Rating: 
Summary: Free Form Character Development a Big Plus
Review: A truly fun RPG (role-playing game), very much in the image of the game Nox, but with a greater degree of in-game player choice. At first I was a bit put off by the dated graphics and bizarre name, but from what I read the developers of the game seemed devoted to giving the players the ability to choose a style of play they would find enjoyable. To accomplish this the game features a very free-style skill and stat development system.Though you must select a base class (mage, thief {survivor}, warrior) you have an amazing degree of control regarding the customization of your character. You can choose to learn skills from any of the three classes. For example your character could become a pure warrior, mastering the warrior skill set and maxing the strength and constitution stats; or a hybrid warrior with high intelligence and the ability to pick locks and summon magical creatures; or a mage who wields a bow and has a truly epic dexterity; and so on. My one complaint... the story is simply too derivative. The more RPGs you play the more you will say to yourself: been there, done that. You will always be the Divine-Chosen-Holy-Messiah-Savior-{what's his face}, out to save the world from Lord-Emperor-Evil-Chaos-Darkness-Demon-{so and so}. This game is no different in that respect, the story has been told a thousand times before. Maybe that's how they ended up with a name like Divine Divinity... 4/5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Occasional crashes and resource intensive
Review: After reading such great reviews on Amazon about Divine Divinity (it's a redundant name for sure), I went out to buy it. I could only find one at my local Best Buy store at a fairly afforable price. I am a definite Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale fan and I hope that DD will give me my "fix" for 3/4 view isometric RPG. This game is a lot like Diablo and resembles a Diablo clone. There is nothing wrong with that; if it's a good thing, you should jump on the bandwagon, right? The map is HUGE and there are some great stories and funny scenes in the game. I have devoted nearly 40 hours so far and I'm not 1/4 done yet. Humor is quite noticeable here and there is even an "easter egg" to meet the developers. I would like to point out some negatives about the game that prevent me from giving this game 5 stars. As a disclaimer, it's more of my own taste of how I like RPG today. First of all, the character selection could be more in-depth. You have basically 3 classes: warrior, rogue, and wizard. However, unlike Diablo, they are not "specialized." The warrior, rogue and wizard can mix-and-match skills and spells from the other class. Thus my warrior can be tailored to cast the same powerful elemental magic like a wizard. It is unlike Diablo, where each class has a specific character skill tree to devote to (i.e., the necromancer has a different set of skills and role than the amazon). The character creation in Diablo is more thoughtful and I appreciate that better. In essence there is just one character in DD, it doesn't really matter which of the three I choose since there are very small differences between them. On another situation, the game can be repetitive like Diablo and most RPGs of today. I prefer "Darkstone" since that game have randomly generated quests. DD does have a huge map and some quests are optional. In terms of game play, I really like the inventory system better here, since I don't have to worry about space (as in another game). Another plus is the availability of the PAUSE button (a la Baldur's Gate). I love that feature! Lastly, my biggest gripe about this game is the system intensive requirement to get smooth gameplay. For maximum installation, the game took 2 GB of hard drive space. Each saved file took another 50MB or so of hard drive space. So by the time I collected 20 saved game files (which is not hard to do), I have used another 1GB of hard disk space. This is definitely something to consider for those with limited disk space. The game supports 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 resolution. Choices of graphic drivers are: software, DirectDraw, Direct3D (if applicable) and Glide (if applicable). My system is rather old but exceeds the minimum requirements (733 Mhz, Voodoo3 video card, and 640MB RAM). Trying the game at 800x600 or 1024x768 yields choppy gameplay and occassional bottlenecked slow-down. On occassion, there were some crashes as well. If you want to take advantage of the higher resolution, you should have at least a 1Ghz CPU with a rather new video card. Overall, I love RPG and I am biased to give this game high marks for its fun gameplay and addictive nature. I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't even install properly!
Review: All I get are CRC errors when I try to install on my laptop, a HP I purchased last year. The drivers are updated and I have DirectX 9 installed, so there shouldn't be any problems. I tried contacting tech support several days ago, but they still haven't gotten back to me. I really want my money back but I know that's not going to happen. Just avoid this game if you have a HP laptop, because it will probably not work.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasant surprise!
