Diablo IV

[Lacrymas]

It is done in the style of classical paintings. Specifically the style chiaroscuro.

It is some kind of Renaissance technique, yeah, but I don't think the dark colors are dark enough for chiaroscuro. And the composition is incredibly fine in the sense of the brush work, it looks more like a Romantic painting trying to imitate a Renaissance one.

More like this -

 

[circuit breaker]

lowkey thicc

 

[Dyspaire]

If Blizzard were smart, which is a pretty big if in our current year, they would take a long look at Solasta before they finalize gameplay and mechanics.

I want to interact with the environment; climb moss-covered walls, physically-align forgotten obelisks... it's not too much to ask for some real interactivity with the game-world in 2019.

Also, pacing. One of the magical things about Diablo 1 is that there are relatively-long moments of stillness and silence. Diablo 1 had stretches of time where there were no monsters, and you could take a moment to just breathe it all in.

Dungeon-crawling games will always benefit from having breaks in the frenetic pace of slaying foes, one after the other.

May Diablo IV have at least a few Blade Runner Balcony Scenes: https://www.pcgamer.com/why-i-love-the-contemplative-peace-of-blade-runners-balcony/

 

[mondblut]

When the god-tier demoness and grandmother of all seductresses can't have tits because current year

Is that "beatiful at every size" enough, or still "unrealistic beauty standarts of male gaze objectimaficashun"?

Anyway, if that's official art, go tip REEEEra. This heteronormativity cannot stand!

 

[A_boring_GOG_bot]

Is that "beatiful at every size" enough, or still "unrealistic beauty standarts of male gaze objectimaficashun"?

Anyway, if that's official art, go tip REEEEra. This heteronormativity cannot stand!

Ask the artist : https://www.deviantart.com/kresto-the-artist/art/Lilith-the-mother-of-the-Nephalem-790125124

 

[Grotesque]

(I had original big box with lore booklet

You had? If your house didn't burned out, you have no excuse

She dooooo

 

[Cryomancer]

Balancing around mana cost doesn't work when you have infinite fucking mana, which has been the case in every diablo so far and dragon's dogma. And if the animation is twice as long because it does twice the damage, all you've done is create an inferior skill nobody should ever use. To say nothing of things like buff spells, transformations and so forth. You can't balance a skill that makes you temporarily invincible with anything except a cooldown.

Not true. Repel can negate all damage and has no cooldown on Dark Souls 2.

As for Dragon's Dogma, is a amazing example of game without cooldowns. Ricoshet seeker/hunter can be the highest DPS skill in the game vs living armor in CQB and useless VS lightning dragons at range.

You can balance skills that give immortality by for eg, make it costs gold and make you bankrupt if you use for more than few minutes. Can make require a expensive reagent, can make it stop all mana regen and make you lose mana gradually, there are "N" ways to not have a broken temp immortality skill without cooldown.

Same for transformation skills, werewolf/bear form on D2 is amazing exactly because has no cooldown.

Cooldown = shit.

This is a reason to why most classic RPG's doesn't have cooldowns. Baldur's Gate 1/2, NWN1/2, IWD1/2, M&M VI~VIII, Ultima, Wizardry, all golden box games, Darkstone, etc. I loved kotor 1/2 but could't play swtor due cooldowns and wow like itemization and homogenization.

edit : for the necromancer, if i need design a immortal skill for D2 necromancer, i would create a "mistform" skill where the necromancer can't use most of his spells, can't use physical attack, is still vulnerable to holy/magical damage, but immune to physical/fire/electricity/cold damage, negate all manage regen and you start to lose mana at 10 points per second at skill lv = 1 and each point invested in the skill, reduce the mana loss, that way, will be much more a situational skill good mostly for minionmancers.

 

[Serious_Business]

Cannot fucking wait for this inane mind-numbing computer product made for children to fill the void on my emotional life in a capitalist utopia

 

[Cat Dude]

New reveal reminds me of Diablo 2

 

[Cat Dude]

It does look good. It feels closer to the "original" aesthetic and less cartoony than 3.

Diablo 3 aesthetic was influenced by Warcraft and for them WOW = money

 

[Cat Dude]

Finally, the Negro Barbarian makes sense.

Lowest iq on average but the most athletic to make up for it. There I said it.

 

[Onionguy]

Yesterday, I got seriously hyped up for the game, but I got seriously drunk as well. Today, after watching some streamed demo gameplay, it right away made me flat out sober. TBH, I still like the cinematic and the artworks, but I don't think that the game itself looks particularly good. They might have brought back darker aesthetics and more mature themes, but in practice (gameplay) it still looks off. There is just too much D3 DNA left in it. The action is far too zoomed in and the animations are far too elaborate making everything, when in full motion, look like a cluttered mess. Overall, the game still lacks the elegant simplicity and the transparency of D1 and 2 graphics. The monsters and so many in- doors places, again seem to be overly cartoonish and just not fell right when compared to the originals.

