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Diablo III

Ophiucha

Auror
Presuming you've managed to get past Blizzard's fantastic set up of servers and internet connectivity, through Error 37s and all that good stuff... Diablo III, anyone? I'd never played the old games, but my husband got it, and the bizarre choices of the publisher aside, I quite like what I've seen. I'm sticking with Witch Doctor for my main character, but the Barbarian looks cool - and the female model is a proper large lady and everything! - and I really want to give the female Wizard a try since her voice actress does Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

So, how're you liking it so far?
 

JCFarnham

Auror
I'm doing two things presently:

1) Wishing I had a decent PC.

2) Wishing they would port it to the xBox.

I loved the second installment back in my teenage years, I'd probably adore this one for a while too, but ... bah to the nth degree!
 
I'm playing it. (Managed to get it running on Linux.) It's fun, but so far I'm a bit disappointed; I was a huge Diablo II fan, and D3 is basically... Diablo II with better graphics and UI. The first two acts are even set in the same two places as the first two acts of D2!

There's plenty of lore and backstory and such, but it doesn't feel all that integrated into the gameplay. I mean, yeah, there's cutscenes that explain what's going on, but for the most part it feels like "run around hack slash kill loot" (which is fun, don't get me wrong) interspersed occasionally with a cutscene for some characters to jabber at each other.

I do appreciate simplifying the skills a bit, but it's annoying that it's kind of difficult to switch skills, and you can't really switch on the fly during a battle unless you run away.

It's also really annoying that you can't play if their servers aren't up. I mean, come on, it's a single-player game with multiplayer elements; is the always-on thing really necessary if all I want to do is play through the game by myself?
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
Servers issues are annoying, and I stand by my statement that requiring a constant battle.net connection for solo play is Blizzard's dumbest move EVER, but I still very much enjoy the game.

The gameplay is as I expected, basically just like the previous two but refined still further. I wish it were possible to more easily switch primary and secondary skills on the fly, but oh well.

Finally, maybe it's a result of my own standards going up, but the writing seems weaker than previous Blizzard games. Not by much, but I keep noticing some stuff that sounds a bit cheesy without the tongue-in-cheek tone that lets you know it's satire.
 
Servers issues are annoying, and I stand by my statement that requiring a constant battle.net connection for solo play is Blizzard's dumbest move EVER, but I still very much enjoy the game.

The gameplay is as I expected, basically just like the previous two but refined still further. I wish it were possible to more easily switch primary and secondary skills on the fly, but oh well.

Finally, maybe it's a result of my own standards going up, but the writing seems weaker than previous Blizzard games. Not by much, but I keep noticing some stuff that sounds a bit cheesy without the tongue-in-cheek tone that lets you know it's satire.

Yeah, I have to agree, especially with that last bit. There's also a lot of "Okay, that quest is done. Now here's a couple lines of dialogue that tell you that the next MacGuffin is found in Zone X." It's jarring.

Here's a really good Ars Technica article that analyzes D3 and how it fits into the franchise. (Warning: plot spoilers)
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
I'm so wanting to hate this game. I agree with the constant battlnet connectiong being a bad idea, but I've go the starter edition installed and am SOOO trying not to play. Need to write dam it..... sigh... who am I kidding.... Hours lost boo hoo. Do you guys know about elective mode?
 

Graylorne

Archmage
I wanted to buy it, but I object to playing a stand-alone game over Battlenet so strongly that I won't. Funny perhaps, because I also play WoW and so I have a Battlenet account. Its just a dark, silly prejudice deep inside me, but no, I wont buy it.
 
Didn't buy Heroes of Might and Magic VI when I heard it had always-on DRM. Let's face it, I love HOMM more than I love Diablo.

Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I bought a video game sequel that wasn't on sale for less than $10--Fallout New Vegas, maybe?
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
Something that just occured to me: every single class has it's own special weapons. So why the heck would anyone ever use things like longswords, axes, and spears that drop all the time? Are they just there to give to followers? Hmm... methinks the 'loot galore!' aspect of Diablo has gotten a bit out of hand.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
Armor and weapons are certainly odd in D3. My character is a Witch Doctor and our weapon/off-hand combination is a dagger and a voodoo doll/shrunken head/whatever. But, like, my off hand hoodoo item just seems kind of weak compared to, IDK, a shield. Like, the shrunken head I have now gives me +26 Mana, I think +2% Mana Regeneration, +3-5% Damage? But... it has no armor value. I have picked up random shields with 120 Armor that just seem like they'd be far more useful. The mana is nice, but I mostly just fight creatures with my cheap dogs and by tossing jars of spiders at them. I'd rather some serious defensive bonuses to some extra Fire/Vampire Bats to throw at my enemies.

Also, I know you can share items between characters, but it's kind of annoying how half of my loot I can't even use since it's Monk or Demon Hunter exclusive, y'know?
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Honestly, I like the new skill system.

While it's impossible to switch skills mid-battle without getting pummeled, that wasn't really Blizzard's intent. A lot of developers felt that (in Diablo 2) it was too easy to unwittingly create a broken character by choosing the "wrong" set of stats and skills. Now the game just levels up stats for you (barbarian gets more strength, wizard gets more intelligence, etc. and I think everyone levels up vitality at the same rate) and you have access to ALL the skills for your class.

I don't find the need to switch skills mid-battle. I just pick a set I like and stick to it until I level up and see if I prefer any of the new skills.

So far, I'm playing a male barbarian named Bouldergut, and I have an alternate to be played when two of my friends are around: a female monk named Nun-Li. (Well... NunLi. You can't hyphenate names.)



