Divine Wandering - A (Spoilerific) Divinity: Original Sin Review, Part 3

Divinity: Original Sin is not perfect. There are some glaring issues, as well as some not so glaring issues. I'd like to focus on those for this part of the review. Ranting, complaining, and mild cursing to follow.

Complaint the first:
Clicking what I want to click should never be a guessing game. I mean it. And yes most of the time in an isometric RPG it doesn't matter what I click on. 90% or more of my clicks are for moving across the world. But that other 10% or so... I'm clicking what I'd like to kill. Even more important I'm expending limited resources (AP) each click. I'm baffled at times as to why a click goes astray. Targeting graphics flicker in and out of existence without discernible reason. Can I target this enemy or not? Seriously can I? Please can I? Damn I just moved up beside it. I was trying to use my bow. And this spell I'm aiming will it or won't it hit the target. For some reason the targeting icon is freaking out. Move the mouse imperceptibly and its back, then gone again and back again in the blink of any eye. Good I finally launched that fireball. Crap it hit an object between me and the target. But the targeting graphics told me it was a clear shot. Occasionally even the AI gets confused. But I believe that's only because the computer has to use the same finicky targeting data that I do. Its absolutely infuriating at times.

Complaint the second:
A lack of firm direction in a game is fine when the goal of a particular section of gameplay is clearly communicated along with the steps needed to accomplish that goal. When I get all the way into the bowels of the Abandoned Church near Cyseal after hours of difficult fighting only to find my path blocked because I hadn't completed a previous quest that the developers obviously intended me to finish before hand, we have a bit of a problem. Firstly this causes the plot to become unhinged. And while it is an interesting and complex narrative, it felt very tangled and stilted, as there wasn't a good flow to it. And that all came down to the fact that I didn't know where the story was going to be next. It would have been nice to have some sort of guide so I could follow an intended path in individual quests. I could easily subvert that plan if I wanted to and it would have felt much better when I did it on purpose instead of by accident. Instead my questing turned into a game of gotcha between me and the developers. "Ha! I got into the church when I was underleveled!", I say. "Ha! You weren't supposed to be here yet, so we've blocked your progress to the final section!", the developers reply. And I realize that the church and quests are entirely optional, and I could have skipped them entirely and gone on to the next section of the game. But the bits of narrative contained in the quests are certainly not something anyone who plays the game should miss. And this same situation happened to me again in the next section of the game. Twice. Just knowing the intended sequence of quests would be nice.

Complaint the third:
Let me pause the game. For now I'm playing single player. If I allow someone to drop in then disable pausing. Its pretty simple. Even bringing up the game menu doesn't pause the game. Sometimes I need to take a piss whilst in hostile territory, or check the oven, or take a phone call, or stand up and walk around for a few minutes because the finicky targeting is driving me crazy, or... Let me pause the damn game.

Complaint the fourth:
I wish my party members were more fleshed out. Especially Midora. She's awesome. And maybe I haven't seen all of her story arc yet, but at 53 hours of play, she is aloof and distant. In fact I don't really have much attachment to any of my party members. Some more barks would be nice. Hearing Midora or Jahan say anything is so rare I often forget they are even there.

Complaint the fifth:
Slipping on ice in combat is a cool mechanic. Slipping on ice outside of combat is only funny the first couple of times. After that it is annoying and pointless. Using spells and special arrows for ice removal outside of combat is not fun. Its a chore.

Complaint the sixth:

The Trait system feels half-baked. I understand that they are trying to make decisions in dialogue have a discernible effect on gameplay. But it is very unclear in the course of play what will happen to my character Traits in a given conversation. And frankly some of the buffs are baffling. Compassionate gives a 3% bonus to critical chance? Spiritual makes me immune to fear, while it's opposite Materialistic gives me a bonus to Loremaster. Those two are hardly balanced. Immunity to fear will have a much higher impact overall than an additional skill point in Loremaster. Its a really weird system.

