Diablo 3 Review

[Don Savik]

D3 isnt to D2 as SC2 is to SC1. The problem I have (yes DRM is annoying but I'm not talking about that) is they removed a lot of the already minimal customization you have.

You can't change your appearance because you have armor on all the time? Fair enough.

But you can't really change your armor because you'll probably just be using whats better. Fair enough, D2 was like that.

So what is left to customize? Skill trees and attributes to tailor your character to whatever play style you want?

REMOVED. Yes, I know you can put in runes, but frankly, how much customization is a rune that just make your spell do more damage? Its like having a list of 10 skills and choosing which 4 sound nice to use (yes I don't know the exact number but I'm speaking hypothetically), but even STILL you are going to be the exact same as every other person of the same class you meet (everyone can respec whenever). You get every skill in a linear path. So what does that turn into? a grind to unlock things.

I just don't like the lack of customization. Dungeon crawling is repetitive yes, you walk in a fairly linear dungeon to kill the thing at the end, but leveling up and putting your skills/talents in made that fun! and now its removed! I don't like!

I don't hate the game because its popular. I like Halo and Battlefield as much as any indie games. Popularity means nothing to me. I dislike it because it feels more grindy and frankly just restrictive. Yes it could be fun, but other action rpgs coming out (Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, TL2) could be MORE fun, and frankly sound more fun. Please stop dismissing arguments because someone has a different opinion people. Just because someone doesn't want to play D3 doesn't mean they are a hipster troll.

 

[Bravo Company]

Well, it's Diablo 3.
They did exactly what the fans wanted.
They didn't want drastic changes or innovation.
They wanted Diablo, and they got Diablo made better than ever before.
.

Exactly this, all I wanted was Diablo 2 with newer graphics and some new things to try out. That's what I got, except with some harder difficulty levels (which I'm pleased with)

If its not broken, don't break it it. Diablo 2 wasn't broken so it works out nicely.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I wouldn't say the control are great, e.g. if you want your Wizard to use his/ her range blast you hold the shift button however to see the freeze spell you press 1 making it awkward for your right hand to press it while holding onto the shift button.
Other than that (well and a few other problems) I actually like the game despite being a newcomer to the franchise and the isometric game style.

Pro Tip: Elective Mode + Customizable Controls.

Elective mode lets you assign any ability class to any key. So if you like all the Wizard's Signature spells, you can have all of them assigned to hot keys. Just that you can only assign up to 6 skills at once. Still, it's nice when there's a couple abilities in the same class that you wanna see work together. Just go into Options -> Gameplay and select Elective mode, then note the arrows at the top of the menu when selecting skills.

And customizable controls let you assign that pesky 1-key to something else. Personally, I have 1, 2, and 3 assigned to A, W, and D, respectively; with 4 on the side mouse button. This lets me play the game easily with my fingers on the buttons they're used to being on from years of FPSing while giving me access to all spells without needing to move my fingers around.

I was originally sad I couldn't play, but they've ditched health potions in favor of dropped health orbs?

Potions are still in the game, they're just on a timer so you can't spam them. IE: You can't out-mash a damage ability, you have to actually avoid or mitigate it.

The mana is gone in favor of a built-up power meter?

Only for the Barbarian and the Monk. And I think the Demon Hunter? Haven't really played with that one yet though. Like the review says, each class has it's own resource system.

The graphics look just like WoW?

Oh gawd, that tired complaint? See, at this point your post just reeks of fishing for reasons to ***** about a game that you aren't buying anyway. The game looks NOTHING like WoW. It only resembled WoW in the early demos because- *GASP* -they weren't done building the game!? How DARE they!

Unique character builds are no longer possible?

Um... yes there are. Having played with a couple other Wizards so far (my main class), we all used completely different combinations of spells. Also, explain to me what's so unique about the class builds in D2 when every Pally is a Hammerdin, every Sorceress is spamming Frost Orbs, and every other class is re-rolling Pally and Sorc. But again, you ARE just fishing for reasons to justify your decision to not buy the game, so I guess what can I expect?

