I'm a "real" Diablo fan and I will buy D3. Weird. I think a more accurate statement would be "blizzard Haters will not buy D3. Because they have built up years and years of Blizzard hate and could not reconcile the contradiction"
if both of you are real fans you would see what im talking about, if you dont you never played diablo.
Played 1 and 2 until I was sooo burnt out on cows that when I left it was like OMG I spent 5 years just playing hardcore cows. Loved the game and the game play. Played all my alt accounts that were mules LOL had 8 accounts and played every character until they died or I capped them.
After play D3 with expectations of hating the game I found it just miles beyond my expectations so you're worng.
Your review doesn't detail what the games like in the rest of Act 1 or the later Acts.
What were your opinions on the difficulty in Nightmare and Hell?
They felt rather easy compared to D2s harder difficulties.
I'm a real D2 fan and I've already pre-downloaded D3 and can't wait for the 15th!
Proving my point, you liked diablo 1 and 2 now youll by 3 regardless of its shit.
PoE will be just a blip on the radar when it releases. The art direction alone and copy-pasting D2 guarantees it.
Just like diablo was a blip when it first came out. If anything the art direction guarantees it's success.
Will i buy d3? Probably.
Will i play it like i played d2? Expect not. If the game comes out and it turns out its not the diablo 2 turned game it appears to be, then great more power to it. But the people hating on PoE simply because it follows other games success is proof of the fanboiblizz cult that exsist. Blizzard is not perfect and their last game and last 3 expansions proved that.
The problem isn't that Diablo 3 is bad, the problem is that it's not special. It's predecesors were.
To put it simply, Diablo 3 looks bland. It looks any other action RPG and it lacks the atmosphere that Diablo 1 and 2 had. In addition, the lack of PvP and off-line play make Diablo 3 an inferior product feature-wise compared to many other online RPG's.
I'll probably get it eventually, once the price drops and I'm not looking for another game. It still looks like a decent game.
Diablo 3, new updated graphics engine, the same used to create world of warcraft, and starcraft II is reused here. Now blizzard did this in its previous games as sc2 and d2 used the same graphics engines which there is nothing wrong with but the feel of these games has changed drastically.
Source? I am pretty sure all those games use different engines. Honestly, you lost me there. Your post lost all credibility the second you started spewing out false information as facts.
You seem to have a very strange view of DII. I didn't share that impression at all. After loading up DII after playing DI, I had a feeling of "what is this shit" for quite a while before I shook it off. There was so much DII did "wrong".
As far as I'm concerned, DII lost DI's feeling entirely. DII's atmosphere was something else. DII was significantly less dungeon crawlery because of the open areas and the skills you got. DIII will have the same "problem". DI --> DII/DIII is a major atmosphere switch simply because of how the games function. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, but I believe it's a mistake to claim DII is terribly atmospheric. DIII doesn't have much to live up to and I think it's already doing fine.
"Graphics dont make a game, but in d2 the darkness of a cave or prison and being surrounded by monsters from hell who also looked dark and scary changed the vibe."
- yeah, because that's seriously how I feel walking around Zealing the shit out of everything. No. This feeling existed in DI. It will not exist in any game where you feel decently powerful. In DI it's a big deal because monsters move as fast as you do and can kill you if you misstep even when you have decent gear. In DII, surrounded by monsters = "Yay, that's a lot of monsters to kill at once!"
"You see this in the cathedral, also in D2 you would spend a good amount of time trying to find the right way to go and it made you feel accomplished when you get out of that damned place."
- most of my impression with DII cathedrals were "fuck this place, fuck it, fuck it" because it was so fucking boring. And Jail wasn't particularly different from Cathedral. I don't get that impression from DIII areas, I actually want to clear them. Maybe because they do not consist of different shades of gray and I can actually see where the fuck I am going (although Royal Crypts seem to get close to that murkiness you're looking for).
It's a bit too early to tell for me to actively judge DIII environments, but I like how they did the crypts so far. I don't really expect everything else to be designed this way, I figured that's just how the crypts are. Besides that, I definitely appreciate the 3D environments, the general size, and overall layout.
Never cared for PvP and never will. PvP and DII is a joke. PvPers play games that actually involve skill, like Nox, SC, DotA, or Tribes. Not this "who can farm the best gear" garbage. PvP was tacked on in Diablo and completely unnecessary, all decent PvPers and real Diablo fans (not DII multiplayer catchup plans) know that. So does Blizzard.
Do I seriously need to bring up all the ridiculous monsters DII had? Like the walking gargantuans? Trees? Fetishes? Scarab Beetles (lol)? Cute chirping jumpers? And, seriously, I don't know anyone who was scared of Diablo II. It's fucking Diablo II.
Single Player is one thing I can agree on. Going to miss it.
The fact that Blizzard has changed is a fact, not an opinion. Blizzard has changed even when it did DII, because DII was a totally different beast from DI, just DII fans don't really get that.
Like it or not, DIII will bring innovation. Path of Exile is the same old crap (I played it) with all the same problems that EVERY single Diablo clone has right now (completely unintuitive and boring progression where you just spam one skill. The gemmed skill system guarantees that). I played PoE for some while but I can't even touch it anymore because hitting stuff with one skill over and over and over gets old fast. In DIII, I got to experiment with all sorts of stuff on every character straight away. If you can't see that as a positive thing, nobody can help you.
To say DIII is WoW is just idiotic to say the least. There's like nothing in common in the two games besides levels. WoW copied DII's skill system, you realize that, right?
