Rank Your Favorite ARP's
BelgarathMTH
Member Posts: 5,653
in Off-Topic
I was inspired by the Grim Dawn thread to create this one. I thought it might be fun to rank our favorite ARP's in order and compare lists. I'd rank mine about like this:
1) Sacred 2
2) Titan Quest
3) Torchlight 2
4) Sacred 1
5) Torchlight 1
6) Grim Dawn
7) Diablo 2
8) Diablo 3
9) Fate
10) Path of Exile
11) Divine Divinity 1
With all the games on my list put together, I've spent well over 2,000 hours playing ARP's, maybe more. Steam says I currently have 467 hours on Sacred 2 and 181 hours on Titan Quest Anniversary Edition, but that's not even counting all the past computers I played on before Steam was even a thing. (I played Sacred 1, Sacred 2, and Titan Quest from discs before online downloads were a thing.)
I usually like bright colors and upbeat musical tracks, because gaming for me is a treatment for depression. But sometimes I'll still play the grittier, darker ARP's. Path of Exile is near the bottom of my list for several reasons. I don't like free-to-play games, because they tempt me to spend money I can't afford, and I wasn't a fan of the gem-based slot crafting gear system. The huge constellation skill tree was fun, but I didn't like the constantly changing seasonal game mechanics. I also thought the way acts 6-10 recycled areas and spiked the boss difficulty so high as to make solo play extremely difficult if not impossible was a turn-off.
Just because a game is near the bottom of the list doesn't mean I don't like it, though. If it's on the list at all, I've liked it enough to spend 100 hours or a lot more playing it.
I've played so many ARP's, I've probably left some off the list.
1) Sacred 2
2) Titan Quest
3) Torchlight 2
4) Sacred 1
5) Torchlight 1
6) Grim Dawn
7) Diablo 2
8) Diablo 3
9) Fate
10) Path of Exile
11) Divine Divinity 1
With all the games on my list put together, I've spent well over 2,000 hours playing ARP's, maybe more. Steam says I currently have 467 hours on Sacred 2 and 181 hours on Titan Quest Anniversary Edition, but that's not even counting all the past computers I played on before Steam was even a thing. (I played Sacred 1, Sacred 2, and Titan Quest from discs before online downloads were a thing.)
I usually like bright colors and upbeat musical tracks, because gaming for me is a treatment for depression. But sometimes I'll still play the grittier, darker ARP's. Path of Exile is near the bottom of my list for several reasons. I don't like free-to-play games, because they tempt me to spend money I can't afford, and I wasn't a fan of the gem-based slot crafting gear system. The huge constellation skill tree was fun, but I didn't like the constantly changing seasonal game mechanics. I also thought the way acts 6-10 recycled areas and spiked the boss difficulty so high as to make solo play extremely difficult if not impossible was a turn-off.
Just because a game is near the bottom of the list doesn't mean I don't like it, though. If it's on the list at all, I've liked it enough to spend 100 hours or a lot more playing it.
I've played so many ARP's, I've probably left some off the list.
2
Comments
INSOMNIA: the Ark will be released on the 27th this very month and is a sheer ARPG power house. Its dieselpunk similar to Fallout, but set in the depths of space. Lots of humour in that one too.
Here's a Let's Play of its Early Access version for those who haven't heard about it yet:
1.) Diablo 2
2.) Grim Dawn
3.) Path of Exile
4.) Torchlight 2
5.) Diablo 3
I don't really know that there are a ton of games other than these that deserve much mention. I know everyone loves Titan Quest, but I just can't stand the pace of the game. It's strange I have such an aversion to it given my love of Grim Dawn, but they clearly learned ALOT in the time between the games. Diablo 2 is still ground zero for the genre. Every concept in modern ARPGs comes from it in one form or another. Path of Exile is the best free-to-play game ever. Torchlight 2 is a nice sugar-rush (and is actually quite challenging). Diablo 3 is the arcade version of the genre.
My definition of the genre is an isometric loot hunt with multiple difficulties and game-modes. Yes, games like Dark Souls and even 3D Zelda games could be considered action games with RPG elements, but just like JRPG to me means something like FF6 or Chrono Trigger, ARPG to me means "a Diablo clone".
I think the Soulsborne series almost deserves it's own category at this point, as, much like Diablo, it has spawned dozens of imitators of varying quality. Dark Souls itself owes a hell of a lot to Castlevania, just as Diablo does to Rogue.
Diablo Series
People have spent over two decades dissecting every piece of the game from its flow to the history of its creation.
There have been scant few games as disruptive to the industry.
Pong, Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros, Tetris, Tecmo Bowl, Doom, Street Fighter 2, Baldurs Gate, Grand Theft Auto 3, Guitar Hero, Minecraft and PUBG (of the top of my head).
Each a masterpiece that forever left a mark on the industry and all who played them.
Diablo was utterly new. It defined and popularised a genre and a generation.
No Diablo, no Diablo Clones. So it gets top billing.
Likewise with Diablo 2. Everything was polished up to a fine shine and we were given more, more, and more. Everyone is still chasing Diablo 2. No has ever said, "This ARPG is going to be the next Dawn of Magic!" No, it's always Diablo 2 and for good reason.
