KickStarter Grim Dawn

[VonMiskov]

Crate also made Farthest Frontier and now they are also working on RTS. Arthur Bruno said that he was pitching it to some publisher (for fun, shit and giggles) and all said - nah, because it's so niche. And still Crate exist, publish games and don't crumble like so many others. Respect for that.

 

[sser]

I mean I get what they say, but have they also employed those 9 people for the 8 years since Grim Dawn's release? That's still a *lot* of dosh, and while they may have sold a few million copies I assume that most of them are like -80% off, so 3m copies would only be "worth" 600k full price copies. I'm not going to try to do the math since there's too many unknowns but the numbers seem pretty tight after factoring in Steam's cut, overhead, taxes, etc. And its not like they are CDProjekt that can employ poles who work for half a potato a day, they are US based.

3m copies sold with high DLC uptake. Also, GD's start was springboarded off Titan Quest in tech and skill. That's probably why their acceptable projection was 200k copies. If you're aiming for a few hundred thousand and end up with millions... you've got breathing room.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I was reminded of this game by the recent update, and was thinking about giving it a go until I heard about the third expansion pack, so I'll be holding off until then.

Then I realized that I last played this game in 2018.

Back then I picked Inquisitor/Demolitionist out of the blue, then gave a rifle a try and was very impressed by its performance. Seeing that my build was somewhat rifle-compatible, I stuck with it. Shortly afterwards I discovered the joys of dual-wielding pistols and there was no going back. I reached level 87 with this character, but I'll be starting fresh the next time round.

Assuming I'm returning to dual-wielding pistols, is there a better choice of classes than Inq/Demo? Oathkeeper wasn't out when I created my character, so that's an obvious point of consideration.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Inq/Demo is the king for dual pistol builds. You can dual Soldier for a more physical build that has somewhat easier to gear.
Shaman can be good for going full lightning.

 

[Nikanuur]

What made GD unique and still pretty attractive for me, despite its deviation from TQ in terms of the number of creatures, was the possibility to build the character around two weapon sets and two skill sets. Ranged and melee. Similar damage types, but various distance and various skills. All the more fun, all the more ballet of death!
Very few Diablo-likes do this, actually.
But as soon as the devs announced that they were distancing themselves from this idea, I felt at a loss.
One single thing destroyed half the fun I used to have—some cool-downs related to the first weapon stopped cooling down when you switched to the second one.
That did it for me, sadly.
Still, I must say that much art, atmosphere, and craftsmanship can be seen any given time in this game. It's definitely worthy of the ARPG genre, and for a time, it was for me as well.

 

[Saduj]

Anyone else try out the Diablo III mod for this? It's the same campaign with new masteries based on Diablo III classes, some new items for those masteries, new components, some added monsters and cosmetic stuff. Been playing dual pistol demon hunter/crusader - which doesn't seem to have a class name so it shows up as error text. That's really the only bug I've found so far.

The mod lets you choose any difficulty without having to unlock them. My plan was to play on Normal through Cronley, just to get resistances up a bit. I played through killing The Warden and the new masteries were feeling a little OP. Then, at level 25, I went into the cave mini-dungeon on the first map in Cronley territory. It is usually an easy area filled with ghosts, a weak boss and a shrine. The mod adds five Death Seraphs, which are the first new monsters I've noticed. I've never played Diablo III so I didn't know what to expect. In the mod, they have an ability that creates a large life leach sigil on the ground centered where you are standing. If they catch you with it, it heals them almost fully and they can spam it almost constantly. I can kill the one that only has ghosts as backup, but not easily. The other four are in pairs, plus ghost archers. I thought my DPS was fine before this but I can't kill these bastards before they manage leach their health back. Had no choice but to flee without getting the devotion point from the shrine.....

TLDR - Playing the Diablo III mod and getting my ass kicked by trash mobs in early game area on Normal.