I wager that DII fans are not necessarily real fans. A lot of DII fans are people who do not understand the genre who came to DII for secondary stuff like PK, PvP, and min-maxing. And that shit was never what Diablo was about. Diablo was about going through the dungeons and killing Diablo. It was never about killing fucking players and getting an elitist attitude because someone didn't put their points in Vitality (btw, you'll find a lot of this in WoW. You're sure WoW is not the game for you?). Nor was Diablo ever about Baal runs. People who got bored turned Diablo play into that. Everyone else left DII soon enough after it became pointless.
PvP was something I use to do at the end of the night for giggles in D2 and probably will be the same in D3. There really is only one decent PvP game out there and that is Darkfall, which is low pop currently as many wait for the release of Darkfall 2.0.
Your review doesn't detail what the games like in the rest of Act 1 or the later Acts.
What were your opinions on the difficulty in Nightmare and Hell?
They felt rather easy compared to D2s harder difficulties.
I'm a real D2 fan and I've already pre-downloaded D3 and can't wait for the 15th!
Proving my point, you liked diablo 1 and 2 now youll by 3 regardless of its shit.
PoE will be just a blip on the radar when it releases. The art direction alone and copy-pasting D2 guarantees it.
Just like diablo was a blip when it first came out. If anything the art direction guarantees it's success.
Will i buy d3? Probably.
Will i play it like i played d2? Expect not. If the game comes out and it turns out its not the diablo 2 turned game it appears to be, then great more power to it. But the people hating on PoE simply because it follows other games success is proof of the fanboiblizz cult that exsist. Blizzard is not perfect and their last game and last 3 expansions proved that.
Wait just a damn minute. Those difficulties weren't in the beta were they?
It was just normal mode up to level 13. Sooooo.....you're making stuff up right?
Your review doesn't detail what the games like in the rest of Act 1 or the later Acts.
What were your opinions on the difficulty in Nightmare and Hell?
They felt rather easy compared to D2s harder difficulties.
I'm a real D2 fan and I've already pre-downloaded D3 and can't wait for the 15th!
Proving my point, you liked diablo 1 and 2 now youll by 3 regardless of its shit.
PoE will be just a blip on the radar when it releases. The art direction alone and copy-pasting D2 guarantees it.
Just like diablo was a blip when it first came out. If anything the art direction guarantees it's success.
Will i buy d3? Probably.
Will i play it like i played d2? Expect not. If the game comes out and it turns out its not the diablo 2 turned game it appears to be, then great more power to it. But the people hating on PoE simply because it follows other games success is proof of the fanboiblizz cult that exsist. Blizzard is not perfect and their last game and last 3 expansions proved that.
Wait just a damn minute. Those difficulties weren't in the beta were they?
It was just normal mode up to level 13. Sooooo.....you're making stuff up right?
Perhaps he died a lot in the Den of Evil? :P
Diablo 2 till Andariel was pretty easy. Diablo 1 was much harder, even in the beginning. Though it had way more to do with the fact that you didn't have any ability, unless you were playing a mage
While I only played to to the skeleton king level and finished it and on every class I know it is just the opening of the game.
However I was no impressed and the game didn't feel like diablo to me. No talent trees to experiment with. Outdated graphics. and a unfinished game to be released in 11 days. People will buy it thus supporting shitty design ideas and promoting that it is ok to release unfinished games.
I want Diablo 3 to be a Diablo sequel, but it is not. It has the story but it's not the same game. also its 2012. the graphics are that of 2007-2009 which is extremely behind to what is being released now.
I will save my 60 bucks and purchase Torchlight 2.
While I only played to to the skeleton king level and finished it and on every class I know it is just the opening of the game.
However I was no impressed and the game didn't feel like diablo to me. No talent trees to experiment with. Outdated graphics. and a unfinished game to be released in 11 days. People will buy it thus supporting shitty design ideas and promoting that it is ok to release unfinished games.
I want Diablo 3 to be a Diablo sequel, but it is not. It has the story but it's not the same game. also its 2012. the graphics are that of 2007-2009 which is extremely behind to what is being released now.
I will save my 60 bucks and purchase Torchlight 2.
You're full of it.
How does Torchlight 2 have the graphics of 2012 that D3 somehow doesnt?
How is D3 unfinished?
I respect that you dislike D3. But when you try to argument, you should atleast make sense.
It never ceases to surprise me how many suckers will actually be willing to buy a game from a great company despite profits also going towards a corporate giant bent on ridding a gaming industry of quality games. I mean really.. You would have to be totally blind to not notice the clues from Blizzard's previous titles slowly starting to pop up over time. v.v
While calling other people suckers is perfectly ok according to your standards.
Simple History 101 my friend.
Strange. Blizzard is the single best PC game developer in the world. SC2 is an E-sport and at the top of strategy. Diablo is the adventure action rpg scene and at the top of its game and WoW was at the top of the MMO scene. Blizzard makes gold out of whatever genre they enter.
This is no different. I played the beta and was a "true" Diablo and Diablo 2 fan. Quiz me. I know every piece of lore and almost all D2 builds by heart. Which isn't a feat sense there were only a couple viable builds for each class. Here, in D3, there are hundreds. A guy did some math magic and came up with over a billion possibilities when considering skill options and gyphs. Not even counting your gear.
These options are actually viable too. None of the skills were unuseful and all brought different elements to combat. At least the ones we got to test. D3 just got rid of the useless crap. There's no point in offering attribute points because frankly all that was was a frusterating trial and error until you looked up one of the two viable ways to build a character. My first playthrough of diablo was the most frusterating thing I've ever experienced. I ultimately had to give up and recreate a new character. Fun. You don't have to worry about permenantly gimping your character here. You can just have fun. I can try out skills to find the ones I like. Another major gripe with D2 is that I couldn't change my skills. I got bored using the same skills for days. I like how in D3 I can switch up my playstyle and keep things interesting. I have a list of skills to choose from that will remain on my hotbar.
