[h1] TLDR: A good and long grandiose CRPG adventure with very fun co-op (and very cheap on sale too!) [/h1]
[h3]Introduction:[/h3]
Went in blind + this would be my brother and I's first TTRPG/CRPG. We played all the way through in co-op and it was a great time. (2 players, non-split screen, but there is a split screen option.) Playtime was 87 hours, from April to July.
All thoughts here are purely from the perspective as a newbie to the CRPG genre.
[h3]Gameplay:[/h3]
The narrative and worldbuilding were enjoyable, the whole game is very heavy in text, lots of books and dialogue, but the dialogue is usually accompanied by voice acting. Gameplay is excellent- builds, skills and party combos, along with interactions and loads of things to plan and do in combat. There's also the interactivity and problem solving in quests that were very rewarding to solve.
The game isn't without faults however, and there were genuinely frustrating moments: one shot deaths, horrible debuff spam, abysmally confusing quest/puzzle design, etc. We pushed on by just searching for help even on a boss at one point, or at a later area, lowering the difficulty and raising it up again after that part (Minor spoilers: [spoiler]We searched how to beat Pontius, and lowered the difficulty in some parts of Hiberheim lol. Gave us insight on how the game further worked though.[/spoiler]). It was a consistent thing within the playthrough that we were utterly confused, but it felt great to slowly figure stuff out, especially later on, where you'd become familiar with the mechanics in both adventuring and combat. We also ran into some glitches and bugs so make sure to save properly, but overall nothing terribly game breaking.
The game doesn't hold your hand much, so try to be very careful in not spoiling yourself when searching about things, but I do recommend searching stuff out if it becomes heavily confusing (how elements interact, what abilities do what, wtf is "pet pal", etc. some of these things are even written in the game's manual!).
[h3]For the first few hours:[/h3]
The start of the game is VERY slow, but I'd say is also the most handcrafted part of the entire game. Just know that you will be spending a lot of time in the first area and it's important to do lots of sidequests and whatever you're curious about as the area does teach a lot of things (not everything, and not really that clearly/obvious imho). The game will pick up speed as you get more and more familiar with the game, though I did feel there were still some parts that dragged on for longer than it should've.
D:OS is a charming, good, but rough RPG.
[h3]Unrelated/Additional:[/h3]
Picked this up when it suddenly went for sale for what would be equivalent to around 2.5~ USD in my currency as of right now. It's a late recommendation since the summer sale just passed as of writing this, but it went on sale for a cheaper 2~ USD (still in my currency btw), cheap purchases for multiple copies too.
