Diablo 3 - Preview @ GameBanshee

Dhruin

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Diablo III has been previewed in a meaty 6-page article at GameBanshee, complete with a gallery of over 100 screenshots:
It really is a trade-off, with the new system encouraging smart selection of skills over simply min/maxing a key two or three, but it's also less involved, and once you find a few skills you like, chances are you won't feel the need to change them up, which potentially undermines the wide skill selection so emphasized by the "new skill every level" setup. Blizzard claim that Runestones will further enhance skills in different ways (turning a single strike into an area attack, or elemental damage bonuses), but they aren't included in the beta so it's impossible for me to draw conclusions as to whether it represents an improvement or not.

Attributes are still there, as well - Attack, Dexterity, Vitality and Defense - but they're all pretty static, even more so than skills, only changing based on bonuses given by items. Whereas attributes were deterministic in Diablo II, with multiple effects and influences per attribute (such as critical chance, blocking chance, etc.), now they're down to single effects mostly just influencing damage output. Once again, the loss to customization is substantial, and while it means that respecs aren't necessary if you make a mistake, it also cuts into the feeling of ownership of your character. Save for your items, nothing about your character build, if it can even be called that, feels very substantial or significant.

The net result of this is that Diablo III has a much more immediate feel than the prior games. Whereas much of Diablo II especially was about anticipating the next level-up, in Diablo III, those levels feel less like progress so much as they do expand your repertoire as the game's threats grow in number and complexity. I can't comment on the effects this might have on the game's longevity, but needless to say it can make Diablo III feel less like an RPG and more like a straight-up action game from time to time.
More information.
 
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The review as a whole is a pretty good read. It's worth noting that the 6 page review as a whole is extremely positive and that the quoted part is the only mildly negative part in the entire thing (and much of what they say there is still open for debate).
 
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I landed a beta invite a couple weeks ago through my battle.net account, and the negative part that's quoted above is spot on.

Diablo III has gone from an Action/Rpg to an ACTION/rpg. The lack of ownership you feel towards your character is kind of depressing, really.

I went through the beta content once with a Monk, and started both a Demon Hunter and a Wizard, but only got a little ways before I wanted to load up Skyrim again.

Part of the problem is that I know I won't get the high-level stuff because the beta's leval cap is 13, and getting more and better stuff has always been the ultimate pull of playing Diablo for me.

But man, I'm just having a really hard time getting past the fact that they took both skill points and attribute points away from us. As I play, I can't help but feel that Diablo is on a trajectory to go from a classic that's still selling on store shelves 10 years after it's released, to just another action game with RPG elements.

The magic is gone...hopefully Torchlight 2 can find a little bit of it...
 
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I remember that the stress test beta for Diablo 2 was pretty boring as well, just one small area that you can go through over and over again. Sounds like the D3 one is pretty similar.
 
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I am happily watching aRPGs getting hammered by "streamlining" (aka dumped down) like their cRPG brothers , i spent a couple of hours watching beta playthroughs for 2 characters and the game is very like Diablo 2 with better graphics and some pointless bells and whistles .
Is it okay to say that D3 is Skyrimmed ?
 
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I have been playing the Beta and must admit I don't like the new skills and attributes system. It's not a gamebreaker for me because overall the game does capture the Diablo atmosphere despite all the hoopla about the art. But yeah. Plus I really don't like playing the Barbarian.

They really need to release this thing already.
 
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playing geyabo pablo 3 will be worse than 9/11 considering diablo 1 and (to a lesser extent) 2 were worse than the holocaust

extracting enjoyment from the turdablo series is like playing call of duty multiplayer without lame ass cheap quick scoping (which takes 5 minutes to master)
 
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Is this how talk on the Codex sounds like ?
 
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