Anyone Playing Grim Dawn?
wraith5641
Member Posts: 500
in Off-Topic
I got the early access version last year, and I played it for a bit then. I put it down for a while because I wanted to wait until the full release. The full version came out a couple of weeks ago and I must admit, I'm addicted. Whenever I've had free time this week I've gone straight onto GD. The game is pretty awesome, and puts D3 to shame.
Anyone else having fun with it?
Anyone else having fun with it?
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Anyways, yes. I'm still having lots of fun with this game. It has a very deep, but easy to understand progression system that constantly keeps you involved. Definitely my favorite ARPG so far.
It's funny you mentioned Path of Exile, because I just went back to it yesterday. I started a brand new game with the Marauder because I saw the new Ascendancy sub-classes. Juggernaut ftw!
On top of that, while the class and skill system SEEMS really great, it doesn't play out in practice. Half of them are useless, and even more than most ARPGs, you are usually spamming two skills, and anything else is beyond sub-optimal.
The genre itself is just played out. It's peak (and maybe only redeeming point) was Diablo 1 and 2. Sacred 1 and 2 at least added an open world aspect. But Torchlight and Titan Quest/Grim Dawn just seem like loot slot machines more than games. At least Diablo 3 has a fast-pace and gameplay elements developed over the years that make you actually want to progress in the game, and Path of Exile has some great ideas even though it's essentially a MMO ARPG.
There isn't anywhere else for this genre to go. In the end, for all the crappie it got at launch, D3 ended up being the best of this erase simply because it's more fun and flows better.
Grim Dawn is not a game for casuals of the genre. You have to remember that it started as a Kickstarter project, and the funding for it came primarily from hardcore fans of the genre, most probably the same people that have helped keep PoE alive. This means a few things:
- Lots and lots of loot, but few rare items, or even useful items
- Components to improve loot, requiring a lot of grinding to find
- A complex skill system that relies on subtlety rather than putting on a spectacle
- Large, confusing maps that force the player to explore and invest time in doing quests
- Mathematics
- Class depth and replayability
These are points that hardcore players absolutely expect with no compromises. This is because anything less would basically be Diablo 3, and the reason the likes of GD and PoE were popular in the first place was because they AREN'T D3. These games gave frustrated hardcore players a chance to really test their mettle in a game which requires a lot of time and thought to be rewarded. They make those playing them feel as though they deserve to be powerful because it actually took their own initiative to carve out a character that is worthy of being so.
Yes, it takes a lot of time and slogging it out with the same enemies over and over again. As BG players, it's hard to come out of the mindset of constantly being faced with epic battles and always being entertained by monsters, so when we switch to playing ARPGs, we realize how much we take those battles for granted when we rack up the same amount of kills as the whole BG trilogy in 3 hours. BG is a pure RPG, and the monsters and battles play a part in telling a story. The monsters and bosses themselves have depth, and lore that is told even outside of the game. The stories of some of the NPCs are more memorable than Charname's. In ARPGs, monsters are just there to make you look like a god. The game is about you, and the monsters are all expendable. Grim Dawn forces you to earn your godly status by mowing down armies. If you can hit the real heights of the game, that's where the fun starts. That's where you are fighting demigods as a demigod. That's where being overpowered feels extremely satisfying, because it took you so long to get there. If you are not willing to put in the time to get to that point, then yes, Diablo 3 would be more suited to you. If you're willing to grind it out and really put in the time to building a character, the late game is highly enjoyable.
I had had to get a new computer since the last time I played, which meant I had to start my collection of rare items all over in my TQ Vault. That's kind of a good thing, as building my collection in TQ Vault was always half the fun for me. (What a great user-created utility, by the way, one of the best ever community add-ons for a game.)
So, I expect I would probably like Grim Dawn, and I'm sure I'll play it eventually. I didn't know the final version was available now.
I'll plan on getting it as soon as I get a character through Siege of Dragonspear and get tired of my current phase of playing Infinity Engine games.
I have never played Grim Dawn, but I just yesterday watched a comparison on youtube between D3 and GD. It looks like GD has a pretty good replayability, something D3 really lacks; the skill tree is definitely better than Diablo's, which was likely designed by and for toddlers. all in all, I have to agree with @wraith5641 , D3 is too simple and too easy. The endgame looks exactly like at the beginning, only monsters are tougher. Not smarter or "better equipped", they just have a higher number of HPs. That's it.