Complaint the seventh:
An, "Are You Sure" prompt when I choose a dialogue option that leads to combat with, say, one of the only merchants in town would be nice.

Complaint the final:

So we're at the end of a particularly tough battle. All but one of my party is dead. Now I need to res them... But I used a ton of res scroll during the fight, and all the leftovers are in one of the fallen's inventories. Guess it's time to play warp around to different merchants for the next 20-30 minutes until I find enough scrolls to revive my party. Fun. Having a limited number of resurrection scrolls whilst in combat is fine. When you die you basically loose two turns in a given sequence. Plus resurrection can be used strategically, as you can teleport the fallen character to a new location. Outside of combat its just a chore. Maybe I could have planned ahead better, but it really doesn't add anything compelling to the game. The scrolls are not so expensive or rare that managing them out of combat is ever really interesting.

And cease rant. None of these issues were so terrible as to make me stop playing entirely. But some of them have caused quite a bit of frustration, desk pounding, and cursing. I wouldn't trade a single one of them for the game as a whole. But, seriously, can I please click on that enemy right there? Please?

Divine Wandering - A (Spoilerific) Divinity: Original Sin Review, Part 2

Its the little things.

Zap has been staring intently at a grey tabby for over 30 minutes.  Its unknown whether that registers to the other party members.  In fact there isn't any real way to gauge how time passes in Rivellon.  There is no definable day or night.  Yet somehow there is a Weaver Of Time in the Shelter Plane, which is ostensibly outside of time.  Then again I've yet to see the Weaver do any weaving, and maybe that speaks for itself.

Divinity: Original Sin has rapidly expanded around me at this point.  I've been places, I've seen things, killed those things in those places.  And yet I'm nearly aimless in my wandering.  The lack of any guiding hand coupled with the sheer density of content conspire to overwhelm me with detail at times.  The cat that Zap is talking to is named Unsinkable Sam.  Sam is a storied cat, his past is filled with intrigue, adventure, opulence, and loss.  A former ships cat, Sam's vessel sunk not far off the coast of Cyseal.  As he tells it he barely escaped with his life, and the entire crew was raving about a "Lighthouse" and how it was not lit.  Sam doesn't know what a lighthouse is, but he harbors no fondness for them after the loss his friends.

After unlocking the ability to speak with animals Zap learns that there are entire worlds within worlds in Rivellon.  In the graveyard we meet Murphy a dog, whose master was none other than the councilor Jake.  Zap realizes that the key to solving the murder may lie with Murphy's nose.  And so the quest for Esmeralda's smelly panties begins.

In the bowels of the lighthouse we meet a sorrowful ghost named Samson.  He mourns the loss of his beloved Desdemona.  The former lighthouse keeper in a fit of jealous rage left the flame unlit and watched as the ship carrying his love was dashed against the cliffs below.  This story sounds familiar and I realize that this was the same ship that Unsinkable Sam escaped from.  Upon further inspection I realize that there is a shipwreck impaled on an iron crystal beneath the lighthouse.

Eventually our travels lead us to the lichyard of an abandoned church.  Amongst the graves and mausoleums we happen upon a group of ghosts.  They pace about arguing.  They are led by a charismatic specter named Ebenezer.  He talks of his life as a captain his proclivity for decadence and of the ship's cat Oscar.  He says he doesn't want to leave Rivellon for the afterlife.  And Zap realizes she may know this cat.  We're off to Cyseal to talk with Sam once more.

Sam remembers his old name, Oscar.  He remembers Ebenezer.  Remembers Ebenezer's life of exclusive excess.  Ebenezer was a consciousless opulent.  Ebenezer confided his truths in Sam/Oscar.  Rare and exquisite clothes at the cost of ecosystems.  Wines and liquours from the sweat, toil and suffering of slaves.  And soft flesh, tender and young girls, destroyed for pleasure.  A quiet monster of a man.

