Hail all,
I've had a chance to solo clear normal difficulty and wanted to share my thoughts. Even while wearing my highest level +critique hat, I found the game to be immensely fun. The new mechanics and game features created a rather engaging experience.
I was most impressed by how challenging normal difficulty was. Standard enemies have fairly potent abilities and champion versions of those mobs can absolutely punish you. I found I was always able to react appropriately, thanks to the new combat pacing which allowed for greater precision and tactics. However, I felt the boss zones were a bit elementary. It was painfully obvious what to do- I was almost expecting tooltips to come flying out and warn you of incoming danger. Due to these boss mechanics, I'm afraid more hitpoints or damage that later difficulties will provide won't fix this, and that champion packs will offer the game's greatest challenge.
The new skill system is another welcome change. I felt like it provided a lot of freedom to your character. The actual skills themselves were pretty useful and entertaining. Often the description did not do justice as I was pleasently surprised by how powerful or effective they were in the midst of combat.
The crafting, or using your blacksmith/jeweler, turned out to be quite addicting. Breaking down your unneeded magic/rare items to make better suited gear is rewarding. I'm normally not a big fan of crafting in any sort of RPG game, but I was compelled to constantly use this new feature.
I'd like to hear your spoiler-free thoughts on the game. There were some radical changes to the mechanics of the series so I'm eager to hear how everyone from this forum welcomes those changes. In my perfect world I would have liked for the game to be less linear, but at least the path your guided on was fun.
I've had a chance to solo clear normal difficulty and wanted to share my thoughts. Even while wearing my highest level +critique hat, I found the game to be immensely fun. The new mechanics and game features created a rather engaging experience.
I was most impressed by how challenging normal difficulty was. Standard enemies have fairly potent abilities and champion versions of those mobs can absolutely punish you. I found I was always able to react appropriately, thanks to the new combat pacing which allowed for greater precision and tactics. However, I felt the boss zones were a bit elementary. It was painfully obvious what to do- I was almost expecting tooltips to come flying out and warn you of incoming danger. Due to these boss mechanics, I'm afraid more hitpoints or damage that later difficulties will provide won't fix this, and that champion packs will offer the game's greatest challenge.
The new skill system is another welcome change. I felt like it provided a lot of freedom to your character. The actual skills themselves were pretty useful and entertaining. Often the description did not do justice as I was pleasently surprised by how powerful or effective they were in the midst of combat.
The crafting, or using your blacksmith/jeweler, turned out to be quite addicting. Breaking down your unneeded magic/rare items to make better suited gear is rewarding. I'm normally not a big fan of crafting in any sort of RPG game, but I was compelled to constantly use this new feature.
I'd like to hear your spoiler-free thoughts on the game. There were some radical changes to the mechanics of the series so I'm eager to hear how everyone from this forum welcomes those changes. In my perfect world I would have liked for the game to be less linear, but at least the path your guided on was fun.