HOW GOOD IS LAST EPOCH?? - Last Epoch
Summary
TLDRKarion shares his thoughts on the recently released Last Epoch, an action RPG game that strikes a balance between Path of Exile's complexity and Diablo's accessibility. He praises Last Epoch for its carefully designed mechanics, finely-tuned character progression, and class diversity, offering both depth for dedicated players and approachability for casual ones. While acknowledging some outliers like the Ward mechanic needing adjustments and a relatively lighter endgame, Karion highly recommends Last Epoch (rating 8.5/10) for its exceptional build customization and unique class experiences, particularly for players seeking to craft their own builds.
Takeaways
- ๐ Last Epoch is a very good action RPG game that strikes a balance between complexity and accessibility.
- ๐ It combines the intricate character building and fine-tuned mechanics of Path of Exile with the pick-up-and-play nature of Diablo.
- ๐ง The classes have deep complexity, but the damage and defense scaling is carefully controlled, allowing for builds that deviate from the meta without being severely underpowered.
- ๐ The game delivers on key aspects like class identity, respec flexibility, and tackling content without feeling overwhelmed.
- โ ๏ธ Some outliers exist, like the Ward mechanic, which can grant excessive temporary health without proper capping.
- ๐ฏ While the endgame content is currently limited, the monolith system appropriately rewards playing at higher difficulties.
- ๐ Boss mechanics and telegraphing need some refinement, especially in preparation for planned pinnacle bosses.
- ๐ The offline mode is well-implemented, allowing seamless play across devices via Steam.
- ๐ฐ Despite server issues at launch due to unexpectedly high player numbers, the developers have delivered a solid experience.
- ๐ Overall, Last Epoch is highly recommended, especially for those who enjoy creating their own builds and exploring new class identities.
Q & A
What is Last Epoch?
-Last Epoch is an action role-playing game (ARPG) that falls somewhere between Path of Exile and Diablo in terms of gameplay complexity and accessibility.
How does the author describe the complexity of Last Epoch compared to Path of Exile and Diablo?
-The author states that Last Epoch has a high level of complexity similar to Path of Exile, with carefully designed mechanics and finely-tuned character details. However, it also shares Diablo's approachability, allowing players to pick up and play at their own pace.
What does the author think about the class design in Last Epoch?
-According to the author, each class in Last Epoch plays very differently, even within the same subclass, offering a diverse range of playstyles. However, some classes are better than others.
How does Last Epoch handle character scaling and balance?
-Last Epoch strikes a balance between Path of Exile's tightly tuned defenses and Diablo's more relaxed character scaling. It avoids extreme multipliers for offense and defense, allowing players to experiment with different builds without feeling too underpowered.
What does the author think about the Ward mechanic in Last Epoch?
-The author believes that the Ward mechanic (temporary HP) is well-designed, but it should have a cap based on a percentage of the character's health, as some abilities can grant excessive amounts of Ward, making characters overpowered.
How does the author evaluate the endgame content in Last Epoch?
-The author acknowledges that while the endgame content in Last Epoch is not as extensive as some players might expect, the Monolith system provides an appropriate challenge and rewards for playing at higher difficulties.
What concerns does the author have regarding the bosses in Last Epoch?
-The author's main concern is with the timing and telegraphing of boss abilities, as some bosses can hit players before the animation plays, which can be problematic for high-difficulty bosses that can potentially one-shot characters.
How does the author feel about the trade and offline modes in Last Epoch?
-The author praises the trade system and the well-implemented offline mode, which allows players to seamlessly transfer their save files between devices using Steam.
What is the author's overall impression of Last Epoch?
-The author gives Last Epoch an 8.5 out of 10 rating, describing it as a fantastic game that delivers on what an ARPG should offer, particularly in terms of build diversity and class identity.
Does the author plan to continue playing or streaming Last Epoch?
-While the author is currently focused on a Fortnite project, he plans to play and potentially stream Last Epoch during off-times and create a video showcasing his strength-stacked Beastmaster build, which he considers one of the best in the game.