We return to confront this quiet monster.  This ghost.  This ghost who refuses to face his life.  This ghost that says no god is worthy to judge him.  Its a short talk.  Hack, whose proclivity is for thieving, blades, and arrows, is not so quick to condemn.  Seeing the coils of decadence in himself.  But Zap, who's proclivity is for logic, fire, and stone will have none of it.  This man, this shade, will face his sins.  Face his sins and fade.

There is a confident attention to detail that captivates me in these narratives.  A woven skein of relation.  Subtle and yet pervasive.  As I travel through Cyseal and it's surroundings there is nuance all around me.  A care and consideration in the creation of this space.  Its not just the big shiny things.  Its not just in the cohesive art style.  There is care accorded the small and seemingly insignificant things.  The cats, the dogs, the rats and all they have to say.  The placement of a book, a shovel, and a bloodstained knife.

And while it may feel aimless at times, its a good aimlessness.  There is always a new conversation to have or secret to discover.  Always some new morsel of plot that ties another seemingly disconnected story to the one at hand.  And that's nice even if its a bit overwhelming at times.  For sheer amount of content, Divinity: Original Sin is almost peerless.

Divine Wandering - A (Spoilerific) Divinity: Original Sin Review, Part 1

It starts on a beach. The low rumble of the surf mixing with that of the wind. But I didn't come here to sunbathe. Zap and Hack certainly aren't here to sunbathe, they're Source Hunters. They've come to Cyseal to investigate a murder, a plague of undead, and an orcish invasion. Cyseal is not doing so well right now. Zap and Hack, as their names may suggest, were quickly made in the character creator by picking a basic class (Wizard and Fighter respectively) and changing around their faces a bit. Zap is a red haired enchantress with face paint and Hack is an ebony hued brute with short black hair. Zap always had an affinity for lightning and Hack for blades. Which is ironic because it will soon become apparent that Zap is destined for fire and earth magic and Hack for archery.

I don't know all this yet and neither do they as the walk up the beach passing the rapidly cooling bodies of orcs and legionaries. I'm in a race now. A race to find the fun. Eventually I come upon a gaggle of nefarious robed baddies. We dispatch them in short order and turn to find a very large stone door. The door tells me that it leads to a tutorial dungeon. I could skip it if I want to, but I've as yet to be tutorialised fully into the world of Rivellon. So in we go without a moments hesitation. Why are dungeons always so well lit by candles, torches, and whatnot? And there's food, in a dungeon? This dungeon is filled with the undead. Half of them are skeletons. Why is there a pumpkin, loaf of bread, and cheese down here? I can pick them up, but who the hell would eat the food they find lying around in a crypt? There is dead stuff everywhere. Corpses are literally stored here...... Ooooo! A ham! Well maybe just a bite. Zap looks on in horror as Hack tucks in. Waste not want not. Healing is hard to come by because someone forgot to learn healing magic.

We push on. We learn that stuff burns. We learn that water stops stuff from burning and conducts electricity. We finally learn that you can drag and drop objects in the game world, which is a pretty neeto mechanic I must say. I'm also beginning to think that this world and those that inhabit it don't take things too seriously. My suspicions are confirmed when I come across two drunken legionaries. blocking my progress to Cyseal. They demand to “escort” the Source Hunters back to Cyseal. After a game of rock paper scissors between both Zap and Hack. Which is how arguments between characters, usually the main characters, are resolved. Because I decided to argue with myself. Don't look at me like that.

We finally meet the local wizard at the gate to Cyseal. Yup things are all messed up. The legion is stuck inside Cyseal, orcs at one gate the dead at the others, a city councilor has been murdered, and Sourcery is implicated in most of this. Plus those nefarious robed people are a worrisome new development. Yeah, we're totally going to the bar. When we get there we meet a grizzled, wolf pelt wearing woman named Madora. She has a Texas accent, a distrust of magic, a massive sword, and is most definitely coming with after she asks to join up. And as it turns out the murder occurred in this very inn. But we'll need permission to view the scene. So I have to run across Cyseal to the legion headquarters to ask. This particular paragraph cliff-notes about 2-3 hours of playtime. No it wasn't very exciting. It didn't help that I wasn't sure how to approach my tasks and I was warned at all of Cyseal's gates to remain inside. I've heard it said that this game doesn't hold your hand. And I guess it doesn't, but it also gives unclear objectives and then encourages you not to explore. WTF?

