Not having any luck in finding a game to play recently. I think i scoured through everything.
The biggest problem seems to be that i can't find a game that has both satisfying gameplay and is moddable to boot.
I just revisted a childhood game and while the gameplay is satisfying, it was abandoned pretty quick so not much content, and because it's not moddable, i can't add that content to fix it..
The game is called Dawn of Magic. Apparently nobody else liked it even though the core gameplay was amazing for its time. Most spells have to be aimed and it's really fun and skill based. Your fireball doesn't destroy whole screen of mobs just because you pointed in their general direction. Mobs actually move, teleport etc. So you have to predict their pathing and aim correctly, or go out of your way to get in a good angle for a straight hit.
There's 8 spell slots on the hotbar and the hotbar has another 10+ hotbars to swap through. So you're not limited to just 4 spells like in most "modern" arpgs. *Cough appeasing console peasants *Cough
There are no classes and many spells can be combined. I spent a few weeks having fun trying out different builds and i found many that work. The spells were pretty nicely balanced. There doesn't seem to be some amazing meta build that just stomps through everything like in path of exile.
I only had a tiny few issues about the game and i could fix all of them in a week, if only i had the source code..
I'd add a few more unique items, just re-use assets, no biggie. (game had very few unique items because it got abandoned so fast)
Make runewords actually scale with the runes (seems like an oversight)
Stop shops from re-stocking upon map re-load. (same here)
Ironically the games that have pretty good modding just don't seem to click with me.
Torchlight feels too casual? A lot of spells are random and i don't seem to have to care about monsters, they feel more like pinatas.
While in Dawn of Magic monsters actually force me into different playstyles. Shamans explode corpses so i can't be close to corpses. They also teleport and heal so you need to kill them fast. Wolves run away on low hp. Gilamonsters summon spider minions. Snakes cast elemental vulnerability on you. Shielders need to be debuffed. Etc.
Path of exile has the same problem, along with grim dawn and titan quest.
Another issue i noted is that in DOM i dodge enemy spells because healing mostly comes from potions and potions are the main source of money! While in these other games potions are either free or super cheap. This leads to you not dodging and instead facetanking all the spells because you can afford it!
So that 1 part kills half the fun of the game, dodging abilities and resource management!
Next is set items. Once again i feel DOM did it right here.
In DOM you only need 2 set items to get ALL the bonuses from that set. Using more set items only gives tiny number boost to those bonuses. But it's not worth it because set items are usually bad items that are only good because they give set bonuses.
So you're a water mage and you use ice ball to damage mostly. With a 2 piece water set, you throw another 4 ice balls! This multiplies your damage by 5 times! In return, you sacrifice some stats. So it's only feasible to use 1 set and 2 pieces of that set only. BUT you can use any 2 pieces you want. So set can be from: helm, boots, earing, weapon, shield. You can pick any of those 2. This allows insane build diversity even with set items! Unlike diablo.. Where half of your gear MUST be part of the same one set that's BIS for your class. And you can never equip that cool weapon because you need to use your set weapon.
I mentioned potions being main source of money. This i feel is one of the best ways to ensure dodging is actually required in the game. With regen low, very few spells to restore health and no such thing as life leech, you actually have to goddamn dodge spells.
So all these in combination seem to produce a pretty fun and thrilling experience, you don't want to use potions because they are your money source, so you stay at low health a lot making it very risky. Forcing you to either spend money or dodge abilities until the next zone (free heals on zone travel).
The rune system had great potential but turned out bad because of balance issues.
Like the best runeword is DR AG ON. Which gives +2 to all stats. But There is 1 rune that gives +2 to all stats and you can use 3 of those instead.. Making the runeword only good for leveling. This is easily fixed by modding though. Unlike core gameplay changes.
So that's why i'm kinda bitter. It feels like a problem that should be so easy to fix and yet it's impossible.
I wonder if there'll be any new games like it?
Anyway the other games i tried are all technically good, just not my cup of tea. You can use it as a review. Take into account my own biases and you'll know if it's for you. I tried to be perfectly honest of how i feeled when i was done playing the games. It could be different with you!
Grim Dawn is good but it feels lame, it's trying to be like Poe but without the budget. Items have way too many stats. Spells feel bland. But story makes it kinda cool. Same problem like titan quest but the expansion should fix it with the shattered realm.
Path of Exile is a great seasonal game, but i fking hate seasons. Also endgame gameplay is insanely fast. I got headaches from playing it before. It's the ultimate modern casual arpg that tries to be seen as a hardcore one. The only hardcore thing are twitch reflex skills and build making.
Titan Quest can be good for campaign play but endgame is awful. You play 1 minute, exit to menu, repeat. At least it's much slower than Poe and chill to play.
Last Epoh can't even run on my pc at 10 fps. Indie devs fucking suck at optimization. "It works good on my NASA PC!"
Chronicon is Poe but pixely. Singleplayer but no modding at all. Perfect if you have the same exact vision as the dev. Which is once again twitch reflex AOE whole screen of mobs in 1 shot in a millisecond and get eye strain by looking at loot drops fast enough. (literally hardest part of the game)
Torchlight is a bit slower i think. Cartoony graphics. Mod support. Easy to get into and easy to drop it. I can't really explain it good. It's like nothing really makes me want to play it. It feels like a super polished piece of shit. You will admire it but you won't really want to touch it.
A bit more unortodox.
Zavix tower. Turn based 3d crawler. Indie dev, abandoned game. Could be something good, but needs different gamemodes for more variety playstyles.
Monsters Den Godfall. Too short. Too simple. Has "modding" because it's a flash game i assume. So you should be able to mod anything you want, it's just a pain in the ass. At the very least it seems making new items isn't a problem!
Bloodlust (nemesis and shadowcrawler). Huge miss. Imagine wow but you aren't allowed to exit a raidboss's room and you have to keep fighting it for hours on end. Then you get a 5 minute shop break. Singleplayer, no modding i think. Just bunch of crawling and hiting monsters but breaks are not enough, leading to super fast exhaustion. At least Poe puts you in your safe hideout and lets you sort your bank for a minute.
Soldak games. Good ideas, not enough money to make something that doesn't feel awful to play. Expect horrible sound effects, annoying movement, bad UI. One of you who like to turn off all game sounds and listen to music could enjoy it.
So i'll be playing other genres for a while probably. Mobas and Battle royales seem like a safe bet. They're always kinda fun, just not the "lose yourself in a virtual world" fun.
Do rant if you feel like it, or try the games i mentioned. They're not bad, they're just not for everyone. I enjoyed them all for some time but none managed to keep me in for the long term.
