izigame.me

I have 8360 Hours in total, 6178 hours on the retired launcher and 2182 hours on the new launcher as of writing this review.
At first this game was great, ahead of its time compared to other popular MMOs on release, visually stunning and really made you feel immersed in the environment it provided. However, now its just a former husk of what it once was, vomiting out poorly made content in hopes of keeping its current player based entertained long enough for them to shove a shiny new cash shop item in your face for you to buy to "enhance" your experience.
I'll break this game down into each of its sub sections and my thoughts and experiences on it so far:
Combat: The holy grail and only reason its worth playing, but if you're just here for PVE then its boils down to a hack and slash item farming simulator with disappointing, laggy and underwhelming boss fights. The best description I can give it is "It sounds way cooler than it really is." If you're here for PVP, well then you're in for a treat, but only if you're willing to lower your graphics down to RuneScape levels of quality so that your FPS is high enough to register your damage and keep track of the 50 players on screen throwing flashy AOEs around (If you're brave enough to leave Player affects on). In 1v1 encounters it feels and plays like a fighting game, think Naruto Shippuden meets Streetfighter, assuming you're at the same Gear Score and Skill level as your opponent, else its just you trying to avoid an invulnerable Panzer tank firing nuclear missiles at you while it de-syncs towards you at the speed of light.
Story: Its horrid. So much so that I've lost count of how many times they've changed it to try to make it interesting. In the newer story content it feels like they're trying to do more than the game engine will allow and some interactions just feel off. The English Dub is awful and feels like you're watching a bad Kungfu movie from the 90s. Because someone at Pearl Abyss thought it would be a good idea to give ASIAN CHARACTERS FULL ON SOUTHERN AMERICAN ACCENTS FOR SOME STUPID REASON. Its not memorable at all and you'll most likely be skipping your way through it to get to the "mid to late game".
Progression: This right here is most likely going to be the reason you'll quit the game entirely. Be it Combat or LifeSkills, either way its slow, so slow that having something on the side to keep you from falling asleep while grinding is mandatory at this point. So I hope you still have a netflix sub and a series on your watch list to keep your brain functioning while you run around the same rotations for 1-6 hours over and over again, day after day. Sure the game does give new players a headstart with the season servers and basically free accessories, capotias, T8 horses and MULTIPLE BATTLE PASSES (yes this is a thing because money), but really it only gets your gear score high enough to START the ENTRY LEVEL end game grinds. Expect to be farming for 3-6 months (depending on your RNG and drop rates) before you can even consider taking on vet players. And don't even get me started on Upgrading Gear. Its like gambling, sitting at a slot machine hoping you can succeed with that >5% chance for enhancement, but if you're willing to spend real money on pearl shop costumes to convert them to cron stones you can just slam your face on the enhance button without having to worry about YOUR GEAR DOWNGRADING WHEN IT FAILS. This is one of the many "Pay to Win" features of this game and anyone who says this game isn't pay to win is smoking unnecessary amounts of copium.
Cash Shop: I'm not going to lie here, the costumes are dope. But EVERYTHING in the cash shop is overpriced. To a point were you could realistically find yourself wondering if you should really be buying this costume or instead spend the same amount on one of the new AAA games that got released. Its predatory. And there are so many "pay for convenience" items that are so beneficial that the game feels like you're at a disadvantage without them. They created problems and are selling the solutions. Ofc you could go full Free to Play but expect your progression to take longer than someone with an unfathomable amount of credit card debt.
Gameplay: In order to do anything the "correct" way without missing something, you'll need a guide. A guide for levelling, a guide for gear depending on which class you choose, a guide for crystal sets, a guide for best farming rotations, a guide for worker empire setups, a guide for QUESTING, a guide for crafting, a guide for cooking, a guide for pvp match-ups, a guide for log books, a guide for navigating through the desert...the list goes on and on. I've taken so many people through the new player experience and it feels like explaining an encyclopedia to a preschooler. And I know it might sound appealing to dumbasses who like to gatekeep games and topics that require textbooks to understand, but its just exhausting. Its a constant back and forth of "How do I do this" and "Where do I find that".
Community: Drama, harassment, hate, crybabies, racists, sexism, discrimination, false accusations and any other "isms" you'd experience from a typical bronze league of legends match. PVP means conflict. And because its a "PVP game" tech support will refuse to help you because "they can't interfere with pvp related issues". Even if someone is constantly harassing you or making racist remarks they wont do anything about it. Its "part of the game". I've seen so many degenerates saying things that would put them on a watchlist if they said it in public. So brace for degeneracy. Not to mention the game is region locked so 90% of the time you're going to be interacting with someone who can't speak English and is using google translate to swear at you because you stole their rotation.
This game isn't a game. Its a job. If you're looking for something casual you're in the wrong place. And fully expect to have to replace your GPU or entire Gaming laptop at some point from having to leave this game running overnight for some activities.
It's not worth it.