People just don't like change which I feel is the problem here. This is not D2 game of the century edition. It's D3. I honestly can't fathom what you'd miss about D2. The two or three viable builds for each class versus the hundreds if not thousands in D3? The hours wasted in ruined characters until you figure out those two or three viable builds? The wondering around in fields aimlessly until you find the exit? Which was NOT fun in the slightest. OP mentions some kind of intangable feeling of greatness upon finding the destination? I never felt that.
I wondered around and wished I could just know where the hell to go because I've been fighting these same fiends in this same field for half an hour. The graveyard was pretty damn open to boot. So I'm not sure what he's getting at here. I wasn't frusterated in the graveyard but it was open enough that it gave me that same feeling in D2 of exploring a vast area without all the frusteration. The combat is fast and exciting. Animations look phenomenal. What is there to complain about for a Diablo fan?
I'm usually against doing this but I'm going to turn that around on you. A true Diablo fan would love D3. Its all we loved in D2 without the frusterating elements.
BTW that is not a marshmellow monster and doesn't look nice in any way shape or form. He actually looks pretty creepy, which is great. I'm actually glad you showed me him because I think he's a great creature. So, thanks.
While I only played to to the skeleton king level and finished it and on every class I know it is just the opening of the game.
However I was no impressed and the game didn't feel like diablo to me. No talent trees to experiment with. Outdated graphics. and a unfinished game to be released in 11 days. People will buy it thus supporting shitty design ideas and promoting that it is ok to release unfinished games.
I want Diablo 3 to be a Diablo sequel, but it is not. It has the story but it's not the same game. also its 2012. the graphics are that of 2007-2009 which is extremely behind to what is being released now.
I will save my 60 bucks and purchase Torchlight 2.
You're full of it.
How does Torchlight 2 have the graphics of 2012 that D3 somehow doesnt?
How is D3 unfinished?
I respect that you dislike D3. But when you try to argument, you should atleast make sense.
I largely agree with your assessment. Its laughable that you'd buy torchlight in its stead. I couldn't even play the first torchlight to hold me over for a week until D3. I tried. Today in fact. The game is dull as all hell to me. Although a good buy for the price it asks. Why would you enjoy the talent tree's? Seriously. What did they provide to the game? There was only a few optimal ways to get through them anyways. There wasn't any real choice there. Aside from that all they did was lock us into place. Once I chose a skill I couldn't experiment and have fun with the others. I was stuck using that skill for, basically, ever. Unless I was ok with wasting a skill point.
Instead of talent tree's you have runes which allow the customizability of the moves themselves. D3 looks a thousand times better than Torchlight 2. ESPECIALLY if your looking for any hint of realism T2 is undoubtedly cartoon.
if you like experimenting D3 has a ton of skills for you to choose from. A great deal of them. Here, though, you can actually experiment. I would hardly call D2 experimenting sense it wasn't an experiment. I knew where I was going to put my points in already. It was useless. There was no real choice there because there was only one way to viably get through each classes skill trees.
While I only played to to the skeleton king level and finished it and on every class I know it is just the opening of the game.
However I was no impressed and the game didn't feel like diablo to me. No talent trees to experiment with. Outdated graphics. and a unfinished game to be released in 11 days. People will buy it thus supporting shitty design ideas and promoting that it is ok to release unfinished games.
I want Diablo 3 to be a Diablo sequel, but it is not. It has the story but it's not the same game. also its 2012. the graphics are that of 2007-2009 which is extremely behind to what is being released now.
I will save my 60 bucks and purchase Torchlight 2.
You're full of it.
How does Torchlight 2 have the graphics of 2012 that D3 somehow doesnt?
How is D3 unfinished?
I respect that you dislike D3. But when you try to argument, you should atleast make sense.
People can like D3 for what it is and still think it feels like a different genre and not a true Diablo sequel. From a ARPG point of view its dumb down and also lacks the sense of darkness, horror and danger that some diablo fans think is essential.
This I think makes it a better action game. If you just want to kill things and find loot...And if you want a streamlined game without much complexity that the typical action gamer would think was tedious and boring. Its not a bad action game...but not really a sequel.
And, of course, they had to remove features to get ready for release. Like PvP, rune(item) system and more. They could have delayed it til 2013...But they wanted to release now.
While I only played to to the skeleton king level and finished it and on every class I know it is just the opening of the game.
However I was no impressed and the game didn't feel like diablo to me. No talent trees to experiment with. Outdated graphics. and a unfinished game to be released in 11 days. People will buy it thus supporting shitty design ideas and promoting that it is ok to release unfinished games.
I want Diablo 3 to be a Diablo sequel, but it is not. It has the story but it's not the same game. also its 2012. the graphics are that of 2007-2009 which is extremely behind to what is being released now.
I will save my 60 bucks and purchase Torchlight 2.
You're full of it.
How does Torchlight 2 have the graphics of 2012 that D3 somehow doesnt?
How is D3 unfinished?
I respect that you dislike D3. But when you try to argument, you should atleast make sense.
People can like D3 for what it is and still think it feels like a different genre and not a true Diablo sequel. From a ARPG point of view its dumb down and also lacks the sense of darkness, horror and danger that some diablo fans think is essential.
This I think makes it a better action game. If you just want to kill things and find loot...And if you want a streamlined game without much complexity that the typical action gamer would think was tedious and boring. Its not a bad action game...but not really a sequel.
And, of course, they had to remove features to get ready for release. Like PvP, rune(item) system and more. They could have delayed it til 2013...But they wanted to release now.
