Review RPG Codex Review: Diablo 3

[Lockkaliber]

Great review.

Honestly, I would like to hear your opinion on the game, since we know (I think so?) you played a lot of D2, and I've seen you praising its design on a couple of occasions.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Very disappointing. I loved the first two games (for different reasons) and I had faith in Blizzard, but they did fuck it up. It's like they tried to move in the direction of God of War but failed miserably, as usually happens when a company tries to turn its product into something it's not.

In D2 your power came from skills (player's choice) and items (player's luck). In D3 it comes only from items as skills modify the equipped weapon's damage. At the same time they dramatically reduced the drop frequency (of set and uniques) because they wanted to push the auction thing, which is retarded. So, now you have a game that's about grinding for items where you get less items because you're expected to buy them?

Plus they added another difficulty level, so Normal is Easy, Nightmare is Normal, Hell is somewhere between old Normal and Nightmare, and Inferno is Hell. So, since the idea is to get your chararcter to level 65 or so (to get decent items), you have to play the same fucking game with all the emotional twists and engagements 4 fucking times per character.

Find 3 blade fragments - lol I stole them - I kill you with death - have you seen my mom the middle aged woman - let's revive some lich dude, he's our only hope - find 3 pieces of the lich - lol I'm evil - I kill you with death - I'm a kid, no just kidding - I kill you with death - fuck, the mom's evil, who knew, right? - let's just kill everyone.

It's a game where you kill monsters for loot. Do we really need this emotional rollercoaster here?

The skills system sucks and can't be compared to D2's system with all its flaws. So, when it comes to strong qualities that could make D3 worth playing, I really can't think of any. It's not that the game is bad, it just that it doesn't shine in any area.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

The skills system sucks and can't be compared to D2's system with all its flaws.

nope, playing TLII beta shows how dogshit the old system was.

 

[Infinitron]

Modders won't fix it

 

[Vault Dweller]

The skills system sucks and can't be compared to D2's system with all its flaws.

nope, playing TLII beta shows how dogshit the old system was.

Back when I played D2, it was a pretty cool system. Maybe TL2 system is better (didn't play the beta, so I'll have to take your word for it), but it doesn't make something that worked well 10 years ago dogshit.

Not to mention that I said that D2's system was better than D3's system, not that it was the best evar.

 

[aris]

THe skill system is good, at least as good as it was in diablo 2 in terms of what skills, and now you also have what is equivallent to a skill tree with free respec, the problem right now is the monotony of finding gold and browsing the AH for items to use it on.

 

[Cynic]

I disagree with the hatred of the skill system. I just got to act 4, NM and had to drastically change my skills to counter the intense mobs I was now facing. I also needed to modify my gear slightly. This was to cope with the nature of the area being far more open and mobs coming from many different directions at once. The play style changed completely for me. How can you say this system is worse? It's different, yes, but it provides a chance to play a different style throughout the game, adapting to situations as they come.

For example, as soon as we got into the high heavens and beat the first boss there, we got through a door and were swamped by a champion pack with reflect damage and some some other shit. We literally did not know wtf was going on for the first 3 deaths as we were dying in like 3 seconds until I moused over them and saw the affixes. So, we adapted, changed our skills, I switched to using serenity and the warding glyph with a retribution mantra. After that, we won, and it felt sweet. For the rest of the area I rocked deadly reach which I have hardly used for the entire game. It worked perfectly for the area. It was a different build for a different situation and it was fun. From a game design POV, this gives the devs flexibility to change things up, forcing you to actually make decisions about which skills to use, when and where.

Sure, perhaps you just go onto the AH and get crazy OP'd loot so you never have to change your build. That's your choice, but I don't play like that. I've bought maybe 3 things from the AH after almost 50 hours of play. I've found fairly decent stuff which, while not being incredibly insanely good, has definitely been good enough to progress. I'm not sure how it will get in Hell but we'll see. I'm not sure I will bother with inferno if it is absolutely required that I farm for days to get gear to progress. That's too much of a time investment for me...but for people with nothing better to do, well...have fun.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I disagree with the hatred of the skill system. I just got to act 4, NM and had to drastically change my skills to counter the intense mobs I was now facing. I also needed to modify my gear slightly.

And? Was such a thing unheard of in D2? I often had to change skills on the fly, which was a lot of faster in D2, mind you.

Sure, perhaps you just go onto the AH and get crazy OP'd loot so you never have to change your build.

Buying items in a game that's about finding items is retarded.

