So, a few more hours in, I can't really recommend it in its current state:
- Barely 8 hours in and I already completely broke the economy. I have about 20k gold and the most expensive item I've seen so far was 1.5k... I get you'll reach this point in most games, but after just 8 hours?!
- You know how level-ups in BG feel too rare, especially later on? This game seems to go the exact opposite route. I can barely leave a single screen without leveling up. It's honestly weird - and as a result, each level up feels less meaningful. Not a big issue, but still..
- Bugs. Bugs, bugs, bugs. Plus extra bugs on LInux apparently (graphical glitch making everything look like you're on shrooms, can be "cured" by resting
)
- The ability bar is an absolute atrocity (and according to the voices i
n this thread of mine, I'm not the only one hating it). Just a gigantic WTF.
- Summons suck - everything you summon lasts 3 turns, that's it. There's even an obvious trap spell that improves units you have summoned already - which would last 1 turn by the time you cast it on existing summons
- All wizardly classes seem to be the same, with the only difference being their access to spells, but not even by much. I've yet to find a spell that e.g. only necromancers have access to. Everything else (skills/abilities) are apparently identical between the different wizards. Feels more like sub-classes than actual classes. Bummer.
- There's not enough ammo around. Not joking. After just about 5 hours in, my necromancer ran out of bullets for the sling and now I have to manually prevent the guy from going into melee combat. And arrows seem even more rare!
- You can set the AI to do stuff automatically, but I'll be damned if I ever saw companions do more than cast a heal or armor. Not sure if bugged or stupid.
- Some quests seem to require you to be at a certain location at a certain time, but you can't rest or pass time everywhere. So you need to travel around - with loading screens taking about as long as Total War: Warhammer 3 for me... pretty wild.
- Combat is way too fast, everything dies in a few seconds. Including you if you attack something above your pay grade.
- Some game mechanics are a mystery. Spell descriptions won't tell you what certain effects do (I can guess what "stunned" does, but wtf is "itching", etc.) or how long spells last! Should you cast a spell in combat cause it's short or before it? No idea!
- Crafting seems interesting, but it is implemented in a way that leaves your potion brewers (mages) constantly overburdened, since ingredients have quite the weight and mages obviously lack carry capacity. Honestly, ingredients should either have no weight or be globally accessible during crafting.
On a positive note, I do like the writing (mostly, especially the humor is my thing when it appears) and think that almost everything I listed here is fixable.
And I do think the game looks nice, really a nice throwback to BG2+IWD times.
But right now?
Can't really recommend.
tl;dr: Wait a few months.
That's what I'll do as well. Keep it installed, look at patches as they come in.