My review/overview

GRAPHICS
The only thing good in POE is the lighting, every thing else has very little detail, if you got rid of the lighting it would be like playing quake 4 or doom 3 with out lighting, those games with out lighting look like quake 3. but of course PoE looks OK ill give it that, but some fidelity is completely lacking, of new tech. and the armor does not look all that good IMO, realistic is a good thing though, but if you cannot pull it off, and make the game brown/green with some gray as the main colors, instead of the brad spectrum D3 uses, then call it Realistic with less detail. which makes it less interesting to look at.(not siding with D3, just comparing)

Main Opinions
How the little team developed that game was because it took five years to have 8hrs per difficulty if act three comes out. but only act 1 and 2 take about 4-5 hrs per difficulty. Right now i got board with the game in chaos (current end game) because of the lack of variety in the mobs. D2 has like 5 times more mob variations. so act 3 will make the game or break it for me. But they have great ground work for the game. I'll give em' that!

ABILITY SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The ability system, is basically gems, and you socket your skills in the items, and some sockets are linked and you will have a support of the main ability. main abilitys are fireball and such. support gems augment what they do with no visual difference, like life leach, MF/GF and the like applied to your main ability, no stats increase on you char. both support and skill gems are leveled separately from your char level. (Char level gives you passive skill points.) and each gem has a color that corresponds to the three main attribute points green, blue, red; dex, int, str respectively and can be linked already or be lucky with an orb of fusing to get the links you want, because of the random nature you can loose all the links and not want to use the armor or weapon because it will nerf your skills that are effected by the lack of a support gem, that's linked to it.

PASSIVE SKILL TREE
Right now the best thing also the worst thing is the passive skill tree system, great customization, but there is some very clear paths that each class, class is more like a race such as skyrim, because each class is not limited to promote huge differences, even less if you don't get short sighted on your char build. lvl 60 is the lowest to perfect your hinted build and use the fewest points for an effective build. right now then you have 40 more levels to have moving room around the passive tree more like extras, to ad a another talent other than crit bow ranger, or a good AoF templar. but makes the chars really customizable

CUSTOMIZATION OF PLAYER
Customization, in how great it is and not limited in many ways, could be a flaw. you can use any skill gem, and any gear. so in theory crafting, you can have a witch class, be a complete melee brute and don Heavy armor, much like this games Barbarian, with little sacrifice if any, other than maybe early game lag from the other easy builds that are closer to your class starting aria on the skill tree. because I feel there is not needed levels, 60-100. because gear quality can handle the rest of the stats. ( one change to make this happen is let gear stats effect the ability to use a higher level skill gem) which would make the items way more important. because class identity is really vague end game, Items are the only real way to tell what type of char they are. and get rid of the extra levels, and make end game real end game and not out level it. based on pre-Act 3 info

Class (racial) traits

marauder +str (highest) and little lower other stats head start in the str stats passives tree

templar + str and +int but lower dex head start between the str and int passive tree

witch +int (highest) and lower Str and Dex head start in the int passive tree

ranger +dex (highest) and lower int and str. head start in the dex passive tree

dualist +dex and str but lower int head start between str and dex passive tree

new class + dex and Int low strength head start between dex and int passive tree

you can go any ware on the passive skill tree so it isnt that limited, because you have an extra 40 skill points. so that lets you go basically any ware on the tree with any class. but is a little risky to put 40 worthless skill points, so make the 40 count. also because you are leaping to another part of the skill tree it will be a late bloomer build and only take form towards the level cap.but should be easy because each direction usually has the stats or passives you need. which makes the class more of a race because THEY ADDED TO MANY LEVELS. Basically makes classes more like a race. Unless act 3 is crazy difficult, and only for the hardcore min-max players in the fourth difficulty, it wont be a problem to make a brute melee witch. I just feel like there is no stand out flavor of classes in this game nothing exclusive,(that matters end game) to any class.

