Thoughts on Diablo III?

[aelf]

yeah but people complain about computer games no matter how good they are. People complained about Civ 4 when it first came out too. And Civ3. People complained bitterly about SMAC when it came out (I remember that's when I first got on the alpha.owo boards that eventually led me to Apolyton and here), and that game is considered a classic now. Haters gonna hate.

That's why it's kinda important to read what people are actually complaining about and decide if their complaints are valid or just nitpicking (the gameplay complaints about 1upt, for example, were very valid). Otherwise, fanbois gonna be fanbois too.

 

[Arakhor]

So D3 was years and years late and then ended up being Warcraft-lite? That's a shame; I much enjoyed the first two games.

Unfortunately, I've developed a philosophy of not rushing out to buy the latest AAA game after Dragon Age 2 turned out to be such a crushing disappointment.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

So D3 was years and years late and then ended up being Warcraft-lite? That's a shame; I much enjoyed the first two games.

Unfortunately, I've developed a philosophy of not rushing out to buy the latest AAA game after Dragon Age 2 turned out to be such a crushing disappointment.

DA 2 had a demo that turned me off, so I didn't waste any money on that one.
Diablo 3 is occasionally fun, but after just over one week I've already had enough of it. It's too repititive and has a distinctive 'what was Blizzard doing all those years' feel.
There's also he story and dialogue. I know it's about as important for a Diablo game as for porn, but I can't remember the last time I played a game and thought the writing really sucks. It's like a porn starlet's attempt at dirty talk that just makes her sound stupid and borderline psychotic with a hefty dose of creepy for good measure.

Maybe I'll play it again in a couple of weeks.

 

[Arakhor]

I never could download that massive 2 GB demo, so buoyed by my confidence in DA:O as a return to classic RPGs, I pre-ordered DA2.

That went well.

 

[Rub'Rum]

So D3 was years and years late and then ended up being Warcraft-lite? That's a shame; I much enjoyed the first two games.

Diablo 3 is occasionally fun, but after just over one week I've already had enough of it. It's too repititive and has a distinctive 'what was Blizzard doing all those years' feel.

That's something I was thinking too. How did it take so many years to come up with a game that is so close to what they already released. They are so mindblowingly anal about their game releases.

I still play it most days, usually when I have an hour to kill. It's not unfun per say, especially with friends. But really, the main method of item aquiring should be finding them. Not trading.

 

[Akka]

yeah but people complain about computer games no matter how good they are. People complained about Civ 4 when it first came out too. And Civ3. People complained bitterly about SMAC when it came out (I remember that's when I first got on the alpha.owo boards that eventually led me to Apolyton and here), and that game is considered a classic now. Haters gonna hate.

The "argument" is just as easily revesible : every crappy game out there also had people praising it.

Every game in the world will have people praising it and people flaming it. Still, it won't change the fact that some games are good, some are bad, a few are fantastic, some are terrible, and many are average.

Basically, your point is, well, completely pointless.

 

[Disgustipated]

I could argue your point is pointless too since you say some games are good, some games are bad. That isn't helpful in determining if this is a good game or not.

I'm still playing it. I'm testing things with my Witch Doctor. I'm still not level 60, and I'm still in act 2 hell. I was on vacation, so not much opportunity to play with my brother. And I don't want to get ahead of him.

Seems post patch I'm running into more unique/elite groups. But maybe that's just luck of the draw. First one was right at the portal sight, and almost killed me (I had to use the portal site to go back to town to avoid death- cheesy, yes I know). That was a tough elite group. Wallers are still annoying as hell of course.

It looks like the patch did nerf my 10% attack speed ring to 5%. that's what the patch notes said it would do it looks like (unless I'm reading it wrong). Things feel a little tougher, but maybe it's just the attack speed thing making it seem that way.

As for Dragon Age 2, I'm just glad I never bought it. I played my brother's friend's copy. What really sucks is they say they still aren't going back to DA1 style with DA3. . They say they don't want to do another 180. But they will try something in between. I really would like to see another company start developing old school rpg's. Bioware has gone to hell.

As for this game, I don't count how many years in development the game had. That's going to lead to unrealistic expectations. I never even followed the game development. I figured they were busy with WOW, and Starcraft 2. I doubt they were working on D3 the whole time.

edit: I am seeing more elite groups. I also forgot to mention installing the patch caused my RAM card to lock up forcing my computer into a reboot. And I got a graphical bug with my zombie bears getting stuck on, get this, the flat road in the middle of the desert. My bears wouldn't cross the road! BS

 

[GoodGame]

I never could download that massive 2 GB demo, so buoyed by my confidence in DA:O as a return to classic RPGs, I pre-ordered DA2.

That went well.

I never buy anything at full price unless I get to play the demo first, and then not usually at a $60 price. A lot of the price tag pays for marketing hype which just over-inflates the value of the game to a ego possession, as opposed to something that is fun to play.

That said, I've never played a Diablo, so I can't comment.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

As for this game, I don't count how many years in development the game had. That's going to lead to unrealistic expectations. I never even followed the game development. I figured they were busy with WOW, and Starcraft 2. I doubt they were working on D3 the whole time.

Uh, Blizzard is a huge company. They have different teams working on their different IP's. There might be some overlap here and there, but by and large, yes, they WERE working on D3 the whole time from when they announced it, since it's a separate team. The Diablo 3 team was not busy working on Starcraft 2 or WoW, because the Starcraft 2 and WoW teams already had that covered. The Diablo 3 team worked on Diablo 3.

 

[Rub'Rum]

While spending their lunch breaks playing too much WoW.

 

[Thrawn]

Found this quote, that I thought was quite relevant to some of the general hate against D3. Source.

