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Grim Dawn really shines when it comes to build diversity. Min-maxing in endgame is a game within a game. And there is a huge amount of strong endgame builds with all kinds of gameplay flavours that you can try.
Indeed. The game _rewards_ you for exploring! Kind of disappointed the review didn’t mention that you’ll want to rotate the camera to discover secrets.
weirdly didn't have to rotate the camera to find most of the secrets once I learned what to look for (in fact, I avoid rotating cameras in most games like this)
@@adub303 Haha, bloody brilliant! ( Having worn out a mouse playing D2 I can attest to that.) I'm updating my summary with your excellent suggestion. Thanks!
@@adub303 Everyobe has their personal preferences but I love my: * Logitech G502 Mouse * Logitech Illuminated Keyboard K740 (replaced with a Das keyboard K4M which is built like a tank and has N-KRO)
ive put more hours into grim dawn than any other arpg. also this game is super balanced for a hardcore playthrough. i cant recommend it enough. definetly give this game a try!
definitely far more balanced than the other mid-high complexity aRPGs - while it runs into some of the same issues as PoE - it is able to keep it balanced and enjoyable, rather than a 1 shot bullet hell like late game PoE ;)
When you are around hour 500 and now realize that all you need to take on the hardest bosses you need: 85+ resistances on everything, 3k+ defensive and offensive ability, I mean: it is neatly balanced, has loads and loads of builds (which made me survive job at the office by day dreaming about new one), and still supported by the devs.
Lol nice. I'm constantly at work thinking about my builds and how tonight's the night that last piece of vanquisher drops (hopefully) so I can start my next guy and how eventually I'm gonna beat x celestial boss on hardcore. I love this game.
there's one mod I recommend for everyone is the Rainbow filter mod. It pulls all the modifiers and color codes them to make it easier to look at gear at a glance much much easier. so like all your fire stats are red or poison and acid are a lime green, it also color codes the prefix's and affix's in to rarities so you can tell if something is a double rare single rare or a monster infrequent. and this mod works on everything not just gear so and the skills and devotions.
I have Grim Dawn in my Steam library but I've not played much of it. I think I was intimidated by the complexity of item affixes, mainly. I've been meaning to return to it, though; it seems like an excellent game once you get the hang of it.
found the best way is to just choose 2 damage types, focus on them, and use that to decide your item upgrades - let me ignore a lot of the affixes and such in the normal playthroughs - since going beyond that is only necessary at the much higher levels of play.
The devotion system is FANTASTIC it rewards careful planning with awesome abilities, and respecing your devotion tree is easy, I played this for 2 years and it was way better than Diablo 3. Oh the crucible ad=on is great you can use that to jump start new characters because it gives you access to to your stash and if you have the Forgotten Gods you can access merit awards right at the get go, follow that up with knowing where to get notes at the start of a game and you can be at level 10 with all the stat points and skill choice that gives.
Just got GD 4 days ago and it’s definitely my favorite ARPG. I like Diablo 3 and all but the no hand holding approach GD offers feels so much more engaging. One thing I keep hearing is the game is great but the story is mediocre but so far I don’t see that. I’ve loved the story so far. Kind of reminds me of the story in an Elder Scrolls title tbh.
I actually find Grim Dawn to be really simple and straightforward. For example, items can only ever have 2 affixes on them. Once you learn the names of the affixes, you can tell exactly what any item does just from it's name. Comparing items that have 15-20 different stats on them isn't that hard either. Does it add damage bonus to my damage type? Does it add to my skills? Does it have life or regeneration? Does it have resists? Resists are typically at the bottom of the item description, and damage is at the top, so you can tell at a glance if the item will be useful. As for devotions, you just get the ones that give you more damage of your damage type. If you're feeling squishy, get a few devotions that grant resists and life. For anyone intimidated by the complexity of Grim Dawn, I say don't be scared. Dive in, and just try some things. You'll be hooked in no time.
