KickStarter Grim Dawn

[Lacrymas]

Would be great if it was set in GD universe

It's been confirmed (?) it's not.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

confirmed (?)

Make up your mind damn you.

 

[Lacrymas]

confirmed (?)

Make up your mind damn you.

I refuse!

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Worth a punt at £5? Not overly interested in playing through the game multiple times, at least back to back.

 

[Abu Antar]

Worth a punt at £5? Not overly interested in playing through the game multiple times, at least back to back.

I haven't beaten it, but it's absolutely worth that price.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Not overly interested in playing through the game multiple times

It has the same crappy normal->nightmare->hell mechanic that diablo clones insists on copying. Really wish they wouldn't tbh.

 

[Ryzer]

Worth a punt at £5? Not overly interested in playing through the game multiple times, at least back to back.

No it is trash all around. Keep your money and pick something else.

 

[DeepOcean]

Worth a punt at £5? Not overly interested in playing through the game multiple times, at least back to back.

I think you will have a good time with at least a single playthrough on the Veteran difficulty, on the Veteran difficulty, the challenge of normal is pumped up high enough so the normal playthrough isnt a complete bore, with the expansions, you can get very far leveling without having to replay content too. There is also random dungeons with interesting backstories and boss fights.

The game is complex but at same time it isnt like a spreadsheet simulator like PoE that punishes you if you dont read the entire wiki. The lore is excellent, well written and clever without dumb shit in it, the atmosphere is great with a mixture of dark dantasy pos apocalyptic and horror. The itemization is great with a very complex system with both legendary items and and loot that drop from especific bosses that you can use to make all kinds of builds. With the shard system on the second expansion, you can challenge your build and go as far as you can go without repeating content.

It is still a ARPG though so if you dont tolerate killing alot of trash mobs and walk for a long time on areas that only have monsters to kill on them, you know, the basic shenanigans of the genre, you might not like it but I have to say that Grim Dawn is far from being the worst at it, especially on the normal difficulty with things like monster totems, veteran difficulty and challenge areas that increase the difficulty above the complete boredom that other ARPGs have, buy the base game, if you liked it, buy the expansions, it is worthy if you tolerate the genre nonsense.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

My only major complaint is that the droprates felt like they were designed for a persistent, always-online ARPG. I rarely ever found gear that was good for my character, due to the class combination system the odds of finding such are incredibly low.
No idea if they addressed this or not, but it was the reason I stopped playing.

 

[Ryzer]

The lore is excellent, well written and clever without dumb shit in it

No it's bland, boring and forgettable.

There is also random dungeons with interesting backstories and boss fights.

Example? In my game they were all trash.
So far, What I can remember about Grim Dawn is that Factions were a missed opportunity, it's just an endless loop of fetch quests.
C&C in this game are laughable how bad they are.
1st act is good then it goes downward from it. The last act is the worst of them and is offensively atrocious.
Some masteries were broken ( Maybe it has been patched dunno), others are incredibly shit.
The so-famous "complexity" turns out to be yet again another min-max party.
The gameplay is dull and slow-paced, your character runs slower than a snail even at max level.
Maps are incredibly boring, I don't know how they managed to do that.
Maybe it's just me.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Yeah, those C&C in muh grim dawn, 1/10 mang, 1/10.

 

[Black_Willow]

Play it, it's a cool game.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

grenadier is my favorite archetype next to psionics in RPGs so it also gets a major plus for that
explosions!

 

[DeepOcean]

So far, What I can remember about Grim Dawn is that Factions were a missed opportunity, it's just an endless loop of fetch quests.
C&C in this game are laughable how bad they are.

It seems you expected it to be a traditional RPG and Grim Dawn really isnt one, unfortunately, ARPGs since Diablo II took this path of focusing into being loot grind games instead of being focused on atmosphere and being more of a focused experience that Diablo I was, this is a dead horse at this point though as the genre as a whole moved from that because of how popular Diablo II was and probably they wont change back but if you find Grim Dawn boring, just take a look to the competition on the genre and the only game that comes close to Grim Dawn is Last Epoch and the game is still on Early Access and far from the complete state that Grim Dawn is on the moment.

I really dont take PoE or Lost Ark seriously as I dont enjoy those online games that tend to become overbloated over time and turn the worst aspects of ARPGs to 11.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Worth a punt at £5? Not overly interested in playing through the game multiple times, at least back to back.

Buy it, you can be a barbarian in this game.

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't get the "it's a min-max nightmare" angle. Grim Dawn is the only hack and slasher that provides relevant content for whatever wacky build you choose to slap together. You can the same gear as a more min-maxed character, so it's not like an MMO where you have to be min-maxed to get the best gear.

 

[gurugeorge]

I always found myself wishing that the game was actually more of an RPG, it would be a great setting for a proper RPG. The method of storytelling (similar to the "logs lying around" idea in the classic immersive sims) was really well done, and could have been developed more.

But it's not half bad as an ARPG anyway, I suppose, maybe not the best, but up there among the best.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Its a good game and one of the rare EA/Kickstarter titles done properly.
All of you naysayers need Jesus.

