Quite a few years ago I discovered an RPG called Divinity: Original Sin. It was on Kickstarter and back in those days I had a bad habit of backing a lot of games that I would then feel disappointed about. True enough, the same was said for this particular game.
I had been so excited about it, until I played it and discovered that it was clearly created with co-op in mind and there was no escaping it even in single player mode. It felt weird and wholly bizarre, it was not quite the gaming experience I was after, and after maybe two measly hours the game was closed forevermore.
Then, a couple of years ago I was informed of Divinity: Original Sin 2.
"This is the best game I've played in years, get it, try it, you'll love it!"
I was dubious because of my experience in the first one, but for some long-forgotten reason decided to buy it and try it anyway. It seemed fun and from what little time I spent in it, it seemed that my bizarre issues from the first one weren't present in the second one. But it wasn't really the right time for me to get immersed in a significantly large RPG so it was put on the backburner.
Untl recently...
I've reacquainted myself with someone from my past, someone who's been in my life since we were 16 years old so technically we've now known each other for over half our lives, and we've been playing a lot of co-op games over the past month as we try to spend more time with one another over the vast Queensland distance.
We've played several games of Civilization 6, completed the Master Chief Collection, and now we're doing Divinity: Original Sin 2 whilst also partially dabbling in Dota 2 as he tries to teach me how to play so I can join him and some other old friends in that. Then we're all playing the new WoW expac in a couple of months! 😄
Anyway, mostly it's Original Sin 2 at the moment. And I'm really enjoying it.
However, while I'm enjoying it, I now have an opposite complaint to that which I had for the first Original Sin. The first one was clearly designed with co-op in mind, to the extent that even as a single player you still had to deal with co-op nonsense... this second one, whilst fun in co-op, doesn't seem quite as designed for co-op.
In the first one, in dialogues there'd be a mechanic in dialogues that enabled the two controlled characters to talk and then choose who would win the conversation.
In this second one, he's talking to everyone and I'm just... eavesdropping. And then I have to do the whole conversation I've just witnessed myself or the NPC's don't seem to know of my existence. That really does not seem conducive to ease of co-op playthrough. He can also talk to his companion all the time, but mine doesn't really want to talk to me, presumably because I'm just an eavesdropper.
So I'm probably missing out on half the game because according to the way the game has been made, technically I'm just another follower following along and not a real person unless I literally repeat everything my partner has just done. Ugh.
But that's not so bad, I guess. I mean, it would be if I was actually playing the game intending to get the full experience, but I'm playing for other reasons -- social, the joy of spending time with someone I've missed out on so much time with, and FUN.
And fun it is.
The combat is absolutely fantastic. Although sometimes you have to click on abilities 2 or 3 times to actually get them to activate. And a lot of the time we're playing late at night when I'm a bit sleepy, so I've made quite a few hilarious combat errors in my half-asleep state.
It's so strategic. Which I love!
You actually have to think about what's going on, what you're doing, what's in the environment, you have to investigate the enemies and know what you're fighting. You can't make a skeleton bleed, for example, poison heals undead, and you can't utilise the strengths of some abilities unless the enemy's corresponding shield type has collapsed ~ like last night when I tried to knock someone down but hadn't removed all of their physical shield first. Woops.
Last night we completed Act 1. 🙂
I really have no idea just how large the game is, how many Acts there are, and if we're going to be done in a week or in a month. But I'm really enjoying my time in the game, despite just being another follower. Thanks Larian Studios for this oversight. 🙄
This game is actually making me want to play Pillars of Eternity again. As I'm strategising my combat moves in Original Sin 2 I'm also remembering the brain power I needed to strategise my combat in Pillars of Eternity and the great feelings of success and satisfaction as I actually won and progressed in that game.
I never finished it though.
I completed Act 2 then had a break because I was literally unable to sleep at night. Instead of sleep, my brain stayed awake and kept strategising moves. So I took a break and then just never got back to it. One day. I'd like to try it again at some point and I still have Pillars of Eternity 2 to get into once that's done.
All in good time! 😊
All screenshots in this post courtesy of me, 
