Awesome.
Actually, there's really nothing you haven't seen before, but the elements Divinity 2 blends from another games are very well mixed in fact, plus some improvements here and there, like the Mindread skill. With this skill you can read people's minds (for a certain amount of XP you will have to "un-debt") and you can find valuable information, like secret stashes, where the key to a secret dungeon has been hidden, this type of stuff. Besides this, it is a great RPG that kept me playing for hours and hours, and seeing your character becoming stronger and stronger, with better armor and weapons, has never been so fun.
The graphics are not bad at all, the animations are well done, and even the lipsync is quite exemplary, and unlike TWII (which I previously reviewed), the voice acting is better. You have a myriad of characters to meet and obtain information from, tons of side quest, and gorgeous level design to wash your eyes with. One location that particularly got my attention was Orobas Fjords, which you will discover in the game pretty early.
Divinity 2 has definitely learned from some common RPG mistakes, for instance, in this game you cannot do "grinding". You know what I mean, when you find a field full of mobs, you kill them, gain experience, go to another area, come back, find them all back and kill them again. To get the best equipment, armor and weapons, and to advance in level you will have to rely mostly on quests, because rarely have I bought good equipment from merchants. Also, enemies don't drop as much loot as you have expected.
It would make little sense to go into details, but trust me, you will have the time of your life with this game, and since I am an RPG freak, you will certainly enjoy this greatly done game. Now, for the cons, and the reason I gave this game 8.5 is that it still misses something, probably a little bit polished graphics and a better story (excluding the cheesy parts made on purpose, yes, this game has a somewhat sense of humor). I am counting over 80 hours of gameplay, and I skipped some side quests, and I think I am at the middle of game as far as the main quests are going. Nevertheless, you get a great game for your money.
+:
- Great gameplay mechanics
- Good sense of humor
- Great graphics
- Great dialogues
- Awesome level design
- Tons of side quests and dungeons, caves, "flying fortresses" to discover
-:
- Weak story
-Graphics could use an improvement
-I wish it was on a more epic scale