"Divinity Original Sin" vs. "Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition": who won?
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"Enhanced Edition" is the version of the game "Divinity Original Sin", containing various improvements and additions. This enhanced and expanded version of the original game aims to provide players with an even better gaming experience."

**Taken from here.**

Debating is sometimes useful, at least because it awakens new interest in a thoroughly forgotten topic. This is exactly what my recent dialogue about the merits and demerits of the "Divinity" series led to: my opponent praised "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition", and I couldn't argue with him, as I wasn't sufficiently familiar with this game.

I should note that for a proper comparison, I completed "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition" three times, including on the "Valour" difficulty level, and twice completed "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin)": to refresh my impressions. I will also say that, in my opinion, improving something implies adding something good while retaining the good that already exists and eliminating everything bad. So let's compare how much "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition" improved compared to "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin)".

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USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS

  1. Undoubtedly (though this is by no means the most important thing in games!), the graphics have improved. The visuals in the Black Cove are particularly good.

I can't shake the feeling that these caves were handled by the best department at "Larian Studios": the map has been changed, new mimics have been added (they're not found anywhere else!),

there's a cannon on the pirate ship, automatic "cannons" with timers are present, and pirates lay ambushes. In short, they approached the redesign of the location responsibly.

  1. Loading saved games has become significantly faster.

  2. At the very beginning of the game, an additional backpack appeared, containing a helmet that provides a luck talisman bonus and shows the "skeleton" of the world: a very useful item!

  1. Headless Nick doesn't just disappear into thin air, but instead joins the heroes as an "ally" and is very helpful in tricky situations, distracting enemies.

  1. The son of the trader Nadia named Sebi in Silverglen has also become a trader, even better than his mother.

  2. Opposite the kitchen in Cyseal, there is another new trader, Selene.

  1. Rings with a bonus to pickpocketing have appeared; they were not in the previous part.

  2. It is now much easier to split groups of identical items into parts.

  3. Shovels, picks, and keys are transferred automatically from inventory to inventory.

  4. To repair items, they no longer need to be given to the squad's "blacksmith".

  5. To identify unknown items, they do not need to be given to the squad's "expert".

  6. The sarong equipment item is no longer tied to the intellect of the wearer.

  7. There is now the ability to hold a blade in each hand.

In my opinion, all these improvements are good, but none of them are outstanding.

NEUTRAL IMPROVEMENTS

  1. A new trader named Carla appeared on the southwestern beach, whose main feature is the presence of four upgradeable types of weapons: bow, sword, axe, and staff.

Parts for upgrading are found in various locations throughout the game, and closer to the end of it, gamers will finally be able to obtain the desired level twenty weapon. However... the most common lower-level weapons have better damage stats!

Moreover, the adventurer's sword and axe cannot be sharpened, combined with tenebrium, or improved with additional properties.

To put it simply, we were gifted completely useless weapons: whether they exist or not, it’s all the same.

  1. Heroes can perform a concert at the local theater for which they will not receive experience, rewards, or reputation boosts. What's the point?

  1. The enlightened amulets and ghost protection now have additional bonuses to strength and agility – a not very noticeable, almost useless improvement.

  1. Chests in the End of Time forge no longer get destroyed by weapon or magic attacks. An unpleasant surprise for newcomers, but those who have completed the game once know where to find or how to make magical lockpicks. Wouldn't it have been simpler to leave everything as it was?

  1. Just before the finale, the squad is attacked by an army of death knights – when their total destruction makes little sense: the heroes' maximum level has been reached, and new equipment items are no longer needed. Why? (If they had appeared earlier...)

  1. Having achieved the main victory, heroes return to the academy. Where the tables are full of everything necessary during the game; the opening chests are not empty, and the pockets of the inhabitants are also full. Again – I see no point.

  1. The squad of candidates for the Immaculates near the village of "Sacred Stone" no longer goes along the mined path: it has been occupied by various aggressive plants.

