Thoughts on Diablo III?

[carmen510]

My friend was a hardcore D2 fan and complained that the game was too easy (he basically spammed one skill and attacked; he said he might've been able to play without looking), lagged too much, didn't have as much customization, that only a few skills were useful, that the sweet loot in D2 had been taken out, and the graphics were extremely confusing (can't tell what the monsters are).

 

[CommonKnowledge]

I haven't played any of the other Diablo games and was only talked into playing this by a friend. So over the weekend I messed around on a Witch Doctor and I can't say the games anywhere near as good as it was made out to be. For a start it's way too easy and not particularly involving, I just run around shooting poison darts and the occasional bat swarm whilst my minions do most of the work. I would have bumped the difficulty up a level but you can't do that until you're already completed the game... I fail to see the point in that as it just makes the game boring and uninteresting as all challenge fades and the only way to regain that is to blitz all the content and start over. Withholding basic features and then handing them back one at a time isn't extra content Blizzard.

I was also rather surprised that there's only 5 classes, I mean really? Even if you go for the most mind numbingly overdone and predictable RPG setup of Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Priest archetypes those can easily be split down into 8 or 12 classes without breaking a sweat. Blizzard could have just copy pasted their WoW classes over. Point is none of them particularly interested me as they're rather bland; a Hunter, a Paladin, a Warrior and a Mage - only with different names. The only class that I found somewhat interesting was the Witch doctor which I ended up playing.

Plus there's the elephant in the room - why do I need a persistent internet connection to play what is ostensibly a single player game? Sure you can play it with friends but that's no excuse to force people who want to solo to suffer because of it. This was really exemplified over the weekend when for most of Sunday the EU servers went down and nobody could login. I can only hope other companies don't start copying Blizzard - although I suspect it's more a case of Blizzard knowing they can get away with it.

Maybe because I didn't play the other Diablo games I'm missing something and failing to see how great the game is. Perhaps Diablo III is to Diablo fans what Dungeon Keeper 3 would be to me - I'd certainly try to like it much more. But since I'm not a fan my opinion is that the game is reasonably entertaining but it feels as though Blizzard just didn't try. The graphics are nice and the story is functional but basically it's a grind sandwich where exploration (which I normally enjoy) only servers to make a game that started out as a walk in the park about as difficult as an afternoon nap.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

@Disgustipated: demon hunter = d2 amazon/assassin hybrid; witch doctor = d2 necro/smthing hybrid. As for hints for wizard (which i'm playing): shoot things with magic ! Srsly tho, no idea, i'm playing blind and having a blast. Oh and there is no such thing as a build anymore.
Have fun with the game, and remember, don't expect diablo 2. The only reasons people have for hating this game (besides the multiplayer-only thing) is because they wanted a mod for Diablo 2, not a new game.

@carmen510: how on earth do you spam one skill only ? This is not D2 where you have skill points and you just invest them all in 1 skill and spam it in all battles.

 

[Double A]

What's wrong with asking for a new game with the same core mechanics? From what I can tell, D3 has only a few mechanical similarities with D2, and that's generally a bad thing to fans of the series. If a company wants a completely different game, they shouldn't milk the series' name. Many people'd be fine with it if the game was simply set in the same universe, but hijacking a series is srs bsns.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Like i said, that's a mod you're talking about; or an expansion. Changing the scenery and characters a bit is exactly what milking the series is. Making an (almost) entirely new game set in the same universe is quite the opposite, it's a bold move because it might ruin the franchise and alienate the fanbase. Bold moves is exactly what the gaming industry should be like, not caving in to the demands of nostalgia addicts or people who like to play the same game but with different names for 10 years (see FPS players).

 

[Thrawn]

Damn, you guys lured me in.

Okay, downloading now. I haven't used Battle net in ages, so I created a new battle net tag, but it puts this #1973 at the end (which is my birth year coincidentally) So I change it and put a 3 at the end, now it's 3#1973. Sigh. It won't let me change it again. Anyways, once I get up and running, I'll put my tag on here I guess.

The #1973 at the end is part of the whole BattleTag system. It's pretty much there to differentiate you from others with the same name. And you only get 1 name change, which you've used.

