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Last Epoch is a phenomenal game and was worth every penny years ago–I’m incredibly excited for the 1.0 release. It’s got just the right amount of build complexity–if making a Path of Exile build from scratch takes a PhD, then doing it in Last Epoch would be like community college (although there’s definitely differences in complexity from class to class).
The developers (Eleventh Hour Games) offer regional pricing, so non-Americans aren’t priced out of the game, and although servers for online play will be available based on a cost vs demand basis, it is possible to play the game 100% offline.
If anyone has any questions about the game, let me know!
What’s the story line like (if there’s any)? One of the reasons why I like Diablo (1&2) so much is because of the atmosphere, the world building, the lore, the attention to small details. Especially in Diablo 2, for instance, things like cool random names for mini-bossess, the personality of the all monsters (like how the fallen make cute grunts and scream “RAKANISHU!”) - it feels like you’re fighting against real creatures which are alive. It makes the world feel so much more alive and immersive, and increases the replay value.
Now compare this with Diablo 4, where all the mobs just feel so generic and unimaginative - like you’re fighting a big bear called “beast”… like wtf. Also, the biggest problem in Diablo 4 is that the difficulty scaling is whack - you never feel like you’ve become powerful, because the monsters become just as powerful as you and it just feels like an endless, soulless grind. Even so called “legendary” items are crap and meaningless, they don’t bear any excitement at all - like imagine how excited you’d be in D2 if you got a Tal Rasha’s or an SoJ or something, or heck, even just one of the upper runes. And finally, in D2 you have some very memorable NPCs with iconic dialogue and voice acting. Even more than two decades later, people reminisce fondly about Decard Cain and all his epic quotes like “Stay awhile and listen!” - and I bet any D2 fan reading this would’ve instantly read that quote in Cain’s voice. D4 has none of that, it’s a soulless game. So how does Last Epoch fare in regards to all that? Specifically, what I want to know is how’s the:
- Story
- Music
- Environment/world building
- Mobs
- NPCs
- Loot
- Story
The story is currently unfinished, so I can’t comment on its entirety, but I’m enjoying the themes and choices they’ve made so far. It’s based on fantasy-inspired time travel and visiting the same areas in different eras of time, similar to Crono Trigger. You meet some characters at multiple points in their life, sometimes changing from friend to foe or vice versa. Finally, the endgame mechanic involves exploring alternate timelines where key events in the history of the world had a different outcome (for example, one timeline explores what would have happened if the gods had failed in their quest to exterminate the dragons).
- Music
The music is immersive and calm when it needs to be, and engaging and dramatic when it needs to be. Ultimately, I felt like it wasn’t anything to write home about when I turned it off in favor of my own playlists a few years ago, but the composer has had nothing but time to refine their craft and I wouldn’t be surprised if they update the soundtrack for 1.0.
- Environment/World Building/Mobs
I feel like they knocked it out of the park on this one. Enemies in the Ancient Era are primal and wild, the Divine Era is regal and civilized but barbaric underneath, the Immortal Era is appropriately gory and dreary but filled with loving people who still have hope, and the Ruined Era is consumed by darkness and it really shows in the enemy design. The giant reptiles you fight in one era may get resurrected to fight against you in the next; wild scorpions will have glittering gems appear in their carapaces as you near a treasure trove, cultists will grow more mutated as their exposure to their deity grows, and more. Side quests have you time-traveling from era to era to complete objectives in creative ways, and there are even ways to skip parts of the campaign by exploring and completing dungeons, for when you’re leveling alts.
- NPCs:
Most town NPCs rarely elevate themselves beyond exposition dumps, although there are some memorable moments; but the characters that travel with you or fight against you are great and charismatic. I like one of the characters enough that I’m legitimately upset that they die, and I hope we’re able to save them at some point in the future (or should I say, some point in the past?). Sadly, the main vendor that you use in the endgame is kinda dull and flat and is definitely no Deckard Cain, but that’s honestly the kind of feedback that the devs would appreciate and find a way to apply to the game.
- Loot:
Uniques and Set Items have descriptions that build out the world or tell you more about the person who originally used them, kinda like dark souls. Normal/magic/rare/exalted items don’t have descriptions and are based on a prefix/suffix system, and unique items can potentially drop with 1-4 Legendary Potential, a stat that allows it to inherit a number of affixes from an exalted item equal to its Legendary Potential. They are also implementing two different approaches to loot by adding mutually exclusive Item Factions to the in-game world-- the Circle of Fortune will increase item drops and add mini-quests to further increase drop rates for specific items similar to Prophecies and Atlas Memories from PoE; while the Merchants Guild will let players trade increasingly powerful items with each other, either in person or through a bazaar (although there will be limited options to trade items with friends regardless of which faction you choose to join, if you spend time together in game)
I picked up the game about a month ago in prep for 1.0, and have been having a blast with it. So many of the features and design decisions made show that the devs truly care about their game and are striving to make it good, rather than just financially successful. The game is $35 USD and well worth the asking price IMO. While there is an in-game cash shop, it’s all cosmetic and can be easily ignored.
Have really enjoyed many aspects of this game over the years of beta, but still can’t get past how slow things feel in the game.
Granted flat time I played was about 4 months ago, but the movement seems like it should be much faster and combat feels like it should have much more density to it; it just doesn’t feel great to be slowly trudging around looking for mobs to unleash on.
One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about Diablo (3 and somewhat 4, although they’ve had similar issues) was the ability to quickly move around and jump into huge packs of enemies.
I liked some of the ideas of the game. But found the story and gameplay loop uninspiring and dull. And the sound design, awful. Before you get to the first hub I’d already turned off the music.
Got some great designs and some great sets. Certain ideas somewhat reminds me of chrono trigger.