 

[Divine Blessing]

Grim Dawn - continents of (fun) content

Crate Entertainment (2008), successor of Iron Lores Titan Quest glory, achieved, where many competitors failed: a blend of the original ARPG genre with up-to-date gameplay features. what Diablo 3 combat could have been, Kingdoms of Amalur content and features and even the RPG majority of the decade struggled for - Grim Dawn (2016) delivers.

in a very lyrical iteration of a very classic Meta plot - the geek myth of Pandoras Box - mankinds last stand enfolds on the conflict-torn world of Cairne. as almost every time, mans desire for power, its curiosity for the unknown and its fortunes opened the gates for an invasion of extra-dimensional beings (another metaphor for power, as power always invites greater power, etc). on the edge of mankinds extinction the recently posessed protagonist (the player) receives a second chance, as he was already hanged on the gallow.

a massive campaign opens for 9 classes, driven by quick and responsive gameplay, via fast-paced action and Choice and Consequence. brimming with side-quest, factions, location, rares and chests,
through entire continents with diverse biomes, volumes of bestiary and a nearly zynical abundance of items. but Grim Dawns maybe most impressive achievement is usability.

a game, that comforts with (optional) convinience and subtle guidance. Grim Dawn refuses to annoy with time-intense back-tracking and allows for a quick traversion on already explored map points (portal stones), even better: the player is allowed to open a portal anywhere, to re-port. a necessary convinience, cuz the volume of landscapes, ruins and dungeons feels very open-world.
but Grim Dawns areas, quest and even combat is designed to respect the player, its time and preferences(, i cannot recall how often i was close to feel lost, but then suddenly "crashed" into the quest boss) - a subtle guidance, with still allows the impression of agenda. it feels like a 360degree one-way-street design, the player is never on the wrong side of the road.
everything, the classes, skills, attributes, items, everything is explained on tool-tips, ingame-manual etc., accessibility is a base element of usability (or in pre-2.0 lingo user-friendlyness).

the 9 classes compliment theorycrafters with its abundance of synergies, allowing for second skill tree focus, multiclassing and further specialisation with the devotion system, another secondary progression system (after items). devotion points r gathered tru the cleansing of shrines to be distributed in the lores constellation, which grant further skills, traits and passives. but also a simple one-class build will suffice to free or doom mankinds last endeavour to restore humanity.

the very diverse itemisation further expands on the massive volume of builds with an abundance of traits, like Leech, skill-increasers and the like - a loot-shower. while almost always random, crafting at least is a safe-guard and may allow for determined itemsation in late endgame, the crafters have to be achieved, recipes r gained via drops and reputation, ingredients may be salvaged, looted or crafted, while some r boss-exclusive.

the combat itself features multiple tactical approaches (see above), damage-types and resistances, multi-phase boss encounters and of course lots, but never too much of trash (its a ARPG, right?), with a Soulsy vibe. as a death drops some Souls (XP), the player has to recollect. here Grim Dawn is generous, as trash exlusively respawns on reload and rarely resets (Health), it wants the player to succeed, not to suffer.

the major critique point personally is the UI, old-skool ugly, lacking the elegance of Grim Dawns up-to-date gameplay. the char-window, the inventory, the menus and the dialogue boxes all feel so awful antique 90s, not generous, but dense and almost skill-sheet like (u know, inventory grids etc). also, in relation to the colourful palette, a bit anticlimactic, disruptive and stingy.

but said gameplay compensates more than enough, as it really feels organic - at least with its native controller support, which some major titles (D3, AoE) dont offer (wtf?). the organicality is not to be reduced to convinience, although quick travel decreases OCR (object, challenge, reward is the core game-play loop) downtime, the design itself favor quick responsiveness with a massive mount of options (like side-quests, rares etc). even more, this design is driven by the idea to comfort every move, be it challenge, be it vista, be it any other reward to claim -it feels natural to be distracted by a stranger with a gun to a womans head, or to support a Necromancers task to stop the corruption of the Arkovian lands.
most existential and veryfying for up-to-date quality though is the progression pacing, which Grim Dawn evolves into a constant escalation of power via skills, items and (also story-) features - there is never any other downtime, altough there arent any time-sensitive quests (until now in my playtru), than the player choses too. Grim Dawn feels like it adapts the players pacing, without forcing him to do engage in optional content, a very flexible and individual pacing.

i wasnt able to test the other major features, like MP and Crucible, i dont even know, if may already start the Forgotten Gods plot (i wont), also iam not completely decided on my rating on Grim Dawn. but until now it finally is a delicious adventure, that leaves me wishing for more free time to enjoy its elegant kindness. cuz Grind Dawn doesnt need to hate the player, a bad and toxic habit developed by many MMOs and overall RPGs the former decade, to make the player feel uncomfortable usually is never a smart choice...

 

[Ryzer]

Such a great wall of text for a boring diablo clone that flood the player with tons of trash encounters to kill with a button or 2 and a boss/mini-boss to kill in few buttons, what a waste.

 

[Lacrymas]

You push more buttons in GD than in any other Diablo clone ever and how many buttons you push depends on your build. You can have a piano build if you want.

 

[Lone Wolf]

A Diablo clone? Did you mean to say 'ARPG'? Or is every isometric looter a Diablo clone?

I guess Call of Duty = just a Wolfenstein 3D clone.

GD is amazing. If it's gradually fallen behind the curve, it's because it's a ten year old game, at this point. It still has the best itemization and character skill system/progression of any ARPG in existence. An updated graphical/animation engine would make it the king of ARPGs today, no issues.

 

[Lacrymas]

Even if it is 10 years old, it still hasn't been matched. What else has surpassed it? The bloated mess that is Path of Exile or the barebones early access Last Epoch?

 

[Ryzer]

Even if it is 10 years old, it still hasn't been matched. What else has surpassed it? The bloated mess that is Path of Exile or the barebones early access Last Epoch?

Divine divinity.

 

[Lone Wolf]

It's probably behind POE on aggregate terms. But that sort of comes with successful GAAS models - a constant stream of content and iteration helps keep things fresh.

As for Ryzer's mention of Diablo and DD... 'Back in my day' purists are my favourite kind of gamers, for sure.

EDIT: Changed your mind about D1?