Co-op Spotlight #15 - Divinity: Original Sin

By Logan Hosoda

Technical Details

Divinity: Original Sin is a co-op turn-based strategy RPG that was originally released for windows in June 2014 by Larian Studios, but later got an enhanced edition in October 2015 for all current gen consoles.The enhanced edition added a multitude of new features, voice acting being one of the greater ones. The game features split screen drop in/drop out co-op across all platforms, including PC, and features two fully customizable protagonists. For PC, you can even adjust the controller ui in the options to represent PS4 and Xbox One controllers, depending upon which you’re using, or even stick with the good old mouse and keyboard if that’s your preference. It allows for a maximum of two-players, and even encourages the use of two-players in the game.

Story

The story of Divinity is centered around the concept of “Source”. Source is basically the magical essence that creatures utilize in order to cast spells, or do various magical things, which is pretty much mana. In the story, source was too dangerous, and too unpredictable. An organization called the “Source Hunters” was formed to outlaw all source, and to hunt down, and eradicate all traces of sourcery. That’s where the two main protagonists come in. You have received orders to solve a murder that happened in a town called Cyseal, where a beloved town councilor was murdered, and source was suspected to be involved. You as the players, get to choose how you want to proceed.

Choices

Easily the greatest part of the game is the sheer amount of decision making that’s involved. Right off the bat, you get to choose what you want to do in the game. You can choose to go straight to the town, or start exploring, and doing whatever you want. Beyond that though, the game features incredible character interactions. Even the main protagonists can interact with each other, which honestly is an absolutely genius concept that completely solves the issue in co-op games when it comes to conflict of decisions. Instead of duking it out in real life, you’ll just talk it over in-game. If for any reason there is a disagreement, it forces the players to play a game of “rock, paper, scissors” to solve the argument. The little minigame is always fun, and creates a fair solution for each player involved.

Alignment

One of my favorite qualities that Divinity features is the lack of clear moral decisions. When I think of a modern day alignment system, I think of Mass Effect, or Dragon Age, where they very clearly indicate which decisions are good/bad, and how they will affect your overall alignment. I was never a fan of these systems, because there’s no moral grey area. If you wanted to be good or bad, it was really easy to do so. In Divinity, however, the whole concept of “good or bad” is replaced with various different qualities that your character will pick up over time, such as “obedient”, “loyal”, “heartless”, or “romantic” for example. The concept of a moral grey area is fully employed when you reach your first major quest, which is to solve the murder mystery. The entire time you’re solving the crime, you’ll flip flop constantly between which characters you may think did it or not. I personally found this whole experience to be so extraordinary, because it really showcases the fact that first impressions aren’t always accurate, those that seem trustworthy may not actually be trustworthy, and those that seem guilty may actually be the victim. You never know what you’re going to get, and you just might come to regret the decision you made, thinking that it was a good one. That is the power of grey morality.

Gameplay: 

- Combat

In Divinity: Original Sin, the combat is a modern take on turn-based strategy. This may be a point where the game will lose interest for many that are only interesting in real time combat, but if you enjoy turn-based, this game takes it to the next level. The combat is hard, really hard. Everything factors into who will win, and who will die. You have to pay attention to the environment, your surrounding, what you can utilize, and how to utilize it. If you’re super nerdy and a fan of D&D (like myself), then this will feel really familiar. If you notice someone is standing on a puddle of water, you can electrify it to stun them, or freeze it, or do whatever you want with it if you have the skills. Certain environmental effects will change the entire course of a battle. For example, you can splash oil everywhere then set it on fire, creating a smokescreen and limiting the sight of all archers and mages, while also creating a field of fire. If you’re the type that loves to think of the most devious of strategies to win fights, then look no further, Divinity not only allows you to do it, but rewards you for doing it! In fact, sometimes it’s entirely necessary if you actually want to win some fights, because enemies come packed in with massive groups!

- General Gameplay

When you’re not in combat, you basically have the freedom to do as you please. When both players are together, you can share one screen to adventure together, and when you get too far apart, the screen will split, allowing the players to travel as far apart as they please and do things on their own. One major selling point for me, from a co-op standpoint, is the fact that both players exist, and are important in the universe. I’ve mentioned my pet peeve with the Fable games before, where the second player was an invisible henchman that isn’t even acknowledged in the game, which is a common trend when it comes to co-op RPG’s. As far as gameplay elements, you have the freedom to attack whatever you please, be it doors, chests, boxes, key characters in the game, you name it! You can also pick locks, pickpocket, sneak around, steal stuff, break into people’s houses, barter, persuade, intimidate, craft everything, and do just about anything else that you can think of! There is no shortage of things to do in this game, and coming from a guy that is usually only into good combat, I quite enjoy the gameplay outside of combat.

Conclusion

Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition is well worth the praise that it has received. In my personal opinion, this game is not only amazing, but revolutionary. It takes the oldschool RPG genre, and pushes it to the next level with incredible modern day appeal, all without losing even an ounce of that vintage RPG feel. Even though I’m nowhere near being done with this game yet, I haven’t had an experience this good, and this captivating since the days I played Fable: The Lost Chapters. If you’re looking for not only an amazing RPG, but one that you can play with a friend, then you’re definitely going to want to check this game out! It’s a top-notch experience guaranteed!

