Diablo IV

[luj1]

Between Path of Exile 2 and Project Diablo you don't need anything else for your hack n slash fix

 

[ADL]

tl;dr - torment difficulties, stat squish, level 60 is the new cap, """runeword""" system making a return
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo4/24130178/the-2-0-ptr-what-you-need-to-know

Game is barely a year old and already got a stat squish. Truly a sign of a healthy game right there.

 

[ArchAngel]

tl;dr - torment difficulties, stat squish, level 60 is the new cap, """runeword""" system making a return
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo4/24130178/the-2-0-ptr-what-you-need-to-know

Game is barely a year old and already got a stat squish. Truly a sign of a healthy game right there.

And a lot more good changes. Runewords is expansion only.
I will try season 6 (base game only) while waiting for poe2.

 

[abija]

Their systems and class designers are absolute monkeys.

 

[Yoomazir]

What's Josh Mosquiera doing these days? Maybe Blizzard needs to hire him back.

 

[ferratilis]

They should bring back Jay Wilson, that would be more fun.

 

[BlackAdderBG]

They should bring back Jay Wilson, that would be more fun.

Fuck that loser! And then we doubled it!

Fun times.

 

[Kane]

Unpopular opinion: Diablo IV is pretty good. For starters it it the only ARPG that doesn't run like crap. Which brings me to...

Blizzard used to have the best cinematics in the industry



even HotS which came later

WIth Diablo IV Blizzard is trying to return to their roots which for the most part is successful. The story is way better than that of Diablo II, only suffering from the meanwhile immensely expanded universe. The introduction of Mephisto into the series is stellar, even meaningful world changing choices & consequences are to be had just like the RPGCodex loves 'em. Overall the story was good enough that I was interested to know what comes next over the duration of the entire campaign.

It appears that the days of George Lucas presents^TM Starcraft 2^TM and George Lucas presents^TM Diablo III^TM are largely over at Blizzard. (anecdotally, for my music playlist I once made myself two remixes by cutting and pasting the Star Wars ending theme to the respective end of the final movies of these two games. Do it, you'll understand what I mean.) The cutscenes are dark and gritty and where EPIC!!1 is attempted it is more in the overexaggerated style we knows from Starcraft/Broodwar and Warhammer 40k which fits the world of Diablo very well.

The music score is exceptional and ties into the overall atmosphere very well. Apparently much work was spent into tying the music to whatever is currently happening on the screen. It appears as if the generic whining about 'Diablo III lacks atmosphere' was largely successful.

Gameplay is a fluid banger, 60 FPS everywhere regardless of monster count on the screen. Take note LE and PoE: This is how games are supposed to be delivered. 60. FPS. Always. Blizzard putting the standard where it belongs again.
Combat has a good oomph to it, spells are fun, loots a-plenty and the OST does the rest.

I only have got two points of critique:
* Monster variety could be higher. A bit more time for the artists to come up with something else than generic evil goat-man would do the game very well, even if just exists to be deleted from your screen in under a second. It's just lazy. The same laziness is also noticeable with the overworld level design, the game has five regions but only three different biomes (the swamp is too much of a lazy rehash of the highlands for me to count it)
* Build variety is lackluster compared to PoE or LE. But that was never a strength of the Diablo series so eh.

My final rating: Diablo IV is best Diablo.

 

[Yosharian]

Unpopular opinion: Diablo IV is pretty good. For starters it it the only ARPG that doesn't run like crap.

It's not. It's really bad. It plays like an MMO. There's fetch quests everywhere, the quests are boring, the NPCs are boring, everything is generic and lame, the gameplay has barely iterated on D3 I mean it's just D3 with a new coat of paint (nice paint admittedly), the story is lame as fuck, the fact that it's an MMO adds barely anything and in fact is a detriment to a lot of players such as myself

It's a bad game

POE2 is going to rip off its head and shit down its neck when it eventually launches

 

[ferratilis]

There's more to an ARPG than sights and sounds: itemization, progression, map design, class design, drop chances that make playing the game actually feel rewarding etc. Just based on the recently announced changes to D4 shows the game completely missed the point of what and ARPG is supposed to be from launch until now. And even with the right steps they're taking, they still won't dethrone D2. The only arpgs that got close were PoE and GD, D4 is so vastly different in its game design that it doesn't even warrant a comparison.

 

[Kane]

Unpopular opinion: Diablo IV is pretty good. For starters it it the only ARPG that doesn't run like crap.

It's not. It's really bad. It plays like an MMO. There's fetch quests everywhere, the quests are boring, the NPCs are boring, everything is generic and lame, the gameplay has barely iterated on

So it is like Diablo II you say?

There's more to an ARPG than sights and sounds: itemization, progression, map design, class design, drop chances that make playing the game actually feel rewarding etc.

All of which is better in IV than in II.

 

[ferratilis]

All of which is better in IV than in II.

