Diablo 3 - Review Roundup

Since DII was my first RPG, i did remember the story for quite a while, but after playing games like Fallout 1 & 2, Gothic 1 & 2 and some others, I can safely say that Diablo is not much about the story and much more about loot, pleasure of advancement, and "just one more level/quest" ... :D
 
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I dunno about Diablo iii, havent played it yet. But i have seen some weirrrd things bandied about in this thread. Stuff like Diablo ii had a good story? And Dragon Age Origins had a forgettable story and button mashing? I think some people didn't finish DA:O and/or are confusing games. I can understand the subjective stuff. If you like the epic Darrrrk Forrrceeees Blizzardy storyline then that's cool. I'm even the kind of guy who usually feels compelled to point out that Bioware storylines are overrated a bit. But in DA:O you impregnate a (dragon?-)witch with your own foul seed, or the seed of some psycho mass murderer. And there's no button mashing. So, ummm... forgettable? Apparently -- you forgot everything about the game altogether.

And I can dig people being tired of the "bought reviewers" claim all the time. If diablo iii has some opening week jitters, it's not like you weren't warned. But I am also pretty sick of statements like, diablo ii was universally recognized as the best arpg of all-time. hello, button mashing? It wasn't the best arpg in any universe I or my RL friends occupied. It was cute tho. About as good as Titan Quest, probably. It was no Progress Quest, tho ;) goddamn hamsters
 
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You sure that DA mentioned as poor was Origins and not DA2?
 
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maybe, but saying something is a better arpg than da2 is like saying your girlfriend's kiss tastes better than dog poo...
 
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Well, I think adding mushrooms to the pepperoni pizza and olives to the feta cheese pizza is decadent is disgusting ! What do you have to say about subjectiveness now ??!! :p

Well, I was just tossing out suggestions. I'm more of an onion, green pepper, and sausage guy myself. :) See, just so many choices….

I did play D1 and D2 a fair amount. I remember cut-scenes and I remember some cool boss encounters. But, for the life of me, I can't remember any real "plot" points. Whereas, Dragon Age: Origins seemed very plot-heavy in comparison.
 
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No offense to anyone except Blizzard, but they made a stupid game. It has a profoundly stupid plot, uses stupidly unimaginative and dated game mechanics, and is an overt and disgusting semi-sequel to WoW. The features and functions are a blend of D2 and WoW, but worse than either in many ways.

Why is the level cap 60? So Blizzard can release an expansion that allows you to go to 70 or 80. Maybe even just 65. Sound familiar? Welcome to the WoD, or the World of Diablo. WoD of shit if you ask me.

Highly Recommended for:
- Children
- Coffee break gamers
- People who never played D2
- People who hate themselves
- WoW players

In any other scenario, AVOID AVOID AVOID. Oh, and don't pay $50, wait until it goes down in price. It might be a while, but think of all the time you'll spare yourself from the wrath of Blizzard's uninspired exploitation of D2 fans. I mean, for Christ's sake they could have at least kept the number of players in each game up at 8. Why reduce to 4? So you could sell it as an expansion later? Or have RAIDS like WoW?
 
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???

The level cap is 60 because they had to pick a number and that is what they picked. Why shouldn't the level cap be 60? I'm sure you'd be complaining no matter what number they came up with.

Why is the level cap 60? So Blizzard can release an expansion that allows you to go to 70 or 80. Maybe even just 65. Sound familiar? Welcome to the WoD, or the World of Diablo. WoD of shit if you ask me.
 
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No offense to anyone except Blizzard, but they made a stupid game. It has a profoundly stupid plot, uses stupidly unimaginative and dated game mechanics, and is an overt and disgusting semi-sequel to WoW. The features and functions are a blend of D2 and WoW, but worse than either in many ways.

Why is the level cap 60? So Blizzard can release an expansion that allows you to go to 70 or 80. Maybe even just 65. Sound familiar? Welcome to the WoD, or the World of Diablo. WoD of shit if you ask me.

Highly Recommended for:
- Children
- Coffee break gamers
- People who never played D2
- People who hate themselves
- WoW players

In any other scenario, AVOID AVOID AVOID. Oh, and don't pay $50, wait until it goes down in price. It might be a while, but think of all the time you'll spare yourself from the wrath of Blizzard's uninspired exploitation of D2 fans. I mean, for Christ's sake they could have at least kept the number of players in each game up at 8. Why reduce to 4? So you could sell it as an expansion later? Or have RAIDS like WoW?

hahahah wow. I like people like this:) I'm still having fun.
 
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This is like reading posts from a schizophrenic. My god guys, the game is good and fun…yes it had launch issues. But to anyone who likes arpg's yes, it's a 9.

Actually, that depends what you're looking for. Single player gaming has been nerfed in Diablo 3 but multiplayer kills. So if you're looking for primarily a single player game, with the always online thing, crapper loot, less replayability because of no skills etc etc then the game is more like a 7-8 game. If you're looking for a multiplayer game then add 2 points.

