My list of complaints and praises

Not very far into the game (towards end of act 2, I think) but here are a few things that I think need improvement:

- Puddles:

They become a bit of nuisance towards the end of act 1. Puddles of blood that span the entire width of a corridor and drain your health/ES.
They stop being dangerous after you figure them out which is about the first time you encounter them. After that they're just annoying. Meaning, you want to go on your merry way but you can't because there's a puddle of blood in your way which drains your health/ES.
Dashing is possible, of course, but you might find trouble at the other end of the dash so for a new, untwinked char that can be a bit of an issue.

Making the pools disappear rapidly after the last foe has been vanquished would alleviate that. Instead of, as it is now, where it feels like your progression through the map is being constantly traffic jammed.

It doesn't help a whole lot either that the same mechanic makes a reappearance in act 2, just in green. But there, at least, they don't block your pathway.


- Chests and other containers:

Finding a chest is an opportunity to make the player feel good about playing this game. As it is now, the player feels nothing. Why should they? For that occasional white whatever thingy that they'll never pick up?
I'm sure it has been said a gazillion times already, but what's the point?
It is a balancing thing, I understand. If the loot is too good too much good loot will exist in the world and therefore something, something bad for the economy, or the longetivity of the game, or maybe even the monetization.

But then, why have chests at all? And jugs and stuff. To balance the constant killing with a bit of peaceful chest opening? Because games like this have chests in them, duh?
I think less is more would be better here. Have one, maybe two chests at most on a map and make them be guarded by blue foes or a yellow one.
And give them a decent chance for dropping something yellow, and a guaranteed few blues and a bit of curreny. Adnd have jars and stuff have a fair chance to drop low-tier currency/shards and money.
So that the player interacting with them actually has a point. Even better than a point, they'd welcome it. "Yay, a chest!" - like that. Not, "Who gives a feces ..."

I think GGG underestimates how important that is. Games like this need their yay-moments, even the grimdark ones. But what GGG did is put in a signifier for a yay-moment ("Yay, a chest!") but neglects to fill it with what causes the yays.
It's a bit of a pickle, it seems. But as it is now, it sucks.


- Oh drabness, oh drabness:

Maybe act 3 will look like carnival in Rio but all I've seen so far are all the colors of the depression rainbow, ranging from dark brown to dark brown, dark green to dark green, plenty of different shades of grey, and now ocher. Lots and lots of ocher.
And it all feels kind of samey-ish. In PoE the different maps felt distinct. The beginning very much resembled how it is in PoE 2, with lots of brown creatures chasing you in a brown, flat map.
But then it opened up. I remember a map with a crossing cutting it into quarters, with rocks and bushes and lots of light. A long, winding cliffside road. A mudflat map with ship carcasses strewn all over. A bright, sandy city that felt like a desert city: Very deserty. And the dungeon leading up to the first act boss, of course, with body horror all over. All in the first act.

It's been a while but whatever GGG did here this feeling of distinctness is gone. The entirety of the first two acts feel like the, in my opinion, terribly drab first act of Grim Dawn.
Maybe adding in a few landmarky features would help? Something that makes the respective maps stand out and feel unique. But maybe that's just a me-problem, I don't know.

That's pretty much it in the complaints department, I think. I'm sure I'll come up with more but here's what I really like so far:

- The Dark-Soulsification of PoE: I love it. You have to pay attention to what's happening on the screen or you're in trouble. Unlike typical games of that genre where you have long stretches of grinding through the maps with no sense of threat whatsoever. Not here! The journey becomes the destination. Awesome.

- The itemization/crafting: In that regard, PoE always felt a bit like roulette. My guess is the aim for PoE 2 was to give the player more agency without giving them too much. So as to not disturb the holy economy.
In any case, I like it. I like it that - in theory - a dropped white or blue item is supposed to be the basis, I think, for crafting endeavors. Not sure, but I think it's one of the intended effects of the droprate as it is.
RNG bites the whole idea in the tuchus, of course, but I still like it.

- How visceral and impactful combat feels: Lots of effort has apparently been put into that, it's so very much different from PoE. And it really blends well with the more difficult combat overall.

That's pretty much it. As with the complaints I'm sure I'll find more to praise down the road. But for the time being, has anyone got 500 or so Regal Orbs for me? I can trade for a random white item.