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

The only thing that annoys me is the lag and the oversimplification of the skill tree.

They should have kept it similar to what they had in D2, except more refined, and made it so you had to pay some sort of fee to "unlearn" the skill points" for the new players so they didnt feel trapped if they put the skill point into the wrong thing accidentally.

The latency will get better with time (depending on your own connection), right now D3 is just in its prime. EVERYONE is playing the game right now, so the servers are as burdened as they're gonna be.

As for the skill trees, I'll just say you can't please everyone. Frankly I love how they have them working right now. There have been plenty of times where I was playing with some friends and found that my soloing set-up wasn't as effective when I no longer needed close-ranged spells as much since there were people up front tanking, and all it took me was a few seconds to change-out my spells to suit the fact that I was mostly sitting in the back lobbing spells into the fray. Then if I found myself on my own, it'd just take a few more seconds to get back to my soloing build. It's nice being able to just play the game, rather than having to constantly trek back to town to respec. Having your talents locked-in works for WoW, but isn't meant for a fast-paced action game like Diablo.

 

[Viruzzo]

The mana is gone in favor of a built-up power meter?

Only for the Barbarian and the Monk. And I think the Demon Hunter? Haven't really played with that one yet though. Like the review says, each class has it's own resource system.

Actually both of the DH's pools are self-replenishing; there is a class of Hatred generator spells, but it still regenerates quickly by itself (it's possible to run without the generator spells, especially if you use a +regen solution like the Bat companion or use a low-Hatred spender like Chakhrams). Discipline has very little ways to generate it (a spell with long CD, a passive and a couple runde spells off the top of my head).
BTW I think the difference between Spirit and Rage is that the latter is fast self-depleting while the former is not (but I could be wrong).

REMOVED. Yes, I know you can put in runes, but frankly, how much customization is a rune that just make your spell do more damage?

The thing is, runes often change drastically the effect of spells; moreover, there is almost no rune that only increases skill damage. Even the simplest ones like the Chakhram's (that basically all change projectile behaviour and damage type) can make a great difference in using that spell, even more so for runes that completely change a spell's behaviour (Preparation with no CD that replenishes Hatred instead of Discipline? Go and tell me that's the same thing); this is basically as uninformed criticism as it can get.

 

[ironduke88]

The only thing that annoys me is the lag and the oversimplification of the skill tree.

They should have kept it similar to what they had in D2, except more refined, and made it so you had to pay some sort of fee to "unlearn" the skill points" for the new players so they didnt feel trapped if they put the skill point into the wrong thing accidentally.

Can't comment on the lag, but personally I didn't feel like the skill tree was oversimplified. I have enjoyed being able to switch between different skill sets in game to see how they stacked up, without having to reroll another character. I found the freedom to change your characters set up at will, to be more enjoyable than being stuck with the same skill set for the whole game. Further, I think there are actually more skills per character in DIII than in any of the previous vanilla copies, especially if you include the passive set-ups as well.

I feel like a lot of the people complaining on this forum only played the beta, which was very different to the actual game.

 

[BrotherRool]

As expected. No matter where you stand on the 'always online' crap or the graphics, you know that this will be a game which will make your mouse buttons cry.

Unless the place you're standing is a place with a poor internet connection

Or their servers go down. Boy, that first twenty-four hours of the game being live sure were fun.

The people I feel sorriest for were the ones doing hardcore runs that kept being disconnected

 

[Baby Tea]

Your pet can also run back to town for you to quickly sell items making it worthwhile to sell a whole bunch of regular stuff and helping you not have to keep dropping shit half way through a run.

