izigame.me

I wasn't quite sure whether I'd enjoy this, because even though I liked Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, the graphics/world design here somehow didn't really feel that appealing to me. However, based on some reviews I read, I decided to give it a chance.
Now, here is the thing: A tutorial is pretty much the first impression players get. Yes, it's supposed to show the mechanics, but also is supposed to give you at least a bit of a feel for what the game is like. And if the rest of the game is like the tutorial, it's just not for me. Here's why:
I don't understand why people say that the combat is enjoyable. I did try both magic spells and the bow, as those are playstyles I do like. The lizards in the first few fights kept tossing rocks from a distance, so it was a "ranged duel". For some reason, even when dodging a thrown rock, it would still manage to hit me, as if it was tracking. Weird.
Then there is the tutorial boss and I was like "Why do people say the combat is addictive?"
First of all, I had two companions hacking away at him while he absolutely ignored them, going straight for me, doing all kinds of combos. Me, as a caster, trying to stay at range, hardly did get a spell off, while my companions never managed to either do any kind of significant damage to him OR get his attention so I would have some time to breathe.
I don't expect them to one-shot enemies or tank them 100% of the time, but why are they there when they don't do any meaningful amount of damage and don't manage to distract the boss.
On top of that, when the boss did his big hammer-swing, he moved towards me at an unusually high speed, moving like he was ice-skating, which didn't only look weird, it felt bad. So he hit me. I move backwards, press E (which opens your quick bar and pauses the game), try to swig a potion, which gets interrupted because the boss, who apparently trained with Tonya Harding, used his uncanny slide move to be in my face again, interrupting the heal while my companions were hacking away at him, yelling "Oh hero, you should heal".
To add to the "fun", just like some of the previous enemies, he felt like a damage sponge, which got dull really fast. On top of that, "fun combat", at least to me, and keep in mind this is subjective, also involves combat that feels impactful. Yes, I was able to freeze the boss for a sec, but when I did melee swings/stabs, it just felt like I was hitting some projection or illusion... no staggering effect, no reaction, just part of my sword disappearing into the head or body while taking away about 5% of the hp, which immediately killed the immersion. Don't believe me? Watch a YT video of the boss fight, eg. FightinCowboys Lets Play, ep 01. Look closely at the "impact" of attacks and the boss AI. It's sad.
So, the combat even in the tutorial, the first impression, felt tiring. The aggro of enemies is weird as well. I had 2 enemies, one focusing on my companion. I kill the other, which took a while. I run to the other enemy, who had been involved in fighting my companion, hit him ONCE and he immediately turned to me and stayed on me. So I wonder... what are the companions even really for? It feels like they are mostly there to act as set pieces. If they are supposed to be significant, have them have at least a bit of impact on the fights, whether it's with some more damage or by giving 2 of the 3 classes, the ranged ones, a bit more time to actually do damage. So all you can really do is strafe backwards, get a spell off, rinse and repeat, which just doesn't feel like "fun combat" to me. I don't expect to facetank a boss as a caster or ranger, but then again, if I have 2 companions, why does the boss ignore them?
I also don't get the comparisons to Skyrim. Yeah, the world looks pretty if the artstyle is attractive to you, and maybe I am spoiled by games like Skyrim or KCD 1/2, but I woke up at a beach with corpses wearing armor sets, stuff laying around, and all I could loot were the 3 items that were highlighted and two items from breakable boxes. I could not loot the corpses or take the armor that was in front of me on said corpses.
So I move on into an old fort, make my way into the guard room. I can loot the highlighted key (only a big blinking arrow and sound effect would have made it more noticeable, so there is not even the thrilling task of searching to keep you busy. I guess you can switch the highlighting off in the options?), and open the chest, but could I take or interact with any of the other things, like the books in the shelf? Nope. Apart from the chest, the key on the wall and yet another scribbled note I could read, the room may has well have been entirely bare, as there was nothing to interact with.
So it feels like rooms full of textures with items you can't interact with, where you pick up the three items the devs mean for you to pick up, before you move on to the next fight with bullet-spongey mobs with weird aggro tables while the only thing your companions really provide is all kinds of voice lines.
Another example: I had access to 5 spells... magic missiles, ice shards, a fire beam, a lightning beam and a protective bubble. I aimed at an enemy at range and hit him with the missiles, doing some dmg. Neither of us moved closer. I used the ice spell. It hit and froze the enemy. I cast the fire beam. It didn't connect, as apparently, for some reason, it has less reach. I guess so, as you can't SEE from the graphical effect how far it reaches, the beam just peters out. I cast lightning. Same thing. Why can't those spells have clearer indicators of how far they reach from the visuals, if they have to have less reach? I had no idea how much closer I had to move and had just wasted those spells. So... another thing that isn't fun to me, personally.
Had a similar thing with the bow... aimed at some mobs standing there to start the fight, aimed very precisely, arrow didn't connect. So I guess I was too far away. The enemy moves about 4 inches and seems to become active now, suddenly I hit with the full dmg. It just feels wonky, imprecise and the physics seem clunky. Which IS a big deal if combat is one main factor and the ranger is one of 3 classes.
Finally, the dialogues. Why can I only pick ONE answer in each "chapter" of a dialogue? Some answers/questions have skill checks, fine. But after saying hello in my first response, I wanted to ask a question that was another option in the first set of questions, like in so many other games where you can exhaust the options if you like before you move on to the next part of the conversation. Sorry, the conversation has moved on, you can't go back to ask for details, can't exhaust those answers/questions before you get new ones (and it's not about asking about the weather after saying "Die!"... I introduced myself and then wanted to ask the second option too, for more details on the situation, yet, sorry, that option is now gone). So that is not exactly fun either when it comes to the non-combat part... the dialogues and interactions.
Maybe I am being unfair by not having used the entire 2 hour refund window. I really was interested in this game and figured it may be fun, but my impressions after 45 min were "Empty world, an artstyle that simply does not do anything for me in terms of design, colors etc, and combat that feels floaty, lacks impact and involves companions whose only real task seems to be to remind me to heal when my health gets low (because the reduced health bar and the red edges of the screen are not enough of a visual hint you need to heal)."
I am definitely not saying that other games like Skyrim or KCD (which are mentioned in comparison) don't have flaws, quite the opposite, yet I just don't get where these comparisons are coming from.
Again, I was open to see what the game has to offer, and was hoping it'd be good. I wasn't hyped by high expectations. But after 45 min, I asked myself "Am I enjoying this?" and no, I didn't.