Nigger, are you aware they had an entire season named "Loot Reborn," as in "we know our itemization sucks, so we will do our best to improve it" and it's still not good enough so they're overhauling it when the expansion comes out. As for progression, just look at the announced changes, if you can't deduce from it that the entire progression system was terrible, then you're retarded. But then again, you like D4, so it makes sense.

 

[Kane]

Nigger, are you aware they had an entire season named "Loot Reborn,"

No, I only bought this recently. I don't buy on launch day and wait for a sale.

"we know our itemization sucks, so we will do our best to improve it" and it's still not good enough so they're overhauling it when the expansion comes out.

So you're saying they're doing their job? What is your complain specifically? Can you give concrete examples?

Overall I find the 'itemization' or whatever is competent enough for this style of game.

just look at the announced changes, if you can't deduce from it that the entire progression system was terrible, then you're retarded

I am a simple man. I want to slaughter demons and earn shiny loot in muh Diablo games. In Diablo IV I can do that. What do you feel is missing from the 'progression system' specifically?

 

[ferratilis]

No, I only bought this recently. I don't buy on launch day and wait for a sale.

In that case, you don't know how bad it was previously. You'd get tons of boring items with shitty modifiers that completely killed the joy of finding new items. In a game based around... finding loot. Reading tooltips with a bunch of shitty flat bonuses makes you want to stop playing.

As for progression, it's the same problem that D3 had, artificial sense of progression through stat bloat, where you would see crazy numbers in endgame that didn't feel meaningful while playing.

When you're playing D2, you're constantly finding stuff that is useful and interesting, which keeps you want to play more, D4 gets boring very fast, even in its current state.

 

[mediocrepoet]

No, I only bought this recently. I don't buy on launch day and wait for a sale.

In that case, you don't know how bad it was previously. You'd get tons of boring items with shitty modifiers that completely killed the joy of finding new items. In a game based around... finding loot. Reading tooltips with a bunch of shitty flat bonuses makes you want to stop playing.

As for progression, it's the same problem that D3 had, artificial sense of progression through stat bloat, where you would see crazy numbers in endgame that didn't feel meaningful while playing.

When you're playing D2, you're constantly finding stuff that is useful and interesting, which keeps you want to play more, D4 gets boring very fast, even in its current state.

Agree, D4 is boring af, even more so than D3 which is a weird and difficult achievement.

 

[Kane]

In that case, you don't know how bad it was previously.

Probably. Do I care? Not really.

As for progression, it's the same problem that D3 had, artificial sense of progression through stat bloat, where you would see crazy numbers in endgame that didn't feel meaningful while playing.

How exactly is this different to any other game in the series or any other diablolike for that matter? That is a general 'weakness' of this entire genre, if you want to see it like one. But many people myself included play these games precisely because they want to become the ubergod demon slayer.
I have yet to see a "meaningful endgame" in any diablolike hack & slash action computer role playing game, whatever that even means.

When you're playing D2, you're constantly finding stuff that is useful and interesting, which keeps you want to play more, D4 gets boring very fast, even in its current state.

I disagree. I find that Diablo IV is much better wrt 'finding interesting stuff' simply because you can do a lot of different things other than Mefi/Baal runs. Don't get me wrong, they have a special place in my heart. But I cannot bring myself to do them anymore. Reminder that Diablo II did not even have anything that would resemble 'endgame content' today.

 

[ferratilis]

If you don't see a difference in how progression works in D2 (pure arpg) and D4 (MMO-like arpg), there's no point arguing. Yes, D2 didn't have endgame in modern terms, but everything up to that point felt great. In D4, you do campaign once, then on subsequent playthroughs look for ways to speedrun the leveling process and reach the highly coveted endgame, which puts activities ahead of itemization. Even with the current "loot reborn" finding something interesting feels like tedium.

And even with the so-called variety of endgame activities in D4, you're still railroaded into doing the most optimal ones that yield the best items. In D2, you make your own endgame, there is a moment where you can say "I'm done with this character and want to start a new one." It's a concept modern arpgs are afraid of because they want to make you chasing that carrot forever, as bloated as it is. Some people might like it, but I certainly don't.

 

[Kane]

If you don't see a difference in how progression works in D2 (pure arpg) and D4 (MMO-like arpg), there's no point arguing.

No, I don't see any. You slaughter foes at high speed and earn XP and loot. That's it. I don't even see what kind of relevant intricacies I could be missing here, sorry.

Yes, D2 didn't have endgame in modern terms, but everything up to that point felt great.

D4 feels even better than D2, at any stage of the game, because it is technically far superior than D2, as in it clearly profits from a quarter century of experience. Even D3 forgettable as it was feels better than D2.

In D4, you do campaign once, then on subsequent playthroughs look for ways to speedrun the leveling process

Wrong. In D4 you press the button 'skip campaign' to not having to endure the campaign again. Which is only possible b/c D4 is "open world", which is a good addition to the series. I still remember wishing for an open world (and a 'skip campaign' button) in D2.

the highly coveted endgame, which puts activities ahead of itemization

And I presume it shouldn't? What would 'putting itemization ahead of activities' look like and why would it be better?

