DIVINE DIVINITY

                Reviewed by Stefan Herber

Yet another European RPG - I'm not sure where the creators are
based but from the names of the writers and programmers this
appears to be a Scandinavian/German collaboration. And though it's
very far from perfect it's not a bad attempt.

As with seemingly every RPG these days this is third person
perspective - that makes me realise what I've been missing in the
recent ones - a first person perspective epic. It looks, feels and
plays like "Baldur's Gate" which appears to have had far more
influence in the genre than even the makers anticipated. It
however lacks the character interaction that was so wonderfully
present in the Black Isle masterpieces.

Guess what? You're unbeknown to yourself a "Chosen One" and have
to save the world. The nasty here is particularly bad news -
having been banished centuries earlier by a Council of Mages he
has not only reappeared with a group of equal nasties but has
taken over the body of the teenage ruler! To dominate matters he
is busy promoting hatred and warfare between the inhabitants of
the planet who are (surprise, surprise) elves, dwarves, humans and
orcs. There are also some nasty lizards around but as your only
interaction with them is to send them to the graveyard their exact
place on the planet is uncertain. So your mammoth task is to
reunite the races, find all the members of the Council of Mages
and allow them to send the nasties back to Hell - of course they
fail so you have to do it all yourself and slay about 10,000
creatures in the course of so doing.

Your character is only part generated but your opening stats are
absolutely miserable and building them up takes a lot of doing. I
noticed that after a while you don't get any credit for slaying
weaker enemies but never worked out the formula for this. By the
end of the game though you'll be near 100% in all statistics
although this does require the important skill of being able to
enchant your armour, which I would suggest as the only vital skill
in the game.

My main criticism is the difficulty of the combat plus the
seemingly endless amounts of it. Sure once you're well into the
game it becomes easier but by then the sheer amount of it will
have you climbing the wall. Am I wrong in remembering the Ultima
games as having relatively little but relying on narrative and
adventure quests to further your character? Sadly I've tried to
replay them but they don't work under Windows.

In summary a nice try for a fledgling studio but it's not as some
on the website maintain "the greatest RPG I've ever played".








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