Man I regret buying Diablo 3 >_<
About a week ago I got a friend of mine in Aus to drop $129 Fijian dollars to get Diablo 3 for me, and now after playing the game through once and about halfway on a harder difficulty - I have absolutely no compulsion to play it.
What sucks even harder is that I still have to pay my friend back for it. It's one thing to buy a game and then get sick of it, but it's another to get sick of it and then have to pay for it.
Diablo 3 was short, under whelming and did nothing to push gameplay to any place new. It did have kick ass FMVs and made for a good pass time - but it didn't get any where close to being as engrossing as it's predecessors.
It was fun until I stopped playing it and then I just didn't want to go back.
If anything, Diablo 3 has taught me a very important lesson. Don't give in to video game hype and fan boy reviews.
Showing posts with label Diablo 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diablo 3. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Diablo 3: After Thoughts
No Spoilers
Last night Diablo the Lord of Terror was defeated by Isaac the level 31 Demon Hunter!
In the end it was a quit a journey that seemed to have ended very abruptly, but it wasn't without its awesomeness.
My after thoughts on Diablo 3 are pretty much in line with my first impressions, except I found the story really picks up as the game progresses. Though a lot it is very predictable, it is still very interesting watching it play out.
Maybe it was the class I played, but as the game progressed on Normal, combat didn't get any harder. If anything it got more hectic, but very manageable... if that makes sense?
The inclusion of runes and passive abilities added to the choices being made in terms of combat spells and such, but none of this got very extensive or complicated. Once you've sort of figured out your playstyle it is only a matter of picking the abilities which suit it.
My guy was balls to the wall offensive, dropping a few abilities in favor of more DPS moves. I did suffer a bit through the 3rd act as the number of baddies picked up - but this was mainly because my guy was all dex and crit with only 89 vitality by the end of Act 3. I sorted this out by the time I started Act 4 though, finding items in the AH that had the same Dex and crit values but with the added vitality.
As far as boss fights went none of them were really that hard, but they did need you to move around a lot, but once the Demon Hunter gets homing missiles and the turret - combat becomes a push over.
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| My build - Click to enlarge |
If anything once you get your toons stats inline and work out a fitting gameplay style, Diablo 3 never losses its casualness, at least not on normal. But this is alright because the game is still fun, especially when the item whore in you gets started and you're after that next best weapon or armor.
The AH however diminishes the joy of armor drops a little, as I had simply bought all the best gear I could get for a certain price range with the stats I was after. Gold is not a problem either as in the end I had more than enough to buy all the bag slots and tonight I'll even buy a new tab because I need a place to keep all my Rare gear before I sell them in the AH.
That would be one cool part of Diablo 3 for me, the fact that once you level past a set of items, you can then take it off and sell it in the the AH.
Spoilers - but no major story elements.
As far as later gameplay goes - up until the 3rd act the game does a very good job of pacing, but from there on it seemed a little rushed. Though I made it a point to explore the shit out of every area I was in, soon the side quests and side dungeons were all but gone, with only the story missions leading the way. This made the last two acts very short.
Sadly the great environments you come across early in the game aren't explored too much in terms of story either, the great settings serve nothing more than a back drop for you to click on things. I was hoping for more background and story on these areas - or even more side quests.
I also hated how combat difficulty boiled down to the number of baddies on screen and not because of any extra added tactics. Between my grenades, homing missiles and turret nothing ever poised a real threat. Most enemies, including bosses, just walked into my rapid fire and explosions often dying before they got half way >_<
I remember spending so many deaths on Diablo back in the day - this time he was taken down on the first try.
Spoilers
Probably the best thing after Act 3 is the FMV - which to me was the coolest one in the game. The setting for Act 4 was an awesome treat as well, as this time you took the fight into the high Heavens. So instead of dark cellars and burning steeps, the last few moments of the game are spent amongst the crumbling halls of Heaven, as Diablo lays waste to all that is good and pure.
This is very short lived though as Act 4 is the quickest chapter to get through.
