Larian Studios fired over a press release this morning announcing the launch of an official website for their Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance expansion pack. Along with the usual background information, you’ll find a batch of screenshots showcasing the capabilities of the new engine. Read on:
The Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance website goes live!
Larian Studios Press Release
For Immediate Release
Gent / Belgium, June 3rd, 2010 – Larian Studios is proud to announce that the official website for Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance has gone live today at www.flamesofvengeance.com, and features new media and information about this next entry in the Divinity universe.
Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance is the stunning finale to Divinity II – Ego Draconis. Sporting a revised and upgraded engine, Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance adds 20 hours of new, gripping storyline as players lead the Dragon Knight to his final destiny and ultimate revenge.
Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance is an expansion pack for Divinity II – Ego Draconis and requires Divinity II – Ego Draconis to play. After installing Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance, players can continue their role playing adventure from their last Divinity II – Ego Draconis session, or start playing the new content immediately with a custom made, high level character.
In Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance players will explore the many mysteries that pervade the city of Aleroth, lead an epic zeppelin attack in Dragon form, and unfold the conclusions to numerous plotlines as they solve over 35 new and varied quests on a journey that will seek to halt the Black Ring from destroying Rivellon.
Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance is scheduled for a summer 2010 release on PC, with more details about the exact release date to be announced soon.
About Larian Studios: Larian Studios form the largest independent games developer from Belgium. Included in Larian Studios’ portfolio are games from the critically acclaimed and award winning Divinity universe, including Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity and Divinity II – Ego Draconis. At Larian Studios we also develop popular children communities published by various broadcasters and educational publishers throughout Europe.
Also worthy of note is a FAQ on the new website, which promises a patch that’ll bring the engine enhancements to the base game, a PC versoin prior to a console release, and additional Divinity games going forward:
What is Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance?
Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance is the next chapter in the Divinity saga and is an expansion for Divinity II – Ego Draconis. It continues and concludes the story of the Dragon Knight.
I don’t know anything about Divinity II – Ego Draconis. Where can I find more information?
Try visiting divinity2.com: it contains tons of information on Divinity II – Ego Draconis. I don’t have Divinity II – Ego Draconis, can I still play Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance? No, you need to have Divinity II – Ego Draconis to be able to play Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance.
I’ve never played a Divinity game before. Do I need to play the previous games to understand the story?
While you can start playing Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance immediately, we recommend you first play Divinity II – Ego Draconis. There’s no need to have played Divine Divinity or Beyond Divinity, though of course, it does help in understanding the deeper meaning of certain story elements.
Why is it called Flames of Vengeance?
At the end of Divinity II – Ego Draconis, the dragon knight was left in a bit of a pickle, causing quite a lot of commotion among players. In Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance, you get the opportunity to seek revenge against those that did you wrong, hence the name.
What does revised engine mean?
The engine behind Divinity II – Ego Draconis has received a significant overhaul on all fronts. The graphics and performance have been improved significantly, a host of new gameplay features have been introduced and a bunch of little annoyances have been removed. All in all, it means the game plays a lot smoother and looks a lot prettier. You can see some of the graphical improvements on this site. The best part is that most improvements will also affect Divinity II – Ego Draconis, so if you decide to start with a new character, you’re going to have a lot of extra candy.
What else changed?
Well, a lot. We had a good look at what people wrote on our forums, especially the parts they didn’t like, and started fixing this. Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance probably features the coolest piece of Dragon gameplay we’ve created so far.
Will a patch be released for Divinity II – Ego Draconis that includes these improvements, even if I don’t buy Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance?
Yes.
Can I continue playing with my character from Divinity II – Ego Draconis?
Yes. You can load any savegame you have from Divinity II – Ego Draconis and continue playing. When you reach the end of Divinity II – Ego Draconis, the story will automatically continue and your character will keep all of its stats, items and skills.
But I deleted my savegames already!
Not to worry, you can also start in the Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance areas immediately from the main menu and create a new cool custom level 35 character with the skills and stats you want. Or you can take one of the preset characters.
How big is this expansion?
It’s big. You get about 20 extra hours of gameplay. If you start playing Divinity II – Ego Draconis from scratch and then continue with Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance, you’re in for about 60 hours of RPG goodness.
What platforms is Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance coming out on?
The first release will be on PC. We’ve also got it running on Xbox360, but we’re still evaluating the distribution methods, as the content of the expansion turned out to be too large to release it via DLC, as was our original intention. We’ll keep you posted when a decision has been made about this.
How many new quests are there?
Over 35, with several of them giving you answers to “what happened to?”. For instance, you’ll get to know what happened to Derk & Dana, the two lovers from Broken Valley that caused so much misery for Carl Jackson. Or you’ll get to know what happened to Kevin, the talking pig. Or you’ll get to know what happened to Belegar. Or to Zandalor. Or to Rhode. Or to…
Where in Rivellon does Divinity II – Ego Draconis take place?
In and around Aleroth, the healer city, but also in the Astral plane, where Divinity II – Ego Draconis ended.
Divinity II – Ego Draconis was applauded for the quality of the voice acting. Can we expect the same for Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance?
Oh yes, all dialogs in the game are fully spoken and animated, and they were also written by the same writer.
Is the music again made by Kirill Pokrovski?
Yes, as a matter of fact, Kirill made so much music for Divinity II that we could probably build three more games and not run out of scores. That’s why we’ll be releasing some tracks on this site exclusively.
When will Divinity II – Flames of Vengeance by released?
At the time of this writing, the game is basically ready and everything looks set for a summer 2010 release. We’ll announce the exact release dates when we’re sure of them.
Are there going to be any other Divinity games?
Yes, but we’re not going to talk about them yet. Feel free to join in our forums however, where a lot of speculation is going on, including a bunch of suggestions. While we don’t necessarily react to everything due to a lack of time making the actual games, we do pay close attention.
