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Undecember and it's similarities to Path of Exile

cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
edited March 2023 in General Gaming
I honestly feel the way the linking works on the skills is bloody reminiscent of Path of Exile except not on the gear but on a skill hexagon interface that joins to other hexagons but you similarly open the links and change colours of the links. This is exactly like how Path of Exile does their skill links and colours on the equipment. Well they could be inspired by the way Path of Exile does it but to me it is copying but hey many games including WoW take ideas from other games as a 'compliment' but they never acknowledge it when they promote the game. Has WoW ever given credit to the games they take their ideas from. Might be a nice thing to acknowledge. Not that Blizzard is singular in this behaviour.

Undecember has a Zodiac which is also like the nightmare skill tree Path has but not as complicated. Bravo?

The game looks nice the graphics are nice although my dinosaur had to reduce some effects to manage the temperature spikes that were almost 76 and I got it down to 56 degrees Celsius by using the Nvidia control panel to limit the framerate and Vsync. I try to keep games below 60 where possible.

Now my main issue with this game was the fact that it has no 'force move'.  :'( I have a form of repetitive stress injury in that I cannot click a mouse continuously, I will literally destroy my arm with pain and won't be able to play anything for while after. Happened when I tried Wigmund which uses too much clicking. Nice game I would have enjoyed but my god the clicking was truly hurting me. So much clicking and another reason I cannot play action games.

So recently I went back to Titan's Quest and I was playing with their force move but unfortunately that game is not meant to be played with force move because it bugged out several times where my character was stuck in the animation between moving and attacking and completely helpless and unable to do anything and bugging out. I tried the controller but it had an absolutely abysmal controller set up. Even Diablo II Resurrected I managed with a controller quite well but not Titan Quest unfortunately. Must give credit for the controller set up in Diablo II resurrected.

So I reluctantly tried out the controller on Undecember and it is actually quite well done. For the combat and navigation I use the controller and the inventory and everything else I use the mouse.

Now I hear so much about the P2W in the game but I think it can be played with the purchases of the storage tabs which is exactly like how Path of Exile was and if I am enjoying a game I don't mind spending on the tabs. So far the builds I am looking at look like fun and I am hoping my poor handling of the controller navigation will not disadvantage me too badly. I am going to go for some minion builds and later graduate to some other exciting ranged bow builds.  I saw many videos of people managing to play without spending a cent but I will get the storage tabs if I am playing for more than 30+ hours.

You won't believe this but there is a mobile version which completely boggles my mind. It has like 10 skills that can be switched on the fly with the controller. I cannot fathom how one plays this on the mobile version but I am sure it is a dumbed down version of the one I am playing.

Hoping someone else here is playing this and can tell me how painful is it to get the skill runes to 6 links and legendary quality. Is it as bad as Path of Exile. I never managed to get my bow to 6 links in that game. I bought all my 6 linked chests.

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Scot

Comments

  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
    In some ways after playing I noticed that Undecember is kinder to attempts to create links on runes and converting gear to have more properties on them. They have a counter which you can see and any attempts even if they are not on the gear or rune you want will raise the counter number. This way just before the last pity number you can place the gear or rune on it to guarantee  success. This is far better than the way Path of Exile does it.

    The game is definitely taking a lot from Path of Exile. I mean lock , stock and barrel.

    There is a lot of different currencies that you get from adventuring which I guess can be also bought for real money when you convert them to diamonds and there is the ruby auction house. There is an auction house which uses rubies as currency.

    A lot of people have played the game without spending anything but I am beginning to think that that is herculean effort because there are also pieces of the different crafting materials that you have to store that can be converted to whole essences. All this is honestly a little overwhelming and I have spent hours and hours just watching videos on what these materials are used for. Some are just there in my opinion to clutter up your storage forcing you to purchase the tabs. 

    In a game where their source of income since it is F2P is when you buy tabs and stuff I can understand the push but damn it is annoying when you have to keep going back to the waypoint to go back to town. I don't see portal scrolls dropping so I decided not to use my portal scrolls. 

    The 'pet' well for me so far I go back to town and just disassemble but many players say the 'pet' is essential so you don't have to go back as the 'pet' disassembles on the map. Problem is you rent the pet and you pay rental every 7 days. Horrible system.

