Zero Punctuation: Diablo 3
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Correction, most Blizzard games have a Metzen ending. Metzen's been involved with most of the stories for the games ever since Warcraft 2. And ALMOST ALL Blizzard games have pretty much had bittersweet endings, especially when taken with their expansion packs.BlueKenja said:
WC2 has most of Azeroths greatest heroes are trapped in Outland facing destruction. WC3 has most of the world ravaged by the Legion and Arthas becoming the Lich King. Starcraft has Aiur being destroyed by the zerg. Kerrigan beating both the UED and the Protoss. And Mengsk instills a new dictatorship.
Diablo the hero is the new vessel for Diablo. Diablo 2 the Prime Evils succeed in corrupting the World Stone, with unknown consequences for the world when it's destroyed.
Diablo the hero is the new vessel for Diablo. Diablo 2 the Prime Evils succeed in corrupting the World Stone, with unknown consequences for the world when it's destroyed.
Diablo 3 is a conclusion (probably), the ending probably isn't going to be bittersweet, otherwise people would complain that it wasn't very conclusive. Or they'd be pissed cause it's an obvious hint at another sequel.
That's what I hate the most about video game stories, no ones ever happy if the story evolves or if the characters grow. They want the status quo. Take the Sands of Time trilogy. Everyone ragged on the Prince's "darker" look despite the fact that he was constantly hunted and it was clear after the third one that he had begun to develop his darker half at that time.
Is that what the kids call it now?scw55 said:
But yeah, this was another funny review and Take That to Blizzard. Best line: "I can't hear you over the sound of all my MONEY!!!"
This is a fact. Personally I prefer a game with a well designed map that seems in some way related to the function of the building. Like the factories in Fallout 3, for instance. They were all kind of samey (they were factories) but their design seemed like an actual building that people would work in, and the fact that it was made by a person, rather than randomly generated from tiles, allowed the designers to throw in little hints of a world beyond the one you actively experience. (Ex. a locked door, behind which you find a corpse with a shotgun, a bunch of bullets, and empty cans of food). That sort of implied story makes me care about the world.Grey Day for Elcia said:
That said, what I just described has to do with my own preferences, which tend towards story heavy games. Diablo is not one of these. It's more of a hacky slashy turn monsters into pulp and time into wonderfully wasted time sort of a game. For that, a randomly generated dungeon causes players to play different tactical situations (monsters from both sides rather than one, teleporting monsters rather than extra strong ones, skeletons rather than zombies) every time they boot up the game. Given that these situations are the focus of the game, randomization of maps and enemies allows many more of them to exist, as an algorithm can generate a whole lot more situations than a human. Personally I don't like it as much as a human touch, but I understand the usefulness all the same.
Also, I like that 'inferior pants' is an actual item description in Diablo. Though the "Superior Leather Pants of Thorns' are my favorite random drop thus far. Simply due to the extreme discomfort anyone wearing them would have.
There are lots of optional dungeons and events (side quests) that may or may not appear in each playthrough, and I think you can't get all of them in a single playthrough, so there is a little more change than just rearranging rooms.vxicepickxv said:
That that isn't true? You can take it out of the game through paypal. Otherwise what would be the point in the difference between the RMAH? "Diablo dollars" are gold ¬¬. And the fact that Blizzard takes a cut is normal; Ebay does it, As do most real life Auction houses, k'know to pay for the cost of the servers/selling it for you.Elmoth said:
Oh the server maintenance is a pain in the arse anyway, not the fixing stuff or actual issues, but the fact they go down every Tuesday at 2-11, I understand it for WoW, but why for D3?Hexenwolf said:
You most certainly do NOT have to always kill the Butcher in Diablo 1. The first main quest you get is random between three different ones.canadamus_prime said:
Killing the Butcher, which gives you his cleaver, Killing the Skeleton King Leoric, which gives you his crown, and purifying the contaminated well by clearing out a cave of monsters, which gives you a ring.
Just as an aside, playing multiplayer results in absolutely no fighting over shiny pants because everyone generates their own pants. You can't see or pick up each others pants, though you can trade.
And that said, yes, I also hate the always online requirement for single player. "Oh you're playing solo? TOO BAD, SERVER MAINTENANCE."
Quick question.Grey Day for Elcia said:
You played it?
Yes? Okay, I guess your OPINION is that it's bad.
No? Shut the hell up and don't judge things without knowing them, thanks.