You make it sound like D2 was complex. Are you for real?
As someone who has been dreaming of Diablo 3 since it was first announced, lurking the website daily i feel as if the game does not retain its original image or feel the series used to have. I am not going to attempt to bash the game or create a hate thread, im going to state general facts of the game and the series.
1. Graphics (not this again)
Diablo 2, one of the most popular levels in the game by its general design and wow factor
Diablo 3, new updated graphics engine, the same used to create world of warcraft, and starcraft II is reused here. Now blizzard did this in its previous games as sc2 and d2 used the same graphics engines which there is nothing wrong with but the feel of these games has changed drastically.
D3, has a lighter tone than the original 2 games, that much is obvious but what is hidden is how that changes the gameplay. Graphics dont make a game, but in d2 the darkness of a cave or prison and being surrounded by monsters from hell who also looked dark and scary changed the vibe.
2. Gameplay
Gameplay essentially remains at the core of what D2 was, and i feel like they have done a good job in keeping this with the series.
3. Level design
D3 does a horrible job at this from what we have seen so far. Most of the levels look like they were copied and pasted and renamed. You see this in the cathedral, also in D2 you would spend a good amount of time trying to find the right way to go and it made you feel accomplished when you get out of that damned place. In D3 i didnt see much of this it felt like the levels were just meant to be ran through.
4. PvP
The best part of D2 was the fact you would just sit in town and duel, we didnt need capture the flag or 3 on 3s (although they did happen), D3 has lost this and turned it more into a tournament style of fighting than what it used to be, and while it wont be out when the game is released blizzard isnt know for changing a design like this.
5. Monster design
Blizzard north was amazing with the bosses they designed, they scared us, and made us fear Diablo. I didnt ever expect i would run into a fluffy marshmellow man like you will in D3.
D2 had 2 different online game modes and a single player mode D3 has 1 single player mode and 1 multiplayer mode.
Open B.net anyone?
Open B.net was horrible for anyone that ever played it, filled with hackers and hacked items that were always insanely over powered and stupidly named but it was fun and kept some playing, doubt well see this in diablo 3.
scroll to the bottom of this page, looks a little like the original blizzard team doesnt it?
Blizzard is not what it used to be. The games they produce now are geared towards a different audience, the belief that the "WoW formula" worked once and it must end eventually. Games like path of exile are giving us vets what we wanted and blizzard refuses. We asked for a Diablo themed ARPG and instead we get this instead. The same can be said about starcraft 2, we wanted a SC2 and what we got was starcraft, cartoon graphics, shitty balance issues (the original had them but not nearly as bad as sc2), and a horrible battle.net Diablo 3 will be a continuation of this. Diablo isnt a sequel, its world of warcraft with a top down view, 6 skills, and graphics that look like hell. PoE may not be the greatest graphics but they are far from outdated, the gameplay is better, feels better, and whats we true diablo fans wanted.
The real Diablo fans will not buy Diablo 3, the rest of you who are saw the add on the world of warcraft forums and will but it because its pretty.
PRAISE THE LORD. AMEN.
I agree with everything you said its a shame that all the people doenst see it like us.
While I only played to to the skeleton king level and finished it and on every class I know it is just the opening of the game.
However I was no impressed and the game didn't feel like diablo to me. No talent trees to experiment with. Outdated graphics. and a unfinished game to be released in 11 days. People will buy it thus supporting shitty design ideas and promoting that it is ok to release unfinished games.
I want Diablo 3 to be a Diablo sequel, but it is not. It has the story but it's not the same game. also its 2012. the graphics are that of 2007-2009 which is extremely behind to what is being released now.
I will save my 60 bucks and purchase Torchlight 2.
You're full of it.
How does Torchlight 2 have the graphics of 2012 that D3 somehow doesnt?
How is D3 unfinished?
I respect that you dislike D3. But when you try to argument, you should atleast make sense.
People can like D3 for what it is and still think it feels like a different genre and not a true Diablo sequel. From a ARPG point of view its dumb down and also lacks the sense of darkness, horror and danger that some diablo fans think is essential.
This I think makes it a better action game. If you just want to kill things and find loot...And if you want a streamlined game without much complexity that the typical action gamer would think was tedious and boring. Its not a bad action game...but not really a sequel.
And, of course, they had to remove features to get ready for release. Like PvP, rune(item) system and more. They could have delayed it til 2013...But they wanted to release now.
D2 had a color palett of grey and black and red. It wasn't actually dark you just couldn't see because everything was black. What horror?
D3 feels far more gothic to me than D2. The graveyards screamed gothic. It just has a larger color palett. Just because forests are actually green and alive in some areas does not take away from the gothic feel to me.
People can like D3 for what it is and still think it feels like a different genre and not a true Diablo sequel. From a ARPG point of view its dumb down and also lacks the sense of darkness, horror and danger that some diablo fans think is essential.
This I think makes it a better action game. If you just want to kill things and find loot...And if you want a streamlined game without much complexity that the typical action gamer would think was tedious and boring. Its not a bad action game...but not really a sequel.
And, of course, they had to remove features to get ready for release. Like PvP, rune(item) system and more. They could have delayed it til 2013...But they wanted to release now.
They streamlined Diablo 3 when compared to Diablo 2. Not "dumbed down". Diablo 2 wasn't complex. Like they tried to explain in the few posts above yours, there were only a few builds that worked in Nightmare and Hell mode of Diablo 2. Ofcourse, you could do pretty much whatever you wanted in the Normal mode, but Normal ended pretty much around level 30-40. If you wanted to succeed in Hell mode, you was pretty much limited to perhaps 3 builds a champion. That's not complex, that's limited. Same goes for the skill points. Yes, you could pretty much put everything in dex and str. Normal mode would be once again be the end of the line for you then.
