Diablo 3

[Mathuzzz]

From Wikipedia:
"On August 1, 2005, Blizzard Entertainment announced the closure of Blizzard North. A key reason for the closure was Blizzard North's poor development of what was to be Diablo III which did not meet the expectations of Vivendi."

So the same old story Vivendi realized that it is MMO like, immature games, where the money grows. So the game will beat the previous games sales nonetheless.

Blizzard didn't change, this isn't the same studio that developed Diablo.r

Even though it was developed by different studio, it still doesn�t change the fact, that Blizzard itself really changed around 2000. When you look back at the 90�s, all of their games(Warcraft 1, Starcraft 1, Diablo1, 2) were more dark themed and gritty with Warcraft 2 being exception with its colourful graphics. Warcraft 3, deep in development drastically changed sometimes in 2001, from dark themed art style to what we have seen in 2002 - more colourful than Warcraft 2. And all their games afterwards suffered the same. World Of Warcraft being the king of it all, Starcraft 2 had also a lot of negative feedback about the graphic style and now Diablo 3.

[Bloodshot]

Look back further bro. Warcraft 2 WAS blizzards style, the one they wanted to do, their first games like the Lost vikings reflect that - they did try other things but eventually they wanted to go back to that BUT they made the transition into 3D so it turned the cartoony-yet-stylistic design of Warcraft 2 into an awkwardly colored, badly animated mess with WC3 because the style doesn't work well with 3D games - but they seem to think so, so now they are gearing everything towards that because it's like all of a sudden they said fuck everyone we are going to use a variation of it for everything from now on.

Personally, I really liked the style when it was done in 2D ala Warcraft 2. But once I saw WC3 It completely ruined it, and WoW took it a step even further.

WC1 did still use the same style as WC2 it was just harder to see it because of the low resolution

[Mathuzzz]

Personally, I really liked the style when it was done in 2D ala Warcraft 2. But once I saw WC3 It completely ruined it, and WoW took it a step even further.

I also liked Warcraft 2 graphics and think that transition to 3D stole its dignity.

I think Armies Of Exigo managed to display this fantasy graphics in 3D better.

[Tremor]

So...

I played the hell out of Diablo 1 and Diablo 2, single and multiplayer.

I downloaded the open beta and played it for a few hours during the weekend. I played two classes and got them both up to level 13.

Here are my thoughts:

Graphics:

The graphics weren't nearly as good as I had expected. The dungeons are 3d and multi-levelled and they have a certain 'neat' factor. The player models are OK, but not stellar. I guess I'm mainly comparing the player models to BF3 models/textures, which are incredible. Some of the class abilities/magic/skills have semi-impressive animations.

Also, some of the popup animations on the screen are, for lack of a better term, 'arcade' style. For example, if you kill several monsters really quickly, a splash image will come up on your screen saying, "You're on a rampage, you killed 11 monsters in a row!!!, +100 xp". To me, this tends to take away from the scary/gloomy aspect of the original Diablo, but it's not a deal breaker.


Classes:

I thought the various classes were actually really cool. Lots to choose from here. I played as a Wizard and a Demon Hunter. The demon hunter feels a lot like the archer from Diablo 1, imo. He was a little underpowered compared to the rest until I got to level 6 or 7. Anyway, the fact that there are several classes to choose from gives the game a little more flexibility and extra playability, for me.

Mechanics:

The mechanics are essentially the same, except now there is a primary and secondary attack. Some classes, like the demon hunter have more than just health/mana. The demon hunter had health, mana, and anger (or something similar). However, to me, it seemed that the mana filled much faster than it should. I was able to kill hordes of monsters pretty easily using my more powerful secondary attack without having to run away and let it 'refill'.

I'm not sure if it it was the fact that it was the first level, or that it was just a beta or what, but the game seemed much easier than d1 or d2. I think I had to drink maybe 3 or 4 potions the entire game.

Overall Feel:

I enjoyed the game, but not in the same way that I enjoyed Diablo1/2. Certain elements feel like the old games, but certain elements do not. I remember feeling really edgy/frightened/intimidated to go into dungeons on my own in Diablo 1. I guess there was something about the music, ambience, level design, and monsters that gave the game a really creepy feel. In the open beta, yes the colors are dark and dreary but it imparts more of a sad feeling than a creepy one. I don't know if it's my age or not, but the monsters seem goofy rather than scary. I never once second guessed rushing into an unknown part of the dungeon, whereas with D1, I was very aware that I could be trapped by monsters at any given time. Also, some of the abilities of the various classes makes it nearly impossible to be trapped. The demon hunter has an ability to set a trap that makes all monsters who near it become very slow, the wizard has the ability to freeze everyone in a certain radius for several seconds, and the barbarian can jump large distances.

I'm sure the game will get cooler and/or harder, but it's definitely different than the previous two. I will probably end up purchasing this game, but probably not right when it comes out. Back in the day, Diablo 1 was one of THE games to have, and I just don't feel this way about the new one. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, but it's not the game of the year, imo.

Also, the dungeons weren't randomly created, so 'power levelling' (goind directly to the boss) is a very simple matter of memorising the dungeon..

Plus, nothing can match this:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F46LWQXAZfU&feature=related]Diablo - Into Town - YouTube[/ame]

[Tremor]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfLo-1Sjkr8&feature=related]Tristram Diablo-Classical Guitar - YouTube[/ame]

[Tuesday]

You guys are making me want to play Diablo. By Diablo I mean the first one o.o


I hate you guys so much right now


<3

[Bloodshot]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Diablo-Pc/dp/B00001IVBL]Amazon.com: Diablo: Pc: Video Games[/ame]

[golden_boy]

Diablo 1 is awesome, too bad I can't get it running under wine.

I might try it in virtualbox.

[Efess]

I already pre-ordered it so I'm already committed, despite the negative feedback given by the beta players, I still need to try it out- so hopefully you're on the US server tal if you do end up buying it. Spoon already said he'd be down for playing as well.

I also pre-ordered Torchlight 2, which will have a coop mode unlike its predecessor. That game was a ton of fun, and should be a blast with multiplayer coop. It's pretty cheap too.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Over 10 years waiting on Diablo 3......lol

[vis]

Tal, I purchased Diablo 3, so if you want to play let me know. I'll PM you my BattleTag.

[Rampage]

What class are you guys planning to play

I`m debating between a monk and a demon hunter

[Efess]

Probably demon hunter, I've always been a fan of ranged attacks.

[Rampage]

Probably demon hunter, I've always been a fan of ranged attacks.

The Wizard class seems a bit too easy. Perfect for AoE spells, can teleport, not great at single enemy damage, but amazing for big groups (which D3 appears to have a tonne of).

It`s pretty interesting, I`ve been reading online, and many people are most interested in starting a witch doctor or wizard class, I really didn`t expect WD to be the leader there, so that surprised me.

I started off with a Barb back in D2, but ended up creating all 70+-90+ from all classes.. (lowest being a 70+ necro).

[Stung]

Yeah I gave up on D3 as soon as the original bubbly WOW graphics screens were released. They tried to re-do it all, but it's clear from the posts here and some reviews that it's about on par with Alien 3 after the first two. Eff it.