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Game Review: Path of Exile (Video)
What ever happened to point-and-click action role-playing games? Blizzard set the standard for this genre around the turn of the century, and while a few companies have launched Diablo clones, it's been a pretty quiet market. Several years ago, a group of hardcore gamers decided to change that. They put together an independent game studio and began developing Path of Exile, an ARPG that would update and refine all of the characteristics that made the genre great. On 23 October, after a lengthy open beta period, they launched the game, opting for a free-to-play business model supported by ethical microtransactions. It's dark, freewheeling, unashamedly complex — and a lot of fun. In this video review (with transcript), we take a look at what Path of Exile has to offer.
opting for a free-to-play business model supported by ethical microtransactions.
Anyone care to expound on that?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
and it's a fun game, far better than D2
Obviously you need to like lick and kill games.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
to point and click RPGs? You mean like Torch Light and Torch Light II?
Windows only, so not going to happen in my house. Pity, it looked kinda cool.
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
Torchlight?
Torchlight 2?
Titan Quest?
There have been plenty of good action RPG's. I didn't see anything that made me want this above the awesomeness that is TL2.
The thing that I enjoyed about Diablo 2 that Diablo 3 completely eliminated was my desire to create a new character build that no one thought of and make it the ultimate character. It is that pursuit of perfection that drained hundreds of hours away of my life for Diablo 2. I would get a character power leveled up to around 70. Try out a build. If it didn't work I had the punishment of having to do another series of power levels to try again.
Diablo 3 not only failed to replicate this excitement, but they took every possible step to ensure that I wouldn't. I got a few of the characters up to max level in a month. Then there is no reason to ever create another character of that class because there are infinite skill respec. Ok fine, Let me pursue the ultimate equipment. Oh wait I can spend a 100 hours grinding or dump $100 in RMAH and get it. There is no point. I might as well be playing Cookie Clicker.
That being said Path of Exile does a good job at giving this experience. Lots of skill combinations combined with deep leveling system works well. I feel like there is still a perfect build out there I can pursue.
Sounds a lot like support materia in FF7.
The only real downside I experienced is that the client will occasionally desync from the server, so your character will seem to be in another place than it really is. It doesn't happen too often, but it's an annoyance when it does
Early on, I had the same thoughts regarding the desync issues ("it's so rare, doesn't seem too bad"). However, as I progressed to higher difficulties with a lot more enemies on screen with a lot more going on, it got really bad. It's nice that there's a workaround if you suspect it's happening ('/oos' in the chat window), but on more than one occasion a boss/mob has murdered me while I was elsewhere in the map.
It is excellent if you like Diablo and can tolerate (thrive in!) a fairly complex ruleset.
The user interface is simple and slick. The graphics are nice looking. The gameplay is solid.
One thing I appreciate is that, although complex, the rules are very consistent and sensible. When I got "increased projectile damage" it worked on every single projectile I used, regardless or source (spell, bow, thrown 2H sword).
The character generation lets you pick'n' mix from potentially every class, but not without cost. It is easy to build a bad character, so for long term success you have to "win" the character building as well as the combat. It really delivers on multiclassing, but it is up to you to build a good character.
The microtransactions are all cosmetics and UI convenience. I consider myself quite discriminating about this sort of thing, and it doesn't bother me any. You have a limited inventory shared between all your characters, and it is possible to purchase more inventory. You could argue that this is a kind of pay to win, based on the statistical nature of the loot drops and the fact that a larger inventory could give an advantage in terms of retaining potentially valuable items. FWIW I dropped $20 and got max inventory and a cosmetic.
Probably the only downside to this game is a "feature" called desync, which is exactly what it sounds like: client and server worlds diverge, then the client gets suddenly and spectacularly corrected. IMHO this issue is neither frequent nor annoying. It seems to affect some powers more than others. If you are playing hardcore (one life) you might rage quit.
Sometime over the past year, I've found that grind-y games like Path of Exile leave me feeling unwell. I enjoy them, and they will just consume time and attention like few other entertainment activities, but when I'm done playing, I feel a little bit sick. I don't know why or where this feeling comes from.
I noticed it most strongly playing the very enjoyable Drox Operative. I would start the game and a couple of hours would just fly by and then I'd feel physically ill. That doesn't happen with other types of games. Just ARPGs, for some reason. I get wrapped up in lots of games, from Saints Row IV to Need for Speed to Batman: Arkham Origins and lots of less well-known games. None of them cause this phenomenon.
I've never heard anyone else complain of this, and I'd welcome any opinions.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Yes, I know you can click the transcript, but making us wade through a 2 minute video ad (with horribly choppy sound for me) seems pretty obnoxious. I doubt anybody from Slashdot or Dice is actually in here reading these comments, but if you are, I thought you should know that I'll be avoiding these kinds of articles from now on.
-- Sent from a computer.
I love the fact that this game has no gold. Maybe there are other RPG games out there that do something the same, but this is certainly the first I've played where this was done.
In Diablo 3 and Diablo 2, I often found myself wanting a piece of gear that was outside what I could actually afford. You don't have the gold? You don't have the gold. Everything is assigned a fixed monetary value and that was that.
Since there is no gold in PoE, everything gets bartered for using in-game items (that are genuinely useful) as currency instead. What I've found is that this makes the trading industry a hell of a lot more flexible and open if you don't have the exact amount of money that someone wants. For example, I'd often see stuff that I "couldn't afford" (in whatever item the person wanted for trade, ie, orbs of fusing, chromatic orbs, etc). I'd still contact that player anyways, and 9 times out of 10 we could hash out some kind of deal for a bunch of stuff in my inventory that I didn't need but was otherwise considered valuable enough to trade with.
Combined with the decent drop rates and the so-called "ethical" micro transactions (I never once felt the need to give them money- but I did anyways because I loved the game and felt they deserved my money), it's a very smooth RPG experience. The story is a bit convoluted and thin, but the gameplay is excellent and the guys behind it (GGG) have some pretty amazing technical support (you'll actually get a human if you email them, and it'll be a totally personalized response- not some canned robot thing that completely misses the point of your entire query).
No Mac or Linux port? Fuck it then!
If PoE interests you (and it should, if ARPG is your thing), also check out Grim Dawn, made by Crate. I've been part of the Kickstarter process and even their "rough" betas have blown Diablo 3 away. Ok, that sets the bar too low... Even their betas are fun, stable, immersive and have good content.
OK, I'm a little disappointed. I'm running XP, and run by default in non-admin mode. The install MSI package required admin rights to install, and now, after waiting about 2 hours for the 4 gig download, it appears the game by default also requires admin access?????
Come on, in the 21st century games running on Microsoft operating systems should *not* require admin privileges. Please fix.
Oh, wait, I just bought myself a second hand PC with Win7, LOOOOL~!!!
-- 29A the number of the Beast
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Are you offering me a job doing what you do, coward?
Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.