Finally started playing this a few days ago. Went with Melee, immediately regretted my decision, went back and got with guns instead.
No idea what's with the difficulty in the game. Playing in Hard, the first encounter I had with a Marauder Ringleader (or the ones with heavy armor) and 2 other mooks took 9 (!) tries to beat and I died relatively regularly throughout Emerald Vale. Since I left it, though, I haven't died once and most of the damage I take is from falls. And this is with 18 and 6 in dodge and block. I have to ask, why are there 3 different armor types but no armor skills? Using Heavy armor completely trivializes ranged damage as long as this isn't babby's first FPS and you know to move away from the heavy-hitting slow moving projectiles like the ones from Primals, Automated Sentries and Manticores. I'm also swimming in cash and ammo and that's while almost exclusively using the Plasma Launcher and LMG. Because companions' guns don't use ammo, and because there isn't anything you can buy (or there rarely is) that you can't find in a corpse 2 steps away from the entrance of whatever hub you're in. Also, consumables are rendered useless on account of how easy Hard mode is, I usually just sell the lot apart from a couple that I reckon might eventually be useful. Which, let's face it, they're not going to be. I never find myself thinking "I could really use +200% healing rate" or whatever during a fight, let alone am inclined to pause the game so I can go into the menu to use it. Heck, I didn't realize you could hotkey a 2nd consumable 'til just now. Oh and BTW, where are the grenades? Or usable mines?
I don't really know how to feel about this. Most of the things I like about it are QOL improvements (such as containers being circled blue and animated and playing a sound when you're near, so you can identify them from the rest of the scenery) or how the FPS feels better than its Fallout predecessor (which wasn't hard). But even with all the effort made for its aesthetic, it has a real lack of an identity. And the tone is weird. For something light-hearted, there seems to be a distinct lack of humor, intended or otherwise. And for something po-faced, it seems all too content to let us blindly massacre the local fauna, and I'm including the humans, moral or ecological considerations be damned. Fallout pulls this off, and the reasons for it are many and worthy of their own post. This doesn't. Not so sure why. Not yet, anyway. Regardless, I'm left feeling that the plot doesn't drive you enough and the setting doesn't justify the hammer you're taking to it to accomplish... whatever that was.
Lastly, and this isn't the kind of thing I tend to notice but... where are all the old people? Where are all the kids? And for that matter, where are all the women? All I see are 20-40 year old dudes. Some of whom have tits. Weird.
But I'm a keep chugging along. About done with Monarch.