Blizzard removed the skill points allocation (well, it happens automatically now) and removed the talent trees. No more putting 20 bloody points in one skill. Just pick the skill you want and use it. If anything, Diablo 3 is more complex then it's predecessors, because most, if not every skill, is viable now. Instead of picking 1 out of 3 builds, you play the game. I really fail to see how that is "dumbed down".
Blizzard could have done something with talent trees and a respec system. The thing is, if you allow unlimited respecs, you can jsut scrap the whole system, because at that moment, the trees are pretty much obsolete. That's how I see it at least.
For me, the darkness and horror are still there. Pretty much the same scenery as in the first two games, albeit with more of the scenery visible. The contrast is more present too. Nice, lush areas, filled with undead creatures, mutilated bodies and the horrors of a demonic invasion. The danger was not present in the demo for me, but I'm confident that the difficulty will increase when we get further in the game.
I wish that people would give some examples of darkness and horror that can be found in Diablo 1 and 2, instead of reusing these hollow arguments.
Originally posted by Saneless ... The same can be said about starcraft 2, we wanted a SC2 and what we got was starcraft, cartoon graphics, shitty balance issues (the original had them but not nearly as bad as sc2), and a horrible battle.net D.....
I have been following the GSL since it started and ofcourse there has been balance problems, but there are less and less of them and more meta game shifts than anything else. Maps do also play a big factor. Complaining about SC2 not being "balanced" when it's just 1.5 years old when SC:BW didn't get fixed before the expansion came is just silly.
There is a good reason there are SC2 tournaments with cash prices of up to 100,000$, the skill level and ceiling are extremely high.
I won't buy diablo 3 because of how you have no choice on yoru chars advancemenbt of any kind, every skill and rune etc is given to you. No stat or skill builds, half the fun of diablo 2 was making skill builds that were diffrent than the norm. in D3? Nope not allow, blizzard just pigeon holes you down the same path on the same class no matter who is playing that class, Sorry but when a f2p diablo clone can have a proper skill/stat/passive system (Torchlight 2 and Path of exile) Blizzard has no damn excuse for not having it other than plain laziness, especally after how many years has d3 been in dev? 5 years? Its pretty sad that after 5 years D3 is the best blizzard could come out with? a bascally watered down worse than diablo 1 game. The game, gameplay wise feels like diablo 0.5. Sad thing is alot of morons will buy it, which just makes excuses for other devs to cop out. Hell they already do especally mmo wise thanks to world of warcraft. Most other games are following the same suit, only savign grace for gaming is the indie devs, they the only ones who actually create shit that feels unique now a days.
I plan to pirate d3 just to spite blizzard like I do to EA, also before you say it, they had a cracked bnet server thingy you could run on your own pc and connect to your own pc or something to play the diablo 3 beta, so don't say its not crackable.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Bob: Hey man, i've been playing this D3 open beta thing
John: Oh cool, how is it?
Bob: Oh i tell u man it's shit they removed the skill trees so it is dumbed down, also the graphics are not like D2, it's crap man
John: omg cant wait to get home and post this on mmorpg.com! "
Jokes aside, how much do YOU know about D3? Every other day, theres people starting threads on this, how the game is not "complex" anymore and how you lost your customisation choices and how it is dumbed down etc. I've felt the same way a while ago, was dissapointed about the lack of skill trees, about the RMAH etc. Instead of bitching my assumptions on these boards, i've started to search for info. I've found a lot of it, the best place where this is summarized is here:
I challenge you to have the patience to read it, and come back with arguments. I've been posting this link at least once per day lately, i'm still waiting for that person able to come back with strong arguments, after understanding the mechanics, what was the developer's view. I understand and respect the people who just don't like D3 or/and Blizzard whatsoever, it's their right. But please, stop spreading garbage without having a clue.
There's the other two topics on D3
1. The graphics - either the game is considered "dark" enough then the graphics are "so not 2012" or the graphics are "too trendy" and the game should look 2005-like as Path of Exile does. Here i cannot have any arguments, to each it's own.
2. The RMAH - please, again, do your research before bitching about that
How can you review a game that hasn't been released yet.
There was a recent open beta stress test of what most likely is the final game client since its so close to launch. The core gameplay is not going to change much as you go into higher level area's especally not in a diablo-like title.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Bob: Hey man, i've been playing this D3 open beta thing
John: Oh cool, how is it?
Bob: Oh i tell u man it's shit they removed the skill trees so it is dumbed down, also the graphics are not like D2, it's crap man
John: omg cant wait to get home and post this on mmorpg.com! "
Jokes aside, how much do YOU know about D3? Every other day, theres people starting threads on this, how the game is not "complex" anymore and how you lost your customisation choices and how it is dumbed down etc. I've felt the same way a while ago, was dissapointed about the lack of skill trees, about the RMAH etc. Instead of bitching my assumptions on these boards, i've started to search for info. I've found a lot of it, the best place where this is summarized is here:
I challenge you to have the patience to read it, and come back with arguments. I've been posting this link at least once per day lately, i'm still waiting for that person able to come back with strong arguments, after understanding the mechanics, what was the developer's view. I understand and respect the people who just don't like D3 or/and Blizzard whatsoever, it's their right. But please, stop spreading garbage without having a clue.
There's the other two topics on D3
1. The graphics - either the game is considered "dark" enough then the graphics are "so not 2012" or the graphics are "too trendy" and the game should look 2005-like as Path of Exile does. Here i cannot have any arguments, to each it's own.
