I think with the coming of Chinese and Korean Single Player AAA games, especially with how Wukong, Stellar Blade, and Crimson Desert were received by players, a lot of game reviewers and journalists should probably rethink how they approach playing these games. Because it's clear that these games don't cater to what a lot of Westerners value in games or what they perceive to be "correct" game design. But when you go back 20-30 years ago when gaming was in that highly experimental phase of gameplay design, so many fantastic games were made back then and paved the way to a lot of the popular genres we see today. I'm not saying CD doesn't have legit issues. It clearly does. But I think at this point conversations do need to happen regarding becoming more open minded towards foreign games that take a different approach to game design than what we're used to. Some people may need to go back to the 90s/Early 2000s mindset of stepping outside their comfort zone to try things they're not used to.
I think this is the kind of game people would be better off waiting until Fall/Winter Sales, because at the rate in which Pearl Abyss is churning out big patches, addressing feedback, not to mentioned planned updates, the game will probably be a substantially better experience to play later in the year.
