Day 3 (ish) (real life lol) down.
I didn't look at the in-game clock but I know it's over 30 hours at this point. I've just started chapter 6
I'm having an amazing time. The story really picks up in Chapter 4, 5 and so far 6. I am gutted beyond belief that I have to work tomorrow, but at least I have after work/ the whole weekend. Next week is going to be absolutely horrendous if I don't finish the main story this weekend.
I feel like I can't form a solid opinion until I've played the entire game, but the only thing I can honestly say right now is that I'm enjoying myself a lot. There are niggly things here and there I dislike, and almost all of those are related to side quests. For example, people complain all the time that Dragon Age: Inquisition is filled with MMO-style fetch quests, but they never bothered me because there's a rhythm attached to it (i.e. you pick up a bunch in one part of the map and probably fulfill the requirements for most of them on your way to an objective elsewhere).
There's no real way to do this in XV, so I find myself planning out my in-game day with about two to three quests that aren't going to amount to anything meaningful other than a small chunk of EXP, then think "OK on the third day I'll continue the main story" but end up spending 5 in-game days doing different quests because their locations are all over the place and progress time too fast re: travel. The map also lacks detail when zoomed in which is a really inexplicable omission given that the minimap shows you a level of detail not seen anywhere else. Certain things should be marked on the map that aren't and vice versa. The quest log isn't organised in a way I like (i.e., it's not organised at all) and the quests that give you an area to search for something in on the minimap are the absolute worst. For some reason it's near impossible to find things within even a small area.
It's frustrating because they've proven they can do meaningful (but optional) side content all over the game already. For example there's a guy in lestallum called Vyv (who will heretofore be referred to as Hurley from Lost) who sends you on missions to take photographs. It's good because it has a thread - the characters discuss him and his motives, questioning them, therefore making you give a shit about a potential conclusion to said quest chain. Hell, there's even a "professor" side-quest-chain for a woman Gladio knows (a world-renowned researcher, apparently) that is literally collecting frogs, but it's leading somewhere, it's building up to something. The payoff might be shit but the mini-plot-thread is there.
Meanwhile "my car has broken down #224 plz give repair kit" and "oops I fell can I plz have potion #472" add fuck all other than general annoyance. It's the recycled NPC lines that really kill these.
^Other than that, I've had an entirely positive experience so far
EDIT: I just want to add that one of the most impressive things is the animations for items used in battle. The Phoenix Down animation is my favourite thing. The character pulls out a feather and it's just a really nice touch. All of the item animations have been cool so far, but I've only really used potions, antidotes and one or two phoenix downs.
I certainly ain't playing with 4K and I thought they looked great....