2. The RMAH - please, again, do your research before bitching about that
That is a very good read. Changed my view on the game a bit, but I still am not fond of the way they did it, it seems like it was done solely to make more items people can throw in the rmt ah just to make blizzard more money.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Comments
Your review doesn't detail what the games like in the rest of Act 1 or the later Acts.
What were your opinions on the difficulty in Nightmare and Hell?
I'm a real D2 fan and I've already pre-downloaded D3 and can't wait for the 15th!
PoE will be just a blip on the radar when it releases. The art direction alone and copy-pasting D2 guarantees it.
Played 1 and 2 until I was sooo burnt out on cows that when I left it was like OMG I spent 5 years just playing hardcore cows. Loved the game and the game play. Played all my alt accounts that were mules LOL had 8 accounts and played every character until they died or I capped them.
After play D3 with expectations of hating the game I found it just miles beyond my expectations so you're worng.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
Will i buy d3? Probably.
Will i play it like i played d2? Expect not. If the game comes out and it turns out its not the diablo 2 turned game it appears to be, then great more power to it. But the people hating on PoE simply because it follows other games success is proof of the fanboiblizz cult that exsist. Blizzard is not perfect and their last game and last 3 expansions proved that.
The problem isn't that Diablo 3 is bad, the problem is that it's not special. It's predecesors were.
To put it simply, Diablo 3 looks bland. It looks any other action RPG and it lacks the atmosphere that Diablo 1 and 2 had. In addition, the lack of PvP and off-line play make Diablo 3 an inferior product feature-wise compared to many other online RPG's.
I'll probably get it eventually, once the price drops and I'm not looking for another game. It still looks like a decent game.
Source? I am pretty sure all those games use different engines. Honestly, you lost me there. Your post lost all credibility the second you started spewing out false information as facts.
You seem to have a very strange view of DII. I didn't share that impression at all. After loading up DII after playing DI, I had a feeling of "what is this shit" for quite a while before I shook it off. There was so much DII did "wrong".
As far as I'm concerned, DII lost DI's feeling entirely. DII's atmosphere was something else. DII was significantly less dungeon crawlery because of the open areas and the skills you got. DIII will have the same "problem". DI --> DII/DIII is a major atmosphere switch simply because of how the games function. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, but I believe it's a mistake to claim DII is terribly atmospheric. DIII doesn't have much to live up to and I think it's already doing fine.
"Graphics dont make a game, but in d2 the darkness of a cave or prison and being surrounded by monsters from hell who also looked dark and scary changed the vibe."
- yeah, because that's seriously how I feel walking around Zealing the shit out of everything. No. This feeling existed in DI. It will not exist in any game where you feel decently powerful. In DI it's a big deal because monsters move as fast as you do and can kill you if you misstep even when you have decent gear. In DII, surrounded by monsters = "Yay, that's a lot of monsters to kill at once!"
"You see this in the cathedral, also in D2 you would spend a good amount of time trying to find the right way to go and it made you feel accomplished when you get out of that damned place."
- most of my impression with DII cathedrals were "fuck this place, fuck it, fuck it" because it was so fucking boring. And Jail wasn't particularly different from Cathedral. I don't get that impression from DIII areas, I actually want to clear them. Maybe because they do not consist of different shades of gray and I can actually see where the fuck I am going (although Royal Crypts seem to get close to that murkiness you're looking for).
It's a bit too early to tell for me to actively judge DIII environments, but I like how they did the crypts so far. I don't really expect everything else to be designed this way, I figured that's just how the crypts are. Besides that, I definitely appreciate the 3D environments, the general size, and overall layout.
Never cared for PvP and never will. PvP and DII is a joke. PvPers play games that actually involve skill, like Nox, SC, DotA, or Tribes. Not this "who can farm the best gear" garbage. PvP was tacked on in Diablo and completely unnecessary, all decent PvPers and real Diablo fans (not DII multiplayer catchup plans) know that. So does Blizzard.
Do I seriously need to bring up all the ridiculous monsters DII had? Like the walking gargantuans? Trees? Fetishes? Scarab Beetles (lol)? Cute chirping jumpers? And, seriously, I don't know anyone who was scared of Diablo II. It's fucking Diablo II.
Single Player is one thing I can agree on. Going to miss it.
The fact that Blizzard has changed is a fact, not an opinion. Blizzard has changed even when it did DII, because DII was a totally different beast from DI, just DII fans don't really get that.
Like it or not, DIII will bring innovation. Path of Exile is the same old crap (I played it) with all the same problems that EVERY single Diablo clone has right now (completely unintuitive and boring progression where you just spam one skill. The gemmed skill system guarantees that). I played PoE for some while but I can't even touch it anymore because hitting stuff with one skill over and over and over gets old fast. In DIII, I got to experiment with all sorts of stuff on every character straight away. If you can't see that as a positive thing, nobody can help you.
To say DIII is WoW is just idiotic to say the least. There's like nothing in common in the two games besides levels. WoW copied DII's skill system, you realize that, right?
I wager that DII fans are not necessarily real fans. A lot of DII fans are people who do not understand the genre who came to DII for secondary stuff like PK, PvP, and min-maxing. And that shit was never what Diablo was about. Diablo was about going through the dungeons and killing Diablo. It was never about killing fucking players and getting an elitist attitude because someone didn't put their points in Vitality (btw, you'll find a lot of this in WoW. You're sure WoW is not the game for you?). Nor was Diablo ever about Baal runs. People who got bored turned Diablo play into that. Everyone else left DII soon enough after it became pointless.
Great post by Irus.
PvP was something I use to do at the end of the night for giggles in D2 and probably will be the same in D3. There really is only one decent PvP game out there and that is Darkfall, which is low pop currently as many wait for the release of Darkfall 2.0.
