Divinity: Original Sin II

Short answer: No

If you have any specific question ask me, but no this is not a good place to start. This is lets say a good middle grounds, not the most complex or overwhelming but not the most welcoming and accessible either.

Also this is different from games like Witcher, this is CRPG, its isometric.
Witcher is ARPG.
Honestly if you are interested you can give it a try, or watch gameplay videos, maybe you will like the focus on combat and turn based gameplay, its going to be a challenge at first and there is a lot of systems working and interacting together here, unlike your average JRPG like Persona 5 which you probably love and got used to.

Despite the game being gameplay focused there is a good chunk of dialogue here so you will read a lot of words, they are well narrated though and the music is great so i didnt get bored with that, even if the story itself is generic the gameplay and rpg mechanics are are immaculate and the writing itself can be funny in a way, i think the characters are great, its just that the plot itself is generic.
I dont think it matters that much for you because if you were a dialogue/plot person you should have been to easily get into W3 as its among the most accessible and well directed games in the genre.

So i'd say give it a shot, its always on sale as the person above me said, or watch a video n youtube to see how it plays.
Here's how the game plays out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga6uJaGyrEk

It's a fucking dismal place to start if you couldn't get into Witcher 3

Hey thanks for the responses guys :)

have you considered some people simply prefer or put more weight on combat when evaluating games

Awful take, this is stellar on so many levels but I could totally see someone falling in love with DOS2 in particular for its take on the story, lore and characters in addition to it being a mechanically fantastic RPG. I think calling this a modern CRPG classic isn't only justified, but most people would agree is correct. Would I personally take this over Planescape, Disco Elysium, or even BG3? No, but I'd put it up there and this game is definitely on the mount rushmore of CRPG renaissance.

Nobody thinks its the best, i rarely see people praising it as such, but its a great rpg with excellent gameplay and combat systems. I'd comfortably put it ahead a lot of rpgs in the top 100 such as Persona 5 and 4 and Final Fantasy 7 and 9. Even JRPGs like Tactics Ogre which i liked in terms of combat doesnt come close near this one.
Though it was obvious since the day i joined that there is a bias for Japanese games here (probably because of weebs), so its kinda expected to see this harsh nitpick on these games and giving pass left and right on other games.

I don't think there's a bias for Japanese games here at all, it's just that Japan really have been pioneers for the entire artform for decades so there's a huge catalogue of very good Japanese developed games. And arguing putting one game over another is silly and a personal preference thing, but all the RPGs you mentioned are excellent, highly influential and important to the medium, and are rightfully rated as such.

Agreed.

I played through the game with mixed party (2/2) and it was versatile and didnt have any problems whatsoever.
If you are the only physical damage dealer you can
1- still find ways to deal through the magical armor with skills that contains elemental percentage damage with them.
2- Support your teammates with various other utility spells, for example in one of my playthroughs i went Physical/Summoner, i had some skill points that i wasnt sure where to spend so i decided to put into summoner, there is some pretty neat spells there and you can also summon a unit to attack with you, its stats depends on your overall level + summoner skill so it viable, and you buff it with the same skill, works well.
3- Throw bombs or use scrolls or control the battlefield.
4- In the worst case you can respec to something that can be helpful, if you are playing with friends its kinda stupid to not organize a viable build for all before starting, in this case if you want to deal physical damage you can tell one of your mage friends to invest in necromancy, its a skill that deals physical damage while also depending on intelligence stats, so that means your friend will still be able to do magical damage as well when they want, but in case the enemy has low armor and high magic, then you can use your INT stat damage to inflict heavy physical damage as well, this is a hybrid build i personally did, Geomancer/Necromancer with some points spent on warfare for the basic spells, in this build i was able to deal heavy magical and physical damage at the same time, you also still provide soft CC in slowing enemies and you can also buff allies with spells like fortify.
Another possible route for Physical builds is to go with Polymorph and use environmental manipulation skills.

And as i said earlier in case you are a ranger, you can use multiple magical arrows in situations like this or simply focus the physical targets, there is plenty of enemies on the battlefield so its very rare to come into such obstacle.


You can do all sort of builds and i would say most are viable and provide lots of fun through varied spells and ways to use them.

Now BG3 is better in every single way, so DOS2 may no longer be that attractive to people, but its still an amazing RPG with great gameplay system and combat. Its not perfect but its a very solid one and leagues above most turn based rpgs.
The armor system has some flaws but its a solid alternative to the DnD system, ofcourse the DnD system is superior, its the gold standard afterall, but this one here is a welcome innovation and a good try by Larian, even if its flawed, most people tend to exaggerate the issue.

I agree with you on the story though, the story of DOS games isnt good and never was, but its written in a hilarious way, at least for me, i liked the narrator and how the dialogue is delivered, its quality aside, however i'd say the characters are pretty good.

Anyway this game series still played an important role in the Baldur's Gate 3 success story and i have to give it credit for that.