As an RPG enthusiast, I must say, I've been a little disappointed recently. I haven't had a mind-blowingly good time in an RPG since, oh, maybe Morrowind. Oblivion was a great game, and I loved the addition of the Radiant AI, the sprawling, beautifully-designed forests, and, of course, the awesome player-made content. But as has been mentioned in many other places, it was a rather "dumbed-down" Elder Scrolls game. I'm often hesitant to jump on the Bioware bandwagon because I'm really not the biggest fan of their games. After playing Elder Scrolls games to infinitum, with player-made content stretching the life of their games out as long as possible, I find it almost impossible to truly enjoy the linearity of a Bioware title. Oh sure, rollercoasters are fun, they're fast, they're exciting, they offer a great view, but they're on tracks. And you can't get off those tracks, no matter how hard you try. In a Bioware game, you always know just exactly what you're supposed to be doing at any time, and there's a feeling of immediacy, you need to get it done before you can move on to something else. To me, that's a video game. But I'll play any RPG handed to me, and I picked up Dragon Age and for the two weeks it lasted, it was an enjoyable movie. I call it a movie because it was much more a cinematic experience than a role-playing experience. Everything worked in a very specific order, with only the most meager "wiggle room", but I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, like Bethsoft's Fallout 3 before it, Dragon Age was extremely short and sweet. It was over before I even truly felt I was getting started. If they can pop a sequel out in the next few months (heh, yeah), they could keep me happy, but I don't think that's gonna be happening. So instead of creating a new character to see a new origin and then repeat exactly what I'd done before with my last character, I picked up a different game: Divinity 2: Ego Draconis. And frankly, I've been having as much fun in it as I'd had in Dragon Age. Somehow I missed the Divinity bandwagon (did it even have a bandwagon?) Never played Divine Divinity, was totally unfamiliar with the storyline or characters, and at first, I thought that might be a problem. Clearly this game starts off with you just having achieved some great thing, and now you're ready for the next big thing, fine. That's where the need to be familiar with prior games stops. Let me just say this - Ego Draconis is a slightly sloppy game. It's nowhere near as tight and polished as Dragon Age or Oblivion. The graphics are good enough, but the game can cause even the strongest computer to hiccup. Physical customization of your character is stuck back in 2000, with the ability to modify your hair color, choose from a few hair styles, beards, etc. That's about it. And the controls take a wee bit of getting used to. They're not as intuitive as most modern RPGs. That said, I'm having a blast in this game. It's not quite as linear as Dragon Age, but nowhere near the free-roam world as a Bethsoft title, but it kinda finds a nice middle ground there. There are no scaling opponents, so if you're level 4 and you find a cave full of level 12 monsters, it's a good idea to place a map marker and come back later. Also, there are no respawns. Once you clear an area of bad guys, that area remains clear forever. Thankfully, the game is big and it does keep you moving, so this isn't too much of an issue for a long time. But these things actually remind me of the old days of real RPGing, where you'd have to develop strategies on the fly, and sometimes, back off completely and save an area for a later date. In a way, Divinity 2 can probably best be described as a combo of three very popular styles of RPG. It's got an overarching storyline with occasional cut-scenes and cinematics a la Bioware. Also like Bioware, it is full of decisions that change the course of the game, further develop your character, and close off some paths while opening others. Like Bethesda, it's got a big world which is almost fully-explorable. In fact you can explore UP as well, I'll get to that soon. Something missing in Dragon Age that is present in Bethsoft titles is housing - Divinity 2's got housing (hell, you get your own fortress later in the game, with actual employees who serve you faithfully, and you even get to -pick- these employees), lots of locales you can just "stumble upon", and a wide variety of skills (again, something missing in Bioware's recent titles). But the game actually plays a little more like the Diablo series. The hack-and-slash is pretty fun, there is a huge assortment of weapons and armors to find, many are customizable by either enchanting them or installing charms onto them, and in later parts of the game there are sets of equipment, which, when equipped at the same time, give big bonuses. Like Bethsoft but unlike Bioware, you can mix and match skills however you want - you can be a little bit mage and a whole lot warrior, or half-ranger half- demon-summoning necro (that's me). The skill tree is fairly robust and totally interchangable. You can even buy armor specifically made for your pet. The one thing Ego Draconis does differently than any prior RPG is that it allows you to play part-time as a dragon. The way this works into the storyline is very cool, and sometimes you'll find you're an enemy of dragonkind (even while being a dragon), while other times you are allied with dragonkind (even though, at your heart, you are a dragon slayer). This dichotemy plays seemlessly into the game and makes for great character development. Although it's a little clunky, flying around and roasting enemies with firebreath or hurling fireballs at ballista towers is pretty much a blast. Add to that the fact that you can morph back to a human character and take the battle to the ground, and you've got your hands (and wings) pretty full at any given time. But when you're out of breath and need a break, there's always your fortress to head back to, maybe mix some potions or craft some enchanted armor, maybe send out some of your runners to grab some needed ingredients, but make sure they're well-equipped! Ego Draconis just feels like a combo of a lot of different games and for the most part, it works well. It's also rather difficult in some places. Some bosses are really, really tough, no doubt about it, and some places are locked off until you find a specific key or item, which then unlocks an area that requires another key or item to proceed further into. There are some puzzle areas, and some of those puzzles are challenging. There are some jumpy quests with moving platforms. There's a lot of challenge to this game, and saving a LOT is a really good idea. There's also a lot of humor in this game. For instance, you will find scrolls that can create chickens. You'll meet a Zeppelin-master named Page (think about it). Your pet demon (should you go that route) has a tendency to uh ... assert its territoriality, I'll leave it at that. Overall I'm pretty impressed. I can't say yet whether this game was more or less fun to me than Dragon Age, because I'm not done, and it doesn't feel like I'm near the end just yet, and I'm already into week 3 with this game (surpassing the length of Dragon Age by a week so far). I think level cap is 40, and I'm at around 28. There's still a lot to do. So when you get done with Dragon Age, try Ego Draconis, I think you'll find the pacing slightly different, but it's a big, enjoyable RPG which I suspect amidst the ballyhoo of Dragon Age, will be a sleeper RPG this year.
