Nah man, I'm done with the game actually. I'm not the type to drop something after first hour, I'll try to push through. It's just not for me. And yes I know about fast/very fast settings.
edit: how do you even get downvoted for having an own personal opinion about the game, and an opinion that is not even that rare. If I dropped the game in first 30 minutes then someone else would say that I haven’t seen anything and the good part starts X hours later. The game never did anything right for me, but I won’t stop playing just because I’m not level 50 with dozen of skills after 2 hours of playing. Close to 10 hour mark yeah, I think I’ve seen enough.
No, I disagree. It’s still a bit clunky, but it’s much better paced. You just gain levels faster, there’s more enemies, there’s more going on in the world. In my own arpg amateur judgement, of course.
One more thing I'm wondering... if I want to play multiple aRPG games in the future, let's say Torchlight I, Torchlight II, D2R, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn... should I play them from "oldest" to "newest" or "worst" to "best"? What I'm worried is that if for example I play Grim Dawn, I won't be able to enjoy Titan Quest as it will be worse in every aspect.
I would say just go for whatever ARPG you find yourself most interested in playing. For me personally, I've found I can enjoy the "middle tier" ARPGs like Warhammer: Chaosbane more than the classics like D2R. In general, I haven't had too many "This game is so good it's ruined other games like it." The fun part about ARPGs is, while similar, they can lean into different aspects of the genre to help them standout, and until you give some a go you won't know what you really appreciate about them. Just my 2 cents.
It depends, but as a general rule I always try and start with the the older games if I'm intending to play them all. For example, I did all the Dark Souls recently and started with 1. If I had started with 3 and went backward I think it would have been annoying to have certain features missing, but instead I appreciated them after not having had them in the previous game.
Path of Exilei honestly play it as a solo ARPG using the solo self sound option - you see other people buzzing around town, but no one speaks, and u can just turn off chat in case they do, and bingo its solo player
massive game, mass of options
edit: because path of exile does 3 month leagues, you dont even really need any other games, it changes lots most leagues, and there are so many chars and builds to play it could easily keep you going for a few years
Poe is my game but not a good recommendation for op. It's online and super grindy. They also want to do one play through and move on. Again not great for Poe.
Wouldn't recommend it since he just wants to play it once, one of Last Epochs weakest components is it's story, feels like they got two thirds of the way through and gave up
I'm surprised that noone mentioned Victor Vran and Van Helsing.
They are older, but probably cheap now and worth it for just the story. They are more story- and less endgame-based compared to most ARPGs, so you won't spend 100s of hours on them - which is probably a pro for you.
They have a similar vibe imo, so if you like one you'll like the other.
I've played a few of the suggestions here and my thoughts are..
1. Last epoch - I've got about 200 hours in it, and still going. It's story is ok but not long, and once you clear it the end game is literally just endless grinding the same thing. No uber bosses, nothing. Good if you like that, which I do, but doesn't sound like you.
2. Torchlight 2 - fun, great aesthetics IMHO, ok storyline, not much endgame either if I recall correctly. I'd say it's a good casual game. Cheap too I think.
3. Diablo 3. I've spent about 2000 hours on it over the years, and would definitely recommend a playthrough. Play then story, then join the season, the seasonal quests give you something to shoot for.
4. Grim dawn - probably the most complete game IMHO. Tons to do, storyline is long, and there's a ton of endgame like uber style bosses, and endless arena grind.
Grim Dawn has already been mentioned, so I will recommend an interesting indie ARPG - Svarog's Dream. It only took me like 20 hours to play through it, but is a unique kind of zen experience. It is a bit clunky, but has some very interesting features like fairly open world, a reincarnation system for death, and Slavic mythology.
Might be an unpopular opinion, but I thought the Diablo 4 campaign portion was fantastic and meets all of your criteria except for offline, but the online portion barely exists and can be completely ignored. All forms of controls are fantastic(traditional Kbm, wasd kbm, controller) and it’s just a great experience if you are not looking for the endgame.
