Divinity: Original Sin Preview

We have a new preview for Larian Studios’ Divinity: Original Sin from RPGWatch, and, just as in the other previews we have read so far, the game looks rather promising for old-school RPG fans:

A key component to the story and gameplay is the orcish Source Magic the aforementioned heroes use. This magic draws upon the elements of the world and can affect terrain. For example, using rain magic can make the ground slippery to move on, giving you an advantage in battle. A really cool use of the Source Magic I saw was in a boss battle against a giant robot. While he was charging a special attack, one character used water magic to expand a nearby puddle so the robot was standing in water. Another character’s electricity spell electrified the puddle, effectively stunning the robot. There is also friendly fire in the game, so when one player was on fire, another used rain magic to put the blaze out.

As with prior Divinity games, the environments are heavily interactive, and it’s important to effectively use anything that’s not nailed down to your advantage. For example, barrels of oil. They will explode when struck with fire, but if struck with a normal weapon, they’ll create an oil slick. This lends a point-and-click puzzle-solving aspect to the combat. Speaking of point-and-click, items can be combined in that style in the menus. For example, combining a poisonous mushroom with a sword creates a poison sword.

Unlike prior Divinity games, the combat is turn based, and each player has a number of action points to use when taking actions. This is why using the environment to your advantage is so important, because moving an oil barrel to the right place and setting it off uses fewer action points than a straight up assault.