Daiktana is not a first person shooter. Okay, most of the game takes place in first person and involves you shooting stuff. But the intention was clearly to be more of an action adventure game that used FPS as its 'action', as opposed to a strictly action focused game like Doom or Quake. This is the reason for the much-maligned companion characters, why the greater emphasis on story and exploration, why the RPG style stats and leveling up system. When you go into the game with this expectation, you will find yourself having a better time.
That isn't to say there isn't still flaws, oh far from it. I can see why the game earned it's poor reputation, but these days I think the reception would be more 'mixed' than 'poor'. For one thing, it was pretty buggy out of the gate, though that was mostly fixed with patches. Managing the AI partners can be frustrating at times, requiring you to issue commands with keyboard keys or a menu. Even then, sometimes they inexplicably won't do what you asked, until you move do a different spot. Context is important to them, I guess. The game originally had strict requirements on keeping them alive, and also restricted how much you could save; definitely an annoying combination to have. The latter restriction is optional when the game is fully patched. These days, there's a '1.3' fan patch that smooths over these issues, making the AI partners entirely optional if you want, or you can make them invincible, for example. Most crucially it runs better on modern operating systems in modern resolutions. It's how I'd recommend playing the game.
The story is serviceable, for the time. Keeping in mind the game was developed in the late 90's, it's no Metal Gear Solid or anything, but it's a lot more than any of it's contemporaries had going for them. Though it wanted to live up to things like Zelda and JPRGs, and it definitely falls short with that comparison. The voice acting and dialogue is pretty good all things considered. Plenty of eye rolling moments, but you won't cringe like with something like Resident Evil.
The game is split into episodes. The first episode set in Japan in the year 2455 is honestly the worst. What is it they say about first impressions? It's dark, annoying to move around and navigate in, the enemies can be hard to hit, and the weapons are a pain to use... literally. The first gun you get can inflict self damage (which the fan patch can fix). Each episode has its own set of weapons and enemies. The second episode in ancient Greece is much better -- the palette has brightened up, levels are more open, the weapons are nicer. Overall it plays more like something like Quake, which the designers were more familiar with and it shows. It does some fun things with the setting, playing into Greek mythology. Easily the best episode in my opinion. The third episode in Medieval Norway is fine, a lot more grey and depressing, but the weapons are fun and it plays with the setting in interesting ways, fighting plague zombies and wizards. Though there's differently missed opportunities, like when it shows you a really cool demon that just... does nothing. The final episode in San Francisco 2030 is... fine. It's not as bad as Japan, but it's back to dark and dingy, it gets more puzzle focused and is overall more confusing. And the final level is nothing but platforming challenges, which was pretty lame.
Overall, not the pariah of video games people say it is, but still not the best thing ever. Great ideas, meh execution.