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TwoEars
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Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 05, 2016 9:22 am

Image

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/grim- ... er-reviews

http://store.steampowered.com/app/219990/

If you like me loved Diablo 2 but didn't quite click with Diablo 3 for various reasons... well Grim Dawn is your saviour. Worth paying its full price no questions asked.

Discuss! :D
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 05, 2016 9:33 am

no questions asked.


Seeing as I never heard of it I would have a lot of questions. For starters, what makes this a more worthy successor to Diablo 2 than POE or Torchlight.

Also, with recent content patches I find D3 to be a plenty worthy successor to D2. At the moment my biggest complaint with D3 is the lack of necro and Druid classes which are all likely candidates for future expansions. That and the lack of Runewords.
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The Egg
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 05, 2016 10:33 am

Looks interesting. I'm still waiting for the game that can recreate the atmosphere of Diablo 1. The music, the poetry.....even the color palette was much darker and brooding.

Diablo 2 still had great music, but the rest of it softened up substantially (though some was still there). Diablo 3 just has nothing to me in the way of atmosphere. The gameplay is similar to the original, but everything else is gone.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:30 am

The Egg wrote:
Looks interesting. I'm still waiting for the game that can recreate the atmosphere of Diablo 1. The music, the poetry.....even the color palette was much darker and brooding.

Diablo 2 still had great music, but the rest of it softened up substantially (though some was still there). Diablo 3 just has nothing to me in the way of atmosphere. The gameplay is similar to the original, but everything else is gone.


I know exactly what you mean. Grim Dawn isn't quite that dark and brooding, it's more like Diablo 2. Or maybe Diablo "1.5". Grim Dawn gets pretty dark in places but it's not pitch black nearly everywhere like Diablo 1 was. And no wonder, I mean Diablo 1 was 99,9% indoors in the catacombs. And the music in Diablo 1 was also superbly dark and menacing, I can't remember any game which has had music quite like that before or since.

But I like Grim Dawn quite a bit, much more than Diablo 3, Path of Exile, Torchlight or Titan Quest. It feels like a modern Diablo 2 with hints of Diablo 1 in places. But with gameplay that's n-e-a-r-l-y as good as Diablo 3. That's the best way I can put it. Overall it makes for one hell of an action RPG.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 05, 2016 12:33 pm

TwoEars wrote:
The Egg wrote:
Looks interesting. I'm still waiting for the game that can recreate the atmosphere of Diablo 1. The music, the poetry.....even the color palette was much darker and brooding.

Diablo 2 still had great music, but the rest of it softened up substantially (though some was still there). Diablo 3 just has nothing to me in the way of atmosphere. The gameplay is similar to the original, but everything else is gone.


I know exactly what you mean. Grim Dawn isn't quite that dark and brooding, it's more like Diablo 2. Or maybe Diablo "1.5". Grim Dawn gets pretty dark in places but it's not pitch black nearly everywhere like Diablo 1 was. And no wonder, I mean Diablo 1 was 99,9% indoors in the catacombs. And the music in Diablo 1 was also superbly dark and menacing, I can't remember any game which has had music quite like that before or since.

But I like Grim Dawn quite a bit, much more than Diablo 3, Path of Exile, Torchlight or Titan Quest. It feels like a modern Diablo 2 with hints of Diablo 1 in places. But with gameplay that's n-e-a-r-l-y as good as Diablo 3. That's the best way I can put it. Overall it makes for one hell of an action RPG.

There's actually another major difference which I failed to consider, and it goes right along with the atmosphere: Realism of quests, characters, and the game world.

In the original Diablo, the characters are just regular townsfolk, with quests that seem somewhat reasonable if this sort of thing were to happen in the middle-ages. Sure, you've got a mage character and weapons/armor with enhanced or unique properties, but the suspension of disbelief is still there for the most part. By the time we get to Diablo 3, the entire game world is over-the-top magical. Every item has otherworldly properties, every character has magical skills, and every event is based on magic. You basically go from a semi-realistic world to complete fanstasyland.

I'm starting to wish someone would do a straight remake of the original Diablo with an improved interface/controls and higher resolution support.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 05, 2016 12:45 pm

I got Grim Dawn in the early access period. It's cool, but... well, Path of Exile is the Diablo-like for me. (;・∀・)
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 05, 2016 3:40 pm

auxy wrote:
I got Grim Dawn in the early access period. It's cool, but... well, Path of Exile is the Diablo-like for me. (;・∀・)


It's funny how people's taste vary. PoE never did anything for me, for me it felt like an imitation rather than the real thing and I could never get into it. The story didn't grab me either. I know lots people like it it's just that I never clicked with it. With Grim Dawn I'm getting the feeling "yeah, this is the game for me". Just different tastes I guess.

