Divine Divinity Preview

Letting players get deep into an exciting fantasy storyline, Divine Divinity continues the tradition of hack'n'slash RPG's reminiscent of Throne of Darkness, Diablo, and Baldur's Gate. Even though the game slightly resembles the abovementioned games, it does have several qualities that are completely new and unique.

Three measly skeletons are no match for my mighty axe.

This is a cool swing.

The world of Divine Divinity offers players a mish-mash of say Lord of the Rings and myths and legends from the Diablo games. At the very beginning, your ill-fated character stumbles on a horde of evil minions that are all apparently after his head. While running away from a group of bloodthirsty orcs, you were rescued by nearby villagers, who also have a few misunderstandings with the creatures that work for the Lord of Chaos - the ultimate evil dude you most certainly don't want to mess with. To make a long story short, you are among the few "marked" individuals who have for one reason or another become extremely important to the evil lord. Your task is to repay the nice villagers and avoid being captured no matter what.

Divine Divinity was created in an attempt to broaden and freshen the gameplay of standard slice'n'dice RPG's. Still, players who desire traditional ARPG stuff won't be disappointed. They will find many possibilities in terms of item-combining and skill advancement. Various skills can be gained (480 skill levels to be exact and 96 skills), which the player can enhance by completing quests and engaging in combat. The full capacity of magic skills were not displayed so much in this build (press demo) because you only get to play as the Warrior (other professions will include Wizard and Survivor), although there are a couple of cool spells the Warrior can utilize and they can be quite nasty and effective. Next to that, the player has the option of working on combat advancement and other hidden talents, such as thief skills, and similar abilities. An original addition to the gameplay is that your character can move almost any object on the screen (chairs, tables, jars, plates, rocks), which can sometimes reveal an entrance to an entire new level or useful items like gold, potions, and weapons. Combining items is also important. For instance, you can find an empty mug and fill it with beer (wine, beer, fruit, bread, meat, and similar items can increase your vitality).

Obviously, the one thing the Warrior is best at is the old hand-to-hand combat. As he goes through skill advancements, he will become most adept in the ways of sword-fighting, axe-swinging, and the usage of other weapons like daggers and spears. Once you improve your hand-to-hand skills, your character will be able to take out a multitude of opponents with one 360º swing. However, next to that he can learn to use the bow or any other weapon he picks up along the way (crossbows and staffs). By leveling your hero and advancing his skills and statistics, you'll be able to make him use abilities that are not within his field of expertise. Like I said before, he can also use different spells: Elemental, Fire, and Lightning.

In Divine Divinity you'll be running into diverse types of Orcs, Skeletons, Dragons, Snakes, Spiders, Ghouls, and many strange and mystical creatures that inhabit the in-door and outdoor environments. Besides slaying heaps of horrific creatures, the game emphasizes interactivity with NPC's. Chatting with characters you meet can sometimes provide you with additional quests. If you are patient enough to go through the dialogs, you can sometimes be rewarded with a valuable item or even an AI-controlled character to help you in your struggle against evil. Your character travels though the land mostly on his own, having to deal with tons of wicked monsters that come at him. As luck would have it, you may get help from certain characters you meet in your journeys. These characters will provide you with solid backup when a level is swarming with enemies. Still, enemy hosts are hugely numbered, dangerous, and extremely intelligent. All of your opponents have the ability to lure you, set up ambushes, hide until more reinforcements arrive, and so on. Thanks to all of those features handling enemies can be a pickle.

Unlike other titles of this genre, this game carries consequences for almost every action you perform. So that means if you enter a barn and kill a pig, the owner will be pretty pissed and he will kick your ass for any damage you may have caused him. The same thing goes for stealing - you may enter anybody's house at any time, you can move objects around the living room and bedroom, but if you take something that doesn't rightfully belong to you, your character will develop a really bad reputation among the villagers. On the other hand, if you decide to be righteous and you start helping people in need, you'll quickly become a highly respected individual.

Be gone, you hideous beast thingy!

Sometimes even the horn of Gondor could not help you against this lot.

While playing I noticed that the game could use a few control adjustments. Why? Well, largely because the ol' click-and-point routine is not always precise and straightforward enough and that makes targeting your foes a rather frustrating task. Since the enemy moves around a lot you may miss them and accidentally click on the ground; as a result your character will start moving instead of standing and defending himself. This is a drawback that can be easily avoided if the developers incorporate the use of a specific action key, which will allow your character to keep hitting his opponents without the risk of moving out of position.

As far as trading in Divine Divinity is concerned, well, bargaining is the more appropriate word for it, it can last a long time, but it makes you rethink every action you mean to take in terms of purchasing, repairing, and item exchanging. Well, purchasing can basically be skipped with exchange - you can substitute items that amount up to the value of the weapon you wish to obtain. Of course, every weapon can be bought directly, provided that you have enough gold; however, gold is often scarce throughout the game, so swapping items is a method you'll be using the most and it is a good way to clean your inventory of all the useless stuff you gather along the way.

Luckily, your inventory is well-organized and you won't have trouble finding any items you wish to use. Whatever you may require in a specific moment during the game, it will be accessible thanks to the simple and straightforward interface. A large portion of the main UI is similar to what we've seen in Blizzard's Diablo; you have your basic mana and life scales, accompanied by the icons for your inventory, weapons, spells, and special skills (these skills can be activated with the right click).

That's about all that can be said about the gameplay. When it comes to the visuals, Divine Divinity offers a commendable amount of colorful special effects. Using spells for example, can be a nice eye-catcher, especially when it is aimed at a large number of foes. Other effects are also worth mentioning, such as cool-looking weather effects, abundant background detail that features water reflections, etc. Additional visual features were included for players with 3D accelerators. At first, I thought that in such a game this switch won't make much of a difference. Later I realized that when you activate T&L and other 3D accelerator features, most of the animations appear richer and they are more appealing to the eye. What's more, while walking through vibrant outdoor environments, you will notice realistic day and night cycles that enrich the atmosphere of the game. Incidentally, since it's pretty damn dark during the night, roaming through the countryside can be VERY risky, so it is often a good idea to seek an available bed where your character may rest.

The in-game sounds are quite good; the acting voices above all. Each character (and there will be many of them) has a unique voiceover. Moreover, the game has some delightful tunes, completely harmonized with background sounds that come from crickets, birds, snakes, and so on. Of course, the music changes when you pass from bright outdoor levels to creepy dungeon-like sections. On the whole, Divine Divinity features a melodic soundtrack, accompanied by a satisfying range of sounds.

From what we've seen of the game so far, a few obvious issues still need to be straightened out before the game goes gold. Other than that, I think we have another potentially successful action/RPG coming this year.