It's not so much the complexity, it's the clutter - love the game, and it's one of the best arpg's on the market, and is enjoyable even in spite of the clutter. But it's oddly enough one thing I hold against PoE too - since sure, each thing individually is simple enough, the clutter increases the barrier to processing it (especially when it has to do with redundant mechanics - which a lot of modern rpg's do with "damage+dot" of every damage type, adding clutter)
I love this game. I've bought it twice and had to start over a few times, and I don't even care. I live the grind. Warlord is stupid fun. Just hit endgame with my guy after my saves got wiped. Got that warborn set son!
I like the game, but since diablo 2 R. Exists id rather play that. I would play Grim Dawn again if they had less stats on all the loot and if the game didn't make me feel channeled along on the map. But the fun part is when you can combine two classes at level 10!
I weirdly don't mind the map - there's a bit more flexibility to it than I initially realized (and a bunch of secrets), but I can see how having fixed maps with rng paths would feel a little more railroaded.
Haha! Sounds kind of like the D2 mod MXLU. It was a fun mod, but difficult and with so many more things to know and skills, quests, items, etc. I have heard Grim Dawn is fun... might have to finally give this one a try.
I don't have time to play, so I play just with GD. Love titan quest also... There are my two favorites. It would be nice a Titan Quest 2 with a mythologic lore and a good gameplay mechanics like Grim dawn!!! Who knows 🤔😉
would love to see the formula applied to different mythos personally - since there's a lot of cool mythologies from other cultures out there, a lot of them underserved in gaming.
I get the joke intentional or not... but it's kind of sad that I actually know that it originally aired in the episode "Herr Meets Hare" from 1945 lol - one of many useless facts stored in the recesses of my brain.
It looks like a lot of fun, but just looking at those item descriptions, length of reading segments to get to the story, and that skill tree (oh, and my usual whine that I predict this would be a nightmare on Xbox) make this far too much "noise" to keep up with, visually and as a new player. I couldn't imagine trying to farm for and compare items of that sheer complexity. There's too much going on from what I see. I would get lost. Game does indeed look like a lot of fun, but when even Alzorath mentions how taxing it is to keep track of some elements, I think I'm just going to leave this one alone.
The Skill tree is actually pretty easy to deal with - it's the Devotion system that's a nightmare on console - but yea, with a controller it is a bit of an odd experience compared to mouse and keyboard. That said, my attention span is pretty short - but some people really like that stuff (there are tricks to keeping it simpler - such as choosing and focusing on just 2 elements and such - but new players likely wouldn't really do those while learning it)
I have it both on PC and xbox and have about 1k hours into each version. It plays pretty good on xbox actually. I have a Series S and aside from the occasional hard crash (they happened constantly at release, but now happen maybe once every 10-20 hours), it plays very smooth. The game definitely can be complex, but you can actually make it simple if you choose. Most of the complexity comes in damage/skill conversion builds where you take a skill that does cold damage for instance and turn it into fire. You don't HAVE to do this. It's totally possible to pick a warlord (combination of soldier and oathkeeper, your basic physical damage classes), keep it as a full physical damage dealer and get through pretty much everything the game has to see. With that said, even if you didn't want to dive deep into the endgame/harder content/difficulties/builds, its still well done and deserving of at least a full run through the game on Normal difficulty. If you fully clear the base game with all side quests and DLC's, you still can easily get 40+ hours on a first playthrough. Grimtools.com and the official forums have tons of beginners guides you can try and the community as a whole is one of the best I've ever come across in gaming. I'm not awesome at the game by any stretch and I routinely post build guide ideas on both and despite most of my builds being meh at best, no one really tears me a new one, it's as refreshing as a junior mint. Anyway if you have any interest in this genre at all, it's absolutely worth your time.
It was a totally different game when I played PoE the first time... while there were things I liked/dislike before it, I had fun with it up until Fall of Oriath - after that it just felt bloated and unwieldy
PoE actually has a pretty good story. If you don’t skip the dialogue (and now it’s all voiced over so it’s nicer) you learn why people are exiled so much, and it’s not just an overly religious government. You even learn where these gems that give you your skills come from and it’s actually a main plot in the game. Diablo 1 and 2 story are okay. 3 kinda sucks and jokes about itself. PoE probably has the best story out of any of these iso arpgs.
you can join public games - though no guarantees about how sane the people are in them (or if their gear is legit) - it's definitely more akin to D1 bnet.