Not only that, but your pet also has a 'shopping list' that will go, sell your items, AND buy you health and mana and other potions, identify scrolls, and town portal scrolls. Seriously. No more annoying runs to town to get the little crap anymore. It's AMAZING (I'm playing the BETA this weekend). I'm having leagues more fun with this beta then I did with the Diablo 3 beta. Leagues more fun.

 

[The.Bard]

Potions are still in the game, they're just on a timer so you can't spam them. IE: You can't out-mash a damage ability, you have to actually avoid or mitigate it.

Only for the Barbarian and the Monk. And I think the Demon Hunter? Haven't really played with that one yet though. Like the review says, each class has it's own resource system.

Thanks for the info. Good to know they didn't completely lose their minds and destroy what made D1 & D2 good. I was shocked when they made it seem that way in the review.

Um... yes there are. Having played with a couple other Wizards so far (my main class), we all used completely different combinations of spells. Also, explain to me what's so unique about the class builds in D2 when every Pally is a Hammerdin, every Sorceress is spamming Frost Orbs, and every other class is re-rolling Pally and Sorc. But again, you ARE just fishing for reasons to justify your decision to not buy the game, so I guess what can I expect?

I wasn't talking about what other people do in Diablo 2. I only played with my friends, so I don't know what the "popular" builds were, nor do I particularly care. I'm talking about making a level 20 barbarian specc'd for throwing axes, and then creating another one specc'd for something else. One spellcaster is a flame master, another could be an ice specialist, etc. It encouraged & rewarded me to have multiple characters who each felt unique. The way D3's gameplay has been explained to me, anyone can swap to anything at any time. I won't say that's definitively a BAD thing across the board, but I personally view it as such.

Oh gawd, that tired complaint? See, at this point your post just reeks of fishing for reasons to ***** about a game that you aren't buying anyway. The game looks NOTHING like WoW. It only resembled WoW in the early demos because- *GASP* -they weren't done building the game!? How DARE they!

Were I a less cool cat, I might take offense to that. I'm a graphic designer by trade, and I take aesthetics and art design in the games I buy VERY seriously. You can like the graphics, you can even be tired of people complaining about the graphics. But I do not need to "fish" for reasons to dislike Diablo 3. Can you honestly look at the game's art design and tell me it looks NOTHING like WoW with a straight face? Really?




Cartoony models? CHECK.
Unrealistic rainbow lighting? CHECK.

The ONLY difference between those two screen shots is the camera angle and D3 lacks the complete cesspool of shit overlaying it.

Diablo 1 was never in that style, and neither was Diablo 2. Please see this shot for reference:



Hey, wow, is that... is that a more realistic lighting color scheme there? I thought rocks were supposed to glow blue and green? And why do unlit things fade to black? Shouldn't they be purple with a pink tinge???

At the end of the day, it's all well and good for Blizzard to say, "Hey, rainbow colors and toony graphics are easy to make, so we will do it!", as it's their IP. But the people behind D2 are all gone, and this WoW-style artwork is just further proof of it.

Again, it's fine if you like it. Just don't take the ridiculous angle of saying D3 & WoW look nothing alike. Cuz that's a laughable statement.

 

[Denamic]

If you really think stylism is bad, you're a pretty shitty graphics designer.

 

[Viruzzo]

Again, it's fine if you like it. Just don't take the ridiculous angle of saying D3 & WoW look nothing alike. Cuz that's a laughable statement.

Not only the original team is not at Blizzard anymore, but it was a different team to begin with (Blizzard North, wasn't even in Irvine). Still, more than it looking like WoW, I think it looks more like any other modern game non-FPS (i.e. Torchlight), with more colours and less "realism", and less like the old Diablos.
At the end of the day, I probably like this new style better (as I love WoW's art style).

 

[Denamic]

If you really think stylism is bad, you're a pretty shitty graphics designer.

People are allowed to have preferences. Even graphic designers.

No.
Not liking a style is one thing.
To dismiss it is another thing entirely.
Were you competent, you'd appreciate the values of styles you do not personally enjoy.

