The environmental art really blew me away, I ended up taking over 150 screenshots as I went through the game. Unfortunately the writing (especially the dialogue) falls flat in a lot of ways, though I suppose you could excuse it by saying you're talking with robots the whole time. The story touches on a lot of impactful topics such as capitalism, classism and police states, but really doesn't say much about them. Ultimately though, just existing in the world was a real treat, especially the first town you visit (The Slums), which was so full of life, with so many charismatic interactions and vignettes. I wish that level of detail stayed through to the end, as the charm wears off in later cities, and in the last few areas really feels generic (besides the very final area).

Also- mild spoilers: I can't believe they introduced those sick body horror eyeball wall abominations and then did nothing with them.

To preface, this is my first souls game, and if you're a diehard fan just feel free to dismiss my complaints now, because I just might not "get it".

I loved this game, or- more like 85% of this game, which was satisfying, and exciting, and had some of the best open world exploration I've ever seen (better than BotW even imo).

The issue comes from the conflation of challenge and tedium. On one hand, my favourite bosses in the game (Margit, Margott, and Godfrey) were all delightfully challenging and extremely rewarding. Fighting Margit was probably the most time I've ever spent on a single boss in my life, and beating him will be held as one of my favourite moments in a game- ever. But, on the other hand, bosses like Renalla, Fire Giant, and Elden Beast were excruciatingly tedious.
Having to run through Raya Lucaria for over a minute, then clear a painfully easy first phase just to get to the real boss for Renalla.
Having to run in circles chasing after Fire Giant while he rolls away.
Having to beat Radagon each time you challenge Elden Beast, then having to chase after it just like Fire Giant (but this time with no horse!).
Soulsborne games are punishing, I get that, but this feels less like punishment and more like a waste of time, I'd rather these bosses have insta-kills or whatever over this.

This all combines with most bosses feeling relatively spongey due to the expectation that you'll be using spirits (and god help you if you use a supportive spirit), and other weird boss choices like the duos, as well as the number of recycled bosses.

Beyond these frustrations, I thought this game was amazing. If I'm being honest, if the game ended with a souped-up version of Godfrey (or another boss just as fun), it would be five stars, but the Elden Beast was such a disappointment to me that I didn't even feel rewarded when I beat it, just relieved that I could move on. It really made me think about how many bosses just felt disappointing, and frankly marred what is an otherwise amazing game.

I think if I had played the original back in 2013, I would have appreciated this a lot more. Going straight from the original to new content makes it feel underwhelming, especially since the bucket stuff has you repeat a lot of areas from the original. Meta commentary is just not as impactful as it was when the original came out, it's been done, and done better at this point, which lessens the impact for me personally. This is especially true as the seems are so visible, and you can easily tell when a reset/new route has begun.
That being said, there were some parts that made me laugh out loud, which is rare for any game to pull off, at least intentionally. The narrator is really incredible, and is great at moving between a comedic and serious tone.
This game is definitely worth playing if you enjoyed the original, or are like me and have always been meaning to check it out but never gotten around to it. It's an important game even if it didn't resonate with me.

I think it's really cool Game Freak is trying something new, and you can tell the people that made the game were passionate about what they made. Unfortunately, there are some graphical and technical glitches, as well as systemic issues which just come from a lack of polish. The game relies too strongly on being an open world while not having much of substance to do within that open world, besides catching Pokemon. As a fan of Pokemon, I had no major issues with this, and enjoyed simply seeing the characters that I'm already a fan of. That being said, the game's maps would have massively benefited from locales or dungeons to discover, or anything more substantial than the sparse boss battles and two small towns with minimal intractability. The one dungeon in the game (Snowpoint Temple) felt very barren and was over in 10 minutes.

T H E B O U N C E R
The game isn't amazing by any stretch, but gotdamn the designs are so good, and the game is full of charm. All the dumb quirks like the wonky voice acting and jank ragdolls, combined with a playtime of only ~2 hours make this a fun game to go back to, especially since once you beat the game you unlock the ability to play as all of the different side characters.
If you're a fan of this game like me, do yourself a favor and look up some of the concept art, Normura's work here is incredible, and the amount of detail that went into this game is super cool.

This used to be one of my favourite games, I probably still have more hours in it than any other fps, but they killed it by catering to the competitive audience to such a degree that certain heroes became necessary at higher ranks. I stuck around through the mess that was Goats and then dropped when they forced 2/2/2 (I normally play healer, it wasn't because of queue times, it was because it severely limited the possibilities and potential for fun hero combinations). This game was once great, but a lack of any clear content direction after the first few years ruined it.

I got this from a Best Buy bargain bin when I was 8 and couldn't get into the first level. Replayed and beat it when I was like 13 when I was more Online and heard how infamously bad it was.
It has its charms. The weirdness and jank are part of what make it so interesting. Probably best if you watch a youtube video on it rather than actually waste your own time playing, as it will just lead to frustration. Try and find someone who has more so say than "game bad, glitches funny" though. There's something fascinating under the surface.