We don't normally track prices but since cdv sent out this PR...

Becoming A Dragon Knight Just Got Easier With Divinity II – Ego Draconis Reduced Price

Hello - 

We wanted to give you a heads-up that Divinity II – Ego Draconis is now available for only $39.99 on both the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC.

Be sure to visit www.honorofrivellon.com for tons of game and contest info!

GamersInfo has a review of Divinity II.  No score as usual for this site but the article is positive, despite some issues:

There is something strange about Divinity II that I haven’t been able to explain to myself. The game has a notable lack of polish in numerous areas. There are little things all over the place that could use tweaking or even radical changes. The dialogue and scripts for characters feels amateurish, the combat system doesn’t really seem to work well at all and for a good portion of the game, I felt completely abandoned. Despite those things, there is something a little magical in Divinity II; the world and sense of discovery I had as I explored it were fantastic. The history of the dragons and lore of the world along with the very memorable plot twists combined to pull me in.

Divinity II for the PC has been reviewed at GameShark, with a rating of B- and recommended for Gothic fans :

Once you complete your ritual, all hell breaks loose. A Dragon Knight has been spotted in a nearby settlement and thus it’s time to get to work. Don't get too excited, however, as you're a new Dragon Slayer and not ready for the battle. It's time for some "fetch" quests! As expected, you'll spend a lot of time on various inane quests that the townspeople have few qualms about sending you, a highly-skilled warrior, to manage. "I miss my pet pigs!" No problem, I'll handle it.

Actually, the simple quests give you a chance to take a peek at the outside world, which is the best part of Divinity II. There's something mysterious and enchanting about seeing a far off part of the terrain and thinking "I can eventually get there." Much like the Gothic games, you can wander the countryside and find enemies to fight… whether you're strong enough to fight them or not.

The Divinity II patch for the X360 has finally been released, fixing the save-game issues.  Here's the PR:

Divinity II – Ego Draconis Patch 1.0 Goes Live (Xbox 360)

Good news! Patch 1.0 for Divinity II – Ego Draconis is now live and available for download. The patch addresses a variety of issues including fixes for game save files and a minor quest bug (The “Charlie the Goblin” quest). Simply start the game on either Xbox LIVE* and accept the update.

Just as a reminder, Divinity II – Ego Draconis is available now on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC!

Be sure to visit www.honorofrivellon.com for tons of game and contest info!

The company behind Divine Divinity II - Ego Draconis, cdv Software, has a new montage trailer out. You can watch it on  Youtube.

A site called Kombo.com has a Divinity II review on the X360.  Describing the game and aspirational, the bugs and uneven difficulty bring the score down to 6/10:

Unfortunately, for every positive point there are at least two glaring issues. Bugs and frustration abound in Divinity II. Several times throughout the course of the game I had to actually restart my console because the game froze. Additionally, combat often feels like exploiting the game's flaws rather than mastering the gameplay mechanics. Running in circles around enemies or attempting to lodge them in a glitch in order to gain the upper hand isn't all that fun.

Jim Rossignol has kicked up some thoughts on the early part of Divinity II at Rock, Paper, Shotgun but it seems he's about to give up:

This is where things start to trundle downhill. I’d already managed to swallow the laggy menus and stuttery performance – hey, that’s how it is on my PC, I’m sure it’s smoother on other PCs, with other builds – and to focus on the characters and questing. I like the structure of the game, and the way you can hybridise your character from a huge selection of skills. I even like the monsters, as predictable as they are, they seemed to have some clout. The sheer size of the valley in which I was adventuring was enough to entice me, too: I wanted to explore. There were some entertaining characters along the way, and some decent rewards for even minor quests. A discount with the blacksmith for fixing him up with a lady from the nearby farm was okay by me. However, once I hit the valley I also hit the grind. I was going to have to go back and kill every last goblin if you was going to be able to walk down the road – I needed to level up. And up. And up

Action Trip's Ure 'Vader' Paul posts his review of Larian Studios' Divinity II and scores it above average at 6.8/10. He played the XBox 360 version and spends some time talking about its flaws, plus he's also less than thrilled with the way the dragon transformation ability worked out in the game:

Combining flying, shooting and classic RPG gameplay was a nice idea. As it happens, this concept was very poorly realized. Larian Studios clearly got a little too carried away with this one in an effort to offer as many different features as possible. Perhaps it would've been wiser to invest more time into polishing the gameplay where you control your character on-foot....

