My first game of this kind was the first Diablo game back in 1996 in the original PlayStation, I spent countless hours playing this one at home & ofc I spent much more time (years…) few years later playing Diablo II on PC, since then I have try various clones that came along the best one admitted by everyone is PoE, the depth of this one is at a level that we never witnessed before in this genre, it’s a game for hardcore fans.
Last Epoch was never in my radar till few days ago when I watched a video on youtube which showcase the new updated graphics, what I saw was enough to make me try it, I must say that I never expected to like it as much as I did, it kept my interest high until I finish the main story line & if there was more I would definitely keep on playing, I think it’s obvious that I had a really great time with it, & exactly for that reason because I really liked the game & I could see how much potential it have, I kept notes as I was playing in order to pass them on at some point to the devs to help them make LE as good as it can be.
The majority of my suggestions is going to be about the aesthetic of the whole game, the visuals, the atmosphere & finally the lore, I’m not gonna delve into what can be done to enhance the depth of the mechanics/skills/class builds etc I’m just gonna say regarding this part that the game definitely needs more on that part, it currently feels that our class build reach a complete stage way too soon & there is no point to keep on playing after.
Anyway let’s move on to my list of what I didn’t like & I would like to see in the future changed/improved because I really believe will help to make the game better & more enjoyable over all.
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Skill Animations, that’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I’m thinking what is the most urgent task imo that the devs need to improve in LE, compare to the graphics which for the most part looks really nice the skill animations look very underwhelming & kind of outdated, I would like to see a huge improvement on that part in the near future.
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Recycled Assets, this is something that always leave a very bad impression to me no matter in which game I see it happening, it’s something that stink cheap/half-assed/lazy say it however you want but I don’t like to see this on any game I’m playing, same art for example for low level & high level gear with the only difference be different color, the same can be said for monsters & anything else, make unique art/3D models for everything, don’t recycle assets it looks really bad when devs do that on a game.
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Visceral Combat, is something undeniable all games of this kind must have to feel good, after all that’s all you are gonna do most of the time, slaying hordes & hordes of mobs, so to have a combat that feels good is of the utmost importance, unfortunately I can’t say the devs nail that part on LE, actually far from it, there is a lot they can do to improve on this matter, the solution imo is a combination of sound & visual effects, also I felt the combat lacks blood & gore & that was disappointing because I know that this is a must for the majority of players & it’s one of those things that can make the combat feel good & enhance the whole experience if the devs make it right.
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Boss Battles, for the most part I felt those were not made right, a boss mustn’t be just a huge sack of meat that deal a bit more dmg & takes a bit more time to kill compare to everything else you fight before you arrive there, think Diablo II here, think PoE also, is there anyone who played those games & forgot who Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto, Baal is? also from PoE is anyone who forgot who Merveil, Vaal, Dominus, Malachai is? it’s very important imo to create memorable bosses & memorable boss fights, with unique mechanics & the right amount of challenge, aside from some rare exceptions the boss fights in LE felt very disappointing so that’s something the devs need to improve going forward.
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Elite Mobs, the game definitely needs more unique mobs to spice things up, mobs that possess unique mechanics, are comparable much harder to fight than common mobs & obviously much more rewarding loot-wise when you manage to kill them.
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Lore, this might not be something most people care about when we are talking about ARPGs but I know that there is people who like me appreciate games with good lore, the story in LE was interesting for the most part & there is still things we haven’t seen as the story is unfinished atm, what I would like to see basically is for devs to add various pieces of lore here & there scattered through out the game for those who interested like me to learn more about the various timelines & the important figures of each age & maybe some hints about who we our char is/was as they let this in the air currently without ever revealing too much, also I think some dialogues we encounter in game need better handling in order to not kill the mood, that’s my personal opinion on the mater anyway, that’s how I felt a few times, that the dialogues in some cases felt a bit amateurish lacking proper care.
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Secret Areas, there was one such case we encounter in the game thanks to a quest, I speak for Shining Cove in the Imperial Era, we need to find a hidden area that is not visible on the map, unfortunately that was the only case where a secret area exist on a map (at least me haven’t found any after this) & I can’t fathom why the devs didn’t expand on this & make every map to have a chance to have secret areas for those who enjoy these kind of staff, games of this genre are highly repetitive as after a point we keep on playing map after map after map & it’s non stop grind, so there needs to be various such RNG stuff we might find & look forward to, to make things more interesting & the gameplay more addictive, make those secret areas a huge risk/reward thing, for example they could have a really tough mini-boss or a really tough zerg of mobs to clear & ofc hiding some treasure also to make all this worth it.
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Class Change Event, this felt very disappointing to me, the idea to pass this small trial before you reach the final destination were you can advance to a new class was a good idea & it’s something me personally really like & I have encounter something similar in other games before, but the way devs did it on LE felt like a missed opportunity, why not make it something more important, something more challenging, a trial you will be proud after you complete before you unlock your new class, after all they might add even more class upgrades in the future like PoE did with Ascendancy classes, so when/if ever the devs decide to do that they can put another test you need to pass before you unlock your next class, they can make it a thing of this game, to always pass a test before you unlock something important, because always feel better when you unlock important stuff that way, at least that’s how I feel.
There is more stuff I can write but since this took me quite a while to write I’m gonna stop here, I might add more stuff at some point but for now that’s it, I wanna make clear that I did the effort & wrote all that because I really believe this game have great potential to become something really special in the future & as a big fan of the genre I would like to have the chance to experience it when that time finally come but the fans who love those games need to help them to get there, feel free to write back & tell me your opinion about my suggestions.
