Update time. Don't have anything to say on Heroes or OW2 right now, so I'll give general thoughts on D4:
-At this time of wrtiing, I've just started Act IV. On my day off, the stars aligned, and I managed to get in at least 6 hours of the game, which means that not only was I able to complete Act III, but do a copious no. of side quests in the Dry Steppes as well. Right now, my toon is Level fifty-something, which means I've unlocked the Paragon board, but apart from that, don't have much to say on the gameplay front.
-Disconnects are still extremely irritating. I don't know if it's the game, my PC (since it only barely makes the specs), or both, but whatever the hell, it's irritating.
-So I mentioned I did a lot of side quests. I don't have the time or memory to go through every detail, so I'm just going to go through the ones that stick out in my mind:
-Did the Crane Tribe questline, at least until you deliver the blade to the Ox Tribe weapons master (the questline just seems to end at this point, though I may be missing something). This one was pretty neat for a number of reasons, namely:
1: The bickering sibling couple in the Crane encampment got me to smirk.
2: It's a nice tie-in with D2, in that not only are we reminded that Nilathak was an asshole, but as he was a Crane Tribe member, the entire tribe was stigmatized, and remains stigmatized even 70 years on.
3: Helps flesh out the Cannibals' lore (how in their version of 'honour,' they eat the flesh of their enemies, but in doing so, they're going mad - the real-world equivalent might be prions), how some Crane Tribe members developed Stockholm syndrome (so to speak), and how we visit an old battlefield. Makes the world feel more lived-in.
-Qara-Yisu, on the other hand, was a letdown. I was looking forward to this since QY was in pre-release materials, but the actual revelations aren't that interesting. Turns out that the town was under attack by the Cannibals, so they made a deal with a demon, in so doing turning everyone in the town to salt. Even after killing said demon (as a stronghold, that means QY is repopulated to an extent, but the whole landscape remains in ruins), and even after doing its two additional dungeons, very little is added beyond these revelations. Sure, there's the hints, but like a lot of dungeons in the game, very little is actually fleshed out, only hinted at. Really, the best thing I can give QY is its art design - not only just the landscape (a salt-mining town with entire sections of the earth excavated), but the salt-people as well (think Pompei, but with salt instead of ash).
-Minor point, Renaak (sp.?) is an interesting fellow. It's kinda vague as to what he is, but he's basically a demon that's sort of possessed a man on the verge of death, so they now have a dual personality, and he can shift out of human and demon form at will. Turns out Renaak likes his human life (wine tastes good, beds are nice to sleep in), and just wants to live his cutthroat life rather than doing demon things. Um, okay. You live the dream, buddy.
-Ogai and the Grinning One plotline is a mixed bag. On the one hand, Ogai's clearly bonkers, and you have to get bone dust for him to get high on (not exactly, but close enough), only for him to sneeze, and in so doing, sneeze so hard that he blows the dust off a hidden plaque (I outright smirked at that). On the other hand, again, by the end of the questline, Ogai is dead, and while we can infer what the Grinning One actually is, it's still left vague at the end. My guess is that it's a demon of some kind (it usually is), likely worshipped by people in the Dry Steppes at some point (more on that later), but again, inference isn't the same as knowledge. Sometimes, I'd like answers rather than ambiguity.
-Speaking of Dry Steppes culture, this is more of a general thing than a side quest thing, and it'll require a lot of wiki editing to really piece things together, but credit where it's due, there's a lot of background lore if you're paying attention. For instance, the Ox Tribe worship the Oxen Gods, but they're Barbarians, and not native to the area. Based on what people in the Dry Steppes say, there's a plot of reference to ancestor worship, or praising the wind, reference to death rites (e.g. putting themselves in sulfuric pools as a way of farewelling their dead), the events of the Zakarum Crusade, etc. It's all delivered in litle bits, but put them together, and even if you can't remember the details (which I don't - like I said, wiki editing), the impressions, however, remain. That this is a place with a real sense of history, where civilizations have risen and fallen, though right now, like much of Sanctuary, it's on its last legs. Granted, that's also been true of the Fractured Peaks and Scosglen, but I bring it up here because this area had to be built from the ground up (whereas Scosglen has existed in Diablo lore since LoD), and the Fractured Peaks is less about the past and more about the oppressive present it finds itself in under the Cathedral. So well done there.