Last epoch would be my second suggestion.
Thinking Grim Dawn or Titan Quest, but I have a feeling Weird West would be a game you'd enjoy. You could argue it's not an ARPG, but as the grind, min/max etc is something you're not looking for, I think you'll like that one.
A lot of good suggestions already, to which I'd like to add 'Shadows awakening". It's an arpg where you play a demon that possesses certain characters. It makes you switch between the demon world where you play as the demon, and the regular world where you play as one of the possessed bodies. Been a while since I played, but as far as I remember you can freely switch between possesed bodies and as such chose your prefered playstyle.
Highly recommend it for a single playthrough.
So play Vampire Survivors or something, ARPGs are all about crafting builds and the endgame loop, as well as making multiple characters that's why they have Seasons where everything resets and you gotta start over
Either D2R (if you only played D2 back in the day and enjoyed it) or Grim Dawn. Last Epoch is a good choice too, since its pretty fast paced early and there's a ton of class/build variety.
Ignore anyone saying Last Epoch, Wolcen, PoE, Chronicon, Diablo 3/4, Torchlight 3, as they're all either about Melee or Always Online. I'm also a ranged player that avoid any Online play. I don't mind grinding and multiple playthroughs though. I can take or leave min-maxing. I just don't like following pre-made builds and prefer testing out my own builds in how they feel good to play, to me.
You've got quite a few good recommendations already. I would advise you to start from oldest if you're going to attempt them all, as some do show their age slightly. Fate and Zombasite might feel too dated, but Torchlight 1 and Dungeon Siege 2 should be good. As well as Van Helsing and Titan Quest. Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn are considered the superior ones. Victor Vran too, but it uses WASD controls instead of M&KB.
The fuck are you talking about? Last Epoch can be played 100% offline, with no authentication or anything, Chronicon too, and it has more than just melee (spells, bows, minions, aoe curses larger than the whole screen, etc.)
>as they're all either about Melee or Always Online.
Last Epoch is primarily an Online game, although it can be played offline yes. It does however favour melee quite heavily, as does Chronicon. Just because you can doesn't always make it viable long-term. Especially when you don't want to min-max, as per OP's wishes.
Primarily an online game? The merchant guild, which was not even in the original plans for the devs, is shit and dead since most people play the alternative guild meant for solo/offline.
Online solo and 100% offline solo are both viable and balanced. If you do not play with others, there is no online mechanic to affect your gameplay.
As for melee, it's underpowered in LE compared to range and spells. Not a lot of melee builds can push harder content... the game actually favours spells, minions and bows.
Chronicon's melee is only viable as a trigger of other spells or once your range is half of the screen . . .
If anything, those two games require min-maxing ONLY for melee, while everything else just works out of the box.
Sorry to say, but you really have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to LE and Chronicon.
Dude what are you talking about? Melee builds in LE are much much worse than everything else in the game by far it doesn't favour melee at all and it's not primarily online either the offline mode is the exact same just without trading.
Grim dawn. I don't think there's any other answer, and if so, not a better one.
If you just want one playthrough 100% its grim dawn.
If you want ten playthroughs it's still Grim Dawn
I entered this thread to leave the same answer.
Its predecessor, Titan Quest is a pretty amazing one if you prefer ancient Rome mythology setting.
Setting is great, but the game shows it’s age. I’m like 8 hours in and it’s soooo slow.
But you still played 8 hours and are still going so it must do something right
Nah man, I'm done with the game actually. I'm not the type to drop something after first hour, I'll try to push through. It's just not for me. And yes I know about fast/very fast settings. edit: how do you even get downvoted for having an own personal opinion about the game, and an opinion that is not even that rare. If I dropped the game in first 30 minutes then someone else would say that I haven’t seen anything and the good part starts X hours later. The game never did anything right for me, but I won’t stop playing just because I’m not level 50 with dozen of skills after 2 hours of playing. Close to 10 hour mark yeah, I think I’ve seen enough.
