Recent reviews by Rhys

Removed the account linking update.

Time to dive again.

After playing and finishing the 2nd act, the goblin one, I can't suggest the game to anyone at this price tag right now. The game is fun with friends if your group is just looking to find a janky game to mess around and laugh at all the bugs this game has.
Balance is iffy, at one instance, we're just cruising along the level having an easy time, then when we jumped at our recommended level with a 100 level difference below us these mobs are 3 shotting the dwarf tank. Also the dwarf tank is a better healer than the archer that is supposed to be a support due to having an unlockable move that fully heals anyone that has no cooldown, only a stamina penalty. Go figure.
Bugs. Lots of it. Some of it game breaking. You can get stuck on a dodge when there's no enemy besides you. The archer can bug out on a lock on making you unable to turn your camera until she finds a new enemy to lock on to. The dwarf can be stuck on a recovering attack animation and CAN'T PICK UP ITEMS until he fully dies. At one point my friend got his character reset to level 1 with a combat ability of 5 and the only working solution was to reset the game and join back again. You'll get frustrated at some of them or laugh at the absurdity of some of them.
Servers. We're playing in SEA and our ping is always in the 200's. What's with that? Our internet is good enough as it is that we can play any multiplayer game no problem on the 50 or 70 range.
Anyways if you have 4 friends to play with try it out first on the Xbox game pass if I recall it's only a dollar now. This is an early access game at best and I'm disappointed by it but we're having fun messing around with the bugs and we're planning to continue.

Edit: We finished the game. Above review still stands. The bug where the dwarf can't pick items is so prominent in our continuation that it was just annoying and not fun anymore. Bosses are just "stunlock this man to oblivion" levels. If they can't be stun locked and has a big hitbox i.e. Kelvin, just bring the archer and she'll do the work. Icewind as a boss is bad, the mechanic involved firing 4 ballistas at Icewind to kill her, which is just padding to make the boss longer. Remove all the ballistas and she still falls like any other boss. Overall a really meh experience. The only good things I could say about this is that the overall design of the maps are gorgeous, some of the puzzles are interesting, and the combos are nice. It's still not worth the price.

Sentinel+Paladin makes this game a breeze

Otherwise it's a great game. The narration plus character building your character will go through makes you endeared to them. Great RPG to mess with.

Where do I start?
Haven't played any Divinity games. This is my first Divinity game and I see all the hype and positive reviews that this game has and I said ♥♥♥♥ it, let's buy it. I'm no stranger to turn based RPG's, played XCOM 2, The Shadowrun series, and some Dragon Quest games so I started this off thinking this'll be a breeze. Boy was I wrong.

Story
For a guy who has no knowledge of Divinity lore, the game explains it to me very well. I understood in the first act of the game what the gist is by reading every single book and interacting with every NPC available. Gets more detailed as you go on and that's a treat, I'm a sucker for lore. You won't get the whole story of all the previous games but it's summarized neatly that you won't have to play the other games to understand what the hell is going on here. Be warned, lots of reading.
Characters
Love them. Every Origin companion has a neat story behind them and you'll understand where they're coming from once you finish their story quests. Your choice of companions is a factor on how some encounters will go. They'll give out pieces of lore as well. Only nitpick I have is that they don't interact with each other, only with you, so if you're used to Mass Effect or Dragon Age companion banter you won't get it here.
Gameplay
One thing this game has taught me is that if you want to survive the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ being thrown at you like enemies spawning behind you and getting a free hit is that you have to throw ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ at them as well. Exploit everything. This game won't hold your hand. You're maybe in the starting area but you'll bash your head in a wall if you don't start learning how to be creative. The game begs you to exploit every single thing it has to offer so don't be ashamed to do it. There's more than one way to get out of every encounter here so don't be afraid to experiment as well.
Bugs
Few and far between. Game breaking bug I ever got was that I can't click anything to get out of a menu and had to reset my game. Mostly inconveniences.

My overall experience with this game is that I hated at first because I can't wrap my head around what to do but once I got around it I loved every single bit of it. It deserves every praise it has.

In WH40K: Space Marine you play as Captain Titus of the Ultrasmurfs teamed up with your bro Sidonus and the personification of Matt Ward as you go into a forge world under siege by the orks and your mission is to secure the assets of the Imperium and purge xenos. Story wise it's meh. You'll see the twists coming from a mile.

Gameplay wise it's the best ork purging simulator you'll ever have. Combat is fluid and satisfying. Some Orks explode when hit by a bolter. The sounds of all the weapons are top notch. Visuals are middling (some low res textures here and there) but it's a 2011 game so I'll give it a pass. After the campaign you can head down to the multiplayer and play some Exterminatus and have some good ole xenos purge with your fellow Astartes.

Fun game. 7/10

As a player who isn't that great on the Souls genre this was fun for me. It's more forgiving than the Souls series, the only thing it shares with it is a stamina bar, dodge roll mechanics, the estus/dragon shard healing, bonfire/shard spawn every enemy check points, boss fog walls and the equipment upgrade system. Every piece of loot, from the lowly pistol up to the Repulsor, can be used to high degree of success as long as you have the build for it. Also you can pet the desert dog near Wud. PET IT.

A few gripes:
The game is short. You can finish the campaign on 8 to 10 hours of playing. Replay value is you rerolling the campaign or going on adventure runs to have a chance for a dungeon or encounter to spawn randomly. Also survival mode.
Boss fights are just how you can manage the mobs they throw at you while dealing consistent damage to take them down. No memorable 1v1s here (except for 1 fight). Most bosses are just upgraded elite versions of themselves.
Co op progression isn't shared. Only the host progresses, not the partners.

Overall it's a fun game and with the next expansion coming on the 20th I'm excited to pick this up again. It's also free on the Epic Store so give it a shot if you can. 8/10.

You know what they always say
If that dead dude isn't moving by kinesis you're free to shoot him in his arms and knees

Not for everyone. This game ♥♥♥♥♥ you up with every chance it gets. Don't you even dare go unprepared in any dungeon run or you're gonna be saying good bye to your beloved party members to a 0 heal bleed proc. RNG isn't that bad as long as your preparation is good enough. 8/10 occultist bled Dismas to death.

Eh it's alright

If you're looking to be beat up by a steroid infused hedgehog/demon hybrid with regrowing spikes, bled to death by some clifford the big red dog wanna be, burnt to a crisp by a dinosaur with butterfly wings, and experience a bombing run by a B52 then welcome to Astera.