What a Skill Tree: Path of Exile

This isn't really anything beyond a moderate depth look at Path of Exile simply because I don't quite have it in me to truly master another ARPG. I suppose if this were a Blizzard game, well, I'd have less issue claiming mastery - but PoE's gearing and skill set up system is an arcane mystery in its own right. Since PoE is innately free to play with a reasonable f2p model, I don't necessarily feel like a deeper review is fundamentally necessary regardless - If the game sounds interesting at first blush, why not give it a try? The only upfront cost is a 2.7 gigs (on steam) download, which should be reasonable for most.

I downloaded this primarily because I'd sort of considered it, discussed it with a friend and then he was like "hey you want to give it a try?" after it hit steam and again, why not, it's free. I can talk for ages about how different and wild legitimate f2p gaming is but really, there's just something to be said for this process being somehow both more and less enabling than buying software. Anyway, Path of Exile is an ARPG in the vein of Diablo 2. Like a true Diablo and/or Torchlight game, it apparently had a seven year development cycle. In many ways it tries to do one of two things: stay unreal close to its roots and then get as far away from them as possible.

At its core, as with all ARPGs, Path of Exile is a smashy/clicky  gameplay model. You hunt into the wilds for pants, using a variety of furious mouseclicks to get there then you acquire pants. In terms of its combat model, PoE feels much closer to Diablo 2 than Torchlight 2 - which is to say it's pretty nimble but not quite as zoomy fast as Torchlight 2. Combat is not as visceral either, but again, this ties it closer to Diablo 2 than its fellows. As such the core gameplay is very close and there's really not much I can say. It's akin to describing the word 'like' to someone who doesn't speak english - It's just too embedded in my sense of gaming. It's very solid as far as ARPGs go, feeling more responsive than Torchlight 2 except for issues of netcode which we'll get into.

Whatever else I'm going to go on about in this discussion, it's worth noting that Path of Exile is essentially and utterly a sequel to Diablo 2. It expands on the gameplay elements, but it carries so much of D2 throughout its DNA that you can straight up say - If you liked Diablo 2, and you're not a blizzard fanboy, you'll like this. I have encountered a couple weird opinions where people still in love with Blizzard just spew weird rationalizations at me for hating it.

I mean, don't get me wrong, there's still lots of things wrong with this game. But it shares almost all of them with Diablo 2 on the most part, so if you played hundreds of hours of that the only real excuse should be 'I think I've seen enough ARPGs for one life, thanks'.

There will always be goats

Graphically PoE references Diablo 2 very strongly in two ways: one, it's pretty grim (and often to the point of absolute absurdity, which I'll get into later) and two it's very dated looking in terms of engine but not in terms of artistic quality. The artist(s) are extremely talented and it does crush most games on pure variety of scenery even while feeling very unified in theme. The game is a literal path of an exile, traveling from the desolate coastline, up through haunted reaches and coastal caverns into a jungle filled with ancient ruins before trekking through a fallen romantic empire. One thing I feel weird mentioning in mostly a very charmed light is the game's use of nudity - There's not a ton of it, mind you, but when you enter the grecian/romanesque style ruins you'll encounter a handful of nude statues of both genders. It just feels very natural, very classical to me and the models are done very well.

Then the fully nude golden statue woman animates and attempts to beat you to death with a giant golden hammer.

As a very subjective gripe I feel like the game could have used somewhat better chronological metering or just more rotten away ruins. The ruins you're visiting in act 3 fell at least two centuries before you arrive, which is a pretty major span of time for tile roofing and planks of wood to survive. I mean hey, it's subjective, but it's a little annoyance.

oh hey public shaming

Oh, and all seven classes mostly look fantastic. The ranger's ass is a little bit big, the templar's lack of pants is weirdly off putting and the Scion's "one leg always has a bleeding gash" is a touch goofy but on the most part they all look unique, are well animated and have loads of personality. The duelist looks like a cocky asshole, the shadow looks like a jerk, the templar holds his head high - Seriously, they're all pretty much great. I can't stop smiling at the deranged templar's standing stance, where he does this total Moses pose with his staff held in one hand and his other arm against his chest.

Music quality and sound work are mostly very good. There are a couple voice actors I found didn't quite perform well or should have had their style changed up. One of the Act 2 NPCs sounds mentally disabled and some of the Scion lines are delivered with such a confusing mood I don't know what to think. But other than that, the voice work is really high quality especially for what essentially amounts to an indie production. The music, however, is either very boring or absolutely excellent. The templar and shadow classes deliver fantastic quips that make me smile every time. All in all, I've kept the audio on in the game and I like it, though it has bugged out a couple times and doesn't seem to like skype.

But then, who does?