 

[Vic]

grim dawn reminds me of melvor idle

it's for old farts who want to play an ARPG but don't have the time commitment to play a real one

I was able to max an AAR Warlock in ~2 weeks (getting full BiS, obviously no roll farm, the build I went for: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/Q2zWz8AV) and have enough legendaries to equip 2-3 more builds after farming SR for a few days.

 

[MasterofThunder]

Grim Dawn is very enjoyable. Much more approachable in single player compared to Diablo II, and fun to experiment with builds. Art direction is grimy, of course, but in that regard it's superior to modern Diablo by a wide margin. I also like that the developer has consistently improved on the game over the years and continues to work on new expansions. That is a sign that the developers are confident in their work and appreciate their customers. The company, Crate Entertainment, remains small and even avoided being bought out by Embracer. As far as I'm concerned, these guys are modern Blizzard. And if their RTS project surpasses Warcraft/Starcraft like Grim Dawn has for Diablo II, I'll buy it for sure.

 

[abija]

it's for old farts who want to play an ARPG but don't have the time commitment to play a real one

Huh? The only "longer" game is PoE without trading.

 

[Fedora Master]

I've played through the game multiple times over the years and I still have no idea what the story is.

 

[Peachcurl]

I've played through the game multiple times over the years and I still have no idea what the story is.

They could easily fix this with unskippable hours long cut scenes, unskippable dialog with maximum volume voice over.

That would be very cool.

 

[Peachcurl]

Also, another great idea: everytime you find one of those lore pages and snippets, it includes a quiz at the end. If you get more than one question wrong, your character dies.

 

[Fedora Master]

I've played through the game multiple times over the years and I still have no idea what the story is.

They could easily fix this with unskippable hours long cut scenes, unskippable dialog with maximum volume voice over.

That would be very cool.

If it includes a mocapped awkward sex scene with the busty necromancer chick, I'm in.

 

[None]

I've played through the game multiple times over the years and I still have no idea what the story is.

Green monsters are invading but to stop them we have to kill the red monsters.

I still have no idea why the shift occurs. Recently tried a playthrough to focus on the "lore" but I just got lost in build autism pretty quickly.

 

[Average Manatee]

Grimdark stuff happened and everyone started getting possessed by grimdark spirits set on taking over the world, then more grimdark happened and blood cults attracted the attention of not-Cthulhu who also invaded. Not sure on the order, might be the other way around.

 

[Vic]

it's for old farts who want to play an ARPG but don't have the time commitment to play a real one

Huh? The only "longer" game is PoE without trading.

I'm not talking about the story but about gearing your character. Do you know how low the drop chances for items are in diablo 2? Grim Dawn was made with the philosophy that the developers actually want their players to "finish" characteres, and it's very easy compared to the other ARPGs. Crate are really smart devs, I've read a bit of what they were posting over the years, much respect for them but it's not really what I'm looking for in an ARPG.

Most GD players enjoy having lots of alts and experimenting with different builds, this is where the game really shines. Coming up with a whacky build idea and seeing if you can kill the superbosses with it.

 

[Average Manatee]

Like 95% of builds in Diablo 2 either don't need any items at all or only need very basic runeword items.

 

[Vic]

Like 95% of builds in Diablo 2 either don't need any items at all or only need very basic runeword items.

but why wouldn't you want to upgrade your shitty character? that's the whole fun

 

[Average Manatee]

Because you can beat Hell just fine, often even the ubers. What's the point in grinding to pump numbers higher? Is being able to run a boss 10s quicker than another build the only way you can achieve an erection or something?

 

[Vic]

What's the point in grinding to pump numbers higher?

this genre might not be for you

 

[Average Manatee]

I play and enjoy a lot of ARPGs, you suffer from a mental disorder.

 

[Vic]

okay scrub

 

[Average Manatee]

Don't mind me, while you're busy grinding for literally no reason in ARPGs I'll be scrubbing the inside of your girl in the room over.

 

[Vic]

I hope you get HIV

 

[Average Manatee]

Don't worry you'll be safe if I do.