i enjoyed the first two diablo games on the PC, particularly diablo 2. i finished both of the games legitimately quite a few years ago. every now and then i’ll load up D2 for a replay…the last time was about 3 years ago. even though i still think highly of the game i believe there are some flaws with the replay value. for instance, when i typically play RPGs i compulsively search through areas until i find every bit of treasure/items. i played D2 like that the first couple of times i played it, but on my most recent replay i quickly discovered that it’s not worth it. rare items you find in one area quickly become obsolete in the next area. the enemies and such were already old news to me…and once i didn’t feel the need to search every single corner of the dungeons i found myself speeding through the areas and moving to the next one as quickly as possible. this isn’t how i like to play games, i like to take the time to actually enjoy them…but after finishing D2 and being fully aware of how the story develops…i’d hate to say it…but the game just becomes boring during replays.

there’s also tons of skill points to gain through leveling and i didn’t have the patience for it this time around. by the time i got to the jungle region i began using a save/character editor to give my character more skill points. since i had already beaten the game before i couldn’t bring myself to do all the grueling level building again. but who knows maybe i’ll try replaying D1 and D2 legitimately sometime in the future…

being a fan of the franchise i was of course excited by the release of diablo 3. however, i couldn’t bring myself to touch it with the always online DRM requirement for the PC. recently it was announced that D3 was coming to consoles. so i figured here’s my chance to actually play it. i was initially concerned that the controls wouldn’t translate over well to a console. i downloaded the D3 xbox360 demo yesterday to try it out. the controls actually are fine on a console controller. the graphics look good and some of the dungeons are very detailed. with the move over to a full 3d engine though i felt that everything looked a bit too clean/sterile. the enemies seemed a bit more repetitious and instead of having vast fields to travel across there are now well defined linear paths. i played up until level 6 or so and stopped playing. i unfortunately did not get to see any cutscenes so i’m not sure what’s going on with the story. the quests seemed to consist of going to kill minibosses or bosses (which is pretty standard for the series). without a good story motivating me to play the game i felt like it was kind of boring. the action seems more arcade oriented in D3 and i was very aware of all the button mashing i was doing.

anyways, the game still has pretty high reviews and i’ll most likely grab it when it drops into the $20 range or $30 if it includes an expansion.

update 1/10/2015:
i acquired the ultimate evil edition for xmas 2014. currently i am progressing through act 3. i’m playing as the witch doctor because i wanted a class similar to diablo 2’s necromancer…it’s not quite the same. as i stated when playing the demo, diablo3 definitely feels more arcade-like and less like a typical action rpg. i think they certainly used torchlight as an influence (just as torchlight obviously used diablo as one). i’m not sure i like the arcade rpg experience where the game seems to be loot-centric and all about insanely high stats. i should clarify – i like that arcadey experience in torchlight, but i don’t think i like it applied to a diablo game. i am playing on normal, but the level of difficulty compared to previous diablos feels very diminished. i have only died once and that was from not paying attention to my health…since i became so accustomed to feeling invincible i didn’t notice that arcane magic actually hurt. i barely ever seem to actually need to use health potions either. in previous games i definitely remembered needing a full stock of health potions throughout the entire game.

the story seems to be pretty good so far. the level design is gorgeous yet at times fairly repetitive. the level design is oddly scaled as well, everything seems overly large (a la torchlight). i thought deckard cain’s old man voice was humorous in the previous game…now it’s really laughable because of how exaggerated it is in this game. i dislike the addition of the leah character. not because she is female or anything like that, but because she’s a generic extra emotional teen girl type character that seems to be so prevalent in games of the 2010’s. a teen girl who always seems to be on the verge of tears doesn’t belong in a diablo game…at least have a strong female character. i imagine this is some type of lame way to attract younger players to the franchise but it sucks. zoltun kulle is the first character that i found to be intriguing. i kept wanting to play more of act 2 to find out more about him. act 2 didn’t seem to take as long as act 1. the last segment of act 1 went on forever. the part where you are trying to retrieve “the stranger”…the amount of 3 level deep dungeons you go through seems infinite. i was level 20 by the end of act 1 and level 30 by the end of act 2.

i’d say i’m mostly enjoying my play through of the game. one thing that crossed my mind the other day was a wish/desire that blizzard had done more with this franchise. what i mean by that is that the core gameplay of diablo 3 is the same as previous installments. and that boils down to walking around and being swarmed by hordes of enemies. this becomes tedious after a while. there are scripted events to add a little flair, but it still doesn’t change the fact this gameplay mechanic isn’t that interesting any more. it seems like they could add some enemy AI or something besides everything swarming on sight. like the goat people could be going about their business until provoked or utilize defenses from their campgrounds. certain creatures could attack each other…i don’t know just something to break up the monotony. i guess i just don’t like the fact that the world seems so static and unalive still 16 years after the first installment came out.

update 1/25/15
i killed diablo and finished act 4 more than a week ago and ended up finishing act 5 two days ago. i ended the game as level 48. overall i’d rate diablo 3 as a slightly above average game. i think all old timey diablo players will want to play it, but then at the same time they’ll end up feeling slightly disappointed like me. things i liked: picking up gold & potions is automated, no need for town portal or identify scrolls, companions are more fleshed out and actually have an identity, the story for the most part is pretty good, adventure mode is a nice perk. what i didn’t like: there’s nothing really to do with your fortune of gold, some lame characters (like leah), aspects of the level/character design reminded me of other blizzard franchises (warcraft, starcraft), passive skills seem overly complicated, player stats are crazy. i think the #1 glaring problem with the game is the difficulty. the game is just way too easy on normal and hard is more of the same except enemies take longer to kill. i never felt challenged by the game or had an oh crap i’m gonna die moment. i probably used a health potion less than 5 times during the game and i bet that i didn’t even need to. everything seems to quickly regenerate your health. this change is no doubt to attract new players, but it really takes away from the diablo experience. without a challenge this game is just like running through an interactive movie. i miss this franchise being developed by blizzard north…

anyways, i’ve started some new players as the other classes and i may add my 2 cents about those. i also might force myself to get my witch doctor up to level 70.

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