...As a developer, I'd dump all of the flying segments in favor of a traditional and well-designed RPG action experience, rather than having a crack at two or more genres at once and winding up with a technically underdeveloped fantasy game jam-packed with somewhat disorganized content. The story generally serves its purpose, but I'm afraid there's not much to lure you into the many random quests, which you get from a variety of NPCs. After a while, it all turns into a dull routine, with precious little replay value. For an RPG, this is not good.

There is a new trailer for Divinity 2. This one introduces the Necromancer and shows off how you can make your own monster.

There is one odd part to this video. It shows the PC summoning a ghost. You don't need the Necromancer to do that.

You can view the trailer here or click the image below:

IGN has reviews for both the PC and X360 versions of Divinity II.  The PC review is the main one, with Charles Onyett keeping the main text and adding a different summary for the X360 version.

On the PC, the rating is 7/10, which they list as "decent":

The more you play, the better it gets. Such is the way of things with many role-playing titles as their gameplay systems evolve, narratives progress, and new items and skills become available. It's especially true of Larian Studios' Divinity 2: Ego Draconis since it starts out so slow. The next in the line of Larian's Divinity games, this is a Western-style traditional high fantasy setting filled with fireballs, wizards, goblins and dragons. It's the type of fantasy world we've seen plenty of times before, most recently in Piranha Bytes' Risen and BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins, though those examples contain a greater breadth of distinguishing qualities that make them stand further out from the pack than Larian's effort. Still, there's plenty of satisfying content to dig into in Divinity 2, provided you're willing to overlook some of its generic and underdeveloped aspects, of which there are quite a few.

On the X360, however, the score is a lowly 4.8/10:

I can’t recommend the Xbox 360 version of this product to anyone. The occasionally glitchiness of the PC version was much more pronounced on the console, particularly when it came to enemies getting stuck in the environment. The aiming mechanic is cumbersome and confusing when dealing with more than one target, which happens frequently, the menu system and interface are a chore to sift through, and character movement and control is more imprecise. An inconsistent framerate, low level of detail compared to other Xbox 360 releases in this genre, and jerky animations combined with the already unoriginal art style makes this an unpleasant experience for anyone. Even worse, at one point a door disappeared from the environment so I couldn’t actually exit and had to reload a previous save (which didn’t solve the issue), and in multiple instances save files I overwrote multiple times didn’t load correctly. That’s pretty poor, and part of the experience you should be aware of if the Xbox 360 version is your only option.

Thanks to EvilKoala for the links.

[This newsbit has been changed to reflect the release of the patch]

Larian and dtp have released the v1.03 international "super patch" for Divinity II.  This updates all international versions to the current US level and includes a number of new features, as promised some time ago.  Note that starting a new game is recommended.  Here's the full post from the Larian forums:

Patch 1.03 brings new features for Divinity II: Ego Draconis and fixes some bugs in the German, French, English, Italian and Spanish version. It also brings all language versions on the same patch level.

To deliver the smallest patch possible per language we seperated the patch exes into three versions:

German Patch 1.03:
http://www.divinity2.com/downloads/patch...1.03_GERMAN.exe (1,87 GB)

French Patch 1.03:
http://www.divinity2.com/downloads/patch...1.03_FRENCH.exe (876 MB)

English, Italian, Spanish (plus US) Patch 1.03:
http://www.divinity2.com/downloads/patch/Divinity_II_-_Ego_Draconis/Divinity_II_Patch_1.03_EIS.exe (406 MB)

If you already have a Divinity II patch installed on your PC just click on "Search online for updates" in your start menu and you've got it.

New features:

- Added a crosshair option for better targeting/item interaction
- Physics improvement. Easier to walk forward when running into objects.
- Melee attacks now hit multiple targets in a cone
- Greatly improved both sword and bow targeting
- Turned down homing of enemy projectiles on lower difficulties
- Added waypoint shrines to map
- Shorter animations for certain skills

Notes:

- Patch 1.03 contains Patch 1.01 and Patch 1.02
- To make all changes shall work properly you should start a new game
- This Patch only works with all DVD versions of the game, online retailers will deliver their patch in addition.

