Torchlight 2 if you like the gear gathering and optimization.
Diablo
Path of Exile is like Diablo for adults. It’s much more dark and intense in my opinion. It’s worth checking out because the New Zealanders who make it are genuinely good guys.
It looks cool, the first one seems to be free as well
Haha, yeah, free. I totally haven’t spent hundreds of dollars on the game. It’s over a decade with thousands of hours though. I haven’t really played the last couple years though, but that’s mostly because I have small children and a career
The second one will be free as well, it isn’t even in beta yet. All micro transactions (I’m sure all the visual ones, not sure about stash tabs but I think they would be as well) will be usable in both games as long as you’re using the same account.
Path of exile is a wonderful experience, I’d suggest watching nyxvellum on YouTube, he started playing path of exile as a Diablo 3/4 player, and has good takes both on starting blindly and using a build guide.
Don’t be intimidated, don’t listen to the trolls and detectors, you can play the entirety of the campaign without 2 clues to the game mechanics. End game you might find more difficult, but by then you’ve experienced a bit of everything and might be interested in pursuing something different from when you started playing.
If you’re going to start path of exile I’ll give you 2 tips, 1) get a generic basic super open loot filter (use one from the path of exile website and it’ll tie to your account and be updated automatically), 2) elemental resistances (to their cap) and HP are the most important stats, chaos resistance and damage being second most important.
It’s a wonderful game with a very active community and development studio.
Grim Dawn
Grim Dawn is “What if a sequel to Diablo 2, but not Diablo 3?”
Oh? I’ve only actually played 3 so I have no reference to 2 and what the differences are
Another option is to get Grim Dawn, and then get the Reign of Terror mod. It’s basically Diablo 2 recreated almost completely + some extra content.
But since you’ve never played Diablo 2, I’d recommend playing it first in some form (D2R or PD2) so you can appreciate the storyline (and the epic cutscenes) - and then play the Grim Dawn mod.
Old timer here… Diablo 2 has a story with an atmosphere that sucks you in. In that sense Diablo 3 was a real disappointment.
Now, if you’re going for Diablo 2 it’s the remastered version you want. The game is like 20 years old and not made for widescreen so it really feels dated on a modern screen. Also, prepare for isometric pixel graphics.
Grim Dawn also has a mod called Reign Of Terror that lets you play the entirety of Diablo 2 in GD, complete with classes, skills and items! It has some differences because it’s built on Grim Dawn’s systems, so it has the dual-class system from Grim Dawn (with similarly laid out skill trees), item affixes work like Grim Dawn, etc, but it feels great to play! And you can combine Grim Dawn classes with D2 classes, D2 classes with other D2 classes, or just play the D2 campaign with a regular Grim Dawn build. It’s great!
EDIT: spelling
Thanks for this!
Omg how have I not heard about this. I’m blaming you for my lack of social life in the next couple weeks. Not that I have one to begin with.
I’ll see you at the end of Act 2 when you remember what a fucking slog Act 3 was and decide you’ve scratched the itch.
I’m now just learning of this too and intend to do the same
Act 3
Those fucking demon pygmies! Whenever I played necro, I always corpse exploded all of them
How would you say Titan Quest compares?
i only played a little of both. i like titan quest for the story and mythology, but grim dawn seems more refined and modern, it’s actually by the SAME team (today i learned)!
Yeah, that last part I knew, but I started diving into this genre with Titan Quest because the sequel is allegedly coming out this year.
The Titan Quest sequel is being done by a completely different team, no guarantee it captures the same magic as the original.
I’m aware, but it will likely be mechanically similar. If it turns out to be a Bloodlines 2 situation, I can always just stick to the first game and Grim Dawn, maybe V Rising. And all of that is assuming that as I spend more time in Titan Quest I still enjoy it.
forgot about that, I would personally wait for the sequel but the first game is cheap anyway
Haven’t played it. My progression was Diablo 2 -> Torchlight 1 and 2 -> Grim Dawn
I enjoyed Titan Quest more, but that may be down to the less grimdark aesthetics. Gameplay wise they’re both fine hack ‘n’ slashes.
Grim dawn looks cool aesthetically and I’m liking the UI and how big the skill tree looks. Are any of the expansions any good?
Absolutely. All of the expansions are good, but especially the ones that add extra masteries (classes).
All of them, honestly.
The Crucible is the weakest - it’s just an arena mode, but it’s got a lot of utility for speed leveling new characters + some QoL for existing ones.
