Cheap Game Alert! Divine Divinity
Linc
OwnerDetroit Icrontian
Icrontic's dive into the bargain bins continues with CB's look at Divine Divinity:
Every time I play the game, my opinion of the game itself gets lower, but my investment in the character gets higher. Something is drawing me in. It certainly isn’t the control scheme (which is counter-intuitive, and sloppy), it definitely isn’t the story-line (which is mind-numbingly dull). It’s the advancement system.
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Comments
I think he's an addict.
Now, I admit D.D is not my favorite game. I never finished it. It's pretty much standard fare as far as plot, gameplay, fantasy setting...etc -- nothing particularly remarkable. And I agree, the name is completely ridiculous. But I am appalled how you bash the game endlessly without offering any substance, reasoning, or explanation of what would make it better. And I am downright disgusted that the graphics are not "flashy" enough for you. That is exactly what is wrong with gamers today. The old-school RPG is dying because storyline, plot, gameplay are sacrificed for 3D models and flashy graphics. Clearly, this seems to be the defining factor of why you are highly anticipating Divinity 2 ("it looks amazing!") but can't stand Divinity 1.
So, please, as an avid RPG fan, I ask you to at least take the time to write a serious review and not childishly mock a game. If you don't like the game, inform the gaming community in a respectful and intelligent manner; this review reflects more poorly on you than it does the game. Thank you.
Also, page 2.
And the date of publication is irrelevant. If someone googles "divine divinity review" it will still be found, I assume.
Perhaps my comments were too harsh (I disregarded the message asking me to "be nice"), but I think my points are relevant. The reviewer, like me, is entitled to his opinion of the game. I'm simply suggesting he take a more objective approach to future reviews rather than mocking the product. I appreciate the fact that the reviewer tried to address something he felt was positive, i.e. the music. But most of the criticism was not constructive, and unfortunately it comprised the majority of the review.
Thanks for your comments, jfre.
Ironically, as much as I basted it in the review, I did enjoy Divine Divinity. I attempted to make that show through the review (part of our (since canceled) "Cheap Games" series of reviews, which were all a bit less than serious), but as a reviewer, I typically tend to focus on the flaws of any product more strongly than the good points.
As far as the graphics and other quality issues: I feel the same way you do about the industry, and the fan's, focus on flashy graphics. I think a lot of games that should get better attention don't because they don't have flashy graphics, and I think a lot of games that do have flashy graphics suffer in gameplay because of the energy spent on making the graphics shine. I'm playing through Final Fantasy VII right now, and I love it, despite graphics that are nearly unfathomably bad to a modern gamer.
However, I know that much of the audience for video games isn't like you and I. I would be remiss if I didn't let the audience know: "hey, by the way, the graphics here are crappy". It's then the audiences job to decide if that makes them not want to buy the game. The job of the reviewer is not to say "this product is good" or "this product is bad". That doesn't really mean anything.The job of the good reviewer (something I learn a little more about every time I write a review) is to help the reader decide whether or not this product is for them.
You know that you don't mind if the graphics are bad, and bad translations don't necessarily turn you off, then you can ignore that part of the review.
Finally, primesuspect has the right of it when he says that I'm excited about the upcoming release of Divinity II. I was privileged enough to get a very close look at the game at E3, and hopefully I'll have a review of that game up soon. Check the Icrontic Gaming frontpage for some write-ups and videos.
First, I definitely want to apologize -- I was very irritated when I read the review, and for some reason felt the need to defend the game. I didn't mean to make it personal :/ I'm quite grateful the backlash was not severe.
I actually had a similar experience with divinity...I hated the game at first, because the first dungeon crawl is *awful*. Really poor level design to throw your character into the largest dungeon of the game in the first 15 minutes of play...But once I got past that, I really loved it. It just got old after a while, and I eventually ran out of time/interest to finish it.
I'm glad we share opinions about the direction of PC games in general. As a budget consumer, I appreciate older games that I may have missed and indie games that emphasize story/gameplay over graphics. I recently played through (most of) Fallout 3, which I basically have to run in the lowest resolution to play on my aging desktop. And, while it definitely sucked up a lot of my time, it can't hold a candle to Fallout 1/2. I guess that's just the trend of the industry; to be successful they must please the most populous demographic.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to your coverage of Divinity 2, and I hope to look around the rest of the site to see what it has to offer
An opinion is an opinion, it's not like we're going to tell you to drink bleach because you disagree with one of our reviews.
I sat in the Divinity II preview with CB, and I am also pretty excited about the sequel. The guy running the demo for us was really helpful and he admitted that it was the shortcomings of the first game that drove a lot of the development goals for the second.
(.cfg editing also available...I have DD in 1680x1050 at the moment....)