Lets talk about things the game did NOT well.

[ЯeÐ ĄnimaŁ ШaЯ]

First of all, love the game. REALLY! So this will get a bunch of fanboys swarming at me, but I do not care.

1. Let's say the fact about level design, it's TRASH, actually. It blinds you with beautiful visual and great music, but it's trash. I actually do not mind invisible walls in games where it's kind of obvious where they are. But in this game, some areas are RIDICULOUS. Like there is an item you have to climb a specific route to, but it would be an EASY jump, it's right there. I spend hours exploring, literally FEELING your way through the levels and touching invisible walls all the time. They designed the levels visually open without even a hint of "you can nto go there" all over the place. They also HAD TO prevent you from jumping to your death because otherwise it would be unbearable, and that proves how bad the level design is.

Some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ reviewer called the level design dark souls inspired, the most retarded statement I have ever heard. Because there are 5 shortcuts in the game, you do never use again? ROFL NOOOO! It's a tunnel and snake levels that are play area inside invisble boundaries. And again I am not like allergic to invisble walls, I know some people really feel strongly about just ONE invisible wall, and they want to walk and jump everywhere. I do NOT MIND constraints but MAKE THEM VISUAL!

Levels feel like a UE5 tech demo, and they are beautiful visually, but let's not pretend these are good levels gameplay wise.

2. Stupid, pointless walking back, camp only from outside. WHY? Seems arbitrary and pointless. I played on hard and for some areas I went back regularly early on. The pattern was always find flag, port to "entrance", go outside, set up camp ... go back. Like, why so many loading zones? Why it "go outside" unlocked later? Why not have it from the start. Seems stupid. Also, some areas are designed stupid to go back. Serene for example has the first flag way down, and you need to fly a walk a lot just to get to the first flag, so going back it a pain in the all. And the monolith has a pre area where you need to run through a portal and select "yes" for some stupid reason to go inside, the first flag does not let you just teleport to any "inside" flag, seems arbitrary. These are not really a big deal, yet I think the game was designed for a like a one time normal "rush" play through rather than well-thought-out. Given how there is a flag every 5 meters and how easy you can pass by enemies, it's really just inconvenient loading for nothing. You should just be able to "go camp" at any flag and skip the loading zones. Forcing camp makes sense for relationship ... but not all the in between loading.

3. There is no minimap, the map takes 1 or 2 seconds to open, and it's inconvenient to reopen it all the time. So many games do this ♥♥♥♥! Damn, if there is a map, also implement a minimal.

4. You have to go INSIDE areas for the text to show up on the map. Stupid! I avoided a lot of red areas earlier, obviously, but still I wanted to know that they are so later I went in and out just for them to show up on the map with text next to it.

5. There are no custom markers for bosses and things you find on the world map.

5. Enemies only have 2 or 3 moves, if you play on hard it's kind of blessing and may be a deliberate decision, and it helps you learn and master the hard dodges and maybe even helps you get parries in. BUT I just imagine like easier timings but like random timings or something that brings freshness to the combat. Like every move you have to make, you just routinely get perfects almost from the start, with some exceptions. Maybe there could be a mechanic that if you did a move perfectly 50 times, that it then just auto completes it perfectly. It seems pointless after a while, I mean skills you start not dodges or parries.

I also just figured out in the accessibility menu you can skip the skill QTEs, BUT it only presses them for your normally. There should be a quality of life option or an option for disabled or imparted people that just does the same, just with perfect presses instead.

6. Skill system seems silly and bad.

7. The manor is like a missed opportunity for some kind of hub area, or at least a pass though area. Why can't you do back out where you came in? Like WHAT? It could have connected the entire world, and you could go back into all the entrances you found from the manor, instead you stupidly get out though the main door and end up where you came from? WHY? That is like the biggest missed opportunity ever. They could even make more quests that would require you to go back into some areas, where it would have fun shortcuts though the manor into the different levels again without going into the outside world again.

Actually, why not just the ability to travel to any flag right from the camp, or any other flag for that matter. It's always these stupid, pointless restrictions. In Dark Souls 1 they made sense, so to some extent, but also not really. So many games have copied the "bonfire" system, but always also copy some annoying and stupid and pointless restrictions with us. Like rally the game does not even have a hub area not even like in a restricted soul like kind of way. Both the camp or the manor could be such a location.

[Sunsetter]

Sir, this is a Wendy's

[Yoni the Hero]

i dont think whatever you wrote there is legitimately a bad thing, but i do wish gustave's death and the manor had more story significance, maelle was obsessed with him for 2/3 of the game and in act3 its almost like he never existed, other than that, its perfect i love it. i dont think this game needs a minimap or some game journalist type comforts, its nice that you need to think every once in a while. infact i wish minimaps were less prevelant in non-open world games, it makes no sense

[Fanta]

I am enjoying the game and playing through it. Funny that I dislike the incoherent music and the monochrome graphics, which many seem crazy about. Especially the first levels look mostly all the same, with random assets scattered around so the player doesn't get completely lost. But I like there is no hand holding, no minimap, and if you want a map, you can draw it yourself, like in the good ol' days of adventure games.

