THE DEFINITIVE CONSOLE EXPERIENCE!

 - tarot cards not actually working 1/2 the time, and other half of the time that they do work, the game seems to decide that what I really wanted wasn’t Intel, or crafting materials. No, what I truly need is more void shards. 

- Archaeotechs and relics that drop with less than the minimum 3 enchantments or without a unique enchantment at all.

- consumable buffs that are supposed to last 5 missions lasting only 1 mission, for which the solution would be to farm more with the uh… tarot card system.

- The morality system that, if you make a mistake during the campaign and pick the wrong morality choice, can only be remedied by running a daily priority assignment and, if you’re lucky, you have a chance to move the dial by maybe 15 or 20 in the opposite direction. In a week, I’ll see the option to make a morality choice maybe once.

- the “end game loot” system that supposedly makes Item Lvl 91+ gear drop so long as you’re running missions at least at lv96 or above that doesn’t work - at all. (even at lv111 missions, no 91+ gear yet)

- the favor/cortex fragment system that seem to have a weekly cap of 200 which is in no way communicated to the player, at all, and could easily have been added as a simple parenthetical in the tutorial window that’s supposed to teach the player about said currency. Meanwhile, the total cost to earn just the cosmetic upgrades for the home base takes 30 favor - or about 4 months.

- The crafting system where the rarest item blueprints aren’t protected from only rolling with 2 enchantment slots or without any unique slot at all.  However, if you’re lucky enough to find an ultra rare unique+5 enchantment slot item, you have to hope that it comes with the absolute perfect rolls because re-rolling the enchantments comes with a risk of those enchantments disappearing.

- The character progression system where, if you stick through it and make it all the way to Lvl 100, you better hope that you didn’t make a single mistake distributing your skills, since using a Mind Reset comes with a risk of permanently erasing your skill points. But hey don’t worry, new season comes soon so you can forget all about your old, several hundred hours main character, anyway. It’s not like anything you’ve accomplished will make a difference when the new season starts!

(Gotta love it when the game you played for the past half year decides that your main character isn’t your main character anymore)

and of course, the Cherry on top: The “next gen” downgrade - which you have to pay for -  so jam packed with extra features and quality improvements that the only way to truly experience all it has to offer is to remove it from your PlayStation, call Sony and learn that refunds aren’t really their thing!

Edit: it appears that they did a great job of fixing trophy acquisition for the ultimate edition. I am curious as to why this took such a priority. Could it have something to do with the fact that  an inability to acquire trophies is essentially the only way one can get a refund from Sony with no questions asked?

There is an overwhelmingly pervasive and consistent pattern  in this game where the most punishing part of it is engaging in the systems designed to reward me for playing it.