Outlines
๐ฎ Karion's In-Depth Analysis of Last Epoch
In this paragraph, Karion provides an overview of the game Last Epoch, comparing it to other popular ARPGs like Path of Exile (PoE) and Diablo. He emphasizes that while Last Epoch shares similarities with both games, it is closer to PoE in terms of the game's carefully designed mechanics and fine-tuned details. However, like Diablo, Last Epoch offers a more approachable experience, allowing players to pick up and play at their own pace. Karion highlights the game's high level of complexity, with each class offering a unique playstyle, while also being accessible to players who prefer a more casual approach.
โ๏ธ Last Epoch's Balance of Complexity and Accessibility
In this paragraph, Karion delves deeper into Last Epoch's ability to cater to both hardcore and casual players. He explains that the game achieves this balance by carefully tuning the scaling of offense and defense, avoiding extreme multipliers that can make characters overpowered or underpowered. This approach allows players to experiment with various builds without feeling overwhelmed or underpowered. Karion also discusses the game's Ward mechanic, which he views as an outlier that needs adjustment, suggesting a cap based on a percentage of the player's health. Additionally, he addresses concerns about the game's endgame content, acknowledging that while it may be lacking compared to other ARPGs, Last Epoch rewards players for tackling higher difficulties through its Monolith system.
๐ Last Epoch's Online Experience and Final Thoughts
In the final paragraph, Karion touches on Last Epoch's online experience and trade system, which he acknowledges has been well-received, despite server issues at launch due to unexpectedly high player numbers. He then shifts his focus to the game's offline mode, praising its seamless integration with Steam, allowing players to continue their progress across different devices. Karion concludes by wholeheartedly recommending Last Epoch, especially for players who enjoy creating their own builds and exploring unique classes. He rates the game an 8.5 out of 10 and expresses excitement for future updates, while also promising to share his thoughts on one of the game's best builds in an upcoming video.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กARPG
๐กClass Identity
๐กComplexity
๐กAccessibility
๐กDefenses
๐กEndgame
๐กBosses
๐กOffline Mode
๐กBalancing
๐กBuilds
Highlights
Last Epoch is a game that combines elements of Path of Exile and Diablo, but is closer to Path of Exile in terms of its carefully designed mechanics and fine-tuned complexity.
Unlike Diablo 4, where the baseline difficulty is low, Last Epoch has a higher baseline difficulty similar to Path of Exile, but it's still approachable for casual players due to its well-tuned character progression and damage/defense scaling.
Last Epoch allows players to create their own builds and experiment with different abilities, while also catering to those who prefer to play at their own pace without extensive research.
The game launched successfully with over 200,000 players, likely due to its ability to satisfy both complexity-seeking and casual players.
The Ward mechanic, which provides temporary HP, is well-designed but could benefit from a cap based on a percentage of the player's health to prevent extreme outliers.
While the endgame content in Last Epoch is currently limited, the game rewards players for playing at higher difficulties through its monolith system.
The bosses in Last Epoch are on par with Diablo in terms of mechanics and coolness, but the timing of some boss abilities can be problematic, which may need to be addressed for future pinnacle bosses.
Last Epoch launched with a well-received trading system, but its online servers struggled to handle the unexpectedly high number of players at launch.
The game offers a seamless offline mode that allows players to continue their progress across different devices through Steam.
The speaker highly recommends Last Epoch, especially for those who enjoy creating their own builds and exploring new class identities, giving it an 8.5/10 rating.
The speaker plans to share their experience with a strength-stacked Beastmaster build, which they consider one of the best builds in the game.