    On the plus side the controller is excellent and I am managing so far and actually killing bosses with my abysslings. Not sure how far I am playing but so far I'm enjoying it. I may get truly tired of all this clutter and constant running back but to be fair Path of Exile and Diablo II had insanely small inventory which is not the case here as you get 150 slots and everything occupies only one slot and stacks. Gear like a chest piece or pants takes up one slot only. 

    I can see how much effort and design goes into making these types of games to constantly nudge you into spending with all the inconveniences but if you can stand it I think it is an enjoyable game.
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  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,420
    It seems quite P2W and apparently installs anti cheat software that does not uninstall once you uninstall the game (that is hardly a first mind you). A "Mixed" reaction on Steam is rarely a good game, so not for me.

    Thanks for doing this thread though, we rarely get an in depth look at a game from posters.
    NildenDattelis
  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
    edited March 2023
    That can be removed there is patch they put in to remove the anti cheat. That anti cheat is used by others games too not nefarious in my understanding.

    The mixed reaction was because of the P2W but in my opinion you can play it completely free after two tab purchases and an alchemy slot. Many people overreacted and gave it a poor rating and many just said Korean game so P2W. It is not actually that different from Path of Exile in its P2Wness.

    I mean I spent a lot on tabs in Path of Exile and I spent it because it became literally impossible to play the game without buying it. I think I have spent about 400 Euros on POE and I also bought a couple of outfits because I spent 1200 over hours on it. That game deserved my support.
    ScotArglebargle
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  • DarkhawkeDarkhawke Member UncommonPosts: 212
    Scot said:
    It seems quite P2W and apparently installs anti cheat software that does not uninstall once you uninstall the game (that is hardly a first mind you). A "Mixed" reaction on Steam is rarely a good game, so not for me.

    Thanks for doing this thread though, we rarely get an in depth look at a game from posters.
    You can uninstall it . 

    I was having fun with Undecember , but stopped playing when I got in the D4 testing 6 months ago , so that has been primary ARPG , I will be revisiting it for sure tho.
  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 8,177
    I am okay with paying for tabs in these types of games. Just need to be addictive enough to play for over 1000 hours. I have like 1600 hours in POE. That means a lot of interesting builds must be viable. I wonder how many there are and how many variations you can do.

    Unlike POE there is not much info on this game. Not enough in depth stuff like POE has but POE is older. Well let's see how the game develops.

  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
    edited March 2023
    I posted earlier in my original post about Titan Quest and just an update. A kind soul on Steam wrote me a script to run on GDAutocast that can use a key to move and my issues of the game bugging out with the in game force move settings are solved. So happy and really thankful to this person who went to the trouble of helping me out.

    On the Undecember front I am enjoying the game a lot and am in Act 2 and I took on the last boss of Act 1 a bit like Jabba the Hutt he even laughed like him. The graphics are really nice in this game. I really like it. I also started trying to get more links on my pet skill rune and they have a nice interface where you set how many links you want and let it do it automatically but unfortunately I didn't have enough birth rune essences but I got a 4 link on the last one.

    The nice thing on the honeycomb like rune skill placement you can link other skills. Like this




    So a lot of possibilities and you are only limited by the skills you choose. There are no classes. I saw on youtube a lot of bow builds and spin to win builds and the pet builds are all 4-5 months old. Looks like pets are not so hot.
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  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
    edited March 2023
    Just an update although sadly I don't think this thread is getting read much.

    They are going to make things better for F2P in April update . One is the alchemy slots are  going to be expanded to all the characters on the account. Before it as only expanded on the character that you opened the extra alchemy slot on. They will refund the currency people used to expand the slots on other characters on the same account. So duplicate alchemy slots will be refunded.

    They will increase the number of characters from 3 to 8. Black Market, achievements and Tittles will be shared across the account. The mileage for the 6 links are also now shared across characters. That means the attempts to 6 link on other characters will add to the total. Korean servers will be connected to the American and European server and a combined auction house will also be available.

    I will update later if I find anything else.

    Edit

    There will be similar to Path of Exile a league system called seasons. There you will start at level 1 with no access to what you have on the non season characters. Changes to character deletion before you had to wait 3 days and this has been reduced to 3 hours when they introduce the seasons update. Makes sense since people may want to free up slots to roll league toons.

    Until Act 10 you can freely change your stat distribution and your zodiac tree. After Act 10 you have to pay to change it.
    Post edited by cheyane on
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  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
    Copy paste bot :tired_face:
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  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
    Almost 80 hours in and I am still enjoying this game a lot. 

