izigame.me

To be honest, I am a little disappointed. I had hopes that when they said they were making it good for both new players and veterans of the series, that it would be a good time to enter in since I've never played PoE, but tend to really enjoy ARPGs.
I don't really mind when a game is really challenging, in fact I prefer it since it keeps it engaging... however I would classify this game as mostly oppressive. From level 1, it's really difficult, and then it just keeps getting more and more difficult. There has not been a single point where I feel powerful, whatsoever. I spend a majority of my time dodging, just roll and roll and roll and oops died anyways.
Even trash mobs... are just too difficult and unrewarding to be very enjoyable. I did NOT think I was signing up for a souls-like experience. I don't really enjoy games that are excessively difficult just for the sake of it, especially when there is little to no reward for doing so. Like oh yay, got through that encounter and got a some loot that isn't even usable for my class. Or a bunch of trash white items.
Which, take up a RIDICULOUS amount of inventory space so you either have to go back to town every 2.5 minutes to offload, or just don't pick things up.
Every boss fight is spent either kiting or dodging the entire time so you can get 1 or 2 basic attacks in before dodging some more. In fact, most mobs in general are spent dodging or kiting because of the massive AoE and stuns that come at me.
Almost every skill feels sluggish and has a wind-up time, which mobs will often stun you out of. I collide with everything like a 2012 bethesda game, when youre surrounded you can't dodge through them and are pretty much going to get stun locked until you die.
Have a big AoE skill? Sorry it missed because a chair is on the floor. Wanted to dodge? sorry, wooden table. Want to use a mobility skill? Sorry, stunned out of it.
It's just.... disappointing. I don't expect to feel like the most powerful being in the game, but shouldn't there be at least moments where I have some sort of power? Some sort of badass instance where I feel vindicated for going through the drudgery of each combat encounter? Some sort of reward for beating the really long and annoying encounter? I just don't know what I'm even doing it for.
I know there is a learning curve, and I have been doing my best to stick with it. But I am level 17 and have zero motivation to continue. There is nothing that helps teach me how to play the game, there's no explanation for what things do, so you just have to sort of "know" or google it.
I am in the Manor at the boss, and after about.... 10-15 tries of soul sucking drudgery, I can't even get him past 1/2hp on the 2nd phase. 1 wrong move and I just die in 1 shot, every time. Long durations of the boss disappearing and forcing a bunch of spawning mobs while he dashes through and damages but unable to be damaged. Then I dodge left instead of right and then I die, and have to repeat the entire freaking encounter over again - including the voice lines beforehand. If I have to repeat stupid and overly difficult-for-no-reason fights, can you at least make it quick to restart the fight?
Plus, your health potions have a capacity, which to me feels strange considering how ridiculous the incoming damage is at all times. And it doesn't just restore your hp it starts regen, so even after you start healing you still just have to keep dodging otherwise you die anyways.
I'm not even on hardcore. I just wanted a fun, fairly casual game to sink hours in to and build my character. But even the skill points don't feel rewarding and don't give much benefit at each level. If I wanted to play an underpowered character in an oppressive combat system, I'd go play dark souls.
I'm sure all of the downvoters will come in droves to make sure I know that it's a skill issue, or to "git gud", or whatever you want to say. But as someone that is brand new to the series, I am left disappointed at the current moment, and have to play in sessions because of how frustrating it is. I don't want to feel like I need to take stimulants in order to keep up with a game, that's not why a majority of people play; I wanted to have fun, fairly casually, with a good level of challenge, instead I feel like the weakest main character in the world, just spamming dodge, m1, m2, repeat, just to get crappy loot for a different class.
If you enjoy souls-like gameplay, this is definitely for you. If you want a casual and fun looter where you kill mobs and the occasional big boss, I'd give it some extra time to bake in the hopes they make it a little more desirable for a wider audience.
Just about 9hr at the time of review. I am by no means new to the genre, but after reading and anticipating for so long, it feels like a bit of a letdown; hoping they listen to feedback as I KNOW I am not the only one with these thoughts, so that I can eventually get back in to it.