 

[Cynic]

I agree with your second point. But the first, I mean, there are a huge choice of skills here. Despite what people say, different Runes do actually have a significant effect when you sit down and think about how these will work with your gear. There are a LOT of possibilities. People are drawn to the easiest path, which is to simply buy the best gear you possibly can, but there is another path - change your skills to best suit the gear you have. It can work, and it can be a lot of fun.

I'm not saying it's the best system in the world, or that it's better than the old one at all, but I'm saying it does have some fun nuances to it that allow you to play around a bit more with things.

 

[Mrowak]

I agree with your second point. But the first, I mean, there are a huge choice of skills here. Despite what people say, different Runes do actually have a significant effect when you sit down and think about how these will work with your gear. There are a LOT of possibilities. People are drawn to the easiest path, which is to simply buy the best gear you possibly can, but there is another path - change your skills to best suit the gear you have. It can work, and it can be a lot of fun.

I'm not saying it's the best system in the world, or that it's better than the old one at all, but I'm saying it does have some fun nuances to it that allow you to play around a bit more with things.

It will get old, brother. It will get old. Considering that the main bosses have max 4 attacks, preparing a build for them is ludicurously easy - provided that you farmed or bought the right equipment, that is. And in reality there is no alternative path. Once you hit Inferno, no matter what skill you pick you will deal insufficient damage to a bloody skeleton - because their powers is determined only by your weapon. Nothing is so boring as running away from a bunch of zombies, throwing two meteors on them, then running some more, throwing another two rocks 10 times in a row. Yes you can change the skill to some beam or something but it won't change the fact you will do the same thing 10 times over.

 

[Black]

You don't tune your builds for act bosses, you tune them for champions/elites.

 

[Mrowak]

You don't tune your builds for act bosses, you tune them for champions/elites.

You tune them for both... though considering how you can't change the load-outs on the fly it's hard to argue that the skill system is made with this in mind.

 

[Black]

Why both? It's been confirmed that act bosses have lower drop rate than elites/champs.

 

[Kane]

I played D3 and my IQ dropped by 10 points. I was going to sue Blizzard, but then I bought a shiny item in the AH and forgot. All hail Blizzard!

 

[aris]

You love popping moles? Good. Me too.

 

[maverick]

Hey guys, check this out.

I've just installed Diablo 3 (bought a physical copy, brazillian version) and tried to play it. There's an option to play it with different languages, so instead of playing with an ear aching portuguese translation, of course I want to go the true way and have the ENGLISH experience of the game. Most people I know are playing with the english client.

Maybe, were playing.

The thing is, blizzard has JUST REMOVED that option! I'm stuck with the portuguese version. If I try to launch the game with an English Client, I get an error 82, telling me to use the portuguese client.

If I had just waited a bit more before buying this thing, I wouldn't have made the mistake of buying a game that doesn't let me play with the language I want

Now, I'll try to get my money back. I didn't even accept the EULA or whatever. There's an interesting bit on the EULA that I found amusing. It says you don't OWN the game. You are RENTING it. It's a service. You have no guarantee that it will actually work!

Geez, I just wanted to play the goddamn game, and now there's all this headache, argh.

This game (or rather, Blizzard) really deserves a decline tag: :declining:

 

[Cynic]

I agree with your second point. But the first, I mean, there are a huge choice of skills here. Despite what people say, different Runes do actually have a significant effect when you sit down and think about how these will work with your gear. There are a LOT of possibilities. People are drawn to the easiest path, which is to simply buy the best gear you possibly can, but there is another path - change your skills to best suit the gear you have. It can work, and it can be a lot of fun.

I'm not saying it's the best system in the world, or that it's better than the old one at all, but I'm saying it does have some fun nuances to it that allow you to play around a bit more with things.

It will get old, brother. It will get old. Considering that the main bosses have max 4 attacks, preparing a build for them is ludicurously easy - provided that you farmed or bought the right equipment, that is. And in reality there is no alternative path. Once you hit Inferno, no matter what skill you pick you will deal insufficient damage to a bloody skeleton - because their powers is determined only by your weapon. Nothing is so boring as running away from a bunch of zombies, throwing two meteors on them, then running some more, throwing another two rocks 10 times in a row. Yes you can change the skill to some beam or something but it won't change the fact you will do the same thing 10 times over.