Potions
Potions are an equip, manna, health, crit, and defense increase or replenishment, that can have magical item atributes, special to the flask it self. You fill the flask by filling the charges, and you get charges by killing. like D2 pot spam away. when the flask is full you can use it like four times, and you fill it up as you use it, so its like an infinite pot each of the five you can carry on the belt. so diablo 2 players are going to be at home.

Trade system
Right now there is no trade system other than hoping people don't scam you because you have to drop the item on the floor. that is going to change, with a weird Auction house system or trade system like D2. as long as it works it will be fine, but trust in some one that is anonymous is not.

PVP
PvP is absent as of now, with no real idea on whats the plan, most likely there is going to be Haste and some form of arena pvp. the way this game is made, I fear there is only going to be a few good builds for PVP, based around select few ability that are more single target. Damage mitigation for melee people will have to be really high, so it suffers any killing ability, rather Huge difference in DPS for melee. Now a ranged frost based char will do the best if they dont change the rather short stun/snare of Ice to nearly non existent. Those chars will be the most OP, and decimate any melee char, because there is no way to keep getting good hits off on other classes ATM, and way more flee abilitys, and one Leap attack that only knocks people out of melee range to get to the kiting people. so most likely will be ranged magic or bow against one another. THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE, BECAUSE THEY CAN EASILY AD OR REMOVE SKILL GEMS AND THEIR SUPPORTS.

the lack of rogue like skill gems makes melee classes no good for pvp, but they are going to ad a new class, hopefully a whole set of gems to help with the rogue stuff. because that is what is making melee sub par for PVP. which makes me believe that they are going to ad a class like a rogue. but as i said classes are more races akin to Skyrim, so every class can be a rogue like char. like a ranger can just become a rogue, and be just as good as if you used the int/dex.

Currency/Barter system
and no currency, as in gold, you get orbs that either re-roll item stats or base stats that are not a magical attribute bonus. some orbs add one stat or upgrade rarity all random. quality of skill gems, support skill gems, items can be upgraded up to 20%. the main item of trade, is the gem cutters prism, which enhances skill gems with a new buff and that is increase with more use, and to translate to diablo 2 that is the SOJ. I dont trade that much, but each orb has a worth of 2 to a bunch of really common orbs like platinum, gold, silver, and copper. The only difference is that unlike gold there is two uses, create an item or trade them to get an item you want. so it leaves the game with a really healthy economy because people can use the orbs on items. which is a "gold sink" er orb sink.

My Opinions On Currency/Barter system
Im just not a fan of what the orbs are capable of, it is a slot machine that can take more than your quarter that you use to pull, and can make the item worthless and garbage to the build you want. but im sure more people that play the game like it, and im the minority.

Scrolls
there is a TP and ID scroll as well as a TP skill gem. basic cut and past diablo 2.

Story
you are exiled and are sided with people you do not really know, or what there reason for needing your help. at least in very little detail. I can not wait for the story updates so i can know why i have to kill the things i have to kill, in more detail. Its not a huge problem for me in these types of games, because soon you will never read any thing but stats, or item names during end game. but will interest me more in the world i'm in.

However Right now i would rate the game a 6/10 Average ARPG like diablo, but i would say the game is a fun game and still needs a lot of work.


(please correct me if any thing is wrong,other than opinions)

/discuss or add things i failed to cover.

+1

you didn't talk much about the loot (which is an important part of the game).
The game drops a lot of whites and blues. Since the game uses sockets for skills, in the end, you have to look for items with the right number of sockets and colors as well as links. If can be troublesome to find the good item.
Then, you can use orbs to craft your item.
You can also roll socket number/color/links, but I think it was easier to get the right socket and roll a magic or rare item on it.

About potion, I really liked the flask system, I think it's an interesting idea to refill your flask by killing enemies.

They plan to add some kind of auction house with a website integration (like the character you can view on the website), it should be cool to be able to sell/buy stuff without launching the game.

"

kodr wrote:

+1

you didn't talk much about the loot (which is an important part of the game).
The game drops a lot of whites and blues. Since the game uses sockets for skills, in the end, you have to look for items with the right number of sockets and colors as well as links. If can be troublesome to find the good item.
Then, you can use orbs to craft your item.
You can also roll socket number/color/links, but I think it was easier to get the right socket and roll a magic or rare item on it.