Too much left untold in the world building and the lore, hopefully many blanks will be filled in before the end of the game? And an immortal conjuring a piano out of thin air, or going around in two halves to amuse teammates, is just silly nonsense.

[Yoni the Hero]

Originally posted by Fanta:

I am enjoying the game and playing through it. Funny that I dislike the incoherent music and the monochrome graphics, which many seem crazy about. Especially the first levels look mostly all the same, with random assets scattered around so the player doesn't get completely lost. But I like there is no hand holding, no minimap, and if you want a map, you can draw it yourself, like in the good ol' days of adventure games.

Too much left untold in the world building and the lore, hopefully many blanks will be filled in before the end of the game? And an immortal conjuring a piano out of thin air, or going around in two halves to amuse teammates, is just silly nonsense.

it will all clear out just trust the process

[ЯeÐ ĄnimaŁ ШaЯ]

Ah, and all the minigames are completely trash! Optional but still trash.

[Yoni the Hero]

Originally posted by ЯeÐ ĄnimaŁ ШaЯ:

Ah, and all the minigames are completely trash! Optional but still trash.

i see you read the thread about the minigame, i hope you buy the game and see for yourself

[benj]

A few missing QoL things, like enemy scan/bestiary and message log. Character animations can look a little rough outside of cutscenes. Optional areas are a bit too skewed towards higher level content, so exploring often feels either punishing or backtracky.

Also I really like your idea for the manor, OP.

[Ghost of Bayou]

The story is rubbish, I had to cry in front of my girlfriend. What's the point

[Yoni the Hero]

Originally posted by Ghost of Bayou:

The story is rubbish, I had to cry in front of my girlfriend. What's the point

its normal to cry, buddy

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by Ghost of Bayou:

The story is rubbish, I had to cry in front of my girlfriend. What's the point

If you can't cry in front of your girlfriend, you shouldn't be together.

[Ghost of Bayou]

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Originally posted by Ghost of Bayou:

The story is rubbish, I had to cry in front of my girlfriend. What's the point

If you can't cry in front of your girlfriend, you shouldn't be together.

did her mother said you this

[nephalim]

I've gotten used to the game and most of my gripes, I am having a lot of fun but I agree the level design is not great and is compounded by the lack of any kind of on screen compass, map or markers. This is not Dark Souls quality level design where no map works. I am constantly lost.

Also the menu is ♥♥♥♥ to navigate and you can't even see what pictos you've mastered when equipping.

[Mazur XIII]

Its not game fault but engine. Game is pretty demending and unsatalble - UV 4070ti carshes, must be on stock. In 3440x1440 that GPU is not enough, must lock fps on 60 (with drops around 50), use losless scaling for fps generation (x2 to 120) and force nvidia reflex - and then game is somehow smooth and i can parry on reflex. Without it - almost impossible.
So to parry effectivly (which is sometimes essential) u have to play 60 fps or higher...

[RakataEpsilon]

Should have had HW Lumen, software Lumen sucks and always will

[ЯeÐ ĄnimaŁ ШaЯ]

Originally posted by nephalim:

I've gotten used to the game and most of my gripes, I am having a lot of fun but I agree the level design is not great and is compounded by the lack of any kind of on screen compass, map or markers. This is not Dark Souls quality level design where no map works. I am constantly lost.

Also the menu is ♥♥♥♥ to navigate and you can't even see what pictos you've mastered when equipping.

Constantly lost? It is like snake levels where there is only one way. Maybe one or two sits in the entire game where I accidentally went back. Never rally lost. That was not my point at all. The levels are dead simple they work even better than Dark Souls without a map, no clue what you are talking about. They do not need a map, they just need visuals for "CANT GO THERE" In old Lumiere there is a spot with an item that is so atrocious. You literally look at it, stay over it, it would be an easy jump to it, but invisible boundaries force you to make a stupid way the devs intended without doing the visual work. They could have placed some kinds of chroma see through walls, mirrors or something that makes you see there is an item there but not this annoying invisible walls. Lost count on how often I tested if I can go somewhere only to bounce against an invisible wall, this might be the most atrocious game when it comes to invisible walls I have EVER played, and I am a 40-year-old gamer. And it's not that exploration is not retarded, there are items off the main path all the time.

Originally posted by Yoni the Hero:

Originally posted by ЯeÐ ĄnimaŁ ШaЯ:

Ah, and all the minigames are completely trash! Optional but still trash.

i see you read the thread about the minigame, I hope you buy the game and see for yourself

WTF are you talking about? "See yourself" are you pretending I write about the game I have not seen? I played already 55 hours and finished the game on hard my dude, so cut the crap because you not see a stupid icon next to my name. Good people are so obsessed with this ♥♥♥♥. Maybe I play on console, maybe I am a pirate? Maybe I have a 2nd account. You will never know, but I for sure played the game. Always the same ♥♥♥♥ on steam forums, literally always the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ every single time.