Not much new to add: the first ten hours of the game feature a good balance of quests, combat, and conversation. The SPECIAL system is compelling, and (while magic is a bit underpowered) it's neat to see it applied to a fantasy setting and corresponding set of skills. The characters you meet are amusing, though generally shallow. The setting and backstory is promising, but lacks depth once you get into it. The combat is uninteresting but inoffensive.
This is all damning with faint praise, of course, but I've overstated the badness of mediocrity. The first part of the game reminded me of Divine Divinity level for me in terms of its balance of storytelling and spontaneously difficult fights. The Diablo-cloneness of it means the interface is easy to come to terms with. The 2-D graphics are nice looking, the score is lovely and well-paced. And while the writing isn't fantastic, since when is "fantastic" a reasonable standard for video games? (Sadly.) The dialogue is never cringe-inducing and is often fun. Don't go in expecting Planescape: Torment and you'll enjoy the fact that there IS dialogue and setting in what's essentially a streamlined ARPG.
In short, for the first part of the game it's somehow more interesting than the sum of its parts and kept drawing me back. After around 17 hours I feel I've gotten my money's worth (not too difficult at this price) and am not horribly disappointed that the game has gone downhill so rapidly.