So I've decided to do my first runthrough of the game for like, two or three patches. I realized that after talking about the game so much, my opinions on it didn't really feel...right. I worried that I'd built up a more negative version of the game in my head due to all the criticism I've been absorbing. So i'm just starting this thread and sharing my feelings on it all, while I'm still in the process of clearing the surface content. And overall I'm more positive about it. The issues I had had still exist for the most part, but they're not as intense and I don't feel them as much as I play.
Some initial thoughts:
- I still like the party. I've got problems with Astarion, but he's not as bad as I thought he was. Gale's Weave scene was actually so well-executed that it made me want to romance him rather than Shadowheart as I'd initially planned. Kudos there.
- The chain movement mechanic isn't a disaster, but it's still just overall worse than the traditional control scheme I'm used to. It provides less control and I have yet to see any benefits it gives in return.
- I do not like the way co-op has impacted the game. The fact that characters in real-time can wander in range and join combat can be very annoying, and being unable to truly pause the game and stop the action is subtly uncomfortable and just feels off to me.
- Going with the above, the inventory system is better than last time I played, but it's still not really user-friendly. I realized today as I was playing that the awkward, disorganized inventory system and UI has been making me engage with gear less. I straight up don't bother looking at new gear a lot of the time to figure out if anyone in my party can use it because I find the inventory management just tedious. Plus there's a bunch of items with weird effects, like those lightning and momentum ones I've seen talked about and honestly reading their descriptions just made my brain switch off and I did not want to engage with them. I haven't sold them yet because my hoarding rpg brain hasn't let me yet.
- I played aa sorcerer and I am very impressed by the amount of specific options. It hasn't wowed me the way that WotR wowed me, but it's definitely on par with or exceeding Dragon Age for me, which I consider high praise all the same. It's certainly made me really interested in the sorcerer class and I'm definitely gonna play one again at some point after full release. I hope Warlocks get that same level of reactivity at launch, that would delight me.
- The game overall is genuinely pretty fun to play. There's still stuff I'm not a big fan of, that feels kind of obtuse and tricksy, but it's not as bad as I'd been thinking it was.
There's everything for now. I shall update you all when/if more thoughts emerge, and I'm happy to hear your thoughts on my thoughts.