The Egg wrote:
There's actually another major difference which I failed to consider, and it goes right along with the atmosphere: Realism of quests, characters, and the game world. In the original Diablo, the characters are just regular townsfolk, with quests that seem somewhat reasonable if this sort of thing were to happen in the middle-ages. Sure, you've got a mage character and weapons/armor with enhanced or unique properties, but the suspension of disbelief is still there for the most part. By the time we get to Diablo 3, the entire game world is over-the-top magical. Every item has otherworldly properties, every character has magical skills, and every event is based on magic. You basically go from a semi-realistic world to complete fanstasyland.


Yes - you and me are completely on the same page. In Diablo 1 you were just some traveler or adventurer who showed up at a small town with a church, but all of a sudden bad things are starting to happen to ordinary people. And you have to rise to the challenge. I remember exactly the feeling I got when I stepped down into that church for the first time in Diablo 1. The feeling was "I'm just a regular guy and this is a really, really bad idea". In retrospect that feeling was awesome.

It's the same kind of feeling I got the first time I played Half-Life 1. I was just a regular engineer on his way to his government job, running a bit late. Then all of a sudden head crabs are flying and some kind of government black ops squad is trying to kill me.

If we compare with Diablo 3 you're immediately thrown into the role of some cocky world conquering seen-it-all, not afraid of hell or it's demons. It's obvious you're the story's hero and just like in a summer blockbuster it's kind of obvious you're not going to die. One of the primary reason Diablo 3 never really worked for me.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Wed Apr 06, 2016 7:42 am

I've never really liked PoE that much. It's trial-and-error build (or just use one someone else has posted on a forum, taking the fun out of the skill tree) but you really can't change spec once you're bored with it. You have to grind up to the same point with a new character from scratch.

D3's spec switching is awesome. D2 had that with mods or offline character editors. PoE just doesn't have that option. The items you can get to reroll skill tree choices are literally just there to prevent you scrapping your progress if you make a recent mistake, but you can never fully respec and it's a one-way journey even when you undo a mistake.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Wed Apr 06, 2016 7:30 pm

Playing through this now, I agree it's an excellent game. It's also very approachable for a larger audience than just loot-grinding fanatics, something most games in this genre have struggled with. I missed D2 so I don't have a frame of reference, but I've played a few of the spiritual successors like Torchlight and none of them were doing it for me.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Wed Apr 06, 2016 7:40 pm

the only diablo ii alike i enjoyed fully was titan quest. Poe felt very strange and i couldn't get anywhere, torchlight was pretty fun but it felt off still. I think the only problem with torchlight is that i wanted a brutal gory atmosphere and it was far from that.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:02 pm

Pretty sure Torchlight II was the successor we all deserved.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:08 pm

I know I had more fun playing Torchlight II over the first.
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TwoEars
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Thu Apr 07, 2016 3:14 pm

My Two-Handed Demo Build. Lvl 51, nearly 12k dps, 500 armor, 11% life steal, 13% damage reflect, 250 heal/s, 135% run speed, blast shield, turtle shell, kraken star sign, lots of stun chances through various items.

Playing on veteran (highest available) and I think I may have broken the game a little bit. There is a boss called lord executioner who's supposed to be a really tough... yeah... that guy's is dead.

Image
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Thu Apr 07, 2016 3:54 pm

Im headed to the terminal for the weekend, if I can snatch a spot I know has good net access I'll pick this up.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Thu Apr 07, 2016 3:55 pm

Chrispy_ wrote:
[In PoE] you can never fully respec and it's a one-way journey even when you undo a mistake.
I guess if you are really bad at RPGs this could be a problem. (・∀・)

But seriously, you can see the entire skill tree from the very beginning, so you can get an idea of what you want to build and work from there. Without looking at any guides or any anything on the game I stumbled into one of the most powerful builds you can even make. (ΦωΦ) My favorite thing about the game is that your class doesn't actually define very much about your character. I really don't like games which are deeply class-based. If you can't make a versatile build I'm probably not going to enjoy the game very much.

If the lack of respecs is such a problem for you I don't even know how you play video games. lol. (´д⊂)
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Thu Apr 07, 2016 4:27 pm

TwoEars wrote:
Playing on veteran (highest available) and I think I may have broken the game a little bit. There is a boss called lord executioner who's supposed to be a really tough... yeah... that guy's is dead.

Keep playing. Let me know how you deal with the two big dungeons locked behind doors that require Skeleton Keys.
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TwoEars
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:48 pm

morphine wrote:
Keep playing. Let me know how you deal with the two big dungeons locked behind doors that require Skeleton Keys.


That's where the lord executioner was, the ghost with the scythe and dash attack. He's dead. Whacked him good. Just started on the second skeleton key gate to get some evil crystal or something like that. Seems alright. I am switching it up with a ranged vampyric weapon though. About 8000 DPS. You can get trapped and frozen in some of those mobs and that's bad.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Fri Apr 08, 2016 11:05 am

auxy wrote:
If the lack of respecs is such a problem for you I don't even know how you play video games. lol. (´д⊂)

Ah, the gamer's equivalent to "you're holding it wrong." It's not the 1980s anymore. Many games have evolved in that 30+ years.