Transcripts
hey guys how's it going karion here
today I want to give you guys just a bit
of a talk about last Epoch now this is a
game that I didn't really play that much
before it had its like 1.0 Like official
release a week and some change ago and a
lot of people have been asking me what I
think about the game but I didn't really
want to make this video Until I felt
like pretty comfortable that I
understand the game on a fairly deep
level to proper
you know give you guys this information
so overall how good do I think last
Epoch is I think it is very good it does
kind of go in between Poe and Diablo
which is how a lot of reviewers have
placed the game uh just a lot of
reviewers have placed the game kind of
in between the two presumably like in
the middle I would say it's very much
not in the middle between those two
games I think it is a lot closer to Poe
in the way that the game is kind of like
carefully designed like the Min the Min
in the game the details they are
extremely fine-tuned except for a few
examples of course um and it is like
Diablo in the fact that you can just
pick up the game and play it at your own
will so it has a really high level of
complexity uh every different class is
different uh For Better or Worse some of
them are certainly better and some of
them are certainly worse um the classes
just have a very different thing about
each one even though there is kind of
like the subclass that you start the
game off with um kind of branching out
into three usually those three play very
differently except for a few examples
unless you really want to kind of push
it out and do a very similar build and
while it has a lot of complexity on the
top end like the classes to really
understand the best combination that you
should be using actually you have to do
a fair amount of research and looking
into things which is great for someone
like me because I love figuring out and
making my own builds in these type of
games but the reason it's a game that is
approachable uh like Diablo 4 for
example um is because the game doesn't
really scale your character that crazy
so in Path of Exile we have this thing
where uh defenses are extremely tight
tuned there's no item in the game that
like doubles your effective Health in in
Poe there may be like one or two in very
specific builds that basically build
into those items and again very very few
in Diablo there's items that like
quadruple the uh effective health of
your character and it's easy to get one
you just get a chest piece that has four
defensive stats and then you get a
shield that has four defensive stats for
another quadruple and then you get a you
know leggings with four defensive stats
and another quadruple and while they
have tried to kind of tighten the knobs
on damage in Diablo I uh they haven't
really been very successful at doing
that and that's why Diablo 4 is pretty
casual because they make the game as a
baseline pretty easy and they do that
because they haven't really finely tune
the balance on either offense or defense
for a character so that's why when you
play Diablo 4 you can just play whatever
junk build you want because the Baseline
difficulty of the game is low so that's
why consider Diablo 4 pretty casual game
Path of Exile the Baseline difficulty of
the game is quite high for someone that
hasn't played it before it's extremely
high for anyone that tries to play the
game without looking up some information
about the build they're willing to play
so where does last Epoch fit into these
things last Epoch I say has um a about
as much control over defenses as Poe I
think if they fine-tune the ward
mechanic it would actually be even more
finely tuned than Poe in terms of
defenses and in terms of damage it's
also very T finely tuned I would say
that last Epoch has finally tuned
there's no like super crazy damage
scalers again except for very few
instances outliers that are probably
going to be addressed but for the most
part characters are not going to do do
million times more damage a few levels
later okay that's not how last Epoch
works and because you have a lot of
complexity in the characters um the fact
that the multipliers don't go too crazy
for offense and they don't go too crazy
for defense it means that you can just
play whatever trash build you want and
it's really not going to be that that
bad because even though you might be
doing everything wrong your character
might be like half as tanky and do like
a third of the damage but not like a
million times less damage like Diablo
and not a 100 times less tanky or damage
like Poe so because of that it's a game
that satisfies people who love the
complexity and arpg like myself and it
satisfy people who just kind of want to
play the game at their own pace this is
a game where you absolutely can do both
and they've been extremely careful to
kind of craft the mechanics in the game
for people to be able to do this and
honestly it's really impressive I think
that's why the game has done so well at
launch they had over 200,000 players I
think that's why the game has done
pretty well whenever I stream it you
guys seem to love me playing it and I
love playing it I think it's an awesome
game um and overall it's just a blast it
delivers on everything an arpg should
for the most part the class identity the
fun and actually just playing the
flexibility to Respec and try different
abilities uh the options that kind of
tackle the content without feeling
overwhelmed even if you don't do a lot
of the research it's overall pretty good
um there are some outliers and I don't
really know how big or active their Dev
team is and I feel like in cases like
these if outliers go unaddressed it can
kind of hurt the game over time uh like
right now they have a mechanic called
Ward which is pretty similar to barriers
in Diablo I it's kind of like temporary
HP now it's it's kind of like barriers
