Bang for your buck.
Those are the best four words one can use to describe Atlus’ “Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga.†It not only includes the complete and re-mastered adventure “Ego Draconis,†which was released in early 2010 by Larian Studios, but also packs in the brand new “Flames of Vengeance,†which takes place after the end of ED.
While there are some hitches along the way, Atlus ultimately does an excellent job re-packaging an already above average game and adds in enough extra content to make it an intriguing entry in the 360 hack and slash/RPG genre.
In the end, it’s not in the league of Oblivion, but it’s a far better performer than Two Worlds II.
At first glance. This title may not impress you. The graphics aren’t amazing, with dated character models and backgrounds that will take you back to the first hack and slash titles on the system. But like a good book, it needs a bit of time to get you comfortable.
Held together by a great story, chock-full of fun and twists, it will eventually devour your time.
All in all, you can do a lot worse then DKS. Just don’t expect to be blown away and you’ll get more than your monies worth.
The biggest problem with the game is the lack of fun combat provides. This takes out some of the title’s shine, but gamers who enjoy exploring and becoming one with the world they’re playing in will find plenty of things to do here. It doesn’t start that way though. For the first hours, both games in this compilation drag like a sack of potatoes. It’s understandable that gamers may want to get accustomed to the world, but hack and slash titles are all about the action.
Sadly, these games are void of action in the beginning.
However, if you’re patient, a cool adventure awaits. The story of your hero is a long and complicated one, filled with a list of characters that desire to help and destroy you along the way. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm from the game’s plot isn’t carried into the combat system. Most of the time, you’ll be tapping the same buttons during fights, regardless of how strong your enemies are. Over the course of the game, you’ll acquire a handful of cool spells and attributes which should spice up the gameplay experience, but they don’t add enough to the table to make either one of these games stand out like the stronger ones in the genre.
That’s not to say that the fighting system is bad here. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the gameplay mechanics; it’s just not as engaging as you’d like it to be.
The same thing goes for the quest interface. Over the course of the game, you’ll find it a bit annoying to get from place to place, mainly because once a quest is activated, you’re not shown what your next step should be- the way games such as Fallout and Oblivion do so well. To make matters worse, the absence of a quest-tracking arrow on the map ends up hurting this title just as much as the near-emotionless combat.
As a result, while some quests are rather straight-forward, others will be nearly impossible to figure out unless you consult some type of walkthrough.
In spite of these flaws, this revamped adventure will eat up over 75 hours of your life and provides a bounty of cool moments. As a matter of fact, the longer you play, the more you’ll find yourself looking past many of its inadequacies and ultimately enjoying it. Flying through the sky as a dragon and battling the forces of evil is an entertaining romp and the expansion allows you to continue the tale and eliminates the cliff-hanger ending from the original.
Again, while there may be a few better choices on the system, “Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga†is a lengthy title that never flounders.
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