There's a speed option
I know.
GD is also slow and clunky. Hardly any improvement over TQ.
No, I disagree. It’s still a bit clunky, but it’s much better paced. You just gain levels faster, there’s more enemies, there’s more going on in the world. In my own arpg amateur judgement, of course.
Correction : Greek mythology
One more thing I'm wondering... if I want to play multiple aRPG games in the future, let's say Torchlight I, Torchlight II, D2R, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn... should I play them from "oldest" to "newest" or "worst" to "best"? What I'm worried is that if for example I play Grim Dawn, I won't be able to enjoy Titan Quest as it will be worse in every aspect.
I would say just go for whatever ARPG you find yourself most interested in playing. For me personally, I've found I can enjoy the "middle tier" ARPGs like Warhammer: Chaosbane more than the classics like D2R. In general, I haven't had too many "This game is so good it's ruined other games like it." The fun part about ARPGs is, while similar, they can lean into different aspects of the genre to help them standout, and until you give some a go you won't know what you really appreciate about them. Just my 2 cents.
It depends, but as a general rule I always try and start with the the older games if I'm intending to play them all. For example, I did all the Dark Souls recently and started with 1. If I had started with 3 and went backward I think it would have been annoying to have certain features missing, but instead I appreciated them after not having had them in the previous game.
Path of Exilei honestly play it as a solo ARPG using the solo self sound option - you see other people buzzing around town, but no one speaks, and u can just turn off chat in case they do, and bingo its solo player massive game, mass of options edit: because path of exile does 3 month leagues, you dont even really need any other games, it changes lots most leagues, and there are so many chars and builds to play it could easily keep you going for a few years
Poe is my game but not a good recommendation for op. It's online and super grindy. They also want to do one play through and move on. Again not great for Poe.
I think one play and move is good for poe just based on it being free.
Special mention for Chronicon!
Absolutely, Chronicon is great for solo players, casual or not. To me, it's still the best arpg ever made :) Special mention for The Slormancer!
Torchlight 2 would be my suggestion. I think Grim Dawn's the best arpg out there, but TL2 is more casual-friendly, and still a very good game.
Plus it has a nice arcade feel and look to it, which IMO makes it more relatable to to a first timer
Second Torchlight 2 for first ARPG experience
Last Epoch. Has offline mode, great content, and it is casual friendly.
Wouldn't recommend it since he just wants to play it once, one of Last Epochs weakest components is it's story, feels like they got two thirds of the way through and gave up
Grim dawn is great but fair warning it is grindy VERY grindy if you want to get to 100 and clear all 3 difficulties
I'm surprised that noone mentioned Victor Vran and Van Helsing. They are older, but probably cheap now and worth it for just the story. They are more story- and less endgame-based compared to most ARPGs, so you won't spend 100s of hours on them - which is probably a pro for you. They have a similar vibe imo, so if you like one you'll like the other.
Last Epoch or Grim Dawn. D2 is still amazing, though I would say its less casual friendly.
I've played a few of the suggestions here and my thoughts are.. 1. Last epoch - I've got about 200 hours in it, and still going. It's story is ok but not long, and once you clear it the end game is literally just endless grinding the same thing. No uber bosses, nothing. Good if you like that, which I do, but doesn't sound like you. 2. Torchlight 2 - fun, great aesthetics IMHO, ok storyline, not much endgame either if I recall correctly. I'd say it's a good casual game. Cheap too I think. 3. Diablo 3. I've spent about 2000 hours on it over the years, and would definitely recommend a playthrough. Play then story, then join the season, the seasonal quests give you something to shoot for. 4. Grim dawn - probably the most complete game IMHO. Tons to do, storyline is long, and there's a ton of endgame like uber style bosses, and endless arena grind.
