to clarify, I mean games like Diablo 4, Path of Exile, and Grim Dawn!
I really love the genre (right next to roguelikes and looter shooters for me, I guess I just like shiny loot a lot hahaha) but I’ve been feeling kind of lost in it since I quit playing Path of Exile (with over a thousand hours in it) due to not finding the shifting meta builds fun anymore. my favorite build ever in that game (that I had even made myself!) was a tectonic slam juggernaut, and while it was never the best skill, it was an enjoyable one for me. later, things seemed to get more difficult for me to parse in PoE so I never went back. I also never really enjoyed trading, but found playing by myself hard and not as enjoyable since I played with other people at the time.
I’ve dabbled in Grim Dawn and Last Epoch, but couldn’t quite get into them. I keep feeling like I should give them both another go, because I like the genre, but I’ve bounced off of them multiple times. I also played Diablo 3 briefly but it was at the height of my Path of Exile phase so I didn’t really stick with it.
I’ve been curious about Diablo 4, especially with the summer steam sale potentially coming up soon. most reviews and such I can’t find something recent, but I know they had a big update not too long ago. I know a lot of reviews a saw before didn’t like it from the start, but I was wondering if anyone who played it could tell me about how it currently is right now.
what arpgs are your favorites, or maybe ones you dislike? what aspects do you like about them? is there something new you’d like to see in the genre, or maybe something that you want to become standardized?
Well if you liked PoE I doubt you’ll like D4. It’s a much simpler game. Sadly my only advice is to try GD and Last Epoch again. I’ve got hundreds of hours in the former and I just got 10 hours into the latter.
Last Epoch feels like a more approachable PoE. I thoroughly enjoy how the skills interplay with one another, but I still prefer the itemization in Grim Dawn.
The only reason I’m not playing GD currently is because I have too many QoL mods installed so my cloud saving doesn’t work, but I can cloud save for Last Epoch for my steam deck lmao.
What about D4 last update? I haven’t played it but I heard a lot of people saying they fixed a lot of the issues with the game.
Just a preface that I don’t like PoE.
Season 4 is a lot more fun, but I still think D3 is a better game. But if you compare D4 to what D3 was like at after release, D4 is in much better shape. It’s definitely heading in the right direction, and I suspect that the expansion in August will make it much better, similar to how D2 and D3 did.
Back to season 4, I leveled to max level, maxed out the battle pass, and experienced all of the content and that was good enough for me. I want really interested in sticking around to switch to better build and get the best gear.
I fell hard into diablo 3 when it launched on ps4. that’s my baseline and I haven’t found any that play as well on controller.
torchlight 2 on console comes close (very annoyed I can’t play this way on pc).
path of exile is also okay, but I can’t stand the drop rates and market. ftp cosmetics bug me, but online markets ruin a game.
I’ve also dabbled in a few others, mostly with poor controller support or clunky combat that just doesn’t feel good to me.
overall though, I’m just tired of sorting loot. love the grind, love finding loot, hate sorting. games like backpack hero tell us some people love that aspect, but I’d like to see more options with unlimited storage and a good sort/search menu
Grim Dawn works well with a controller and has very customizable loot filters so that you can restrict how much/what types of loot you see.
thanks for the suggestion! I have started before and it didnt click. maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. I think I’ll give it another chance next time I get the arpg itch, if I don’t just pick up tl2 again
Just so you know, if it’s been awhile, Crate came in and did a pretty big overhaul on Grim Dawn, and are prepping for the “final” expansion that’s supposed to come sometime this year.
Dodge roll mechanic, potions are now a recharge resource versus pickups that take item space, the next expansion is adding potion customization, prettied up the old world to be more in-line with the quality the previous two expansions brought, tons of little tweaks.
It’s not exactly a “whole new game” experience, but it’s much more smoothed out!
Grim Dawn is easily the best commercial (which is to say, not free like PoE) ARPG out there. If you like PoE, it’s probably the closest you’ll get to something similar in that character builds are more complex and customizable than in other games.
Grim Dawn is my favorite ARPG since Nox.
I’ve played Last Epoch, PoE, D1/2/3, and a LOT of others, and Grim Dawn just knocks it out of the part for me. I really want more from Crate, once Farthest Frontier is wrapped up.
I mean, it’s no Diablo but I love the Hades games. If you’re in it mostly for the progression and build construction than you won’t have a great time, but if you’re looking for SOLID arpg gameplay they’re a good fit.
There’s a lot more focus on clean movement, it’s very much an arpg through a roguelite lens rather than an mmo or pure arpg.
unfortunately I am in it for the grinding, progression and crafting a build (usually something off the wall when I get confident.)
that said, I do love Hades! I’ve been wanting to get the second one despite it being in early access so hopefully that’ll be in my library soon.
