As for the Diablo III review, well, it wasn't even possible to start playing until it released publicly. So our solution is what you’ve likely seen us do in the past for other big games like
Rift,
World of Warcraft and
Star Wars: The Old Republic – a review in progress. Every day a new entry with impressions about the Diablo III experience thus far will appear in this article. A final score won’t be assigned until Diablo has been vanquished and enough of the game has been experienced to render a verdict.
The first steps in our epic journey together have begun, friends. In the words of Deckard Cain, "Stay awhile and listen." In the meantime, if you're a total Diablo noob you should check out our
Get to Know Diablo article. And if you remember the old style of Diablo gameplay, check out our Evolution of Diablo video for an overview of the changes from II to III.
Day One -- User-Friendly Systems and Server Issues
Diablo III has all the launch problems of a major MMO. Blizzard’s action-RPG requires you to connect to their proprietary gaming network, Battle.net, if you want to play, but since its launch it’s been an aggravating slog to log on. It’s annoying enough that you can’t play without an Internet connection, but it’s even worse that the company that runs the biggest MMO in the world, and who no doubt had a good idea of how well Diablo III was selling, couldn't make the first day run smoother. Even now, at the time this is being written, the whole system has been shut down for server maintenance. Thankfully I’m playing it from my office, since I can only imagine how irate people who took the day off to enjoy one of the biggest game launches all year must be feeling right now.
Even when I managed to successfully log in and get Diablo III running things didn’t go well as far as user experience is concerned. Regularly my friends and I would have multiple minutes go by between messages we sent one another, only to have an error code pop up and a wall of text spam through the chat. Or there was the point when early on in Act I my game simply crashed, prior to which half the world disappeared along with my character’s spell effects. The best part? After forcing my way out of Diablo III I logged back in only to find that my items and progress from the previous few minutes had disappeared. Goodbye, shiny new helmet. This didn’t bother me too much since I was so early in the campaign that I hadn’t found anything special, but if I lost a rare or special item due to their server issues you could bet I’d be on the phone with someone in customer service. Items can now net real money, so its inexcusable to lose them due to problems with Blizzard's servers.
But during those moments when things came together just right, when mouse click after mouse click resulted in waves of beautiful and gory death, I found myself getting progressively more hooked on Diablo III. Having recently played through Diablo II, its great how to see how Blizzard’s applied everything they’ve learned in the last decade. Every time my character levels he gets something that feels significant. Sometimes it’s an awesome new ability, but even when it’s just a rune that augments a power I already had it opens up new options and tactics. Even better, though, is how it only takes a few clicks to rapidly switch between my powers and runes, ensuring I never feel tied to a decision. Instead of gameplay like Diablo II, where I often regretted how I allotted my ability points, Diablo III encourages experimentation and finding out exactly what works for your playstyle. It’s a vastly superior way to handle character abilities.
It’s also great how much Blizzard has adapted Diablo III’s user-interface to suit the array of abilities at your disposal. Previously Diablo II forced you to map your many abilities to the function keys, and then press those keys to quickly access them with your mouse. In Diablo III you just have two abilities at any time mapped to your mouse buttons, as well as up to four abilities mapped to the one through four number keys. Each of these buttons has a smaller list of abilities that can be assigned to them, meaning that your choices are fairly limited. This makes it a lot easier to decide which abilities to take, since it would be a bit overwhelming if you were simply given a gigantic pool of powers and tasked with assigning them however you saw fit (though you can bypass the restrictions if you want by enabling elective mode in the options menu). That might work for a few, more hardcore players, but this system makes Diablo III vastly more enjoyable and accessible.
Even better than how Blizzard handles abilities, though, is the revamped health system. Instead of Diablo II’s system of spamming potion after potion, your character is given rapid regeneration and health orbs regularly drop from enemies. The resulting gameplay pacing feels fantastic, making sure that you’re pretty much always in the fight. The occasional elite enemy encounter or large swarm can still take you down in a flash, though, and Blizzard smartly still includes potions for these battles. The big difference is that potions have a significant cooldown timer, meaning you couldn’t binge on them even if you wanted. Potions are now something you use in case of emergencies, instead of something you gorge yourself on like an alcoholic.