Here's a pair of new Divinity II reviews from the US, both on the X360.  First, Cheap Ass Gamer recommends a buy despite the problems; here's a snip:

Exploring Rivellon is a rewarding and interesting experience, talking to its citizens and reading up on its literature not only serve to flesh out the world itself but often times lead to secrets and side quests. While the writing and dialogue seem bland at first, the game’s dialogue quickly straddles a nice line of being to the point while still containing bits of humor. The quests themselves manage to rarely feel like fetch quests by giving you a handful of choices on how you’d like to proceed. Since there is no strict morality meter, you are really given the opportunity to decide how you want your character to approach each situation without having to worry about how it will effect his or her alignment with good or evil. This ambiguity also spills over into the way Divinity II seemingly has you stumbling upon quests simply by exploring every corner. Often I found key items prior to even running into the quest giver. (Oh, so you’re the reason I’ve been carrying around this seemingly useless item for seven hours – here take it. What do I get in return?) Somehow these aspects make the game feel less scripted and more like a true exploration.

...but the Adrenaline Vault feels differently, scoring 2/5 and a "skip it" recommendation:

Divinity II benefits from the dragon mechanic, but stumbles in almost every other aspect. While the world of Rivellon looks great standing still, frame rates in action sequences drop to abysmal levels, making the journey hard on the eyes as the image constantly tears. The game is also vexed with a myriad of bugs that impact play sessions, including dropped speech, graphical errors and occasional game-ending freezes that require a reboot. I also experienced several instances in which my saved game was corrupted, forcing me to clear the cache and begin again. While the similarly themed Dragon Age: Origins might have the production muscle of EA backing it up (thus granting it a fine level of polish), it’s unacceptable to have to play a retail release in this shoddy state of development. The game has some decent concepts that really would have benefited with an additional six months of development and, more importantly, QA testing, as it simply becomes a bear to play. At this writing there was no fix available, but hopefully this will be remedied in the future.

Thanks to Stephen for the Cheap Ass Gamer link.

GotGame has a video review of Divinity II.  I haven't watched it but the blurb sounds very positive:

I really had a wonderful time playing through this third person action role playing game; so I’d like to give you my thoughts and a comparison between the PC and 360 versions of the game, so let’s check it out!

A disappointing score for Divinity II in G4's review of the X360 version, with a rating of 2/5.  Poor combat, balance, a bad map and a padded story are all discussed:

With the ability to go from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds, top speeds in excess of 253 miles per hour and a sleek design that makes it look like something from the not-so-distant future, the Bugatti Veyron is a marvel of mechanical engineering that might just be worth its $1,700,000 price tag. Well, unless the spark plugs are bad. Or the starter is faulty. Then you just have a very pretty, very expensive paperweight. The point is, if you don't get the basic mechanics right, it doesn't matter what you layer on top of it.

It's a lesson I'm hoping the makers of Divinity II: Ego Draconis learn, and learn fast. Although they've created a game that's grand in scope and deep in options, fundamental problems derail the entire thing, turning this game into, well, a lemon.

"Lacks polish but is incredibly enjoyable" is the summary of Divinity II in Game Observer's review, which carries a score of 90%:

What on the surface looks like a run-of-the-mill European Action RPG (is there even such a thing??) is made unique through the inclusion of the summoned creature system, the Battle Tower, and the truly phenomenal and well thought out Dragon mode. Putting all of this together in one RPG without having the other aspects of the game suffer is truly a monumental feat and one that shouldn’t go unnoticed. If they find the right audience, Larian could make quite a name for itself creating sequels using the same formula. Though it lacks the kind of polish big budget games receive, it still manages to deliver one of the most unique and enjoyable RPG experiences of the past five years. Along with this, Risen, and Dragon Age, I’d have to say that the old school PC RPG is making one heck of a comeback. If ever there was a time to own a top of the line PC and a credit card with a high limit, that time is now.

Divinity II has also been reviewed at 1Up, where the not-so-formal author admits to bringing in some preconceptions before awarding a solid "B":

Okay, I'm making light of it; in all fairness, flight and combat in dragon form are among Divinity II's biggest selling points, and add much to the game's fun factor. Of course, this cuts both ways: when you're flying around in the game's action-packed, dragon form sequences, combat is frenetic, multifaceted, and fun. When you're walking around in human form (which makes up a significant portion of the game), it's more: hit the attack button, hit the attack button, use a special move, hit the attack button, profit. Then rinse and repeat, until your hair has that shiny, Pantene glow.

