What games are you playing now?

[JDR13]

Do you need to spend any money?

No. That's what's so surprising about it to me. It's basically a free AAA quality game.

My only complaint is that it's very, very easy. I'm level 18 now, and I've yet to die. It doesn't allow you to choose the difficulty at the beginning. You have to play through the entire game to unlock a harder difficulty.

 

[Pladio]

Still playing Dwarf Run and it's really fun still.

Some of the battles are pretty challenging and I did die multiple times.
The AI is actually quite good.

In Chapter 7 now, but I have no idea how many chapters there are.

I would certainly recommend it if you enjoy turn based battles and some simple-ish puzzles.

 

[JDR13]

I'm about halfway through Act 2 now in Path of Exile, and I'm starting to lose steam. I still haven't died a single time, and 90% of the enemies present no challenge whatsoever.

I heard it gets more challenging in Act 3. Can anyone confirm that?

 

[Shagnak]

I heard it gets more challenging in Act 3. Can anyone confirm that?

It seemed to for me (playing solo). The final boss killed me a few times.

The balance seemed a little iffy in parts, in Act 3. I had no problems with most end-of-level bosses (other than the final one), but then some randoms kicked my arse.

 

[JDR13]

Thanks, I might try to press on and reach Act 3. I really wish there was an option to adjust the difficulty though.

Grim Dawn is calling my name.

 

[Pongo]

Ten hours in, I think I'm done with Grim Dawn. I just completed the Warden bit. It is beautifully made game but the waves and waves respawning enemies has just got too much for me. I guess I just don't like Diablo clones... At least now I know!
Not sure what is up next. Sword Coast Legends maybe... I'd like to give it a chance despite all the bad reviews.

 

[Warmark]

Thanks, I might try to press on and reach Act 3. I really wish there was an option to adjust the difficulty though.

Grim Dawn is calling my name.

Exactly the problem I had with Path of Exile also, just got boring never dying and thus feeling no pressure and no excitement because of that.
Same problem I had with Grim Dawn right at the beginning before I switched over to Veteran mode which then hit the sweet spot for me.

If they add some sort of initial difficulty option to Path of Exile I would start playing again.

 

[Drithius]

You can die plenty in Path of Exile But it's usually not until Merciless difficulty unless you're running a particularly bad build! I died over a dozen times last night beating the final boss in Act 4 [Merciless]. That was rough. If you're familiar with "maps", those become prohibitively more difficult as well, but that side of the game is mostly post-merciless.

Also, those "trials of ascendancy" you've been encountering, they unlock a labyrinth in Act 3. That thing is pretty fun indeed, requiring you to go through multiple maps w/ varying mechanics, no teleport out, and no option to return to your run on death.

If nothing else, I recommend you try to stick with the game until going through Act 4 at least once. The fights are some of the best in the game.

Btw, JDR, if you haven't stumbled upon the feature yet, loot filters are an essential Quality of Life improvement to the game. It makes it far more efficient to clear areas. This should get you squared away: Link.

 

[Shagnak]

I've paused my playthrough of Path of Exile until a friend of mine can find the time to jump in with me in Act 4. (He's played the first 3 Acts to death, before Act 4 was available, and had no idea the 4th Act was available)

Now playing Titan Quest (w/Immortal Throne expansion).

I think someone was saying that it doesn't run on Windows 8.1 earlier (JDR13?), but I've had no glitches at all in the last few hours on the Win 8.1 laptop I'm using. (laptop with 745m optimus graphics, so can't imagine it'd be a particularly common set-up). I'm playing the Steam version, if that matters.

I also have the boxed version, hardly played, from almost 9 years ago (my large backlog goes even further than that, sadly!).

Back when I tried to get friends into playing it with me, it was considered a bit "boring", and we always went for something like Diablo II or Sacred. I'm quite liking it at the moment, and wish I hadn't waited so long. It's a nice change from the more frenetically paced action RPGs, and the setting is well done.

 

[JDR13]

I think someone was saying that it doesn't run on Windows 8.1 earlier (JDR13?), but I've had no glitches at all in the last few hours on the Win 8.1 laptop I'm using. (laptop with 745m optimus graphics, so can't imagine it'd be a particularly common set-up). I'm playing the Steam version, if that matters.

It's just the demo that doesn't run. I guess it's never been updated.

I read that there's a way to run it on modern OS's by downloading a certain DLL file and making some tweaks here and there, but to me it seemed like too much trouble for a simple demo.

I might grab Titan Quest the next time it goes on sale on Steam, but I'm not too enthusiastic to play any more action-RPGs that don't allow you to choose the difficulty from the beginning.

Is the initial run as easy as PoE?

 

[Shagnak]

Is the initial run as easy as PoE?

Hard to say. I died early on a couple of times, but then had smooth running for the next couple of hours, then died against some heavy duty random (ice lich or something), and then died against the centaur boss about 3 hours (?) in.

It's not particularly hard, nor are there many massive mobs, but that means you can get lulled into a false sense of superiority.
Of the last couple of deaths:
(1) I was distracted while showing my son what happens when you add a fire relic to a weapon ("hey son, look at how much damage I'm doing now!" <points to screen, looks away for a second> "aw, shit"),
(2) I fought a much higher level boss (10 vs my 5), and screwed up my timing when running away so I could duck back in for another go after some heals.

Contrast this with PoE, where I just hold down Cleave or Reave most of the time and wade through the hordes.

(Obviously take everything I say with a grain of salt, because this is the furtherest I've been in TQ, haven't experimented with builds, etc)

 

[JDR13]

Thanks for the impressions. It sounds more challenging than the beginning difficulty of PoE at least.

There's no way I could die in PoE while just looking away for a second. I've even answered the phone without pausing the game, and just shook my head as a mob slowly chipped away at my health.

 

[wolfing]

Thanks for the impressions. It sounds more challenging than the beginning difficulty of PoE at least.

There's no way I could die in PoE while just looking away for a second. I've even answered the phone without pausing the game, and just shook my head as a mob slowly chipped away at my health.

I played PoE on hard difficulty and found it perfect for my taste.

 

[JDR13]

I played PoE on hard difficulty and found it perfect for my taste.

We're talking about Path of Exile not Pillars of Eternity.

 

[joxer]

He's not the only one who got confused, I was too.
Perhaps you should call it PoE MMO which can't be misinterpretted.

 

[Sliusarek]

The Last of Us: Remastered Edition. I was very doubtful about buying it for 20$ on PSN, but then I decided to try and now I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Hexprone]

We're talking about Path of Exile not Pillars of Eternity.

Is PoEt vs PoEx a useful coinage? Do enough of the same people play both game for the distinction to be important?

 

[Thrasher]

I was going to suggest something similar Sunday. But such a hassle on a phone.

 

[Ripper]

The Last of Us: Remastered Edition. I was very doubtful about buying it for 20$ on PSN, but then I decided to try and now I'm really enjoying it.

Terrific game. Written better than most films.

 

[Deleted User]

You know another game with excellent writing that I played some of recently? Avernum: Escape From The Pit.

Heck, any Spiderweb Software game you choose will have great writing. Jeff Vogel really knows how to make quality RPGs and Escape From The Pit is top-notch.