i will be honest as i most possibly can. English is not my first language so grammer mistakes are bound to be here.

Warning: This game is not for everyone and if you are seeing this post here are a few notes why:

1. Time- 1 run from start to finish can take about 200+ hours this includes trial and erros as well as that you will most likly do when trying to get specific ending. my advise SAVE often AND on diffrent slots! some story moments, areas, as well as dungeons and quests drag the game way more then they should.

2. Theme- this is a roleplaying game yet it leans heavliy on characters who both villians and companions seek redemption or a second shot at life. for the most part it is wirtten beautifully but it's not everyone's cup of tea since it can limit roleplay. to get the most out of this incredible story built your character as a good/chaotic alignment in mind. alignment is important for story choices mostly.

3. System- if you played D&D and know it rules then you will understand this game and how the battle system works rather well however this is a much more complex system for better or worse so fair warning it is a complicated with many ways to screw up character builds and even quests game be warned!
this is not the end of the world though since you can always RESPEC a character in the game be speaking to someone avilable right from the very start of the game.

4. Diffuclty- this game can be frustrating!!! new players please understand i cannot recomend this enough even if you know D&D or pathfinder before playing this pick the NORMAL diffculty cause this game can be rough

5. Quests- my tip for first timers is this: always rush the main quest line and always aim to complete those ASAP ignoring any side quests. don't worry you will have time for side quests and side areas in this game the thing is they are always way more diffcult to handle so gaining levels and items before doing them is recomended. THE GAME FORCE YOU TO DO QUESTS IN A CERTAIN WAY DUE TO TIME LIMITS. (you can still do them all but you can't always do them in any order you want!)

6. Modes- this game is basically 2 in one. the first is the main RPG story which consists of fighting and from time to time exploring the world of the stolen lands and the creatures in it (story is really well written for an RPG in my opnion it is better than BG3). the 2nd mode is the kingdom managment and it is not that fun since it slows things down and can ruin the vibe. you can play without it if you so chose but the game encourges you to play it as well and it can consume a lot of time without you realizing it

7. Companions- you play with a party of 6. your companions are mostly intersting and fun. they also play major part in the main story as such you should always keep them even if you won't use them since some of them aren't build optimally (the game even though it is hard can still be done with these companions in your team). minor spoiler! your companions in terms of classes are: -magus, -barbarian, -bard, -alchamist, -wizard/arcane trickster, -clerics (there are 2 kinds and they play diffrently), -inquister, -ranger, -rouge, -fighter and if you have DLC kintick

8. Character Creation- you should have a character that can fight on his own. so don't pick a full support class. there are so many options in this game but if you want an easy time i suggest you stick to the default class of those that the companions don't have like: sorcerer,paladin, druid, fighter. all of these are great for first time and are all strong. there are many guides on the internet to how to build one the options are limitless.

9. Hiden stuff- many things aren't explained well here! some rules such as shooting into melee are not well explained(you need to take a certain feat for it otherwise it will almost always miss in range), it also doesnt explain well the difrence between weapons such as crossbow and bows or give you the full list of weapons that can be used which makes it difficult to track! importent! certain feats like outflank with combat reflex and sieze the moment for melee characters are a MOST!

10. HIdden roles- one skill in particuler that your party should have at least 2 or more that can know well is PRECEPTION this is the most important skill in this game!!!! locked chests aren't that important but it cant hurt to focus on trickery as well. make sure to increase your skills with things like Tristian 'touch of good' and Lindz's songs for a better time so you don't relod and save scum (i personally didnt do it but i know many like to unlock every single chest)

11. Voice acting- only some parts are voiced and some of the important parts of the story can be missed or forgotten due to not being voice acted.

who up finding they path rn

This one is a definitive recommend from me, but not for someone unfamiliar with RPGs with a group of characters, better start with some lighter ones first.

Why? This one is like the grand group RPG among others. You can turn off some of the stuff, automatic kingdom management, automatic party level up, premade build(s). That should leave only quests but all together it's a big game. It is engaging enough and I enjoyed it but it really feels like managing a kingdom with the busy work and then you need to personally handle some threats. I didn't want to turn some of the part off so it's on me.

The busy work around kingdom can feel unnecessary at times but overall I kinda enjoyed it for its immersion. It's not over the top in my opinion. But managing a lot of stuff on many levels has a considerable disadvantage, loading screens. Build a building? Load management, load city, exit city, exit management, etc. At a certain point it felt like a Bugthesda game. Do I really need to do that as it's 2-4 loading screens away?

I don't have much time to play games and my game sessions never exceed 2 hours nowadays and this game fits this kind of gameplay well. I feel like longer session would be too draining for all the lore, conversations and decisions. Also given the amount of content and fillers some might say, I don't even remember at this point playing other game. Make your own mind about this.

What bugged me is that some things are made in a way where first time player will have harder time. Like a quest that become hard due to timer started when progressing in a wrong time. Knowing in advance when to progress some quest will easily avoid such situation. Or when to focus on exploring and pushing certain quests despite many problems in a kingdom. Some locations, mainly early game, are simply not meant to be visited when you discover them. How do you know? Try and fail, reload, and give up. Also some maps or dungeons suffer from backtracking. Nearly end game dungeon almost made me quit.

This game feels to me a lot more difficult. There are so many buffs you can take and the game is clearly balanced around it. I rather lowered the difficulty and ignored the buffs as it felt like yet another additional layer of the game to learn and manage.

Is that all? No. Two modes of combat, action or turn based. Of course, more to learn! Nah, I kept the action one, the fights were a mess, but felt immersed. Turn based felt like an additional chore. Maybe it will make fights easier? Nah, playing on easy already and the game is long as it is.