Wait just a damn minute. Those difficulties weren't in the beta were they?
It was just normal mode up to level 13. Sooooo.....you're making stuff up right?
Shadow's Hand Guild
Open recruitment for
The Secret World - Dragons
Planetside 2 - Terran Republic
Tera - Dragonfall Server
http://www.shadowshand.com
Perhaps he died a lot in the Den of Evil? :P
Diablo 2 till Andariel was pretty easy. Diablo 1 was much harder, even in the beginning. Though it had way more to do with the fact that you didn't have any ability, unless you were playing a mage
I still hate the bloody Butcher though.
I can break this "review"down into 2 parts:
1. Anything regarding taste (Graphics).
2. Anything that hasn't been actually tested by the reviewer (Level design, PvP).
Oh, and, why are we reviewing the tutorial exactly?
P.S.: It's 2012. If you haven't got a dedicated internet connection by now, I feel sorry for ya
.
While I only played to to the skeleton king level and finished it and on every class I know it is just the opening of the game.
However I was no impressed and the game didn't feel like diablo to me. No talent trees to experiment with. Outdated graphics. and a unfinished game to be released in 11 days. People will buy it thus supporting shitty design ideas and promoting that it is ok to release unfinished games.
I want Diablo 3 to be a Diablo sequel, but it is not. It has the story but it's not the same game. also its 2012. the graphics are that of 2007-2009 which is extremely behind to what is being released now.
I will save my 60 bucks and purchase Torchlight 2.
You're full of it.
How does Torchlight 2 have the graphics of 2012 that D3 somehow doesnt?
How is D3 unfinished?
I respect that you dislike D3. But when you try to argument, you should atleast make sense.
Strange. Blizzard is the single best PC game developer in the world. SC2 is an E-sport and at the top of strategy. Diablo is the adventure action rpg scene and at the top of its game and WoW was at the top of the MMO scene. Blizzard makes gold out of whatever genre they enter.
This is no different. I played the beta and was a "true" Diablo and Diablo 2 fan. Quiz me. I know every piece of lore and almost all D2 builds by heart. Which isn't a feat sense there were only a couple viable builds for each class. Here, in D3, there are hundreds. A guy did some math magic and came up with over a billion possibilities when considering skill options and gyphs. Not even counting your gear.
These options are actually viable too. None of the skills were unuseful and all brought different elements to combat. At least the ones we got to test. D3 just got rid of the useless crap. There's no point in offering attribute points because frankly all that was was a frusterating trial and error until you looked up one of the two viable ways to build a character. My first playthrough of diablo was the most frusterating thing I've ever experienced. I ultimately had to give up and recreate a new character. Fun. You don't have to worry about permenantly gimping your character here. You can just have fun. I can try out skills to find the ones I like. Another major gripe with D2 is that I couldn't change my skills. I got bored using the same skills for days. I like how in D3 I can switch up my playstyle and keep things interesting. I have a list of skills to choose from that will remain on my hotbar.
People just don't like change which I feel is the problem here. This is not D2 game of the century edition. It's D3. I honestly can't fathom what you'd miss about D2. The two or three viable builds for each class versus the hundreds if not thousands in D3? The hours wasted in ruined characters until you figure out those two or three viable builds? The wondering around in fields aimlessly until you find the exit? Which was NOT fun in the slightest. OP mentions some kind of intangable feeling of greatness upon finding the destination? I never felt that.
I wondered around and wished I could just know where the hell to go because I've been fighting these same fiends in this same field for half an hour. The graveyard was pretty damn open to boot. So I'm not sure what he's getting at here. I wasn't frusterated in the graveyard but it was open enough that it gave me that same feeling in D2 of exploring a vast area without all the frusteration. The combat is fast and exciting. Animations look phenomenal. What is there to complain about for a Diablo fan?
I'm usually against doing this but I'm going to turn that around on you. A true Diablo fan would love D3. Its all we loved in D2 without the frusterating elements.
BTW that is not a marshmellow monster and doesn't look nice in any way shape or form. He actually looks pretty creepy, which is great. I'm actually glad you showed me him because I think he's a great creature. So, thanks.
http://www.wix.com/guardiansofthegarter/home
I largely agree with your assessment. Its laughable that you'd buy torchlight in its stead. I couldn't even play the first torchlight to hold me over for a week until D3. I tried. Today in fact. The game is dull as all hell to me. Although a good buy for the price it asks. Why would you enjoy the talent tree's? Seriously. What did they provide to the game? There was only a few optimal ways to get through them anyways. There wasn't any real choice there. Aside from that all they did was lock us into place. Once I chose a skill I couldn't experiment and have fun with the others. I was stuck using that skill for, basically, ever. Unless I was ok with wasting a skill point.
Instead of talent tree's you have runes which allow the customizability of the moves themselves. D3 looks a thousand times better than Torchlight 2. ESPECIALLY if your looking for any hint of realism T2 is undoubtedly cartoon.
if you like experimenting D3 has a ton of skills for you to choose from. A great deal of them. Here, though, you can actually experiment. I would hardly call D2 experimenting sense it wasn't an experiment. I knew where I was going to put my points in already. It was useless. There was no real choice there because there was only one way to viably get through each classes skill trees.
Anyways, that's my take.
http://www.wix.com/guardiansofthegarter/home
People can like D3 for what it is and still think it feels like a different genre and not a true Diablo sequel. From a ARPG point of view its dumb down and also lacks the sense of darkness, horror and danger that some diablo fans think is essential.
