Can anyone identify this game?

[frogbeastegg]

A few years ago I played a demo of a PC RPG. It was quite good but I couldn't afford it at the time and I had other games to play. I expect I intended to pick it up when it was cheaper and I had more time.

All I really remember is a 2D Infinity Engine-look alike game where your character started off in a dungeon cell having been joined to a powerful being of some sort ... an elemental/undead lord/demi god/thing. There was no party; just yourself and maybe one other character. It was made by one of the smaller, less talked about studios. It may have been a sequel to something.

I thought it was Lionheart, however based on comments made about that game recently I now doubt that.

[Fragony]

Sounds like 'Nox' to me, or any other rpg

[frogbeastegg]

:looks up Nox: No, that's not it.

I know; it's not a very helpful description. The demo only covered the opening, and it was several years ago. It would help if developers had done something more individual at the start of their epic RPGs; even the great Planescape: Torment used a variation on this start.

[Ser Clegane]

Could be Divine Divinityor Beyond Divinity

[Crandaeolon]

Beyond Divinity maybe?

Edit: doh too slow

[frogbeastegg]

I think it may have been Beyond Divinity. I have Divine Divinity, which I got halfway through and liked.

:downloads demo to see ...:

[LeftEyeNine]

That's Planescape Torment. (Did I sound too sure?)

[econ21]

I am pretty sure it was Beyond Divinity.

It did not get great reviews though.

[frogbeastegg]

Nah, PT is the one where you're in a morgue with a talking skull. Fine game; I got it when it first came out. Never managed to finish it, and not for wont of trying. It always slows to a perminant unplayable crawl (I mean sub 1FPS here) when I enter UnderSigil, a crawl which then applies to every location in the game and continues once the game is saved and exited. It's done it on several PC incarnations, yet I've never heard of anyone else encountering the same issue. Gah! I would love to finish the game! I want to know how it all ends I'm reluctant to try it on my shiny new PC; I don't want to play for 30 hours to be left hanging a fourth time.


Looking on metacritic's overview page BD, like DD, has very varying reviews. Review scores aren't everything; I don't take much notice of them. Plenty of games I like have been rated at around 70%, usually because they aren't the new GTA or because they get slated for something which entirely misses the point. Shall have to see what the demo is like, and take a look at the forums and reviews on the more useful sites. The Gamespot review Ser Clegane linked to has it as good, though a bit conventional and with some interface issues.

[frogbeastegg]

Yes, Beyond Divinity was definitely the one. The demo isn't particularly edifying, yet it seems general opinion agrees that the beginning of the game is a great deal more Diablo-esque than the rest of the game. Once out from the opening areas (and after the end of the demo) it reverts to the same kind of style as Divine Divinity and becomes a worthy enough sequel. Think I may pick it up if I can find a cheap copy, as I did like Divine Divinity.

[Lehesu]

I heard it uses StarForce, though.

[frogbeastegg]

Actually, that probably had some bearing in my decision to pass it over before.

The latest patch removes the Starforce protection. Although I do wonder ... Starforce will be installed as I install the game; there's no avoiding that, it seems. Will the patch then remove it completely, or just cut the links to the game's .exe? And could Starforce work its potentially malicious magic even if I don't launch the game before patching it?

I've got a nice, shiny new PC here, not yet two months old. I don't want my DVD drive slagged, or something.

[Bijo]

A hunch tells me you could install that patch, and then just to be sure use the removal tool -- http://www.glop.org/starforce/spread.php

But don't hold me responsible for anything! :P

[hrvojej]

I don't know about this particular game/patch combo, but I do know that when I was removing Starforce from my comp, I had to clean up the registry manually, in addition to using that Starforce removal tool they themselves offer, to (hopefully) get all traces of it out of my system.

[frogbeastegg]

Yay. Looks like patch -> removal tool -> check registry would be required to be sure. If it's all executed in rapid order the cursed program shouldn't have chance to do any harm.

Heh. My local game shop had a solitary left over copy. The manual is missing and the box has a cracked corner; I beat them down to £5. Thought I may as well. It will be some time before I do anything with it; I want to complete the original game first, and before I get to that one I have some others to play.

[Lehesu]

From my understanding, Starforce boots itself up when you run the game. If you don't run the game and just patch, things should be taken care of.

How are you liking Beyond Divinity, frogbeastegg? Am considering a purchase myself.

[frogbeastegg]

I'm intending to start it tomorrow, dropping my plan to play through DD again first. I've had less time than usual for games this past month. Things are beginning to look up now, though.