What we've been playing
Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: Original Sin, a classic from the real old days, and something strange and wonderful.
If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We’ve Been Playing, here’s our archive.
Something that has struck me, returning to Divinity: Original Sin 2, is this idea of a tipping point in a game. To me, it’s the moment you step across a difficulty threshold – let’s assume it represents a fifty-fifty chance of success or failure – and move from struggling to succeeding. By doing so, you swap uncertainty for confidence in your outcomes.
The desire to get to this point is what, I believe, fuels an RPG – what fuels many games, maybe. It’s a desire to take something weak and sloppy, like a ragtag band of starter adventurers, and make them strong and precise. To turn them into a well oiled fighting machine.
But the question I’ve been pondering recently is, ‘ I actually want that?’ Because, I now believe, it fundamentally changes the game.
I hit this tipping point in early-game Divinity: Original Sin 2 recently (I’ve been steadily chipping away at it for a few weeks now). I went from being menaced by the powerful Fort Joy Magisters, to being able to defeat them. The moment I realised I could do this, I was thrilled. I was so excited I killed them all. Suddenly, I was in charge.
