The more I play, the more I am certain that this was nowhere near ready for release.
The amount of bugs in the game is just ridiculous, half my quests are bugged and not possible to finish.
The game is not so buggy to be honest (the quick-load thing was resolved) but the game world design is completely
retarded.
This is advertised as an open-world RPG but it's NOT: the game imposes the game flow upon the player and not otherwise.
By this I mean that you can explore but it's mostly an useless gimmick: You can gain insight about locations but you will not be able to beat the mobs and get useful loot. The enemies are so bloated that you can rarely win against +1 lvl enemies (or more levels above your party). You can kill +1 lvl enemies when you fight against 2 or 3 of them but usually there is no fight when they are 3+. In the end you will be forced to backtrack and get on the predefined paths that were intended for you.
The thing is: you have no control over your combat performance. The game doesn't allow it. The most important factor influencing your party is the party level because there is level scaling akin to Witcher 3: You have huge penalties when you fight +1 enemies and you have no penalties when fighting same level enemies (or lower). Your build can influence how much damage you are doing with your weapons but you can be sure that you are in an interval which is below what is allowed for +1 lvl enemies.
Larian has implemented a reversed level scaling system: it doesn't matter what you do, you will always be inside a damage interval which is directly linked to your party level. It also means that you will never be able to simply obliterate enemies which are of the same level or higher. You will never feel badass in this game (except maybe when you obliterate enemies with worse levels).
This system is perfidious because even the loot level scaling is intended to bring you in the correct damage interval. You have the liberty to choose your party members, their abilities and how you approach the battles. But these are the only freedoms you will get in this game. For some is great, for others is not so great. I personally think that this design philosophy is simply horrendous and it brings back memories of shit like Oblivion.
So, if you want to play the "game" and have some fun:
You are forced to do all non-combat quests and only engage same level enemies. This approach guarantees the minimum number of pointless deaths. That's it. Run around the map, find same level enemies, try to kill them or return later. If you try anything else then the game will fuck you in the ass like Sven the Faggot. This is a reason why so many people have difficulties with the game. Their expectation are wrong. This is not Fallout or Arcanum.
Needless to say I lost the will to play the game. Driftwood is 4 times as big as Cyseal. My party is level 12, I cleaned up like 25% of it and I can go in a lot of places but I'm sick of being a good mouse in the maze. I simply cannot stand the grind anymore.
This is probably my review of the game and I think I will take a break until I'm able to summon the will to continue.
