The critically acclaimed Kickstarter success and winner of many awards Divinity: Original Sin has been an incredible treat for PC owners but an elusive experience for console-only players.
Until now.
Larian Studios always envisioned a transition to consoles in some fashion but the success of the game has afforded them the opportunity to not only bring it to consoles, but improve upon an already great title.
The first step was overcoming a few barriers like camera ( the angle was locked at 45 degrees before) and the transition from mouse to controller. Playing with a controller is actually what brought the camera limitations to their attention, so they worked with the art design team to get all the in game assets redone in full 3D. As far as the controls themselves, highlighting items was easy to do on PC but a unique challenge with controllers. The team developed 3 ways to cycle through items in your environment, easing the transition greatly.
Now, they certainly could have stopped there. Divinity: Original Sin is a complete package in its own right with a wealth of gameplay and experimenting for players to dive in to. Rather than knocking out the base reworking that is required to switch platforms, the team took a great deal of community response into account to strengthen the game.
In the original game, skill progression took a dive after level 12/13. Rebalancing has taken place, keeping players engaged instead of things somewhat stalling until late game. A few other updates, a couple subtle and one not so much, will make things a bit easier and also show that the community has been heard. Previously, turn order was a bit convoluted but now it’ll be on the top of the HUD. You can also examine enemies weaknesses and strengths if your character’s intelligence is high enough. Additionally, dual wielding had been requested many times and is now coming in the enhanced editions. All one-handed weapons will be dual wield eligible.
On top of all this, two new unique characters are added to the campaign and the game will now be fully voiced. Originally, only scarce points of dialogue had accompanying audio. Now, over 88,000 lines have been added to add value to the role-playing experience. The writing for the game was already a strong point and some solid voice acting will be bringing the clever banter right on home.
Original Sin is a testament to a passionate team and equally passionate community. Flexibility and freedom in an RPG are both very cherished and Divinity: Original Sin is a prime example of great execution. Console only gamers and uninitiated PC gamers need to experience this title.
This passionate team didn’t just port over a great game, they went extra mile and also took community suggestions into account. Oh yea. Did I mention that all current owners get the enhanced edition for free? *Mic drop* Look out for Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition on PC, Linux, Steam, PS4, and Xbox One in Fall 2015.