Aside from a handful of awesome moments, sadly I thought Diablo 3 was a little underwhelming. In the end it really is just a more polished version of Torch Light. Some how the clicking does get addictive, and it's a lot of fun mowing down hordes of baddies, but I wonder how this will play out with a different Toon. My first run was awesome because I thought the Demon Hunter had a very awesome back story and character, even though it doesn't develop much past the description in the characters introduction video.
The main draw for me now is the challenge of pwning Diablo on Nightmare, if anything just to see if it gets any harder. So far it's been a breeze - but I'll hold on a full judgment until I meet the Skeleton King again. If he can be taken down on the first try - then I'll be very disappointed.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Diablo 3: First Impressions
So last night I got my hands on Diablo 3.
I told myself that there was no rush - that I can wait till I have some money to spare, or at the very least I could wait till my next pay. But then like the damn Hell spawn that plagues the game, Diablo 3 crept in and possessed every corner of the internet that I frequent.
So I gave in. I couldn't resist it - Damn you Blizzard and your awesome games!
I was lucky though. By the time I had installed and started on Diablo 3, the host of issues and bugs that littered the news feeds regarding the game were pretty much sorted. In fact I installed the game with no problems and managed to log on on the first try, so my first moments of Diablo 3 were not tainted like so many other eager players.
To be honest I never followed much of Diablo 3s development process. Aside from a few gameplay vids I watched closer to release, and a few class introduction videos from earlier this year, my knowledge of Diablo 3 going in was very limited. Everything I knew about Diablo dated back to Diablo 2 and its expansion. So as I watched the intro video at 11pm last night - I thought to myself "Blizzard you bastards - you've done it again."
First off this game oozes quality. Everything from the amazing FMVs that Blizz is known for, to the interface and presentation of the game is something else. But what struck a cord with me the most is that Diablo 3 felt so familiar.
And that would pretty much sum up my entire first impression - you like Diablo? Here's more Diablo.
Yes I'm sure there are lots of tweaks and differences from Diablo 3s predecessors, but in the sorry 3 hours I spent on it last night I didn't notice too much of it.
In fact I went into gameplay feeling a little under whelmed at first. If there were any innovations to the formula, I didn't feel it last night. But then I noticed that it was 2am, so whatever it was that I was doing was certainly additive. I guess why fix something that isn't broken right?
Before I get into the good stuff I'll tell you a few things that I didn't care for.
First up (and I'm sure I'm a minority in this) is the story. I really didn't give a shit about the story. It all just picks up and starts and there's a rescue mission, but i didn't care. I just clicked on stuff and stuff died.
Another thing was the skill division - or lack there of. Gone are the trees of skills you go through to sort out your toon. Instead as you level up, one skill at a time opens up in a few different areas of your characters stats. It's not like you can focus all your skill points into making your toon offensive, the game sort of tells you "ok here's a new offensive spell" and then "ok now here's a new defensive spell" So it sort of just chooses which spell it wants to give you as you level up - a little like in World of Warcraft. But minus the talent trees.
It is up to you which spells you actually use. So you might have like 2 primary spells - and then you pick the one you want to equip. Plus you have these runes that spice up your attacks by adding buffs and such. So there is a little cusomization - but as with most RPGs, once you find a winning combo for a particular class, I'm sure the majority of players will be using the same cookie cutter build. So it's no Dark Souls in terms of customizations (but then very few games take the risks that Dark Souls takes)
Combat gets a little messy at times when you have to click on a dozen or so enemies standing at on spot, and lets face it, there is only so much you can do with a game where you click to do EVERYTHING. You can pretty much just sit there and play the game with one hand if you wanted. Aside from the left and right click, you have 4 other assigned buttons, so maybe it gets more complicated as to how you use these buttons later, but at the moment it's very simple.
The loot whore in me didn't kick in last night either - but it is still early. I did do the normal upgrades and such, but that thirst for the next best weapon hasn't set on yet.
