Diablo IV

[Jimeh]

Isn't it obvious? They were just sick of the priest ruining their fun. He was probably pushing for boring old 1950s social values but the villagers wanted to twerk on instagram and post lesbian incest nudes on onlyfans after having their top surgery. His hateful ways had no place in such a progressive village.

 

[ItsChon]

It sounds like we're in agreement then! You acknowledge the cutscene is retarded, but for some reason you brought it up as evidence of the game's "focus" on the RPG aspect of a ARPG. Now I'm confused.

 

[whydoibother]

Noooo, how come the demon possessed people in the demon possession scene in the demonic game do something bad to the priest nooooo that should be illegal!!

 

[Justinian]

Anyway, what do you think of that cutscene? Does it add anything to the story, worldbuilding, atmosphere, etc?

Honestly cutscene was kind of lame. They all just decided to kill someone they've known their whole lives because a demonic entity told them to? I'm sure she used some sort of magic or put them into a trance, but then I must ask, why didn't the Priest get effected? Also, not sure why they made the priest sound like such as an asshole in the beginning, if only a few minutes later they were going to try and paint him as a sympathetic character, pleading for his life by referencing prior happy memories and experiences. Also, it's a whole ass village, and there are only like ten people at mass? Not impressed at all.

The priest is not an asshole, just a little fanatical. I have no trouble sympathizing with him because his sermon wasn't wrong, the fanatical delivery is in line with Diablo Heaven being good but rigid and uncompromisng, and he was probably a good man who wanted the best for his people but was frustrated with their ways. His righteousness protects him from Lilith's compulsion (or she simply wanted to kill him because he picked the wrong side in the eternal conflict). Either way, the scene reinforces Diablo lore: there is a fight between powerful forces for control of Sanctuary, and Lilith represents the loose faction that doesn't want to let either angels or demons have it.

 

[Yosharian]

The dialogue is kinda bland though. "They have awakened, mother" no shit Sherlock

 

[Lyric Suite]

To be fair, this was a series where writing was always bottom of the barrel mediocrity.

 

[Arbiter]

To be fair, this was a series where writing was always bottom of the barrel mediocrity.

D1 had decent writing, especially the tomes in dungeons voiced by the narrator.

 

[Tigranes]

Diablo was all vibes. The vibes were cool. You can't really keep the vibes after 20 years.

I actually thought some outdoor environments had a nice sense of desolation - sadly you barely know where you are and there's no exploration, so you zoom through it. The dungeons seem copypasted from D3, though I barely remember D3.

 

[MajorMace]

2000s' Aliens vs Predator 2

The pulse rifle and smartgun sound effects haunt me to this day.
Great game.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

D1 had decent writing, especially the tomes in dungeons voiced by the narrator.

D1 knew what it was - a Robert E. Howard short story with extra gore. The moment Blizzard started expanding the mythos is when it all went to WoW, I mean shit.

 

[Fedora Master]

whydogamessucknow.png

 

[hello friend]

This is so fucking lazy

 

[Sykar]

What else would you expect from Blizzshite?

 

[Dadd]

Cringe video with ps4 graphics

 

[Zlaja]

nor have I properly played through Diablo 1 or 2

You should definitely play D1 from start to finish. It has great atmosphere. Preferably at night, while home alone. Real cozy.

I was clocking Goldbox games when I was 10

Good job!

I have 20 stash tabs in PoE!

 

[Arbiter]

Cringe video with ps4 graphics

You are right, but at least it is an improvement over D3.

 

[v1c70r14]

D1 had decent writing, especially the tomes in dungeons voiced by the narrator.

D1 knew what it was - a Robert E. Howard short story with extra gore. The moment Blizzard started expanding the mythos is when it all went to WoW, I mean shit.

Having played both the first game and the second one back to back recently I can confirm that the second game lost the atmosphere and ambience the first one had but this series never had good writing. You're so wrong that you're specifically wrong about the game knowing what it was. Instead of a straightforward plot that would have served the minimalist format, like Robert E. Howard would put together, it's very convoluted and the game is filled with these lore dumps that are badly written. Early on in development the game's plot was to center around a revenge on a bunch of raiders that killed your family, and in the introduction a bit of that remains, someone mentioning bandits or something storming into the church that no longer serve any purpose. The setup for the next game was also there already even if the even stupider things like the high fantasy concept of a world stone wasn't in there yet.



