This summary of the video was created by an AI. It might contain some inaccuracies.
00:00:00 – 00:17:21
Ian's first game review of *Last Epoch* spans his 100-hour experience, drawing favorable comparisons to renowned ARPGs such as *Diablo 2*, *Diablo 3*, *Grim Dawn*, and *Path of Exile*. He praises the game's seamless and responsive mechanics, diverse environments enabled by its time travel theme, and the extensive customization options in skill trees. However, Ian criticizes the game's lackluster visuals in gear and character design and its underwhelming story delivery, which he feels lacks the necessary immersive elements like consistent voice acting and effective cutscenes.
Despite these mid-game flaws, Ian highlights the game's outstanding endgame, featuring monoliths, dungeons, and arena modes that offer a highly engaging and rewarding experience. The endgame content is rich with strategic choices and intricate systems like the unique item crafting in the Temporal Sanctum. Ian celebrates the developers, 11th Hour, for their innovative approach in a competitive genre and strongly recommends *Last Epoch* for its exceptional value and potential to keep players entertained while waiting for *Diablo 4*. He concludes by expressing gratitude for his community's support and promotes his other content, including live streams and podcasts.
00:00:00
In this part of the video, Ian introduces himself and mentions that this is his first game review, focusing on *Last Epoch*. He shares his experiences from playing the game for over 100 hours, particularly enjoying its end game. Ian praises the game’s comprehensive nature, comparing it favorably to other ARPGs like Diablo 2, Diablo 3, Grim Dawn, and Path of Exile. He highlights that *Last Epoch* includes many beloved mechanics from these games, showcasing the developers’ thoughtful design choices. Ian also discusses the game’s new player experience, noting that while *Last Epoch* offers smoother performance on his high-end PC, it faces performance issues on his gaming laptop. He emphasizes the game’s responsiveness, praising its instant and tangible feedback during gameplay.
00:03:00
In this part of the video, the speaker emphasizes the satisfying gameplay mechanics of Last Epoch, particularly how responsive and immediate the spellcasting and attack actions feel, which is an aspect many ARPGs struggle with. The game is praised for its stunning graphics and diverse environments made possible through its time travel theme, leading to unique and varied areas like fighting dinosaurs or Egyptian steampunk robots. However, a major criticism is directed at the gear and character design, which feels lackluster and visually unappealing, making powerful equipment look underwhelming. The speaker mentions that despite the game’s functionality-first approach, it lacks the rewarding visual impact that enhances the overall gaming experience.
00:06:00
In this segment of the video, the speaker praises “Last Epoch” for giving players significant agency from the start, highlighting the dynamic and customizable nature of the game’s abilities and skill trees. Players can specialize in and swap skills, although there is a respec cost that reduces skill levels when changed. The speaker criticizes this system, arguing it discourages experimentation. The game’s crafting system is mentioned as being complex but rewarding, allowing players to tailor items to their builds, including unique items through a special crafting system available in the end game. Overall, the game is praised for its flexibility and player choice.
00:09:00
In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses the mid-game experience of Last Epoch and voices their criticism regarding the game’s story delivery. They express a love for engaging narratives in ARPGs but feel Last Epoch’s story is poorly executed, lacking effective cut scenes and consistent voice acting, which disrupts immersion. Additionally, they criticize the bland design of characters, equipment, and skills, making the mid-game unremarkable and unengaging. The speaker notes that these issues often lead players to abandon the game during this critical phase. However, they mention that upon dedicating more time to reach the end game, they discovered the true strengths of Last Epoch, describing its end game as the best and most complete experience they have encountered in any video game.
00:12:00
In this part of the video, the speaker elaborates on the endgame components of the game “Last Epoch”. The endgame consists of monoliths, dungeons, and the arena. Monoliths feature a network of branching paths where players can choose specific loot drops, complete maps to gain stability, unlock quests, and face engaging boss fights. Dungeons offer unique systems such as the Lightless Arbor, a gold sink with rewarding choices, and the Temporal Sanctum, which allows players to craft unique items by merging stats from other items. The speaker praises these mechanics and hopes similar concepts are adopted in other games like Diablo 4. Lastly, the arena is described as less impressive, mainly focused on fighting waves of enemies to test character endurance.
00:15:00
In this segment of the video, the creator discusses their appreciation for the action RPG “Last Epoch.” Despite initial hesitations, they grew to love the game, not for its story or leveling experience, but for its engaging systems and the unique way it builds upon mechanics from other games. The developer, 11th Hour, is praised for their innovation in a challenging genre. The creator wholeheartedly recommends purchasing “Last Epoch” as it’s a great value and a perfect game to play while waiting for “Diablo 4.” They reflect on their learning experience from making the video and express their gratitude for the support from their community, encouraging viewers to like, comment, and subscribe. The creator also promotes their live streams and podcasts.