Recent reviews by Adra

Despite being a life-long gamer, I've never dabbled in the Computer Role-Playing Game genre (CRPGs). This game has completely opened up these games for me- although I have a suspicion it might be tough to find more games in the same genre after playing DOSII, since it's commonly called the pinnacle of the genre. I was basically hooked with DOSII from the character creation screen, and now I'm 3/4 in and still enjoying every moment. However, the game isn't without its flaws.

Pros:
+ Very engaging storytelling
+ A world that feels organic and comes with tons of history and lore
+ Battle system has emphasis on tactics and positioning which makes every won battle feel deserved and satisfying
+ No randomized encounters; every fight has a purpose
+ Large and diverse repertoire of battle skills to play and experiment with
+ Characters are highly customizable. Choosing the right blend of combat skills, talents, gear and attributes makes it very fun to craft builds
+ Dialogue choices are well-written; makes solving conflicts with persuasive dialogue just as satisfying as combat sometimes
+ Many possible dilemmas and choices in the game makes each playthrough different
+ Absolutely beautiful soundtrack; greatly enhancing the joy of exploration

Cons:
- Bugs. I hate to say it but the game can sometimes feel unstable. It has a tendency to make my (otherwise competent and robust) GPU crash. Save files corrupt out of nowhere.
- Some important quest markers can be missed due to some reasons that the player can't control. The quests can be obscure, and when coupled with the prevalance of bugs in the game I'm often left wondering if I failed a quest due to mistake on my part, or a bug. I failed an important character-relationship quest entirely because of a bug.
- Talents are poorly balanced. They can easily be split into three tiers: must-haves that work on every possible build, situationally useful utilities, and "niche to the point of uselessness". Wish they were better thought out so that the choices aren't clear from the moment you decide on a build.

Overall: 9/10. The game is fantastic and ridiculously addictive. Easily the best game I've played since Dark Souls 3 in 2016. However, my experience was marred by the numerous bugs which sometimes even induce quest failure, which I found extremely frustrating.