I would probably give Grim Dawn a try, if I wasn't going to spend the next few months on Siege of Dragonspear.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/41225/should-i-download-diablo-2/p2
But the fact is, at this point, Titan Quest just served as a template for Grim Dawn, which takes it's basic concept (Dual Mastery determining your class) and just takes off and never looks back. If Path of Exile can lay claim to Diablo 2's legendary online and trading component, Grim Dawn may be the first ARPG that actually feels like a GENUINE single-player RPG experience and not just a loot parade (but there is plenty of that as well). Side quests, hidden quests, Faction systems with reputation gating rewards, multitudes of options of augmenting gear and crafting, and a totally solid Victorian Apocalyptic Lovecraft vibe.
Anyway, both this game and Path of Exile are pretty much the apex of the ARPG design. The leave Diablo 3 in the dust at this point now that they've been totally fleshed out, and certainly Torchlight 2 as well. I'd even go so far as to say they may be better than Diablo 2 itself, though it's a bit hard for me to think anything should ever take the #1 spot in the genre from that game. But in 2016, I'd certainly rather be playing either of these.
I've not played very far into Grim Dawn, but it was fun.
Have enjoyed Titan Quest EE, but found myself with a build that kicked butt all the way through but was useless against the final boss!
@Fardragon That happened to me too with Titan Quest. I've been trying other builds but haven't played any of them to the final boss.
I don't really approach things as "There must be a BEST and a WORST and I will only ever play the BEST." I like most ARPGs about the same - I mean I like some more than others, but I enjoy all but one that I've ever played and I can't even remember the name of the one I didn't like. All I remember is that it was science fiction and basically had the same three classes as Diablo.
I can live with enjoying both Titan Quest and Grim Dawn just like I could live with enjoying Diablo and Diablo II. That's the thing about subjective judgments like "It's a bit like drinking warm water." Your subjective judgments work great for you, but they don't apply to everyone - and everyone else has their own subjective experience to draw from. Your experiences are not universal.
I mean by all means, Grim Dawn is a good game and worth recommending, but why have a go at people for playing a game you've deemed unworthy? What is the point?
I myself also used to love Greek mythology, though as I've gotten older for some reasons I've been less inclined towards it and more drawn to sword and sorcery, dark fantasy, and Lovecraftian themes as time has gone on. Ultimately, I think Titan Quest's main problem is that it's first act is so repetitive from an enemy standpoint (satyrs, then satyrs, then hordes of more satyrs). The game is gorgeous (STILL even in this day and age, and it's been around a long while) and I have nothing but praise for the dual-mastery system. I just don't think it's paced particularly well.
I don't mind fighting all those satyrs, or the undead, or the harpies - although I think that's the extent of enemies in Act I?
Probably not relevant in this thread because it's about Grim Dawn, which is a really good game in its own right and it is fair to say that the devs applied lessons learned when they made Titan Quest.
As for Titan Quest being slow, I think that depends a lot on your build. I tried several, and stuck with the one that tore through Act One like butter, but then proved useless against the end boss.
There are centaurs, spiders, boars, crows, demons, ant men, gorgons and a cyclops in Act One. (although I have only played the enhanced version so they may be new).
I got distracted from my Grim Dawn warrior I was working on, and didn't finish my first run through veteran level. (There's a toggle that lets you skip normal and go straight to veteran.) I still want to go back and finish it, though.
Path of Exile kind of lost me when they changed the game for the umpteenth time and reset my main character. I had no idea how to respend all those points, or what I had been doing before. I might play it again and restart a similar character from level one, eventually. Reading back over my old posts in "The Other PoE" thread, I was clearly really enjoying the game at that time.
I also agree with Belgarath that it's wise to start the game on Veteran. I have never played an ARPG that had even a remote level of difficulty on normal mode. D2 is a mostly a joke on normal, Path of Exile is a joke on normal, you could go on and on. There is very little challenge in the genre until the intermediate and late difficulty levels where (typically) resistances for both the player character and the enemies start to come into play.