Review: An old friend gave me this as a gift recently, saying only, "I'm pretty sure you'll like it." Boy, was he right. This is the most I've enjoyed playing a computer game in years. There are enough quests to keep your attention, but which quests you do are, for the most part, optional, and the storyline is only partially linear. You can make of your character whatever you want, so I, for example, ended up playing a thief who was too nice to steal things, but who did a ... of a job in battle. Go figure. :) The only reason I haven't given this game 5 stars is because it makes my computer drag, and after more than a couple of hours of gameplay, it gets visibly and audibly slower. This is a major deal becauase the game is a year old, but my computer is only three weeks old, and pretty close to top-of-the-line, so that simply shouldn't happen. Overall, though, the game itself is so excellent that I can overlook performance issues--and that's saying a LOT.
Rating: 
Summary: Too buggy to enjoy
Review: Divine Divinity is a great game. The best way to characterize it is 'Diablo II with a plot.' Your character goes up levels and chooses skills in a similar fashion as Diablo II, has the familiar 'life' and 'mana' counters, and even many of the graphics look similar (some are better and some are worse than Diablo II). But the Devil, they say, is in the details, and Divine Divinity gets many of them right and a few of them wrong. Pros:
1) Lots of quests and character interaction. Instead of just having a few NPCs standing around for quests and shopkeeping, you have a wider world.
2) More real-world items. Unlike Diablo II, here you have plenty of items not in the 'Weapon', 'Armor', or 'Gem/Potion/Scroll' category. Lots of different types of foodstuffs scattered around the place, including homes and campsite, as well as bushes and shrubs, lend a bit of a 'Morrowind' or 'Gothic 2' feel to the game, despite the isometric character view.
3) Lots of clever, tricky quests. Many of the quests are quite challenging, and hidden caves, trapdoors, secret passages, and other thing abound to confound the player.
4) Humor. I often find myself grinning at books or parchments I pick up along the way, unlike Diablo II which is savagely unfunny. Cons:
1) Somewhat uncertain gameplay. Gameplay is very similar to Diablo II but also allows you to pause the action and give orders (not a negative). However it also feels a bit less manageable than Diablo II. My character often swings almost at random, or tries to go after something it can't reach while being gnawed on by other things. You have to be quite precise with your control, which gets tricky when enemies pile up.
2) More danger. This could also be seen as a 'pro' but I'll put it here. Diablo II can get challenging at higher levels and difficulty settings (Divine Divinity also has different difficulty settings) but early on your character is unlikely to get eaten right away. That is emphatically not the case in Divine Divinity. What makes this worse is the wide range of armor qualities and weapons you can get. For example, in the very first village there's a sword that does over 100 damage (not that you have the stats to use it). Monsters are powered accordingly. So it's much harder to know whether something will kill you in a few hits, since the damage ranges are much wider. For example, I started a Fighter that had 200 hit points by level 8 or so, and still died in a few hits from a nearby orc chieftain. This degree of sudden murder was reserved on Diablo II mostly for end bosses or very high levels. Here, every critter could be your last..made harder by the fact that they're rarely alone.
3) The difficulty of the monsters would even out if they dropped appropriate loot, but they don't. Perhaps I've turned into a powergamer due to Diablo II or something, but I find the degree of goodies dropped by monsters to be exceedingly sparse. Most of the valuable items my characters get are from chests or just lying on the ground, rather than generated by monsters. There's nothing like killing an 11th level orc, nearly getting yourself done in in the process, only to get 2 gold pieces (if you're lucky). What happened to that enormous axe he was just hacking me with?
4) Teleporting stones. In an effort (successful I think) to ease gameplay, your character is almost instantly granted a pair of teleportation stones. These cleverly allow you to drop one and use the other to recall back to the first. This lets you travel around quickly between points. There are also waypoints. However I find it a bit odd that while I'm scrounging for a ruined dagger and a rope belt for equipment, I already have a pair of super powerful teleport stones. A minor gripe, yes, but frankly why anyone wouldn't sell them for a suit of platemail is beyond me.
