A good review, but for me the game would be 3 stars at best. I found the combat tedious due to the fact that most skills only passively influence combat and because spellcasting has such long casting times, that you rarely get more than one or two off per combat. The UI including the terrible minimap and lack of journal were really not for me. The game reminded me a lot on what I didn't like about Baldur's Gate (for example, stupid AI, which allows itself to be kited, pulled, et. which the developers compensate for by putting tough monsters in place that one can't beat without kiting, et. and terrible pathfinding), what I didn't like about Fallout(huge maps with little to do and the same opponents again and again) and what I didn't like about Ultima (Difficult puzzles that aren't always intuitive, and being left at times without a clue). Normally when you take elements from classics, you try to take the strengths, and leave the weaknesses be. Needless to say some people will like this kind of gameplay, some like me will tolerate it for the 17+ hours I put into the game, and others won't be able to get past the first map. The story and atmosphere really are super, and the game has a lot of unique and interesting ideas. Its one of those games that frustrated me, because I wanted to have fun with it, loved certain parts of it, but came back to not really enjoying it. Buyers of modern crap beware.