in Diablo 4 because they last like a
certain amount of time and you can scale
something called Ward retention to make
it degrade less it's not like barriers
where like you put it up and it lasts 5
Seconds no Ward naturally decays the
more you have the faster it decays but
the more Ward retention you have the
slower that decay rate is and there's
certain abilities that just grant you
ward so if you're taking advantage of
those of those abilities you can have
like 10 times the amount of Health that
you should have and for last Epoch that
is an extreme outlier so right now I
think the mechanic is actually pretty
welld designed for the one exception
that I think it should have a cap based
on a percentage of your health like I
don't think Ward should exceed double
your health for example in a rare case a
rare W for Diablo 4 I think Diablo 4 had
barrier mechanics right uh I think
temporary bar are pretty cool last
epoch's take on temporary is even cooler
I would say it's just the Caps not
existing in last Epoch uh make it a
pretty problematic mechanic overall uh a
lot of people have uh played last Tac
like a ton this week and some of them
have said that they don't really kind of
see the point in like going you know
crazy endgame like there isn't that much
endgame in last Epoch and that is the
main concern that I've seen in the
community over overall I think they are
uh unfortunately correct there isn't
that much endgame in lasty poac but if
someone really likes their character
really likes how it plays or they really
want to challenge themselves laso has a
system that appropriately rewards you
for playing at a higher difficulty which
again is so rare in games these days so
they have kind of like the monolith
system it's kind of like Maps you kind
of go node to node in a way kind of like
delve and Poe if you don't know what
that is that's fine it's basically you
go like you hop like location to
location e each of these locations are
uh varying difficulty varying rewards
and you know what the like the the big
chest reward at the end will be and when
you do enough of these you do the boss
of that monolith and there's like I
don't know 10 monoliths or something
like that so bosses they're actually
pretty cool uh but usually the bosses
are a little bit e easier than the mobs
in the nodes and I would say that the
bosses aren't quite as cool as they are
in Path of Exile they are pretty much on
the level of Diablo I in terms of
coolness and mechanics and all that kind
of stuff so pretty good but not really
mindblowing they have said that their
next big update will include like
Pinnacle bosses and that is pretty
exciting on one hand but on the other
having challenged a lot of the monolith
bosses that currently exist in the game
I would say that the timing for a lot of
their abilities is a little bit off and
just to be clear I play in offline mode
so it's not like the game is their
servers are lagging and then the boss
didn't properly Telegraph no it's like
the boss is going to drop the meteor and
I get hit by the meteor before the
animation of him actually dropping it
happens um you know there's a few
instances like that and when we're
talking about killing characters in one
hit or almost in one hit it's a little
bit problematic if we scale that up to
like a pinnacle level for bosses so that
might be a challenge and I do hope they
take that on well uh overall the game is
very cool they also launched with kind
of like the trade and that has also been
really well received if you want the
online experience and trade items and
all that you can have it um their
servers haven't really held up very well
that's where most of the complaints
happen I don't really have that much to
say about that uh because I generally
like to play args by myself these days
and they have offline mode uh which is
actually really good the files are saved
kind of through your steam so it's not
just like fully localized files you can
like play the game fully offline on your
computer then you can do it on like your
steam deck in a different location and
the locally saved files are actually
saved on Steam so you don't have to like
copy your character files over or any of
that it's very it's very well done it's
seamless it's a full offline mode so uh
like I don't know next time R and I go
on a trip uh maybe I'll take my steam
deck and play on the airplane uh I mean
last time I went to Bermuda didn't have
screens on the airplane Jesus 2024 am I
right anyway so I thought that was a
pretty fair compromise um even though
yeah they launch kind of Tanked online
they didn't really expect that many
people they had they basically had like
eight times more people than the maximum
of their stress test pre 1.0 and now
that I know how awesome of a game it is
I am not surprised um but I guess it's
pretty difficult for a fairly small
company like Theirs to take these things
into account quite at that magnitude
overall I do absolutely recommend you
guys try last Epoch especially if you're
one to kind of try your take at making
your own build and especially if you
just like learning an entirely new class
each time you roll a new character I
think last AAC is 10 out of 10 on those
two things in particular and overall I
think I'd give the game right now an
8.5 out of 10 I think it is fantastic
and I hope their future updates serve us
well and uh I probably will still play
in you know the the off times from time
to time maybe I'll stream the game a
little bit more right now we got a forge
night project um and I will do at least
one more video coming up in the next few
days where I go over uh my best creation
the strength stacked be Master build
that is actually maybe one of the best
builds in the game overall so hope you
guys enjoyed this video hope you guys
have been enjoying the last Epoch
streams and we'll see you next
time
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