From the looks of it I'll probably be stopping at the end of Hell then. We'll see, but I'm certainly not going to "grind" for days just in the hope of getting something that will let me play the same game again for the 4th fucking time. If I have to absolutely use the AH to continue, I'll just stop. So far I haven't really needed it at all, I've sold stuff, but hardly bought anything. As far as changing builds for bosses, well I kind of agree with Black in that the bosses are pretty much a non event in the game, the real challenge and fun comes with the Champs/Elites. However, from what I've been hearing about Inferno, if the only way to beat them is to continually die, whittling them down and then dying again and so forth, or farm gold and go to the AH to get teh awesum gear, then that is utter shit and I won't play at that point. In any case, I got my money's worth out of it, but I might try to make the cash I spent on it back on the RMAH

 

[Castanova]

When you're going through Inferno for the first time, unless you're ridiculously geared, you have to change your build for certain bosses IF you want to solo them. If you're grouping, you can get away with a wider range of builds, though. And there's no reason not to group anymore since they removed the monster damage modifier.

Anyway, I just quit playing this game. I got to Belial in Inferno, died a bunch of times due to under-geared party members, and now I'm done. D2's lifespan, 10 years. D3's lifespan, 1 month.

 

[Vival]

In hardcore mode the AH is much improved in the way that the item selection is rather limited due to the smaller player pool, the dangers of farming and a constant permanent loss of items. Also there is none of that real money shit.
And i have to say how fucking much i hate these stupid voice mails the bosses send you. Diablo "herself" was fucking infuriating. I don't remember him uttering a single word in former installments, in Diablo 2 he left that to retards like Baal, but now tranny Diablo has become unbearably pathetic.

 

[UnknownBro]

Is this piece of shit even a RPG?

I remember playing the original Diablo when it was cool, edgy and athmospheric, now what remains is a micro-transaction-money-making-machine.

Fuck you Blizzard, you may roth in hell...

 

[Zeriel]

Regarding skill choices & switching them to match the situation:

You simply can't and don't switch skills end-game. Nephalem Valor (+75% MF buff you get for killing champions at endgame that guarantees 2 yellow drops from every boss and goes away if you switch skills/runes) means tailoring your skills to individual fights is actually less (by orders of magnitude) efficient. Then you throw in the numbers Inferno is tuned at (speaking as someone who has cleared all of Inferno), and there is really only 1-2 skill setups that are viable, and they always involve every defensive cooldown your class has + a limitless damage move + any stuns/disables you can fit in. There is no room for customization, it's very similar to World of Warcraft endgame in that there is a right way to do things, and then a thousand wrong ways.

They're nerfing Inferno very soon across the board to address this... which is just going to make the game really really easy, at which point anything is "viable", but I suppose it does guarantee that goal of "any build works!".

 

[waywardOne]

This is why game balancing is an art. Any aspie can get the science down.

 

[Cynic]

Regarding skill choices & switching them to match the situation:

You simply can't and don't switch skills end-game. Nephalem Valor (+75% MF buff you get for killing champions at endgame that guarantees 2 yellow drops from every boss and goes away if you switch skills/runes) means tailoring your skills to individual fights is actually less (by orders of magnitude) efficient. Then you throw in the numbers Inferno is tuned at (speaking as someone who has cleared all of Inferno), and there is really only 1-2 skill setups that are viable, and they always involve every defensive cooldown your class has + a limitless damage move + any stuns/disables you can fit in. There is no room for customization, it's very similar to World of Warcraft endgame in that there is a right way to do things, and then a thousand wrong ways.

They're nerfing Inferno very soon across the board to address this... which is just going to make the game really really easy, at which point anything is "viable", but I suppose it does guarantee that goal of "any build works!".

Hmm I see, yeah this is pretty much what I feared. Have come across some bs mobs in Hell so far but they've been fun to kill at least. Already seeing my Monk getting pigeon holed into a few different skills. I think I won't get to Inferno before the patch...I think if it gets easier as in, not bullshit which is what it sounds like now (I don't see how getting killed in one hit from any mob can be fun) it might actually end up being okay.

That whole NV thing is a bit shit though. I guess you are meant to have a "farming" build, then a "content" build but if the packs are so hard then why would you have a different build for either?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The thing is, blizzard has JUST REMOVED that option! I'm stuck with the portuguese version. If I try to launch the game with an English Client, I get an error 82, telling me to use the portuguese client.

Hah, that's awesome. It's like a representation of current design choices in general.

"You may choose now...no, wrong one. No, not that one either. *SIGH* Look, you want this one. Here. Now go gush to your friends about all the choices you can make, alright?"

 

[maverick]

Update:

I managed to return my Diablo 3 copy to the retailer. Let them sort it out with Blizzard. And judging from the review, Blizzard won't be seeing my money anytime soon... Maybe when the price lowers...

 

[shihonage]

I'm gonna try D3 again when they stop changing it with every patch and move on to milking their new MMO.

Hopefully they won't leave it raped and broken like they did with Diablo2, where everything looks like its on metamphetamines now.