History VideoGame / DivinityOriginalSinII

* InterserviceRivalry: The branches of the Divine Order are not on great terms with one another, to put it mildly. The Paladins view the Magisters as upstarts whose actions bring shame to the late Lucian's name and are actively investigating what is happening on [[TheAlcatraz Fort Joy]]. The Magisters, for their part, view the Paladins as weaklings who are unwilling and unable to do what is necessary to fight the Voidwoken. Then there are the Seekers, who are hunted by the Magisters for their refusal to acknowledge Alexandar as the only legitimate Godwoken, who seek to guide the other Godwoken into potentially succeeding Lucian.

%%

** Even the [[spoiler: FinalBoss is one - unless you side with Lucian, it becomes a three-way battle between the Magisters and Lucian, you, and Braccus Rex/The Black Ring. Sure enough, even ''Lucian'' and Dallis will go after Braccus Rex if he's alive.]]

* MindOverMatter: Telekinesis is a civil skill you can invest in, allowing you to move objects of any weight a certain distance, regardless of their weight.

* BonusBoss: Lots. For example, there are five Master Sourcerers in Act 2, but the Godwoken strictly needs to deal with two of them; there's also an AnimalisticAbomination in Cloisterwood, some demons buried beneath Bloodmoon Island, and a particularly nasty witch on a crucifix looking to KILL YOUR SHINING LIGHTS up the coast. In Act 3, the Godwoken can team up with the Magisters or the Black Ring...or kill both, or deal with various other obstacles if they choose to pray at each altar. Act 4 has the Toymaker and The Doctor.

** It is also dealt with quite brilliantly with the Doctor. Unless you have Lohse in your party and do her and Malady's sidequest to weaken him, the Doctor is easily the most powerful boss in the entire game. If you ''do'' have Lohse in your party when you fight him, he additionally automatically wins the fight if you don't kill him in three rounds or so by [[spoiler:possessing her]]. With this, the game (and Malady) outright tell you that killing the Doctor without weakening him first is impossible -- but this is still a video game, and the Doctor has stats, so ''of course'' there are ways to do just that with proper MinMaxing and SaveScumming. And yet, what Malady tells you is still true: there is no ''narrative'' reason for the Doctor to lose if you don't weaken him, and the primary way to achieve this is by [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory abusing gameplay mechanics with complete disregard to the story]]. In other words, if you are playing for the narrative, you'll have to do the weakening sidequest, but if you're in it for the TurnBasedCombat, you have an awesome BonusBoss to test your mettle against.

* FantasticNuke: Deathfog is a DeadlyGas that kills any and all living things unfortunate enough to enter it. In small amounts, it can wipe out a battlefield; in large amounts, it can slaughter an entire city (or even a whole region), and keep the area from ever being settled again. Its very existence is shown to be a game changer in the political landscape, with many nations scrambling to counteract it in some way. [[spoiler:Of note is how Justinia attempts to launch a preemptive attack on Arx out of sheer paranoia that the Divine Order will unleash deathfog on her kingdom just like it had on the elves.']]

** Even the [[spoiler: FinalBoss is one - unles you side with Lucian, it becomes a three-way battle between the Magisters and Lucian, you, and Braccus Rex/The Black Ring. Sure enough, even ''Lucian'' and Dallis will go after Braccus Rex if he's alive.]]

** The Elves are a bit more all over the place. They have hints of Gaelic culture in their druidic lifestyle, and their status as refugees from lands conquered by a larger imperial power gives them some Native American parallels (The casting effect for Flesh Sacrifice, the Elven racial ability, resembles a Dreamcatcher pattern). Elven-style axes are Aztec style obsidian-studded clubs. The way that their culture treats cannibalism as an integral part of their code of honor gives them a slight Maori feel.

* FantasticNuke: Death Fog is a deadly superweapon made to kill people on a grand scale, and whose very existence is shown to be a game changer in the political landscape, with many nations scrambling to counteract it in some way. [[spoiler:Of note is how Justinia attempts to launch a preemptive attack on Arx out of sheer paranoia that the Divine Order will unleash Death Fog on her kingdom just like it had on the elves.']]