Ashes of Malmouth is the direct continuation of the base game’s story, adds Necromancer and Inquisitor which are both very well-loved masteries, and you need it for Forgotten Gods anyway. The zones are a bit meh - great overall mood but you spend a lot of time in cramped corridors.
Forgotten Gods adds Oathkeeper (very fun) and tons of huge new zones with a refreshingly different vibe to the rest of the game. And you can go to this expansion’s zones from the start! (Except that you probably shouldn’t on your first playthrough, you’d get destroyed and you probably want to focus on the main story anyway.)
I’d wait for a sale and get them all if you like this genre, or just base game + AoM if you just want to give it a shot (and technically you could hold off on AoM until you’re close to the end of the campaign).
There’s a game on game pass that I recently saw called Ghost Lore that I think claims it’s inspired by Diablo? Might be worth checking out
Path of Exile, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn, Torchlight 2
this is the definitive list.
path of exile is most popular but has large file size and optional mtx(?)
titan quest and Torchlight are on multiple consoles. titan quest has a sequel in production
grim dawn is by the titan quest team, has a small file size, and runs well on older pcs.
Does Last Epoch belong on this list too?
Yes! As a die hard Grim Dawn fan I can say Last Epoch is awesome. Grim Dawn is still better imho, but Last Epoch comes close. Both are excellent games one could easily put 100+ hours in and have a blast.
I just wish that I could start at a higher difficulty on Grim Dawn with the appropriate scaling. I don’t want to do the campaign 3 times just like old days.
Didn’t they just change the game with the last patch (still being updated, my God the devs are GOATed) so they you can play to 100 in any difficulty? I still imagine you get pasted in elite and ultimate if that’s your issue though.
I don’t know, haven’t played with that feature. The campaign with expansion is long enough that it was a pain to go through it to get to endgame.
It’s a good thing that you can skip that.
Yeah I’m hoping so as well, haven’t played since that patch. I got really burnt out spamming the story over and over too.
I’ve only heard good things but haven’t tried it yet, probably does belong!
Ive had a ton of fun playing it!
Yes it absolutely does belong! It’s officially launching on February 21, but it’s currently available in beta/early access.
For PoE you consider 30gb installed (on PS5 mind you) a large file size? Yes it has mtx, but it is not once pushed or advertised to you, and none of it is required for anything. They does improve the QoL of the game however.
CoD + WZ is around 240gb I think. Most modern AAA games are usually 90gb minimum.
true, I thought it was larger for some reason
Some years ago they pretty much rewrote the entire base game code (or some parts of it) and tidied it up, reducing the overall size. It may be larger installed on PC (I’m on PS5) but I can’t imagine there being too much of a difference.
The MTX for PoE are within the “nice” ones. There’s extra stash tabs, but you don’t need to consider that until after the campaign. And then there’s cosmetics. No pay to win. And the MTX are on your account, so they will be on PoE2 as well.
Path of exile charges for inventory QoL and with the ludicrous amount of different stuff that drops, it’s arguably kind of mandatory if you’re trying to complete seasonal objectives
Its also free to play.
Or as some streamers say: its a $60 game with an incredibly generous free trial.
How is the couch co-op for Titan Quest? My SO and I spent a ton of time on Diablo 3 together and I might consider trying that again.
No couch coop on PC, so I don’t know.
There is 2 player local coop for Playstation, XBox and Nintendo though
https://www.co-optimus.com/game/334/pc/titan-quest.html
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Yes.
Truly a man of the people
Because you want to avoid Diablo because Diablo, maybe you could get Diablo used on console, you don’t need a Blizzard account or an internet connection and since it’s used the money wouldn’t go to Blizzard. It might be an option, depending on why you want to avoid Diablo.
That’s almost like saying that if you want to try meth, steal some instead.
Actually bought Diablo III: Eternal Collection for PS4 just because it can be played offline and all the content is on the disc. For my understanding both Diablo 4 and Diablo II: Resurrected require internet connection.
MIght still pick them up for a discount to just check them out at some point ignoring most of the live service bullshit stuff like skins and special mounts.
Lord of the rings on GBA is a pretty decent option if all you can do is emulate old systems.
Last Epoch. It has the best crafting and best skill system of any ARPG IMO.
Absolutely this, the crafting system is a great balance of getting what you want but also giving you something to try again and again for.
Basically that and the talent trees inside skills sold me on this game.