People will hate me for saying that, but they should've gone full 3d with Diablo 4. An isometric arpg just doesn't make much sense to me in 2019. And don't get me wrong, I love me some isometric view. Its a preferable choice for all kinds of rts and turn based games, but in the context of an action title, it's no longer a right way to go. If you don't believe me, just take a look at Nioh, Dragon Dogma or even Destiny 2. That's how diablo formula is done today with some degree of success. So its obvious that Blizzard finally got scarred of their personal "Stockholm-syndrom victims fun club" and decided to play it safe just by cashing in on D2 nostalgia.

Shame, since some of those new artworks are so damn good.

 

[Mazisky]

Yesterday, I got seriously hyped up for the game, but I got seriously drunk as well. Today, after watching some streamed demo gameplay, it right away made me flat out sober. TBH, I still like the cinematic and the artworks, but I don't think that the game itself looks particularly good. They might have brought back darker aesthetics and more mature themes, but in practice (gameplay) it still looks off. There is just too much D3 DNA left in it. The action is far too zoomed in and the animations are far too elaborate making everything, when in full motion, look like a cluttered mess. Overall, the game still lacks the elegant simplicity and the transparency of D1 and 2 graphics. The monsters and so many in- doors places, again seem to be overly cartoonish and just not fell right when compared to the originals.

People will hate me for saying that, but they should've gone full 3d with Diablo 4. An isometric arpg just doesn't make much sense to me in 2019. And don't get me wrong, I love me some isometric view. Its a preferable choice for all kinds of rts and turn based games, but in the context of an action title, it's no longer a right way to go. If you don't believe me, just take a look at Nioh, Dragon Dogma or even Destiny 2. That's how diablo formula is done today with some degree of success. So its obvious that Blizzard finally got scarred of their personal "Stockholm-syndrom victims fun club" and decided to play it safe just by cashing in on D2 nostalgia.

Shame, since some of those new artworks are so damn good.

Isometric is a DIablo staple, they can go 3rd person and stuff but then make of it a new IP.

 

[Grotesque]

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131533/postmortem_blizzards_diablo_ii.php?print=1

 

[Cat Dude]

Yesterday, I got seriously hyped up for the game, but I got seriously drunk as well. Today, after watching some streamed demo gameplay, it right away made me flat out sober. TBH, I still like the cinematic and the artworks, but I don't think that the game itself looks particularly good. They might have brought back darker aesthetics and more mature themes, but in practice (gameplay) it still looks off. There is just too much D3 DNA left in it. The action is far too zoomed in and the animations are far too elaborate making everything, when in full motion, look like a cluttered mess. Overall, the game still lacks the elegant simplicity and the transparency of D1 and 2 graphics. The monsters and so many in- doors places, again seem to be overly cartoonish and just not fell right when compared to the originals.

People will hate me for saying that, but they should've gone full 3d with Diablo 4. An isometric arpg just doesn't make much sense to me in 2019. And don't get me wrong, I love me some isometric view. Its a preferable choice for all kinds of rts and turn based games, but in the context of an action title, it's no longer a right way to go. If you don't believe me, just take a look at Nioh, Dragon Dogma or even Destiny 2. That's how diablo formula is done today with some degree of success. So its obvious that Blizzard finally got scarred of their personal "Stockholm-syndrom victims fun club" and decided to play it safe just by cashing in on D2 nostalgia.

Shame, since some of those new artworks are so damn good.

Isometric is a DIablo staple, they can go 3rd person and stuff but then make of it a new IP.

Agreed. We already have Dark Souls and its clones for that except no special moves.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Balancing around mana cost doesn't work when you have infinite fucking mana, which has been the case in every diablo so far and dragon's dogma. And if the animation is twice as long because it does twice the damage, all you've done is create an inferior skill nobody should ever use. To say nothing of things like buff spells, transformations and so forth. You can't balance a skill that makes you temporarily invincible with anything except a cooldown.

Not true. Repel can negate all damage and has no cooldown on Dark Souls 2.

As for Dragon's Dogma, is a amazing example of game without cooldowns. Ricoshet seeker/hunter can be the highest DPS skill in the game vs living armor in CQB and useless VS lightning dragons at range.

You can balance skills that give immortality by for eg, make it costs gold and make you bankrupt if you use for more than few minutes. Can make require a expensive reagent, can make it stop all mana regen and make you lose mana gradually, there are "N" ways to not have a broken temp immortality skill without cooldown.

Same for transformation skills, werewolf/bear form on D2 is amazing exactly because has no cooldown.

Cooldown = shit.

