A Non-ARPG Player’s Thoughts on Path Of Exile 2

(Intro)

Path of Exile 2 is the latest in the ARPG to be released in the genre, and as someone who has always been interested in the genre but never played a game from this genre for any sufficient length of time to have a purposeful opinion, the more footage I saw of the game, the more inclined I was to give it a try. It looked both interesting with all the loot and different areas you will come across in your travels, but also engaging because of how much there is to do whilst you are running around slaying monster, collecting loot, and leveling up. The thirty-second gameplay loop of PoE 2 is both simple in presentation, but complex in execution. There’s a lot more going on from what you see in footage, and while there can be moments that allow you to kind of turn your brain off and just take aim at whatever is in front of you, there are also moments where if you aren’t paying attention and locked in, you will die again and again. And to me, that’s one of the elements that makes PoE 2 so compelling. But I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit. This video will be my thoughts about the game from the perspective of someone who has basically never played an ARPG to end game. I have some experience, but not enough to those who have been enjoying this genre for potentially decades.

(My experiences with the genre)

I have played a handful of other ARPGs before. So, I figured I should actually explain my history with some of these games to give you some perspective. But again, I haven’t spent enough time to even have a real opinion of those games. Diablo IV, I put about fifteen-twenty hours into it. But at some point, the game kind of lost me because I felt as though given the information I had, my damage really felt like it was falling off. I was probably doing some stuff wrong; and while I did enjoy the game and the mechanics, the mid game kind of lost me sadly. I barely touched Path of Exile 1. Maybe less than ten hours into it. What really was tough to grasp was the lack of interesting starting classes, at least for me personally. Diablo was the same way; for me, I am a basic bitch, to put it bluntly. Give me a class with cool plate armor and some kind of sword, either one or two-handed and I am very happy. But PoE didn’t have that, at least from what I remember. So, it was tough to devote time to something that didn’t grab me right off the bat. Even though this isn’t really an APRG, Throne and Liberty feels similar enough to at least mention it. Being the game out of this bunch that I put the most amount of time into; which was about twenty-thirty hours. The character customization was what I was most impressed with. It was awesome being able to craft a character that looked really cool, to my exact detail. Best part was, one of the starting weapon types was a great sword; exactly what I wanted. Those two things alone got me to invest time in the game. But sadly, again the mid game, was where it kind of lost me. The lack of item variety, and having used only three different swords throughout my travels had me asking where the loot was. Because it’s free-to-play you can guess where some of that variety was hiding. Either way, the point of this info dump was to simply say I have experienced these games, but I haven’t really played them. They tend to lose me after some point. I never reach the end game; I never do raids. It was always me losing interest in the game, and not the game being bad, per say. However, so far, it feels like PoE 2 might be the exception to this personal rule.

(Action rolling is best rolling)

Path of Exile 2 feels like a cross between a traditional APRG, but with some elements coming from the Devil May Cry series of all things. The most noticeable difference between this game and something like Diablo is that the roll or dodge mechanic has no cooldown, doesn’t cost any resources to use; just a small recovery period after the roll has finished. In D4, you had a limit to how many times you could quickly move around, and while there were items to increase the number of charges you had, eventually, you wouldn’t be able to dodge anymore and would be put on cooldown. But in PoE 2, you can just roll to your hearts content. What makes this even better is unlike Dark Souls styled games, you can interrupt almost every action with a roll. Swing in the wrong direction? Just roll, mis-click or press the wrong button? Just roll. It’s more like a traditional action game where inputs don’t feel like commitments and that there is always a way to get out of a jam. Which does two things; it increases the pace of the game naturally by allowing players to make mistakes and then immediately correcting them. And two, it removes the friction points people might have when they get overwhelmed by a large group of enemies and are desperately trying to fight their way out. Neither is better than the other, but it’s interesting for PoE to do this when they could’ve leaned into the Souls style of long, deliberate attacks that you need to commit to. But I’d imagine that would be like ass if that was the case, considering the sheer number of enemies you’ll be fighting.

