Believe the hype!
Coming from SWG, WoW, AC2, DDO, this game has alot to over and truly a huge gameplay area to do it in. It has a vast amount of things to do... from crafting to fighting... even diplomacy abilities has been incorporated in a very unique card game. Basically... let me break it down to cons & pros.
So here is the cons of going with this game:
1) Huge 20GB footprint... used for loading the vast amounts of data from the game so that moving from each area seems semi-seemless. You can tell when you hit a boundary... you actually see a graphical line and you pause a brief sec... but then you are free to move again once past it.
2) Video requirements are very steep... 128MB PCI Nivida Express card barely serves any purpose... I had to upgrade to a nVida 6600 Overclocked 512MB PCI Express card... about $179... but works great now.
3) So many characters and with so many profs... what makes it bad is that they are split over 3 different areas of the world... not to mention the multiple geographical sub-areas which are huge. Thus, if you do not plan correctly... you and your friends may make characters that cannot play together for a long time... or one of you would have to embark on a perilous trek to get to the other... leaving behind common trainers, etc. Example would be a Halfling and a Raki... both seem like great partners... but they are geographically far, far apart. Good thing... who knows. Just need to preplan.
4) There are numerous areas where solo play can work out... but for higher lvls... groups are probably needed. Yes you can help each other even if you are not in the same group. This is not instance based dungeon playing... but an interactive world shared by many. Have everyone spread out helps out alot I am sure (adding to a previous point).
Pros:
1) Huge... positively huge area to explore and play. Running around brings back memories of SWG... before speeders and such. Mounts are available for purchase after lvl 10 (Max char lvl is 50 atm). You can use diplomacy to get a free mount. ;-)
2) There seems to be a balance on what you can do solo and in groups. It is somewhat "twich" based... so positioning, etc makes a difference. The more skilled you are... the better you can fight, etc. This will help out in solo and groups.
3) Crafting... works fine. There are some bugs but nothing to scream about. The evidence is simple... lots of stuff on the market selling at reasonable rates..
4) Diplomacy - here is something different... for those of you that don't like to kill things... ;-P Rewards can include a mount (nice pretty white horse).
5) Graphical beauty... it is very beautiful... with the right card. Earlier complaints and whines are coming from individuals with sub-par cards. I know... from experience on video card issues... thus I had to buy a new card to get this thing to run correctly. Once setup correctly with the right hardware... the game is very, very lush and beautiful. Details are everything.
6) For all the complexities... this game has had very little issues overall... granted there are extremely annoying individual problems that everyone has... ranging from claim rewards vanishing to certain types of video bugs... but overall... the game has come off quite well. I don't feel I am playing a beta version. My wife and I have been playing alot since this game came out... averaging probably 3-5hrs a day. Overall... it is a great game so far.
7) Lots of baddies... lots of areas to explore... lots of kewl weapons, and stuff to loot. You have a bank... you have email (as locations... not like in SWG... more like DDO). You have merchants pre-stocked with items. You have the ability to buy back items you might accidently sale... for a reasonable price.
Well, I could go on... but overall... this game will appeal to those that miss the old days of SWG... or AC2 before they screwed it up. Granted... Sony has not had the greatest track record... but this game was developed by Sigil and... I think they have done a great job.
Again... don't believe the whiners and complainers. Trolls are common on Gamespot so beware. However... remember, this game needs alot in the form of requirements... 256MB graphics card for sure... and 2GB memory would be nice too. CPU needs to be within the last year... or so. Watch those hardware requirements. If you do take the plung... you won't regret it. ;-)