This is a reason to why most classic RPG's doesn't have cooldowns. Baldur's Gate 1/2, NWN1/2, IWD1/2, M&M VI~VIII, Ultima, Wizardry, all golden box games, Darkstone, etc. I loved kotor 1/2 but could't play swtor due cooldowns and wow like itemization and homogenization.

edit : for the necromancer, if i need design a immortal skill for D2 necromancer, i would create a "mistform" skill where the necromancer can't use most of his spells, can't use physical attack, is still vulnerable to holy/magical damage, but immune to physical/fire/electricity/cold damage, negate all manage regen and you start to lose mana at 10 points per second at skill lv = 1 and each point invested in the skill, reduce the mana loss, that way, will be much more a situational skill good mostly for minionmancers.

Repel isn't balanced. You can use it an infinite number of times. The only reason not to keep it up 100% of the time during boss fights is that it'd be tedious.
Dragon's Dogma is terribly balanced and the only reason to ever use something like exploding bolt over sixfold shot is because the enemy is immune to ice. Having a skill that is the best in all situations except the rare one where the enemy is completely immune to it is retarded.
Making immortality cost gold is retarded because the player is going to get more gold as the game goes on. So either it is never usable, becomes trivially inexpensive after a while, or if it costs a % of your current gold or otherwise scales with your level, is something you just use all the time if you can and never if you can't.
Losing mana gradually isn't a drawback when you have other ways to recover mana. If there is no other way to recover mana except time... congratulations, that's a fucking cooldown.
Druid forms in D2 are the perfect example of an unbalanced skill. You get it, you turn it on, and you never turn it off for the rest of the game. How brain damaged are you to think that is balanced?

Your example skill for D2 is something a summoner or would turn on and leave on forever, chugging mana potions as needed. Again, you'd have to be a colossal moron to not see the flaws in this sort of 'balance.' Have you ever even played a Diablo game? Did you not realize you can buy mana potions?

Vancian magic or a one use per dungeon type skill could be interesting, except that means you have to force players to start over from the begining of the entire dungeon if they ever die or leave. Which I'd be okay with, but most people would not. If you don't enforce that, you get the retarded DnD scenario of having a party of wizards cast all their best shit in round 1 of a fight, leave, rest, come back, and repeat. Not balanced.

 

[ZeniBot]

Isometric is a DIablo staple

you do know that Diablo 3 and 4 weren't Isometric right? Isometric is Orthographic, neither of those games used Ortho cameras. Its funny that Blizzard themselves even don't fucking know what Isometric is.

 

[Grotesque]

it still looks off. There is just too much D3 DNA left in it.

the action is not too far zoomed out.
Fuck PoE in that regard

The DNA you speak of is because :


-the tone of the game is relentless action, dungeons are packed with monsters, non-stop action anytime, anywhere.
-dungeons layout is like a corridor with very slight variation, linear.
-monsters (goatmen) look oversized compared to the player's character and wield oversized weapons
-monster glow bright when struck/affected by skills
-monsters have flashy visual effects, weapons on fire wtc, debuffs
-skills have over the top visual effects.
-lack of fog of war, can see monsters from afar
-the overall flashy soup from D3 is present when lots of monsters are on screen
-moronic humor eg. "Oh well, cheer up! Gold's spread three ways instead of four" the wording alone should speaks about the writing quality. instead of four...

The more realistic artstyle and lightning wich convey grimness is wiped out when combat starts with flashy over the top tone of the combat.
Every time you push a button, something "awesome" happens

* what's the purpose of displaying those numbers is beyond me. not like someone would have time to see them

As someone on the internets said, the "gameplay assisting visuals" are over the top and in your face

Spoiler

 

[Lyric Suite]

It does look good. It feels closer to the "original" aesthetic and less cartoony than 3.

Diablo 3 aesthetic was influenced by Warcraft and for them WOW = money

That was then. I don't know how profitable the WoW brand is at this point.

 

[luj1]

It is some kind of Renaissance technique, yeah...

A number of things,

- oils
- underpainting
- composition
- mastery of lighting

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

One big problem D3 had was that, visually, no enemy actually stood out. Take the Goatman for example.

In D1 and D2, the Goatmen looked distinct and stood out from other enemy types. Making them look like a lesser Sabbatic Goat as depicted by Eliphas Levi fit in well and made them a creepy sight along with their gutteral sound effects. Then in D3 and now in D4 they look like shit. Pure shit, actually. Like if you didn't have "Blood Clan" as an enemy name I'd have never guessed that's a Goatman. You see this with most enemies in D3 where they all blend together and none of them are distinct save for very, very few. Watching that D4 footage, it's the same situation. In D1 I could not only tell you every enemy type from visual alone, but I could even name their palette swap offshoots. I couldn't tell you what half the shit is even supposed to be when D3/D4 is in motion.