Something with Blizzard haters is and their love for boredom and fecal matter...The Forlorn said:
But obviously Blizzard made the game online-only because they hate people and they LOVE having to maintain server for characters and crucial game data unavailable in the client to prevent dupers and hackers breaking the game like they did in Diablo 2.
I still don't get why people who didn't play any of the sequels review THIRD game in the series. That's like reviewing Lord of the Rings: Return of the King without watching or reading previous chapters.
"So, this dumb halfling thing called... Fredo... or something... takes a magical... ring that... gives him magical powers... and has to destroy it by throwing into the core of the planet.. and the sun... or something... ANYWAY IT'S SHIT CAUSE IT'S LONG AND HARD TO READ/WATCH."
FYI - Normal Mode is easy on purpose. D2's normal was also very easy. You could finish it in a matter of hours, and with friend's help, you could hit level 80 in 4-5 hours and get to Hell difficulty. Dungeons are randomly generated for the purpose of multiple play-throughs, either due to difficulty levels or different characters.
I really, really can't understand how he can criticize not having melee attacks on a caster (despite being able to... remove that left-click and get normal attacks, if he did research).
"Hurr, I'm a squishy mage with almost no health or defense or melee abilities... I'LL SWING MY DAGGER AT THEM". For that exact reason, Normal Mode is easy... people going into melee with casters on purpose.
Seems to me like this is one of the most forced, uneducated, prejudiced reviews he's had to date.
All the quests are available always in Diablo 2 and all the Uniques are in the same place (random 'bosses' are random and not really bosses, just tough guys with mean friends). Diablo 2 randomly generated maps and enemies from a pre-set list but the quests and the run of the quests (vague map, reward, end boss of quest) was always the same...vxicepickxv said:
Always online is ridiculous, though Yahtzee need not fear people stealing his shiny trousers online, since drops are individual (a feature I really do like). He noted that you can change buttons in the credits so that complaint is out.
The randomly generated maps is for replay, it's more fun to go through a different map layout than the same one every time (gambling principle? I'm not sure, it just is for me anyway). When you're looking for shiny things (definitely gambling principle) it helps.
I enjoy the game, I think I preferred Diablo 2 but thinking about the Diablo 2 I first played and the V1.10 expansion I actually loved...I'm willing to give D3 time. The always online DRM can go suck a donkey though, I hate it. I don't know what the solution is that they're looking for but it's certainly not that. Goddammit I want to be able to play offline as well.
Files necessary for dupers, hackers and other scum that destroyed D2 economy are server-side. You can't access them through client, you "borrow them" for your session. You only have textures, sounds, videos. They have item data, monster data, affixes, prefixes, item properties and so on. You can't even make a maphack because you don't have map data.Chairman Miaow said:
May I pretend that you found the secret diplomacy pathway, creating a splinter universe where everyone just talks out their problems over tea and the Angels, Demons and Humans all realize that there wasn't really any purpose to the Eternal Conflict and then they all go home and leave each other alone except for once a year when they have a picnic and water balloon toss?canadamus_prime said:
(captcha: like the dickens)
Call me crazy, but I think Yahtzee actually -liked- Diablo III, if only a little.Lunar Templar said:
A legion of NetHack [http://www.nethack.org/common/index.html] players and their collection of recovered Amulets of Yendor respectfully disagree with you on this point.Yahtzee Croshaw said:
Do not be fooled by the precambrian graphics -- there is depth here.
I feel like Steam games don't have much of a problem with hacking, and yet the many single player games I have on steam don't have latency issues. I'm sure they put a lot of thought into the whole process, given how much dev time went into Diablo III, but it still feels like a cheap shot when I die due to latency rather than something I did.Abedeus said:
Steam games don't have real money auction house to protect, you can't dupe items because those are server-side as well. You are comparing tomatoes to hamburgers.beefpelican said:
Also, hackers are quickly found on public servers and their accounts are permabanned. In D3, you could use a guest pass to dupe items safely, then slowly pass them around (in Guild Wars that's how dupers do it - they don't sell massive amounts of items, they duplicate them, then release slowly into the market, getting money and slowly ruining economy and items' worth for legit players.
On the other hand, steam games don't have a real money auction house, so perhaps it matters more for Diablo III to be hacker secure, to prevent the destruction of the economy. So there's that.beefpelican said:
Which you realized and posted before I did. Well dang, there goes my righteous anger. Still annoying, but at least understandable.Abedeus said:
Didn't even talk about how the Auction House alters the drops in your game, even if you don't use it, and that in itself pushes you to use the auction house lowering the drops in your game...It's like an infinite cycle of greed...Well it will be when the RMAH comes out.