Divinity: Original Sin - No one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses

No one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses. Did you read that? Let me repeat it again. No one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses. One more time? No one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses. Now you're sitting here going what the fuck is going on. Well that was what I said when I first stepped into the market place and this sentence would repeat itself every five seconds. I don't know who the voice actor for the NPC is but I'm sure he's having nightmares now haunted by the monstrosity he has created. This game is a cheese simulator. You go around town listening to NPCs trying to sell their cheese and cheese products.

To be serious, this is probably the best RPG I have played in years. Its very old school but at the same time its been updated with the more recent quality of life changes in video games. Remember when I talked about Might and Magic X? I said it was old school but it was also very outdated. This game you get the same old school feeling but it feels like a game made in this decade. Its an isometric sandbox RPG with tactical turn based combat. It can be played single player, where you control both main characters, or played in Co-op where each player controls one of the main characters. This is probably the coolest thing. You can each get your own henchmen or companion and customize your own character/inventory and then wander around the map. One person can be doing a quest, while another person can be in a dungeon fighting a pack of monsters. There are also decisions where it can affect both characters. For example, you come across a pack of bandits you can kill them or let them live. Each character can pick a decision and if you both disagree. You can try and argue against each other to reach a conclusion. This also affects your personality for example you want to help someone the other guy wants to kill them. You will gain a point in altruism while the other guy gets a point in heartless.

I know what you're going to ask next. What if I don't have any friends. Well don't worry! Larian made AIs for people like you. You can preset a personality for your characters or you can set nothing and just RP both of them yourself. The game also comes with two unique companions and a bunch of no personality henchmen. There will be more companions added later on as only two were shipped with the launch version of the game. So all in all, even if you're not playing co-op it will be enjoyable. But if you can find someone to play with you it will change how the game feels dramatically.

You start the game by customizing your character. There are many skills and talents to add and its pretty hard to run out of options. There is so much to pick it makes your head spin. I saw a talent called Pet Pal which lets you talk to animals. I knew I had to get it. Who wouldn't want to talk to animals!? It does exactly what you think it does. And yes dogs talk exactly how you think they'll talk. You then go into town and try to solve the murder of Councillor Jake. There are a variety of ways depending on how you want to do it and what skills/talents you have. If you have Pet Pal, you can talk to his dog who will tell you to bring items to him for him to smell if it smells like the murderer. Or you can break into houses and steal their stuff and do it that way. Or you can murder everyone in the town because you're an asshole! Its really up to you.

Combat is fairly difficult at first. It doesn't help that you don't know where to go at the start and can accidentally go into an area too difficult for you. You will die often and die a lot. Eventually you start getting more skills and you are able to fight on somewhat even footing. One tip to remember to win you every battle. Disables are better than damage. If you can do a disable versus doing big damage on an enemy that turn, use a disable. Enemies have resistances but almost every enemy can be disabled by a spell. Summons are also great, if not game breaking. There are plenty of quests, a lot of dialogue, and tons of secrets to find. When the game said it has over 100+ hours of gameplay, it wasn't lying.

The game isn't all sunshine and awesomepuffs. For example, the cheese vendor would not shut up. Going into the marketplace is like blowing your ears out from a hundred people shouting at the top of their lungs to get you to buy their cheese. If you're too far from your friend during co-op you won't be able to hear their conversations with NPCs and won't be able to contribute to arguments. If you want to change major maps like teleport to your homestead, you need both people standing near each other to jump dimensions. The world is split into four major maps with lots of sub areas in each one. Only one person can be talking to an NPC at a time. However, talking to NPCs will force them to turn towards you, moving their cone of vision so someone else can swipe something off their desk while you distract with conversation. Inventory is extremely messy and most of the time you have no idea if this item is important or not and it sits there taking up room because if you lose it getting it back will be a bitch.

If you like RPGs this game is for you. If you like tactical turn based combat this game is for you. And if you love the heck out of co-op games. Do not ignore this and go get it right now.