Thank you - So this suggests reviewers are not disclosing, perhaps out of fear of future blacklisting/financial interest.
Very bothersome.
So it's the reviewers who should be getting the pushback not the game
If you've played DD1, you'll know that traversing IS the game
You get
Rift crystals from everywhere, killing things, opening chests, other people hiring your pawn (or the game "hires" it on offline mode), quest rewards. to hire pawns at your level or just above it costs no, or tiny amounts. If you want to hire someone 50 lvls higher it will cost loads. You should never run out of Rift crystals
You get wakestones from
shards that you get dotted around or for in game Gold
Portcrystals (fast travel points) on there own do nothing. You have to travel manually to somewhere, place it down, then it adds a fast travel spot to your map at that location. You are allowed only a handful of these. You get Portcrystals in the game by finding them in secret areas and dealing with optional bosses. They are an OPTIONAL REWARD. There were 3 constant Portcrystals in dd1 at arious main areas. The extras just expand your travelling abilities
To use fast travel you need
ferrystones, they are also easily obtainable everywhere in game
To edit your character or pawn you can optionally buy
Art of metamorphosis at a vendor available relatively early in the game for Rift crystals, the things you will always have tonnes of
You don't need any of these if you intend on playing the game the way capcom wants you too. If you want to skip content, then you can, and you want to skip getting the items that help you skip content, you have the option to buy these things
It's that simple. In fact fast travel is easier than dd1 with the ox carts available in dd2
Now the multiple save game options I have issues with, everything else is fake outrage. DD1 veterans would know about all this and not care at all