Co-op Spotlight #13 - Castle Crashers

- Logan Hosoda

Castle Crashers is a modern take on the “beat em’ up” genre with added RPG elements, where you play as a set of knights that must rescue the 4 princesses from the evil dark wizard. The game features 4-player local and online co-op, a large variety of characters (most unlockable), various weapons, fighting styles, a leveling system with stats, etc. Castle Crashers was developed by The Behemoth, and originally released of the Xbox 360 in 2008, later to be released for Playstation platforms in 2010, and also released for Steam in 2012.

Perhaps the best part of the game is the amazing combat that it features. The gameplay is very fluid, every action feels smooth, and enjoyable. While yes, it is a beat em’ up, and we all know beat em’ ups get redundant, I think that Castle Crashers has enough varied gameplay to really keep the players interested, especially if you manage to gather 4 people! You can choose between using a melee weapon, your bow, magic, or all three! The best part is that each character has different spells, which makes it fun to unlock them all, and test them all out, which in my opinion creates a very re-playable game. As you level up, you’ll gain new magic abilities if you choose to invest in magic, and you’ll find new weapons as you explore the world. But unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot that’s very special about the bow.

The way you progress in Castle Crashers is similar to a Mario game, where you get to select the level from an overworld view, and then you jump in and work on completing it so that you can unlock the next levels, and move forward from there. It progresses in a linear pattern for the most part, but there’s a couple of points in the game where you can choose between multiple paths. This system is nice, because it allows you to go back and farm money, level up, or search previous levels for secrets, such as pets (cool little creatures that give you a passive bonus), or sweet weapons that can be dropped, or possibly hidden. There’s a plethora of hidden stuff to be found in the game, so if something looks suspicious, definitely check it out!

One of the best parts about Castle Crashers is the amount of humor that they packed into one game. While there really isn’t any dialogue (at least I don’t remember any), there’s loads of hilarious shenanigans happening throughout the game. You need to play the game to understand, but I remember laughing almost all the way through during my first couple of playthroughs. So long as you have childish humor and a love for unnecessary violence and fart jokes (like me), then you’ll enjoy it guaranteed!

The game is overall pretty short, and can be completed casually in around 7-10 hours or so. If for any reason the game isn’t difficult enough for you, then unlock the hard mode, and try that bad boy out, because it will make you cry. To this day, I still have yet to complete that horrendous mode, because it’s too flipping hard. Even with max level, the best weapon, best pet, etc. I still can’t beat it. It makes Dark Souls look like a lovely frolic through the flowers to put things into perspective. So give it a whirl if you’re so daring!

Castle Crashers is an incredible game, and one of the earlier indie games that really sparked the rise of indie developers back in the day. If you haven’t played it yet, or if you’re looking for an action-packed game to play with some buddies, then Castle Crashers is the perfect choice. So go on out there, and save your princesses, and then fight your friends to the death for her kiss!

Co-op Spotlight #3 - Portal 2

By Logan Hosoda

If you haven’t ever played Portal 2 before, then you are seriously missing out. It was developed by Valve, and released for the Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and OS X back in April 2011, and it is still to this day an incredible experience, both single player and co-op. It is a heavily puzzle focused game that features only one piece of equipment: the portal gun. With the gun, you can shoot two different colors of portals, and once both are active, they will connect and teleport you when you walk through them. It’s a confusing concept made even more confusing during co-op play, but it makes for a very fun experience!

The game features a single player campaign, and a co-op campaign, both with their own exclusive puzzles and story. While the single player story is certainly more developed (I mean, it is a continuation of the first game), the co-op story is still fun, and filled with the same great comedic writing. In the co-op mode, you play as two different robots, named Atlas, and P-Body, both equipped with fully functioning portal guns. This really makes the game interesting, because now you have twice the portals to deal with. While this may seem to make the game easier on the outside, in reality it enhances the difficulty ten-fold.

What you absolutely need in order to complete this game is serious cooperation. It starts off pretty easy in the beginning, where you just need to place your portals in the correct spots to complete the test, but the game gets progressively harder, and will twist your brain to the point of spontaneous combustion! One thing that I really love is the natural need for coop. The second player isn’t just a helping hand in the situation, he/she is actually needed every step of the way, and there isn’t any way around it.

In my opinion, the best quality of this game is how blatantly simple it is, yet how amazingly complex it can become at the same time. It’s incredibly easy to pick up and play, you’ll learn the controls in minutes, and you can even beat the whole game in a sitting or two. What really shines is how complex the game becomes as you play. Between the physics based puzzles, portals leading in every which direction, and many more elements, the game picks up incredibly fast. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself staring at a dumb wall, wondering how in the world you could possibly solve what seems unsolvable, it’s downright glorious!

One major feature that I really loved about Portal 2, contrary to many modern day games, is the use of split screen co-op! Most modern games with co-op features focus on co-op over a LAN connection, or the internet, and don’t feature split screen. Even the copy that I own on Steam for PC features split screen as well, which is very rare, while still including online play. The versatility is key here, and sets this game above many others as far as variety of options is concerned.

In conclusion, Portal 2, while not quite a “hidden” gem, is certainly a gem nonetheless. Every co-op enthusiast out there should play it at least once. In my opinion, it is the pinnacle of co-op gaming, and it set a very high standard for co-op games to come. Your brain will certainly regret playing it, and you may end up losing a friendship over it, but you’ll come to find that in the end, it was definitely worth it!