So since you've gone into fanboy mode again(No offense meant), and played this game for a while can I ask a few questions? How is the writing, quests, and overall narrative?
As combat is not what I look for first when I decide what RPG's to play.
First I'm not in fanboy mode (whatever that is), I'm enjoying a new game like everyone else who is playing it (or most of them, check Steam if you don't believe me).
The writing is fine, but I'm still at the early stage of the game where I have to choose a faction and go meet them. So I haven't done a ton of quests or had a ton of dialogue yet. From what I can see so far, it's fine, not bad but not world-shattering either.
Only quest I've gotten so far was to find a special mushroom in a cave. The cave was dark and ominous, had a few fights and some difficulties but I recovered the mushroom and got a nice reward for it.
The combat is fun but you can avoid it if you don't want to risk it. The game is hard though so it will give you trouble if you try to button mash or not pay attention to your enemy's movements. You also have to decide - Do I want to fight this creature that might kill me? Or do I just sneak past/avoid them? The game is sort of like ELEX in that manner where tough creatures are present from the start. The world is dangerous and you have to move accordingly. When you die though, you get one of 90 random events to determine where you end up. You could be kidnapped, enslaved, or someone from town can recover you, etc.. You can't savescum so you have to be careful, which is a nice plus in my book.
The graphics to me are stunning, very crisp with a long view distance. Movement and combat is responsive and feels right, so it has good controls. Loot is fun to find and the progression is sort of Gothic-like where you start with nothing but get stronger as you go. The soundtrack is truly excellent and adds to the atmosphere a ton, it's sort of like an old-school JRPG soundtrack from the PS2 era, very nice. The backpack mechanic adds to the game as you have to be careful what you carry, carry too much and you get slower, carry too little and you might not have what you need to survive. Overall I'm enjoying it quite a bit, it's what I expected yet also more than I expected, it's an actual adventurer sim RPG.