-By extension, back in Jirandai, there's a mention that reinforces this point, where if you investigate the old Zakarum church, it's clear that the faith is gone (indeed, Zakarum as a whole just seems gone at this point), but it lends its rulers a sense of legitimacy. Again, very solid worldbuilding just from a few lines of dialogue. It's kinda stark how Zakarum, in the space of 1300 years in-universe, has gone from a small cult, to the world's largest faith, to being pretty much relegated to the dustbin of history, the Cathedral of Light having taken over. Of course, this isn't really inference, this is outright stated in Book of Lorath, but even by the game and nothing else, the implications are clear.
-Right, anyway, back to the main questline, moving south into Kehjistan, and reaching the village of Taranuk. I don't have much to say here, only that like everywhere else, Kehjistan is in a state of collapse, and indeed, Kehjistan (the empire, not the land) doesn't even exist anymore (far as I can tell, but as that was stated pre-release, I'm assuming that's still the case).
-Make it along the River Argentek and find Meshif from D2 (how the hell is this guy still alive?) whose mind is so addled at this point, he mistakes Lorath for Deckard Cain. I actually like this idea, but not for the reasons you might think. That Meshif is here is incidental (I don't have any nostalgic connection with D2, so plopping in characters and/or mentioning them doesn't inherently do much for me, but what it represnts and what happens (more on that later) does.
-So we make it to a chapel where Taisia is deposited (I'll get back to this later, I swear!) before setting off with Meshif through a sandstorm to find Elias. Meshif still thinks Lorath is Deckard, Lorath is willing to play along to get the madman to keep guiding them till we finally arrive at the palace Elias has appropriated as a base of power for the Triune. Minor point, absolutely love the design of the palace, though it does continue a tradition of Kehjistan basically incorporating whatever cultures it wants to in whatever areas the player might be in (in this case, Indian), but meh, we go through the palace, discover that the Triune are intent on fighting fire with fire. Sooner or later (likely sooner) the Prime Evils will return, and when they do, there'll be no power on Sanctuary able to stop them, but having a demonic army of their own might be able to turn the tide. That said, weren't the Triune also worshipping the Prime Evils at Mt. Civo? Or was that exclusively the remnants of the original Triune?
-Anyway, we fight Elias, and my toon's so powerful at this point, it's a cakewalk. Also doesn't help that I've spoilt myself, in that here, it's established that he can't be killed, and thanks to spoilers, I know why, but the atmosphere and context is terrific. What's also a nice touch is that we find the Sightless Eye, which is how Elias was able to contact Lilith in the Void. Minor, but given how the Sightless Eye works, it's a good case of using a pre-existing lore to further the plot, even if it's technically a mcGuffin.
-In the midst of this, we get a flashback via the blood petals in the palace. I don't have too much to say about the flashback, but it's well done all the same. Lilith and Elias watch a priest get torn apart by a trio of wolves (human devoured by wolves...Rathma's Prophecy...three wolves...three Prime Evils...why yes, I AM a clever chap), and motivations hinted at. Lilith has come "not to save, but to empower," Elias knows this, he's just counting on humanity being saved in the process, nor does he trust Lilith ("only fools and zealots are certain"). Like I said, minor, but it's well done all the same.
