Agree on the controls.
Yes newbies will be (mildly) confused about the classes if they haven't played Wizardry and don't know what stats they need to get certain classes, but you can just allocate your alignment and bonuses to the appropriate attribute till you get a basic class (Wiz, Fighter, Cleric, Thief). The most annoying thing is that there is no re-roll button (you have to go in and out).
On levels up - yes stats can sometimes go down just like old Wizardries; the randomness is seemingly linked to the race and class; it is known that the Luck stat (which is very useful for a number of the calculations including and particularly random item drops) is only majorly cultivated by one race (The Halfing race Porklu). Munchkins will as a consequence tend to build whole parties of porklus.
Whilst easy early on, the game does have a difficulty spike closer to the last dungeon and personally I found the last time round near the end of Shiin's dungeon (unless you have invested in fighting levels prior) your non-fighting classes are very squishy, even backrow and with a couple of Bishop Magic Walls guarding them. I haven't played the DLC dungeons yet.
