Path of Exile is a very good Diablo clone focused on multi-player gaming. You choose between a set of different (usual) characters and start your journey stranded on an island. You are in exile (for something I forgot). That’s the premise and on we go. In typical Diablo manner, you slash and hack your way to a base in which you can sell your scavenged goods.
At least here Path of Exile parts ways with Diablo. The economy in Path of Exile does not know money in the form of coins but rather you barter and trade goods like in the (very) old days: one piece of armour against 3 scrolls. At first, this seemed interesting to me, but then later on I realized, that
a) The “coin” is actually the “scroll of wisdom” with which you can identify dropped items.
b) As you can only stack up 40 of such scrolls, your inventory will rapidly fill it itself with scrolls.
c) Some items cannot be bought with these scrolls, but with chaos orbs (or something like that), which I failed to find or create.
This “economy” has, at least for me, the impact that the game gets weird: In order not to get too much of these scrolls I’m really picky about what to take with me and whatnot and rush through the level. Having already ~ 120 scrolls in my pocket can be considered rich already and therefore the whole landscape turned into a junkyard: as the game really seldom drops something useful, the areas are soon filled with parts of crap and it is littered fully. Once I passed through an area this whole area turned into a fantasy garbage site. This relates to (felt) 95% of the items dropped by monsters.
Now this, the indifference against equipment, slowly also overtook the storyline. I made my character to about level 28, but still, I did not have any clue about the story. Mainly because:
Tarkleigh: “Ah! Adventurer! It has been …”
Me: Skip!
Tarkleigh: “We are in dire need of …”
Me: Skip!
Tarkleigh: “To the east hides the monster of …”
Me: Skip!
Tarkleigh: “Would you kill …”
Me: Skip!
Tarkleigh: “Good luck and return …”
Me: Skip!
In the end, I very much missed any suggested plot in Path Of Exile, for the simple reason, that I really didn’t care.
And as a solo player, this is the death of a game.
Don’t get me wrong: for multiplayer types, this game offers a plethora of entertainment. Thousand things to do: like the menagerie, prophecies, etc. The creators and designers of Path Of Exile have filled this game with tons of interesting and intriguing game mechanics especially if you play with a couple of friends. Graphics are superb and from the game mechanic point of view, e.g. the tremendous passive skill tree in which one can get lost or the skill-as-jewel placed into sockets on weapons and armour, this game really takes new chances and delivers a very great experience.
But for me as a solo player… sorry. I got so bored as to uninstall the game at level 28 somewhere in Act 3. It turned very quickly from fun to work.
An excellent game for hardcore Diablo fans and multiplayer gamers. For these, I’d say 9 out of 10. Yet, it does not fully match Diablo III. The later is cinematic in nearly every detail. This game here is very good craftsmanship. Albeit a very, very good one at that.
But for myself? Just a 7 out of 10. Maybe if they reintroduced gold coins as payment for any item and “less is often more”.