izigame.me

I cannot recommend this game in good consciousness, despite the fact that I do like it. I went into this knowing that it was going to be contentious and was going to have a turbulent launch. It was clear that the game pivoted from one genre to another mid-development, and there is no way that didn't have an effect on it.
That said, the most glaring issue: the bugs. Specifically the fact that you can lose your emotes upon what's labeled as a "catastrophic" death. Be it the default ones you start out with, or the ones you pay for through the Drifter's Pass (this game's version of a battle-pass). There's a mechanic to bail-out of your Cradle Coffin once you're too damaged, and if you fail to do so and you lose all your HP, then there's a chance for this bug to occur to you; similarly, when you lose power or disconnect mid-sortie. The worst part, however, is that this bug can also lock you out of an entire portion of the game: the crafting system. It will completely disable it with no known way to restore its functionality. This has not been addressed yet by the developers.
Now, as for the second largest problem—the economy. I think that the parable of the broken window fits here rather well as a criticism of the faulty economic theory this game seemingly partakes in: destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not profit. Equipment cannot be replaced by an individual unless he has acquired or can acquire the savings, the capital accumulation, to make the replacement. Conflict destroys accumulated capital, an so should be recognized first and foremost as a net loss—and whatever the offsetting considerations in a particular instance, can never be, on net balance, a boon or a blessing. Yet, this game is explicitly designed around just that: mindless, wanton destruction. Worse still, the developers purposely handicap the ability of the individual to both gain and accumulate capital; the rewards received from mining, the creation of wealth, are a pittance even in the face of the newest value re-balancing and the crafting system absurdly gluts itself on what little is in fact earned.
Consider yourself extraordinarily fortunate if you earn enough wealth to cover the cost of crafting one item over the course of a single sortie. Then, pray that you are not beset upon by others after you've managed to eke out enough in savings to field anything past mid-tier gear, as the game incentivises the pillaging of your person. It it much more profitable to take from others than it is to create through your own labor and effort. This alone would eventually lead to wealth (in the form of equipment which can then be turned into liquid wealth) coalescing into a a select group of individuals entirely reliant on a parasitical relationship to the average player, and then, once the average player gives up or cannot afford craft more gear, the entire house of cards will come tumbling down because as it turns out: Cradle Coffins are consumable items. There is a limit to the amount of times you can sortie and repair one, meaning that their usages has a limited lifespan and requires constant replacement.
Third, the game itself and the game-play, neither of which stand out in any way. It is average, and if anything, is actually lacking in some urgently needed QoL features. Why can we not boost or dash while firing a weapon, for example, and what about being able to loot all the items in a container without having to individually move every item myself? Rubber-banding is a constant theme whenever you sortie. Boosting, at times, will cause you to get stuck in terrain, as will opening the map while you boost. Similarly, enemies (incubators) also get stuck inside the map which can be frustrating when you're trying to complete requests. Furthermore for a game that should have a extensive amounts of customization, it has little to none. What you see is what you get when it comes to the Cradle Coffins and you're disincentivised from mixing up any of the parts as there is a set stat bonus for a homogeneous load-out. Information is also intentionally obfuscated when it shouldn't be: equipment details, what some base upgrades actually do, request (mission) objectives, and what causes you to lose Association status or how you can get back into good standing after being labeled as "cautionary." Moreover, quite simply the fights ends up coming down to a stat check: whoever has the better gear more often than not simply wins outright.
This rather obviously exacerbates the prior point made in the above paragraph about the game's economy.
In addition, for all that the Magus are this game's stand-out feature, there's really not much you can do with them. There exists very little in way of meaningful interaction with your Magus, and further, your renovation area (the upgradeable base of operations). The limited customization affects them as well: both their outfit selection and even the character slider options for the Magus, and the decor, viewability, and functionality of the renovation area. This feels like a bit of an oversight, especially since neither are actually fleshed out in the story. Speaking of which: the story is, while interesting, rather bare-bones as well and so I can't mention anything of note... because it practically doesn't exist. It just feels tacked-on after the fact, just like the Magus companion and the renovation area.
This entire fiasco should quite frankly be an embarrassment to Bandai Namco.