I guess I was overly optimistic when I hoped for something different and more polished. This is pretty much what you can expect from an Owlcat DLC: - cheesy enemies with bloated stats. Make 2 of them then copypasta 15 times to populate the unnecessarily big dungeon. Honestly, you can tell what you're walking into, when you see totally different enemies Quicken True Strike every round, If you're fighting 8 enemies then that's really 2 enemies copypasted 4 times. Expect same 5 enemies spamming Tsunami and Prismatic Spray every round indiscriminately, covering the entire combat area with aoes. All enemies have Winds of Vengeance as a buff for whatever reason and move at 100 mph. Same lazy and primitive AI as in the main campaign, with worse enemy variety and placement. - convoluted level design with teleport-style navigation. Seriously what's with the "teleport-style" puzzle/navigation all the time??? I thought we all had enough of this with Varnhold's Lot. But then I think I can answer that myself: another trick to prolong play time. - non-existent story or player-agency - pay-2-win rewards for completing the DLC - extra overpowered items/powers in main campaign This may sound harsh but at this point I think Owlcat just has no idea how to make a little side story that is compelling and fun to play through. Back then I thought Varnhold's Lot was mediocre, but it may actually be the best story DLC they've released The maxed out level right off the bat may serve as a build-testing mechanic, but that's about it. This is like what you have left when you take away a branching story and just about anything else you may find enjoyable from the main campaign.
If you go into this with the mindset for a typical cRPG, chances are you'll be disappointed. This is more an adventure survival module. Things are scripted to happen in a very specific manner, and if you go differently from the script, chances are good that you'll get screwed. Zero xp enemies, xp for performing specific actions, specific locations for rest, rigged shop prices, the route you're "meant" to take, the way you're "meant" to take down enemies - most everything is scripted. Sort of Telltale's The Walking Dead, dressed in Pathfinder skin - you are to hunt for specific plot items placed at specific locations and interact with specific objects with said plot items, for the purpose of progressing. If you expect the typical "tough encounters that give appropriate reward for the experienced players", you'll be wrong. You're really meant to just skip them. If you keep banging your head against that wall like you typically do in the main campaign, expecting you'll at least get something good for it when you finally make it through? Well you're not going to have fun. Of course. being a survival adventure minigame doesn't spare you having to deal with typical Owlcat enemies. Swarms - oh, yes, enjoy. Hordes and hordes of (well-optimized, overleveled) enemies. Enemies with on-hit status effect, damage immunity. Hopefully you didn't mind metagaming and savescumming in the main campaign, because you'll be doing more of that here. Don't play on anything harder than Normal. Tightly scripted story, coupled with lack of decent gear and low level party means some classes are massively more effective than others. Not reading a guide beforehand and go into this with whatever character concept you happen to be fancying at the moment is dicey. Unfortunately, despite being dressed up as a fairly linear adventure survival game, you still have to "game the system" just like in the main campaign, but now it's more restricted because you have to do it with a handicapped party.
