Bittersweet. This sums up my experience with the game.
Performance is awful on the PS5, the game slows down a LOT in some of the many intense fights you have. That's not acceptable for a game in 2024, and it doesn't even have a performance mode which is just standard for most console games at this point.
Exploration in this game can be fun, and it is most of the time as you get great rewards for exploring. It would be better if you were not attacked for the same 5 or 6 weak enemies throughout the whole game at every single corner. It seems like the game is saying "yeah, explore, but not too much". Seems counter-productive to me. Also, Pawns(and other NPCs) are annoying and super dumb, getting stuck on nothing, not doing what you ask them do, really not as good as I was expecting from other reviews.
Another thing that bothers me, and this comes down to preference, is how punishing the game is. It's not that it's hard, the combat itself is actually very easy. My issue is that the game says a big "f* you" if you make a single mistake. I spent 6 or 7 hours working on my Sphynx side quest, just to have it end for a dumb mistake I made, now I can only do it again if I start a New Game and go through another 40-60h playthrough. I understand the developer wants me to play multiple times, but I just don't have the time to play a game this long multiple times just because I made a single mistake. It's really frustrating and it made me not want to come back for the game.
Now the good(there is some good stuff, believe me), the combat is insanely fun, I tried 4 or 5 vocations and they were all fun and broken on their own way. Melting the HP of giant enemies with the Thief was SUPER fun and satisfying. The characters are also very interesting, especially in the first half of the game in Vernworth. Fighting giant Dragons and other creatures is very cinematic and puts on the edge of your seat(even if the fights are all pretty easy).
I really wish I could like this game more, it has a lot of stuff I enjoy, but it just feels like it cancels itself when it puts you in a huge open world full of interesting places to explore, but also puts every obstacle imaginable to make exploration a job, and not something fun. It feels like the game wants me to waste my time when it expects me to go by foot through the same route I already explored 3 or 4 times, while fighting the same enemies I fought hundreds of times previously. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll come back to finish the post game or for a New Game Plus, it's just a frustrating experience, even though it has lots of fun stuff to do.
Performance is awful on the PS5, the game slows down a LOT in some of the many intense fights you have. That's not acceptable for a game in 2024, and it doesn't even have a performance mode which is just standard for most console games at this point.
Exploration in this game can be fun, and it is most of the time as you get great rewards for exploring. It would be better if you were not attacked for the same 5 or 6 weak enemies throughout the whole game at every single corner. It seems like the game is saying "yeah, explore, but not too much". Seems counter-productive to me. Also, Pawns(and other NPCs) are annoying and super dumb, getting stuck on nothing, not doing what you ask them do, really not as good as I was expecting from other reviews.
Another thing that bothers me, and this comes down to preference, is how punishing the game is. It's not that it's hard, the combat itself is actually very easy. My issue is that the game says a big "f* you" if you make a single mistake. I spent 6 or 7 hours working on my Sphynx side quest, just to have it end for a dumb mistake I made, now I can only do it again if I start a New Game and go through another 40-60h playthrough. I understand the developer wants me to play multiple times, but I just don't have the time to play a game this long multiple times just because I made a single mistake. It's really frustrating and it made me not want to come back for the game.
Now the good
I really wish I could like this game more, it has a lot of stuff I enjoy, but it just feels like it cancels itself when it puts you in a huge open world full of interesting places to explore, but also puts every obstacle imaginable to make exploration a job, and not something fun. It feels like the game wants me to waste my time when it expects me to go by foot through the same route I already explored 3 or 4 times, while fighting the same enemies I fought hundreds of times previously. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll come back to finish the post game or for a New Game Plus, it's just a frustrating experience, even though it has lots of fun stuff to do.