So impressed. In many ways an epic piece of storytelling - it goes places I didn't expect, and rounds out many characters in surprising ways. The ambition of it is quite jaw-dropping - I expected an indie effort but this feels very lavish and extravagant, a major contribution to the medium.

The visual conceit is a triumph frankly - the static but visually compelling images give the piece a vivid graphic novel feel rather than uncanny valley avatars we're used to in gaming. The voice-acting and is-it-actual-acting? are excellent throughout - very touching and artistically coherent.

To really enjoy these interactive dramas you do have to understand the form a little. There will be dead ends and loose ends that don't tie together due to the interactive format. There will be unsatisfactory choices that serve the interactivity of the story rather than the full desires of the player. I feel as these games develop we're maybe coming to understand and tolerate these issues, and be sympathetic to their constraints rather than frustrated that they're not something else (ie more like movies or tv) - I know I am.

Generally a delight. Environment design is a triumph, hitting a poetic balance between realism and wonder. Fantasy fiction with a realistic underpinning sums up the plants, the gameplay and the milieu - fits together wonderfully. My gripe is that some of the later puzzles can be irritating in an old-school adventure way, where you know exactly what the puzzle solution is but can't hit the order or particular manner of solution the designer intended - a hint system of sorts would have smoothed that significantly and wouldn't turn a lovely experience into one with moments of frustration.

Having a great time with this, it's an incredibly strong start for what is an extremely difficult genre to get right from launch. Unlike other MMOs I find that I really do get to choose how to progress on my own terms - I'm shocked at how easy it is just to set a task and get to it, the game will bend to whatever approach you want to take.

And it works. For the most part. Easily the smoothest launch to an MMO I can remember. The game looks great, generally plays very smoothly, and honestly over dozens of hours I haven't actually seen lag or glitches in the experience - extraordinary for such a complex online game where often there are dozens of other players onscreen at once.

The world is really great. At first I was a bit disappointed how samey it all seemed in the early zones, but that familiarity has grown on me immensely and actually I'm appreciating the subtle variety as I progress. MMOs by their nature often look quite generic, but what is impressing me is that within that there is thoughtful world design that gets better the more time you spend in it. The master-stroke is how often I go back to zones I've already played and how the familiarity grows.

The big plus - it's busy, which for an MMO is everything, it's nothing without a playerbase. That exciting feeling of a fresh online world where a bunch of people are buzzing around it. It doesn't come around often enough in the MMO space, and I'm drinking it in right now.