The final boss fight in [Divinity Original Sin 2] had to be redone three times to get it to work: the buggy final boss fight in Original Sin 2 had to be redone three times, but it still won Game of the Year in 2017! Done and dusted. What an RPG! Even though it was buggy and unbalanced, it was always worth it because the freedom to play it the way you wanted was always worth it. So when I see the whole "Divinity Unleashed" overhaul mod that promises "all the community's complaints about the world's best RPG converted into one mod that solves everything," I finally realize that "Divinity OS2" was bad, but with this mod I don't think it will get better. Instead, will this mod be different enough to lure me back for another 100 hours?

Divinity Unleashed seems to be a big hit on Steam Workshop, with frequent updates since December and nearly 20,000 users and 5-star ratings. I really like the approach this mod has taken to "Original Sin 2". It doesn't try to rework the game into something completely different, but mainly tries to tone down the most outlandish elements and make many of the systems work together better. Also, unusually for a mod of this size, it is compatible with older save files and "provides logistical support for integration with your favorite class mods, skill expansions, and content packs"

.

The biggest bullet point here is the overhauled armor system, which removes OS2's mildly controversial separation of armor and health pool and instead turns armor into a uniform damage reduction. In other words, the status effects that were once blocked by armor are now gone and "balanced so that both base game and other mod statuses can be applied instantly." Other steps have been taken to speed up combat, such as reducing the number of statuses that cause turns to be lost.

Divinity Unleashed has the most detailed documentation of any mod I have ever seen. Don't worry, it's not a crazy complicated installation manual; it's just a 29-page document that explains all of the changes, and you'll also want to know that Flurry's damage multiplier has been increased from 41 to 52. Installation is as simple as signing up on Steam once you have this script extender installed.

I don't think I would recommend Divinity Unleashed to someone playing it for the first time. Because one of its big promises, to eliminate the "cheese" of OS2's "craziest exploits," could take away from a great moment. Larian wasn't afraid to let players completely destroy the game or come up with insane strategies that they never expected, and discovering even one such exploit is a really fun experience. A good reason to play the vanilla game at least once. You might also like the armor system!

On second play, however, the deep rebalancing that took two years to do is fascinating.