Grim Dawn, a Diablo-style Action RPG

[Sirian]

EDIT: This thread starts painfully slow, and hides a gem beneath the fog. If you want the TL;DR version, skip the first page (10 or so posts).

EDIT: This post was actually a threadjack to something else, and that meandered around a little bit before I had learned enough about the game to endorse it. Well, I DO endorse it, strongly, so perhaps that will help you to wade past the slow start and find the useful info.

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(In response to a post about KoP playing D2 again): Amazed it's that many (players playing old Diablo 1). 88? In 56 games? This baby is almost two decades old.

I could probably play D1 again sooner than D2, but nobody has maxed out D1 more than you have, so it's understandable there's nothing left for you to aim for there.


I recently started playing an ARPG some of my friends liked, called Grim Dawn. No idea how worthy it will turn out to be in terms of leg length (EDIT: VERY WORTHY!) but so far it has been quite entertaining. Lots of positive lessons learned from D2 in the making of this, without also copying some of the negatives. LOTS of potential builds, and the game (even on normal) hasn't been as much of a sleepwalk as D2 and D3 were on Normal.

I have been pondering on and off for a week whether to start a Grim Dawn thread in here. Still on the fence about it. Got it on Steam Sale almost a week ago ($15 instead of regular $25). Is it still on sale today? Not sure.


- Sirian

[KingOfPain]

:Goes off to have a quick check on youtube before rushing to work:
Reviewer into 11 hours when he only expected to spend a couple of hours.
Says, rather ordinary game but very satisfying and (the magic word) tactile!!!

I would sure like to read your take on it, before the sale end :wink:

[Sirian]

:Goes off to have a quick check on youtube before rushing to work:
Reviewer into 11 hours when he only expected to spend a couple of hours.
Says, rather ordinary game but very satisfying and (the magic word) tactile!!!

I would sure like to read your take on it, before the sale end :wink:

My wife is 8 mos pregnant and uncomfy in her desk chair at this time, but still spends every spare moment slipping in some playing time. She's a bit ahead of me on progression.

MP plays pretty smoothly. My wife uses a controller, and the game's controller support was tacked on after release, so it's got a bug or two in terms of crash to desktop, maybe once every few hours. Otherwise we have had no technical problems. Framerate on my 4 yo comp is a tad choppy when there's a ton of things on screen, but I may simply be running at too high of settings for optimal performance. I am poking around with lowering this or that graphical option in search of what might pay off to make things smoother in the big fights, but it hasn't been enough of an issue to "get serious" about it and interrupt any play time.

There are six skill trees and you can combine any of them, for a total of 36 class combos, including "pure" single-tree builds among them. Each of the 36 has its own class name. You CAN undo skill points at a cost, so none of that Diablo 2 nonsense about needing to know exactly what you want from a build before starting a toon. You can experiment. (As a result, I have not looked up any info about "ideal" builds or anything else. Just playing what looks fun at the time.)

Three main stats, equiv to Str, Dex, Int. Seems like each skill tree has a main stat it focuses on. So combining the two classes that focus on Int, for instance, seems like an obvious combo. However, I am running an Occultist/Explosives build, called a Pyromancer, that is heavy on pets (from Occ) and a two-handed rifle skill that does fire damage (from Exp), splitting stats between Agi and Int, to make something that plays a tad like a WoW hunter. This toon feels comparable to my pure Soldier, so with my limited experience thus far, balance seems good. My wife's toon that we've paired up is similar, with a Nightblade (Agi/melee) and an even more minor pet lean than mine. (She only has the Raven with her, not the Hound). Her combo is called a Witch Hunter, and its power is about the same as my toons.

There is a second layer of customixation, in the "Devotion" panel, where there are five ethos to pick from. The panel is a big batch of constellations, and you spend points to light up stars. Each star has its own perk. And the perks are quite diverse and even rather clever. It's a creative way to do perks, and it seems very well done. So on top of which skills you pick to use (and there's a hotbar of 10 skills, plus main attacks mapped to left and right mouse, so a dozen skills / items can be in use) from the class trees, you pick constellations/stars as well, for a sheeeeeeet ton of customization options. It's far too much to give any sort of comprehensive analysis of without hundreds more hours of play.

There is also the Diablo-esque multiple difficulty levels, and it looks like more than just padded hit points and dps stats separating the levels. No first hand experience tho.

More than worth the $15 sale price, which I checked and its still active through the night. I would have to give it a thumbs up. Nothing bad to say about the game yet. (I gave D3 a thumbs up at a similar point in time, then hated the way they handled later difficulty, so I reserve the right to change my view later, but D3 cost me 4x what I paid for this game.)