The new systems really do make it a lot easier to enjoy Diablo III. Now all Blizzard needs to do is get the server stability issues solved so I can play till I break my mouse.
Day One -- Diablo III's Pacing
Blizzard appears to have done an excellent job with Diablo III’s pacing. Having played the beta content over and over again far too many times, I was hopeful the swiftness with which new environment types were added in, new enemies encountered and frequency of events like the Jar of Souls would remain consistent. So far, though the end of Act I, Diablo’s fast pace hasn’t let up.
Just after defeating the Skeleton King, the first major boss, you fight colossal living trees that attack with branches and drop poison-spewing spores across the ground, encouraging you to stay mobile. Goat men travel in packs and hulking bull creatures charge at high speed across terrain. It forces you to adapt your approach to battle so you can never fall into too familiar an attack pattern. Just as you figure out how to properly fight an enemy, another type is tossed into the mix. Basically, such variety means it’s really tough to get bored.
Environments change rapidly along with the enemy types, from yellow-orange autumnal fields to more Diablo-esque blood-drenched torture chambers. Multi-level dungeons are present, but none feel too big in Act I, giving you just enough room to explore without feeling exhaustingly large. With dungeons and unique events unrelated to the main plotline sprinkled around, as well as packs of champion monsters that generally drop better loot, there’s plenty of incentive to take your time and reveal all the borders of each map.
Blizzard throws story at you while you explore, and though there’s more story in Diablo III than in any of the previous games, it never feels like it gets in the way. NPCs will chatter, but they’ll do so while you continue to kill things. If you’re forced to stop to listen to dialogue, it’s never for very long, or to highlight a critical plot point. Dialogue is a little cheesy most of the time and can’t really muster the kind of sincerity required to engender sympathy for its characters, especially during tragic moments, but manages to be quite funny at times, particularly when the Scoundrel follower starts babbling about wine in the middle of a fight against crazed demons.
Skill unlocks, new followers and artisan build options are also tossed at you quickly, so it always feels like you’ve got something new to toy around with. Followers, who are AI-controlled companions, can be equipped with gear and as they level can learn new abilities, allowing them to grow alongside your main character and serve as yet another way to gauge your status as a growing power in the fight against demonic forces. By handing over money to the blacksmith artisan you’ll be able to unlock new craftable items, and because the items’ stats are randomized, you’re encouraged to craft multiple versions of the same weapon or armor piece until its attached bonuses suit your class. The extras can then be salvaged for parts or tossed up on auction for other players to bid on with in-game gold (the real money auction house is supposed to be live next week). And with every level you earn new active skills, skill-modifying runes and passive skills, sometimes one at a time and sometimes in groups, which unlock new play styles nearly every time.
There’s still a lot more to see, but so far the pacing is quick, the gameplay quicker, and it’s tough to pull away from what appears to be a truly great action-RPG…unless Blizzard’s servers go down.
When Diablo II’s Duriel killed me in a matter of seconds I thought I had done something wrong. Surely no one in their right mind would make a boss so powerful that my amazing, kill-everything-in-sight hero would be demon fodder, right? Boy was I wrong.
Most every boss fight in Diablo II boiled down to having the right gear and having an abundance of potions to spam. Don’t have the proper resist gear when facing off against the titular Diablo? Prepare for a corpse run after you die so fast you didn’t have time to open a town portal. In Diablo III this has been addressed with boss fights that make you feel skilled, challenged, and heroic. The biggest thing Diablo III’s done to make tough boss fights more enjoyable is add checkpoints. If you’re in a group with other players you may not be able to respawn and rejoin the battle (they can revive you, though), but during a single-player game you just reappear at your last checkpoint -- with all your gear equipped already -- and run a short distance to the boss. It’s a far less frustrating solution than Diablo II, where you spawned without gear back in town and either had to run back to your body or take an emergency town portal directly into the fight.
