Recent reviews by LB

Bought this on a whim after seeing positive reviews. Enjoyed the game far more than I expected and would strongly recommend. Ended up playing through a full achievement run.

Positives:
+ great setting/atmosphere
+ beautiful environments
+ movement is fun and fluid once you have the hang of some of the tricks
+ lots of hidden stuff to find
+ combat is good with some very satisfying combos (but it can get a little repetitive once you have levelled enough and know where to expect fights)
+ interesting combat build options (the game could do a better job of explaining how to improve your build by fusing chips)
+ engrossing story (I have not played the previous NieR and it did not affect my enjoyment of the story at all)
+ challenging boss fights
+ excellent soundtrack

Negatives:
- dialogue doesn't flow well at times (may be a translation issue)
- a moderate amount of grinding/farming if you want some of the upgrades/achievements (slightly less than say Skyrim as long as you are picking up stuff regularly during your story playthrough)
- some of the jumping/movement challenges are frustrating (but I suck at jumping puzzles tbf)
- occasional glitches/quest breaks that require save/reload to reset

Felt like I was spending more time fighting the horribly clunky UI than the aliens. No ability to rotate the map nor zoom in or out, no indication how many TUs turning or crouching is going to cost you before carrying out the action. Riflemen are terribly weak early on, early game just degenerates into throwing grenades at everything. Very disappointed.