I think a lot of the negative reviews played the game on the default settings and just never played again. This isn't entirely their fault though, as the default settings SUCK! It's very frustrating that the game forces you into these on your first playthrough.

For me, I found the game way more enjoyable on Quick speed with the "Long" ages enabled in the advanced settings. This makes the pacing much better. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

(P.S - This is from a player with the Standard edition who doesn't plan to buy any of the DLCs for quite some time.)

I think a lot of the negative reviews played the game on the default settings and just never played again. This isn't entirely their fault though, as the default settings SUCK! It's very frustrating that the game forces you into these on your first playthrough. For me, I found the game way more enjoyable on Quick speed with the "Long" ages enabled in the advanced settings. This makes the pacing much better. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops. (P.S - This is from a player with the Standard edition who doesn't plan to buy any of the DLCs for quite some time.)