Onced

I'm about 15 hours in, just past the first dungeon. Everything about this game, from the aesthetics and musical presentation is top notch. There's only ONE complaint I have tho.

MORGANA STOP TELLING ME TO GO TO SLEEP, I'LL DO WHATEVER I WANT, YES I CAN DO DOWNSTAIRS IF I WANT TO LEAVE ME ALONE

I've been playing for about 3-4 hours now, playing through on Emily. I'm not sure how many different zones there are, but Karnaca seems MASSIVE. Plenty of little hidden nooks and crannies with story elements, loot and whatever else. Needless to say, it feels a lot more open than D1. Enemies are more intelligent than the first game it appears. They're more aware and can spot you fairly well. I can't really comment on the story as I haven't played through much of it, but man do the clockwork soldiers seem fucking cool. I can't really give a solid judgement because of played so little, but I can honestly say if you enjoyed D1 you'll probably love this as well.

I think it's all down to consistency of damage. An average Hanzo isn't going to be providing much DPS or many kills. Additionally, they typically have no presence in a team fight. Unless you're godlike, it's just a better choice to select a hero that doesn't require such precision and intuition. Who cares what people think in QP, as long as you're not actively hindering your team, it's fine to roll a Hanzo - ignore the assholes.

Also: nerf scatter arrow

While I certainly don’t condone people being burned for eternity, I feel the misinformation (read: lies) does warrant some consumer backlash. You can’t look at the end product of NMS and compare it to the earlier statements and videos made by Sean and not come away disenchanted with the result. There are around 70,000 reviews on steam – more reviews than I’ve ever seen on any game – and the overall rating is 37%. A significant majority of players dislike NMS and by extension, Hello Games. I’m not a marketing analyst or business professional, but I can’t see HG walking away from this crapstorm. There have been far too many bridges burned between Sean and his audience. Unless the studio drastically rebrands itself, the vitriol and stigma will haunt Hello Games until its dying days.

After watching 4-5 hours of videos from both GB and other outlets, I've gotta say my hopes have been pretty much dashed. It's a beautiful world with some gorgeous environments. It's got a Spore-ish charm to it that not many games have. But beyond that, it's.. empty. The premise seems to be exploring planets for resources, going to space, then finding another planet for resources ad infinitum. There's no hook. I'm not gunning to save the world, there's nothing at stake and no one to save. It's an intergalactic walk through a nice looking park. It's relaxing and it might be enjoyable for an hour or so, but eventually you just want the ride to stop.

I suppose that's my biggest issue with it. It's a walking simulator that doesn't have the drive or appeal that's attached to the genre. There's combat, sure and funny looking aliens. But what do you do?

I've put in around 7 hours, most of which has been in coop dungeons. The humor is very Borderlands, so that's either a good or bad thing depending on your opinion. The art direction oscillates between between gorgeous and 'what is happening why are there so many colours'. The PvE is pretty fun, coming up against a raid boss with 1-5 other people is really cool. Dungeons have a habit of stretching on a bit too long for my liking though. The PvP isn't a straight up DOTA clone, and I feel that comparison is a bit flawed. It definitely takes some inspiration from the genre, but doesn't rely on it exclusively. It makes the Overwatch/BB competition seem even more bizarre in my eyes. They're really nothing alike.

But to actually answer your question, it's not at all a bad product. It's a very Gearbox product. It oozes charm and there's very much a Saturday morning cartoon feel about it. Your mileage may vary depending on how you feel about the art design, the combat etc.

@mike: Awesome, I'll definitely check those out. Thanks for the heads up.

I'm really enjoying it. The new enemy designs are fantastic, especially the Faceless. My main gripe is with the frequent time limit imposed. It feels like the majority of missions have a "do X thing within Y turns" parameter. I played EU/EW very cautiously, so it's hard to adjust to the new tempo. The overworld is INTENSE. Each time I move to a new location to scan one new event, I get at least 2-3 others. It's suffocating.

Reviews seem pretty excellent, about what I'd expect. The EGM review citing difficulty and 'stress' as a negative blows my mind a bit.

My impressions after playing a few hours:

• It's got fantastic atmosphere. Some of the run down, virus infected apartments are legitimately creepy and unnerving.
• Weather effects are fantastic and play a role in combat. I had a snowstorm drift in, and it was basically impossible to target anything effectively
• The one mission seemed kinda cool I guess.
• The Dark Zone extraction point takes far too long.
• The customisation and weapon types seem to have a bit of depth to them
• I really can't formulate an opinion based on this beta
• I still have no idea what The Division is

It's a great beta and the combat and mechanics are solid. But the last two points are really killing me. There's barely enough content in the beta to really justify it being a beta. A single mission, side objectives and the DZ isn't enough to sink your teeth into. As it stands now, I'm cautiously optimistic. If Ubisoft doesn't drop the ball (and let's be honest, they've done a LOT of ball dropping) it could turn out to be a pretty fantastic product. But I'm not holding out any great hopes.