Divinity II: Ego Draconis

Reviewer's Log, Day 1, Stepped into the wilds of Rivellon, generically named place that Ego Draconis is set in. Before this, was greeted by extraordinarily uninspiring intro sequence that told me nothing whatsoever about the game, except it has some wizard guy who likes an amulet in it Not the best start.

Press on regardless. Character creation is weak, with very few options to choose from. Select name Jiggly Jones, but get called Slayer all the time anyway by Identikit peasants. All the men in this game look exactly the same, it seems. At least, the non-important ones do. It's not even hidden very well, they're just carbon copies. They all sound terrible as well, very poor voice acting. Must note this down, as criticised Risen for this in On The Hard Drive piece few months back. Maybe it'll get better, but know it won't. A shame.

Reviewer's Log, Day 2: The game's all about killing dragons, or people who can turn into dragons anyway. Apparently, I get to turn into a dragon later on, but doubt I'll ever get that far. Sounds cool, though. I also get the chance to own my own 'battle tower' with servants and everything. Will I survive that far even? Combat seems fiddly, hard to kick rabbits to death even when they're standing still. Chickens and ducks also.

Am in small village, where I get taught ranger, warrior or magician skills. Appears you can level up other class' abilities if you wish. Want to be a warrior-mage wielding dual weapons.

Reviewer's Log. Day 3: My eyes have gone a strange colour and all my training has been wiped. Basically a way of doing the whole amnesia storyline thing without actually having you wake up from a coma on a beach or something.

Everyone still calling me Slayer. At least they could have Slayer do the soundtrack if they're going to name check them so much. Have to admit world looks beautiful, some lovely scenery going on. A pity all the people look the same. Oh yeah, had mentioned this already. Still, needed to be reiterated, I think.

More chickens dead, getting the hang of the combat a bit more now. It's not easy and will never feel great, but it's not as bad as I thought it was.

Reviewer's Log, Day 4: Ploughed through lots of enemies now, done some side quests that involve going to place A and returning with items B. The usual RPG shit that's bored me to death in hundreds of other games. Why can't" these people sort their own lives out? Would you hire Mr T to take some berries to a friend's house for you?

Pity The Fool

Reviewer's Log, Day 5: It's taken a while, but it's definitely possible to get into this game. Isn't as good as Risen, but first impressions of hellish borefest dispelled over time. Menu screens still really sluggish and laggy for some reason, don't know why.

Love the fact each skill in the game is accompanied by demonstration video, Really nice touch. The quest reward system is also well presented, gives you a welcome choice over what you get rewarded with - more experience, gold or items.

I Female NPCs seem to react to Jiggly same way they'd react to a male PC, offering flirty sexual advances instead of woman-to-woman thanks. Am not woman, but imagine they don't do this to each other in real life. If they do, want to see it more often. I've said too much.

Reviewer's Log, Day 6: Have seen enough now. Not enjoying it as much as Risen or Dragon Age: Origins, nowhere near as good as The Witcher, but good, solid game in it's own right. Part of old, respected series, but doesn't matter if you haven't played the others - Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity.

Like the Blackadder reference to Merlin the Happy Pig I discovered as a dialogue option. Good attention to detail there. Time to sign off from this diary now. Don't think Divinity 2 do well in England - still too quirkily European for British audiences - but those who play it will have decent time. Still a little perplexed by the intro, though.