The combat system favors a spread of additional abilities that deepen the main class mechanics offered in most ARPGS - ie, you not only have armor for damage reduction, but you can also evade, block and put up an 'energy shield' which offers health that recharges very quickly if you stop taking damage. These abilities build off the main attributes and favor different builds, but since you can mix and match everything many talents offer trade-offs to further deepen what you want. It actually makes a keen sort of sense - It's always felt a little weird than agility or intelligence based classes use the same armor system as hulking brutes. I'm not even going to lie here, I totally do not fathom the depths of the system at all. There are three devoted classes and three hybrids, each with a different gear path and I have no idea how to discern their validity. The game does give you a good load out of how stats influence your damage output and so forth (MASSIVELY better than Torchlight 2's), but it is very complex.

There is also a completely open ended, non-specialized class you can straight up do whatever you want with. I made mine into a bizarre dual elemental wizardy sort of thing.

no no don't make me noooo

Once you get away from the core gameplay though nearly everything else is pretty wild. Although PoE has seven classes, they do not innately have class "skills" and all selecting a class does is give you a starting point, as well as influence a couple of the quest rewards. I am not certain how fundamentally open the skill and stat system actually is in spite of the fact everyone shares the same massive stat allocation network thing. The skill galaxy if you will has been compared to the Final Fantasy Ten thing, but I've never played FFX as Tidus and his "one long pant leg, one short pant leg" destroyed my ability to enjoy the game without ever even putting it in the drive. Regardless, you have a huge range of skills and passives to select from, but much of the game really boils down to pure survivability, meaning most of the talents unlike the skills are pointless wastes of time. I really do think this bears repeating, as it is by far and away the most off putting element of the game and yet it really have very little influence.

Remember that open ended class I just mentioned? Her talent tree opens into a nightmare. Sometimes I black out while playing mine. Too many options! What am I doing, how do I free myself from this maze!?

where am I he;lp

Unlike many ARPGs I don't think PoE has many if any truly useless or bad skills. Although many gems overlap - There are for example something like 5 or 6 point blank melee aoes for each possible spec or set up - you will constantly find or be rewarded with new gems you'll struggle to socket because they're all good. Let alone choose between. Not only are there many skills, but you can link up skills to do different things or somewhat change their nature. Curses can be integrated to cast on weapon strikes, skills can trigger when struck and entire chains of complicated set ups are possible.  Including fireballs that chain off targets while casting curses, or melee strikes that cast those same chaining, cursing fireballs. The skill system continues to expand and change as you level as higher level gear opens up larger possible socketing combinations. While the passive tree is honestly mostly a waste of time and not especially well designed (though it balanced, mind you) the gem system is a work of art.

The skills look great. The part where you can fork fireballs or throw multiple traps based on socketing, or power up your favorite attack to set enemies on fire, curse, leech life or drain mana just endears the game to me so much.

The game does have its flaws, some of which may be very subjective and some of which may be very personal. Unlike Torchlight 2 which has horrible feedback issues inherent in its combat system from top to bottom, PoE is largely quite solid insofar as communicating what is beating you to death and what to fix in your character's shortcomings. Inversely, the game is very complicated and can be hard to discern meaning from at a glance, which will turn some players off.

The two worst examples are the talent tree which is just overwhelming fifty hours into the game and slowly grinds down into something of a chore later on, and then the oddest little thing - As with D2x and TL2, much of the focus in clearing areas lies in killing named bosses. What is very weird is many named bosses are full on impossible to distinguish from their allies. There is also no 'minions' classification for the bosses followers, which can lead to little moments of startled fear when you suddenly realize you're hitting a boss who is quite sassy in regards to being hit by you.

The game engine as far as I can tell can not do transparencies at all - it can remove objects, but only some it is programmed to do. As such, and this is a pretty big design no-no, there are points where you will entirely lose sight of your character or what they are hitting. This is not a major issue, but it does come up and it's actually just kinda embarrassing.

Also, while this is very subjective, the game's story is kinda weird and bizarre at points. As I said earlier, you are an exile following a path and you sort of vaguely enter into a revenge on the people responsible for your exile, which is unveiled to be for kinda not especially great reasons in some cases and quite reasonable in others. It's kinda grey area - this is, as ARPGs go, a very smooth and reasonable story hook that never feels overbearing or nonsensical "save the world also get lots of pants" dissonance spew nonsense. The thing is, it's almost like at the end the art or story team felt like they hadn't gotten their grimdark quota up and a perfectly reasonable (if hauntingly grim) game suddenly unleashes a couple back to back levels of scenes that look like someone started from holocaust photographs and then took it up a notch or two. Blegh. It's not only a bit repulsive and unnecessary but the particular level I'm thinking of is so derivative of the end of Act 3 Diablo 2 that it's impossible to see as anything but juvenile. It also just doesn't make any sense in the narrative - You progress through act 3 hot on the heels of an individual you were chasing for the entire game, and then suddenly she has a laboratory filled with horrible mutants and an entire river of blood filled with corpses, as well as wagons will piles of corpses just spilling out everywhere. While Kurast's industrial grade murder was well explained in Diablo 2, here it's just sort of like 'Well they were experimenting so they killed twenty three thousand people. Got a little out of hand!'

