First, the game starts with an eternally long introduction filled with text... and it's all very boring. It's like a visual novel where all of the topics of conversation are like how to play a video game. Ugh. Then, the combat is simply either slashing or shooting. BTW, the character moves slowly while shooting, so it's not fun like twin-stick shooters. Finally, puzzles are a big part of the game. If that's mostly what you like, then great. The main concept of the game's story is that the character is a girl with amnesia who is playing an MMO. I find that to be an awkward and boring topic, myself. MMOs aren't thrilling, and the story of this game doesn't seem to liven that up. It's an odd choice. It's almost like they were trying to make this game boring.
Everything that the developers focused on was done well: the artwork, the environment, the characters, and the emphasis on story. Unfortunately, there is not much of it. It's just a lot of wondering around to look for resources that are used to unlock minor abilities and to keep the characters going. What's bad is that they don't seem to respawn and some are rare, with one of which being quite vital. I honestly don't know if I'll be able to continue after a certain point. Fortunately, I don't think that I care to. This game is a very well made wondering around simulator.
I've tried both the military start and the merchant start. The military one worked out okay, providing me with avenues for success. The merchant start, though, rather quickly became quite complicated. I found that the methods for gaining money suddenly reversed at one point. The buyers' prices were near what the sellers' prices started off at, and the seller's prices were near what the buyers' prices started off at. It's quite strange and unrealistic. I could understand the market becoming more of a challenge, but the sellers' prices should always be below the buyers'. It's nonsense. Beyond that, certain stores make little sense. The ones that sell what most players need to advance at an early stage of gameplay are always out of stock. These are things like the 5 MJ shields that are just powerful and cheap enough to be a good purchase or the relay satellites that provide the ability to learn prices in other sectors without traveling there. I managed to find some advice online that stated that the AI merchants are actually waiting at the stores for these products to become available and then buying them immediately. That wouldn't surprise me since everything in this game seems to require huge time sinks. If that's what I need to do to simply play this game, then I'm out. While I'm on the topic of time, I should mention the other problems. I can't find a merchant ship that goes faster than 100 m/s, which is quite slow. Even the expensive ones that are way above my income actually go slower. Also, repairing my ship if it ever gets damaged is either very expensive or takes FOREVER for me to fix. How do these developers expect their games to be widely popular with such a drastic lack of thrill and adventure? Instead, I get to wait through the tedium of travel or repairs. Yay. >.> Even gaining money as a merchant is slow once the market goes upside down. Where's the fun?
