Baldur's Gate 3 convinced me to finally try out Larian's last critically-acclaimed RPG, and it's fast becoming my new obsession

Mar. 13, 2024

Opinion | Divinity Original Sin 2 has been calling my name for years and Baldur’s Gate 3 finally made me answer

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

In video games, you definitely shouldn’t try to lower your health on purpose, right? Yet here I am, in Divinity Original Sin 2, putting that logic right in the bin. At this moment, I’m actively trying to get hurt in the throes of a battle. I’m not even fighting back, I’m just spamming end turn for each party member until one character takes enough hits. Everything about it feels wrong – like I’m setting myself up to fall – but after seeing how this can play out if I do otherwise, I have to follow my instincts. If I just stick it out, I can avoid bloodshed. I just know it. I only feel confident to test this theory thanks to Larian’s latest RPG, because ifBaldur’s Gate 3has taught me anything, it’s that the solutions or methods to resolve conflicts aren’t always the most conventional ones.

A new beginning

Afterreturning to Dragon Age Origins because of Baldur’s Gate 3, the itch to try something new in a similar vein only intensified. My mind immediately went to Divinity Original Sin 2, and as luck would have it, the Definitive Edition just so happened to be on sale on PS4. All the stars seemed to align, and I had to take it as a sign; now was the right time to at long last dive in.

The first thing I had to decide was who to play as, which is no simple thing when you’re welcomed into a game with a cast of intriguing established characters to choose from. Just like Baldur’s Gate 3, Divinity let’s make your own custom character or play as one of the premade origin characters. After reading many, many reddit threads, the consensus was that playing as an origin character was a good call for beginners like me, and while there are plenty of cases made online about who’s best to pick, I decided to go for the origin that called to me the most. More often than not, I’m drawn to individuals with a silver tongue, those with roguish qualities, an air of mystery, or anyone with a creative flair. In Baldur’s Gate 3,the bard is far and away my favorite class when it comes to role-playing.

My favorite Baldur’s Gate 3 NPC is everything I love about Larian’s RPG: “I had no idea there would be Rolanites or a Rolan nation or Rolan empire”

With that in mind, Lohse ticked a lot of those boxes for me out of the possible lineup. Not only is she a musician and performer with the quips of a Jester, she’s also got a pretty intriguing secret. In Lohse’s own words, her body is “a playground for sprites, spirits… and worse”, and a voice that’s louder than all others appears to be out to take over her body. In fact, as I would come to discover later on, that very voice is what led to the unfortunate skirmish where I had to let her get hit several times over to avoid killing an elf I’d helped save moments before.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of her story so far, but right off the bat, I love how Divinity Original Sin 2 presented me with dialogue options that are unique to Lohse and her talents. I already felt like I was role-playing in her shoes from the minute I awoke on a ship, captured and collared by Magisters. The entire set up of the adventure is just as tantalizing as Baldur’s Gate 3, too, when my journey aboard the sailing prison takes a hard u-turn thanks to a mysterious figure unleashing havoc and a… kraken? I still don’t know what’s going on, or what’s in store for Lohse, but I can’t wait to find out.

Having done a run in Baldur’s Gate 3 as Astarion, Ireally enjoy how the origins have their own questline– it feels like you’re experiencing their personal story and getting a different perspective on the world that’s unique to them because of it. Happily, much the same applies in Divinity. For Lohse, a bad gig led to her capture, and the voice in her head is an ever-pressing concern as she vyes for freedom. Plus, you don’t have to go it alone, with the other origins joining you as party members. Each one has their own background, motivations, and arc, and I love the way they react to actions – that kind of feedback just makes my presence in the world feel so tangible.

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

While Divinity Original Sin 2 is of course a little more dated in comparison to Baldur’s Gate 3, so much of it reminds of the adventure in the Sword Coast. It took a spell to get my bearings on the controls, but once I did, I felt right at home. The mechanics and systems share similar DNA, from the way you can interact with the environment to a narrator offering more detail about a character’s countenance, or an object you’re looking at. My time as Tav in Faerun also helped me quickly get to grips with Divinity 2’s combat, which is also turn-based. The main difference is that fighting uses an action point system – whereby each character has a certain number of action points they can use each round that dictates how much they can move, use skills, and attack – but even then, it’s not that far off the action-based set up in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Larian’s writing chops are here in full force too, and the storytelling and depth of the older RPG – even so early on – already have me thinking it will be my new obsession. I relish being able to dive into a new world, meet characters whose stories I’ve yet to explore, and have the freedom to experiment and make choices as Loshe that feel impactful. Despite how quickly I’m picking everything up, the amount of freedom it gives you when it comes to your approach means my first run in Divinity Original Sin 2 still very much feels like a learning experience, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m so glad my time with Baldur’s Gate 3 helped me put my apprehensions to one side. Now I just need to make up for lost time.

11 years later, nothing has rivaled the swansong expansion for my favorite sci-fi RPG series.

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at GamesRadar+. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I’m not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.

The Witcher 4 may not have Geralt after all: his actor was “slapped by CD Projekt” for accidentally sharing a rumor that he’d be in it, just not as the protagonist

Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a surprise update a year after its once-final update, even after CDPR moved basically every dev to other games: “Sometimes, you want to do it ONE MORE time!”

Todd Howard “rolled his eyes” at the idea of Troy Baker playing Indiana Jones in the Great Circle, but the Bethesda boss later told him “you’re doing a hell of a job”