After having put in quite a few hours more into the game, I must say the combat in this game is very addictive. Your companions' AI is very impressive. Going into a Rift (an area where you can hire other human players' pawns) and checking out other people assistants is pretty cool. Your pawn can be borrowed as well and come back with more info on enemies, quests, areas, etc. It's a very unique, ingenious system really. After you release a Pawn you get to review him/her and leave a comment and perhaps a gift if you choose for the creator of that pawn. Other plays who borrow your pawn can do so as well. Oh and just because someone is using your pawn doesn't mean that yours disappears from your game as you play, they're always with you. It's pretty funny because due to the review system of the pawns you really spend a lot of time trying to get the best stuff for your pawn so that it gets good reviews, haha!
The game is also not an easy one. You will die quite a few times so saving is pretty important. The battles are extremely fun though so if you die, it wasn't because of a cheap tactic by the enemy it's because you weren't prepared or you were being a dumbass. I chose my character to be a "Strider" and my pawn is a mage and then I usually recruit two pawn Fighters. It seems to be working. Nothing is more satisfying than standing back, aiming your arrow right into the eye of a Cyclops, temporarily blinding him and then taking that opportunity to climb up on him and start stabbing away! You can also learn new skills and magic as you gain levels but one thing I don't quite understand is why can I only switch magic spells and combat skills at an Inn? In the game your character can only have a limited number of skills and magic spells on them at one time so if you go off to do a quest and find out a skill that you already bought but didn't equip will help you out means you have to travel all the way back to an Inn to get it on there. Doesn't make much sense to me. This also contributes to the game's difficulty, as you progress through a quest or just go out and adventure on your own. The more damage you take the more your max HP goes down so if your quest takes you far away from town you have to make sure you are prepared and leveled up enough. Only resting at Inns can return you back to your max HP. I didn't think I'd like that but I actually do, it's a nice challenge in the game that I really can't complain about; you really have to try it and I think you would then understand what I'm talking about. Night time though, that's where things get interesting. You're only guiding light is your lantern which gives limited visibility and if you forgot to stock up on oil to refill it, you're gonna be in huge trouble. You will be running along and then you hear a growl or a howl and have no idea where it's coming from then a wolf just leaps from the side and attacks is pretty cool and adds a creepiness to the nighttime, when it starts getting dark you really feel a need to rush back to town and if you can't you just are a lot more relieved to see the sunrise.
The graphics are great, that is they're great when it comes to the environments and the giant creatures that you battle. A lot of work when into creating this huge world (not as big as Skyrim though but it holds its own and as far as I can tell there is no fast travel). The characters that you meet and control throughout though are fairly generic, there's no real personality in these people and not even in the people you control.
I was a little hesitant going into this game as it is a whole new series. It's not as detailed as Skyrim but it holds its own. I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves a game with fun gameplay. Honestly, I have no idea what's going on in the story but the game sure is fun as hell to play.
I haven't finished the game yet and am hoping I'm still far away from being done but I have heard the game can be finished in 35 hours which if true, is pretty short for this kind of RPG. I give it a 9/10