The speed you recover from death in Diablo III is refreshing, but you’re still penalized through item deterioration. Sure, it’s easy enough to spend some gold and repair your gear once you’re back in town, but money is a lot more useful in Diablo III than its previous incarnations. I am constantly running out of cash, spending it regularly to upgrade useful NPCs like the blacksmith and jeweler, as well as add slots to my stash.
Boss fights -- and really every fight -- should be about testing a player’s skill, and Diablo III does this well. From the waves of enemies you fight in the dusty planes of Act 2, to epic bosses like the Skeleton King, every one of them requires you to use your abilities to survive. This was somewhat the case in Diablo II, but switching between powers was tedious, and fights often came down to how good you were at timing your potions rather than mixing up your abilities.
Because it’s easy to rapidly switch between powers in Diablo III, and you have them clearly laid out on your mouse and number keys, I feel enabled to try different tactics. While the Skeleton King is fighting my witch doctor’s zombie dogs I can spam him with frogs from a distance, and then use an area of effect damage spell to destroy the packs of enemies he summons. The waves of foes serves two purposes: breaking up the potential monotony of fighting a single target, as well as providing health globes to keep me in the fight. Potions have large cooldown timers in Diablo III, so it takes smart design decisions like this to make sure they don’t get too frustrating, or a matter of luring the boss around.
Even the story bosses and randomly spawned mini-bosses that use stereotypical game mechanics are a breath of fresh air for the franchise. At one point I encountered a gigantic, elite demon wielding an axe. In Diablo II I might have just lured him around after spamming potions to recover from a near-death encounter, but now I can see him telegraph his attack, narrowly dodging it and then striking back while he attempts to dislodge his axe from the ground.
Another boss fights you in an arena where fire occasionally roars up from underneath the grates that make up the floor, forcing you look out for which sections start getting a telltale glow before setting alight. These mechanics are things I’ve seen time and again in a number of other games, but they’re also easy to understand and a heck of a lot more fun than the boss fights of the previous Diablo titles. Bosses also have phases, switching up their tactics mid-fight and making you do the same, ensuring an exciting match from start to finish. And, of course, you’re always rewarded with an explosion of loot and gold to get those endorphins pumping.
With the servers up and running stably, Diablo III playtime is going swimmingly. If, like me, you can’t get enough Diablo III, then check back tomorrow for another entry about our journey through hell.
Day Three -- Friends that Slay Together, Stay Together
While the story of Diablo III ultimately revolves around you and your hero’s journey, you can quickly and easily rope others into your quest. Online multiplayer is one of the features that helped perpetuate Diablo II for more than a decade, and -- looking at my ever-growing Battle.net friends list -- the same holds true for the sequel. But after hours of single-player and several more of multiplayer, the thing I’m left pondering is whether one is more fun to play than the other.
The answer isn’t a simple one. Diablo III’s story is a personal one, with each speech an NPC gives specifically addressed to my heroic witch doctor. But when others join my game it takes away from that, making Diablo III’s plot feel less like my own epic story and more like a backdrop for a loot grind game. It’s easy to miss out on story sequences, too, since any player can trigger story events for everyone, or simply force the group through the narrative faster than they can read.
Yet while the story doesn’t always resonate with me in multiplayer the same way it does playing alone, the sheer enjoyment that comes from sharing the questing experience goes a long way. When my cohorts and I take down a boss and a fountain of treasure spills forth the excitement is palpable. Because everyone only sees their own loot (one of Diablo III’s best / smartest features), this means everyone quickly links their treasure in chat. One moment we’re all casting spells at blazingly fast speeds, and the next we’re enjoying a span of catharsis, sharing our spoils in hopes to become the envy of our peers.