The story does also not really hold your hand and doesn't resolve everything too heavily in parts. I quite appreciated this but I do think some people will find it muddied or vague. Act 2 and 3 have this wonderful feeling of almost archaeology to them and their story progression. Less Indiana Jones and more say Prometheus given nearly everything wants to murder you, but still a really nice sentiment. I know that you do spend some time in ruins in Torchlight 2 but this was just more convincing and more legitimately moody. The end of Act 2 especially feels like a descent into bloody history.

so a piece of toilet paper and two bits of string then?

I should briefly discuss the economic system: PoE does not have gold. Things are purchased using crafting items or ID scrolls, which are granted to you by selling items to the vendors. Some vendors also sell various crafting items, which act more like a normal coin currency if somewhat confusingly (2 X will buy 1 Y, 4 Y buy 1 Z, etc) but are also used to change or modify loot. I have mixed feelings about the crafting system in general, it feels like you are meant to invest absolutely massive amounts of time into rerolling and fucking with gear to perfect it, which honestly just feels a little offputting. Many of the currency items can be evaluated in terms of how many game hours it takes to see a single one, and a couple actually go into game days. 

On the other hand the game is very good at making every character you play and nearly every drop you get does ultimately increase your total wealth. It's a small, slow progression but far better than simply feeling like you accomplished nothing at a sit down. Failed characters taken into the middle difficulty - Where they generally actually "fail" - yield gems and other quest rewards, helping to stifle the natural resentment as one repeatedly re-rolls to find a spec they like.

On the topic of money, PoE is f2p and I actually gave them some of my dollars to purchase a guild stash to more easily facilitate trading between my friends. I don't know how good or bad the cash shop is - the prices come off as rather absurdly high and pretty poor value on your dollar. I'm not saying I feel ripped off here, the guild bank was more than a worthwhile purchase, but many of the things I'd consider buying to support the game are just way too much. $4 for a single character dance and $15 for a cat pet is just pushing way out of my range. The cash shop is easy to use and honest mind you, with the currency set at 10 per dollar you spend, so it's clear they're not trying to fuck with you they're just a little ambitious. You can use steambux generated from cards on their cash shop, which is really nice integration and overall I was pleased with the experience. So you can use steambux to buy things then earn steambux through selling cards the game ships you.

I'm just disappointed the cat is fucking $15.

I mention this primarily because I feel like there was a policy of trying to make your base characters a little filthy looking, and then you can cash shop for shiny gear. This is completely fair! What is not fair is how dogshit terrible the undead minions look. For one, can we please never have necromancy summons in any game ever again? Or at least go with summons that look nothing like the stuff I'm fighting? For two, can we make them easy to distinguish between monsters and the summons? I'm pretty sure you can pay money to do this and it's just gross of them. Again, this might come off as a subjective flaw.

As well, at the time of this writing, the game's lag issues are ... Well, it's very clear the skills and monsters were not designed at all around the idea the game would get skippy and laggy after launch. I have weird lag issues like suddenly finding myself in rooms I did not enter, fighting enemies I never clicked on or odd control problems. It's very frustrating on higher difficulties, but this is more a warning than a blame game thing. I have no idea how popular PoE is or will be, or if it's legitimately their fault or whatever. I just want to mention the game acts a little odd. Apparently the netcode is very aggressively disinterested in trusting the client, which the developers have explained as a result of being underfunded vis a vis a major anti-cheating system. I can respect that, but the lag is very strange and feels different from any other game I've played. They are very upfront and honest about problems though, so it's not like they're downplaying the issues or whatever else.

Not my meats! I need those!

Ultimately Path of Exile is an excellent ARPG and frankly the best in the genre at this time. It does have lag issues and the skill wheel of worldly doom is unnecessarily obtuse, but the class selection, itemization, skills and art style are all excellent. It also offers a ton of variety in gameplay, going beyond "just normal and hardcore" to instead offer races, an expanded late game and a much better economic design in terms of trading. It is also, of course, entirely f2p and the game really isn't missing much you need to pay for. A guild stash is probably a good idea if you're going to play with friends but that's $5 or maybe $15 if you want a multiple page one - Not a big deal between several players.

If it seems kinda contradictory that I complained a ton in this review only to say it is excellent overall, it's the main beats the game gets right and a couple details I wanted to complain about that it didn't. The team behind it is has shown they really want to keep updating and working on it, rather than resting on their laurels - It has seen two minor content patches since launch, which is little more than a handful of weeks past. I'd suggest picking it up during the month of sales ... But again, this is f2p, so there's really no excuse not to try if you like ARPGs and can stomach the skill galaxy whirling oh god.