pacing of the game is the biggest problem.

[Sato]

the game suffers with terrible pacing.

1- you reach damage cap early in ACT 2 and have to suffer through till you reach the point where it is lifted.

2- too much content is skipped in the world map because you can't fly and by the point you get to fly you just have had enough and want to end the game.

3- suffers from lack of collectible tracking and there is no way i am returning to a location without mini map to navigate into just one paint spike to collect that last picto.

4- the story is STRETCHED to oblivion, so much edging in the path that is forced upon you, either allow us to fly and break damage cap earlier or make the story to reach these points faster.

pacing and story are being carried hard by combat and music.

i am 72 hours in and find myself doing boring repetitive tasks just for ticking boxes that should have been ticked through Act 1 and 2.

[['w']]

in FF you always ran around with the dmg cap, never felt that great, but it protects the bosses at least a little, but ofc a drag vs optional bosses

at dualisste I was already too powerful for story bosses

strangely I never found it repetitive.. most of the time.

dracking collectible, pen and paper, not every game has to tell you if you're still missing a piece of if you've never visited a place

the story somehow feels rushed for me, less stretched, after act2 the whole world opens up with a final story mission

[Ratsplat]

You can actually reach the cap right as soon as you get Maelle's weapon, but that's only if you purposely go for it. But yes, early on Percee and Sciel both hit the cap, which makes you feel like not using Sciel for damage.

I wouldn't say the lack of flying is bad. If anything, Act 3 should have had more story areas, since if all you care about is the story, you use flight like one whole time then you never use it again.

Pacing always seemed good, however Act 3 honestly went too fast. Maelle is info dumped, then is instantly a different person within what, a day?

[benj]

Originally posted by Sato:

2- too much content is skipped in the world map because you can't fly and by the point you get to fly you just have had enough and want to end the game.

I hear that. Not gonna complain about the game having too much content, but I think too much is dumped on you all at the end. It would've helped to have more of it available earlier, or lower leveled.

[Havok]

Maybe you should try changing your outlook from focusing on the destination to focusing on the journey.

[Griever]

Agree with everything. There's also some nitpicks I have that make part of the experience annoying like...

- On world map, AFAIK there is no marker for merchants, and I mean those that you visited. This makes it a hassle to find them again.

- Why do the names of the levels/caves on world map disappear when you zoom out?

- Minimap: I don't want to be a minimap guy because I get the point of exploring. But I don't know why....Even though I never needed a mini map in Elden Ring, in some levels here, you sometimes lose your bearing and it's more frustrating than anything.

- Balance and progression like you said is messed up. I really loved Act 1 and how everything is set up. But then it feels like when Verso comes in, it collapses. I'm on normal mode and saw dualliste fight online on video and was hyped, but I melted him first try due to being overlevelled. But this happens in countless JRPGs, I often lose complete interest after Act 1 of those games because the production quality isn't the same.

- Lots of bugs on the overworld and sometimes in levels. You constantly run into elements that you're not supposed to run into and fear you might break the game. Which leads me to next point.

- No proper save and load system. Just auto saves. You don't even know what saves those point to, there is just a time associated with them. I literally never loaded a save because I had no idea which to load. I only did it when my game was bugged due to getting stuck on map.

So yeah...Classic JRPG but with clear Indie dev Jank that you don't see in a major company game (Square Enix, Atlus, etc).

[Griever]

Originally posted by 'w':

the story somehow feels rushed for me, less stretched, after act2 the whole world opens up with a final story mission

That's because it's clearly an indie game that isn't as massive as one might think.
They poured everything in Act 1 IMO in terms of production values.

[J4MESOX4D]

I haven't finished the game yet but there is a noticeable decline as act 2 wears on. There are a few standout moments but it also feels like there is an extraordinary amount of filler in between where the story becomes almost non-existent. I was almost delighted to see Renior once again as I knew the story would at least pick up once more even for just a bit. Act 1 was sublime so I'm not sure if it's the concept that's beginning to take its toll but I feel like the last few hours have been very much padding.

Even a lot of the collectables I am finding are just junk or will serve little to no purpose to where I am at right now.

[Tenshu]

Sounds like a JRPG to me lol

[Griever]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

I haven't finished the game yet but there is a noticeable decline as act 2 wears on. There are a few standout moments but it also feels like there is an extraordinary amount of filler in between where the story becomes almost non-existent. I was almost delighted to see Renior once again as I knew the story would at least pick up once more even for just a bit. Act 1 was sublime so I'm not sure if it's the concept that's beginning to take its toll but I feel like the last few hours have been very much padding. Even a lot of the collectables I am finding are just junk or will serve little to no purpose to where I am at right now.

I'm exactly where you are in Act 2 and noticed the drop even in dialogue strongly.
There's for example an extended convo happening at camp between Sciel and Lune and it felt like the most generic dialogue in existence, like I could care less about the two characters. I feel like Lune & Sciel only were interesting in their interactions with Gustave, who got offed.

