Beyond Divinity Preview

PlayXcess has put together a preview of Beyond Divinity, the next installment in Larian Studios' Divinity universe. Check it out:
Keeping true to the RPG element of the game, Beyond Divinity will have a wide and comprehensive skill index; certainly moreso than Divine Divinity. In the original game, there were no substantial reservations governed by your choice of character (you could opt for a warrior, '˜survivor' (thief) or mage). If you wanted to send your effete mage into battle against a horde of orcs armed only with a dagger and a loincloth, you could do so. All the health potions quaffed since the conception of Dungeons and Dragons would do little to aid you. Beyond Divinity redresses the balance with a much more structured and tiered skill system that allows you to improve proficiencies in skills such as magic use and weaponcraft. For example; if you decide to improve your melee abilities; you can progress to single or dual-handed weapons, and from there to specific attack styles such as crushing, slashing and piercing. It gets even more focused as, in each of these substrata; you can improve factors such as accuracy, damage, criticals and the like. You can, if you wish, have a melee character specialising in purely crushing attacks or a magic user honed in the fiery arts of destruction. You have the freedom of progression as found in such seminal RPGs as the recent Morrowind.