 

[Double A]

I was thinking along the lines of Ass Creed 2 as an example of an ideal modern sequel. A sequel is more of the same, but somewhat different and definitely improved. If a company has a new idea which would basically be an entirely different game, then sticking a 2 on the end of the first game's name is just a cop out.

Bethesda's done pretty well in this regard, with the subtitle being the most important thing about any game in the TES series. From their name style alone I look at them differently than a game without a short, simple, and fairly descriptive subtitle.

 

[carmen510]

@carmen510: how on earth do you spam one skill only ? This is not D2 where you have skill points and you just invest them all in 1 skill and spam it in all battles.

My friend was a Demon Hunter and spammed Shuriken Cloud, which pretty much got him through most of the game. He did use Entangling Shot to build up Hatred though.

 

[GrayingGamer]

I'm only a level 7 Barbarian but so far the game is meh. I spend most of my time wacking creatures over the head with my sword and after the 2nd time of that the novelty wore off. I will continue playing it though because i'm only level 7 and i really enjoy thoroughly searching everything in every dungeon, trying to uncover every little secret and kill every single special monster Thats what I like about it so far. Also the storyline is quite good.

As with any progression game like this, the characters don't really get interesting until you've leveled up a bit.

And for me, it didn't really get challenging until Hell level - now I'm finally starting to (have to) really think about what I can do with my character instead of just running roughshod over everything.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

My friend was a Demon Hunter and spammed Shuriken Cloud, which pretty much got him through most of the game. He did use Entangling Shot to build up Hatred though.

Didn't dabble with the demon hunter much - she's with the barbarian on the level of boringness.

 

[MobBoss]

Couple of more thoughts.

Those complaining that the game is 'too easy', well, your playing on Normal mode to start. Trust me, its ramps up in difficulty fairly quickly once you move to nightmare. Then in order to keep up, you need to start thinking about skill synergy, and making sure your equipment is up to date.

Speaking of equipment, give the gold auction house a look. Gold really starts flowing in by the end of normal mode and the first part of nightmare, so you can probably score a good upgrade for a slot or two thats been lagging.

And tip is to join up with a few friends, or maybe even join a public game working on the same quest your're on. The additional members boost the toughness of the monsters, but also gives more in loot and exp. Want to level fast? Group up.

 

[Calis]

I do this too. But from this point of view the game is the most disappointing one of the series. When you exit the game, the non-town & non-important areas get "un"explored and "re"generated.

Errr, but D2 did exactly the same thing. Or am I misunderstanding something?

 

[sanabas]

Oh and there is no such thing as a build anymore.

Absolutely there is. 6 slots for ~23 skills, each of which can be modded in 5? ways, with some of the mods just being amped up/cheaper versions, but some being extremely different. The first 2 slots are basically limited to 4 base skills each, but the other 4 can use any of the 15+ skills available. Then 3 passive bonuses from a choice of ~20. Builds are very much there, and it's easy to have the same class play drastically differently. Like making a melee wizard who uses a shield, which is very viable. The change is that you no longer get to allocate the base int/dex/str/vit stats, but since damage is now based on your class's primary stat, rather than a weapon's primary stat, that's not an issue. You want to make a melee wizard, you use a build with the skills that let you do it, rather than put lots of points into strength and finding a sword.

Something that should have been the default, and should be far more obvious that it's available, is to go into options and switch on advanced tooltips & elective mode. Makes a big, big difference.

@carmen510: how on earth do you spam one skill only ? This is not D2 where you have skill points and you just invest them all in 1 skill and spam it in all battles.

Certainly through normal, especially if you're playing softcore, you'll be able to get through most things just spamming your left mouse button basic attack. If you don't want to die, and when the levels go up, you'll need to do more.

What's wrong with asking for a new game with the same core mechanics? From what I can tell, D3 has only a few mechanical similarities with D2, and that's generally a bad thing to fans of the series. If a company wants a completely different game, they shouldn't milk the series' name. Many people'd be fine with it if the game was simply set in the same universe, but hijacking a series is srs bsns.

Feels very similar to me, in terms of what you do, how gameplay works, how the story develops, etc. It's been 10 years since I actually played D2, but I'm yet to notice anything that's drastically different, that makes me feel like this is an entirely different game that just happens to also be named Diablo.

