Last Epoch became one of the most high-profile games of February. It seems that everyone is talking and writing about her – the new “killer Diablo", which started as a fan project and went through Kickstarter, peak online on Steam (more than 150 thousand players) is five times higher than that of Diablo IV . Let’s figure out how good the game is, in what ways it is really better, and in what ways it is worse than the latest creation Blizzard.
About the plot and atmosphere
Many comments about Last Epoch boil down to a seemingly rhetorical question: “And why did I spend money on Diablo IV?» But if we talk specifically about the plot, then for me the answer is obvious – you paid to see one of the best (if not the best) plot productions in the history of the genre. The story itself, character development, direction, atmosphere, not to mention the videos and cut-scenes – except Blizzard no one else did that.
But in Last Epoch from this point of view we see the most banal set of cliches. The search for the next very important artifacts scattered around the world is? Eat. Some kind of nasty thing that poisons everything around is in stock? But what about – there are already two of them, Emptiness and Corruption. Skeletons who ask to be killed because they want to find peace have been brought in? Offend. And if, having received a task from supposedly good cultists to bring them a couple of important scrolls, you thought that this would not end well, then rest assured that it will not end well. It is clear that the script Diablo IV also does not open America in the genre of dark fantasy, but everything there is redeemed by the level of production and elaboration, atmosphere and attention to detail.
However, in Last Epoch there are pleasant moments – an abundance of side quests and the ability to move between time eras almost at any time (according to the plot or at your discretion). This is how we often find ourselves from dark casemates filled with undead to picturesque green locations, where we fight ancient creatures and lizards. And here it’s a matter of taste – do you like more concentrated dark fantasy or this patchwork quilt of different styles.
In any case, from the point of view of a single playthrough for me personally Diablo IV, of course it’s preferable. I admit, I started playing it just to compare it with Last Epoch and check why everyone is criticizing the creation so much Blizzard, – and in the end, playing through both games at the same time, I painfully, to the point of withdrawal, wanted to return to exactly Diablo IV.
After all, in Diablo the pace is also lower, and the battles are more difficult even at the very beginning (I played on the “Veteran” world level). And in Last Epoch on your first playthrough, even in hard mode, you quickly rush through crowds of enemies, shredding them in the most sophisticated ways and practically not encountering strong resistance.
At the same time, the authors clearly went too far with respawn – opponents literally jump out of the air every 5-10 meters, and in the end it gets boring. At later stages, I simply ran, bypassing everyone, to the exit of the location, and there I waited for the most stubborn to reach me, and quite comfortably, having gathered everyone in one place, I destroyed them in droves. What can we talk about if the game even has mechanics that allow you to skip entire sections of the plot (more on that later)?
There are, of course, slightly more difficult situations – you can be transported to an ancient era and there you will come across a huge dragon, with whom you will have to work harder than usual. Or release sealed magicians from portals – this is where you can die for the first time in the entire campaign if you are careless. Although in general it’s also nothing critically complicated.
About endgame and co-op
Even at the beta stage, many asked to make a campaign Last Epoch more difficult. The authors have added a “Masochist” mode, where you take much more damage and deal much less, but it is not available on the first playthrough. And in general it is obvious that Last Epoch – this is a game primarily for the endgame, and here it is already closer to Path of Exile, although it still falls short of it in terms of the amount of content.
The main course in https://megacasinoonline.uk/withdrawal/ the endgame is the “Monolith of Fate”, which can partly be called an analogue of the “Atlas” from PoE. In fact, this is a network of dungeons and tests in special locations, “timings”, which are complicated by modifiers, as well as the mechanics of damage and shadow. Not everything is simple, but the point is that the higher the damage (read: level) of the timekeeping, the more difficult the tests, but also the cooler the rewards. And the main reward is the ability to choose blessings for the character, which constantly improve certain characteristics or increase the chances of dropping rare items.
In fact, during the passage of the story campaign, already in the middle, the inventory is filled with a bunch of yellow items of increased rarity, the lion’s share of which is sold or thrown away – although there is nowhere to put the money. But in the endgame the increased drop rate is really important.
You can also clear dungeons, which also have special conditions, modifiers and four difficulty levels. They require special keys, and clearing such catacombs allows you to skip part of the campaign, which is especially useful when repeating the same “Masochist”. Plus “Arena” for leveling up your character by annihilating waves of enemies.
Monolith of Fate, dungeons, and the entire story campaign can—and often should—be played in co-op (supports up to four people in a group). This will allow you to raise your friends’ levels (although there are restrictions), and will give them access to the endgame, bypassing the lion’s share of the campaign – if you have accumulated a lot of keys to dungeons.
But here you need to remember that the larger the group, the fatter the enemies. And only players on normal difficulty will be able to revive each other. At the same time, you are given one attempt to visit the “Monolith of Fate”, and after death you will have to start all over again. And friends, as you already understand, will not always be able to help. In general, in Last Epoch endgame is perhaps more hardcore and interesting than in Diablo IV, although overall everything is fine with him.
