Reply to Re: Path of Exile (closed beta)
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@Pill, it could be when it's finished, it's too early to tell right now. The gameplay is definitely there, but they haven't really done a whole lot to the story yet.
There's a big lack in questing, but I'm sure story elements are coming in later. There's enough to get you through act 1, but most the time you're just venturing forward and you want a little more.. Like D3's random encounters
The animations didn't bother me one bit. They work, and they aren't distracting. I didn't really notice much with the animations, but I guess that's a good thing. I've been really bugged about other games using say only the characters upper body to attack, so the fact that POE's aren't sticking out to me is a good thing.
Skills- you have qwert and 3 mouse buttons (the MMB is used) You just press the button and it fires toward your cursor. As far as slots go, I don't know yet. IIRC they said big 2 hand weapons could hold 6 and armors can hold up to 6. Only the belt and jewelry can't have sockets. Keep in mind you'll want to use some of those for support gems. It's not an extensive amount, but it's more than enough IMO. The good news is that items will always have at least one slot.
It hasn't been very difficult so far. I just beat act 1 on the normal hardcore difficulty without dying. Not to say the act boss didn't almost get me, but still it's act one of the 3 initial planned
The item system is a little restricting. Obviously you'll need a certain number of specific slots on your equipped items to be able to equip them. This can make you pass over equipment that might have been good. And if you're changing your big sword that holds your 3 strength gem slots, you may have to rearrange some other gear.
Also, items are stat aligned (str, dex, int - and hybrids) by type. This further adds to the pile of stuff you can't use on your current character. Well you could, but you get more benefit to your characters stat. Couple that with certain skills needing certain items to work -eg: cleave needing a sharp weapon, sweep needing a big axe, mace, or staff. I don't weapon specific skills are very common though.
The passive tree is shared and huge, branching off many times and reconnecting. This is also divided into stats. You need to watch out because stats are distributed by which passives you take. You also need to really get in there and look toward a path to get to your most wanted passives. There are multiple clusters of passives that benefit a certain thing. If you don't plan in advance you could really mess it up.
One of the things that was pleasant to see throughout my play is aggressive AI. They aren't just sitting around until they come on screen. They are targeting you and coming from multiple directions before you see them. That's a really nice change. Another testament to their aggressive AI (although sometimes annoying) is sometimes if you're just standing there, a monster or two might stumble upon you.
Well, anyways, still beta, still got a ways to go, but the item slot machine aspect is definitely there and monsters are fun to kill. There is a lot more, but it would just take too long to go over all the systems.
There's a big lack in questing, but I'm sure story elements are coming in later. There's enough to get you through act 1, but most the time you're just venturing forward and you want a little more.. Like D3's random encounters
The animations didn't bother me one bit. They work, and they aren't distracting. I didn't really notice much with the animations, but I guess that's a good thing. I've been really bugged about other games using say only the characters upper body to attack, so the fact that POE's aren't sticking out to me is a good thing.
Skills- you have qwert and 3 mouse buttons (the MMB is used) You just press the button and it fires toward your cursor. As far as slots go, I don't know yet. IIRC they said big 2 hand weapons could hold 6 and armors can hold up to 6. Only the belt and jewelry can't have sockets. Keep in mind you'll want to use some of those for support gems. It's not an extensive amount, but it's more than enough IMO. The good news is that items will always have at least one slot.
It hasn't been very difficult so far. I just beat act 1 on the normal hardcore difficulty without dying. Not to say the act boss didn't almost get me, but still it's act one of the 3 initial planned
The item system is a little restricting. Obviously you'll need a certain number of specific slots on your equipped items to be able to equip them. This can make you pass over equipment that might have been good. And if you're changing your big sword that holds your 3 strength gem slots, you may have to rearrange some other gear.
Also, items are stat aligned (str, dex, int - and hybrids) by type. This further adds to the pile of stuff you can't use on your current character. Well you could, but you get more benefit to your characters stat. Couple that with certain skills needing certain items to work -eg: cleave needing a sharp weapon, sweep needing a big axe, mace, or staff. I don't weapon specific skills are very common though.
The passive tree is shared and huge, branching off many times and reconnecting. This is also divided into stats. You need to watch out because stats are distributed by which passives you take. You also need to really get in there and look toward a path to get to your most wanted passives. There are multiple clusters of passives that benefit a certain thing. If you don't plan in advance you could really mess it up.
One of the things that was pleasant to see throughout my play is aggressive AI. They aren't just sitting around until they come on screen. They are targeting you and coming from multiple directions before you see them. That's a really nice change. Another testament to their aggressive AI (although sometimes annoying) is sometimes if you're just standing there, a monster or two might stumble upon you.
Well, anyways, still beta, still got a ways to go, but the item slot machine aspect is definitely there and monsters are fun to kill. There is a lot more, but it would just take too long to go over all the systems.