-So we make it out of the palace, and find that Meshif's been stabbled. What follows is Meshif's dying moments, still thinking that Lorath is Deckard, and I will admit, this got me in the feels. Not so much because of Meshif's death (like I said, I don't have any particular nostalgia for D2, and Meshif was just one NPC out of many), but because of what it represents. By my reading of it, Meshif dying is emblematic of the old world (as in, the era of D1, D2) just being gone at this point. Meshif belonged to that era, that era has passed, and despite the efforts he and the characters from that era made, the world has only continued its decline. In isolation, this would be a stretch, but consider everything we've seen so far, with the Dry Steppes being a shell of its former self, with Scosglen and the Fractured Peaks faring little better, I don't know if it is. That, and by extension, Lorath still can't escape Deckard's shadow. Even if I don't factor in BoL into this, it's arguably telling that Meshif thinks Lorath is Deckard right up to the end. Which is a shame (in-universe), since Lorath is a better character both in terms of gameplay and story, but it makes sense in the tragedy of it all. Third, why did Meshif have to die? Who stabbed him? We don't know, we'll probably never find out, but it really fits in with the unending bleakness of everything. At the end of Act I, we lost Vigo. At the end of Act II, we were left with Cerrigar aflame, numerous people dead. At the end of Act III, Meshif dies a pointless death, yet all the characters can do is move on (and apparently take his sword, since it ends up in your inventory - it's a Rare rather than Legendary, so off to the salvage pile it goes!)
-So the act ends, and we make it back to the chapel where Taisia was left earlier. I really don't much to say about her at this point, maybe that'll change. The act ends, and I'm left with the following thoughts at its conclusion:
1: Of the three acts so far, this is the only one where the protagonist doesn't fail utterly. Make of that what you will.
2: While again, this is almost certainly me reading too much into things, it's arguably telling that the place the characters take shelter in is a Zakarum chapel. No information is given on the history of this place, but unlike the dungeons, I'd say this is a case where the ambiguity actually helps. I commented earlier about how the Zakarum have faded from Sanctuary, here, we have a chapel that's literally being swallowed by the sands. Yet as the cutscene plays, it ends up being a place of comfort, which is a rarity in a series where chapels have, well, a certain tendency to be corrupted.
3: I haven't commented much on the personality of the Wanderer at this point, because really, there isn't that much to say. Even by the standards of the series, D3 had more characterization for the PC, in that their dialogue and personalities shifted with their class, and their quest journals fleshed out their personalities further (e.g. a wizard would react to a situation very differently from a demon hunter) until RoS where, as far as I can tell, there's 'character convergence' in Reaper of Souls, where their personalities noticeably darken (at least in the quest journals - certainly that was true for my wizard). In contrast, far as I can tell, the personality of the Wanderer and their dialogue remains the same no matter which class you choose. And while that isn't the worst thing in the world, you could argue, reasonably, that it's a step back (though still above D1/D2).
Still, Lorath's monologue does reinforce the idea that the Wanderer is a fundamentally decent person, contrastng them with Elias ("Elias spoke of salvation, yet stood on a mountain of corpses to do so"). That, and the Wanderer's shown clear moments of compassion, such as how they treat Vigo in his last moments to them finding Lorath drunk at the start of Act III. Of course, "fundamentally decent person" isn't really much of a character, but it does kind of work with the game, given that since D4 is unrelentingly grim 90% of the time, the moments of compassion the storyline allows for certainly work as a matter of contrast. And as mentioned, Act III is so far the only act where the protaognist has actually succeeded, so there's that.
-Getting onto the start of Act IV, there's a sense of comraderie between the PC, Lorath, and Taisia, to an extent at least. I can't reclal if I mentioned this before, but something D3 did extremely well (at least by the standards of the genre) was its sense of comraderie among its main cast - not just the PC, but all the characters they travelled with. D4 doesn't have any of that, as the PC is alone 90% of the time, which befits the game's nature as an open world. I get why the game is like this, since D4 is less linear than any prior game in the series, but still, miss the old feeling sometimes. So this little bit of planning out their next moves is welcome, even if the gang isn't all here, to so to speak (I know that Neyrelle comes back for instance).
-So it turns out that Lilith's plan is to gain entrance to Hell (she has Rathma's key and Astaroth's allegiance, so pretty much has all the pieces she needs), in order to take the power of the Primes (or at least Mephisto) before he can reform. There's an interesting exchange with Lorath where he maintains that this doesn't really solve the conundrum they face, as Lilith, being Mephisto's daughter, can only act out of hatred. She's even outright admitted that she's less interested in saving humanity than using them to her own ends. Still, is that the case? Even confining this purely to D4, Lilith's shown motherly affection (such as it is) to Nevesk and Rathma, for instance.
Time will tell, I guess.