About building flexibility and equipment
For me, perhaps the main advantage Last Epoch – this, of course, is a role-playing system and variety, flexibility in building builds. The classes are all painfully familiar – warrior, mage, assassin, barbarian and necromancer. But this is just the basis for your hero. After a certain time, the opportunity to choose an additional specialization opens up, and more interesting things begin there. For example, my killer could become a “blade dancer”, focus entirely on archery, or learn to summon a faithful falcon, as well as use traps, bombs and other traps.
Agree, fundamentally different specializations. Each of them is naturally supported by a bunch of active and passive skills. Among them there are all these “+2% to critical damage for each skill point”, but most still give more obvious changes. And even within the same subclass there are diametrically opposed development options – for example, you can pump up your attacks more in melee or, conversely, in ranged combat.
IN Diablo IV I also chose a girl with blades and a bow, who, naturally, also has access to different development options, but all specializations open one after another gradually and, in general, seem a little more traditional and a little less variable. After reaching level 15, each class in the game from Blizzard it becomes possible to learn an additional specialization, but it, as a rule, gives only one effect – for example, a druid will be able to summon animal spirits.
The situation with active skills is even more indicative. And in Diablo IV, and in Last Epoch they can be pumped, but Blizzard these improvements are more meager and mainly come down to enhancing the effect – the skill can be enhanced, basic, fundamental, and so on. And in the brainchild Eleventh Hour Games every skill has a huge, in spirit PoE (but more understandable), a tree of auxiliary upgrades, which can be diametrically opposed. For example, my killer’s skill “Shift” (dash) is allowed to be upgraded to a melee weapon, so that when used you can also deal an additional blow, or so that the skill simultaneously restores health and throws shurikens at enemies. And so you can upgrade up to five active skills in depth.
The equipment works in unison with this. Many types of equipment have bonuses to certain active skills, health or mana restoration. And besides, they themselves can open up new opportunities – for example, enhance the effect of using healing potions or increase their maximum. But in Diablo IV equipment, as a rule, does not enhance individual skills.
Is it worth clarifying why from this point of view Last Epoch again looks more flexible? Even within the same specialization, I could change on the fly not just equipment, but, in principle, the fighting style itself. With a slight movement of the hand, the killer turned from an archer, frying enemies with exploding arrows, into a girl with a staff, who tears everyone apart in close combat and at the same time actively summons ballistas – I simply changed the bow to another weapon and took equipment that enhances the “Ballista” skill.
Equipment can be improved by inserting shards into it, which give bonuses and modifiers (affixes), or even randomly change them to others. True, each item has a limit for such upgrades. What’s important is that you can improve it directly in your inventory, and not in a forge located in the middle of nowhere. There are also unique, experimental and legendary items. And rare items with the “Will of the Weaver” property are pumped up, gaining additional characteristics when killing enemies and gaining experience. In general, equipment management in Last Epoch advanced but quite accessible.
And after completing the “story”, you can open up new opportunities by joining one of two factions: the merchant guild will allow you to trade with other players, and membership in the “Circle of Fate” will increase the amount and rarity of loot dropped.
About MMO elements
One of the main complaints about Diablo IV is that the game has slipped into an MMORPG with all these daily tasks and PvP zones. This didn’t stop me from enjoying the game in any way, but it annoys many people. Last Epoch from this point of view, it wins again – here there is only the cooperative described above, and even then limited in places. But there is no hard “donation” either here or here – you can buy a maximum of “cosmetics”.
Overall general impressions of the creation Eleventh Hour Games positive. The process of chopping monsters is dynamic and convenient – you pass through enemies like a knife through butter, reveling in how famously you can juggle skills without losing rhythm. The only thing missing is the stable operation of the servers and the polished interface – in the heat of a fight, the cursor often lands on loot and the screen is covered with item descriptions. There is, of course, a loot filter, but it only helps partially. About the same thing when forging things – the description of the properties of the fragments interferes with normal visibility in the interface of the portable forge. IN Diablo IV there are no such problems.
But for some reason the ability to pick up loot by pressing one button, so as not to poke into each item separately, is neither here nor there. Although even in the recent Chinese diabloid Tales of Spark this function is present. What’s also really missing is the ability to pin weapon tabs and switch between them.
Of course, in terms of gameplay in general, in terms of the variety and flexibility of building Last Epoch looks better than "diabla". I’m not even talking about the price – this is a more democratic and at the same time very deep action/RPG. And in many ways she really became a killer Diablo. Although for me it didn’t kill me, but rather wounded me, Diablo IV still has slightly better graphics, plot, presentation and atmosphere. In general, every game will find its fans. But what Last Epoch, originally a fan project, achieved such results by finding an almost perfect balance between the causality of the latest releases Diablo and hardcore Path of Exile and Grim Dawn, this is certainly a bright event in the genre. Now many people know what they will be doing at least until the release of PoE2 .
Pros: dynamic and convenient gameplay; flexible and varied building construction; a breakthrough in equipment management; advanced endgame; interesting cooperative.
Cons: weak story campaign, which clearly lacks complexity; The interface is not entirely user-friendly.
