Divine Divinity (2002)
Journey to the land of Rivellon and fight the dark side in this debut action RPG by Belgian developer Larian Studios.
First released
Sep 22, 2002
Franchises
Divinity
Developed by
Larian Studios
Published by
CDV Software Entertainment AG
Platforms
Mac, PC
Genres
Action, Role-Playing
Themes
Fantasy
Rating
ESRB: T, PEGI: 12+
Releases
- PC - Divine Divinity United Kingdom
- PC - Divine Divinity United States
- PC - Beyond Divinity: Deluxe Edition United Kingdom
Community reviews
*Warning: spoilers* Amazing game and one of the best RPG’s out there.
Divine Divinity is a glorious game. In the core, it is your standard RPG, you level up, collect loot, gather gold and experience and improve your skills. What makes this game unique however, is the really advanced mechanics and interaction with the world around you. This makes it stand out from any other RPG of that era.
The Divinity series are known for its strong story and plot and, of course, it all started here. Evil spreads across the land and the Black Ring tries to destroy the Dive Council of Seven. You are “Marked” and evil will not stop hunting you forever. You need to gather the Council and become Divine in order to destroy the evil that plagues the land. Meanwhile a big ass war is going on between every race in the kingdom, like the Elves, Dwarves and the Orcs. It’s the short version but it is solid.
You start in a quiet village of healers called Aleroth, in the land of Rivellon. From here, you begin your journey to become the Divine and join the Divine Council of Seven. On your journey, you travel to towns, villages and big cities, where everyone has problems and if you want, you could help them out for some extra gear or experience.
And that is the key sentence here: “If you want.” This game lets you do whatever you want, whenever you want. You are completely free to go wherever you want and can choose in which order you complete the game. This has however, some downsides. If you kill a certain NPC (which you totally can do), it might lock/destroy a quest you can do later on. If you travel to that small cave on the left bottom side of the map, you might get your ass handed to you by twenty hungry trolls, while you are not prepared for this.
The graphics in Divinity are stunning. More specifically, the environments and the attention to detail to the flora, fauna, buildings, caves and farmlands. The fight animations and spell casting are beautiful and even today, they are just fine to look at.
The music is glorious. It does not have adrenaline pumping fight tracks but rather calm, medieval themed ambient music that will change according to your current location. This music is perfectly fitting for this game and it enhances the feeling of playing a fantasy themed RPG. The music is greatly improved in the later installments of the Divinity series.
What makes this game unique for me, is the way you can interact with everyone and everything, like I mentioned. You can pick up a piece of trash, keep it in your inventory or place it somewhere else. You can light a candle, which serves no purpose, but you can do it. You can murder everyone you see, although this has consequences in the game later on. You really need to be tactful, think ahead and analyse the risks when performing certain tasks or making certain decisions in Divine Divinity. This makes the game so great.
But the mechanics do not stop there. You can lock pick doors, make potions from mushrooms and flowers you find out in the wild, you can repair your own gear if you have the skill for this, and the list goes on. You can develop your character however you want and add the specialties of your choice to it. Want to be a warrior who can brew potions and lock pick doors? No problem. Want to be a mage with heavy Armor and mad blacksmithing skills? You got it.
The controls and interface can be a little confusing and take some time to get used to. It is not your straight forward Diablo interface.
The only issue I had with Divine Divinity, was its cryptic nature. Yes, this adds to the experience of the game and let you explore freely and figure it out for your own, but sometimes the information is so vague for a quest, that you really have no clue where to start looking. To make matters worse, sometimes you murdered someone that was suppose to help you complete that quest or was a key element in it, and you blew your shot. A lot in this game is connected one way or another so you need to be very careful when performing a certain action. But when you make notes and write down some of the hints and tips given to you by the quest giver, (but did not appear in your quest log) you should be fine most of the time.
In the end, Divine Divinity is one of those games that got my deepest respect and I really enjoyed playing it. It might even be in my top 10 best games ever played.
The Divinity series are known for its strong story and plot and, of course, it all started here. Evil spreads across the land and the Black Ring tries to destroy the Dive Council of Seven. You are “Marked” and evil will not stop hunting you forever. You need to gather the Council and become Divine in order to destroy the evil that plagues the land. Meanwhile a big ass war is going on between every race in the kingdom, like the Elves, Dwarves and the Orcs. It’s the short version but it is solid.
You start in a quiet village of healers called Aleroth, in the land of Rivellon. From here, you begin your journey to become the Divine and join the Divine Council of Seven. On your journey, you travel to towns, villages and big cities, where everyone has problems and if you want, you could help them out for some extra gear or experience.
And that is the key sentence here: “If you want.” This game lets you do whatever you want, whenever you want. You are completely free to go wherever you want and can choose in which order you complete the game. This has however, some downsides. If you kill a certain NPC (which you totally can do), it might lock/destroy a quest you can do later on. If you travel to that small cave on the left bottom side of the map, you might get your ass handed to you by twenty hungry trolls, while you are not prepared for this.
The graphics in Divinity are stunning. More specifically, the environments and the attention to detail to the flora, fauna, buildings, caves and farmlands. The fight animations and spell casting are beautiful and even today, they are just fine to look at.
The music is glorious. It does not have adrenaline pumping fight tracks but rather calm, medieval themed ambient music that will change according to your current location. This music is perfectly fitting for this game and it enhances the feeling of playing a fantasy themed RPG. The music is greatly improved in the later installments of the Divinity series.
What makes this game unique for me, is the way you can interact with everyone and everything, like I mentioned. You can pick up a piece of trash, keep it in your inventory or place it somewhere else. You can light a candle, which serves no purpose, but you can do it. You can murder everyone you see, although this has consequences in the game later on. You really need to be tactful, think ahead and analyse the risks when performing certain tasks or making certain decisions in Divine Divinity. This makes the game so great.
But the mechanics do not stop there. You can lock pick doors, make potions from mushrooms and flowers you find out in the wild, you can repair your own gear if you have the skill for this, and the list goes on. You can develop your character however you want and add the specialties of your choice to it. Want to be a warrior who can brew potions and lock pick doors? No problem. Want to be a mage with heavy Armor and mad blacksmithing skills? You got it.
The controls and interface can be a little confusing and take some time to get used to. It is not your straight forward Diablo interface.
The only issue I had with Divine Divinity, was its cryptic nature. Yes, this adds to the experience of the game and let you explore freely and figure it out for your own, but sometimes the information is so vague for a quest, that you really have no clue where to start looking. To make matters worse, sometimes you murdered someone that was suppose to help you complete that quest or was a key element in it, and you blew your shot. A lot in this game is connected one way or another so you need to be very careful when performing a certain action. But when you make notes and write down some of the hints and tips given to you by the quest giver, (but did not appear in your quest log) you should be fine most of the time.
In the end, Divine Divinity is one of those games that got my deepest respect and I really enjoyed playing it. It might even be in my top 10 best games ever played.