Diablo III Review - Looting From Your Couch

Encaen

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Diablo III Review - Looting From Your Couch

Spamming attacks with the controller just isn?t as gratifying as the click-to-kill computer interface.

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schmulki

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"You can even turn on Elective Mode to allow you to map the abilities to whichever button you prefer. This is one of the few mechanical improvements with the console version, and the importance of being able to easily access your abilities without the danger of pressing the wrong button can't be overstated."

That is and always was on the PC version, too. For some reason, many people missed this.
 

Jburton9

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Great review : ) There are some nice changes to the UI for the console, the wheel rotate around to each slot to see if there are equipment upgrades is nice but from a PC perspective it feels just a tad bit cumbersome. The green up vs red down triangles is what really saves me from squinting like crazy trying to read if it is an upgrade or not.

For me personally, the dodge mechanic feels about useless. It feels like game hit lag, where it is too late to dodge but the animation has not shown this fact. I have had too many times that I am way in the clear and then I hear the whack sound. I check the distances again and it is like they have a 35 foot arm reach? This example is from the basic starter area zombies.

So the game ends up being "just do not get anywhere around where they can hit you in the first place" vs even bothering to dodging away. Where dodge does appear to work is aoe splash spots, it feels like a better fit for the ability. Oh one other note, the dodge speed appears to be the same as the running speed. So far I have found that pursuit monsters have no trouble staying on top of the character the whole time whether you dodged or not hmm.


Dodging mechanics aside, if Blizzard could patch change one thing at all, I wished I had font scaling as it is hard to read the text. I am on a 37 inch screen at a little over 10 feet viewing distance so that is probably part of it but still I would really like to have the font scaling as I like reading flavor text of items, stats etc.

Overall I have actually enjoyed Diablo III on the console, it feels much more like the successor I was looking for. No online requirements, no blasted Real Money Auction House etc.

So much better! As with Diablo I and II, keeping the focus on the story, the fun of bashing baddies and looking for that next potential goody to drop. Good stuff!
 

Smertnik

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schmulki said:
"You can even turn on Elective Mode to allow you to map the abilities to whichever button you prefer. This is one of the few mechanical improvements with the console version, and the importance of being able to easily access your abilities without the danger of pressing the wrong button can't be overstated."

That is and always was on the PC version, too. For some reason, many people missed this.
Well, if you never look at the options menu (which a surprisingly big amount of people doesn't for some reason) you probably won't ever know it's there.
 

Ciler

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Nov 16, 2009
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Could anyone shed more light on how the left stick handles both running and aiming? That sounds annoying if you just want to aim but not move. Is there a way to "stand still" while rotating your character?
 

Ferisar

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Ciler said:
Could anyone shed more light on how the left stick handles both running and aiming? That sounds annoying if you just want to aim but not move. Is there a way to "stand still" while rotating your character?
Conceptually it's still very close to the PC version, seeing as your targeting and movement were both tied to using left-click or left-hold, so I doubt it's too terribly inconvenient. Mostly because abilities "pause" your character unless you can cast them while moving, in which case they're probably just Strafe or Whirlwind, which don't need aiming to start with. Actually, now thinking about it, nothing would change at all, really.
 

zinho73

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Saying that the experience is better in the PC is very shortsighted because it all depends on what you are looking for. Easy to use interface and more control of some skills is what the PC does.

The console has a much more rewarding loot system, offline play and no auction house (just the three most dreaded features on the PC). I imagine that the loot system is much more vital aspect of the game (even if it is not for the reviewer).

I understand that a review is a personal point of view, but sometimes flat statements like "the PC is better" can be misleading.
 

Brother-Link

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Latinidiot said:
Nice, I might pick this up. Does it have local Multiplayer?
Yes, My roommates and I have been playin' co-op on the couch since the game came out and we've been having a blast. The game supports any combo of local and online co-op in one game.
 