The scenes of a grisly deed. 

We finally talk to the legion captain and he tells us all about the woes of his post and the murder of the councilor. And then we walk all the way back to the inn. So I enter the room where the councilor had been murdered and the place is a mess. There is a large red stone sitting in the center. As soon as Zap touches it there is a flash and the party disappears in a puff of smoke.... To reappear in an observatory packed with wobbling stacks of books. A pointy eared creature with bright clothing faces us. As I gaze around I realize that the observatory is perched atop a rock floating in a sea of stars. The being looking at us is named Zixzax and he's just as surprised to see us as we are him. After a short chat he notices our presence has lit a portal. We step through transported once again to a mysterious locale. Here we meet the Weaver of Time and find out that(surprise!) we're the only ones who can prevent all of reality from being devoured by a hungry darkness.

I guess, "packed with stacks of wobbling books," was an exaggeration. 

We now can warp to this place and between any gate on Rivellon at will. This, combined with two magical pyramids that link to each other, is how fast travel works. It's good to be back in Cyseal. The narrative becomes a flurry of blurry activity. Zap learns to talk to animals which compounds the number of interesting NPCs, and eventually sets us on a quest for the murdered councilor’s wife's smelly panties. Which Zap immediately equips, as they buff Charisma, and not at all because its hilarious to do so. While digging up graves in the graveyard, which no one seems to mind, we find a tunnel that leads to our first real engagement since the beach and exits at a well outside the gates.

Unsinkable Sam, the inn's resident feline has a story you wouldn't believe.

So Combat. Let's talk about Combat. Its completely turn-based and brilliant. Each fresh encounter brings something new and unexpected. I found myself often using offensive magic in a defensive capacity. Using fire spells specifically to set alight pools of oil dividing the battlefield and creating choke-points while simultaneously limiting visibility with smoke. Later when I met another mage in Cyseal's library, we added air and water magic to the mix. Lighting can be a double edged sword in Divinity: OS. Pools of water, even blood, can conduct it across the ground with a chance to stun anyone touching it. There are plenty of invisible dice being rolled behind the scenes. Very D&D like and often times battles that I lose initially play out completely different the second time around. In short this is a superb system and really forms the highlight of play.

Now that combat is frequent I find the pace much more appealing. Why was it sooooo sloooow at the beginning? Why did I have to spend so much time to get here? This is arguably the most important aspect of gameplay. I very much appreciate the dialogues and the exploration in the game, but the design was actively pushing me away from combat for almost 4-5 hours. That's silly. The combat is awesome! Why try to hide it? Some of this was of course my approach, but I was following in game prompts for much of it. There isn't any reason I can think of to have such a slow start in an otherwise excellent RPG.

I guess it comes as a balance to just how much content is in this game. The writers must have been very busy. I've read through hundreds and hundreds of lines of dialogue plus dozens of quests, and I'm not even halfway through the game yet. As I became more acclimated to the gameplay I realized that I had become completely unused to this style of game. I grew up playing games like Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and Neverwinter Nights. But those games suddenly stopped being made around 10 years ago. This game manages to feel fresh because of it. It's good to be back. But I'm still not done and have plenty more to talk about. This will probably end up being a 4 or even 5 part review.

Not A Sandwich: Papo & Yo

When the most controversial episode of Feminist Frequency yet suggested a game at the end, especially a game I already own and haven't played yet, that was all the motivation I needed. So Papo & Yo it is. Right off the bat I'm wondering why they didn't call it Papo y Yo. Because 2/3 of it is already in Spanish. But then again its the minorest of quibbles. Kinda like the quibble I have with Rio Grande River. It's a river sandwich. A big one.