Scenarios:

* You find an awesome piece of gear. It's for a different spec. Well, I guess it's just trash now.
* The developers re-balance equipment in a patch. Oh, this other build that looked fun is actually viable now? Guess I'll have to start over.

You can see the entire tech tree in Diablo 3, yet it offers respec at will for very obvious reasons.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:58 am

Gave this game a try. I feel like it has been worth my $25 but I am not ready to crown it just yet. My first character I tried was a tanky lightning shaman that used almost all passive/proc skills which got really boring. He was also pretty OP which made boss mechanics irrelevant.

I just switched to a pyromancer and I am enjoying it a lot more. Switching to an xbox controller was a bit clunky to learn but workable and I think the aiming part of it offers more of an arcade like challenge to the game which I am enjoying. Still need to put in some coop time before I make any more judgments on the game.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:09 pm

I really have no idea what the similarities you see between Grim Dawn and Poe. More similarities I see between PoE and D3 - and anyway it's completely different game (Path of Exile is better)
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Sat Jul 29, 2017 7:02 pm

I read a lot of stuff about respeccing not being a thing in PoE in this post....you get respect points, respec orbs you can use to get more. Whenever there is a major balance patch each character gets a free complete respec they can use if they want. There is another full respec almost certainly coming in six days. I actually had someone tell me they quit because of all the respeccing. This seems like a very strange conversation to me.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Sat Jul 29, 2017 11:36 pm

Does this game become wonderfully broken when you cross class skills like Diablo 2 did? That was the real fun: taking a sorceress, give her elemental damage paladin auras from items, then another item to shape shift her into a were bear like a druid for the most powerful melee build in the game.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Sun Jul 30, 2017 3:31 pm

That's part of the design, though it's much better balanced. Been a while since I played, but...

There are eight (?) classes and you pick your primary, then your secondary class. From that point on you can use skills from both. On top of that, there's a third layer of skill points affecting your character as a whole. You can come up with some pretty powerful combinations this way—thought it's not all that complicated, despite how it may sound.

I find that it lets me design my character exactly the way I want it to be.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:39 am

Got the game recently to have something new to play with a buddy of mine. I like it quite a bit, it has that D1.5 fell to it. The only thing that seems little confusing is the devotions because of the layers of options and my lack of time for reading/planning.
 
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Wed Aug 09, 2017 6:23 pm

The Egg wrote:
There's actually another major difference which I failed to consider, and it goes right along with the atmosphere: Realism of quests, characters, and the game world.

In the original Diablo, the characters are just regular townsfolk, with quests that seem somewhat reasonable if this sort of thing were to happen in the middle-ages. Sure, you've got a mage character and weapons/armor with enhanced or unique properties, but the suspension of disbelief is still there for the most part. By the time we get to Diablo 3, the entire game world is over-the-top magical. Every item has otherworldly properties, every character has magical skills, and every event is based on magic. You basically go from a semi-realistic world to complete fanstasyland.

I'm starting to wish someone would do a straight remake of the original Diablo with an improved interface/controls and higher resolution support.


This. But I'm wondering if that can ever really be recaptured? I don't know what it is, but I just can't get into any games these days. They don't grab my attention anymore. How you describe Diablo though sums up the feeling perfectly, I had so much fun in that game because I felt like I was really part of the game in a realistic way and I didn't get bored because I had fun progressing.

As a recent example, I picked up Hyper Light Drifter. For the first couple hours I thought I finally found a game that recaptured my attention, but then it just got repetitive and I no longer found it interesting. I haven't touched it since.

Maybe in my case there is no hope, but I often think about it and wonder if it's a fools errand to chase something we once felt about a game. I just don't think it's possible, but then I hear people rant and rave about a game and think there's hope...

I think I'm broken.
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Re: Grim Dawn - The Diablo 2 Successor We Deserve

Thu Aug 10, 2017 5:13 pm

The Egg wrote:
There's actually another major difference which I failed to consider, and it goes right along with the atmosphere: Realism of quests, characters, and the game world.

In the original Diablo, the characters are just regular townsfolk, with quests that seem somewhat reasonable if this sort of thing were to happen in the middle-ages. Sure, you've got a mage character and weapons/armor with enhanced or unique properties, but the suspension of disbelief is still there for the most part. By the time we get to Diablo 3, the entire game world is over-the-top magical. Every item has otherworldly properties, every character has magical skills, and every event is based on magic. You basically go from a semi-realistic world to complete fanstasyland.

I'm starting to wish someone would do a straight remake of the original Diablo with an improved interface/controls and higher resolution support.


TheEgg, that's not actually Blizzard's fault, well, not directly.

It's a side-effect of all the grimdark. Try to imagine, for example, Warhammer without any magic. No Vampires, no Daemons, no Angry Physics (the Warp).

You kinda need a lot of **** magic stuff to up the ante on Bad ThingsTM

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