But not gonna judge until I finish the entire package.
But to me Gustave was peak as were his interactions with Maelle, Lune, etc.

Ultimately I would say that Gustave was the rock in the party and the game just doesn't have the same quality without him. I don't know about Verso...Good side character, but main character? Meh. I think Verso should have been what Vincent Vallentine was in FF7.

[Knavery]

Originally posted by Sato:

the game suffers with terrible pacing.

1- you reach damage cap early in ACT 2 and have to suffer through till you reach the point where it is lifted.

2- too much content is skipped in the world map because you can't fly and by the point you get to fly you just have had enough and want to end the game.

3- suffers from lack of collectible tracking and there is no way i am returning to a location without mini map to navigate into just one paint spike to collect that last picto.

4- the story is STRETCHED to oblivion, so much edging in the path that is forced upon you, either allow us to fly and break damage cap earlier or make the story to reach these points faster.

pacing and story are being carried hard by combat and music.

i am 72 hours in and find myself doing boring repetitive tasks just for ticking boxes that should have been ticked through Act 1 and 2.

I just got in Act 3 and what I'm finding is every place you can fly to is WAY above your level after fighting the paintress. And I farmed to level 50+ before even fighting her. That's where the pacing is broken, IMO. There are plenty of places to farm from 1-50, but then the difficulty spikes to like 70+ once Act 3 starts.

[['w']]

I didn't spent that much time in frozen heart and went at lvl 70+ to her

[Elsuya]

Originally posted by Knavery:

Originally posted by Sato:

the game suffers with terrible pacing.

1- you reach damage cap early in ACT 2 and have to suffer through till you reach the point where it is lifted.

2- too much content is skipped in the world map because you can't fly and by the point you get to fly you just have had enough and want to end the game.

3- suffers from lack of collectible tracking and there is no way i am returning to a location without mini map to navigate into just one paint spike to collect that last picto.

4- the story is STRETCHED to oblivion, so much edging in the path that is forced upon you, either allow us to fly and break damage cap earlier or make the story to reach these points faster.

pacing and story are being carried hard by combat and music.

i am 72 hours in and find myself doing boring repetitive tasks just for ticking boxes that should have been ticked through Act 1 and 2.

I just got in Act 3 and what I'm finding is every place you can fly to is WAY above your level after fighting the paintress. And I farmed to level 50+ before even fighting her. That's where the pacing is broken, IMO. There are plenty of places to farm from 1-50, but then the difficulty spikes to like 70+ once Act 3 starts.

It depends on the location - which would be my thing that could be kinda annoying in act 3. Trying to find the location you can actually do at the current level (which unironically is the main story since by doing every other content you're overlevelling for the final fight)

[Sato]

Originally posted by 'w':

I didn't spent that much time in frozen heart and went at lvl 70+ to her

i havent even bothered with frozen heart, it is in my "to do list".

Originally posted by Knavery:

I just got in Act 3 and what I'm finding is every place you can fly to is WAY above your level after fighting the paintress. And I farmed to level 50+ before even fighting her. That's where the pacing is broken, IMO. There are plenty of places to farm from 1-50, but then the difficulty spikes to like 70+ once Act 3 starts.

yes when you get flying your enemies tend to be at 65+, it was fun when i had to adjust the setup per big fight to make it easier.

but then you don't even have "presets" you can save to swap easily which was annoying.

Originally posted by 'w':

in FF you always ran around with the dmg cap, never felt that great, but it protects the bosses at least a little, but ofc a drag vs optional bosses

at dualisste I was already too powerful for story bosses

strangely I never found it repetitive.. most of the time.

dracking collectible, pen and paper, not every game has to tell you if you're still missing a piece of if you've never visited a place

the story somehow feels rushed for me, less stretched, after act2 the whole world opens up with a final story mission

1- how about make the bosses have more health instead of limiting me?

2- the repetitive part is that you really have like about 20~25 enemy and you know exactly what each one will do, when you reach the part where you just want to fill out your collection it becomes silly.

3- Act 2 was soooo dragged i got tired of Maelle keep saying "i remember this somewhere"

[sekiro]

I think yall really gotta finish the game. Act 3 definitely was not fleshed out in the MAIN story. The greatest expedition is the journey you guys make, I personally did all the relationship quests and concluded everyone's arc before finally wrapping this story up. Act 2 and its epilogue was def a fakeout. It was meant to convince everyone that this was it. I mean the monolith is literally every major area youve been to into one, it's reminding you of your journey. "♥♥♥♥ yeah we're killing the paintress lets end it!" Then everyone ♥♥♥♥♥♥ dies and you're sitting there in the epilogue wondering what the hell is going on. Then right after that, you have a big ole standoff in Lumiere where you fight with your army...sure the story says you should go but like you can say you're building up that army and doing everyone's ♥♥♥♥ before...wrapping it up. EVEN PAST ACT 3 I literally cannot beat some of these areas, they're just endgame stuff. Anyways, I think the pace really matches with the ending and such. JUST my thoughts tho.