DrakeFox: But in the end it's still rather basic yet mindless.
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The loot system felt a bit too spammy. I know some people love sorting through loot it just annoyed me.
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just don't go in expecting anything too deep, it's a fun little arcade game, just like Gauntlet was back in the day. Hammerwatch surpasses it in my opinion, but only because the characters feel so different, and the progression and "looting" in hammerwatch takes less of your time.
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Though it should be noted the whole concept is, as far as I can tell, that you "win" when you beat the dragon.
I partially agree with your points, but to me the game is neither about winning nor really about progressing and looting, even though those are prominent features. I think how much fun you get out of Fight the Dragon depends heavily on how you play it and what kind of player you are. If I'd play it with the goal of reaching maximum level, getting the best gear and defeating the dragon, I wouldn't like it at all. That's why I think the mentioning of Diablo in the game description is kind of misleading. And if you just let the game choose random community levels for you, your experience probably won't be that great either. Neverwinter Nights, one of my favorite games, is much more complex than Fight the Dragon, but I'd find it pretty boring, too, if I just concentrated on combat mechanics, level progression, loot and original content or totally random community adventures (because there's a lot of unimaginative trash among those as well).
For me the fun in both games is about exploration and discovery, seeing what creative minds can come up with using the limited assets, experiencing entertaining short stories or exciting environmental design, finding out which authors are worth following, how some still manage to amuse and surprise you even after you think you know the game in and out, and also giving feedback to help them improve their creations. If none of that is of any interest to you, than Fight the Dragon is just an average simplified action RPG and probably not worth your time. If you're similar to me though, the game becomes a whole different league and not really comparable with Hammerwatch, which I personally find rather bland as it's just the mechanics without any story or interesting area design to speak of, it lacks that personal, creative element I love in FtD. I admit I mostly played both games in single player though. And I think I prefer it that way, because while playing coop is fun, it also distracts a bit from the storytelling and exploration and shifts the focus more towards gameplay mechanics.
Quite shockingly, I've put over 100 hours into FtD without really noticing it, more time than I've put in any more complex RPG on Steam, including Skyrim, Torchlight, Fallout 3, Divinity 2, Sacred 2 of Dungeon Siege 2 ... it's currently my most played game over there. That time was spent entertaining myself with discovering short community adventures. If I'd have played the game like Diablo or Hammerwatch instead, I probably would have quit after less than 10 hours.