I don't want to shit on Diablo, it's kinda unique in that it offers this high production and more casual distillation of Rogue, but there seems to be a lot of nostalgia around it clouding people's perception of the game. From the very first plans they made for the first game the original creators had the idea to sell you lootboxes and season passes long before we even had words for it. During my playthrough I also encountered the most cringe quest I ever encountered in a video game. The sequel had two things cut due to time and budget constraints; one chapter, which they then tacked on at the end with their expansion, and more online focused content like specific multiplayer hubs. They would have loved the always online MMO shitfest Diablo 4 turned into.

All the Diablo games have about the same writing level, except maybe 3 which was exceptionally bad, but what has changed is that they put more effort into shoving it into your face with more involved delivery systems while in the first two games, and particularly the first, you didn't need to pay much attention to it. After Deckard Cain (stupid name) gave you a ridiculous Sean Connery impression and you started to dive into the dungeon you were probably not going to interact much more with the characters unless you were desperate for more narrative in your barebones roguelike.

None of that means it is a bad game, because who cares about the writing when that's so far from what makes a dungeon crawl satisfying? And thanks to constrictions at the time they couldn't make the game shit with too much focus on the MMO experience.

 

[Wilian]

This has single player queues?! I remember experiencing queues in WoW, but in a single player game? And people are OK with that?

Not a single player game though. It's an MMO, you play with other people whether you group or not (except when soloing in dungeons).

Is there no singleplayer mode?

No, there'll always be other players in the open world (which you enter after the prologue). Very few though, to be fair. If you're in a hub you'll see a few people. Out in the wild, not so often.

I haven't been bothered by it so far. I disabled chat boxes (and chat in general). And so far there's no ridiculous cosmetics (only a matter of time though).

This game is going to be monetized to hell and back.

Even indies have soloplay modes.

Hubs only exist to advertise paid cosmetics.

This is such ridiculous decline from Blizzard. I was on the fence about this game, but fuck whoever removed singleplayer.

I guess you also never played D3 so I guess you do not know that singleplayers didn't exist since D3. Better to say, you have to be always online to play D3.

Think console peasants got the ability to play offline in d3.

The pre-expansion ultimate PS3 edition is the best version of the game too. Fixed loot, paragon levels, no level scaling, OG difficulty + Monster Power system. D3 can't get better than that.

 

[abija]

Can't blame people for complaining about writing and using rose tinded glasses. Yeah Bliz never had good writing, but older games didn't shove it in your face trying to create cinematic experiences.

 

[Arbiter]

From the very first plans they made for the first game the original creators had the idea to sell you lootboxes and season passes

Already mentioned ITT.

 

[abija]

There's tons of stuff like that in D3, from the random events to the huge amount of background dialogue.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Exactly. Somehow everyone remembers DI and II, but just about no one can name a single memorable line/moment from DIII off the top of their head. Curious.

I only remember Templars line, "but will of a templar is stronger" but mostly because it felt cringy at first.

But for me nothing can top "Ah, fresh MEAT!".
It's version in 3rd and 4th games are ridiculous and shows new developers didn't know what made that line so famous.


Also I can't believe I remember most of this, couldn't remember any poet in high school back then ...

Halls of the Blind

I can see what you see not.
Vision milky, then eyes rot.
When you turn, they will be gone,
Whispering their hidden song.
Then you see what cannot be,
Shadows move where light should be.
Out of darkness, out of mind,
Cast down into the Halls of the Blind.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Having played both the first game and the second one back to back recently I can confirm that the second game lost the atmosphere and ambience the first one had but this series never had good writing. You're so wrong that you're specifically wrong about the game knowing what it was. Instead of a straightforward plot that would have served the minimalist format, like Robert E. Howard would put together, it's very convoluted and the game is filled with these lore dumps that are badly written.

I didn't say it was good, I said it knew what it was and I stand by that. There is an objective evil, the hero comes and vanquishes the evil, the end. The lore dumps weren't any more convoluted than learning about the decline of Xuchotl in Red Nails, nor did they detract from the core premise of the narrative, unlike Blizzard's current attempts.

Edit: In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have mentioned Howard. Diablo is nowhere near Howard's literary level, even if both utilized simple, tried and tested narrative concepts to great effect.

 

[abija]

Exactly. Somehow everyone remembers DI and II, but just about no one can name a single memorable line/moment from DIII off the top of their head. Curious.

I remember some short lines, some exchanges but not exact words, plenty of moments.
(not including the commonly spammed dialogue).

 

[Arbiter]

You can cut the flesh, but you must crush the bone.