Absolutely disapointed -- This game is hard, and not in a fun way.

+1 OP

i totally argee,
the game feels slow and tedious, the so much praised bosses are bullet sponges and the best tacic is dodge roll as much as possible.
It is just not fun to play.

I WORKED my way to act II and have to engage now with the "Trial of Sekhemas".
Taking the sanctum mechanic an a mandatory part for progressing the game is a complete turn off for me, I avoided that part of POE1 because i hate the rogue-like mechanic. Now i can choose to deal with this sh***t for with every new char. oder skip on the important power-spike until later for another trial meachnic, (I hate Ultimatum almost as much as Sanctum) and have an more unpleasant expierience until then.

both options are a major turn down for me, to play further.
Sad that POE1 developement has to suffer for this.

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TheKnave69#5275 wrote:

I'm curious, when you say it's hard, what control scheme are you using? I was using M&K originally, and it was difficult. I switched to controller and it's not nearly as difficult.

I wonder if it was tuned for controller/ASWD, rather than point and click.

Just my thought.

See, this one more issue with game.
Favouring one control scheme over another. I hate controllers and won't use them and M&K are so clunky and floaty that it's just not fun.

Surprisingly I didn't die too much on my Witch until I got to final boss in Act 1 but I am not switching to unpreferred controls because it makes the game just a bit smoother.

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Waiden#9514 wrote:

POE 1 will still be updated, so anyone who really dislike the philosophy of POE 2, can always return.

That is not how it works, people who loved POE1 will just leave because they know now that the game they loved for years will not be the same or upgraded.

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Blade_Dancer_90#3602 wrote:

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Vvulf#5611 wrote:

+1 OP

Good Lord there are so many sanctimonious priggs in the comment section.

OP already stated he wasn't even at an elite gamer, so those with the "git gud" comments aren't worth paying a jot of attention to.

The bottom line is that if GGG doesn't make the game attractive TO A WIDER AUDIENCE than the Dark Souls Andys, then it's going to go from 1,000,000+ users at EA launch to 100,000 in two weeks.

In it's current state, it's got a lot going for it - the visuals, voice acting, monster variety, boss design, telegraphing of most (not all) abilities etc., but the gameplay is too punishing and the drops too low for anyone but hardcore players.

PoE 1 started out with a similar group of smug elitists (80% of the streamers) who called anyone that didn't play Hardcore "Scrubcore" players.

But guess what? PoE 1 didn't become popular until GGG adjusted the difficulty for people who don't no-life video games.

I was there in closed beta, and GGG will adjust this game too.
Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Any game that is inaccessible to anyone that doesn't "git gud" is a bad game... Dark Souls games are hailed as the "pinnacle of gaming" but in reality they're games for mentally ill gamers that want to waste hours and days and weeks of their lives raging to beat a game only to prove they can even though they didn't have fun beating it... they want to prove they're not "plebs" and that they can flex about being "hardcore gamers"...

I've been gaming since I was 5... I'll be 35 in May and I've even been a semi-pro player in a video game in the past (back in 2013 I was a top 0.1% player in the world at FIFA)... but I never played to flex, I played for fun... at some games I was great at others I was just decent... but any game that tells you that being decent isn't good enough for us is a BAD GAME, period!!!

Any game that doesn't have difficulty settings to be able to attract and keep happy all the kinds of player bases is a BAD GAME!!!

Dark Souls design is a bad design... Dark Souls games are TEDIOUS and not fun... I played Elden Ring and never finished it cause it was dragging on and on and on and the progress was painfully slow... yes, it had beautiful graphics and good design but the game was wasting my time massively and dying to a boss 150 times until I eventually looked up a guide online was just dumb...

Any game you need to follow a guide to even play it and can't play without it is NOT A GOOD GAME!!!

Do you know why Dark Souls is a beloved franchise? You can belittle the fan base all you like. But Miyazaki understands something incredibly important about difficulty in video games: if you are not challenged, and I mean, you fail, repeatedly, and have to try new things and rethink your approach entirely sometimes, honing your timing and strategy until you finally overcome the obstacle type difficulty. You will eventually feel that the game has become routine. Nothing is novel or impressive. Downing Ubers in PoE1 became unimpressive and routine rather quickly after they released. That’s why the incredibly punishing Gauntlet events are so massively popular and exciting. Elden Ring sold massive numbers because players expect a level of integrity from the developer when it comes to making them work for their prize. Blizzard folded when it came to D4, I hope GGG finally have the experience and confidence to stand tall with their new product.

Everyone saying that the difficulty is tedious and not actually difficult, or saying that only spamming dodge is not skill, are not trying new things or approaching the game and fights differently when they fail. They are just banging their head against the wall with the same strategy and thinking until they suddenly barely scrape by. Of course that is going to be frustrating and unfun. It takes a different approach for games like this. Players who can’t come to grips with this type of game don’t need to play it. Your attempted intimidation of GGG won’t work like it did on Blizzard.

Yes, can't see how the game as it is will widen the base of players to casuals. If you're casual, you quit after an hour. I really believe (and hoped) that you would not be restricted to a few builds per class, I guess I was wrong.

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fritz_dreck#3991 wrote:

, but after the first succesless attempts a nagging feeling startet to creep up in me: Maybe I am finally to old to play this game?

Exactly my feelings and thoughts. :)
(I am 54)

In Act 3 currently, have had zero issues with Bosses so far, most any boss has taken is 2 deaths to beat, and most of those deaths was me not seeing the attack that was telegraphed fast enough the first time or two, game is harder then PoE 1, but it's not as hard as many are making it out to be.

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Alonvice#2412 wrote:

Proof : just look for hardcore player on youtube.
They have passed the act 2 whitout dying.

So... Basically what you say is forget about 90% of player base, just cater to the 10% that has nothing better to do with their lives and make no profit in the long run?

That's a way to go mate.

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Blade_Dancer_90#3602 wrote:

Dark Souls games are hailed as the "pinnacle of gaming" but in reality they're games for mentally ill gamers

Hey man, i can respect you saying that a game being hard/punishing as a core philosophy is not your cup of tea. But you literally saying one has to be mentally ill to like games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring is absolutely not ok. You say you are 35 years old, right? You should be ashamed of yourself mate.

the game is great. it's not difficult, it's different than poe1 and that's how it should be! I read these comments of whiners who want to kill the boss without leaving the city, they have their hand in their panties and scratch their balls!! the gaming community is currently a mass of crying pussies who want everything right away and preferably without effort. I dream of you going to D4, they need such people there,.. 10 minutes and already lvl 60! GGG created a great game, which is already the best on the market in EA. there are always small things to improve, I'm sure poe2 will be a game for many years