I first want to preface:
I played the first DD way back when it first released on PC after years of waiting and yearning for it; I watched all the trailers for it when it released on Xbox because it just seemed like the PERFECT game for me: single-player open world exploration in a medieval setting with interesting classes and weird lore

idk if anyone knows what I mean when I say this but playing the first one gave me the same feeling as when I watched the 'Sacred Ashes' trailer for Dragon Age Origins and I absolutely LOVED that trailer as a kid, just the whole 'a group of adventurers exploring a dark and dangerous world' vibe and everything
so of course I was absolutely in LOVE with the first one and its DLC when I finally got to experience it myself all those years later; it was everything I wanted it to be and I played through it multiple times back to back right away
it was my sleeper hit recommendation for YEARS after and one of my favourite Action-RPGS but I did notice it was flawed in quite a few ways and didn't realize its full potential in others

this brings us to 2024 and the release of DD2
which...honestly doesn't really do anything substantially different from the first one
it feels way more like a sidegrade "remake" than an actual sequel or an upgrade

but despite all the technical issues (of which quite a few have been fixed but there are still some remaining; for example the NPC pop-in in cities is atrocious for me, like at times I'm quite literally walking into invisible people and THEN they become visible etc.) and the insane demand this game puts on your system (I used to have a 3080 and overall fairly average rig before I upgraded to a 4090 and just overhauled my whole system and it was borderline unplayable on my old system) despite ALL that I absolutely loved it, I completed my first 1 1/2 playthroughs on PS5 and put about 150-200hrs into it I think and was just absolutely awestruck

the quest and world design/world building they created here is truly something special, playing this made me feel like I was 10-12 years old again playing through Skyrim/Oblivion for the first time
there are basically no quest markers or if there are it's very few and in between so the game expects you to pay attention to every interaction and every NPC you talk to to find the right solution to things, which I realize is very hit or miss for people but it absolutely struck gold with me, I LOVED just existing in this world and talking to every person that seemed interesting or might offer news about my different quests and just figuring it out

it's very rare that a RPG, let alone an Action-RPG just goes hands off like this, most of the time, even in the especially great ones you take a quest from guy nr 192, read your quest log to know what to do and follow a little marker to complete it

here even the simple fetch quests got interesting and made me interact with the world in some way; say i.e. guy nr 193 wants me to get him some flowers for his wife's funeral
I could now either listen to him some more and maybe find out where they usually grow
or talk to other NPCs in the village that might know something about flowers (like the general store worker, who sells flowers etc.) or just flat out buy them, or loot them off a random bandit who carried them for maybe some other bandit or just stumble upon them randomly; OR maybe I already had them before he even asked
to bring the pawn system into this whole mix you could also ask your main pawn if he helped another player in another world with this quest so he knows about it or you could recruit another player's pawn BASED OFF of this specific quest knowledge
now you also need to keep in mind that the funeral is in a few days so you need to get the flowers and time and watch them so they don't wilt before you give them to him OR if you don't bring him the flowers before the deadline he'll be pissed/disappointed at you and the quest will fail or maybe he'll try to get them himself and die in the process etc. etc.
not the greatest example but basically every quest in the game is like this; even the boring ones
now like I said you'll either love or hate this as I can definitely see most people just getting bored or annoyed at this and just not doing the quest but I got sucked in completely and just fell in love with the world and exploring every inch of it


CONS:
- I don't understand why they chose to reduce the max amount of abilities you can have with you at once from the first game, if anything this game could benefit from giving the player MORE options to deal with different encounters not take them away from the first game
- one class Trickster being more or less useless despite having huge potential and being VERY cool and incredibly unique and never buffing or changing anything about it after the overwhelming negative player feedback is also a bit of a weird weak point but not a huge deal
- enemy variety could REALLY benefit from an update or two just adding different creatures/species or even just special types or anything because you'll mostly be fighting the same 2-3 default guys/creatures and handful of bosses throughout the whole game which for me personally is not the biggest issue as I don't mind repetition as long as the combat system is fun and open to exploring different approaches(which it is) but I could for sure see some people being bored or annoyed that after 70 hrs in you're still fighting goblin guy nr 5, granted they get stronger and have slightly different types as you approach the later parts of the game but still, just add a few new guys or even larger creatures to fight please

POSITIVES:
- basically everything else about the game not listed above
- combat feels great, snappy, responsive and heavy, weighty when it needs to
-> playing a warrior with a big two-handed sword FEELS powerful, every swing has the impact necessary to convey that power
-> playing a mage means being squishy and slow and deliberate but once you hit the enemy you REALLY hit them with the force of a thunderstorm
-> playing a thief or archer makes you feel quick and evasive while also dishing out quick flurries of damage throughout the fight
- small enemies can easily be overpowered or picked up and just thrown off cliffs or kicked away but once their numbers rise you have to watch your back or you'll be ripped to shreds
- big enemies can be climbed on or pushed over with precise hits to their legs as they lean over for another attack; they hit like a TRUCK and it shows, every swing or wing movement causes trees to shake, grass gets stomped down, other enemies get squished beneath them or suddenly half a forest is burning down with trees and branches breaking down everywhere around you; every fight with one of the larger creatures is a SPECTACLE and it never got old for me throughout all my time with the game, this is where DD2 absolutely SHINES
- interactions between you and your pawns felt like you were actually a group of trained fighters trying to survive TOGETHER, they heal you/buff you as you'd expect but they also might know weak points you didn't consider and share that knowledge or they might use their shield to give you a platform to jump into the monsters face etc etc. it just all feels incredibly dynamic and I loved exploring different options to utilize different pawns/abilities throughout my time with the game

tl;dr:
all this is to say this was one of the most immersive games in recent years for me and if anything what I just described sounds at all like something you'd enjoy please give this game a shot as it is a breath of fresh air despite all the issues it has and I can only hope Capcom don't abandon this IP after the mixed impressions it got after release

good hole to throw money and time into