Path of Exile Finally Arrives on PS4: Ethical F2P FTW

Posted on March 26, 2019 by geelw

It’s been a long road, but this will be a Path well worth traveling.

So, I’ve had Grinding Gear Games’ excellent free-to-play ARPG Path of Exile installed in my Steam account for a few years, but only put just over 11 hours into it before quitting cold. The reason for that was the game was so good that I really wanted to play it on a console and although I’d later discovered an Xbox One version was in the works, PS4 was and is my platform of choice (and yeah, I really couldn’t afford another new system). Finally, after a few delays (which weren’t at all disappointing to me because I knew the dev team would be adding in new content to keep the PS4 version up to date with the other versions), it’s here and yes, I’m in the process of downloading it.

PoE’s more “ethical” approach to F2P means the game is yes, entirely free to play from the start to the endgame. Yes, additional storage space, cosmetic items that don’t affect gameplay and special character packs cost extra, but as far as I’ve seen and read, NOTHING makes the game a “pay to win” scheme. Seven playable character classes and a skill tree that allows for an astounding amount of customization means any class you choose is going to be great once you grasp how deep your options are. As I’m a huge fan of isometric action/RPG games such as Diablo III, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr, Victor Vran, and the like, there’s no doubt I’ll be playing PoE for quite some time.

Ah, that comforting feel of the ol’ chase ‘n chop is still captivating stuff this old dude just loves.

Of course, that means ditching one of the other MMO’s I’ve been dinking around with, but that’s an easy choice to make when one is replacing a game that’s only OK with one that’s got much more of an immediate pull. Anyway, off to check on the status of that download and see how well this not quite new to me (but perhaps very new to you) game plays. I’m thinking it’ll be even better than I recall, so if you don’t hear from me after a while, don’t call out a search party, as I’ll likely be camping out at home, controller in hand.

-GW

Path of Exile (Finally) PS4-Bound

Posted on November 6, 2018 by geelw

Ever hold a secret in for so long that you forget about it until you find out it’s no longer a secret, yet you still clutch that secret in a death grip? Well, that’s me and this news item on Grinding Gear Games’ great Path of Exile popping up on PS4 before the end of the year.

Lovely trailer alert below:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/gZD8HWCDV2U

Earlier this year I’d gotten a hint of a whisper of a whiff it was on the way, but at some point after the ecently released Xbox One version and I filed that tease away until an actual confirmation was announced. Excellent. Now, all I need to to is figure out what game to drop off my MMO list. I really have less time to play online stuff and am supposed to dislike these types of games (allegedly). But I find myself interested in a few and will try them out for a spell. PoE is a free to play (NOT pay to win) game that I messed around a bit with on Steam and liked a lot but had to stop playing because I got busy trying to put a dent in my backlog. Anyway, it looks as If I’ll need to hop into this in December and see how well the PS4 handles the game.

Path of Exile Key Features Include:

Download and play for free, but never pay-to-win
A dark and deep action RPG
Unlimited character combinations with the game’s gigantic skill tree
Combine skill gems to create unique combat strategies
Explore a dark and gritty world rendered from a fixed 3D perspective
Explore randomly generated levels for nearly infinite replayability
Craft weapons, magic items and even end-game maps to become more powerful
Cooperate or compete with thousands of other Exiles in a persistent online world
Ascend online ladders in every game mode

Back in a bit. I was awake all last night concerned about voting, but did it early, came back and passed out for a few hours (oops). Going to put on some coffee and try to work while NOT watching any election coverage so I don’t keel over from the stress.

-GW

Path of Exile: Ascendancy: So Much For Anything Resembling Free Time

Posted on February 3, 2016 by geelw

POE_A

After years of ignoring it because of it’s lack of an offline mode (which is still a sticking point for me, but hey – I’m flexible), I’m finally giving the award-winning (and time chomping) action/RPG Path of Exile a try. This ends up being somewhat amusing because my inbox tells me (thanks Michael!) that a new expansion is coming March 4th, 2016 in the form of Path of Exile: Ascendancy. Which also means given the reviews I’ve seen from players who’ve sunk (*eep!*) thousands of hours into the original game, yours truly may never even see that newer content given the short amount of time per session I’ve mapped out for myself. Yes, I’m conducting another goofball experiment, folks. This time it’s playing a game that’s made to be a time-eater in small sessions and seeing how that goes. I predict it won’t go well given my love for these sorts of games. On the other hand, I’m limited by time and bandwidth so my 30 minutes per session is going to have to be adhered to or else this site is toast because I’ll never get anything done on the posting front.

That trailer above with it’s many ACME brand traps (that actually work!) gives me an idea of what to expect. but as noted above, I’m not going to be seeing this stuff for quite some time. I think Grinding Gear Games won’t mind my slow boat trek through their game, given that their already massive user base is keeping them busy with these updates and I’m just a small fish in a bigger ocean. That said, I bet a shiny new penny that getting their game ported to consoles at some point would be an instant smash, particularly if it went the Diablo III route and features offline play and/or even some means of couch co-op. You know, for those cases where the internet is all colicky or gets mucked up by some black-hatters looking to prove a point.

Anyway, the experiment begins this week at some point. This should be interesting to say the least given how addictive these games can be and my current workload.