I’m alive! Or so it may not matter, if you haven’t been by the blog recently. Things have been, as they are apt to be at the end of the month, simply nuts.

That, and I kind of got swallowed by Path of Exile.

It’s a game very much in the vein of Diablo, if you’ve played it. Unlike Diablo though, the story feels more interesting to me, and the character you play does have an impact on the dialogue other characters have with you.

I actually started a Patreon for this, thinking to document my journey. Within three weeks that got shot to hell because I tend to be playing faster than I’m writing. What I do have are impressions, so I’ll probably concentrate on that more.

On one hand, I finally killed Malachai (yay!) but it was a tough fight. Urgh. Not quite looking forward to the fact that I’ll need to go through him a second time to get to Merciless. In terms of loot and storytelling, that’s where I’ll need to go next, says the boyfriend.

Which brings me to something I find really interesting. Path of Exile’s lore is depicted in conversations (as you might expect) graffiti, and even random notebooks and the like here and there. What I find interesting is how the same NPCs can say completely different things to your characters, simply based on what class you’re playing.

Yes, I know there are other games that are more decision based, but one of the things I like about PoE is the straightforward, linear storytelling. There’s no real room for deviation, only what build your character is. Also discovering uniques is fun. Quite a bit of story unfolds with them.

With that, back to game!

PS: I don’t play the Garena version which is what Malaysia’s officially on. I’m playing on the Grinding Gear Games official client. Faster updates.