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Live thoughts - Divinity Original Sin 2

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there are no words.

I loved the first game, and this game has already gotten me hooked within 2 hours. The narration, dialogue, writing, and the combat. My god(s) the combat.

Since there’s plenty more to go, and so much to say, for now I’m just going to keep updating this post with my thoughts/experiences.

For anybody curious: I am playing it cooperatively with my friend online, using Red Prince and Fane as our characters (and Lohse and Beast as companions, respectively).

CAREFUL. POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW.

  • Holy cow 8 well written origin stories!
  • This is the first time I’ve seen mention of the Bansuri (a flute from the Indian subcontinent) ever outside of south asian circles. Like. Ever. Props to Larian for highlighting some really diverse instruments in the soundtrack selection menu.
  • Magisters, y’all need to chill. There’s too much allegory here with modern political times and extremist stereotyping.
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AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (Also I'm not sorry)
  • I AM THE WINNER OF THE FORT JOY ARENA.
  • Wait why don’t our Source collars all get to come off at once?? I don’t know whether to be frustrated or impressed at sheer number of permutations to achieve objectives.
  • Okay, from the second fight onwards we’ve had to establish a rule to not rush into everything separately. There’s so much to experience. Also these fights are TOUGH.
  • DUAL WANDS BABY.
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Me using fire spells that set Beast on fire because he's 0.1 m too close to the enemy
  • Awwww this dog on the beach is looking for his master. :(
  • Oh no we found his master and she’s been converted into an abomination. This is some FMA levels of heartstring tugging :(
  • LOHSE NO DO NOT KILL THE NICE NPC. I DON’T CARE THAT YOU’VE GOT A DEMON POSSESSING YOU.
  • RED PRINCE MADE OUT WITH A LITERAL GODDESS. SCORE. LIZARDS GOT GAME.
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This meme, but also for spell Attribute requirements
  • The amount of preparation/foresight you can have in exploring the map is incredible. What’s even cooler is how much the game rewards you taking the time to explore your options, and thinking about best tactical approach to an encounter
  • Speaking of encounters, this talking well which trades epic items for 150 gold is really exploitable - not sure if that’s on purpose or not.
  • HOLY SHIT GIANT WORM

    • 2026 Update: I have beaten the game at long last a couple of times. I think all I want to briefly say at this point the following things about this game:

    1. There are fewer games as mechanically crunchy, and environmentally dense, as DOS2. The amount of options you have to approach any combat or scenario is mind-boggling.
    2. This game respects cheese in many ways. It doesn’t punish you for being clever, and it lets you get away with things that should normally soft-lock you.
    3. A key part above is the lack of soft-locking. You can truly go through this game as you want. You are not beholden to a single path (and only rarely are you really punished for going off the rails).
    4. The characters are so memorable and the dialogue really brings them to life. There are few games that tackle such dark themes in as memorable or as mature a fashion.