Poopfeast420

Yes, same, been waiting for this one.

I played through Heretic on Steam (not on the Deck) a few years ago, but I definitely didn't use the Dosbox version, but some sourceport (probably Chocolate or Crispy Doom). Guess I have to re-play it.

I see that there has been a misunderstanding on my part. I agree with your last three points, but for some of the others, things you deem fine or good currently, I'd say they are rather mediocre (like your first point).

And in the end it basically all comes down to the combat, I think the most important part of these types of games, which you think isn't engaging enough (it's not, but that doesn't bother me). I think if you did change it, and "fix" points two and three at the same time, you'd lose too much of what makes these types of grindy, rng loot games work in my opinion.

Which is why I think you're wrong with saying

but not what most people want when they go to play a video game including in the ARPG genre

I think the mindless grinding, not having to pay attention, is exactly what most people want with this type of game. Of course, that isn't to say everyone wants that and that there isn't a market for something else.

However, I'd personally probably rather recommend the Niohs, the Khazans, the Wo Longs, the Remnants, the whatever of the world to those people (or try SSFHC or something, I dunno).

Most of them have barely innovated on Diablo 2’s core moment to moment loop and it’s something that seemingly everyone is aware of but no studio has yet to be able to fix.

That's what I'm saying, because for many people there is nothing to fix, because they feel it's not broken. That's why basically all the isometric ARPGs still go back to the D2 formula and maybe add some QoL changes.

Also, your examples and expectations feel extremely unrealistic and mostly not what ARPGs are known for, and frankly some are even incompatible with the genre in my opinion.

From your comments here, it seems like kinds of isometric ARPGs aren't for you. Last Epoch, PoE, TQ2, all don't have good enough combat, so what are you looking for?

If you still want the loot and grind aspect, maybe a shooter is more up your alley, like Borderlands or Destiny. Or maybe something like the Team Ninja third-person action games, like Nioh, Stranger of Paradise, Wo Long (and games like that).

There are a few games/genres like this for me. Like the Anno games, whenever I play one, I just turn it down to the lowest difficulty, and just build and expand. I kinda treat it like an idle/incremental game. That's also why I normally don't play any of the survival city builders, like Banished or stuff like that, it's just not what I'm looking for.

I'm usually a normal-difficulty gamer and usually don't turn down the difficulty from there. However, as the article says, If I started on a higher difficulty, I'm more open to go back down to the default.

I’m not certain I have the faith it’ll ever have 30 hours of content

Does it need to? Nothing wrong with a solid 20-25h campaign, you play through once, maybe another time with a different class or in multiplayer, and you're done. I don't need everything to be a forever game with constant content drops, even a game like this.

Probably should have just posted this in that thread about people on Steam switching to Linux. Without context, this seems just like some weird post.

MS is not going to get them back

Until they want to play a multiplayer game with their friends, that doesn't work because of Anti-Cheat. Or maybe Linux is a bit more involved than they initially realized.

Most of those that switched probably won't go back, but I think with Linux it's going to be more than someone might think (however it'll still grow, especially over the coming months with Windows 10 support ending).

Just finished The First Berserker: Khazan earlier today. For some reason, the final boss was extremely hyped up in the game's subreddit, and it ended up just being alright. Overall a good game, I had fun with the combat, but the story is trash and the characters are nothing, not even cardboard cutouts.

Bought it as the EA price was cheap enough to take a chance and early reviews where positive enough to signal that the game isnt completely broken.

That's my thinking as well. I don't mind Early Access either way, and I'm fine with coming back to the game every couple of months when more content drops.

That worked, thanks.