Now they gather in one spot, making it easier for gamers to deal with everyone at once. Was it really worth it?

  1. The path to the grave with Cassandra's skeleton in the Temple of the Dead now goes through an unremovable lava field; the same lava in Hiberheim fills the path to the chest with the Royal Guard's talisman. But the thief now has the "Winged Sandals" skill, which ignores any surface. What is the point of both?

  1. The blood vial of Leandra and her diary are now in the deepest part of the Temple of the Immaculates, where you can find some secondary items: neither hot nor cold.

  2. In the "Hunter's Wastes", a new house appeared with many items, a difficult corridor, and a pentagram, and the only representative of the Immaculates nearby has some kind of idol. We acquire the idol, activate the pentagram, and lose two traders at once. Moreover, just like the concert: no experience, no rewards, no reputation. Was it really necessary to waste effort and resources on the company for the gamer to perform a meaningless action?

Overall, strange improvements. To put it mildly.

HARMFUL "IMPROVEMENTS"

  1. The card seller in the End of Time no longer offers to buy two books for improving characteristics and skills after each level up starting from the fourth, as was the case before. (This fact alone made me stop my first playthrough of "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition" as soon as I discovered it.)

  2. Reloading a save before visiting a trader or opening a chest does not change the assortment of goods and items. (What the appearance of the first two points in "EE" cost me, I will describe shortly.)

  3. Even with the highest "Luck Talisman" indicator, it's impossible to find a "Blob of Lava" scroll for sale or in a loot pile.

Three in one playthrough! Cool, right?

  1. Archers have been stripped of the "Tactical Retreat" skill. (Teleportation? A couple of times I teleported Bayrdottir, after which she "got upset" and left the squad along with all her gear.)

  2. The "Codex of Mad Wisdom," a mysterious fabric dye, a bottle of swirling mud + a fiery heart, Joshua's spice, and a scope now appear only in single copies. (Asking whether to make the "Sword of Planets" immediately or wait for skill increases, use the scope on a crossbow or look for a better specimen of ranged weapon – gamers didn't have to consider such questions while playing "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin)".)

  1. The watchful eye in the Ghost Forest no longer calls for help but explodes, dealing monstrous damage; no experience is given for its destruction.

It used to be.

Now it is.

  1. The vigilant watchers cannot be destroyed as they once were: a small but valuable experience coupled with the ability to clear the path.

Used to be.

Yes, they can be teleported. But they still don’t get destroyed, even in lava.

  1. Upgrading leather armor, robes, and others happens strictly one at a time. (Due to the first two points, creating and upgrading becomes quite a task.)

  1. If you use the recipe book to smelt a training sword into an iron ingot – you can smelt a magical sword with bonus characteristics into it: the swords display the same neutral image.

  1. Ore can be melted over a fire (!) and even in the middle of a field, completely without fire. The same goes for forging and sharpening weapons. (Maybe this is good for some people.)

  2. The assortment of goods has severely diminished at Horton's in the "Hunter's Wastes" and Brian's in the "End of Time". (Previously, they were the main suppliers of the best equipment.)

  1. The goblin Kadrasqaz in Silverglen is no longer affected by tenebrium, but the undead trader Carla and the undead alchemist are affected by it and get sick with rot.

  2. Developing the crossbow skill increases not direct damage but critical hit chances.

Once again: what does improving a game imply? Let's take the improvement of "[King's Bounty: Warrior of the North](/games?search=King's Bounty: Воин Севера)" to "[King's Bounty](/games?search=King's Bounty): Ice and Fire" as an example. Developers didn't remove anything that was pleasant and valuable to gamers. Instead, they fixed bugs, added new maps, more than a hundred items, new units. And - most importantly! - they executed two global corrections to the game, allowing access to the Freedom Islands earlier than the battle with the first boss and letting players refuse assistance from allies at the end of the game. They indeed improved the game!