* FantasticRacism:
** Quite a few (but by no means all) humans have a lot of dislike for, and fear of, elves, due to the fact that they eat their dead, making them worry that the elves will eat them too. Interestingly, though, [[ElvesVsDwarves dwarves don't have any particular grudge against elves]] or vice versa.
** Racism against lizards is also particularly pronounced from humans, partly due to the Ancient Empire being known slavers and their infamously stuck up attitudes. In particular, you can count the number of Magister lizards that make it to the end of the game on one hand.

** Beast will not appreciate the player's choice to [[spoiler:kill Lohar in Driftwood]]. Like Ifan, he will also attack you if you [[release Deathfog in Arx]].

A few decades have gone by since ''VideoGame/DivineDivinity'', and [[PlayerCharacter Lucian the Divine]] has passed away after winning the [[GreatOffScreenWar Great War]] against the [[{{Cult}} Black Ring]]. His death has weakened the Seven Gods, however, who [[GodsHandsAreTied watch idly]] as monsters from the Void now threaten to overrun Rivellon. These "Voidwoken" are drawn to manifestations of the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Source]], so Bishop Alexander, Lucian's son and the new leader of his [[TheOrder Divine Order]], has decreed that all Sourcerers be corralled on a [[PenalColony remote island]] of [[SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom Fort Joy]]. You play as one of the Fort Joy captives and have to band up with the others to escape from the island before the Divine Magisters subject you all to a FateWorseThanDeath. From there on, you uncover the mysteries of the Voidwoken, divinity, and the Source, in order to stop the Void from swallowing the whole world.

A tactics-based follow-up game, ''Videogame/DivinityFallenHeroes'', was delayed indefinitely and eventually cancelled. In 2020, a prequel graphic novel titled ''Divinity: Godwoken'' was announced, delving into the backstories of the 6 protagonists in greater detail.

* AbsurdlyShortLevel: The game is technically divided into seven chapters, but in reality all the content is divided up into four separate acts. Chapter 1 is a short tutorial set aboard the Merryweather. Chapter 3 is set on the Lady Vengeance and has only one mandatory fight. Chapter 7 is devoted entirely to the FinalBoss.

* ChunkySalsaRule: Averted. Your character can explode, be raised from the dead, and explode again, but your party members can still revive them no problem. [[spoiler: Hilariously, this is also Averted in-universe: Alexandar always survives your first fight and is merely comatose on the Lady Vengeance, no matter how he died. Yes, even after [[LiterallyShatteredLives being Frozen and then shattered.]]]]

** [[spoiler: Note that most of the people on board the Lady Vengeance are killed by Meteor Storm, and by someone who sounds very similar to Braccus Rex. In Act 4, it's revealed that Dallis brought Braccus Rex back from the dead]].

* IncapableOfDisobeying: The Ancient Empire of the LizardFolk mark their slaves with [[SlaveBrand magical scars]] that let them be controlled through songs. Normally these only force the slave to obey the singer, as seen with the LivingShip the Lady Vengeance, but they can also be amplified to effectively cause DeathOfPersonality.

* MauveShirt: [[spoiler: Everyone who is a PlayerCharacter but wasn't part of the main party after Dallis attacks the Lady Vengeance shall be dead by the time Dallis' rampage ends.]]

* MeleeATrois: The battle with [[spoiler:Alexander]] near the end of the first act, becomes this when a third party ([[spoiler:A voidwoken drillworm]]) joins in. Though the other side's forces will prioritize it, they will not hesitate to take potshots at you as well, especially if it's outside of their range.

** Even the [[spoiler: FinalBoss is one - it's a three way battle between the Magisters&Lucian, you, and Braccus Rex&The Black Ring. Sure enough, even ''Lucian'' and Dallis will go after Braccus Rex if he's alive.]]