About potion, I really liked the flask system, I think it's an interesting idea to refill your flask by killing enemies.

They plan to add some kind of auction house with a website integration (like the character you can view on the website), it should be cool to be able to sell/buy stuff without launching the game.

i covered whats bold, but most games like this one, have a very similar loot system. Im not an expert of how they are generated randomly, basic percentage chance for each suffix and prefix, but one thing i noticed, because of orbs, this game has a lot of gambling or a lot more RNG at play or possible at play. orbs don't guarantee better, and may be worse than before. especially the orb of fusing, which is the most apparent way to nerf a decent 4 link rare and make it worthless, because you cant beast out with overall worse skills because it made 2 one link and one alone. which annoys me. but i'm not really a gambler with complete random outcomes, no effect on the outcome, other than choosing not to. for instance i like poker/tonk but hate the lotto. on top of that it is pretty rare. The orb that changes socket colors is way more forgiving because it is more common than the orb of fusing, and less random than orb of fusing from my experience, because there is only 3 different colors, and only gets pretty random when there is 4 plus sockets. that is a better random chance which makes it more enjoyable. for me, because i hate ruining a good item, and i dont think the reward of an extra link or posibily two is worth having a chance to have no links at all or one link.

and diablo 2 at least and others, that dont have an enchant system like hellgate london or torchlight, seem more concrete and the items are what they are, and not somthing that can be changed for better or worse, makes items to me little, less unique and rare and more like something to tempt you, because of the potential it can have.

because of that this game will scratch a gamblers back more than other games of the genre. You can roll the dice on about any Item in this game no matter what.

But if more people think the way i do, there will be a lot of orbs out there, the random ones at least. not the quality changing ones. would make for a surplus of the RNG orbs and make gem cutters prism worth a metric ton as the game goes on. Thankfully, some cannot resist temptation.

To me that is really the most random crafting system ever created. more random than tf2 because of recipes, and more random than power stone 2 item creator, which was only more random than TF2 because internet was no ware near as popular as it is to day for a guide.

I just feel there is too much risk for this system, but that is my opinion. but good for ggg. because this system inspires trades for items you want, but if it is for orbs, i fear that it will be ever inflating worth of rare items. because of people like me, that would rather hoard and trade the orbs than use them, other than the quality increase ones.

I hope that covers itemization ok without pictures.

ON TO THE TRADING
Yeah i have heard about that idea, but i thought is was up in the air.

agreed, that's why I stopped looking at items, I felt it was pointless.
It's a little bit sad for a loot game.

Game unlock and look better and better with higher resolution. Maybe try asus 560 in sli then run 30" monitor @2550x1600 res. Then talk about shiny graphics. Aenimal keep eye on you. Review make head hurt. You play on caleco vision ? Aenimal go back to smash now.

How can you review a game in beta, a game not even finished?

Is this guy serious?

"

darkjoy wrote:

How can you review a game in beta, a game not even finished?

Is this guy serious?

How can't you?

Reviewing is just writing an evaluation of something. He's writing an evaluation of the game as it is, not as it will be later. As long as they're honest about it, people can review dirty socks if they want to.

As long as kept in mind that things are in progress and may be changed/improved instead of taking them for fix, its fine as a personla feedback. Maybe a bit more own impressions/suggestions would be good to add.

To be fair, the game is quite polished.
I saw more released games more bugged than PoE (Hellgate, Dungeon Defenders)

I didn't encountered some game breaking bugs, only a few visual glitch, but that's all.

"

kodr wrote:

To be fair, the game is quite polished.
I saw more released games more bugged than PoE (Hellgate, Dungeon Defenders)

I didn't encountered some game breaking bugs, only a few visual glitch, but that's all.

The game is polished with little bugs, but it doesn't have all features implemented, with little content that is added slowly. This beta is done so they implement new areas, monsters, items and other things over time. There are betas where they give you small part of the game, but where most of things are done (contents wise).