It doesn't quite work the way I thought. I must have been high or something.

The training is PERMANENT. How I missed that 3 or 4 times before, I have no idea.

GI magazine gave it 8/10.

I haven't seen any other reviews.

This game totally sticks it to you when you make bad decisions with armor. I created a couple of gems and slotted them in some armor. About 2 hours later I found a piece that was twice the armor rating and wanted the gems in that piece. I took the original piece to the gem breaker and the ****er wanted 15,000 gold to pull the gems out....AND he destroyed the armor as well.

****.

On the other hand....it's pretty easy when it comes to the enemies. There aren't a whole lot of enemies that can give me trouble.

Yeah and the bad thing about it is that 15K gold becomes a drop in the bucket pretty early in the game, if you want to grind for it.

It's almost like they WANT to force people to grind...

Yeah.....especially because all of the enemies respawn after a little bit.

Does anyone use any of the hammers or great swords? Those things are SLOOOWWWWWW as **** against enemies like the threshes.

I haven't fought any threshes yet but yes, I use a great sword.

The special moves are a MUST, IMO.

In fact, I've kind of developed a "fighting style" around the greatsword.

When I use the great sword.....I basically start off with arrows or lightning to stun them. If you try and charge in against a thresh just swinging the sword....you'll never hit it.

Yeah, I've had similar problems with the Crudok. I use dodge (L stick + B) a lot and it works great for getting around to their flanks or rear and allowing a hit where it would otherwise be impossible.

The harpoon ability is also very valuable.

The daggers are deadly. I can usually get a combo of 4-5 hits in.....roll around to the flank and repeat. They're to fast for an enemy to keep up.

yep

The thing is, with my great sword if I get in ONE hit, they might be dead already . :)

It's built like an MMO in several ways but is a single player game. It's REALLY fun.

Because the combat is so open ended and customizable.......I end up carrying around a set of daggers, longsword and great sword just to switch it up.

Me too! :)

I should also note that residual damage augments (I prefer fire) are pretty nice to have. I've seen foes react by running around crazily instead of continuing to attack...

I've yet to run into a weapon that has gem slots in it.