** If Sebille is a companion to a player who does all her side quests, she will teach the player a countersong to bring her back in case the Master tries to use it against her.
** The Lady Vengeance is enthralled the same way, including a matching scar. In order to keep the LivingShip under control, Dallis used an obscure hymn written in the old Lizard tongue to control it, then locked the hymnal in her quarters.

* PuzzleBoss: The penultimate battle in [[spoiler: Lucian's tomb]] is against a small squad of automaton toys in a place appropriately named the "Death Room". The toys don't have a ton of health but they will respawn after being killed and also spend most of their time running around the room activating traps which can be as annoying as teleporting you across the room or as deadly as spawning [[OneHitKO deathfog]]. The only way to win is to either defeat all the toys permanently by using Source Vampirism after removing their magic armor or by unlocking the door out of the room by pulling oddly named switches so that they spell POWER. This is only made a thousand times worse if you have reached this point without reading hints from the Toymaker on [[GuideDangIt how to get past this part.]]

* ResurrectTheWreck: The epilogue [[spoiler:takes place back on the Lady Vengeance, which is destroyed at the beginning of Act IV. It's {{Hand Wave}}d as Malady restoring her with magic as a personal favour.]]

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:You can incinerate Alexandar's body as much as you want in the fight at the end of Act I, he'll be back (unconscious) but none for the wear in the Lady Vengeance in Act II, where you can kill him ''again'' (although the Quest Log states you left him comatose), and then see him once again in Act III healthy and with several extra levels. His death is final at this point, however.]]

* WalkDontSwim: Fane is unconcerned to be on a sinking ship because, as an undead, he can simply walk the rest of the way, and later says he's mainly aboard the Lady Vengeance because sailing is so much faster. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation In gameplay]], deep water is as impassible to him as to anyone else.

** Ifan makes it unmistakably clear that he will not tolerate [[spoiler:the use of Deathfog for any reason. Crossing the Moral Event Horizon in Arx]] will enrage him to the point that he immediately turns and attacks you.
** Beast will not appreciate the player's choice to [[spoiler:kill Lohar in Driftwood]].

* WhyAmITicking: There is a spell that turns its target into a walking, talking bomb, most notably used by the cloaked figure in the battle after you steal the Lady Vengeance. You don't die when you explode, just release a bunch of fire in the area around you. Cue sudden ActionBomb running into a group of foes.

The game would get a follow-up with ''Videogame/DivinityFallenHeroes'', which stars the six Origin characters in a more tactics-focused game. In 2020, a prequel graphic novel titled ''Divinity: Godwoken'' was announced, delving into the backstories of the 6 protagonists in greater detail.

!!The game provides examples of:

** In general, averted. In most fights, even if you kill the leader, the rest will continue to fight. Some however die with the leader but that is due to GameplayAndStoryIntegration. Downplayed in gameplay terms proper, as said leaders often have "Leadership" stats that boost the stats of their teammates. Killing them removes this buff, making those minions slightly easier to handle.

** [[spoiler: If you focus exclusively on Braccus Rex in the final boss, all of his flunkies die with him.]]

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: When the final phase of the FinalBoss begins, [[spoiler:Braccus Rex breaks free of Dallis's control. Sure enough, the Magisters, Dallis, and Lucian, if they are alive, will actually go after him - sometimes they will even ''prioritise'' him!]]
** In character customization, Beast isn't allowed to be clean-shaven because of the multiple in-game references to his beard. {{Subverted}} when the first Gift Bag update added a beardless mustache option for male Dwarves, but Beast's thick facial hair is still mentioned even if you give it to him.
** When [[spoiler: Justinia]] has their HeelRealization, they will burst down a door in a rage. If you highlight them, you can see they have the enraged status.
** On the few occasions where the player can encounter [[spoiler: Dallis]], if Deathfog somehow is deployed, [[spoiler: They will survive - because Dallis is undead and is thus immune to Deathfog]].

* HumansAreDiplomats: Zigzagged in gameplay; humans get a bonus to their Bartering Skill, but ''Lizards'' get a bonus to Persuasion--meaning humans are better merchants, but Lizards are the better diplomats.