I have played a lot of isometric RPGs, I understand the enjoyment of building a min-max, as well as a more immersive RPG experience of building around a certain type of character.

As others have said, and with which I agree, it is really peculiar how optimized the player must be for the game progression to have even moderate success states. I thought some of the reviews may be sarcasm and made a character I thought would be fun.. and I could not progress far enough to unlock the third party member. I restarted and went with a self created min max build that so far has seemed to work out better with my knowledge of the first 30 minutes of the game, but wasn't really the style I prefer for RPGs.

I typically don't like following guides for games except for follow up playthroughs, but it just felt odd time and time again failing an encounter because I "didn't do the correct sequence of skill xp acquisition". After an hour of this in my second playthrough (which I made many more manual saves), I took to the guide section to see what was going on with this game. I have definitely played games where there are obvious moments of "come back when you are stronger" but from what I see on some of these guides, pausing a proximal quest mid conversation to go elsewhere to get the last 20 xp points so you can succeed a single check so that way you can have enough xp to skill up to finish quest x,y,z etc seems kind of ridiculous.

Im willing to guess perhaps some things are meant to be left for a different character archetype for another playthrough, but the combat in the game is so harsh that leaving even the most basic consumable item behind feels painful. That emotional response may have been immersive if I didnt have to savescum every single conversation, combat, and door opening.

I do like a lot in this game, vibe, animations, story, it is a really good setting. But I can't decide if its better or worse than Underrail, in Underrail it isnt till mid-game you find out you didn't minmax your build enough, at least in Colony Ship it slaps you in the face in the first 20 minutes.

I have played a lot of isometric RPGs, I understand the enjoyment of building a min-max, as well as a more immersive RPG experience of building around a certain type of character. As others have said, and with which I agree, it is really peculiar how optimized the player must be for the game progression to have even moderate success states. I thought some of the reviews may be sarcasm and made a character I thought would be fun.. and I could not progress far enough to unlock the third party member. I restarted and went with a self created min max build that so far has seemed to work out better with my knowledge of the first 30 minutes of the game, but wasn't really the style I prefer for RPGs. I typically don't like following guides for games except for follow up playthroughs, but it just felt odd time and time again failing an encounter because I "didn't do the correct sequence of skill xp acquisition". After an hour of this in my second playthrough (which I made many more manual saves), I took to the guide section to see what was going on with this game. I have definitely played games where there are obvious moments of "come back when you are stronger" but from what I see on some of these guides, pausing a proximal quest mid conversation to go elsewhere to get the last 20 xp points so you can succeed a single check so that way you can have enough xp to skill up to finish quest x,y,z etc seems kind of ridiculous. Im willing to guess perhaps some things are meant to be left for a different character archetype for another playthrough, but the combat in the game is so harsh that leaving even the most basic consumable item behind feels painful. That emotional response may have been immersive if I didnt have to savescum every single conversation, combat, and door opening. I do like a lot in this game, vibe, animations, story, it is a really good setting. But I can't decide if its better or worse than Underrail, in Underrail it isnt till mid-game you find out you didn't minmax your build enough, at least in Colony Ship it slaps you in the face in the first 20 minutes.