![I'm Addicted to this New Metroidvania [ Ultros Review ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9XACYB-XS5w/mqdefault.jpg)
So what game would you like to see next? Mention it down below.
If you'd like to support the channel - there are a few ways (and they are all treated equally, regardless of the platform cut):
RUclips Memberships: ruclips.net/channel/UC04gGXR8EvqBFrNXomxr2Owjoin
Patreon: www.patreon.com/alzorath
Twitch Subscriptions (and watch testing the games live): www.twitch.tv/alzorath
Or you can go pick up some games to play fropm Humble Bundle (affiliate link): www.humblebundle.com/store?partner=alzorath&charity=12277
Also come chat about games on the Discord @ discord.alzorath.com
Grim Dawn really shines when it comes to build diversity. Min-maxing in endgame is a game within a game. And there is a huge amount of strong endgame builds with all kinds of gameplay flavours that you can try.
Ahhhh the legend Mad Lee!! Hope you've been keeping well
Something about exploring in this game feels right
Indeed. The game _rewards_ you for exploring!
Kind of disappointed the review didn’t mention that you’ll want to rotate the camera to discover secrets.
weirdly didn't have to rotate the camera to find most of the secrets once I learned what to look for (in fact, I avoid rotating cameras in most games like this)
*Diablo 2:* _Clicking_ man’s game,
*Diablo 3:* _Drinking_ man’s game,
*Path of Exile:* _Linking_ man’s game,
*Grim Dawn:* _Thinking_ man’s game.
*Last Epoch:* _Aging_ man’s game.
Which would make *Diablo 2* the _Clicking_ man's game? 😹
@@adub303 Haha, bloody brilliant! ( Having worn out a mouse playing D2 I can attest to that.) I'm updating my summary with your excellent suggestion. Thanks!
@@MichaelPohoreski I'm honored ☺
@Alzorath Speaking of clicking- I've been meaning to ask if you have a preference as far as keyboard and mouse hardware go for D2... (
@@adub303 Everyobe has their personal preferences but I love my:
* Logitech G502 Mouse
* Logitech Illuminated Keyboard K740 (replaced with a Das keyboard K4M which is built like a tank and has N-KRO)
Best ARPG on the market as far as I’m concerned.
definitely in my top 5.
ive put more hours into grim dawn than any other arpg. also this game is super balanced for a hardcore playthrough. i cant recommend it enough. definetly give this game a try!
Never played it, but I've seen the playthroughs on this channel and the streams and it looks seriously deep.
definitely far more balanced than the other mid-high complexity aRPGs - while it runs into some of the same issues as PoE - it is able to keep it balanced and enjoyable, rather than a 1 shot bullet hell like late game PoE ;)
When you are around hour 500 and now realize that all you need to take on the hardest bosses you need: 85+ resistances on everything, 3k+ defensive and offensive ability, I mean: it is neatly balanced, has loads and loads of builds (which made me survive job at the office by day dreaming about new one), and still supported by the devs.
Lol nice. I'm constantly at work thinking about my builds and how tonight's the night that last piece of vanquisher drops (hopefully) so I can start my next guy and how eventually I'm gonna beat x celestial boss on hardcore. I love this game.
there's one mod I recommend for everyone is the Rainbow filter mod. It pulls all the modifiers and color codes them to make it easier to look at gear at a glance much much easier. so like all your fire stats are red or poison and acid are a lime green, it also color codes the prefix's and affix's in to rarities so you can tell if something is a double rare single rare or a monster infrequent. and this mod works on everything not just gear so and the skills and devotions.
1:06 _The Crucible_ streamlines starting alts. since you can easily get gear and a few character levels.
