So, I don't really know what to think. I'm at the end of Luculla, just got into Leandra's private chambers (not as hot as it sounds) and on the way towards the Phantom Forest. Luculla feels a little bit too big for what it offers, it isn't as tight as Cyseal and a lot of it is filler. What's up with the Immaculate village in which you can't do anything? Except fight, I guess. There's also the goblin village, but you can't trick the goblins into giving up the blood stone in the totem without killing them all (one of the tougher fights), so it also feels like a straight-up fight in disguise. The rift with the demons was a cool idea and you get a bajillion xp if you smash the blood stone while engaging the big one, but getting to the blood stone required only a passed check with the Immaculates. Speaking of checks, why are we given the 3 options always? They feel less like skill checks and more a random dice roll. Which they are. There's also the fact it's always the best option to pass the checks and then attack anyway, you get more xp that way.
I guess my overall opinion of this game is that it's a popcorn one stretched to bursting, it's playable and technically competent but disjointed and doesn't make much design sense. Cyseal is unlike anything else in the entire game, including encounter design, atmosphere, and writing. It badly needs an editor, we get the same information said in different ways constantly, you ask the same questions to everyone and 95% of the writing doesn't matter. I read it because it's good practice for my language skills, but had I played it in English I would've stopped reading what they were saying in the middle of Cyseal, just like I don't read anything in the PoE franchise. I can't imagine what this would be with voice acting had I left it on. The gameplay is also kinda weird. The way ambush interacts with % damage increases is hilarious because it double dips. I get over 2500 damage with a single ability (that knife storm thing from Scoundrel) by being buffed with Oath of Desecration and Rage, making me one-shot everything which isn't immune to damage, and even when I'm not using that ability, my normal ones do 1000+ damage per hit so I kill everyone in a single round anyway. The other hilarious thing is how you can gulp down potions of healing one after the other, making them better than any other healing ability because they are cheaper in terms of AP.
On the positive side, I haven't stopped playing it yet (although I kinda wanted to in the middle of Luculla) and there are some cool visuals here and there, especially the river of blood in the Immaculate village. They also stop trying to be funny at one point, which is always a plus. We'll see what Phatom Forest has in store.