And it has an actual endgame, leaderboards, and it’s half the price of Diablo 4. It’s a no-brainer IMO.
I’d you have a PS2, you can check out Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest.
I love the title of this post. The only arpgs that I don’t see mentioned already are Victor Vran, which I think is a lot of fun, and the Warhammer arpgs, I haven’t played yet, Chaosbane and Inquisitor Martyr. Inquisitor Martyr is supposed to get a fully offline mode soon and they’ve patched it to have all the seasons available to play through.
Victor Vran was surprisingly good. I bought Inquisitor Martyr and have never made it more than an hour or two. I think you need to be a diehard fan of the IP because the gameplay is generic af.
I enjoy inquisitor Martyr, it’s definitely more basic than Diablo. It scratches the kill everything and get loot itch though.
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Yes.
Why even make the effort to comment?
Last Epoch and Grim Dawn are probably most in line with Diablo, I think.
People have mentioned Path Of Exile, and I’ve played a lot of it, but I don’t think it feels particularly like Diablo any more, even though it started out that way. It’s quite unforgiving, and even a lot of experienced players feel like they need to follow build guides rather than work things out for themselves. Its learning curve is hundreds or thousands of hours long. Of course, the reason for that is that it has incredible depth, variety and complexity, which may be a selling point or a deterrent depending on what you like! I definitely like the complexity of it myself, but it’s very overwhelming when you’re new. The reason I don’t think it’s all that in line with Diablo these days, though, is simply the pacing of the gameplay. You blow up screens of enemies at a time, and your deaths are often so fast that you’re not really sure what killed you.
Path Of Exile also heavily revolves around its trading economy. Item drop rates are balanced around players being able to trade for them, which makes trading somewhat mandatory (unless you’re a bit of a masochist). The economy is fairly complex, with there being a lot of different currencies, and quite a lot of factors that can affect the value of an item. I’ll let you decide whether you find this appealing or not - some people do, some people don’t! I do think it causes some issues with the balance and progression of the game, but it’s interesting to say the least, even if you wish you didn’t have to engage with it.
Grim Dawn feels a little mechanically dated at this point but it’s still solid. It’s got some good builds, the dual-class system and constellations system make for some interesting variety. It’s got an offline mode, as well as online co-op play. Its real selling point, though, at least for me, is it’s absolutely soaked with atmosphere. It’s very, well, grim, but the world is really immersive and it has a great setting in general with a solid story and some great lore. It also has quite a lot of mods available (including the Reign Of Terror mod I mentioned in another comment in the thread that adds the entire Diablo 2 campaign and all its classes to Grim Dawn).
Last Epoch is more mechanically interesting than Grim Dawn, I think, but it’s lacking in the story and world-building. It’s still in early access, although its full release is next week. It has quite a lot of depth and complexity, but it’s all done in an intuitive way that means you can jump into the game blindly and work things out for yourself fairly easily. It has a good variety of skills, and the fact that each skill has its own fairly comprehensive skill tree means you can play the same skills in very different ways. It has a wonderful itemisation system that does a great job of making you actually engage with the loot you find on the floor (which is an issue in other loot games), and some of the best crafting I’ve ever seen in a game. The dev team also manages to come up with some really creative and somewhat intuitive solutions to things they perceive as issues in other ARPGs.
Last Epoch’s biggest drawback is that its endgame is currently a little lacking in comparison to POE (which has a very rich and deep endgame, but is also a ten-year-old game that’s been updated constantly). It’s still far, far better than Diablo 4’s, though, and will obviously only improve as more is added. Last Epoch has some truly brilliant systems in place for the devs to build off - and frankly, I still think it’s great now - but it’ll only get better as more content gets added over time.
I love all three games I’ve talked about for different reasons, and honestly, they’re all well worth playing!
The reason I don’t think it’s all that in line with Diablo these days, though, is simply the pacing of the gameplay. You blow up screens of enemies at a time, and your deaths are often so fast that you’re not really sure what killed you.
Yeah, that’s why I don’t care for POE anymore these days.
Grim Dawn feels a little mechanically dated at this point but it’s still solid
Honestly Grim dawn is probably the most polished action rpg I’ve ever played. The developers have spend a ton of time adjusting the game mechanics, balance and build variety to be as good as possible. This is quite a contrast to games like path of exile where the developers are costantly adding new mechanics and bunch of new items each season. Sure doing so keeps the game feeling fresh which is important for live service but results in a lot more rough edges.