Grim dawn is 10/10 game, nothing less.
I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10, but even my favorite game isn't a 10/10 :P
I have Grim Dawn in my Steam library but I've not played much of it. I think I was intimidated by the complexity of item affixes, mainly. I've been meaning to return to it, though; it seems like an excellent game once you get the hang of it.
found the best way is to just choose 2 damage types, focus on them, and use that to decide your item upgrades - let me ignore a lot of the affixes and such in the normal playthroughs - since going beyond that is only necessary at the much higher levels of play.
7:30 There's actually a dedicated support: the Deceiver (Occultist/Inquisitor). It's a combo of *the* two buff/debuff/healer masteries, so yeah.
The devotion system is FANTASTIC it rewards careful planning with awesome abilities, and respecing your devotion tree is easy, I played this for 2 years and it was way better than Diablo 3. Oh the crucible ad=on is great you can use that to jump start new characters because it gives you access to to your stash and if you have the Forgotten Gods you can access merit awards right at the get go, follow that up with knowing where to get notes at the start of a game and you can be at level 10 with all the stat points and skill choice that gives.
Just got GD 4 days ago and it’s definitely my favorite ARPG. I like Diablo 3 and all but the no hand holding approach GD offers feels so much more engaging. One thing I keep hearing is the game is great but the story is mediocre but so far I don’t see that. I’ve loved the story so far. Kind of reminds me of the story in an Elder Scrolls title tbh.
I actually find Grim Dawn to be really simple and straightforward. For example, items can only ever have 2 affixes on them. Once you learn the names of the affixes, you can tell exactly what any item does just from it's name.
Comparing items that have 15-20 different stats on them isn't that hard either. Does it add damage bonus to my damage type? Does it add to my skills? Does it have life or regeneration? Does it have resists? Resists are typically at the bottom of the item description, and damage is at the top, so you can tell at a glance if the item will be useful.
As for devotions, you just get the ones that give you more damage of your damage type. If you're feeling squishy, get a few devotions that grant resists and life.
For anyone intimidated by the complexity of Grim Dawn, I say don't be scared. Dive in, and just try some things. You'll be hooked in no time.
It's not so much the complexity, it's the clutter - love the game, and it's one of the best arpg's on the market, and is enjoyable even in spite of the clutter. But it's oddly enough one thing I hold against PoE too - since sure, each thing individually is simple enough, the clutter increases the barrier to processing it (especially when it has to do with redundant mechanics - which a lot of modern rpg's do with "damage+dot" of every damage type, adding clutter)
I love this game. I've bought it twice and had to start over a few times, and I don't even care. I live the grind. Warlord is stupid fun. Just hit endgame with my guy after my saves got wiped. Got that warborn set son!
I like the game, but since diablo 2 R. Exists id rather play that. I would play Grim Dawn again if they had less stats on all the loot and if the game didn't make me feel channeled along on the map. But the fun part is when you can combine two classes at level 10!
I weirdly don't mind the map - there's a bit more flexibility to it than I initially realized (and a bunch of secrets), but I can see how having fixed maps with rng paths would feel a little more railroaded.
Haha! Sounds kind of like the D2 mod MXLU. It was a fun mod, but difficult and with so many more things to know and skills, quests, items, etc.
I have heard Grim Dawn is fun... might have to finally give this one a try.
if you wait for the winter sale, it usually drops down to like $10-15 for the entire bundle...
1100 hours in. Goat in my mind
5400+ hours here. Clear number one among my Steam games. Nothing comes close except for Terraria.
I don't have time to play, so I play just with GD. Love titan quest also... There are my two favorites. It would be nice a Titan Quest 2 with a mythologic lore and a good gameplay mechanics like Grim dawn!!! Who knows 🤔😉
would love to see the formula applied to different mythos personally - since there's a lot of cool mythologies from other cultures out there, a lot of them underserved in gaming.
The Diablo 3 we all deserved.
