Review up to about the midpoint of act 1, mild spoilers ahead.
This game is very good so far with some caveats. It is incredibly complex with many systems all working together behind the scenes to bring a faithful version of the Pathfinder ruleset to a CRPG. The story is rightfully epic in scope with all the multiversal terrors that you would expect fighting in a crusade against a demonic horde.
The characters are either love them or hate them, most people I've seen can't stand Lann, I think he's a breath of fresh air in a very edgy game with child sacrifice, horrific murders, demonic rituals, and world-ending catastrophe. Meanwhile Nenio... hmm.
What is very frustrating about this game though is the encounter design/scaling/timing of content and the lack of polish in certain sections. Namely a house in the Market Square where you are in a tiny hallway vs 5 high level AOE slinging demons with no way through other than brute force (this encounter took me over 3 hours worth of resets on Core Rules) right next to level 3 and 4 trash mob encounters on the same street. Or the next street over that has 3 level 10 enemies in a room after a room with 2 level 5s. The spacing out of encounters based on perceived character level is basically non-existent.
And that brings me to the biggest grievance I have thus far with Owlcat's pacing and encounter design; the tavern defense... it took me almost a full hour and a half, 39 rounds of combat while my main PC was unconscious for the last third of the battle with no more healing or spell slots. At no point in that entire battle was there any indication of what your objective is other than just keep slaughtering the endless hordes of demons and cultists AND OH LOOK A BOSS at round 30! By round 20 I had the idea that it was supposed to be a scripted loss because I was just so confused why so many waves kept spawning with no end. How did this get past playtesting?
In an otherwise fantastic game so far that is really fun with great character customization options, deep roleplaying chances, and a solid, if at the moment, superficial story about a crusade against the forces of hell; I can understand why people will want to drop it. It is rough around the edges, has a decent lack of polish especially in the amount of time it takes to be able to load your turn in combat, and some annoying party members.
Overall so far, I'd probably give it a 7.5. Will update when I finish--hopefully within the next 2 years.