The jesting and camaraderie that comes from sharing these experiences for the first time is really great, as is having the extra people to trade loot with. You can always link items to other players from your individual games, but it isn’t quite the same as standing amongst the bodies of your enemies and sorting through your latest finds.
Camaraderie comes at a cost, though -- most notably in terms of pacing. Unless you’re coordinating with your team, it’s not uncommon to have team members splitting up, triggering story sequences or killing everything before you manage to get there. Switching out your powers or teleporting back to town to do a bit of crafting means you’ll come back to a dungeon full of bodies and treasure for you to pick up. It’s nice to get the rewards, but you’re left out of the journey.
During some of the more intense dungeons in Act III, I found myself feeling “pulled” along rather than playing along. Sometimes it was all I could do just to keep up with the ferocity of my team, as our first, Normal playthrough doesn’t present much of a challenge when we’re together. Even bosses, the very thing that I yesterday praised for their design, feel less entertaining with a group because we just blast most of them apart before they can do anything.
Ultimately there’s no clear answer to the question I posed earlier. Both multiplayer and single-player playthroughs have their merits (though multiplayer will be where Diablo III gets its multi-year legs from). But if you’re a sucker for narrative, if you’re the type of person who hungers for every bit of plot you can find, then it’s probably best to go it alone at first. If not... well, then the more bodies you have in your group just increases your chances at finding that next piece of precious loot.
Day 4 -- The Nightmare Begins
As anyone familiar with the Diablo franchise knows, watching the credits scroll for the first time is only the start of your hero's journey. At level 31, my witch doctor may be powerful, but he has a long way to go to the level 60 cap. My future is filled with more powers, more gear and many, many more playthroughs on the harder difficulties.
Thus, mere moments after spilling the blood of the last boss, I ventured into Nightmare difficulty.
While the story remains the same, the gameplay changes in a few fundamental ways. Most notably everything is harder. I know, I know -- that seems obvious because it’s a change in difficultly, but it really is nice to go back and fight old enemies again and have them present a challenge. Because you have all the powers you unlocked through your Normal playthrough, you also have many more options in how you take them on. They also offer a lot more experience and better loot than you’d have access to on Normal, allowing you to continue your hero’s journey in the quest for the next piece of epic gear and powers.
Enemies do more than just resist extra damage. Most notably, elite enemies have more powers at their disposal. For instance one ghastly enemy my group faced in Act I could lay down vampiric traps. While he generally couldn’t do that much damage to us in melee combat, he not only managed to siphon enough life to kill most of our group, but also seemed all but impossible to kill. Eventually we got him into an area where we could avoid his traps, but even then he was a struggle to take down.
In another instance we faced off against waves of demons who would drop magic balls that fired arcane lasers out for massive damage. The lasers then slowly rotate, forcing you and the rest of your group to reposition and re-evaluate your tactics. Previously we would have just walked all over these guys, or maybe had to deal with one, relatively easy-to-avoid attack, but now the enemies are surprising us all over again.
Playing through the game on Nightmare also means you get more opportunities to develop your artisan skills. Both the blacksmith and jeweler can be leveled with gold for the first few levels, but eventually they’ll require special pages as well. The pages drop randomly from monsters, and so far in Nightmare they appear pretty regularly. Thus not only is your character finding better loot and leveling, but Nightmare also becomes a more rewarding experience because you’re building up your crafting. Crafting so far has proved valuable, too, with blacksmithing yielding rare and magic items that rival what I’m getting off of major bosses, and the jeweler socketing my items to make them even better.
In the coming hours I know I’ll face even more new abilities from monsters, as well as even tougher boss fights as I progress through the acts. But with so much more loot and levels to gain, as well as the thrill of seeing what my crafting skills yield next, it’s all I can do to keep myself from playing until I pass out at the keyboard. Join us next week for the final updates and our coming review. For now, it’s time to keep cleaning up the legions of hell.
Source : http://www.ign.com
