In Retro: "Divine Divinity" Review (PC)

Several years ago, a game was released for the PC entitled, bafflingly, “Divine Divinity.” I would come to refer to it as “Redundant Redundancy,” thanks to what has to be the worst video game title this side of “Infinite Undiscovery.” At the time, after my playthrough, I wrote the following review. I share it now because a game was released just this year entitled simply, “Divinity II.” What was “Divinity,” was my initial response to the game’s release, and how does it have a sequel when I’ve never heard of it before? And then it dawned on me – this is a sequel to “Divine Divinity,” only the people in marketing finally got smart and said, “You know what, that title sucks. Let’s just go with ‘Divinity.’” And so, in honor of the sequel’s release (which I have yet to play), let’s rewind time to my original review of the game that started it all…

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Those of you roleplayers who have yet to play “Divine Divinity,” listen up: ignore the ridiculously awful title, the somewhat cheesy box art, and grab a copy of “Divine Divinity” as soon as possible. Whether you prefer the depth of games like “Baldur’s Gate” or the hack-and-slash action of games like “Diablo,” “Divine Divinity” is for you. This one manages to be deep and action-packed both at once. If you can ignore a few select problems, you’ll find yourself in very good hands.

The storyline behind “Redundant Redundancy” – er, I mean “Divine Divinity” is your usual fantasy setup. You are the land’s hero, chosen to defeat the Lord of Chaos before he utterly destroys the land of Rivellon (which contains your expected elves, dwarves, orcs, etc.). Despite this trite backdrop, “Divinity” actually has a compelling plot with a few nice twists, and it’s loaded with characters that are more colorful than you might expect. All you have to do to leap headlong into this storyline is select a guise for your character: male or female survivor, mage, or warrior. It sounds pretty simple, and it is on the surface, but the good news is that your character isn’t completely restricted by the class you select. For example, warriors can learn mage spells, or the lock-picking skills of a survivor. In the end, this allows you to tailor make your alter ego as you see fit.

You begin the game pretty weak, and so much as stepping outside of the borders of Aleroth (a sleepy hamlet that marks the beginning of your quest) can get you killed very, very quickly. “Divinity” is not an easy game, rest assured, and sometimes it can be frustrating. It is also baffling at first, since you can stumble headlong into so many quests that your journal becomes an overstuffed tome, and you just don’t know where to start. Stick with the game, though, despite its initial unfriendly assault, and you will be glad you did. A wide assortment of foes, locales, and NPCs will keep you interested in this place called Rivellon, and you will almost assuredly become hooked.

“Divinity” sports a pretty nice 2-D engine, albeit with some herky-jerky animations (player character notwithstanding). 3-D aficionados will probably be turned off by this, but I think the engine adds to the game’s colorful, ‘hand-drawn’ style, which, visually, sets it apart from the pack. The sound effects are a bit dull and repetitive, and the voice-acting ranges from decent to utterly horrible, but the score is positively excellent. The game’s dialogue is hit-and-miss, thanks to some bad translations, but the game’s unique sense of humor comes through this unscathed. Add, of course, some fine roleplaying and some decent point-and-click action, and you’ve got a real underdog champion on your hands.

FINAL SCORE: 7.9 (Good)