I'm about 20 hours in as of writing this.
There is a lot of great things about this game. I've bounced out of every soulsbourne and imitation game I've tried pretty early, but this one has managed to hook me in. The open world aspect does wonders. The way the game gives you just enough to figure out what to do next is super satisfying. And the options you are given to choose the extent of challenge you want to take on is well done. I agree with the popular opinion that there is a joy of discovery and accomplishment in this game that is unique and praiseworthy.
That being said, it is not a perfect game. The poor performance and stuttering shouldn't be acceptable from a $60 game, especially one that is by no means trying to be on the cutting edge graphically. And it is frustrating that the opinions on this game seem to be all or nothing. It seems that any time someone brings up a legitimate criticism about the poor UX design is brought up, they are dismissed as wanting their hand held in a Ubisoft game.
In my opinion, things like not being able to pause when you are not in a cooperative game is bad design. It is something that makes the act of playing the game more inconvenient without being a challenge of skill or strategy. I would understand not making an equipment or inventory screen pause the game, but there should be another way to pause in a single-player game. There have been a few periods of about 30 minutes where I've chosen not to play the game when I've otherwise would have because I was waiting on a delivery or something like that.
Another legitimate UX flaw are the status effects. I couldn't find any in-game explanation for the icons that appear under my HP, FP, and Stamina bars. When I went out-of-game to find explanations, the wiki that was the top Google result has "???" by a fair amount of the status icons.
While those are some serious design flaws, there are also a number of minor annoyances like not being able to exit the game without first going through the title cards and dismissing an information pop up to get back to the title menu.
I have dwelled more on the flaws, but it is only because they're made so much more frustrating from a game that is otherwise a masterpiece.
There is a lot of great things about this game. I've bounced out of every soulsbourne and imitation game I've tried pretty early, but this one has managed to hook me in. The open world aspect does wonders. The way the game gives you just enough to figure out what to do next is super satisfying. And the options you are given to choose the extent of challenge you want to take on is well done. I agree with the popular opinion that there is a joy of discovery and accomplishment in this game that is unique and praiseworthy.
That being said, it is not a perfect game. The poor performance and stuttering shouldn't be acceptable from a $60 game, especially one that is by no means trying to be on the cutting edge graphically. And it is frustrating that the opinions on this game seem to be all or nothing. It seems that any time someone brings up a legitimate criticism about the poor UX design is brought up, they are dismissed as wanting their hand held in a Ubisoft game.
In my opinion, things like not being able to pause when you are not in a cooperative game is bad design. It is something that makes the act of playing the game more inconvenient without being a challenge of skill or strategy. I would understand not making an equipment or inventory screen pause the game, but there should be another way to pause in a single-player game. There have been a few periods of about 30 minutes where I've chosen not to play the game when I've otherwise would have because I was waiting on a delivery or something like that.
Another legitimate UX flaw are the status effects. I couldn't find any in-game explanation for the icons that appear under my HP, FP, and Stamina bars. When I went out-of-game to find explanations, the wiki that was the top Google result has "???" by a fair amount of the status icons.
While those are some serious design flaws, there are also a number of minor annoyances like not being able to exit the game without first going through the title cards and dismissing an information pop up to get back to the title menu.
I have dwelled more on the flaws, but it is only because they're made so much more frustrating from a game that is otherwise a masterpiece.