system, fine world and quests.

Wtf?
When I played it, it felt and played exactly like a somehow better Diablo clone.
Should I replay... seems like I got something wrong, when so many people say something different...

 

[Gragt]

When I played it, it felt and played exactly like a somehow better Diablo clone.
Should I replay... seems like I got something wrong, when so many people say something different...

Considering the game as a whole like a Diablo clone is not making it justice if you ask me though the combat (and you'll spend most of your time doing that) is of direct Diablo inspiration.

It might be worth replaying it, knowing it gets better after the first dungeon, but I guess it depends mostly of what you want from the game. DD do some things very good and fails at others, yet it is one of my favourite games.

 

[Saxon1974]

I needed a fix of some good old Isometric 2D fun so i went back to play this again, I never finished it before.

This game is one of the best looking atmospheric 2D games ever made. The only thing I dont like is the clicky diablo like combat. There is just too much of it.

I actually think if they could have added more puzzles and interesting quests as opposed to mass clicky combat this would have been an all time classic.

That being said, I enjoy this game quite a bit.

Sad that Larian is apparently making DD number 2 as a 3D game. (If it gets made at all).

And I agree with those that say that Divine Divinity is a horrible name, and the cover art for the game isn't very good either. It's strange because the manual art and the game art is very well done.

 

[Gragt]

And I agree with those that say that Divine Divinity is a horrible name, and the cover art for the game isn't very good either. It's strange because the manual art and the game art is very well done.

One of the best exemples of "do not judge a book by its cover".

 

[Saxon1974]

Just finished the first dungeon, and I agree with people that didn't really like it. I didn't hate it, I just think it was a level or two too long with too many wade through enemies type of fights. I was bored with it after about the 3rd level or so.



SPOILER



I also didn't like how you have the dialog responses to not kill the necromancer and let him live on in pain, I chose that but then it forces you to kill him. Too bad you couldn't let him live and have the story play out a different way.


Question; I can't seem to find anything on George's murder? Can someone give me hint without giving it away?

 

[Gragt]

The George murder quest is solved much later. If you restored Mardaneus' sanity (and I guess you did), he'll ask you to find the murderer and that's it for now. Much later you'll recognize someone who will put you back on tracks.

 

[Saxon1974]

The George murder quest is solved much later. If you restored Mardaneus' sanity (and I guess you did), he'll ask you to find the murderer and that's it for now. Much later you'll recognize someone who will put you back on tracks.

Ah, I thought I had to do that to get out of the first Aleroth...Apparently I didn't look for the door hard enough....

 

[Saxon1974]

I have to agree with those who said this game has great music. It is very good, and quite varied. You dont get tired of the same songs over and over because they are varied enough. Good stuff.

 

[A user named cat]

Note: These are legal links, lifted straight from Kirill's (DD's music composer) website.

Divine Divinity soundtrack part 1

Part 2

One of the only video game soundtracks outside of the Silent Hill series I have on a Winamp list to just chill and listen to. Great stuff.

 

[Ogg]

Divine Divinity seems very fashionable right now.

 

[Saxon1974]

Note: These are legal links, lifted straight from Kirill's (DD's music composer) website.

Divine Divinity soundtrack part 1

Part 2

One of the only video game soundtracks outside of the Silent Hill series I have on a Winamp list to just chill and listen to. Great stuff.

Very cool, thanks.

 

[Saxon1974]

Divine Divinity seems very fashionable right now.

Yea its odd because I just felt like playing a 2D isometric game and it was between Baldur's gate and DD, but I have played Baldur's 1 and 2 recently so I chose DD and man I think its better than I originally thought.

Maybe its a sing of the state of the RPG industry right now? It is for me, Im constantly going back and playing old games now.

 

[Murk]

The music is beyond comparison - the song you hear in the elf village is very magical, i feel gay for saying that but it's seriously good and bears a lot of influence from actual folk music and was obviously made by someone with great skill, understanding, and talent.

The combat is pretty broken - if for whatever reason you're having problems with combat here's your solution -

poison a bow and shoot the enemy with one arrow till they get poisoned, now run around until the poison damages them and wears off, now shoot another arrow, repeat

if you feel that's too lame but still need some cheese to get through - get a frost weapon, it stuns enemies for a second or two per hit

the orc wardrummer that spawns outside of aleroth at the little gold cache is impossible to defeat at your level when you first get out without one of those stupid shenanigans

rogue skills are important, but know that often enough you can learn skills for free from NPCs, and magic tomes teach you spells as well

 

[Saxon1974]

The music is beyond comparison - the song you hear in the elf village is very magical, i feel gay for saying that but it's seriously good and bears a lot of influence from actual folk music and was obviously made by someone with great skill, understanding, and talent.

The combat is pretty broken - if for whatever reason you're having problems with combat here's your solution -

poison a bow and shoot the enemy with one arrow till they get poisoned, now run around until the poison damages them and wears off, now shoot another arrow, repeat

if you feel that's too lame but still need some cheese to get through - get a frost weapon, it stuns enemies for a second or two per hit

the orc wardrummer that spawns outside of aleroth at the little gold cache is impossible to defeat at your level when you first get out without one of those stupid shenanigans

rogue skills are important, but know that often enough you can learn skills for free from NPCs, and magic tomes teach you spells as well

I think the most impressive thing about the music the sheer variety, almost everywhere you go there is a different soundtrack so it doesn't get old. I loved the Ultima games music but it did get repetitive.

I loved the music in the Tavern, very nice.

I dont wanna use combat styles that are over powered and make the game easy, that is not fun. Once I get bored and just wanna finish the game maybe I will do that.

Your right, Im level 10 and the orc wardrum guy still owns me so I just run away.