Preview: Divinity II: Ego Draconis (PC)
Posted by Astrella on December 8th, 2009
The sequel of Divine Divinity, Divinity II: Ego Draconis, is coming to America on January 5, 2026 for Xbox 360 and PC (Rated M for Mature). It was developed by Larian Studios, and being published by cdv Entertainment (publisher of Sacred 2). Divine Divinity was released in 2002 so it’s safe to say this has been long awaited by the fans.
To cover some of the technical bases first, the game seems like it will play fine if you have an up-to-date decent PC. I have a gaming PC so I was able to turn up the visual slidebars some in the options, but not all the way. My FPS dropped significantly when I turned everything up all the way. The slidebars are there for a reason so if you experience FPS problems just drop it a bit lower. When you are playing the game the graphics look somewhat “grainy”, but they’re definitely not the worst I’ve seen. When the game cuts to a character conversation the graphics look better and smoother. So you don’t need a super computer to play this, but if you still don’t feel comfortable purchasing it for PC then buy the Xbox 360 version. One thing to be aware of on the PC version is sometimes when you alt-tab out of the game, then you try to go back in you won’t get the game or the menu the first time. It may take a try or two before it loads correctly. I kept getting a yellow screen when I tried to go back into the game, but I just alt-tabbed and went back in again, and it was fine.
The game starts with a beautiful CGI opening cinematic, then it’s on to the character selection screen where you choose your gender, hair and hair color, face, and voice. It’s not all fancy with slidebars like alot of similar games boast, but sometimes sticking with the basics is much better. Character creation is important and fun, but at the same time people just want to play the game.
After diving right into the game I was caught up in a bit of backstory telling that usually starts off these kind of games. The story is rather interesting. You play as a newly initiated Dragon Slayer hellbent on destroying all dragons in the land, but you have more to learn. You just finished your training at the academy, now you’re ready to become a full fledged Slayer. You receive your very first quest from the character, Rhode, and you’re on your way!
The first level is the tutorial level. You will learn all the basics of playing here. First thing you learn about is controlling your character. Movement is very odd in the game. You use ASWD to move forward, back, left, and right, and moving the mouse controls the camera and turning. This takes a bit of getting used to since I’m one to prefer moving forward and around with my mouse instead of solely ASWD. When you start fighting you have to use the hotkeys to use your abilities. Transitioning from ASWD to the numbers, and back again to move is actually pretty difficult in battle when you’re trying to dodge ranged attacks as well. The fact that you can use a plain swing or shoot attack by just hitting the left mouse button does make it a bit easier. Thankfully, you can reassign the movement in the options to play more to your liking. You can also pause the game, select the spell you want to use, and target who you want to cast it on. I don’t really like playing this way, though in the later levels it’s sure to pay off. I just feel it destroys the “flow” of the battle.
When you arrive in the first town you start really talking to people, and a couple more quests. You are given choices of responses to people to find out more information or to just leave. The quest options get deeper as you go along. Instead of just picking up all the quests possible you are supposed to think hard about it and decide because you can possibly get rewarded for not taking a particular quest, or even for failing one. In the first town is also where you can try the three different weapon classes, Warrior, Mage, Ranger. If you look into your skill trees you also see Priest and Dragon Slayer. You don’t have to stick to what you start with in the first town. You can mix and match skills you learn within the talent trees as you level; there are no class restrictions. What I like best about the talent selection is the fact that an in depth explanation of the skill is given, as well as a video showing what the skill looks like when performed!
The voice acting in the game is actually decent. With the action/RPGs you never quite know what you’re going to get. The acting in this game isn’t academy award winning by any means, but it does keep you interested and isn’t bad to a point where you will become detached from the game.
Something cool that was added in the game is Mindreading. In Divinity II you can read anyone’s mind when you talk to them. Some of them recognize what you’re doing, while you may get some information from others. What makes Mindreading special is the fact that it costs XP to do. XP doesn’t only level your character, but it now serves as currency to perform Mindreading. I’m not particularly a fan of spending my XP so I kept the mindreading to a minimum, but I’m sure you can get some useful information from NPCs with it.
Later in the game you can create your own creatures to fight along side of you. As you kill enemies and creatures you will start to collect their body parts. With these you can create a creature to hold aggro on a mob or perform other various needs while fighting. You also will have your own Battletower. The Battletower is your own personal space where you can customize and upgrade your character and gameplay even further. Here you can create potions, train, summon your creatures, etc. Eventually you will also be able to transform into a dragon and take part of aerial combat. In dragon form you will have a separate talent tree and armor.
The game does have a Diablo-esque feel to it when it comes down to the looting and upgrading your character. And the long (apparently over 80 hours of gameplay), in-depth story is sure to remind players of Dragon Age, especially since the main focus of Divinity II is dragons. This game is already being held in high regards by many RPG fans because of the immersion level, customization, and fights (they’re pretty tough!). Only thing I’m afraid of is if Divinity II will get pushed aside by many because they will think it’s a “Dragon Age wannabe.” I hope not. This is destined to be a pretty kick ass game.
Torchlight, the little game by creators of Runic Games has caught the attention of many PC gamers since its debut at E3. After hearing from gamer friends that it is a “good Diablo rip-off” I figured I had to give it a try being the dungeon crawling loot whore that I am.
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