Eurogamer POE review, 7/10

I actually agree with the snipped OP posted. The game has always bothered me because its visually bland. There's no stylization or interesting elements for the most part. It feels like I could walk down the street in some shithole corner of the real world and see everything that is in PoE besides the spells and occasional monster. There's just nothing interesting to look at. I know the game is supposed to be "grim" and give off a feeling of "hopelessness" but I hope the lack of interesting stuff isn't how the Dev's planned on achieving that feeling. I will say its getting better, but still has a ways to go.

The gameplay is the same. There's plenty of suffixes/affixes for monsters, but nothing that really changes the game play. The addition of 3x does give me hope though, as Dominus and even the annoying "shield" guys at least change how you need to approach situations and not simply use your boosted stats to overwhelm the boosted stats of another monster.

Finally, there's the Desynch issue. I don't have much of a problem with it, as I have taken into consideration things I do that cause it when playing to avoid it, but it's something I'd rather not have to worry about. Not the worst thing, but its not helping.

I feel like I could give a lot of insight to the Devs, as I have played soooo many games and have a strong sense of design, alas its a shame I'm posting this in the back of someone's thread where noone will read it. If you made it this far, grats. :P

The character is in the mechanics, not the aesthetics.

Didn't read any other posts in this thread but look at the screenshots. The guy played to fetid pool on normal and not even on release patch, or at least the screenshot of skilltree he has up isn't from release, so ya.... Eurogamer seems like a shit reviews site to me.

"

Methodical_Prodigy wrote:

Didn't read any other posts in this thread but look at the screenshots. The guy played to fetid pool on normal and not even on release patch, or at least the screenshot of skilltree he has up isn't from release, so ya.... Eurogamer seems like a shit reviews site to me.

First impressions are important.

"

Cronk wrote:

I think where the 3 points were lost in this reviewer's opinion were quite easy to spot from what he said:

-1 = Doesn't know why he's killing stuff other than to find loot.
-1 = The loot is about number variety rather than object variety and the numbers don't necessarily match to logic, such as the hats which help find loot which he exampled.
-1 = This concept is then carried over to monster type, which has wide number variety, but little differential variety.

Which all assists in increasing the game's boredom factor, but it doesn't bore too much and is, essentially, pretty good. D3 has a lot of lore in it. You stop at regular intervals to read stuff and talk to people if you want to know what's going on, which is probably why D3 got a better score, because these particular reviewers prefer a more whole experience. In this respect, PoE does feel like an incomplete and more work in progress kind of game.

Yeah I have the impression that the guy who wrote the review is more of an RPG fan and less of an ARPG fan (big difference imo). The story in D3 is shit, or to quote Eurogamer on this: "total nonsense". Yet it got 9/10, despite of its many flaws that actually count. Most people dont play ARPGs for the story after all.

"

zachatta wrote:

Ahh irrelevant people's opinions.

I am glad I have never taken reviewers seriously (for better or for worse).

Pretty much what I thought after reading the first couple of pages of this thread.

Finding a video game and sticking with it is kind of like finding a woman. All of them come with certain flaws in one area or another, and while you could ultimately think of at least some things that you would change or do better yourself - obviously it's never going to be perfect. So which game at the end of the day is still the most fun, despite it's flaws. Too many gamers go into a game looking for perfection, and it's the reason most leave disappointed.

"

Barry wrote:

"

Methodical_Prodigy wrote:

Didn't read any other posts in this thread but look at the screenshots. The guy played to fetid pool on normal and not even on release patch, or at least the screenshot of skilltree he has up isn't from release, so ya.... Eurogamer seems like a shit reviews site to me.

First impressions are important.

Yup I guess, because the guy could have spent at least a day and make it to end of normal difficulty. Not an hour and then give his opinion. If I was running a review site I would tell the writers that they have to know the game they are reviewing and try it for a day or 2. Not "hey heres a game called path of exile, try it out for an hour or so and then write a 20 paragraph review on it."

Note: The following wall of text is due to a lifelong passion for gaming. I wrote this because it needs to be said. Partly because this sickened me to the core :)

"

Meruru_Rede_Arls wrote:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-10-25-path-of-exile-review

"

...Path of Exile doesn't have Torchlight 2's sense of style or Diablo 3's polish. Its cosmetics are fairly expensive...

"

Path of Exile isn't a great action RPG, but it's a pretty good one, it's off to a promising start and the developer says it has a lot planned for the months and years ahead.

What a load of bullshit lol.

