According to steam, I have 70,02h in this game. I did a full thorough good-guy "mage" playthrough, exploring every inch of the maps and then a second a*shole-guy/evil "barbarian" playthrough. I still did most of the sidequests on the second playthrough, but didn't bother exploring more than necessary since I already knew where everything was. Kind of rushed it the second time around.

One thing that other games need to make the norm for games like this is NO STAMINA USAGE when sprinting. That along with the parkour and the usage of verticality actually had a huge impact on the fun of exploring. Combat is pretty good, at least as a melee character. Magic is kind of gated to 4 spells of grimoires if you want to be effective and deal damage effiecently without constant chugging of essence potions. Also the hotbar is clearly made with the limitations of a controller in mind. Even on pc you are limited to 6 slots and have to use a cumbersome "weaponwheel". Not a lot to play with in terms of spells plus godlike powers not to mention companion abilities. The game does pause when in the wheel but it detracts from the flow of combat when you constantly need to "pause" to choose skills that could have just as easily been placed directly on a hotbar that isn't a meager 6 slots.... Not even quick switch bars as far as I could tell. Idk why they keep applying console limitations on pc, it shouldn't be that hard to at least expand the bar from 1-0. The game also reset my hotbar on reloads and when exiting camps which was a pain.

I don't agree with the frustrations of the reviewer. I didn't particularly like the gear focused progression but it wasn't a huge source of frustration for me personally. Also the saving... maybe the reviewer played on console and it's different there or a very early build, but on the release version on pc you can not only change the frequency of autosaves, you can also F5 quicksave anytime as well as the usual manual saves.

I did encounter minor bugs, the hotbar one, 10 or so crashes on my 70h (for some reason about 75% of them was in a camp while crafting and enchanting), the odd visual glitches, one missing quest npc (that came back on a reload) and a some bugged achievements (in my case, the camp and fast travel ones). And also bugged bounty quests. two different ones, one in each playthrough where the quest item didn't drop.

The companions are meh really and the story offers no unforseen plot twists. The NPCs are for the most part props, which shows clearly in this game. They are invulnerable and do not react to being attacked. And they don't give a rats a*s if you barge in to their home and steal EVERYTHING in front of them and firebomb their face.

I don't often agree with gamespot but I do this time. The game is "ok" or "fine" which is what a 6 is to me. It was barely good enough for me to do a second playthrough, hence a rushed one. The reason being I was a fan of the older crpg games. If you are not, I'm not sure it will be for you.

The game is imo OK, no more, no less.

@Vodoo: I don't know of course since I'm not involved in this particularly, but my guess based on other busniess deals and company thinking I've had irl through work my guess is 3rd party gets a guaranteed fixed compensation from microsoft and then either another fixed sum or a small % based on milestones f ex the number of players playing their specific game on the service, probably with some clause that it has to be for atleast a set period of time etc. Or they can get compensation in other ways such as lower cost for them to publish all/some/specific title of their games on a say xbox or another perk like that.

So 3rd party has to make an educated guess if they will earn more or less than not allowing it on the service. They will earn less money on each player that would otherwise buy the game at full price regardless if it's not on the service, but they will get money they would otherwise not get from the people who didn't even have the game in their sights and just tried it out because it would be at no extra cost for them since they already have the service.

This might also open those gamers eyes to that companies other titles or maybe create a new fan of the franchise for future titles etc. That is also the way it works with having a game on many platforms and Microsofts own thinking when expanding their games beyond xbox. I as a pc gamer would never ever buy a complete and limited ecosystem like xbox that for me is all and all infierior to what I already have, and does not add anything but access to very few titles not available on pc. But now that their games are available to me I'm more than happy to shelf out some cash on games that I find interesting including any potential dlc etc on those games that I otherwise would not spend any cash on at all. So they have added revenue by adding new customers such as me, willing to buy the games, not willing enough to buy their hardware for those games though.

So the educated guess is basically will they get more profit overall by the end of the day by potentially cutting costs, adding other business beneficial perks for them and adding more customers and selling additional content/games to more customers than they loose by earning less from the customers that they already have hooked and that would buy the game at full price anyway.

The more people on the service, the lower the risk of loosing money and easier for more 3rd party to allow their games on there. Just like the more options customers have for access to a game the more potential purchases a game has.

