After only just starting and unlocking Rattay I'm pleased to report it's not as unforgiving as I thought it would be
Pretty much runs into the familiar "stamina" or "low item level" categories of nuisance more than anything mechanics related
I definitely heard multiple attacker battles during the main quest froze all forward progress for a bunch of players whose builds were underleveled, so that's terrifying to not know when that will hit
Lockpicking on console is also scary when you think about how many quests will require them. I hear there will be an "overhaul" possibly released, so if that comes in the form of an update that replaces the mini-game i'll be over the moon. I'd personally rather just roll lockpick success like a speech check and eat the cost in lockpicks on harder chest repeat attempts than manually control everything
Then again we're talking about a game that makes you fan the bellows to keep alchemy water boiling while turning hourglasses so I think automatic lockpicks were never going to happen
...highlights so far have to be forgetting I had Radzig's Master Sword of Fancyness from the start of the game and instead fighting a looter with a rusty axe literally all day until sundown. The next bandit I ran into took two hits with the sword and yielded. I was none too pleased with myself but extremely satisfied with any game that draws a fight to death out over 12 in game hours until the sweaty embattled and exhausted bastards kill each other middle ages style with rusty tools