Bro what's "the wrong turn @ Albuquerque" from?? It's bugging me now
I get the joke intentional or not... but it's kind of sad that I actually know that it originally aired in the episode "Herr Meets Hare" from 1945 lol - one of many useless facts stored in the recesses of my brain.
Did you know that there is a d2 mod for grim dawn?
Maybe that will be fun for some of you guys
yup, actually did an installation guide for it back in 2020 :) - have been tempted to go back and check the progress on it, just haven't had the time.
It looks like a lot of fun, but just looking at those item descriptions, length of reading segments to get to the story, and that skill tree (oh, and my usual whine that I predict this would be a nightmare on Xbox) make this far too much "noise" to keep up with, visually and as a new player. I couldn't imagine trying to farm for and compare items of that sheer complexity. There's too much going on from what I see. I would get lost.
Game does indeed look like a lot of fun, but when even Alzorath mentions how taxing it is to keep track of some elements, I think I'm just going to leave this one alone.
The Skill tree is actually pretty easy to deal with - it's the Devotion system that's a nightmare on console - but yea, with a controller it is a bit of an odd experience compared to mouse and keyboard.
That said, my attention span is pretty short - but some people really like that stuff (there are tricks to keeping it simpler - such as choosing and focusing on just 2 elements and such - but new players likely wouldn't really do those while learning it)
I have it both on PC and xbox and have about 1k hours into each version. It plays pretty good on xbox actually. I have a Series S and aside from the occasional hard crash (they happened constantly at release, but now happen maybe once every 10-20 hours), it plays very smooth. The game definitely can be complex, but you can actually make it simple if you choose. Most of the complexity comes in damage/skill conversion builds where you take a skill that does cold damage for instance and turn it into fire. You don't HAVE to do this. It's totally possible to pick a warlord (combination of soldier and oathkeeper, your basic physical damage classes), keep it as a full physical damage dealer and get through pretty much everything the game has to see.
With that said, even if you didn't want to dive deep into the endgame/harder content/difficulties/builds, its still well done and deserving of at least a full run through the game on Normal difficulty. If you fully clear the base game with all side quests and DLC's, you still can easily get 40+ hours on a first playthrough. Grimtools.com and the official forums have tons of beginners guides you can try and the community as a whole is one of the best I've ever come across in gaming. I'm not awesome at the game by any stretch and I routinely post build guide ideas on both and despite most of my builds being meh at best, no one really tears me a new one, it's as refreshing as a junior mint.
Anyway if you have any interest in this genre at all, it's absolutely worth your time.
This game is BETTER than any Diablo.
in some respects, yes, but not all.
One of the best ARPG..3K hours and counting.
Titan Quest and Grim Dawn are excellent. I might like them more than Diablo 2.
there's definitely a lot to enjoy in both of them (I prefer Grim Dawn over Titan Quest for reasons... but yea)
Remember playing path of exile for the first time....
It was a totally different game when I played PoE the first time... while there were things I liked/dislike before it, I had fun with it up until Fall of Oriath - after that it just felt bloated and unwieldy
PoE actually has a pretty good story. If you don’t skip the dialogue (and now it’s all voiced over so it’s nicer)
you learn why people are exiled so much, and it’s not just an overly religious government. You even learn where these gems that give you your skills come from and it’s actually a main plot in the game.
Diablo 1 and 2 story are okay. 3 kinda sucks and jokes about itself. PoE probably has the best story out of any of these iso arpgs.
Tried but couldnt get into... i guess just being single player made it... less somehow.
there's multiplayer - I think up to 4 people at once - and it works with mods.
@@Alzorath Is ti multiplayer with random people? I have zero friends who are gamers yet alone into game like this.
you can join public games - though no guarantees about how sane the people are in them (or if their gear is legit) - it's definitely more akin to D1 bnet.
@@Alzorath D1 bnet, damn that just brought back some memories...
After playing Grim Dawn I can't go back to D2R anymore. D2R feels like a cheap unpolished game now that I've tasted GD.
For me they're close to equals - D2R does a few things better (especially items), but Grim Dawn offers a lot more flexibility and exploration.