 

[Disgustipated]

My download is going sooooo slowly. I'm only at 42%, but then I notice the Play button is lit up. I think cool, maybe it's just downloading later acts last, so I can play the beginning now. So I look up my battle net account name and password, and enter all my information and then.....wait for it.... server down for maintenance.

You know I put up with this crap for MMO's, but there is no reason a single player game should be down for maintenance.

My initial review of Diablo 3 is it's unplayable.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Errr, but D2 did exactly the same thing. Or am I misunderstanding something?

The levels in D2 were re-populated, the ones in D3 get re-populated and re-generated. That means the entire "geography" of the levels changes every time you exit the game.

Absolutely there is.

Well yea, in the way you describe. But in my head, a build is starting a new character, playing it for tens of hours and investing the skill points in 2-3 specific skills. In D3, since you can change your "build" anytime you want, without restarting the game, the so-called original meaning of the "build" is lost.

 

[sanabas]

Well yea, in the way you describe. But in my head, a build is starting a new character, playing it for tens of hours and investing the skill points in 2-3 specific skills. In D3, since you can change your "build" anytime you want, without restarting the game, the so-called original meaning of the "build" is lost.

In mine, a build is starting with an unskilled character, and assigning all the skills to get your final/current build. In original D2 there was no way to change already assigned parts, later on there was, in games like WoW or D3 it's easy to switch builds between fights. Other RPGs have greater or lesser flexibility about swapping builds without starting over from scratch. Something like Oblivion was really, really bad, in that you could end up with a badly gimped character, and be completely unable to do anything beyond reroll. D3 is right up the other end of the scale in terms of flexibility.

 

[Rashiminos]

Making an (almost) entirely new game set in the same universe is quite the opposite, it's a bold move because it might ruin the franchise and alienate the fanbase. Bold moves is exactly what the gaming industry should be like, not caving in to the demands of nostalgia addicts or people who like to play the same game but with different names for 10 years (see FPS players).

Bold moves like Hellgate London?

The levels in D2 were re-populated, the ones in D3 get re-populated and re-generated. That means the entire "geography" of the levels changes every time you exit the game.

That happened on closed b.net D2 as well. The map seed was rerolled when a game was created. In SP D2, the map seed rerolled when switching difficulties.

As for elective mode, it would have been better if a notice was given to the player early in the game that explained how to activate it and what it does, but I wouldn't have made it a default in consideration of players new to the genre.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Bold moves like Hellgate London?

Dunno, didn't play it.

That happened on closed b.net D2 as well. The map seed was rerolled when a game was created. In SP D2, the map seed rerolled when switching difficulties.

Oh, i didn't know this. (except the difficulty thing) I only played single player D2 without connecting to any server, so i was shocked when i saw the layout of my levels in D3 changed for the first time. Someone explained it to me that the server creates a new game everytime you load the game; you just select the quest that you're at and the server generates the levels based on that. Is this true ? I haven't really seen this subject being discussed, i guess i'm one of the very few single-player people outraged by this.

 

[Disgustipated]

Okay, got the game running. It's pretty cool so far. I wouldn't say it's too different from D2. I'd be disappointed if the gameplay and graphics were too similar to D2.

So I am playing the witch doctor. I got the spell corpse spiders. How do I have that spell and poison darts active at the same time? It seems both utilize my left mouse slot meaning I can't cast both in rapid succession? When I change them out, there is a cooldown activated. So is there no way to rapidly change skills in this game? I only get 2 attacks I can use per battle?

 

[sanabas]

Okay, got the game running. It's pretty cool so far. I wouldn't say it's too different from D2. I'd be disappointed if the gameplay and graphics were too similar to D2.

So I am playing the witch doctor. I got the spell corpse spiders. How do I have that spell and poison darts active at the same time? It seems both utilize my left mouse slot meaning I can't cast both in rapid succession? When I change them out, there is a cooldown activated. So is there no way to rapidly change skills in this game? I only get 2 attacks I can use per battle?

Go to options, and switch on elective mode. Then you can put poison darts on the left button, spiders on the right button if you want. As you level you'll unlock more abilities, you'll end up with left & right buttons, plus the 1-4 keys on your keyboard, for a total of 6 things you can use per battle.