Foxjazz79

PC version is getting blasted by switch players, but ignore the hate. It looks like the developers really took feedback from Portia to heart and fundamentally made a far superior sequel in every way. First of all this is a builder focused life sim so you'll be collecting resources to craft with farming as a secondary venture. The game play loop is well done and kept me engaged during the whole play through. Characters are varied and I enjoyed getting to know them and presented a good variety to the story. There are dungeons to speed run and enemies on the overworld but combat is very simplistic. My first play through I was 10 levels below the expected level ( which also barred me from having the best equipment) and still had no issues with missions and farming enemies much higher than myself. I have encountered zero issues and bugs so far and I have completed one play through. The developer has been active with hotfixes and a major content drop in December. I only have three gripes. 1) The ground and mountains seem to use low res textures. 2) Tourists who visit the city have absolute nonsense names like Cohh. (period included as part of name). 3) Combat is too easy.

This game was released as a "full release" with so many features still missing. Merfolk kingdom is barebones with no ability to to use stores and do anything with the characters outside of the main quest. One of the main quests has a WIP tag and is unable to be completed. Bugs are also numerous. Often characters run out of things to say and instead or repeating old text, you just get a "character has nothing more to say to you" text box for the rest of the year until it resets in Spring. My spouse ran out of things to say in Fall so I got this message for a quarter of the year. AI for spouse is also very glitchy. Usually my spouse gets stuck by the bed until they start their outdoor routine. When we had a kid there was no conversation around the birth or any interactivity between the spouse and child. The main character also has no interactions with the child. If your looking for another farming sim with festivals and all the standard fare in a tropical setting this might be for you. However, I can't recommend it in this state. I would hold off for a year to see if the developers stick with the game and work on all the missing/broken parts.

Story is just paint by numbers boring. The world is dark and has the appropriate setting with better graphics but that is it. The loot is burdened with ridiculous lame buffs so good luck finding gear that works with your build. Dungeons are just a slog, and it is hurt by the minimal enemy diversity. I have run 13 side dungeons and fought the same boss (blood baron) 5 times. The game is just really repetitive in a bad way. Maybe Blizzard will listen to all the negative forum posts and make changes to the game instead of ignoring all the bad feedback as quote review bombing as the critics like to call it now.

I love the world building Respawn did with the characters and planets despite their only being two fully developed planets to explore and then some other linear smaller locations. The new quality of life improvements help elevate the gameplay over Fallen Order. That, however, is where the positives end. The story starts off strong but then the game tries to tie the story to too many Disney properties (Rogue One, High Republic, Obi Wan etc...) that it never fully leans into leans into anything fully and you end up with one dimensional villains. By the end the story falls flat and into a tone deaf finale. Now, I started off with very few issues on PC with slow downs to 10fps only on the galactic map and intro, but after the May 1st patch the town on the second planet is in the 30s, and any interior location with npcs to interact with never rises above 40fps. Yet when I am out in the wild I get a good 60-90 fps even fighting enemies. I have had two CTDs both in meditation chambers meaning I had to start the puzzles all over. Dynamic cloth like capes and sashes will go crazy and I have encountered sound issues and artifacting in certain points though they do not always occur. Wait to see if EA continues to patch or resolve the issues before buying. To those that give the game a glowing score because they assume the game will be fixed, just remember EA and Bioware walked away from Mass Effect Andromeda before fixing all the bugs. Here's hoping Respawn will pull a cyberpunk 2077 and stay committed to fixing this dumpster fire.