I am almost a hundred hours in, the game is great. Ignored the gay choice with Hans and it was never brought up again, thank god.
I met Musa and I liked the interaction between him and Henry - you can, in fact, object to his criticisms of Bohemia and he will apologize if he has offended you, although that may have been missed by players as it happens while he is showing you around camp. I didn't anticipate liking Musa as a character as much as I ended up doing. I have way more of a problem with Katherine than Musa, tbh.
I was dreading the jew quest until the "infiltrate antisemite meeting" quest ended up with the jews betraying me and trying to kill me, with the game almost explicitly telling me they only saw a stupid goy when I walked into their quarters. The only reason Samuel ends up liking Henry is because he finds out they have the same father (in a way), so he has to reevaluate some things. Could be less subtle, to be fair, but I found it to be fine.
Also, with a high scholarship skill, Henry can respond to Samuel calling him a goy by explaining that "goy" means "nation", and therefore Samuel is as much of a goy than he is, which made me chuckle. It's a really good point that I never considered. Henry tells him, indirectly, that he is a citizen of the same nation as him, therefore (unknowingly) challenging Jewish loyalty that lies first and foremost to their "community" and not the country they reside in - the very reason why Jews have been hated forever. Again, it could be less subtle.
I dig all the skill checks and ways that the game gives you multiple options to do quests your way. Main quests are very linear like in KCD1 with hard fail states, although less than 1, but the side quests are rarely as straightforward as they appear and are very enjoyable. I haven't finished the main quest line yet, so it could still all go to shit. I enjoyed the first map and corresponding story a lot, second one is a bit weaker so far but that may change once things get rolling.
My main criticism of the game is the following:
- Too much talking. I like talky games, but it's impossible in this one to not skip dialogue. Every single NPC has tons and tons of dialogue, and while that is somewhat commendable, I think "less is more" here. Baldurs Gate had a similar issue, but it's worse here. Has it's upsides, though, because it means the interesting characters also have a lot of dialogue.
- Bugs. I was promised a bug-free experience, and so far three quests have broke on me, one irreparably so I could only get the worst outcome. The Tournament feels great, when it works, but I had to figure out how to strategically skip time in between rounds to make sure all contestants have the right gear, so I don't fight against someone in the longsword competition who still uses short sword and shield or (my favorite) no weapon at all.
- Tournament is fun, but it really needs some more meat, like one or more sidequests attached to it. It becomes routine very fast. The rewards include some gear that is otherwise unobtainable, but those items aren't even that good, especially since you arrive in Kuttenberg with the best sword in the game. Needs interaction with the other fighters, too, like going drinking after the tournament or talking with fighters in between rounds, mocking/honoring your opponents etc. Something. It feels way too "gamey". This is an area where MORE talking would have been highly appreciated and I'm not talking about the announcer.
- Same problem as in KCD1, where money becomes worthless after a while and the game has no way of accounting for this. I just sell the gear that I scavenge from dead mercs, and I'm running around with 30k. When the main story goes "We need coin to hire mercenaries", my Henry could (and would) flip that bill easily, yet the game doesn't give me the option or even considers it. Don't nerf my ability to make money, just let me spend it on main story shit. It would feel so good to have the option to finance your operations yourself, like Pribyslavitz.
I don't need the jews, I have the coin! I don't even pick up gear anymore, unless its value is above 1k, as it is just not worth my time otherwise.
- The best tailor in Kuttenberg has a permanently locked door and you only have about ten seconds to trade with him until the guards throw you out. I JUST WANT A BROCADE HOOD, YOU WILL ACCEPT MY GROSCHEN.
- Some gameplay mechanics get over explained, but the blacksmithing mini game gets under explained and many players are confused as to how it actually works. Sometimes the UI will also not show the right quality item for the weapon you just forged, which annoyed me.
- Everyone is a useless retard except Henry. Everyone just sits around twiddling their thumbs and drink, while Henry does all the work. I get it, it's playing with the main character trope ("Why should I do this, why can't someone else do it?" "Well, basically because you're the main character"), but it does not make me like the Devil's Pack. Say what you want about Hans, but he was actually doing shit when he tried to get to the wedding himself. Sure, it almost led to him swinging, but I don't know a single fucking thing that Zizka did since arriving in Kuttenberg, except fucking boozing. When we rescued the Dry Devil, I was very surprised to find myself having to fight the 7 heavily armored guys alone, as everyone else ran for the hills. Was it a bug? I don't know, but I don't like these guys. Thankfully, Henry doesn't have to like them either.
The quest I really enjoyed was riding out with the Lord of Semine during the blacksmith quest. Felt like KCD1, going on the hunt with Capon, riding out with a friendly NPC, and even though Henry did everything there, too, it felt right. It wasn't that his Lordship and Gnarly were incompetent, they are old as fuck and Gnarly has a bad shoulder and fucked eye sight, and Henry is a spry, young and competent knight, who is doing this kind of investigating all the time.
Second map is all cutthroats who aren't that likable, which I guess is the theme the game is going with - first game was all Lords, second game deals with a lot of the morally grey areas: Robber Barons, Mercenaries, Bandits and the opportunistic, backstabbing type of Lord. At least I won't be sad when they all inevitably die.
- Katherine is way too much of a girlboss to me. The real "forced romance" is between you and her. Henry will reveal to other characters that he is in love and will talk about Katherine, as if I made a choice somewhere to get together with her yet. I don't care how big her tits are, she's boring. I get it, she's basically a reboot Theresa, but while Theresa was feisty, ready to stick a dagger in a cuman and could dish out some zingers, she was a genuinely kind girl with her honor intact and Katherine is just a mean, unlikable whore that Henry would never even consider. She's just not his type, game, and it bothers me that you keep pretending otherwise.
Other than that, this has been a very enjoyable experience. Will give final thoughts once I finish the story.