If we didn't do an exact copy of the game, they'd hate us. If we did do an exact copy, they'd say we didn't innovate.

To me, it's something that also applies to SC2, and probably other sequels that I can't think of right now.

 

[Rub'Rum]

They didn't do an exact copy or innovate. The closest was the way the runes modify skills, but it was much deeper and interesting before they decided to ninja most of the fun out of that at the last minute and make it a boring "unlock at level X".

 

[GrayingGamer]

Found this quote, that I thought was quite relevant to some of the general hate against D3. Source.

To me, it's something that also applies to SC2, and probably other sequels that I can't think of right now.

Of course you can never please all the people all the time, but some of the choices they made were simple steps back from what they had before.

Online-only, hitbox issues, re-worked character progression that pretty much fails once the game gets hard (only a few valid skills), just to name a few.

 

[Disgustipated]

My main issue with this game is not lack of innovation. Sometimes we want just an update of the original gameplay. For instance, I wish Dragon Age 2 was a lot like DA1, not the mess that it currently is. My main issue is the bugs.

I died for the first time in like 2 weeks today because of the blackout bug. I was playing my mage for something different. I didn't want to play my hardcore witch doctor because I'm expecting a phone call. For some reason the blackout bug doesn't affect my witch doctor very much (and when it does it is not in combat). My barbarian (which I haven't played in weeks because of the bug) and mage are plagued by this blackout bug. So my poor level 13 mage died today. Good thing she wasn't hardcore. I have went so long without dying. Even my level 57 witch doctor doesn't die in hell (although that's mainly due to spirit vessel ). It's actually a shock to die on normal difficulty level.

So anyways the bug is that my screen freezes, then blacks out for a few seconds during which I can't see the screen. Although I think I can still use potions, and it's my fault for not hitting diamond skin and using a potion. For some reason my reflexes tell me the game is frozen, and it won't accept any input.

I simply cannot believe it's my graphics card or graphics card drivers. Why would it affect the other classes, but not witch doctor? I originally gave this game a D on bugs in my official review, but I now give it an F on bugs. This is unacceptable.

I basically own a game where I can play only one class (although I haven't tried demon hunter and monk yet- they don't interest me much). Yes witch doctor is the best class , but sometimes it's fun to play something different.

 

[SewerStarFish]

My main issue with this game is not lack of innovation. Sometimes we want just an update of the original gameplay. For instance, I wish Dragon Age 2 was a lot like DA1, not the mess that it currently is. My main issue is the bugs.

I died for the first time in like 2 weeks today because of the blackout bug. I was playing my mage for something different. I didn't want to play my hardcore witch doctor because I'm expecting a phone call. For some reason the blackout bug doesn't affect my witch doctor very much (and when it does it is not in combat). My barbarian (which I haven't played in weeks because of the bug) and mage are plagued by this blackout bug. So my poor level 13 mage died today. Good thing she wasn't hardcore. I have went so long without dying. Even my level 57 witch doctor doesn't die in hell (although that's mainly due to spirit vessel ). It's actually a shock to die on normal difficulty level.

So anyways the bug is that my screen freezes, then blacks out for a few seconds during which I can't see the screen. Although I think I can still use potions, and it's my fault for not hitting diamond skin and using a potion. For some reason my reflexes tell me the game is frozen, and it won't accept any input.

I simply cannot believe it's my graphics card or graphics card drivers. Why would it affect the other classes, but not witch doctor? I originally gave this game a D on bugs in my official review, but I now give it an F on bugs. This is unacceptable.

I basically own a game where I can play only one class (although I haven't tried demon hunter and monk yet- they don't interest me much). Yes witch doctor is the best class , but sometimes it's fun to play something different.

I have played about 70 hours as a mage and haven't run across this one yet, I'm sure I'd react the same way. I bet it is a game conflict with your specific graphics card. So very much of the game feels like an untested beta. I'd hate to lose a hardcore toon due to that.

 

[Disgustipated]

Yeah it's some kind of conflict. It obviously doesn't affect everyone. I can still play, but it really takes the fun out of the game. It breaks my rhythm in a way. I get into a certain rhythm in this game, and don't like it interrupted.

I have a pretty major card, and just updated the drivers the day the game came out. It's a Geoforce GTS 250.

Good thing my hardcore character is a witch doctor. Now I think of it, I can't remember the problem ever affecting my witch doctor in combat, and it didn't happen frequently. Strange. Maybe I'll play my barbarian. He isn't so much a glass cannon like my mage, and can handle a few hits before dying.

 

[Disgustipated]

Interestingly I played for an hour and a half just now with my wizard, and the bug didn't happen once. Really weird. I wonder if it's an internet lag issue... Or maybe server lag I should say. As I'm playing at 3 AM and there most likely isn't much server traffic right now. Where as the other day I was playing in the early afternoon.

 

[Rub'Rum]

I saw this exchange on Reddit about end-game which I thought was meaningful:

- "the end game is farming items to sell on the RMAH. kinda sad. "
- "Diablo 3, where the intent of designers is to turn us into gold farmers!"
- "We're basically farming them money with the 15% RMAH take. I wouldn't be surprised if you could earn gold by "clicking and watching ads", people would do it. Also turn us into resellers, sign up a friend, and eventually get a Diablo3 Credit Card where they set up a National Diablo Bank, and make interest off our money on top of it all. Then someone comes along and resells our performance wrapped up in a item-backed securities market."

 

[Disgustipated]

LOL

I had this image of all of us players in tiny cubicles playing the game for money so Blizzard can get a 15% take of our slave labor.

I'm wondering if labor laws should come into play here...

 

[GlobularFoody]

Here you go. This is the real deal for WoW, but it works for D3 also. Those guys probably make 10 cents an hour.