There even seems to be threat-related abilities for Str toons to obtain, so they can play a bit like a tank in multiplayer. There is no healer class, but there are various ways to get some health back (regen, pets who heal, leech abilities, etc) so I would presume tanks are a viable build. At least the game presents them as such. So that could make MP a bit different than what Diablo has tended to present. Or any of the other zillion combos of things, including some that might seem counterintuitive. The game seems designed to let you split between at least two of the three main stats and not suffer, so no reason not to go to town with variants.

There is a hardcore mode, and you can fight stuff above your level if you wander off the beaten path or skip a lot of optional fights.

If that's not enough to entice you, there's always another Steam sale in a few months, so waiting for more info is an option too. On the other hand, it's $15. Just go get it.


- Sirian

[Sirian]

I suppose I can throw in a few more bits of info.

MP is structured a lot like Diablo 2. (Which is probably a good thing, overall).

Town portals are unlimited and free. There is even a clever backstory element to explain them as a logical part of the game world, rather than as just a player quality-of-life feature.

There are factions, both positive and negative. When you level up a negative faction (three ranks to obtain) you get increasing levels of additional enemy spawns from this faction. No idea how this works yet but it SOUNDS cool!

There's a Diablo-2-like surface world progression, with lots of small underground dungeos, but more of the surface world is optional than in Diablo, and the quests are more numerous and better written. There's lots of lore books to find, lots of junk gear that drops, and a D2-esque item design, with white gear, green gear, blue gear, etc.

No fancy cutscenes tho. (Not a AAA game with the big price for the big graphical extras.)

The skills I have tried out so far seem fun. And you can dabble or specialize as you see fit. Melee sometimes has me disengaging (although I might be able to stand and toe it out if I quaffed more healing potions). There is a "constitution" stat that lets you disengage from combat to heal (whether the fight is over or not) but there's a limit to how many times in a row you can do this. So your effective health bar is a lot bigger than it looks, IF you have a bit of maneuvering room. I will have to see how tough things get at higher difficulty level before I can form a final opinion.


- Sirian

[T-hawk]

There is a second layer of customixation

Is that a typo or a clever coinage?

Should we bring these posts out to the Gaming Table forum for more visibility, rather than tucked into a hijack of a Diablo thread?

[Sirian]

Should we bring these posts out to the Gaming Table forum for more visibility, rather than tucked into a hijack of a Diablo thread?

Sale's over for now, so maybe leave it here a while longer? For that matter, it may be more relevant to people who care enough about Diablo to check this forum from time to time, rather than to get lost in the Gaming Table. For that matter (x2), it may get more visibility right here, where folks in the know will be curious enough to read any Diablo post by KoP, than it will in its own thread. (That isn't WHY I hijacked his thread, but it may be true!)

Also, the x was a typo. Key is right next to Z. But probably one of my more fortuitous typos.


- Sirian

[KingOfPain]

I will probably get the game based on your recommendation even tho I might not play it until god knows when. Playing games feel like such guilty pleasure these days (after I got back and went hardcore in photography). OTOH, I also feel guilty for having only played to lvl 3 in Skyrim, and only got through the tutorial of Shadow of Mordor since the Steam sale a week ago.

There is a second layer of customixation

Is that a typo or a clever coinage?

(added to my auto correct dictionary) We should QoTM it and make it so.

[Sirian]

OTOH, I also feel guilty for having only played to lvl 3 in Skyrim...

No need to feel guilty. But also no need to give up on it. It would be worth your time to give it another go when the mood strikes you.

My wife got me a Skyrim imperial dragon logo keychain for my birthday last year. She said she HAD TO do it because I passed the 1000 hours mark of playing and replaying it, every possible variant I could think of, and even bothered to go get the last couple of PITA achievements just to get the "perfect game" label on it on my profile. (I play at Master difficulty. The highest level crosses the line from ambrosia in to tedium, at least for me.)

Although it's FPS and bears no direct correlation to Diablo, I can think of no more apt comparison than to call its tactical subtleties "very much in the feel of Diablo 1 warrior" in how one can utilize bits of terrain in combat. (Faster paced, mind you.) Perhaps only a dozen or two people on the planet would grok at a deep level what that comparison means, and you'd be at the top of that list. ... Go back and play it some day. You won't regret spending the time.


- Sirian

[KingOfPain]

Still on sale here 16.79 CAD, bastards, 56% downloaded...

[Sirian]

Finish downloading yet?