But combat isn't the entire game: you'll spend plenty of time running around looking for hidden items, solving puzzles, bringing widget A to NPC B, and engaging in a buttload of dialogue. Surprisingly, Divinity II features damn good English voice acting (this is a game from Belgium), a competently written (if rather formulaic) story, and a really friggin' fantastic original score. Little things like these may seem insignificant when you read them in a review, but they help not only to draw you into Divinity II's game world, but also to get across a sense of quality craftsmanship that the game desperately needs for gamer cred.

GameSpot has reviewed Divinity II, awarding 6.5/10 after criticising variable challenge, "bland" story and characters and bugs, while appreciating some of the more unusual aspects:

In Divinity II, the hunter becomes the hunted. You begin this third-person role-playing game as a newly recruited dragon slayer, eager to join a bloodthirsty party tracking down a fearsome lizard. Soon, however, a turn of events transforms you into what you once reviled: a dragon knight who can slice through enemies on the ground as well as transform into a winged beast and take to the skies. The ability to morph back and forth between human and dragon form is Divinity II's best and most interesting feature, though there are a few other elements that also help set it apart from the competition. Unfortunately, these flames of originality are too often extinguished by Divinity II's less compelling facets. This adventure is a hefty challenge, but the difficulty too often stems from imbalanced enemy encounters rather than tough, thoughtfully constructed battles. Furthermore, thin characters and a by-the-numbers plot make it difficult to get invested in the story. Divinity II may satisfy your craving for some looting and leveling in a fantasy world, but it lacks the sparkle and cohesion of the better games in the genre.

Thanks, Melvil!

Larian is pointing out a new Divinity II review at a site called Gaming Truth.  It's ridiculously short but praises the game with a 90% score:

While playing the Divinity II: Ego Draconis, you will notice that the title is always providing you something to do. It was refreshing to see that there wasn’t bland character interaction.  A lot of humor is injected in this game with your character and NPCs dialogue.  While on your main quest, you have the ability to take on many side quests to increase your character’s inventory and level up. One of the perks that will aid you in finding your way Rivellon is the ability to read the minds of characters you encounter. This will aid you in pulling their strings to eventually get what you want. However, don’t expect to use this power on everyone as it will cost you experience points each time you use it.

News from Larian the "super patch" for non-US versions of Divinity II won't make it this week:

Hello all,

As promised, here's the status update on the patches:

-It looks like the patches for the non-US versions won't be released today. I just got word from DTP QA that they're still working on verifying every single version that's out there with this patch. As long as that hasn't happened, they can't release it.

-A patch has also been submitted for the Xbox360 savegame bug. It now needs to go through Microsoft testing before it can be released.

Lar

In addition, Swen 'Lar' Vincke added some frank comments on our forums, explaining the difficulties in testing across 40 different versions, once the various online distributions are added.

icrontic gives us their impression of Divinity 2. It's an overall positive view of the game. Here are their final thoughts on the game:

Divinity II is a fun and unique take on the first person tactical RPG genre. Nice graphics, an interesting story, and a fluid development system make this a great example of the genre, even without the dragon gimmick.

Though the title has little replay value and ends somewhat too soon, the 30-40 hours you do get out of Divinity II will be hours you'll remember, and make it a game you'll be comparing others to for years to come. Divinity II is a must have game.

Here's a launch trailer for Divinity II and the accompanying PR:

Cary, North Carolina – January 6, 2010 – cdv Software Entertainment today unleashed the epic launch trailer for Divinity II – Ego Draconis, the action-RPG released earlier this week to North American retail outlets! In the new trailer, discover the vengeful history between warrior and dragon and prepare to seek justice for all, not only as a dragon slayer, but as a dragon! Take to the skies, perfect dozens of skills and strategies and fight against deadly creatures as you battle to protect the citizenry of the game’s fantasy world of Rivellon. Get a glimpse of your cursed destiny and divine voyage in the Divinity II – Ego Draconis launch trailer, available for download.