With the streamed line stats system and easy to pick up gameplay, Diablo 3 feels like something perfect for the casual gamer and I think that's a good thing, because at the heart of it, Diablo 3 offers something that a lot of games seem to be scared of these days. It offers a lot of fun. It's not striving to be super cool or hardcore (though it does have a hardcore mode) Diablo 3 is just a really fun game in the most primal sense of the word.
I did loose 3 hours in what felt like 20mins last night, so despite all of the above personal short comings Diablo 3 had, it is doing something right.
What drove me most in the game was the sense of exploration. Diablo 3s world is rich and very detailed and though I'm very early into the game, what little I've seen is truly awesome. From decaying forests, to creepy crypts, Diablo 3 is a pleasure to explore. So I just wanted to see where I would end up next.
I went into Diablo 3 fully expecting to be either a Barbarian or Monk, but these characters got pretty boring pretty fast for me. Maybe you have to be in the mood for that certain play style. When I tried the Demon Hunter though, everything felt awesome.
Pretty much the Demon hunter is the assassin from Diablo 2 but with a more range focus, and for some reason pointing and clicking his moves out are a lot of fun. It just felt like a little more effort was involved compared to the "fist to face" strategy of the Barbarian and Monk that I had tried earlier. And plus he has the whole Salem Witch hunter vibe going, which is farkin cool...
The Baddies in Diablo 3 are pretty cool too. But even though the place is littered with things like "Ravenous Corpses" or giant bloated ghouls, I haven't met a baddie yet that felt creepy.
That doesn't mean I didn't have fun clicking the shit out of the.
In the end I guess the biggest question would be: was all this worth the wait? Well I wasn't really waiting for Diablo 3, and yes a lot of what I was doing last night didn't seem new to me at all. Some might even argue that the Diablo 3 formula that Blizz delivered has been improved on by other games in recent times, but too me it was more a question of "Was Diablo 3 worth the hefty sum of cash that I dropped on it" and to be honest - it was.
There's no denying the quality that oozes out of this game. The issues that were faced by many upon lunch was a sad thing, but it should not take away from something that just feels like it was put together with a lot of care. I still have a lot to play and it is early stages, but so far it's been engaging.
I even logged on this morning to play, and had to wait in a que >_< But I can't remember the last time I tried to squeeze a bit of game time out of something before rushing off to work.
And right now I'm really looking forward to going home and playing some more.
I told myself that there was no rush - that I can wait till I have some money to spare, or at the very least I could wait till my next pay. But then like the damn Hell spawn that plagues the game, Diablo 3 crept in and possessed every corner of the internet that I frequent.
So I gave in. I couldn't resist it - Damn you Blizzard and your awesome games!
I was lucky though. By the time I had installed and started on Diablo 3, the host of issues and bugs that littered the news feeds regarding the game were pretty much sorted. In fact I installed the game with no problems and managed to log on on the first try, so my first moments of Diablo 3 were not tainted like so many other eager players.
To be honest I never followed much of Diablo 3s development process. Aside from a few gameplay vids I watched closer to release, and a few class introduction videos from earlier this year, my knowledge of Diablo 3 going in was very limited. Everything I knew about Diablo dated back to Diablo 2 and its expansion. So as I watched the intro video at 11pm last night - I thought to myself "Blizzard you bastards - you've done it again."
First off this game oozes quality. Everything from the amazing FMVs that Blizz is known for, to the interface and presentation of the game is something else. But what struck a cord with me the most is that Diablo 3 felt so familiar.
And that would pretty much sum up my entire first impression - you like Diablo? Here's more Diablo.
Yes I'm sure there are lots of tweaks and differences from Diablo 3s predecessors, but in the sorry 3 hours I spent on it last night I didn't notice too much of it.
In fact I went into gameplay feeling a little under whelmed at first. If there were any innovations to the formula, I didn't feel it last night. But then I noticed that it was 2am, so whatever it was that I was doing was certainly additive. I guess why fix something that isn't broken right?