Regarding shield vs. no shield, that's been a tough one for me. I want Bouldergut to have a huge hammer, but I like the armor and bonus that comes with my shield. Plus, so far, the one-handed weapons I find do more damage (yes, damage, not just DPS) than the two-handed! I may dual wield when I level up enough to use my new axe that the artisan made. It's not as damaging as my current one, but both give lots of health when I kill an enemy. So every time I kill someone, I'll get ~50 health.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Something that just occured to me: every single class has it's own special weapons. So why the heck would anyone ever use things like longswords, axes, and spears that drop all the time? Are they just there to give to followers? Hmm... methinks the 'loot galore!' aspect of Diablo has gotten a bit out of hand.
I found a regular belt that's better than my mighty belt, and my heavy axe does more damage than my higher-level mighty axe (which gives more health when I kill stuff).

At least for the melee characters, all weapons are just as good, but if you want a sword that weighs as much as a person you need to be a barbarian. If you want to punch things, you need to be a monk. That's how I look at it anyway.


The "loot galore" thing... I'm gonna have to agree with you there.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Loot galor is what I think the whole focus to the game is even in D2. They've just refined it. I mean the auction house where you can spend real world money for virtual items kind of puts the exclamation point on it for me. With the auto level on stats, now the whole build of a character depends on equipment since each every instance of a character class has access to all the spells of that class automatically. I like the game but some of the little things irk me.
 
Something that just occured to me: every single class has it's own special weapons. So why the heck would anyone ever use things like longswords, axes, and spears that drop all the time? Are they just there to give to followers? Hmm... methinks the 'loot galore!' aspect of Diablo has gotten a bit out of hand.

Because sometimes you find a generic axe that's better than the Mighty weapon you had before. I think the idea is that in general, Mighty weapons are always going to be better (for Barbarians) than generic equivalents, although I can't prove that yet.

Right now my level 8 wizard is using a two-handed sword because it's the highest DPS weapon I've found so far, and your weapon's DPS for some reason affects your magic spells.
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
Yes, it seems your character has a blanket 'damage' stat, determined by whatever your main characteristic is + weapon (and various magic items that increase damage).

All in all, the gameplay has been boiled down to the minimum necessary to invoke the "Diablo" experience, which I find a little disappointing. Any real semblance of tactical choice and depth has been refined right out. Tis a bit sad - basically, Blizzard made Torchlight Umpteen with a great soundtrack and cutscenes.

I'm ranting a bit. I'm still having fun with the game, but it's become even more shallow than the Diablo franchise USED to be, which is saying something.

One last rant: My monk can use a staff-type weapon, but all his skills have fist animations. Thus, he never actually seems to be using the staff. Looks dumb.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Yes, it seems your character has a blanket 'damage' stat, determined by whatever your main characteristic is + weapon (and various magic items that increase damage).

All in all, the gameplay has been boiled down to the minimum necessary to invoke the "Diablo" experience, which I find a little disappointing. Any real semblance of tactical choice and depth has been refined right out. Tis a bit sad - basically, Blizzard made Torchlight Umpteen with a great soundtrack and cutscenes.

I'm ranting a bit. I'm still having fun with the game, but it's become even more shallow than the Diablo franchise USED to be, which is saying something.

One last rant: My monk can use a staff-type weapon, but all his skills have fist animations. Thus, he never actually seems to be using the staff. Looks dumb.

I'm glad I didn't buy this. I think I'm going to start another Skyrim character instead. I've never been much of a fan of what I've played of Blizzard games, and it looks increasingly like Diablo III will continue that trend.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
One last rant: My monk can use a staff-type weapon, but all his skills have fist animations. Thus, he never actually seems to be using the staff. Looks dumb.
Interesting... I just started a monk last night so two of my friends and I can play characters that level up together. Multiplayer is a lot of fun if you can find people to level up with you!

I was using the punch weapon that she started with until I found a life-stealing sword. I use her second primary skill, which is a punch-punch-kick combo. I'll have to check again to see if that's now a sword-punch-kick, or just punches and kicks.


By the way, my monk's name is Nun-Li (like Chun-Li, but she's a nun). My point being, the way I name my character should tell you how serious an RPG I expect/want this game to be. Maybe this is why I'm not disappointed with the story and other aspects. I expected this to be the halfway point between Gauntlet and a LARP simulator.
 
Yes, it seems your character has a blanket 'damage' stat, determined by whatever your main characteristic is + weapon (and various magic items that increase damage).

I don't think Damage is a stat, per se; it's sort of an aggregate stat that gives you a general idea of how much damage you'll do. If you equip item A instead of item B and your damage goes up, then you'll do more damage. This doesn't mean the item is strictly better; item B might have some properties that you care about more.

All in all, the gameplay has been boiled down to the minimum necessary to invoke the "Diablo" experience, which I find a little disappointing. Any real semblance of tactical choice and depth has been refined right out. Tis a bit sad - basically, Blizzard made Torchlight Umpteen with a great soundtrack and cutscenes.

I dunno, the gameplay seems exactly like D2 to me, with better graphics and UI and a slightly different skill system. And some of the tedious things have been obviated: Having to deal with scrolls of identify and town portal was tedious and not fun, and the way they came up with to fix that was good. The health potion/globes thing is an interesting approach; it means using your health potion is tactical, not just a way to spam your health back up.
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
I'm glad I didn't buy this. I think I'm going to start another Skyrim character instead. I've never been much of a fan of what I've played of Blizzard games, and it looks increasingly like Diablo III will continue that trend.

I'm the opposite. I've always been a huge Blizzard fan - though I have to admit Diablo III disappoints me a tad. I just vented into a blog post...

Still a good game. I just expect more than 'good' from Blizzard.
 
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