Some companies wait and let the hooked customers pay full price and once the initial purchase rush has dwindled they put it on there to try and "double dip" and hook new customers. Or like Sony, they let the few that would buy a PS5 for a game get one, and they get the cash from their top titles, and then 1-2 years later when the sells slow down they release them on pc and it gets another big bump from those not willing to buy the PS5 for the game.
I know the last bit has nothing to do with gamepass but the thinking is the same.

@harharbinks: Can play on pc or tablet in the meantime? Or isn't it a cross purchase game?

@kadaverhagga: "Your description of upgrades and obsession and still not beeing happy, then flip flopping beeing completely fine with something that's not even close to delivering what two xp's would, tells me you either have a serious mental issue or you just shat all that text out and it's not true at all."

Yeah I really hope it is the latter because that's some serious problems he has if what he said is true. Not even close to representative for the pc gaming community, and that's coming from me, a console gamer. I have alot of pc gaming friends.

@sam628 I can see your point, I probably wouldn't even buy the x1 if I had a gaming pc, maybe still get a ps4 though as atleast there are games there not on pc. As it stands now I'm still a bit to comfy to go the pc route so I will trade my x1 for to the X eventually even though I know over time I will spend more money on my gaming than a pc gamer, a reasonable pc gamer that is, not one with mental problems like khanwashere if what he said is even true. I smell bullcrap on that one.

@toonarmy20: Just read what kadaverhagga just wrote. He toar you a new asshole right in your face. All of mine and his arguments are backed, the only argument you keep repeating is the one no one claimed. Our arguments are set, you have nothing.

@toonarmy20: Loving your damage control and just dismissing the facts here. You saying nay doesn't make it so. Go to any pc site that has built rigs and see that the prices I said are true.
Stop actually beeing stupid and don't deny what everybody knows is true.

@toonarmy20: Clearly you are retarded as someone who buys the X, like me will not settle for playing old games and indies, that we for the most part either own, have played or wouldn't touch anyway, especially since they do not even support it's power. You might claim you only play those games, wich essentially cements the retard label for you if you buy the X still for that. But we both know you are full of shit. So again let me tell you, 10 new games avarage, a reasonable number for one year of gaming for an actual gamer, cost me and you 600$, 300$ more than the same games cost a pc gamer. And then we pay the xbl fee aswell. So we spend around 1160$ in the first year and then 660$ per year. Pc centric sites as of 27 oct has matched the X at 712$ as far as like for like you can get between two different platforms on the low end and on the high end 940$ for an upgraded better build with more headroom, they even included a UHD drive wich pc gamers normaly don't give two craps about, so I'm even going for the higher end of that range. So a pc gamer that spent almost twice the X on his rig and the same avarage on game, spend 1240$ the first year and then 300$ every year. So you do the maths on wich will cost more over time until it's time to upgrade again... You can even spend more on a pc and get better performance and still in a 4 year period save money if you are an actual gamer and buy games. Yeah roughly over a year for them to get on even footing. Doesn't mean any preference for any given platform is better or worse, there are many reasons to choose either, it just means one is cheaper over time, one is cheaper at first buy so in terms of long term economics a pc is better. How do you think economics work, why the hell do you think Sony and MS subsidizes the console in the first place, omitting profit and sometimes selling at a loss, if they wouldn't recoup down the line? That's the reason why we have the paywalls and restrictions.

@toonarmy20: So you think the X will be such a fail that it'll be 200$ within a little over a year? Wow that is bad news considering the S isn't even that cheap now 4 years later.

But even if it was, you'd be playing all that time on pc while the ones waiting for the X to be 200$ have nothing to play on. Wich means, people who buy the X now at full price will spend more on something that does less during the same timeframe. You are so crappy at making arguments.

@toonarmy20: You are so much in denial. You can't buy shit like for like pricewise on xbl or psn vs pc. That's another well known fact everybody, pc and console gamers alike knows. Even retail for the most part have better prices. Again please get off xbox, you're embarrassing us.

@kadaverhagga: This right here. It can't be clearer than this. He could be to stupid to get the hypocrisy in his claims anyway but he'll probably get it but still deny it because his fanboy ego is to big to admit he has faulty logic.
I'll revel in the thought that he knows he's wrong deep down and that everybody in this comment section sees he's just a delusional fanboy and has no case.