People looking for a gaming experience more like Diablo 2 have already been advised to wait for Torchlight 2. To make a killer Diablo type game you really need Blizzard North.
 
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Well, I spoke too soon (even after 60 hours) - and I have to change my rating from 10/10 to something like 8/10.

The game suffers too much from some poor design decisions, especially related to loot design - which is simply too integral for the genre to work long-term.

But, potentially at least, it's a 10/10. I just need to see Bliz come off their horse and accept they fouled up when it comes to the loot.
 
Actually, that depends what you're looking for. Single player gaming has been nerfed in Diablo 3 but multiplayer kills. So if you're looking for primarily a single player game, with the always online thing, crapper loot, less replayability because of no skills etc etc then the game is more like a 7-8 game. If you're looking for a multiplayer game then add 2 points.

People looking for a gaming experience more like Diablo 2 have already been advised to wait for Torchlight 2. To make a killer Diablo type game you really need Blizzard North.

It isn't that black & white. I'm only looking for a single-player experience and I've enjoyed D3 far more than D2 - but then again, I'm not a ARPG fanatic. I don't understand the "no skills" comment.

I found Torchlight dull and repetitive, so while I'm quite prepared to accept Torchlight II might be much better, I'm not going to just accept the recommendation at face value.
 
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I don't understand the "no skills" comment.

SInce they've taken out the skill trees (and removed player control of attribute points) there's little variation inside each character class which leads to far less replayability value.
 
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I quite like the skill system. It reminds me of Guildwars which I think did that feature very well. You have alot of skill and rune combinations but you can only fit 6 skills on your skillbar.
So there are alot of combinations and to me it ends up comming down to your playstyle and how you want to tackle the combat.
So I am probably going to play with a different set of skills than the guy next to me but that doesn't necessarily mean one of us has the better set. As it depends on how you play.
 
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The skill system is great for short-term play, but it's very bad for long-term replayability.

Rather, not the skill system in itself - but the skill system without something more.

My own suggestion would be:

At level 60 - any given player can get a 5-10% performance boost to all skills in their skill setup IF they choose to commit to a given build. This can be done at any time after 60, but it can NOT be changed back. So, you'd have to stick with that build for that character.

Then you can keep the wonderful flexibility of the system, AND you can have a reason to level up another character of the same class.

The way it is now, there's never going to be a reason to level another of the same class (beyond HC mode) - and that effectively shortens the lifetime of the game in a very big way. Also, it makes lower level legendaries or sets completely redundant and undesirable. Not that they aren't already poorly designed - but everything low level will be pointless forever, once people are 60 with their favorite classes.

Pretty major design oversight, unless I'm missing something.
 
I think they forgot to think about how long people had been playing diablo 2, I mean how many games are there that people play through with the same class a lot of times ?
 
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That's not "no skills" - quite the opposite.

Eh, I'm a lazy lazy man and I was in a lazy lazy mood when writing the post. It would be so much easier if I could just think the words and have them appear on my screen. In fact, it would be even easier if I could buy a machine to think my posts out for me, but I'd have to go to the effort to actually buy the damn machine in the first place and that just seems too much like hard work to even bother *sigh*.

DArtagnan said:
Pretty major design oversight, unless I'm missing something.

Agreed. Massive cock up by Blizzard here unless we're all missing something.
 
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I've been finding that loot and gear decisions get much more interesting when you get to Nightmare. But I still miss finding more legenedary/set items. Blizzard said that D3 has just as many as D2 did, but I'm guessing they must have most of them at the end of the game. I haven't found a single one yet.

With skills, I have no problem with a lack of incentive to have more then one of each character. 5 playthroughs is enough for me. With that being said, I think that it would have made a lot of people very happy if they had given some control over the order in which each character unlocks the skills/runes.

Overall I wouldn't give it a 10/10 either yet. But then I also wouldn't have given pre-expansion D2 a 10/10. There is definitely room for improvement, and we will see what Blizzard does. I'm also curious to see how some of the better changes in D3 influence computer game design as a whole.
 
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???

The level cap is 60 because they had to pick a number and that is what they picked. Why shouldn't the level cap be 60? I'm sure you'd be complaining no matter what number they came up with.

It's the sequel to D2, which had a level cap of 99. They made a design choice to reduce it it to 60. There was a reason for this choice, and although it could be a conceptual balancing effort, with Blizzard's established recent history of charging a premium to allow higher player levels, why shouldn't we assume the same here?

Maybe we should all be like you, and assume that Blizzard isn't going to attempt to exploit more money out of their customers, as they had many times with WoW. Maybe if we wish hard enough it won't happen.
 
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hahahah wow. I like people like this:) I'm still having fun.

And dogs have fun eating their own poop. I wonder if they feel smug about themselves as you do after they've gobbled all that nice warm poop up. I'm willing to bet they do.
 
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