Papo & Yo isn't a sandwich, its a game. A game about a boy named Quico. And a creature named Monster. Set in Quico's dreamworld, Papo & Yo documents the spiritual journey of a boy dealing with an abusive father. Ostensibly the game is supposed to follow the friendship between Quico and Monster exploring together and solving puzzles. Monster will eat frogs and when he does he flies into an uncontrollable rage.

This sounds interesting enough and even before you meet Monster in the game you meet the robot Lula who doubles as a jetpack. As a side note; When is jetpack ever a bad idea? Lula is a great companion, allowing for longer jumps and can flip otherwise unreachable switches. But after this particular high the game fails to establish a rhythm in it's mechanics. This is supposed to be a puzzle platformer, where the most important mechanic is your interactions with Monster. At least all the developer's press material touts it as that. But in reality the puzzles and platforming are a thin veneer over good art and narrative.

There are plenty of mechanics. Like switches that move everything from small blocks, to houses, to entire streets. There are the coconuts and blue coconuts and frogs that all effect Monster differently. But only a few of these ever get fleshed out past introduction. The puzzles are almost invariably linear. Flip this switch then that switch and finally that one, ta-da, puzzle complete advance to the next one. Visually many of the puzzles are quite appealing. One puzzle in particular comes to mind. A sequence of switches cause entire sections of a favela to fold up like a letter allowing you to access an area far above the streets by crossing newly intersecting rooftops. But the puzzle itself is juvenile in its simplicity, not even really a puzzle. It's three sequential switches after you lure Monster into a giant cardboard box with coconuts. In another puzzle the concept of portals in introduced. And while not unique to this game they could have been further explored in the context of wrangling Monster around. But they are only used twice and there are only ever one set at a time.

There are some cool puzzles. One that involves stacking houses into a flexible column is great. In order to get a house to stack you must flip a switch on said house. And not all the houses are immediately accessible. But as you stack more houses you can bend the column towards formerly unreachable houses until finally you have column tall enough to bend across the entire level. There is another puzzle that involves entire sections of a street whirling in the air above a watery pit. In both these puzzles you're required to make a way for both Quico and Monster to reach the level exit. This sadly isn't consistent across all levels. In one level you finally raise a large platform to reach the exit and Monster is magically right behind you as you exit, despite there being no way for him to reach it. At first I wanted to say that this felt like lazy level design. But that isn't fair. I wasn't present for any of the development. It is disappointing none the less. Many of the puzzles felt rushed, half-baked even.

Papo & Yo has an interesting and emotionally engaging narrative. I was overcome with both anger and sadness enough to halt my play session. Over the course of the game Quico and Monster's relationship changes drastically. Monster is unpredictable and dangerous. And, try as he might, Quico is slowly isolated from those few who he comes into contact with. Monster slowly isolates him from everyone. Because Monster only exists to consume. Coconuts, frogs and Quico are what sustains him. As this conflict comes to a head Quico is forced to use himself as bait to Monster's desires. Sacrificing his own safety to sate the endless hunger that is Monster. To place himself between Monster's hunger and all that he cares for. Soon Quico and his Monster come to the end of the path. The Choice. Him or Me. And knowing that Me was the right choice, was always the right choice, doesn't make it any easier to watch as He falls away.

Papo & Yo is a beautiful experiment. An admirable exploration of a new direction in game narrative. It is not perfect. It is flawed, it is broken and difficult at times. It is at odds with itself. Fraught and compromised in it's delivery. But those things it delivers on, it delivers competently. Graphically competent, and emotionally nuanced. My playthrough was worth the price of admission. This game provides a glimpse into where gaming can expand. There is uncharted territory. And any bold venture into that unclaimed space is admirable and inspiring.