(One man army)

The best feeling in this game is when you are up against a horde of trash mobs that you can absolutely decimate with your weapons and abilities. You feel so powerful when you are able to land that attack that sets off a chain reaction, killing off all the enemies on your screen in one fell swoop. And this game is challenging in some areas. It isn’t a game you can always run on auto pilot and turn your brain off. No, some bosses require you to pay attention, learn their attacks and dodge accordingly. Which as a souls’ player is something I am totally down for. Luckily, the main areas you will explore have plenty of enemies to fight at once. There are varying levels of enemy types in each area you’ll travel to, and with it comes many different ways of approaching combat. Depending on which class you chose, obviously certain styles will be better suited towards certain encounters, but everyone has an answer to everything being thrown at you. The main gameplay loop I’ve noticed with some of the classes, is that they have a passive that marks enemies when their either have low HP, or are almost about to be stunned from there, you use one of your core abilities to consume the mark and either deal big damage to that enemy, or set off an explosive reaction that will engulf all enemies surrounding the main target. After that, they are all widely different, to the benefit of the game. Again, while I personally struggled with initially finding a character class I enjoyed, ultimately the warrior the most so far. A mace might not be a sword, but being able to crush enemies underneath it and create tons of shockwaves that will be felt throughout an enemy horde does have a level of visceral satisfaction to it. I think the next character I will give a shot is going to be ranger, so if you have experience with that class, let me know how it is down in the comment section below.

(Some personal nitpicks)

While the gameplay loop is exactly what you would expect and want from an ARPG, some of the elements going on behind the exploring and the fighting do have me scratching my head a little. More so because I am simply not versed in these mechanics, and get both confused and lost when reading and looking at what’s in front of me. But the massive, absolutely gargantuan skill tree, while being a sight to behold, is also extremely intimidating; knowing that I might not specialize into something useful always has me questioning every choice I make. And while I know you can spend some gold to reset these points and try again, the sheer level of freedom in terms of what you can upgrade is almost a determent to someone like myself. For veterans, they are probably drooling at this screen every time they look at it. But for a novice of this genre, it’s a little overwhelming to say the least. What is more frustrating than confusing, is the sheer number of orbs you will use in the game. Every item or upgrade, for some reason, is an orb. I am a little unsure as to why this is this case. I don’t know if there is an in-lore reason or not, but I do feel as though leveling and upgrading your abilities could be done with a more streamlined, less intrusive system. You find an orb in the world to unlock or upgrade an ability. You open the menu and choose what you would like to turn the orb into. And then after you confirm it, the orb just sits in your inventory. I’m confused as to why the orb doesn’t immediately open to the ability screen and asks you to bind it to a button. This works the same way for the orbs that can augment an already selected ability with a passive; after a couple hours of playing, a quarter of your limited inventory space on your character is going to be either orbs, or single-slot consumables. Brutal honesty; it feels like a half-baked mechanic in its current form. I’m sure if enough people feel the same way, there will be some tweaks made to smooth out the process, but... there’s just too many orbs, man.

(Outro)

As I started the video with, I am not well versed in these games. From an outsider's perspective, they look cool, fun to play, engaging and have tons of replay value to them. There’s a reason people herald Diablo 2 as a magnum opus of the genre. People want that experience again in the modern age. And it seems like a lot of games try but don’t succeed. Especially the last two entries in Diablo franchise. And while I had fun during my time with four, there were some things that bugged me about that game. Path of Exile 2 feels... different. Again, it’s hard to describe because I don’t traditionally play these games, but running around, killing enemies, it feels like Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy all over again; two personal favorites of mine from the Nintendo 64 and original Xbox days. I adored those games; a prime example of wonderful couch coop experiences that you would have with your buddies while you wait for the pizza you ordered to arrive. I know I’m on a tangent here, but I have really been enjoying Path of Exile 2. I was hesitant to fork up the $30 for early access, because I knew it would be free-to-play at launch. But when I realized that it wasn’t officially launching for a while, I bit the bullet and bought it. And I am genuinely happy I did. If you are on the fence, if you are worried about some of the criticism regarding the combat being potentially too hard, don’t be. You just need to be a little more active than you’re probably used to. But that just means you will have a more engaging and rewarding experience when you do eventually beat that boss and are triumphant. If the price point is a little high for you, it’s totally okay to wait for the full release. Again, it’ll be free to play, and who doesn’t love a game you didn’t pay for, that you can sink hundreds if not thousands of hours into? Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section down below your thoughts and experiences with the game, if you’re enjoying it, what your criticisms are and be sure to subscribe for more videos about one guy's adventures into genres of games he’s basically never experienced before. I hope to see you in future ones.