I like the game. I like the exploration. I like fighting enemies and bosses. I like the art design and level design.
What kills the fun for me is the constant material grind and the constant inventory management. What makes this even worse is that tools have a durability and it takes too much time to get the resources.
The game just feels unnecessarily time consuming and punishing in areas where it shouldn't be. I need material X, go to area A, run around, kill and loot stuff, need to get back to the town, because my inventory is full, run to my chest, run to sell items, then go back to area A, run to where i left of... The gameplay and world are sooo nice and fun, but I am held back by the feeling that the game wants to waste my time with the wrong things. I also don't like the gem system and destroying one thing or the other... again it just feels unnecessary and like they want me to waste more time. I just want to have fun and be able to try things. There is no added value for me.
And don't get me wrong I play many games where you need to grind materials or XP and I like games with many systems that I need to feed with items and time, but here it feels too unrewarding and unfun and I just started the game.
SMALL UPDATE (after +10h after first review)
Despite what I wrote above, I have a lot of fun playing the game. It is so well done and satisfying in many regards. So now I tend more towards a positive review, but will continue playing more before changing anything.
UPDATE 2 after 12 additional hours
The game is still very fun in many regards, but inventory managment, grinding materials and material processing is still very annoying and unfun. The times I have to go back into town and run to a vendor to sell stuff, run to all my chests in one house to get rid of stuff, run to all the refineries in my other house to process all the materials in a very annoying way and than finaly get back to having fun. It is not unfun to grind and to have to go to town, but it is the quanitity I need to do it. And Inventory upgrades only help in a minor way.
UPDATE 3 after 7 additional hours
All the boss fight, so far, were very fun. Some bounty fights are very nice, some are annoying. The story and cutscenes are beautiful and the voice acting pulls you into this world. I always want to know what comes next, but now not only the material grind and inventory management is still not fun, but also the level grind is getting unsatisfyingly slow. I am level 25 in Marin Woods and want to level and progress, but also want to skip most of the fights there because of very very very annoying enemies and enemy mechanics. The level design is very well done and satisfying, but the enemies in this area are not only way stronger, but also take way more time to kill and with the new mechanics, they bring with them, it can be an even longer fight. So my only option is to grind a little more, just one or two levels, but I already fought a lot in all the other areas and also did a lot of bounties that start to feel like a chore and the crucible can be annoying too. So now I am at a point where I really want to continue, but don't know what to do that feels like fun. I strongly believe that this will not be a problem in the full game, but for now I struggle a little.
Update 4 after 2 weeks of not playing
Looking back, I really don't like the upgrade system. Everything is too much work and upgrading new gear and weopons is not fun. Trying out different builds is not encouraged and that is also very unfun and like the game is holding itself back. But the game constantly gives you all different kind of gear, weapons, etc. but storing stuff you may want to use or save for specific stats becomes tedious. The games gives you stuff, but does not really want you to have it or try it - only if you put in a lot of repetitive grind. More choice means more fun, but here it fells like a parent who never had fun as a child and don't want their child to try anything new and just want them to stay in line and "real fun" is only acomplished through hard work. I really hope that 1.0 will be better in this regard.