A tempered review of Divinity II is up at Worthplaying, with the author noting bugs and uneven balance but enjoying the general ground-based gameplay.  On the dragon form:

Flying over Rivellon as a dragon is fun ... at first. However, other titles, such as 1999's Drakan: Order of the Flame for PCs and Cavia's Drakengard series on the PS2 have done the dragon-sim thing far better than the somewhat bare-bones version delivered with Divinity II's aerial assailant. It's unique, if only because you can level up your dragon form, armor it and assign points to its own set of skills, but most of these options feel incredibly underused by what the game fails to do. This was supposed to be a big thing in the game, but it feels like something had been hastily added at the last minute.

The proof shows up as soon as you take flight, which only serves to underline the superior ground game of Divinity II. Enemies simply disappear from sight, as if everything on two legs were armed with a cloaking device that makes them invisible to air attacks. This only leaves flying monsters and giant enemy buildings as possible targets, thus reducing your dragon to acting as a giant wrecking ball and fly-swatting flamethrower.  Why have a dragon in the game at all if you can't roast enemies from the air?  This imminent threat is part and parcel of what makes a dragon so feared in the first place.

Describing the game as "engrossing" and the quests as "outstanding", GameZone has a very positive review of Divinity II.  The score is 84% and here's a snip:

Fortunately, Ego Draconis isn’t a chore to play. The world is vast and beautiful, and is absolutely teaming with activity. Take off in one direction, and you may find yourself caught in an ambush. Head off somewhere else, and a quest opportunity may appear. Each quest is fulfilling and enjoyable in its own right; some may offer rare potions as a reward, while others will let you play mind games with NPCs. Particularly appealing for the devious player is DII’s telepathy feature. Experience points can be spent in an effort to access the most private thoughts of others, often in ways that allow you to manipulate them. This feature can be extraordinarily useful, and shows the developers were not attempting to make some silly dragon-themed game, but a true RPG with intriguing mechanics for accomplishing objectives.

A v1.03 patch has finally been released for Divinity II.  Unfortunately, there's no updated details that I can see at the official site, so we'll have to presume for now that this is for all English versions as promised (Edit: looks like NA retail only).  Full notes don't seem to be available but here's the short list provided a month ago:

-New targetting system
-No more getting stuck on dynamic objects
-More hints on the map
-Weapons now hit multiple enemies if they are standing within the arc the weapon makes
-No more delays between skills and attacks i.e. the avatar reacts much faster in combat
-A bunch of fixes and other improvements

...and thanks to Blue's for this list of mirrors:  AtomicGamer, FileFront, Gamer's Hell, and WorthPlaying.

Edit:  Nope, doesn't seem to work on my Australian version.  The file is labeled "US" but we'll try to get more details.

As you might know RPGWatch is a site made by volunteers who invest their time and money into bringing you as much RPG information as possible and provide a place to discuss RPGs (and whatever else you like to discuss).

Our ads income are minimal and the operating costs for RPGWatch are not getting any less so we decided to open up a donations page where we ask you our visitors for a voluntary contribution. The link to this page can be found at the top of every page (a bit below the ads banner). On that page we give some more background information and the option to donate if you like. Alternatively you can also click this link to reach that page.

Update by Arhu: If the link at the top doesn't show up for you, try shift-reloading the site. One of the style sheets has changed.

Although the official NA launch is imminent, some of us have been waiting for a patch for other versions for quite a while.  Swen 'Lar' Vincke posts a short update on the Larian forums and - fingers crossed - we'll see the patch this week:

Believe it or not, the patch has been ready for quite some time, but there's a lot of process this thing has to go through before it can be released. Out of that process came one issue which is now fixed, so I hope you'll still see it this week. My sincere apologies.

The Larian site says this is the first US review of Divinity II, with Hardcore Gamer handing out a 4/5.  It's not a particularly deep article, so here's the summary:

The inability to roast anything on two legs from an overpowering distance away aside, Divinity 2 is a solid RPG if you are looking for a nice real-time romp though a fleshed out fantasy world. The ability to take to the skies as a dragon and mind read random passerby is certainly a big draw, but thankfully they are not the only ones to be found. The combat is solid and the gameplay is certainly strong on the lore and story aspects, letting you fight back a demon army in a believable world pretty much however you see fit.