Before I get into the good stuff I'll tell you a few things that I didn't care for.
First up (and I'm sure I'm a minority in this) is the story. I really didn't give a shit about the story. It all just picks up and starts and there's a rescue mission, but i didn't care. I just clicked on stuff and stuff died.
Another thing was the skill division - or lack there of. Gone are the trees of skills you go through to sort out your toon. Instead as you level up, one skill at a time opens up in a few different areas of your characters stats. It's not like you can focus all your skill points into making your toon offensive, the game sort of tells you "ok here's a new offensive spell" and then "ok now here's a new defensive spell" So it sort of just chooses which spell it wants to give you as you level up - a little like in World of Warcraft. But minus the talent trees.
It is up to you which spells you actually use. So you might have like 2 primary spells - and then you pick the one you want to equip. Plus you have these runes that spice up your attacks by adding buffs and such. So there is a little cusomization - but as with most RPGs, once you find a winning combo for a particular class, I'm sure the majority of players will be using the same cookie cutter build. So it's no Dark Souls in terms of customizations (but then very few games take the risks that Dark Souls takes)
Combat gets a little messy at times when you have to click on a dozen or so enemies standing at on spot, and lets face it, there is only so much you can do with a game where you click to do EVERYTHING. You can pretty much just sit there and play the game with one hand if you wanted. Aside from the left and right click, you have 4 other assigned buttons, so maybe it gets more complicated as to how you use these buttons later, but at the moment it's very simple.
The loot whore in me didn't kick in last night either - but it is still early. I did do the normal upgrades and such, but that thirst for the next best weapon hasn't set on yet.
With the streamed line stats system and easy to pick up gameplay, Diablo 3 feels like something perfect for the casual gamer and I think that's a good thing, because at the heart of it, Diablo 3 offers something that a lot of games seem to be scared of these days. It offers a lot of fun. It's not striving to be super cool or hardcore (though it does have a hardcore mode) Diablo 3 is just a really fun game in the most primal sense of the word.
I did loose 3 hours in what felt like 20mins last night, so despite all of the above personal short comings Diablo 3 had, it is doing something right.
What drove me most in the game was the sense of exploration. Diablo 3s world is rich and very detailed and though I'm very early into the game, what little I've seen is truly awesome. From decaying forests, to creepy crypts, Diablo 3 is a pleasure to explore. So I just wanted to see where I would end up next.
I went into Diablo 3 fully expecting to be either a Barbarian or Monk, but these characters got pretty boring pretty fast for me. Maybe you have to be in the mood for that certain play style. When I tried the Demon Hunter though, everything felt awesome.
Pretty much the Demon hunter is the assassin from Diablo 2 but with a more range focus, and for some reason pointing and clicking his moves out are a lot of fun. It just felt like a little more effort was involved compared to the "fist to face" strategy of the Barbarian and Monk that I had tried earlier. And plus he has the whole Salem Witch hunter vibe going, which is farkin cool...
The Baddies in Diablo 3 are pretty cool too. But even though the place is littered with things like "Ravenous Corpses" or giant bloated ghouls, I haven't met a baddie yet that felt creepy.
That doesn't mean I didn't have fun clicking the shit out of the.
In the end I guess the biggest question would be: was all this worth the wait? Well I wasn't really waiting for Diablo 3, and yes a lot of what I was doing last night didn't seem new to me at all. Some might even argue that the Diablo 3 formula that Blizz delivered has been improved on by other games in recent times, but too me it was more a question of "Was Diablo 3 worth the hefty sum of cash that I dropped on it" and to be honest - it was.
There's no denying the quality that oozes out of this game. The issues that were faced by many upon lunch was a sad thing, but it should not take away from something that just feels like it was put together with a lot of care. I still have a lot to play and it is early stages, but so far it's been engaging.
I even logged on this morning to play, and had to wait in a que >_< But I can't remember the last time I tried to squeeze a bit of game time out of something before rushing off to work.
And right now I'm really looking forward to going home and playing some more.
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