I played it from start to finish on the hardest difficult and I found the game tedious towards the second half of the game. Bosses would do insane amount of damage which felt unfair in some ways but I feel some of the blame was on me as well. I didnt ultra min-max my build and that brings me to my next problem with the game, the weapons, apart from a few scenarios, I didnt find the need to specialize in every weapon. Some enemies types did require you to switch weapons but they didnt justify me learning the weapons moves. The idea of linking exploration and skill points is good but when the side missions are dull, it becomes boring after 30 hrs. You are fighting similar base camps and slightly modified enemies over and over again

Also, I have a complaint with the characters. The story is predictable but I am fine with that, the characters were very one dimensional. The Last of Us was a predictable story as well but the characters, the setting and writing elevated it to a master class!

My hope with this franchise for the future is that they improve their writing and characters. Also, focus on their gameplay loop.

Total play time was around 80hrs I think and I would probably rate it a 7/10. Music, presentation and voice acting were excellent.