I just started it up, and I must confess to being somewhat disappointed.

Animations/game visuals seem kinda sluggish, the translation is average at best (Dear Daedalic, when you are being drowned, you do not "gargle" - that is something you do with mouthwash), and it just doesn't feel particularly great.

Does it pick up a bit later, or is there something you can do with the graphics menu (which is really not that clear, IMHO) to turn some non-essential stuff off so it performs better?

I was a bit disappointed at the beginning myself. For having such nice scenery the gameplay feels rather simple and the story is not inspiring. And yes movement feels really sluggish which ruins the effect the scenery might have had.

This sluggishness doesn't get much better but the story and gameplay does. By the end of the game I was really happy with it despite the flaws. There are some interesting puzzles and the story, while not getting that much deeper, eventually got me invested in the fate of the characters.

I think it's a good game quality. Very nice story, good graphics, has a lot of Dark Eye lingo, puzzles are not too hard to solve which is nice, but at the same time there are some puzzles that make you think before you have that "ah-ha!" moment. The inclusion of having magic spells tied in with puzzle solving is really nice, I like having that, a bit like in Zork.

I think if anyone doesn't like the beginning, they should keep playing, the story picks up after not too long. There are some twists and turns in the story, that I doubt many would be able to guess what may happen, I sure couldn't.

About the movement, the game runs fine for me with high graphics on. I do have the HD video off though, HD video runs sluggish for me.

Game is nice though Characters Animations could be better. All the rest is great, You can'tstuck in a dead end because u didn't take something earlier, and puzzles are interesting without being too hard (i only stuck once in whole game - towel and mirror was my weak point :) ). It is Very good game for casual gamers though may be too easy for Hardcore adventure players. And i didn't think it is low quality as all hand-drawn locations are wonderful.

The last point&click game[s] I played were back in the 90's like Return of the Tentacles, Monkey Island etc.

Yesterday I wanted to see Memoria because of DSA and this is the prequel of these stories. The lack of German voice is OK, as it turns out the English voice is just as good and I like how Nuri sounds ;)

The best way to explain the gameplay is probably this:
I started at ~22:00 and have no clock or watch at my desk. Once I finished the first few scenes in Andergast and had to flee town with Nuri, checking the time showed it was already 01:30 in the morning (massive overdue for bed). You can turn off subtitles in the game, he did sound very much like he was put under water a few times (no sounds when actual sub-surfaced).

The beginning is indeed quite slow and underwhelming, but the game picks up pace and becomes much better.

I loved it.

I agree that the beginning was awkward, but the game just gets better and better after our heroes have left Andergast. Eventually I liked the game so much that I bought the sequel Memoria at release instead of waiting for sale.