This I think makes it a better action game. If you just want to kill things and find loot...And if you want a streamlined game without much complexity that the typical action gamer would think was tedious and boring. Its not a bad action game...but not really a sequel.
And, of course, they had to remove features to get ready for release. Like PvP, rune(item) system and more. They could have delayed it til 2013...But they wanted to release now.
You make it sound like D2 was complex. Are you for real?
PRAISE THE LORD. AMEN.
I agree with everything you said its a shame that all the people doenst see it like us.
Peace.
Beta tester maniac
D2 had a color palett of grey and black and red. It wasn't actually dark you just couldn't see because everything was black. What horror?
D3 feels far more gothic to me than D2. The graveyards screamed gothic. It just has a larger color palett. Just because forests are actually green and alive in some areas does not take away from the gothic feel to me.
http://www.wix.com/guardiansofthegarter/home
They streamlined Diablo 3 when compared to Diablo 2. Not "dumbed down". Diablo 2 wasn't complex. Like they tried to explain in the few posts above yours, there were only a few builds that worked in Nightmare and Hell mode of Diablo 2. Ofcourse, you could do pretty much whatever you wanted in the Normal mode, but Normal ended pretty much around level 30-40. If you wanted to succeed in Hell mode, you was pretty much limited to perhaps 3 builds a champion. That's not complex, that's limited. Same goes for the skill points. Yes, you could pretty much put everything in dex and str. Normal mode would be once again be the end of the line for you then.
Blizzard removed the skill points allocation (well, it happens automatically now) and removed the talent trees. No more putting 20 bloody points in one skill. Just pick the skill you want and use it. If anything, Diablo 3 is more complex then it's predecessors, because most, if not every skill, is viable now. Instead of picking 1 out of 3 builds, you play the game. I really fail to see how that is "dumbed down".
Blizzard could have done something with talent trees and a respec system. The thing is, if you allow unlimited respecs, you can jsut scrap the whole system, because at that moment, the trees are pretty much obsolete. That's how I see it at least.
For me, the darkness and horror are still there. Pretty much the same scenery as in the first two games, albeit with more of the scenery visible. The contrast is more present too. Nice, lush areas, filled with undead creatures, mutilated bodies and the horrors of a demonic invasion. The danger was not present in the demo for me, but I'm confident that the difficulty will increase when we get further in the game.
I wish that people would give some examples of darkness and horror that can be found in Diablo 1 and 2, instead of reusing these hollow arguments.
I have been following the GSL since it started and ofcourse there has been balance problems, but there are less and less of them and more meta game shifts than anything else. Maps do also play a big factor. Complaining about SC2 not being "balanced" when it's just 1.5 years old when SC:BW didn't get fixed before the expansion came is just silly.
There is a good reason there are SC2 tournaments with cash prices of up to 100,000$, the skill level and ceiling are extremely high.
I won't buy diablo 3 because of how you have no choice on yoru chars advancemenbt of any kind, every skill and rune etc is given to you. No stat or skill builds, half the fun of diablo 2 was making skill builds that were diffrent than the norm. in D3? Nope not allow, blizzard just pigeon holes you down the same path on the same class no matter who is playing that class, Sorry but when a f2p diablo clone can have a proper skill/stat/passive system (Torchlight 2 and Path of exile) Blizzard has no damn excuse for not having it other than plain laziness, especally after how many years has d3 been in dev? 5 years? Its pretty sad that after 5 years D3 is the best blizzard could come out with? a bascally watered down worse than diablo 1 game. The game, gameplay wise feels like diablo 0.5. Sad thing is alot of morons will buy it, which just makes excuses for other devs to cop out. Hell they already do especally mmo wise thanks to world of warcraft. Most other games are following the same suit, only savign grace for gaming is the indie devs, they the only ones who actually create shit that feels unique now a days.
I plan to pirate d3 just to spite blizzard like I do to EA, also before you say it, they had a cracked bnet server thingy you could run on your own pc and connect to your own pc or something to play the diablo 3 beta, so don't say its not crackable.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
How can you review a game that hasn't been released yet.
"John: Hey Bob, what did you do yesterday?
Bob: Hey man, i've been playing this D3 open beta thing
John: Oh cool, how is it?
Bob: Oh i tell u man it's shit they removed the skill trees so it is dumbed down, also the graphics are not like D2, it's crap man
John: omg cant wait to get home and post this on mmorpg.com! "
Jokes aside, how much do YOU know about D3? Every other day, theres people starting threads on this, how the game is not "complex" anymore and how you lost your customisation choices and how it is dumbed down etc. I've felt the same way a while ago, was dissapointed about the lack of skill trees, about the RMAH etc. Instead of bitching my assumptions on these boards, i've started to search for info. I've found a lot of it, the best place where this is summarized is here:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3811455085
I challenge you to have the patience to read it, and come back with arguments. I've been posting this link at least once per day lately, i'm still waiting for that person able to come back with strong arguments, after understanding the mechanics, what was the developer's view. I understand and respect the people who just don't like D3 or/and Blizzard whatsoever, it's their right. But please, stop spreading garbage without having a clue.
There's the other two topics on D3
1. The graphics - either the game is considered "dark" enough then the graphics are "so not 2012" or the graphics are "too trendy" and the game should look 2005-like as Path of Exile does. Here i cannot have any arguments, to each it's own.
2. The RMAH - please, again, do your research before bitching about that
There was a recent open beta stress test of what most likely is the final game client since its so close to launch. The core gameplay is not going to change much as you go into higher level area's especally not in a diablo-like title.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
That is a very good read. Changed my view on the game a bit, but I still am not fond of the way they did it, it seems like it was done solely to make more items people can throw in the rmt ah just to make blizzard more money.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!