Sunbather (Day 129)

I've been at a loss as to what to play lately. I've lost motivation for Secret of Mana after losing save data, and Torchlight II seems nigh unconquerable alone. After some looking around, I decided to give Path of Exile a try. It's in the same genre as Torchlight and Diablo but I'd always kind of dismissed it as an inferior clone. After playing for an hour or two I can see that's not really the case.

Path of Exile puts a lot of interesting ideas on the table. Classes are functionally identical save for starting at different locations in a skill tree. These skill tree is made up of passive skills that flesh out your character. Upon leveling up, you'll be able to select new skills in the tree like Dexterity +10 or attack speed +6%. What options are available to you depend upon the class you chose. Like the Sphere Grid or Crystarium in the Final Fantasy series, you can progress along this tree in whatever way you choose, allowing you to customize your character's development.

According to the official website, the passive skill tree is enormous with thousands of skills to choose from. I've only made it up to level 8 so of course I've only seen the tiniest fraction of it.

The fact that classes are only separated by their location in the skill tree was sort o a turnoff to me at first until I played for awhile and realized the implications. As you complete quests you will be given the choice of selecting rewards. Much of the time these rewards will consist of gems that can be socketed into your equipment, much like other games in the genre. Unlike Diablo and Torchlight, these gems do not infer passive and arbitrary stat bonuses--instead, they teach your character's unique skills.

The type of skill you might learn from a gem is dependent upon its color. Green gems favor the Dexterity stat and are intended for roguelike characters. They might involve poison, traps, or melee combat. Theoretically, a spellcaster or bruiser character could learn these skills, but only if their Dexterity stat meets the requirements of the gem--a difficult task considering their location in the skill tree. Still, some gear will confer stat boosts that would allow you to learn skills you might otherwise not be able to.

The skills on these gems will level up as you do. A fraction of the experience your character gains goes toward strengthening all of these skills so long as you have them socketed into your equipment. Further sweetening the deal is the fact that you can remove and reallocate these gems at any time you please, meaning you never need to part with a skill if you don't want to. So long as you have an appropriately colored socket in a piece of your gear, you can keep that specific skill gem with you forever.

I find this design incredibly appealing. Diablo and Torchlight both offer up dozens upon dozens of different gems that augment various mundane stats. It's a nightmare to keep track of and very few gems feel impactful on their own. In Path of Exile, each gem is important because it gives you a new and unique skill.

The graphics and presentation in general are a bit rough, but the gameplay and ideas are very solid. I'll definitely be spending some more time on this game. I can't promise I'll finish it, but it seems very promising so far.