Diablo 3 gets a lot of hate and rightly so but I have grown to like it through pure attrition. After they fixed the market, loot, and added the expansion and Necromancer it feels more than complete. The story is outright bad but the grind is good. It also looks gorgeous and I can play it in 3D on the Vive through VorpX and it's stunning to run around in a diorama of murder.
If you have a Vive or Rift you have to try Diablo 3 with VorpX. It really is transformative.
...And the really great console versions. I have put in hundreds of hours playing Diablo 3 on the Vita through remote play.
Ultimately Diablo 3 is accessible and inoffensive so it gets put in the middle.
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne & Grim Dawn
Instead of slowly sold over a million copies as it cropped up in various digital sales and it was during that time (2008) that I discovered Titan Quest. I immediately loved the setting. The use of history (especially the bards). The class system and the satisfaction of triggering an on-hit ability and watching someone fly. And the crunchy, crunchy meta.
I immediately bought gold editions for my entire gaming guild, and for a good year, we ran nothing but Titan Quest, with at least 3 full squads at any time. Morning, noon or night. Even when we were finally on to other things we would still buy someone a copy and play through it with them if they were new to the guild and made it into the "in crowd."
A short while later and I stumble upon Grim Dawn and have the unique distinction of being the last person to crowdfund Grim Dawn through Crates initial self-driven crowdfunding attempt before it was closed down and moved to kickstarter.
I spent a lot of time with the Grim Dawn community. A lot of time. Thousands of long posts going into the night as a small group of hardcore old-school fans just shot the breeze.
Then the game went live on Steam and the community was flooded by a horde of new people who did not share our attitude. That community died and a new one with many heads and angry voices was born.
It's the way of all small pre-release communities. It was amazing while it lasted and I made a lot of good friends who I am still in contact with today.
Oh and the game is great too!
Torchlight Series
Torchlight has all the same markers that made Diablo great only in a much more simple and streamlined fashion. Torchlight was the only game my sister in law would play besides the sims and she wouldn't play anything but the sims...
I can appreciate Torchlight 2 from a technical standpoint but it felt muddy and unfocused. But it's still a ton of fun to play especially multiplayer but the environments, NPC's and the plot just didn't resonate with me. Didn't stop me from playing it to death because damn are those classes fun!
Hellgate: London
The game played like a completely different genre depending on which class you chose. The world setting was neat and the moment to moment action was utterly absorbing. I don't think I have had as much fun tanking in any game more than I did Hellgate (Guardian ftw).
There was so much potential in Hellgate: London and had it launched with the intended content with the needed polish and business management that didn't sell the rights to multiple people then... well that doesn't matter. What's done is done.
Hearing David Brevik talk about the games development is heartbreaking.
With that said. Even with all its massive flaws I will get the urge to play every now and then and I have a blast every time.
For the living!
Divinity Series
Do you like Diablo? Do you like Baldurs Gate? Do you think Dark Souls was easy mode?
Interested in what the bastard impoverished child of the three would look like?
Then look no further!
Divine Divinity's only crime was being released at the same time as Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, and GTA3.
Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity are not further up the list because of how outright unfair they are at times. Don't play on hard... things will one shot you and you have enough hoards of things you're ill-equipped to deal with on normal.
However, they leave a very strong impression.
Years later and I will still think back on my adventures and get the urge to play them again.
Listen to that sirens song...
Go play them.
I believe I am exposing myself as the "loot 'em up" nerd that I am.
1: D2 obviously.
2: PoE
3: D3. I think the hate it got was exaggerated. It was a very competent game.
Honorable mentions; Borderlands - different in many ways, but it borrows heavily from the ARPG genre. Didn't like the second one though. Don't even know why, just didn't.
Well, that's it. A short list of games, heh.. I was intrigued by the Grim Dawn thread and might try that while I wait for Pathfinder:Kingmaker.
1.Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. As @Kamigoroshi sated above, its combat is just unparalled in the genre. And not many ARPGS let you multiclass, especially not so freely.
2.Kingdom Hearts. The combat is a little simple, but it an almost Earthbound-ish feeling to it. It mixes up so many clashing elements that just somehow work. Its goofy, serious, funny, sad all wrapped up into one. None of the many many sequels have felt quite the same.
3.Bloodborne. I'm not a fan of the Darks Souls gameplay formula, but the setting and creative designs of this game are just so stunning and unsettling, that I can't leave it off.
I didn't realize they were my jam until my wife told me. I always thought fighting games were my go to until she listed all the loot 'em ups I had played and the obsessive amount of time I had put into each. She even bought me a entry level gaming pc as a surprise present just so I could play the newly released Diablo 2 because I saw it in a magazine at the checkout and marked out.
There is just something mediative about the rythm and flow of a good loot 'em up.
Speaking of, the term "Loot 'em up" was a term pushed by Medierra of Crate of Crate Entertainment because The Legend of Zelda is an Action Roleplay Game. Diablo could be considered a Roguelike but anything with static levels and no perma death (like Titan Quest) could not. So the one thing they all have in common is the loot grind. So "loot 'em up" was adopted by the community as the most accurate definition and it has just become force of habit for me.
Borderlands is absolutely a "loot 'em up" and now you are making me want to replace Torchlight 2 with Borderlands based purely on time played!
I have tried playing Borderlands 2 with a group and solo on PC and PS4 but the pacing is bad and the enemies are annoying instead of interesting... And worst of all are those golden keys.