I've been looking for a long time for a good, classic, entertaining MMO RPG to play, one that truly interests me, that tells me, "Hey, take the time to read and not take everything for granted," something that, for me, is very important in RPGs. So, as you know, Path of Exile is a fairly old game. In fact, there's already a paid Path of Exile 2. The first one is completely free to play, and it has remained that way for a very long time. In fact, they've managed to avoid making it a pay-to-win game, and I think this is precisely what continues to attract so many players to keep playing, and that the game continues to expand over time, which is appreciated.
Without a doubt, Path of Exile is a classic RPG, super Diablo. In fact, if you've played Diablo, you'll quickly feel familiar with the gameplay it offers. Extremely simple in its mechanics: right-click to move and attack, straightforward, something I quite like, and without an absurd array of skills. There comes a point where you have so many skill banks that you practically only use two or three, something that happened to me with Star Wars: The Old Republic. There comes a point where, screw it, you have to flip the board, something that apparently doesn't happen here, or well, I hope, since the skill panel is quite small. The game supports all languages, and even though I know English, I always appreciate playing in my native language, something that allows me to connect much more quickly with the story. In this case, everything except the dialogue will be translated into Spanish.
So, after downloading the game, which is about 60 GB, I embark on playing and see how it goes. Like every RPG, we always have to select classes, and in this case, select a League. Apparently, the game has undergone some changes, offering different types of Leagues and prizes for new users. I chose the Mercenaries League, something I understand you can change during or at the end of each League. This is like a sort of ranking system for players where you get rewards and such.
The game also gives you approximately seven classes to choose from, each with its own unique traits, abilities, and weapons. In my case, I chose a Shadow, a kind of dark melee assassin who looks pretty cool. So, I decided on this character to begin my adventure on the Path of Exile and see what it's like. Besides, this is a game I'd seen a long time ago, and I decided to try my luck with it to see if it's worth it. There are some very old players at level 100, and I think to myself, well, there must be a reason they're still playing it. It has very good reviews on Steam (something that seems rare these days), and compared to Path of Exile 2, which is riddled with criticism (at some point we'll find out why), this game seems to hold up.
So, once you choose and name your character (by the way, I'm playing on the Amsterdam server, and to my surprise, it was the one with the best PIN), you appear at the deployment location. I don't know if it's the same for all classes, but in this case, it's on a sort of island full of Zombies or undead that we have to start eliminating. The game doesn't really tell you much about what you have to do; this is quite intuitive and you have to figure out how things work. So, well, you have to advance on the island and you start to encounter these undead and some strange animals, all level 1, obviously. As you progress and discover the map, some sort of clues or indications are revealed as to where you should more or less go. I must confess that in the first moments, you feel quite lost, but it's not something that discourages you or makes you stop playing; rather, it sparks curiosity to know what the hell you have to do.
So, as you advance, you find your first big enemy, and the first thing you ask yourself is: can I beat him? So well, if you can beat it, I mean it's part of the first mission to eliminate this giant that at first seems impossible and you say, well maybe dying is part of the mission, but no, nothing to do with it, if you can eliminate it, also since it is marked as a main mission objective it's like you have no escape, you go through the entire first part of the island and also there is nothing else but said enemy, and the door to the town, you say yes, we have to eliminate it.
Once the giant is eliminated, we enter the town and begin to discover part of the story and more or less what's happening on the piece of land. You recover your first bounty and begin to familiarize yourself with all the basics, such as how to sell items, access your chest, who the main employers are, and well, you start to see other players there, which is quite cool since I thought it was completely isolated, thinking it was just some kind of RPG, but it's an MMO, which for me adds a plus.
So, the game mechanics are quite intuitive, as I said. Everything falls into place as we progress, and the deployment of the missions begins to make sense. As does the exploration of the objectives. You begin to understand how you should investigate, where you can advance, and where you still need to advance. I've basically completed two fairly simple missions: eliminating the Giant and finding the chest of medical supplies they ask for at the beginning. I've received two rewards from my quests and have already been offered the first side quest, which I'm not quite ready for yet (I'm too low-leveled), so I need to train a little more. What seems quite confusing at first begins to become clear, and the unfolding of the quests begins to engage you with the island's story.
Everything at this point is super gloomy. I don't know if this is the starting point for everyone, but it seems like an unhappy island, brought down by bad luck, where these first quests seem to shed a little light on the island. Something I should really be grateful for, and it must be because it's an older game, is that there isn't that ridiculous and exaggerated automation that many RPGs currently have. Everything is automatic, everything takes you to the point of the quest, everything becomes extremely linear, and for me, it's the first factor that makes me say, you know, I don't even care about the story. I think this intuitive process of discovering step by step what's happening is very well done and is what truly motivates or even inspires you to want to know the subtexts of the plot, something I really enjoy.
Path of Exile seems to be a promising MMO. I haven't been able to play much, but I have played for at least two hours before writing this article. I can't say I didn't like it. That Diablo feel is brutal, and it also reminded me a lot of an MMO I used to play many years ago called Mu (which many of you have played, I've mentioned). I don't know if the whole super old-school theme and its being so old-school is what hooked me, but it's definitely a game I want to continue playing, dedicating myself to, and exploring throughout the day. I don't know if I'll come back tomorrow with Metro 2033. I think I'm already halfway through the game and really want to finish it, but rest assured that I'll be commenting and bringing more content about Path of Exile. The other RPG I was playing is Dragon Age, but I don't know if it's a game I'll actually continue, so, well, we'll see. If you're playing or have played this game, let me know in the comments, gamer! See you.