| Yeah, so about Divinity : Original Sin

It took me a few hours of play and some reading-up to get here, but I'll say... it's pretty neato.

It's your usual RPG three-quarters view style game, with dialogue choices, equipment, character builds (although not in the purely D&D structure). The combat is really brutal and unforgiving. It reminds me a bit of X-Com in that regard. You gotta REALLY play smart with your peeps, use the right skills at the right moment, or.. well.. die. lol

They use action-points that you can save up (to a max) and then spend, which makes for some interesting game play decisions. Do you try to go for one knock out punch, or pew pew pew a bunch of lesser attacks? What's really new in this relative to other D&D RPGs I've played in the past is your ability to use the environment. Literally, if some bad guys are standing in a puddle/river and you hit it with a lightning bolt, they all get fried. I've teleported barrels of oil to just in front of the enemy's advance and then hit it with a fire arrow to satisfying effect.. likewise there are some fun combinations with poison clouds, etc. And, counters for most of them as well. Bad dude setting things on fire? Use a rain spell, etc etc.

There are a few things that I think they could have done a better job with, like explaining how the skill point system works.. it isn't very clear that you will need more than one skill point to advance a particular skill, so most people probably wouldn't save it up to max out their primary skill and instead spend it on something they probably don't care a lot about (lol, charisma). The first bit of game play / development is also a bit sloooooow. You are more or less useless against anything outside of the city walls until you level up a few times grinding out boring side quests.

Haven't messed around with the multiplayer at all yet, but am excited to see what that looks like.