 

[vengerofthelight]

Except it's not a hacker's free zone. I stayed very, very far from that thing.

Excellent point. My comparison to Open Battle.net was a little slanted; most of my Open Battle.net was played with people I knew IRL, so the only "hacks" we used were Mods all of us were using.

I started playing Nightmare yesterday. Not a single speech was completed, and most didn't get the chance to begin. Blizzard understood that story is only relevant the first time and allows you to skip everything.
(Except if the speech is part on an event, those you have to wait. It's easy to know.)

Nice. Sounds exactly like what I want.

Well, you do visit many places in those acts with different stuff.
Also, spoiler: *snip*.

Awesomesauce!

I've played enough Diablo 1 and 2, however I never bothered much to go to really depth lengths.
Someone said earlier that you can use your pet in Torchlight to buy potions and tp/id scrolls.
You don't have such a thing in Diablo 3, because there's no mana potions neither scrolls. And health potions drop in a sufficient rate to give you how many you'll need, at least it was that way for me.
The Health Globes mechanic is fantastic, and gives an interesting twist to combat and helps to keep the place.
Health Potions are instant, heals a fair deal and have a 30+s cooldown (never bothered to check). They certainly are relevant, however you can't depend on then.

Interesting. I'm already used to the "health globe" mechanic from other games (mostly console, come to think of it), but such a long cooldown on health potions without it being a major gripe leads me to believe that A) they're mostly intended for "OH SHIT" situations like boss fights; and B) it was likely an excellent design decision that has made it's way so seamlessly into gameplay that most haven't given it the time of day. That's one thing I've noticed in my life: when something is going right, most won't even notice. It just "fits."

 

[Talvrae]

how it is still called a RPG... It was already a stretch back in 2000, now with not even attribute gestion what remain RPG=Role Playing Game.

RPG=Role Playing Game.

The criteria is in playing the role of a character. Not adjusting stats on a spreadsheet. Please get that notion out of your mind.

I will say this though; the game was shallow and simplistic. But this idea that it's only an RPG if it has stat allocation or something of that nature is simply incorrect.

Oh we agree... But there is no dialogue trees eighter how we role play more than let's say Gears of wars?

 

[vengerofthelight]

Repetitive garbage. It's the soggy fast food in a greasy bag compared to the feast of roast meats and exotic fruits that was games like Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate.

Why do people pay Blizzard to shovel this gaudy shit to them?

Mmm. I love Baldur's Gate (that mod where you can play the entire series from start to finish with the same character in the updated Infinity Engine is so ridiculously awesome it defies convention) and Icewind Dale (even the first one ).

However, I'm pretty sure games like that are why Bioware has to make crap like TOR these days.

capcha: easy as cake. Heh.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I wasn't talking about what other people do in Diablo 2. I only played with my friends, so I don't know what the "popular" builds were, nor do I particularly care. I'm talking about making a level 20 barbarian specc'd for throwing axes, and then creating another one specc'd for something else. One spellcaster is a flame master, another could be an ice specialist, etc. It encouraged & rewarded me to have multiple characters who each felt unique. The way D3's gameplay has been explained to me, anyone can swap to anything at any time. I won't say that's definitively a BAD thing across the board, but I personally view it as such.

Well, whether you'll acknowledge it, Diablo 2 existed outside of the personal bubble of you and your friends. But in any case, those unique builds still exist, and if anything I would argue that D3 encourages them. What happens when it turns out that the throwing build just doesn't work for the Barbarian? You basically lost all the time you spent leveling him when you have to delete him. Or, as in D3, you just take a few seconds to swap-out some abilities for another build. You no longer have to build a character specifically for solo play, only to feel gimped when you hop into a game with other people, because you can just swap-out to another build. I guess that if you hate being able to just play the game, then yeah, D3's system is bad. Personally though? I like playing the game, so I like not having to constantly re-roll or run into town to pay for a respec. A build isn't working? *Click click click* Alright, let's see how this works.

