Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Gameplay Journal Part 3
All last week I was away on a trip, which seemed like a good test for Divinity - Original Sin 2. Would it be a good game to actually fire up outside of the confines of my own home? It turned out to be a less than ideal test environment though as I did not take transit to my destination and my time away was full of programmed activities. During any downtime that I had, I preferred dipping into more familiar standbys like Genshin Impact or League of Legends: Wild Rift.
But now I'm back and the Gameplay Journal continues. This entry really highlights how deep a game Divinity - Original Sin 2 compared to basically any other mobile game (and arguably most other games in general), as I spent almost 45 minutes in a small prison area, and spending most of that time in a single skirmish. It was pretty awesome, but Divinity - Original Sin 2 still seems to go out of its way to remind you that all of its depth and potential comes with some jank.
This encounter in question came when I happened upon some Magisters lording over a secret prison in Fort Joy. They definitely weren't happy I was there, and they didn't want to let me talk my way out of the situation, either. So, combat it was. With a party of four characters at my disposal now--two of which being magic users--this fight really highlighted the elemental manipulation aspects of Divinity - Original Sin 2's combat. I lit foes on fire, doused them with oil, and even showered my allies with cleansing water to keep them safely unaffected.
It was also in this fight that I found Divinity's camera controls to present some annoying issues. Specifically, I don't appreciate how the game forces you to use two fingers to pan your view of the action while you have an ability selected. It's an odd context-based input switch that may start feeling natural once I've dumped dozens of hours into the game, but not so much right now.
Some of the game's elemental interactions left me scratching my head during this fight as well. For example, after providing rain for some of my companions, they got re-ignited for reasons that I don't quite understand. There was also an oil barrel I decided to blow up at the base of a tower that looked spectacular but did nothing to set the tower ablaze. I followed this up by chucking oil at the tower hoping that would help flames lap up to the top where an enemy was standing, but it did nothing of the sort.
Regardless of these points of confusion, I made it through the fight just fine. Performance-wise, the only noticeable frame rate dip came when I blew up the oil barrel. Otherwise everything was silky smooth. I ended by play session in the middle of another fire-centric fight and hope to keep pressing on. For the time-being, I'm entranced by Divinity - Original Sin 2's combat, even though it isn't quite shaping up to be what I thought it was.
Stay tuned for more thoughts! Until the next entry!