Review: Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition (PS4)

Rating: 0
Author: Jim Smale

by Jim Smale · October 27, 2015

Gather your party and get ready for the kick-ass new version. With hours of new content, new game modes, full voiceovers, split-screen multiplayer, and 1000’s of improvements there’s never been a better time to explore the epic world of Rivellon!

Pros:

Stunning graphics and I mean stunning. Never has a game looked so good.
In depth options: Set the amount of quick and auto save slots used. Subtitles, Duel dialogue, Camera speed, Camera shake and vibration and more.
Four difficulties: Explorer (easy fights), Classic (Normal), Tactician (Harder fights) and Honour (Brutal difficulty).
11 classes to choose from: Fighter, Inquisitor, Knight, Ranger, Rogue, Shadow Blade, Wayfarer, Witch, Wizard, Battle Mage, Cleric and enchanter.
Character creator: Set the voice, Face, hair, Starting spells and colours.
Tooltip can easily turned off and on.
Ongoing pop up tutorials (can be turned off)
Intelligent unique splitscreen system. You can share the screen or force split screen. What makes it unique is the fact that both players can go off and do anything and do stories seperate making their own decisions and choices.
Online can be set to online open, Friends only and invite only.
Full Platinum trophy.
In co op you can disagree with each others choices and fight amongst yourselves.
Drop in/out co op.
Dial menu system that works surprisingly well.
Fully voiced dialogue for every character/NPC.
Soundtrack is given the same love that the graphcs bring. Every note is like a ballad of beatiful song. Ok that sounds really corny and not like me so, the music is brilliant and brings so much atmosphere to whole game. Sound effects are comical yet appropriate. The speech, voice work overall is just as good as you would expect from any AAA title. hear peoples conversations, interact with the locals or just listen to the grunts of orcs.
The map you have to explore is all covered up and becomes visible as you traverse the land. The map is a huge one and that isnt even counting the warp gates,Caves and other secret areas. Not only will the map areas become visible from travelling around, But any buildings entered with importance, will be marked on the map. Icons will show place names and peoples names if they are important.
Can write custom marker points on the map.
Quick save/load function. As well as a proper hard save which can be done from anywhere at any time.
You can have a follower join you who if your solo, can be controlled by you. As you progress you can hire more party members and again swap between them. You are in charge of assigning upgrade points and inventory management. One cool feature is you can chain your members together, not in a sex domination type way but in the way in which once chained, you can set formations and have them follow you in a particular way. Multiple formation choices are available and can changed on the fly. You can assign followers to your co op partner as well.
Earn exp from fighting, finishing missions and even just exloring the land. You can level up and then get given points to allocate to increase/unlock new/old stats.
Huge traits section where you can specialize in many fields from lockpicking to stealing to crafting,blacksmithing,being able to see traps from distance,two/one handed combat. That right there is jjjust a small taste of the options awaiting you.
Combat is an old school turn based affair. you get assigned Action Points (AP) which dictate how far you can move or what attacks you can do. AP can vary and indeed increase with certain traits/skills and armour buffs. You can bank AP points and use them on the next turn for the more powerful moves. The combat is excellent and is not a simple click attack, You never know where your attackers will come from, how your strategy will pan out, Its all in the planning and execution.
Powerful elemental mechanics in play through out the game. Think of it like a sophisticated Magicka. Using electricity in rain will affect everyone who is wet, Use fire on poison to turn it to gas then use water to wash it away. Mix elements together at your own risk as you could conjour up a poison cloud or electric storm. Aside from these you can also attempt to freeze/burn or poison enemies. Blow up barrels to epose chemicals like oil,water or ooze and use them to your advantage. One cool trick is to make it rain and create puddles and them use these as an attack with electricity.
To aid you in fights, Before you trigger the fight you can sneak around and get an advantagous spot and then kick the fight in. When sneaking you will take the form of your surroundings. So if you are in the woods you will be hid in a bush, in the mountains you will be in a rock.
Enemies do not level up with you so you can sway into dangerous fights and get instantly destroyed.
You can go wherever you can reach in game but be warned you may come across high level huys.
Dialogue is delivered in a unique way. For much of the game you will talk to NPC just like any other game, but you can also have it where you will make a desicion then your partner will make up there own mind. If you both agree it will end but if you both disagree, A game of rock paper scissors will begin. Stats play a huge part in how strong a win a round is and how likely you are to win. In all honesty its a random guess mechanic but still fun. IThis whole scenario can happen with NPC and carries a lot more weight to them as they can make or break side quests. Either way it is a unique and exciting mechanic.
Gonna say it agin but the atmosphere is just brillinat from the moment you boot the game. Its the game you just want to lose yourself in and that is easily done.
Action bar: Assign your spelss and items here for quick access.
You can craft, cook and create all manner of new items, weapons and armour.
Items can be bought and sold from various vendors. Bartering system allows you to haggle the price down and uses a drag on drop offer screen. Money can be used with items to sweeten or clicnch the deal. And to keep it old school, The vendor money does not replenish and instead you have to buy and sell from them so they have money to buy from you. Its an excellent economy system.
A really solid RPG that just oozes in fun and will be the closest you can get to a decent Dungeon and Dragons game without a board.
You can unlock the right stick so it is like a mouse pointer allowing you to freely look around the areas and turn the camera.
Controls are surprisingly simple and uses the touch pad as the map button.

Cons:

Party chaining issues, Your followers may not always chain or you may have it where you cannot swap between members.
Mission management is still non existant. It can be really hard to keep track of whats what.
Slowdown in parts.
Camera cannot be zoomed in.
Lining up attacks can be tricky as you think its the big icon you use but it is in fact the small do.
When loading your save the game will put up a empty action bar and unchain co op partner followers.
Small writing in places.
No hand holding at all which to me is a good thing but you know.