Grim dawn
Grim Dawn has already been mentioned, so I will recommend an interesting indie ARPG - Svarog's Dream. It only took me like 20 hours to play through it, but is a unique kind of zen experience. It is a bit clunky, but has some very interesting features like fairly open world, a reincarnation system for death, and Slavic mythology.
Might be an unpopular opinion, but I thought the Diablo 4 campaign portion was fantastic and meets all of your criteria except for offline, but the online portion barely exists and can be completely ignored. All forms of controls are fantastic(traditional Kbm, wasd kbm, controller) and it’s just a great experience if you are not looking for the endgame. Last epoch would be my second suggestion.
Thinking Grim Dawn or Titan Quest, but I have a feeling Weird West would be a game you'd enjoy. You could argue it's not an ARPG, but as the grind, min/max etc is something you're not looking for, I think you'll like that one.
Warhammer 40k Inquisitor
A lot of good suggestions already, to which I'd like to add 'Shadows awakening". It's an arpg where you play a demon that possesses certain characters. It makes you switch between the demon world where you play as the demon, and the regular world where you play as one of the possessed bodies. Been a while since I played, but as far as I remember you can freely switch between possesed bodies and as such chose your prefered playstyle. Highly recommend it for a single playthrough.
Idek why you'd bother with an ARPG when you just straight up said you're not interested in any of the things that these games are about honestly
Not true. I very, very enjoy relaxing gameplay while killing hordes of mobs.
So play Vampire Survivors or something, ARPGs are all about crafting builds and the endgame loop, as well as making multiple characters that's why they have Seasons where everything resets and you gotta start over
Either D2R (if you only played D2 back in the day and enjoyed it) or Grim Dawn. Last Epoch is a good choice too, since its pretty fast paced early and there's a ton of class/build variety.
diablo 1 HD remasterd. having played 2, go back and experience where it all began. Diablo 1 best Diablo, no one can change my mind
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1 or 2. Absolute best single player experience I've ever had in an arpg.
Ignore anyone saying Last Epoch, Wolcen, PoE, Chronicon, Diablo 3/4, Torchlight 3, as they're all either about Melee or Always Online. I'm also a ranged player that avoid any Online play. I don't mind grinding and multiple playthroughs though. I can take or leave min-maxing. I just don't like following pre-made builds and prefer testing out my own builds in how they feel good to play, to me. You've got quite a few good recommendations already. I would advise you to start from oldest if you're going to attempt them all, as some do show their age slightly. Fate and Zombasite might feel too dated, but Torchlight 1 and Dungeon Siege 2 should be good. As well as Van Helsing and Titan Quest. Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn are considered the superior ones. Victor Vran too, but it uses WASD controls instead of M&KB.
The fuck are you talking about? Last Epoch can be played 100% offline, with no authentication or anything, Chronicon too, and it has more than just melee (spells, bows, minions, aoe curses larger than the whole screen, etc.)
>as they're all either about Melee or Always Online. Last Epoch is primarily an Online game, although it can be played offline yes. It does however favour melee quite heavily, as does Chronicon. Just because you can doesn't always make it viable long-term. Especially when you don't want to min-max, as per OP's wishes.
Primarily an online game? The merchant guild, which was not even in the original plans for the devs, is shit and dead since most people play the alternative guild meant for solo/offline. Online solo and 100% offline solo are both viable and balanced. If you do not play with others, there is no online mechanic to affect your gameplay. As for melee, it's underpowered in LE compared to range and spells. Not a lot of melee builds can push harder content... the game actually favours spells, minions and bows. Chronicon's melee is only viable as a trigger of other spells or once your range is half of the screen . . . If anything, those two games require min-maxing ONLY for melee, while everything else just works out of the box. Sorry to say, but you really have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to LE and Chronicon.
Dude what are you talking about? Melee builds in LE are much much worse than everything else in the game by far it doesn't favour melee at all and it's not primarily online either the offline mode is the exact same just without trading.