5) The interface is a bit overwhelming. You can completely blanket the screen with subwindows if you're not careful. The minimap is very useful but is not translucent and instead takes up a chunk of the screen. You can move it around, which I inevitably do by accident instead of escaping when I'm trying to navigate a fight. All in all, Divine Divinity has a lot going for it. It has a much better storyline and overall RPG feel than Diablo, but (perhaps necessarily in order to avoid lawsuits) gives up a bit on the adventuring aspects. It's definitely worth checking out if you've enjoyed Diablo or more RPG type games such as Baldur's Gate or Fallout/Fallout 2.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Diablo II but not quite perfect
Review: Divine Divinity is a great game. The best way to characterize it is 'Diablo II with a plot.' Your character goes up levels and chooses skills in a similar fashion as Diablo II, has the familiar 'life' and 'mana' counters, and even many of the graphics look similar (some are better and some are worse than Diablo II). But the Devil, they say, is in the details, and Divine Divinity gets many of them right and a few of them wrong. Pros:
1) Lots of quests and character interaction. Instead of just having a few NPCs standing around for quests and shopkeeping, you have a wider world.
2) More real-world items. Unlike Diablo II, here you have plenty of items not in the 'Weapon', 'Armor', or 'Gem/Potion/Scroll' category. Lots of different types of foodstuffs scattered around the place, including homes and campsite, as well as bushes and shrubs, lend a bit of a 'Morrowind' or 'Gothic 2' feel to the game, despite the isometric character view.
3) Lots of clever, tricky quests. Many of the quests are quite challenging, and hidden caves, trapdoors, secret passages, and other thing abound to confound the player.
4) Humor. I often find myself grinning at books or parchments I pick up along the way, unlike Diablo II which is savagely unfunny. Cons:
1) Somewhat uncertain gameplay. Gameplay is very similar to Diablo II but also allows you to pause the action and give orders (not a negative). However it also feels a bit less manageable than Diablo II. My character often swings almost at random, or tries to go after something it can't reach while being gnawed on by other things. You have to be quite precise with your control, which gets tricky when enemies pile up.
2) More danger. This could also be seen as a 'pro' but I'll put it here. Diablo II can get challenging at higher levels and difficulty settings (Divine Divinity also has different difficulty settings) but early on your character is unlikely to get eaten right away. That is emphatically not the case in Divine Divinity. What makes this worse is the wide range of armor qualities and weapons you can get. For example, in the very first village there's a sword that does over 100 damage (not that you have the stats to use it). Monsters are powered accordingly. So it's much harder to know whether something will kill you in a few hits, since the damage ranges are much wider. For example, I started a Fighter that had 200 hit points by level 8 or so, and still died in a few hits from a nearby orc chieftain. This degree of sudden murder was reserved on Diablo II mostly for end bosses or very high levels. Here, every critter could be your last..made harder by the fact that they're rarely alone.
3) The difficulty of the monsters would even out if they dropped appropriate loot, but they don't. Perhaps I've turned into a powergamer due to Diablo II or something, but I find the degree of goodies dropped by monsters to be exceedingly sparse. Most of the valuable items my characters get are from chests or just lying on the ground, rather than generated by monsters. There's nothing like killing an 11th level orc, nearly getting yourself done in in the process, only to get 2 gold pieces (if you're lucky). What happened to that enormous axe he was just hacking me with?
4) Teleporting stones. In an effort (successful I think) to ease gameplay, your character is almost instantly granted a pair of teleportation stones. These cleverly allow you to drop one and use the other to recall back to the first. This lets you travel around quickly between points. There are also waypoints. However I find it a bit odd that while I'm scrounging for a ruined dagger and a rope belt for equipment, I already have a pair of super powerful teleport stones. A minor gripe, yes, but frankly why anyone wouldn't sell them for a suit of platemail is beyond me.