Even with the current "loot reborn" finding something interesting feels like tedium.

I run a dungeon or two, knock over some loot goblins and I have to the vendor because I am full and have to sift through the mountain of loot. What exactly here is 'tedium' beyond of what is part-and-parcel of the genre?

And even with the so-called variety of endgame activities in D4, you're still railroaded

You're not railroaded if you have got a choice. In D2 you have got no choice because there simply isn't anything to do.

into doing the most optimal ones that yield the best items.

And that one choice is better than another at a given point in time is an unavoidable consequence of living in a universe with entropy. What is Blizzard supposed to do about that? Play the game for you? Simply don't do the most optimal one if you don't like it and do another.

In D2, you make your own endgame, there is a moment where you can say "I'm done with this character and want to start a new one."

What prevents you from doing the same in D4?

they want to make you chasing that carrot forever, as bloated as it is

No, you (collectively) want a carrot to chase, Blizzard just delivers that. Chasing the carrot goblin is the point of the game. How can Blizzard even win here? Not put any content into the game whatsoever besides the campaign, aka D2? Many people will complain, including you, for lack of endgame content.

 

[luj1]

My final rating: Diablo IV is best Diablo.

lol this nigga

Gameplay is a fluid banger, 60 FPS everywhere regardless of monster count on the screen. Take note LE and PoE: This is how games are supposed to be delivered. 60. FPS. Always. Blizzard putting the standard where it belongs again.

could be, blizzard was really known for polish back in the day. I never had any of their games crash

 

[luj1]

it's the same problem that D3 had, artificial sense of progression through stat bloat, where you would see crazy numbers in endgame that didn't feel meaningful while playing.

How exactly is this different to any other game in the series or any other diablolike for that matter? That is a general 'weakness' of this entire genre

There is a big difference between doing 7k or 15k damage in D2 than doing millions of damage in D3. Quite big stat inflation. So it wasn't the problem of the genre. Other Diablo clones of the time like Titan Quest, Sacred, Harbinger, Prince of Qin had OK numbers too.

 

[Kane]

My final rating: Diablo IV is best Diablo.

lol this nigga

Complain all you want, the truth will set you free.

Gameplay is a fluid banger, 60 FPS everywhere regardless of monster count on the screen. Take note LE and PoE: This is how games are supposed to be delivered. 60. FPS. Always. Blizzard putting the standard where it belongs again.

could be, blizzard was really known for polish back in the day. I never had any of their games crash

It is a miracle in this day and age of "Matt 'we're targeting 30 FPS' Hanssen" paying for a full price game and being handed something fulfilling the minimum requirements on a technical level.

it's the same problem that D3 had, artificial sense of progression through stat bloat, where you would see crazy numbers in endgame that didn't feel meaningful while playing.

How exactly is this different to any other game in the series or any other diablolike for that matter? That is a general 'weakness' of this entire genre

There is a big difference between doing 7k or 15k damage in D2 than doing millions of damage in D3. Quite big stat inflation. So it wasn't the problem of the genre.

Possible. I do not remember my playtime with D3 at all for some reason. But I don't even see stat inflation as a big problem in ARPGs tbh. I always toggle off damage numbers because I find them annoying so I only broadly know the amount of damage I do from gauging the red line going down. I read somewhere that Blizzard wants to 'squish the numbers' in D4 so I suppose that "problem" continues to exist?

Other Diablo clones of the time like Titan Quest, Sacred, Harbinger, Prince of Qin had OK numbers too.

Nitpick: TQ is way before D3. You are probably meant to say Grim Dawn from the same guys. Never got into TQ or GD, I just cannot build motivation to play these games.

 

[Cohesion]

D4 feels even better than D2, at any stage of the game, because it is technically far superior than D2, as in it clearly profits from a quarter century of experience. Even D3 forgettable as it was feels better than D2.

Feeling fucking old. 1/4 of a century. Wtf? Time flies.
Also, you are wrong. D1 > D2 >>>> D3 ~ D4.

 

[luj1]

I have yet to see a "meaningful endgame" in any diablolike hack & slash action computer role playing game

The map device system in Path of Exile. The game practically beings in endgame.

 

[Kane]

D4 feels even better than D2, at any stage of the game, because it is technically far superior than D2, as in it clearly profits from a quarter century of experience. Even D3 forgettable as it was feels better than D2.

Feeling fucking old. 1/4 of a century. Wtf? Time flies.
Also, you are wrong. D1 > D2 >>>> D3 ~ D4.

Nonsensical garbage. D1/2 are simply outdated at this point. I would say that every iteration in the diablo series is clearly superior to its respective predecessor, D3 having an unfortunate spot to fight as contestant in the 'always-on or not' wars and having a "Star Wars Era" style epic cringe story.

 

[luj1]

Other Diablo clones of the time like Titan Quest, Sacred, Harbinger, Prince of Qin had OK numbers too.

Nitpick: TQ is way before D3. You are probably meant to say Grim Dawn from the same guys.

No, I mean clones of Diablo and Diablo II, in that time