Poe 2 - Analysis. Result of Professional deformation and degradation of game design?

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dofkin40#3130 wrote:

As a game designer myself (a number guessing game on my calculator in the nineties, and a take away game, like the shuriken takeaway game in turtles in time, also on a graphing calculator) I also enjoy the smell of my own farts. They are delicious. Everyone should smell my farts with me.

Now for some wholesale dismissal of this game based on logical fallacies:

First, Genre defines game. If your game is an ARPG, it can never contain anything new to the ARPG genre, or it will no longer be an ARPG. This is verboten, as I and every game designer knows we get a secret manual, called the CODEX OF GENRE, which is sacrosanct. Desiring your players to interact with the game and overcome challenges, that is fine. But they need to be done in the same way it's always been done, which is static affects on mobs and a fairly static loadout, which even though it was initially done that way due to technical limitations, innovating on that system would make this game a new genre, which we game designers have not received any edits to the codex.

I couldn't be bothered to read the rest of this guy's effortpost. Credentialism disgusts me in general but he doesn't even give any support for it. He just says "I am a game designer" like some mystic prophet of old. I bet his dad doesn't even work for Nintendo.

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Victini#7730 wrote:

PoE2 does seem way less complex with its gems/supports so on to keep it short the build diversity is dead i feel like each class has a few archtypes that the game hyper forces me towards and no freedom like i had in PoE1

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Tnano#4154 wrote:

So i recently reached maps and just stopped playing. Because for me, that was when all the problems with the game really coalesced. This post really clarified a lot of the discomfort I was feeling with the game.

Before that i was having a fun enough experience, but once it was over i realized that there was nothing more to it. Admittedly this could be because the endgame isn't properly fleshed out.

However, through the entire run, all the skills on the same weapons just felt way too similar. By the endgame, I was still using the exact same moves with no possibility for creativity. I'd spent hours respeccing on the tree and the end result was barely any different.

The design for the skills just felt too restrictive, like the devs only want you to use them as intended and in no other way.

The closest to an interesting combination I could find was lightning rod + galvanic shards, even if i needed 2 good weapons to run it. But after enough testing, it just didn't offer any significant advantages and had no further synergies.

Then, the final hit for me came in the nerfs to triggered skills. That was the only avenue left to experiment with more interesting synergies but it became clear that the devs just didn't want us to do that.

For example the changes to frenzy is insanely restrictive. If i want to use frenzy outside of the skills that have it built in, I MUST use barrage, BUT ALSO, most of the other skills dont benefit from shooting more, because their mechanics inherently burn a setup or need a charge time per shot. I can't even utilize frenzy outside of bow skills anymore, damn.

The builds have been slapped so hard with the blizzard style of 'only play as intended' if this doesn't change in the future i'm probably just sticking to poe1.

As much as the first playthrough was a fun experience(ish). I don't see the appeal in a second run, league style.

While poe1 does show that GGG can make positive changes...eventually. That just means i'll be back in like 3 years' time.

Also ya'll who can't spend time reading, chill, just move on, you dont need to complain about not wanting to read.

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Blade_Dancer_90#3602 wrote:

You're absolutely correct about your criticism...

First of all this game is very very dumb and streamlined because GGG in their "infinite wisdom" have decided that modern gamers can't use their brains... they made the game for the kids that use the word "bro" every 3 words, they constantly say "can't do maths, too much work" and they claim that anyone that doesn't like dumb games has "skill issues".


Secondly this new trend has been part of all genres... go see the FPS games that come out now... they're dumbed down af and the most rewarded players is ALWAYS the one with the best reflexes... a few years back there was a second type of player that was rewarded... the one that had mediocre reflexes and aim but had the biggest brain, now that type of player has been ostracized as the new games don't give "clever workarounds" to compete with more reflex-oriented players.

Thirdly, the devs of GGG just saw the massive Elden Ring success and they decided they wanted the same money so they dropped everything they were working on up until that day for PoE2 and just shoved as many Elden Ring mechanics in the game as possible without any cohesion (monsters reborn on death, massive dependency on the dodge roll, tons of one shots that completely bypass stats etc)



This game as you said has no idea what genre it's supposed to be in... it's like a huge cauldron where GGG threw mindlessly a ton of high quality ingredients from different games without caring if they work together and the mix is a mess...


Finally the devs have not taken into account AT ALL that at this point in time PoE2 is the only and latest hype game out there so everyone is playing it... just a quick question... in Q1 2025 Monster Hunter Wilds is coming out... a game that is gonna be HUGE and will most probably even blow PoE2 release day numbers out of the water while being guaranteed that the quality of gameplay will be of the very very highest level since this is Monster Hunter and it's pretty much the most flawless masterpiece in the "dodge roll" related ARPG genre...


Have they thought what 500k people obsessively playing Monster Hunter Wilds will do to the PoE2 player count? Because I guarantee you that Monster Hunter will retain the player base for a VERY long time cause I've played World and Iceborn and the game is EXTREMELY fun and addictive for all the right reasons...

And I ask because the way they decided to design PoE2, PoE2 and Monster Hunter Wilds have the EXACT SAME DEMOGRAPHIC OF A PLAYERBASE!!!


Anyway, good analysis... you hit everything SPOT ON... let's hope GGG devs aren't so much of divas that they will refuse to retain their loyal PoE1 playerbase and will just kick them out in favor of the mindless streamer fanbois...

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MurkynHD#6733 wrote:

" I am approaching some details from a pessimistic point of view, because as a game designer I believe this approach is realistic and effective."

I don't mean this to be rude at all, I'm genuinely curious - What are you game design credentials?