StriderShinryu

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Brother-Link said:
Latinidiot said:
Nice, I might pick this up. Does it have local Multiplayer?
Yes, My roommates and I have been playin' co-op on the couch since the game came out and we've been having a blast. The game supports any combo of local and online co-op in one game.
And this is why I will likely be picking up the console version of the game at some point. It's sad to hear the dodge move doesn't really do what it seems it should, but I'm guessing that may have taken a more drastic change to how the game itself works on a deeper level.
 

Kahani

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Smertnik said:
Well, if you never look at the options menu (which a surprisingly big amount of people doesn't for some reason) you probably won't ever know it's there.
The tutorial popups tell you about it as well, so in order to miss it you had to go into the options menu in order to disable the thing that told you how to use the options menu.
 

Rad Party God

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Feb 23, 2010
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Brother-Link said:
Latinidiot said:
Nice, I might pick this up. Does it have local Multiplayer?
Yes, My roommates and I have been playin' co-op on the couch since the game came out and we've been having a blast. The game supports any combo of local and online co-op in one game.
Sounds like Magicka, I wonder why not many devs make these kind of games anymore (4 player coop, local, online or any combination of both).

OT: This might be one of the very few games that actually are better on consoles (for the wrong reasons). I'd pick it up just for the local multiplayer alone, sounds like it could be a ton of fun with some friends playing on the same screen.
 

thisbymaster

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The PC version was shit, design of the items is screwed up from the get go. The very design of the items was them trying to push Wow style weapons into D3. Which didn't work in the first one, and doesn't work in this one.
 

schmulki

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Smertnik said:
Well, if you never look at the options menu (which a surprisingly big amount of people doesn't for some reason) you probably won't ever know it's there.
I never understood that. The first thing I do when I start any app, game or otherwise, is check out options. Sometimes there's things which need to change, sometimes, the app is spying on me by default. Either way, I want to check things out.
 

Latinidiot

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Brother-Link said:
Latinidiot said:
Nice, I might pick this up. Does it have local Multiplayer?
Yes, My roommates and I have been playin' co-op on the couch since the game came out and we've been having a blast. The game supports any combo of local and online co-op in one game.
Oh man, that is wonderful! I am going to have such fun with this. That's the point of consoles really. Playing a game on your couch, with your friends at your side, so that you may punch them when they fuck up.
 

Riotguards

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most people would say a pc to console port will always be overshadowed by its PC superior

but in an ironic twist diablo 3 breaks what i just made up two seconds ago by fixing its hated features
 
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StriderShinryu said:
Brother-Link said:
Latinidiot said:
Nice, I might pick this up. Does it have local Multiplayer?
Yes, My roommates and I have been playin' co-op on the couch since the game came out and we've been having a blast. The game supports any combo of local and online co-op in one game.
And this is why I will likely be picking up the console version of the game at some point. It's sad to hear the dodge move doesn't really do what it seems it should, but I'm guessing that may have taken a more drastic change to how the game itself works on a deeper level.
The dodge move works fine, in my experience. You can't just spam dodge to avoid damage (which is good) rather you have to time your dodge to the incoming attack - so to go with the example given in the review re ranged fire, dodging when the projectile is 20 yards away will do nothing but waiting until the projectile is 2 yards away results in a successful dodge. Think of it like the counters in Assassins's Creed - too early and you get hit, too late and you get hit, but timed right you take no damage.

OT - Having great fun with this at the moment playing through as a Demon Hunter, and the lack of the Auction House makes the dungeon-crawls much more like the Diablos I remember. Glad I held off from getting the PC release, and three of my mates who did get the PC version are - after playing my 360 version - switching to the console version come pay-day.
 

masticina

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So this is the promised Loot Patch 2.0. Awesome that means there is hope for the PC version, that is if the big guys behind the game are willing to sacrifice a bit of their RMAH action. But they won't..

captcha: better half, yes the console version is better!