Path of Exile Review and Gameplay: Page 6 of 7

Can you survive Wraeclast?


Quests

What's the point of all this? Why the quests of course! No, not really. You forget these even exist once you get caught up in combining skills and equipping the right gear. Still, the quest rewards are helpful in this goal too. You can get gems, even stat boosts from a certain quest in act 2 and they help you unlock new areas or get to bosses for the ultimate loot reward.

What I like about Path of Exile's quest system is that it's not overburdened. You don't get 20 side-quests per one main one. You also don't need to run across the world in the opposite direction of where your story takes you. It's somewhat linear, but that's what makes it good. It's not such an elaborate world that you'd want to spend hours exploring it.

This is the whole of act 2, map and quests. Only as much as is needed.

World

Unlike traditional MMORPGs, this one is mostly instanced. Each act has a town-like location that serves as a server hub. Players can meet up here and form parties or trade. Once you leave town, you are in your own instance and there's no one around to save you...unless you brought them along in your party that is.

You move from area map to area map in a very streamlined manner. There's hardly ever more than 2 branching paths and even those meet up in the end. This is not a game where you explore or kill x/y monsters. It's more of a treasure run. If you're fond of  hunting items, you will love this game.

Those area maps can get pretty elaborate.

Graphics & Sound

For this day and age, it's dated. Though, I still prefer this to Diablo 3's World of Warcraft-esque art style. This is darker, more serious. It doesn't feel like a colorful kids game. What I also like about this 2.5D graphic style is that it allows for finer detail. The problem with 3D is that everything needs to be modeled and it quickly eats up your PC's resources. That's not the case here. Less impressive visual, but a richer looking environment.

Look at all that fine detail!

In terms of sound, I like it! I remember there being some very specific sounds in Diablo 2 that were just pleasing to the ears. Path of Exile has them to. Gems dropping, kill sounds, monster gargles or growls etc. I especially like the Shadow's voice. Though it might be his attitude, rather than the voice itself.

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High standards & easily bored. Good luck
Gamer Since: 1992
Favorite Genre: RPG
Top 3 Favorite Games:, ,


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All Comments (2)

James Lightning's picture

James Lightning 8 years 9 months ago

This game looks pretty awesome

Brdjanin's picture

Brdjanin 8 years 9 months ago

However common it is to compare hack-and-slash games to Diablo 2, Path of Exile is in a league of its own. The perspective and the sense of game-play is similar to every game of this genre, true. But, the options for character build are far more vast and versatility is incredible. One can really give in to imagination and make an unique build. Overall, this game deserves to be given a shot.

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