What's missing from the campaign. Contrasting Cultures & Architectural Details

In Act 1, 3 and 4. There is a heavy presence of tribalism.
Tribalism is the most common trend so far in the art style and campaign.

I would argue to add an Act in between Act 3 and 4 because the Mayan-esque and native American tribalism is too similar.

There are also very few maps that have nice Interiors, or cool medieval dungeons.

Even the final map in Act1 has a wooden interior.

1 thing for sure that is a downgrade from POE1 is the map interiors and dungeons.

Trial of Sekhemas upper level might as well be a palace.

Those very nice lavish interior maps from POE1 are refreshing and look really nice.

There needs to be more of a contrast between the nitty-gritty/organic and something clean with symmetry that looks appealing. There is not enough, and if there is, it's not clean enough.

We might as well be a "cockroach" crawling in Balbalas basement

Glad to see this comment, was going to post something similar a while back but got bored with yelling at the clouds here. I also assume they've got it all mapped out already and there's not much hope for making requests for aesthetic changes.

Crossing my fingers that they give us a few themes that haven't been heavily worn down by this and other ARPGs already. There's a whole world of settings they could go with ... just hope we don't get more Primitive Jungle or Pirates of the Caribbean in acts 5 and 6.

Watch out you don't get banned by an angry Kiwi for confusing Maori / Indigenous Polynesian with Native American lmao.

As for "interiors" I tried to think of what ones we actually have. I didn't count anything that was "cave-like" or something like that and I tried to keep similar ones grouped:

Ogham Manor / Iron Citadel
Tomb of the Consort / Epitaph
Mausoleum of the Praetor / Crypt
Buried Shrines / The Lost City / Channel / Canyon / Galai Gates / Ornate Chambers
Jiquani's Machinarium & Sanctum / Assembly / Stone Citadel / Black Chambers / Augury
Temple of Kopec / Sun Temple / Sinking Spire
The Molten Vault
Abandoned Prison & Solitary Confinement / Wolvenhold(sp?)
Sacred Reservoir
Holten Estate / Haunted Mansion


I think they really knocked it out of the park with the prison and crypt/mausoleum themed ones.

Prob get some more areas when the new acts come out.

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karsey#2995 wrote:

Watch out you don't get banned by an angry Kiwi for confusing Maori / Indigenous Polynesian with Native American lmao.

lol nothing against natives or indigenous people.

but in that entire list, not a single one is clean, polished AND luxurious.
some of them are luxurious, but they are not clean or polished.

creating a clean polished 3d environment is actually easier to produce than not. (that kind of environment could be a POE trademark)

Theoretically it would be good to introduce something impressionable like that in Act 1 and 2, for new players or casual players who might not be retained through Act 5 and 6. (Especially after launch when the game is free)

If GGG goes back to refine things, going to Act 1 and 2 would be very important.

Act 4 is nice because the maps are very diverse, I do like many of those maps. Still the main enemy in the plot for Act 3 and 4 are both Native American. There is also the Wicca ritual tribe in act 1 (just another example of tribalism). (I almost forgot about Isle of Kin)

I just think it's being overused, it needs a higher quality environment somewhere earlier in the campaign, or something to break it up. Even the lost city is dusty and deserted, as much as I love it.

And don't get me wrong, because I also want to see higher quality environments made of flesh and diabolical creatures made of organs. tings like dat.

Imagine smashing the two together,

You're going through a palace in search of where they keep the creature, the whole place is perfectly clean and made of polished marble, fine decor, nice carpets.

You find a locked safe, you open the safe, and inside of this perfectly clean palace is a room where the walls are made of organs and flesh but the creature in the cage is missing.

There is a moment in Act 1 that is similar but the map is not polished.
There is too much destruction on the way, the place is made of wood, it already looks infested.
The "organs and flesh" is also not as good as it could be.
The room with the cage is not telling, because the mystery is already solved on the way.

Just go revisit Ogham manor in Act 1, and check it out.