whew, what a wild ride. what a long game. i guess if any game was going to be that long it'd be a larian game based on d&d. i loved both divinity original sin games (also very long), so i was pretty much down for this one no matter what, and they did a really impressive job of translating d&d 5e rules to their own style of turn-based tactical combat. it definitely has all the same jank as their other games though - sometimes the enemy AI bugs out, an interaction between two things will be strange/wrong/glitchy and cause frustration, inventory management sucks shit. but considering what a massive scope the game has, and the number of options at one's disposal, those frustrations are a drop in the pond. it was delightfully well-written, the voice acting was superb, and it really pulled you into the world at every turn the same way a good DM will get you into their campaign. not a lot more one could ask from an rpg like this.
combat, one of the most substantial focal points of the game, is engaging, fun, and detailed. i did feel like the game was too easy, even playing on hard ("tactician") mode. my experience with the divinity games on hard mode was that, especially in the first half of the game or so, you really had to use all your resources (esp. consumables) and consider your tactics carefully or you'd get wiped and need to restart the battle. but with only a few exceptions in the early-to-midgame, i felt like it was a cakewalk. i didn't even do any fancy multiclassing. again, the game gives you a plethora of options, and part of the fun of the d&d system is finding the ways to exploit it and make your character/party awesome. (interestingly, i felt like those ways shifted as the game went on.) for that reason, even though i felt like there were a whole bunch of very superfluous, unhelpful options for actions, items and character builds, i could see someone else going a totally different route and making them work. but... i dunno. towards the end of the game my party was just so busted it wasn't even reasonable, i would be taking down major bosses in the first turn. and there were so many things i just glossed over for basically the whole game or that never ended up mattering. maybe those things would be a totally different set of things for someone else... idk!
anyway, all things considered it was a pretty phenomenal game, and i had a ton of fun with it. i wish i'd had someone to experience it with. it'll definitely go down in the books as one of the greats, deservedly - so so much work and love was put into this game and its story and its world, all the way down from the protagonists and their allies and enemies down to the random commoners' plights. larian's writing has gotten so friggin' much better since the first divinity original sin where they were still trying to figure out the tone they wanted to hit lol.

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