    I am taking it very slow and much to my chagrin my oft used excuse of not ever being able to get used to playing with a controller in an action game has been disproved soundly. 

    I simply cannot use the mouse and keyboard and I actually ended up by force getting used to the controller. So blessing in disguise I guess. 

    I spent some real world cash on two storage tabs for now. I could have used all my alt slots and done a mule storage thing but my alts spaces became serious alts that I play. 

    They are making more changes I believe to stave off the exodus when Diablo IV launches.
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  • ArglebargleArglebargle Member EpicPosts: 3,480
    Sadly, I found it boring.  Perhaps a little too copycat-retread.  I also don't do well on games that are designed for controller and don't have a good M&K setup.  Refunded.

    If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.

  • DattelisDattelis Member EpicPosts: 1,675
    edited April 2023
    cheyane said:
    Almost 80 hours in and I am still enjoying this game a lot. 

    I am taking it very slow and much to my chagrin my oft used excuse of not ever being able to get used to playing with a controller in an action game has been disproved soundly. 

    I simply cannot use the mouse and keyboard and I actually ended up by force getting used to the controller. So blessing in disguise I guess. 

    I spent some real world cash on two storage tabs for now. I could have used all my alt slots and done a mule storage thing but my alts spaces became serious alts that I play. 

    They are making more changes I believe to stave off the exodus when Diablo IV launches.

    In the end, it really just comes down to you having fun. Personally, with ARPGs, I never agree with ways of 'pay to advance' since it kind of takes the 'thrill' of essentially doing it yourself or at least earning the currency to do it yourself. At the very least, it takes the 'sting' out of grinding for months only to see the option of swiping to reach that goal faster. Paying for space will always be debatable but you still have to do things yourself for the most part in something like PoE. To each their own. but Its all just a psychological thing at the end of the day.
  • KnightFalzKnightFalz Member EpicPosts: 4,582
    cheyane said:
    Almost 80 hours in and I am still enjoying this game a lot. 

    I am taking it very slow and much to my chagrin my oft used excuse of not ever being able to get used to playing with a controller in an action game has been disproved soundly. 

    I simply cannot use the mouse and keyboard and I actually ended up by force getting used to the controller. So blessing in disguise I guess. 

    I spent some real world cash on two storage tabs for now. I could have used all my alt slots and done a mule storage thing but my alts spaces became serious alts that I play. 

    They are making more changes I believe to stave off the exodus when Diablo IV launches.

    It's been an interesting read, so I'm glad you're keeping up with your posts.

    I was leery of their anti-cheat software, but as that seems removable I might give it a go.
    cheyane
  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,404
    edited April 2023
    I did not mention the guild and crafting system.

    You need to craft the runes that are skills and the link runes which link to the skill and strengthen it. Both of these have different qualities and the white is normal, blue is magic and yellow rare and red legendary.

    When you have a skill that is only of magic quality , putting 3 normal quality runes in the alchemy table will never net you a blue magic rune. The only way to get blue runes is from maps or using the precious upgrade essences to upgrade a white to blue. There is however another way.

    Join a guild and joining guilds is very painless. Click and join. You donate to the guild as much as you can afford and I am constantly broke from growing my runes in levels which grows progressively more expensive. That donation is connected to you and when you leave the guild and join another , your guild grade and donation will follow you. So there is no loss. When you reach Grade 2 you can buy blue unstable runes that you can then use on your alchemy table to craft blue magic runes. At grade 3 you can buy the rare unstable runes to craft the rare runes.

    There is also a journal where you can store runes and link runes in a compendium and all the characters in the account have access to those stored runes. Those are separate from the storage chest in the game. So you have an added way to store your runes instead of using your chest plus storing them in this compendium allows you to accumulate bonusses while mapping. This also goes for unique weapons. You can store them here too.

    There are some skills that can only be obtained via synthesis on the alchemy table. One of my pets is blue and I managed to craft a blue rune using the guild method. 

    Playing around with the hexagon where you place your skills and changing the positions and colours of your links can allow  different skills to use the same link runes. It's a complicated dance and can be quite satisfying when you achieve it.


    Build Mage 80 Endgame Undecember - Dm Gaming

    In this image the runes that have coloured sides are the skills. The runes that have no colours on the sides but are of a red, blue or green background is the link rune that makes the skill more powerful or change its behaviour like changing physical damage to fire or allows you link to another skill rune that will get activated.

    I am still enjoying the game a lot. 100 hours in.
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