Story could be cool, the atmosphere for sure is! Now if the cockpit would change with the ship, the writing would be good, the systems more minimalized / predictable and at the same time more challenging on "normal", it'd be up there with an FTL. As it is, it's still good Indie sci fi.
I was skeptical as an old Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate (especially 1) fan - starting with a Mind Flayer infiltration, really? But then: Deep dialogues, hard choices, able to roleplay even in fights, such as knocking enemies unconscious rather than killing them which can have effects on the story even. I love it.
There's a ton of roleplaying aspects to this monster of a game. Factions, nuanced answers, decisions on how to solve quests. I like to have my ship :) I like to equip it and have its crew get better. Downsides: 1. The setting, to me, didn't click really 2. Mechanics I disagree with: naval combat is a boring, tedious chore - better just board and be done with it. And combat in general is rather time consuming despite "big damage numbers" in comparison to its tactical DnD colleagues where you find a winning strategy against specific opponents and then bring them down rather quickly 3. distinction between main companions and other companions, that do have a story and quests to them as well but are just henchmen, ultimately
First off, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I recommend playing it to everyone daring to read, appreciating food for thought, and open to feeling an unknown world. There was a lot to like for me, I found the characters to be varied and interesting, the story engaging, the writing expansive and good, combat "crises" few in number and better to play than fights were in PS:T. Also, the music was very to my taste. Now the flaws that prevent a 5/5: - I think most critique stems from people that engaged in the niggles around development and pledge fulfillment, which lead to resentment, causing scathing reactions to every detail of the game. - My issues with the game however were mainly, and it's somewhat embarrassingly superficial of me to say so, caused by the low quantity of surroundings: everything was packed full of quests and story NPCs and lore and interactive elements, which I found overwhelming and hurting immersion. The environments consequently could not convey a consistent look-and-feel. - Independent of that, there were some nods to PS:T that seemed too much like unnecessary copy/paste (does there have to be Adahn, does the bar really have to contain flames, etc.) - I encountered one bug that caused a crisis turn to never end, but I could easily solve it by loading the latest autosave directly before the situation. - My 5.1 setup did not output directional audio from the correct speakers (i.e. front and back seemed switched at times)
