u/Vendavall

Overall I’m glad I stuck with it after some initial bugs (blood spells going through enemies without damaging them, invisible weapons, dialog boxes not closing).

- The world - specially the final region - is huge which is why I’m sure the base game only included 3 of 6 crystal shards (I assume the rest will be DLC at some point).

- The bosses are largely good. Samwise is overtuned and probably should have been switched with Sif in the order you encounter the shard guardians. She’s optional but still felt wildly out of step with the other bosses at that point in the game. No issues with Byaslag since he’s supposed to be deadly in the lore.

- I wish curing Hiratrola would have seen him assist you in a later boss fight (like helping the wolf in the beginning of Resident Evil 4). It would have been awesome if he jumped in against It Beneath the Bog later in the game if you cured him.

- Magic users should have access to all magic spells, even if this were to unlock very late game. I had more unused pearls than spell slots by the end.

- Exploration is phenomenal. Well done to the dev team creating so many hidden little areas to find.

I’d give it a solid 7-7.5/10. Much better than Steel Rising and Another Crab’s Treasure as far as Soulslikes go but not on the same tier as Lies of P and Wuchang.

I play all Soulslikes, even the jank ones, but Kristala might be the worst I’ve ever played in its current state. Worse than Blade & Bones and that’s saying a lot.

- There’s a glitch that’s hit myself and other players where the character weapons become invisible when you’re holding them. Essentially I’m swinging an invisible greatsword. Closing the game and restarting doesn’t fix the issue. Changing weapons doesn’t fix the issue either.

- My magic spells will straight up sail through enemies sometimes without rendering any damage. This is especially common with bosses.

- Deflecting doesn’t always work unless the enemy is directly in front of you. If they’re standing a bit to the left or right, you can time the deflect perfectly and still get hit.

- Some mob enemies respawn at checkpoints and some don’t. Sometimes an enemy that didn’t respawn originally will randomly respawn when I go back to that area.

And these issues are still present after numerous patches. Avoid this game for now: it is awful in its current state.