Let's start off with saying that I agree with all the critique. This game is absolutely marvelous. Now that we got that out of the way, I'd like to focus on what could have been done better.
Graphics 10/10: Uncharted 4 class. Not much to add.
Music 9/10: The OST holds some very enthralling tunes, and some less impressive parts too, but the game does a very good job of playing the good stuff where it matters, and it mostly creates the right feeling.
Voice acting/motion acting/animation 10/10: Let's get these three out of the way since they're top notch.
Story 10/10: While it may not be unique in all ways, and a bit predictable to some, I must say the story was very enthralling. Once you started doing the main quest you really wanted to go on and find the next piece of the puzzle, even if you suspected what it was.
Storytelling 9/10: While the story is fantastic, the way it was told could have been done better. A huge portion of the story related information is gathered through voice and text logs. Now I wouldn't have any problems with that if it weren't for two things. 1. It often intervened with active events like characters communicating, making you miss parts of conversations. 2. You are more than likely to miss at least a few logs unless using a guide. There also is no in game way to track the locations of these story related pieces, unless you are in the very same room they are located.
Gameplay 7/10: This game is advertised as an RPG, which it by definition is. However, it feels more like a Zelda adventure in many ways. From level 1 to max level, I never really felt that my character experience and gear improvements meant that much. The only time I felt like I was getting stronger was when I unlocked a new ammunition type or an exclusive armor, much like Zelda. The combat system was great, although a bit repetitive, but my success felt like it was 95% depending on my skill with killing stuff and 5% was about character strength. Collecting crafting materials was interesting in the beginning, but after a very short part of the game you had more of everything than you needed. Same thing with gear modifications. It would have been interesting to have another tier of loot that was extremely rare and required you to be either very lucky or very persistent in exploring all parts of the game.
Side content 7/10: The side quests are an excellent addition to the main story, and really enriches the game. I wish there were more of them. My problem with this category is that apart from the side quests, there isn't a lot of interesting exploration to do. One part of the game is to collect a bunch of stuff, as canon in games like this. Usually there is a reward for this like a story revelation or a great piece of gear. There is one such reward for one of the collectible tasks, but the others were very meager at the point of completion.
Replayability 3/10: my main problem with the game, and connected to earlier mentioned problems. I don't feel any urge to redo all the exploration and collecting, mainly because it was so unrewarding. Even just playing through the main story, you would have enough points to unlock most of the skills so there is no way to diversify your gameplay style, even if the skills felt impactful. The only standing reason to replay this game would be to relive the immense story and well defined characters.
And that's why this game does not receive a perfect 10/10. Because I don't feel like I will be playing it again in at least a year. Don't get me wrong though, the 40+ hours were absolutely amazing the first time around, and I would recommend this game to anyone with the slightest inclination towards the genre.
Graphics 10/10: Uncharted 4 class. Not much to add.
Music 9/10: The OST holds some very enthralling tunes, and some less impressive parts too, but the game does a very good job of playing the good stuff where it matters, and it mostly creates the right feeling.
Voice acting/motion acting/animation 10/10: Let's get these three out of the way since they're top notch.
Story 10/10: While it may not be unique in all ways, and a bit predictable to some, I must say the story was very enthralling. Once you started doing the main quest you really wanted to go on and find the next piece of the puzzle, even if you suspected what it was.
Storytelling 9/10: While the story is fantastic, the way it was told could have been done better. A huge portion of the story related information is gathered through voice and text logs. Now I wouldn't have any problems with that if it weren't for two things. 1. It often intervened with active events like characters communicating, making you miss parts of conversations. 2. You are more than likely to miss at least a few logs unless using a guide. There also is no in game way to track the locations of these story related pieces, unless you are in the very same room they are located.
Gameplay 7/10: This game is advertised as an RPG, which it by definition is. However, it feels more like a Zelda adventure in many ways. From level 1 to max level, I never really felt that my character experience and gear improvements meant that much. The only time I felt like I was getting stronger was when I unlocked a new ammunition type or an exclusive armor, much like Zelda. The combat system was great, although a bit repetitive, but my success felt like it was 95% depending on my skill with killing stuff and 5% was about character strength. Collecting crafting materials was interesting in the beginning, but after a very short part of the game you had more of everything than you needed. Same thing with gear modifications. It would have been interesting to have another tier of loot that was extremely rare and required you to be either very lucky or very persistent in exploring all parts of the game.
Side content 7/10: The side quests are an excellent addition to the main story, and really enriches the game. I wish there were more of them. My problem with this category is that apart from the side quests, there isn't a lot of interesting exploration to do. One part of the game is to collect a bunch of stuff, as canon in games like this. Usually there is a reward for this like a story revelation or a great piece of gear. There is one such reward for one of the collectible tasks, but the others were very meager at the point of completion.
Replayability 3/10: my main problem with the game, and connected to earlier mentioned problems. I don't feel any urge to redo all the exploration and collecting, mainly because it was so unrewarding. Even just playing through the main story, you would have enough points to unlock most of the skills so there is no way to diversify your gameplay style, even if the skills felt impactful. The only standing reason to replay this game would be to relive the immense story and well defined characters.
And that's why this game does not receive a perfect 10/10. Because I don't feel like I will be playing it again in at least a year. Don't get me wrong though, the 40+ hours were absolutely amazing the first time around, and I would recommend this game to anyone with the slightest inclination towards the genre.