I had high hopes for this game. But now, having slogged my way through it, I don't think it's going to go down as a classic for me personally. That being said, there are certainly things to like here. The graphics are really pretty to look at, and the music is almost worth the purchase price on its own. I enjoyed the combat a lot. Strategy is key, and rushing in with an overpowered character is not an option. Not many RPGs have made me give up in frustration at repeatedly losing an encounter, only for me to tackle it later on with a different approach and coast through it. All in all, however, I don't find myself in any rush to replay this game now that I've completed it. Why? Mostly because of the story. It's okay. It's passable. But it tries to come across as a lot more profound than it actually is and never, ever gripped me or made me desperately want to find out what happened next. The game world itself mirrored the story; not bad, but lacking in depth and charm. And the less said about those immersion-breaking fan-created NPCs, the better. For a game which requires its players to read so much, I found the writing to be rather dull. The player character's spiritual experiences in particular are too heavy on metaphors. It ultimately made me skip through large parts of the conversations (which admittedly might have dulled my experience somewhat). Then there's the loading screens. Those darned loading screens!! All areas - even very small ones - take absolute ages to load. This makes quick traveling from area to area a frustrating chore and too often takes the pace out of the game. It seems such a small thing to complain about, but really affected my overall experience. I love what this game stands for and I fully support Obsidian's campaign to get it made. I really hope it sells well and proves a point to developers that this old-school approach is not dead, so that we may see similar games like this. But overall, I can't shake the feeling that this game could've been so much more.