And what do we see as an example of the "improvement" of "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition"? Instead of global improvements like new maps, there appeared a multitude of neutral or insignificant changes – okay, that will do.

Essentially, "harmful improvements" are not that fatal – although I don't understand why you would want to destroy something good? - except for the first two. 16-18 characteristic enhancement books allowed players to ignore the importance of gear bonuses: with enough gold, gamers could develop the necessary characteristics for their heroes without gear. Plus, the availability of necessary items in chests and from traders is subject to adjustment by saving-loading the game.

There are no books, and units obtained from leveling are categorically insufficient for everything needed, especially when playing without companions. Should we compensate with gear? Sure, but the traders have different junk! You have to make rounds to all of them repeatedly for a changing assortment. Or even buy useless stuff in hopes of better items appearing.

Buy? And with what money? And so instead of normal world exploration, two-thirds of the time is wasted on crafting armor, weapons, and other stuff for sale, as well as running between traders.

Do you seriously think the game is improved by destroying its essential bonuses? Really? But that's not all: what about the elimination of everything bad, that is – bugs? Well, nothing! They left them in their places without a care! Here are a few examples:

By preserving the non-linearity of "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition", the developers absolutely did not think about preserving some quests. For example, when heroes return Nick's head, he expresses a desire to get even with Pontius the Pirate, who has already been eliminated at that point: perhaps the squad lost additional experience (I can’t say for sure).

While navigating through the Luculla Forest to the riverbank, the squad can very well redeem the animals led by Roy in Silverglen for sacrifice. Yet later, when a sheep is found at the Cyseal cemetery, its owner, Bertia, does not react at all to the brought corpse: after all, her flock has returned!

If at the very beginning of the playthrough you head to the Hunter's Wastes, find the hideout of Zandalor's servants, and steal the portal stone from them, later the servants refuse to talk or leave, even if the village is completely cleared of enemies. As a result, a talking chest with decent equipment remains unopened: the correct answer is only known by the servants and they provide it upon leaving.

If in the Ghost Forest you sneak right to Cassandra's lair, a conversation with Arhu will start, and the party will receive an additional quest from Bracca's sister.

If the heroes previously managed to find and burn the remains of the villainess, there will be no conversation or quest, the undead will immediately leap into battle, and the cat-wizard will disappear who knows where. Later, Arhu must be present when Icara is freed from her icy captivity, but in this case, he will not appear, and without him, Icara will not start talking!

Afterward, we will find her sitting in a chair next to Arhu at the tapestry in the End of Time, but the conversation with Icara will lead to the game "hanging". Later, before the battle with Leandra, Icara will finally emerge from nowhere – and can again provoke the game to "hang" (saving-loading helped).

If a thief steals the keys to the room and chest from Ramon, who is standing near the tavern in Silverglen, it later results in an extremely unpleasant effect. The hero's companion, who succumbed to the charms of a con artist, will be stripped of her equipment and will come under attack. But after winning, it will turn out that the chest where the heroine’s items and clothing were supposedly stored is empty! All equipment disappears without a trace…

When completing the Maraudino quest with the chains of portals in the dungeon near the village "Sacred Stone", heroes may discover a secret with the ghost of a sheep-werewolf. If for any reason they do not immediately destroy the evil ghost (experience), returning to that place will become impossible.

Well, yes, you can argue that the game must be played sequentially. And I will say that if there is a chance to move forward in the story – then the developers should have anticipated non-standard gameplay! Just like it was in "Cursed Lands": you go far ahead, find something, or defeat an enemy, and suddenly you receive a message about completing a quest: a quest you haven’t even had time to pick up yet!

Yes, in "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition" there are good moments. If only the developers hadn't removed much that was useful from the previous version, didn't overload it with useless additions, and removed storyline bugs – it would undoubtedly make it better than its predecessor.

In short, "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin)" wins the duel against "[Divinity: Original Sin](/games?search=Divinity: Original Sin) Enhanced Edition"!

Thank you for your attention! Good luck to you all!