5) The interface is a bit overwhelming. You can completely blanket the screen with subwindows if you're not careful. The minimap is very useful but is not translucent and instead takes up a chunk of the screen. You can move it around, which I inevitably do by accident instead of escaping when I'm trying to navigate a fight. All in all, Divine Divinity has a lot going for it. It has a much better storyline and overall RPG feel than Diablo, but (perhaps necessarily in order to avoid lawsuits) gives up a bit on the adventuring aspects. It's definitely worth checking out if you've enjoyed Diablo or more RPG type games such as Baldur's Gate or Fallout/Fallout 2.
Rating: 
Summary: Keeps your Interest and FUN!
Review: Divine Divinity is an RPG with more than just the usual 'find the magic stuff' type quests. In fact, there are a plethora of interesting things to do within the rich world of this game. You have the option of playing a male or female character; and one of three types: Magic-user, Warrior or "survivor" (thief). I've not gotten too far in the game, and yet it is of such a quality that I am drawn to it, even though I have tended to get tired of other RPG's quite easily. This one is holding my attention probably because the options for play are extensive. Skills, that in other games are tied to one character type, are wide-open in this game. Perhaps you'd rather play a mage that can kick-butt? You can do that here. The score is a perfect accompaniment to the atmosphere of where you are in the game, and the NPC's interaction has been intelligent. It's a great game, and I recommend it... and just for reference, I'm a 44 year old female. :)
Rating:
Summary: Great game with nVidia cards(not with Radeons)
Review: Divine Divinity is as sweet as Christmas candy as far as performance goes with my old Win98 system(nVidia Geforce III) but on my brand new computer XPPro 3200+ Athlon sixty bloody four for goodness sakes(ATI Radeon 9800 XT) Its slower than MAKING Christmas candy(Divinity) in an underpowered mixer! This is not the fault of CDV nor Larail Studios but ATi's loused drivers(as usual) it seems users of ATI's card sit out the good times once again. D3D doesn't work in the test so I wouldn't count on keeping your drivers from being corrupt in the game! Direct Draw seems to work but it is blurry and will make your eyes hurt because of the lack of consistant drawing when the screen scrolls horizontally.
The game it's self is a lot like Diablo II(not like D1 which was boring) but has a bit of sub-plotting even in dungeons. Thier is always something going on that's intersting like in Ultima series. Thier are only three character types, fighter, Wizard, and Survivor(thief), but it is what you do with them that counts. The skill trees eliminate the need for "elite" classes like Undead Hunter, Paladin, Ranger, or that kind of nonsense that's required in D&D or other RPGs. Unlike Ultima(or Baldur's Gate for you D&D people), however, thier is no comradary between compainions like Iolo, Shamino, Dupre, just a henchman or two to keep you from dying all the time.(no dialogue between NPCS in party) Any palling around is you and a little white cat.
As far as NPCs V/O talant it isn't bad considering this is not a graphic adventure(it's actually acted better than most graphic adventure games these days), This a hack'n slash RPG with a very good story and sub-plots to give you insentive to well, hack'n slash and do a lot more. I've heard that Beyond Divinity is worse but that's another story and CGW Mag is not to be trusted anyway when selecting a game.
Rating:
Summary: Great system ruined by horrible dialogue & storyline
Review: Divine Divinity is yet another example of a fun and solid gaming system spoiled by yet more juvenille, cliche fantasy. The plot, characters, dialogues, etc, are all very embarrassing, as are most of the voiceovers. It's a shame too, because I really wanted to like this game, and did for a couple of days. After that, the afforementioned problems become so bad you can't ignore them, unless you're the sort that likes goofy lightweight fantasy filled with every bad adolescent cliche, cornball elves, absurd dialogue, lame jokes, stupid quests, and hackneyed "save the world from the big evil bad guy" plots that were getting old 15 or 20 years ago. I think the visuals are beautiful but the characters and setting are just too stupid to swallow for someone who likes more mature fantasy. Say what you want about a game like Diablo II -- at least it had a lot of art, style, awesome voiceovers, and writing that was much more sophisticated than the usual kiddie crap found in most fantasy games. All in all, Divine Divinity is yet another example of why programmers should stick to game engines and why good writers need to be hired to resurrect these dismal fantasy RPGs.
Rating:
Summary: ?
Review: divine divinity well if that isn't just the dumbest title to game ever,wow soooooooo stupid
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