Recent reviews by FlawlessTheory

I wish I could make a neutral review, but oh well.

So, I'm currently 54 hours in and I struggle to decide whether to recommend this game or not. Divinity 2 is good in general, but it also has some obvious and even ridiculous flaws that killed my will to complete the final bossfight. This review will contain spoilers that I'll hide, so click the black pieces at your own risk.

Source points are used with regular action points for some super-duper sick moves. The catch is that you probably won't use these moves because Source points don't replenish by their own: you need to do this manually, and it's a huge pain in you-know-what. Early in the game you don't have any means of replenishment except for Source fountains and occasional pools that will grant only 1 Source point, then you acquire skill that allows to drain it from... let's say "different things". Ain't helpful still, list of things to drain Source from is really small.
My point is that you probably won't be spending them on combat skills (and it backfires really hard in final boss fight, but I will get to that) or anything, really, except for some puzzles and quests. There will always be temptation to use them, however, and the reason behind this is...

For those out of the loop, Divinity's combat system is based around different elements and status effect: for exmaple, if your character steps into water, it will be vulnerable to water or electric (air) attacks, you can turn water into ice, and so on. It's pretty simple and works well until you encounter cursed enemies - and then things go from 0 to 100 real damn quick.

The worst type of cursed element is cursed fire: it can't be put out by conventional means and if someone with cursed blood bleeds even a little bit while staying in said fire, the fire will stay for longer. You'll face cursed enemies on a regular basis, and in many fights half or even more of the arena will be on cursed fire. This just ain't fun to deal with, really.
Theoretically, you can turn elements to your favor by blessing them that will grant you healing or other buffs. Blessing requires 1 Source point (out of 3 possible) and turns cursed fire into regular one, but I'd say that this is utterly useless: one hit on cursed enemy and blessed fire turns into regular fire, one more hit - fire's cursed.

Long story short, I find blessing useless and think that facetanking any cursed effect is much easier than bothering with blessing stuff.

It's insufferable and makes zero sense in regards to balance.
Enemies have cursed blood and can cast cursed fire. They have vast amounts of both physical and magic armour. They stack debuffs on you like there's no tomorrow, teleport all across the map and are not ashamed of using powerful spells with seemingly no cooldown.
Wiki says that you can avoid summoning of three particularly strong enemies by devouring their souls in respective fights with them - which I did, unknowingly, but they get summoned anyway.

Did I mention that EVERYTHING'S COVERED IN CURSED FIRE AND CONSTANTLY EXPLODES?

People say that this fight is balanced around Source-based skills since they cost from little to no Source points in this particular case, but how I was supposed to know that? Source-based skills were utterly useless during my whole playthrough, so I didn't bother to learn them. I have no idea how to get through it with my current skillset, but at the same time don't want to change it because it's dumb.

ATTENTION: you can romance you teammates. The way it's done seems bizzare to me, though, 'cause there were exactly zero hints about it one moment, and - BAM! - in the next moment my character is having a good time in bed. And, yes, the dialog - one which I cannot call modest or lacking in details - in this scene is fully voiced. This was... awkward, to say the least.
I never asked for this

If you care about your relations with companions - too bad, your actions don't really have an impact, even if you romance one of them: they'll leave you anyway. In-game interactions are way cooler though.
Nevertheless, LOHSE'S SONG (Sing For Me) IS INCREDIBLY COOL AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND HELPING HER OUT

If you are ready to deal with combat system going south and roleplaying part being not really good at its job, then I'd recommend you playing this game. I'm still not sure about attempting final bossfight once again, though

Разговор между мной и моей девушкой:
- Первые минут двадцать ты вообще не будешь понимать, что происходит.
- Я прошёл Bastion и Transistor, о чём ты.
- А, ну да.

Первое, о чём хочу предупредить: Pyre - это игра не для тех, кто ждал что-то вроде предыдущих двух. Из славных традиций Supergiant Games тут осталось всё, кроме геймплея. Да, магический футбол, да, много чтения и мало магического футбола, но я не знаю, как можно остаться равнодушным и даже неудовлетворённым после победы в Обряде с 5 единицами твоего костра или же обсуждения усов Руки.
Pyre - удачный эксперимент с формой и наполнением. Рассказчика нет - вам придётся читать. Нет "дефицита" персонажей - теперь лишь в твоей команде будет восемь человек, а ведь каждый из других триумвиратов ведёт существо со своей историей, со своим характером. И ещё раз, вам придётся читать: читать диалоги, читать монологи и собственные размышления, читать Книгу Обряда, открывающуюся час по чайной ложке, читать описания предметов, чтобы понять детали, понять свою команду и мир - это, кстати, роднит Pyre с её предшественниками.
Pyre - скорее визуальная новелла, чем что-то другое. В какой-то мере я понимаю людей, возмущённо кричащих об отсутствии внятной ролевой системы или же признаков настоящего спортивного симулятора, но разве они смогли бы лучше погрузить игрока в мир Чистилища?
Pyre - это игра, где Чтец - это именно ты, а не персонаж со своим прошлым. Ты решаешь, кем ты был и будешь, ты решаешь, что будет с твоей командой, ты решаешь, что будет с другими триумвиратами. Невозможно передать ощущение того, что ты подвёл члена своей команды, проиграв Обряд Освобождения. Это нужно попробовать самому.
Pyre может быть скучной, поначалу трудно понять, что вообще перед глазами из-за кислотной палитры, но со временем ты втягиваешься. Точно так же, как и в других творениях Supergiant Games.
Хотел бы восхвалить Даррена Корба, но нужды в этом нет, полагаю :D

P. S. Кто-нибудь может рассказать историю Джоди? Я освободил её до того, как она рассказала.

Запомните самое главное: это не взрыв, это незапланированный и крайне быстрый демонтаж.