And man, those ragdoll effects look so fucking goofy. Bring back proper death animations already.

 

[Cryomancer]

Repel isn't balanced. You can use it an infinite number of times. The only reason not to keep it up 100% of the time during boss fights is that it'd be tedious.
Dragon's Dogma is terribly balanced and the only reason to ever use something like exploding bolt over sixfold shot is because the enemy is immune to ice. Having a skill that is the best in all situations except the rare one where the enemy is completely immune to it is retarded.
Making immortality cost gold is retarded because the player is going to get more gold as the game goes on. So either it is never usable, becomes trivially inexpensive after a while, or if it costs a % of your current gold or otherwise scales with your level, is something you just use all the time if you can and never if you can't.
Losing mana gradually isn't a drawback when you have other ways to recover mana. If there is no other way to recover mana except time... congratulations, that's a fucking cooldown.
Druid forms in D2 are the perfect example of an unbalanced skill. You get it, you turn it on, and you never turn it off for the rest of the game. How brain damaged are you to think that is balanced?

Your example skill for D2 is something a summoner or would turn on and leave on forever, chugging mana potions as needed. Again, you'd have to be a colossal moron to not see the flaws in this sort of 'balance.' Have you ever even played a Diablo game? Did you not realize you can buy mana potions?

Vancian magic or a one use per dungeon type skill could be interesting, except that means you have to force players to start over from the begining of the entire dungeon if they ever die or leave. Which I'd be okay with, but most people would not. If you don't enforce that, you get the retarded DnD scenario of having a party of wizards cast all their best shit in round 1 of a fight, leave, rest, come back, and repeat. Not balanced.

OMG. Did you really played DkS 2????

For 3 attenument slots, you gain 15 casts, can be immortal for a brief moment and require very high casting speed to be viable. But even with unlimited casting speed, you will not be invulnerable for more than 30 seconds. Sorry, but looks like you din't played a single game without BS post wow mmo BS.

As for exploding bolts, not true. Exploding bolts can deal massive damage VS armor and if a enemy is charging at you, it + immolation can make the enemy fail to the ground. Explosive rivet has a lot of stagg power and can deal concentrated damage on weakspots.

As for costing gold, depends on how inflated the gold currency is. If gold is a valuable resource or not in your game.

And seriously. What part of "not receiving manage regen" did you din't get? Potions on D2 heal/regen mana over time. But yes, IMO a guy in mistform should't be able to use potions too. Because makes no dan sense, like cooldowns.

As for rest scuming, see pathfinder kingmaker, you can't rest scum since time matters in the game.

Anyway, fuck balance. Immersion and fun >>>>> ballance. See VtMB Nosferatu, is much harder than Tremere, Ventrue or Gangrel but who cares?

 

[Damned Registrations]

I never bothered with a hex mage in DkS2 but I do know you can just straight up buy items that recover your spell casts, and money is trivial to farm. So yeah, you could keep it up forever.

All your other counterpoints are similarly wrong. If your complaint against cooldowns is that balance isn't fun and you want to play in godmode, go play some unbalanced trivially easy shit. There's plenty out there.

 

[Cryomancer]

I never bothered with a hex mage in DkS2 but I do know you can just straight up buy items that recover your spell casts, and money is trivial to farm. So yeah, you could keep it up forever.

All your other counterpoints are similarly wrong. If your complaint against cooldowns is that balance isn't fun and you want to play in godmode, go play some unbalanced trivially easy shit. There's plenty out there.

Except that vendors has limited items on stock. And the problem of DS2 is not the lack of BS cooldown, is the fact that you can buy those items who refill spells. Something not possible on DS1. But they take more time to be used than Eastus Flask.

PS : I din't said that balance isn't fun, only that immersion and fun >>>> ballance. If i an playing pathfinder kingmaker with a silver draconic sorcerer who focus on cold spells, of course i should have a harder time VS undeads than a paladin.

PS 2 : I love most 90s/earlier 00s CRPG's because they offer freedom, consequence and immersion. No cooldowns, no immortal NPCs, no railroading, no restricting you to just one summon, no limiting archers range to one room distance, just a immersive world to explore and the in game mechanics rarely breaks your suspension of disbelief

See in 90s, how the two most mainstream mmos are different. Ultima Online and Everquest. Now thanks to "hur dur, balance, hur dur, everyone needs to be the same", how every mmo is a wow clone. Even TTRPG's, balance tried to ruin, see D&D 4e. 4e was balanced. Ultra homogenized, boring and annoying to play but balanced...

 

[mondblut]

Anyway, if that's official art, go tip REEEEra. This heteronormativity cannot stand!

Ask the artist : deviantart.com

I see. Of course it's unofficial. Too much tits and not enough burka for 2019.