the_Wellman

**** first. TLDR; Great writing. Actually has some serious flaws as a game. End game isn't worth it. The writing in this title is excellent. Unfortunately the longer you progress the more grindy and repetitive the gameplay becomes. Effectively you farm for various tokens which you never quite get the quota you need, because another random card or decision will reduce or eliminate them. For instance to progress in one story-arc you need to get your dreams of various types (which occur at random) above certain thresholds. Your nightmares also tend to increase and stop you from progressing as your dream quotas are all hit by your exiting the Asylum again...Once you get past that, there's yet another grindy task for you to complete, followed by another one. The game is not really intended to have a point, despite one of the end games I mention above. If you are okay with that it's great for casual play. However I recommend not making a long-term investment of time.

A SOLID 8 / 10 from me: I've put 1000s of hours into multiple titles and I believe this is a solid 8/10 game or at best 8.5. It is not as good as people hoped but it is definitely not a dog or an abomination. Wait until the GOTY comes out or it is a bit too expensive at this time (November). I am up to about 10 hours of gameplay, and 2/3rds through the story. I backlashed against the backlash against this game, which is partly a reaction to the overhyping of the title and the disappointment felt by fans. Personally, this is a better title than Dishonored which I feel IS overrated, and while Its definitely not a better title than FNV (Fallout New Vegas) or Fallout 3 I think it's debatable to say that it is worse. First: A lot of the irritation caused (myself included) against the game are because of the bugs, the poor UI and some of the banal dialogue. I don't dispute any of this although the bugs will fly off over time and the UI will hopefully be modded quite soon. Features: The storyline is decent. Is it replayble? Well maybe once, giving two run throughs but there are additional areas of exploration and hidden easter eggs. The world is nice, on my value for money machine, I enjoy running around looking at funguses and getting attacked by glow in the dark mole-rats. There are some nice touches like a garden run by gardening robots. There are in-depth interesting characters, and the AI on companions works reasonably well. Most of the companions are more interesting than Skyrims, which were particularly bland but less interesting than for instance, Mass Effect, FNV, or more character rich RPGs. **** used to the lack of skills, the poster with the perks is sort of un-needed. Like Skyrim, you aren't tied to particular builds but that also means that there is a bit of a 'meh' feeling with character development, it is like there is really only one character anyway, be it the male or female protagonist. The customization on weapons - one of the lauded features. It's actually irrelevant. They drop so often you don't need to craft, and as you don't need to craft, why bother. Similar to Skyrim you can invest your time in this or just look for legendary weapons one of which you see at the start but can't access. Again, the fact that the choice doesn't matter means that having an open choice is kind of ruined, if the choice is of no consequence. The base building. I saw this and went, "yup, minecraft". I have Subnautica which I prefer and haven't tried this feature...because I don't care. I may try it on a replay. So far I haven't needed it for the storyline. Puzzles, challenges; Navigating some of the buildings is interesting, in a FPS way, in terms of puzzles about the hardest is mixing green paint (it's yellow and blue kiddies). They do indeed feel dumbed down. Conclusion: People that like FPS with role-playing elements will probably like this, people without pre-conceived notions (i.e. new to Fallout universe). Hardcore role-playing types, fanatics, probably move along. I fall in-between. Enjoyable but I too could've pictured a better sequel.