I'm a graphic designer by trade, and I take aesthetics and art design in the games I buy VERY seriously.

Says the guy who insists on using the term "cartoonish" to describe anything that isn't gray/brown with heavy bloom. I don't know if you've looked outside the window, recently, but there are more colors in this world than gray and brown.

At the end of the day, it's all well and good for Blizzard to say, "Hey, rainbow colors and toony graphics are easy to make, so we will do it!", as it's their IP. But the people behind D2 are all gone, and this WoW-style artwork is just further proof of it.

See, and that's all the more reason why I find it hard to believe that you take graphics seriously. You want to know why every single cookie-cutter Modern Warfare wannabe uses washed-out gray/brown colors for all their games (aside from the fact that it's the scheme used by the game they're copying)? Because THAT is what's "easy to make". The more color you put into your game, the more you have to make sure that the colors all work together. If everything is a dull gray and brown, you don't have to do much coordinating because everything is the same color.

BTW I think the difference between Spirit and Rage is that the latter is fast self-depleting while the former is not (but I could be wrong).

That's correct. Both require that you use attacks to build them up, but Rage will drain when you get out of combat; where as Spirit not only doesn't drain, but the Monk can learn abilities and equip gear that allows it to replenish itself.

 

[vengerofthelight]

I've had a chance to play a good amount now, so here are my thoughts:

Overall, I'm kind of disappointed to find an overwhelming feeling of "auto-play" in the game. Every aspect has been boiled down and streamlined to such a degree that it doesn't feel like a proper, AAA retail RPG, but more like a browser-based/facebook, "casual" shell of one that you just click through in auto-pilot mode.

My hope is that combat will become a little more strategy/puzzle-like after Act1/Normal difficulty, but simple point-and-click murder is standard fare for all three games in the beginning.

Your character's new abilities are just automatically granted to you with no thought or choice involved. There's a bit of variety with the runes and the "mapping" of mouse-click abilites, but they're easily changed on the fly. Good for indecisive types, I suppose, but kind of boring. And if I can just switch abilities so quickly, why not just let me have all of the abilities all the time?

In D2 my skill choices were pretty much automatic based on what I wanted to invest in from the get-go, so unlocking skills/runes automatically with level just takes that busy-work away for me.That said, having every skill available at all times would likely end up looking like the clutter-fest, macro-required gameplay that WoW is, and I detest WoW. Design like that is why games like Guild Wars (and it's sequel) stick to a set number of skills at a time.

Infinite-use Town Portal on demand is admittedly convenient (especially since you're drowning in loot, another point I'll touch on) but takes away the tension of deciding to use up a scroll. Same with HP and mana - there's no tension at all when killing a bunch of weak enemies constantly just replenishes it. I've had to drink a health potion once in about 5 hours of play.

Again, in D2 this was a non-issue because of my equipment choices. To clarify, if I knew I was going to be using a lot of mana, I would just keep gear that increased mana-regen and mana-steal. Removing the need to do that allows me more choice in what I'd like for gear, like increasing damage parameters or having effect% on hit.

The tension of using a TP, by the way, only existed for me early on in D1. I actually used to just carry a tome of TP in D2 so I could sell it when it was full. >.>

And then there is the utterly pointless identification of mystery magic items. Before, you had to use a scroll or be the class that had the ability, but now anybody can effortlessly just click the item and ID it - why even include mystery items then??? I am truly baffled by this one.

THIS.

The whole unidentified item concept is horribly outdated. If I absolutely had to find something good to say about it, I would say that it can be exciting to see an item of the type you want; suspense is there until you're (usually) let down after IDing it, though each disappointment is (theoretically) contributing to the payoff when you do find the item you want and ID it.