1) The reviewer lets cosmetic cost affect score? First warning sign here
2) POE's dark atmosphere and art style completely blows D3's and Torchlight out of the water when it comes to immersion and feel. Graphics shouldnt have a huge impact on score vs gameplay at all. But even if it did have anything to say path of exile would still win (Ive played D3 for 200+ hours) As for the insignificance of graphics - look at games like FF7 and Fallout 2. By todays standards the graphics on these games are horrid, but they are still UNMATCHED in an artistic sense.
3) "POE isnt a great action RPG" lol... I love D1 and D2, played sacred - titanquest and every other ARPG out there. Id rate them roughly D2>POE>D1>TQ>D3>Sacred>Other. Even Titan Quest was better than D3. I would rate POE higher than D2 now. But as for fun and addiction, atmosphere and so on looking from a "When I first played it" D2 wins, but not by alot.

What I learnt from this: I should apply for a job as a game reviewer, because frankly - even if taste differs - there is no question POE is on par with Diablo 1 and Diablo 2.

As for my D3 "bashing":

1) D3's story is horribly written. It is pompous, childish, predictable, boring and uninteresting.
2) D3's skillsystem does not have the depth of POE. D3 is dipping your toes on the surface of the water with one foot firmly placed on the shore. POE is like taking a submarine dive down to the unknown abyssal dephts of the deepest seas.
3) D3 suffers from horrible villains. Diablos poor voiceacting with "I am your TerrOOOrrororor" is not only completely lacking the "scare" and intimidating feel which good villains requires. But the villains are all bland and shallow. Piety, now theres a proper video game character you love to hate.

It is quiet clear that humanity suffers from quantity of people and not quality, so Im not losing my faith in humanity when I read poorly written garbage like that. Because that was already lost.

Note: My opinion stems from over 25 years of gaming from Mario on NES to world of warcraft. Ive played probably over 250 games (Minimum). My sincere opinion is that POE is in the top 20 in company of games like:

Morrowind, Fallout 2, Legacy of Cain: Soul reaver, FF7, Deus Ex, Max Payne, Diablo 1/2, Skyrim, Dragon age: Origins, Dark souls, Baldurs gate, Kotor, Warcraft 3, Half life and Starcraft 1.

I give POE 9/10 for:

Dark Immersive graphics and atmosphere
Advanced and fun skill tree with skill gems adding huge customization options
Memorable villains
A story with lore that isnt bland and uninteresting. I find the lore and gameworld mysterious, dark and intriguing
Good replayability
Good challenge
Doesent hold your hand like you were a clueless child
Fun factor

When you judge a game you judge it according to genre. For example, you dont judge counterstrike negatively for not lacking a story! You dont judge a game from graphics, so you cant judge Mario 1 on NES for being 2D! You have to look at a game according to its context. This reviewer fails at his job so hard it isnt even funny. Diablo 1, POE and Diablo 2 are all better ARPGs than Diablo 3. And trust me I TRIED loving D3 as I even wasted my money buying the collectors edition. But if you look at POE and D3 objectively, from the perspective of an experienced gamer which has had gaming as a hobby pretty much from the cradle. That thinks atmosphere, story, good villains, gameplay, storytwists, replayability and most importantly - CHALLENGE and FUN. Then POE is so much better its not even funny.

Lacks the polish of D3... that sentence is wrong in so many ways I want to cry.

I love this game (baring a few of the latest changes), but I think 7/10 is pretty fair. It might not be fair compared to other games that got better reviews and are shit, but in and of itself 7 seems pretty good. Think about it. a 10 should be a game with literally ZERO areas of improvement. POE has lots of areas to improve. I'd go so far as to give the new areas a 9/10, but there is still a lot of it that feels unfinished.

The game is missing a lot of the bells and whistles people have come to expect from a game. In my opinion that is what gives it part of its charm, there isn't a lot of fluff around it, it is just game, but I can understand how a reviewer would take away points for it. The story is really interesting, but you have to work to find it.

I also think this game is way better than 10/10 given its budget, but I think it could be a lot better with several million dollars pumped into and double or triple the devs.

I also look at it like this. Do you think everyone is going to enjoy this game? They aren't. It's a niche game, and it and we are all proud of that. A niche game can't earn a 10/10. Look at a game like Resident Evil 4. Even if you hated RE1-3, no one could play that game at time of release and not be blown away by it. In the end, though, POE has given me far more hours of enjoyment.

Besides, there is no better feeling as a gamer to try a game that only got a so-so review, and find it amazing. It feels like finding hidden treasure.

"

StinkFinger wrote:

I think a 7 is generous... Hell I'd subtract 3 points just for the 3+ years of desync.

Oh look the sound of a broken record.