(That all could be different on the other difficulty levels, I dunno. But even that's another thing - the need to unlock higher difficulties. Even that choice is denied us for the first playthrough.)

Again, I'll restate the enjoyment of the story for the first playthrough. Yes, we could have the cake/difficulty and eat-it-too/story at the same time, but if this is a compromise to make the game more accessible to people who haven't been playing Diablo for the better part of two decades.

I was hoping that the inclusion of a cool themed notepad with the game was an indication that it would be a kind of more old-school experience that would necessitate note-taking. Definitely not the case. Well, I guess the Lord of Terror can still help me make up a grocery list.

For the record, this is funny and should be quoted in at least one person's signature. I have no idea why there is a notepad within the game, except MAYBE for a hardcore roleplayer creating something we shouldn't think too hard on.

And then there's the loot. Blizzard seemed to grab this aspect of the series and really ran with it - you are rolling around in vast piles of the stuff, the huge majority of which is junk that will be sold for a few gold pieces. This game is like loot porn. I like loot as much as the next guy, but it quickly gets tedious here - they really could have cut back on it a bit.

Agreed. See my previous on the subject.

I have been having fun playing, simply as a social activity with my sister, her husband, and a friend of ours. But I have so far had no desire at all to play by myself. I wasn't even planning on buying the game, but received a copy as a gift - I wouldn't even be playing it otherwise.

That's a shame. I wonder, perhaps, if there is a specific lynchpin on your "meh?" I ask because my little brother, who's been playing Diablo as long as I have, was fairly "meh" about the game, though when we talked about it the biggest issue he had was that he was dying too often. In Act 1! On normal!

I knew there was something odd about this, and it turned out he was experiencing an abnormal amount of lag. After adjusting some settings, he went from "meh" to "YES!"

Not saying lag is necessarily your issue, just wondering if there is perhaps a barrier that could be removed to give you more fun.

 

[vengerofthelight]

Well, it's Diablo 3.
They did exactly what the fans wanted.
They didn't want drastic changes or innovation.
They wanted Diablo, and they got Diablo made better than ever before.
.

Exactly this, all I wanted was Diablo 2 with newer graphics and some new things to try out. That's what I got, except with some harder difficulty levels (which I'm pleased with)

If its not broken, don't break it it. Diablo 2 wasn't broken so it works out nicely.

That's a brave statement to make. For the record, I made a similar statement to my girlfriend yesterday, to which she replied, "But is that worth $60?"

To which I answered, "If it creates, at minimum, 60 hours of wonderful enjoyment, then it's just as good as when we go to the arcade, except there's new stuff in addition to old fun."

It's like an expansion pack, except the expansion updates the engine, gives an entirely new story line, and is incredibly long for an expansion. $60 for that? Sure.

 

[vengerofthelight]

Thank you for writing the post I didnt bother to do

Currently rocking as a melee (sword and shield) DH in NIGHTMARE, soon ready for HELL. The game rewards orginality MUCH better than D2 and D1 did, where there was one cookie cutter spec that was OP for every class.

You arent customizing stats, but playstyle. I facepalm at everyone who calls that "simplification"

Quoted For Truthery.

 

[Viruzzo]

In D2 my skill choices were pretty much automatic based on what I wanted to invest in from the get-go, so unlocking skills/runes automatically with level just takes that busy-work away for me.That said, having every skill available at all times would likely end up looking like the clutter-fest, macro-required gameplay that WoW is, and I detest WoW. Design like that is why games like Guild Wars (and it's sequel) stick to a set number of skills at a time.

Wait, isn't GW like D3 in that you can only have n active and passive skills at a time, but can choose from any?
The WoW model is only possible with (almost) unlimited buttons (multiple action bars with 10 slots each) and keybindings; though you have to understand that (especially as expansions go on) they are moving toward classes needing around less than 10 abilities most of the time, with half of them being either situational or one-shot. Or 2 buttons, if you are an arcane mage (just kidding)!