- Joined
- May 15, 2009
- Messages
- 169
I dont post much, but seeing as this is a small community compared to the insanely few people who get beta keys, I will offer my insights, as a beta-key winner, on the game... for those of you who haven't read a dozen or more posts on the official diablo 3 forums.
My credentials:
I played diablo 2 for... too long. 7ish years. I am a pretty harsh game critic, and think from more of an elitist point of view. For instance, After the first 10 hours of skyrim, the game began into a downward spiral that can only be compared to what Activision did to Blizzard games. If you aren't willing to take the good with the bad, please don't read.
What you are missing (as of right now):
Level 13 is the cap in the beta. You can hit it in a few hours with any class. For those of you who are sad that you don't have a key already, you aren't missing much. With this in mind, There is a lot of the game I cannot tell you about.
Graphics:
The first thing you will notice about a game is how it looks. Diablo 3 looks stellar, fact. The ability to use abilities that go "ka-boom" and send various parts of monsters flying multiple screens away, is, great. Really. 10 outta 10, from what I have seen, for a game that claims to have the content of a Diablo game. Any true gamer (people still playing Warcraft 3, or Starcraft 1 in 2009, or even the 50,000 users normally logged onto Diablo 2 at any given time) understand that graphics don't make a game.
Storyline:
As I am capped at level 13, I cannot say how well the overall story-line flows start to finish, what I can tell you is that the early story-line is complete garbage. Without ruining anything for anyone... you start off outside of a small town. guy says "cant open the gate until the road is safe" you reply "okay" and then together, kill things that run out onto the road. you go into town and are told by, "talk to that girl, she lost her uncle" and you reply "okay". You talk to the girl, she says "my uncle is lost in XXXXXX, and there are (bad guys) there." you reply "i will help" then you go to said place, and kill some baddies. talk to her again, she says "look, a trap door, we should see what is down there. but I want to sit here and read this book" you reply "okay, I will go by myself"... Yeah, seriously. I hope that gets my point across. It might not be those exact words, but the concept of lore is completely out the window. I am the guy who skips through text in any game, and later wonder what my goal is. The fact that people who love the diablo storyline are being presented with this trash, is saddening.
Gameplay:
Thankfully, they have really stuck with the classic "Diablo" style of play. Well, with exception to the ability to respec your hero at any given time. That one is pretty bogus. Also, so far, I am given set attributes when I level up. that is, I cannot make the conscious choice to put my first 40 points into strength, and my last 200 points into vitality. the game makes that choice for me. In old Diablo, the way you built your hero was set in stone. It made every unit very different. you would have 4 paladins, just to have different builds. Weekend warriors united to say "I only want to play a game once, and they experience all of the end game content from every angle possible" and their wish was done. In diablo 3, there are 5 classes that are easy to level, and once the unit is max level, you will never need to level another unit of that type. Hardcore players will have this done within 2 months, casual players within a year. Not the 10 years of replayability that Diablo 2 offered.
Uniqueness:
This is always a neat factor to a game. And, this game has little of it so far. With a level cap of 13, I really hope this opinion changes. All of the monsters I have encountered come from other versions of diablo, if you dont include graphics alone. (a puking zombie replaces "fallen shaman" while weaker zombies are "fallen" and bigger zombies are "zombies" then I find gloom bats, skeletons, cave crawlers.... There is 1 neat monster that is unique. I wont ruin him though, because it is an impressive first sight and fight. The storyline, which is early, is boring. Not to say that Diablo 2 had strong start either. Artisans, which I am yet to play with, add a nice uniqueness that I feel will be of little value once the economy is working. a way to add gold to the economy, and allow lower level players to craft things and make a little extra gold. No game changer. The skills, so far, are pretty much skills from Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, or World of Warcraft. When I saw "cleave" on a barbarian, I thought "lol, cleave is pure damage, this is OP in any custom game" and had to use it. Their idea factory is running low this game; but again, people have played Diablo 2 for 10 years; seeing something new only really gives you 1 opportunity to view it as new.
Overall:
I would give the graphics a 5 outta 5, great, love them. The text, storyline, ability to even attempt to draw you into a storyline, I woud give a 2 outta 5. The fact that it is a Diablo game, and is the most anticipated game to ever exist, means that it doesn't need a compelling story line for people to play start to finish in 2 sittings, interrupted by a nap and a single food break. Uniqueness is low, quite low. For anyone who loves to play Blizzard games for the Lore, the unique fights, the quests, see what strange skills they came up with.. well, you wont be too happy if you have ever played another blizzard game. Uniqueness I give a 2 outta 5.
General Opinion:
I can give a game lower ratings and still think it is good, right? I think it is a good game, and even though I will have played it fully by the time it is released, I will waste my hard earned money on it; to play it more with friends. A weekend warrior can enjoy this game as they play through it alone because they dont like to chat with other people. A hardcore Blizzard fan can blaze through the game, and enjoy it while playing it. The people who I feel will be let down most by this game are the hardcore players. the people who played Diablo 2 for a long time, or quit WoW when Cata came out (or shortly after beating it), or even the DoTA players... as much as I dislike that game... are the people who will not be enjoying this game as much as they expect it to. The biggest downside is that this game will have a short run time unless it is constantly being updated with new, bigger bosses, and more content. If in 2 years we aren't on "Act 11" I will be surprised. Act 9: "Gollum glued all the shards of the soulstones together and created "meh-di-al" the super devil. Act 10: "Your hero drank from the river of flame, battle internal monsters to save yourself form being overtaken by evil." Act 11: "Be passed as a large kidney stone"
Insert a disclaimer here about this being my opinion, and me being an opinionated person. If you have any questions about specific content, it is a good idea to check the Diablo 3 site. There is a lot of information on things not currently in the beta, and you can find the opinions of dozens of people who have tested whatever aspect of the beta you may have questions about.
My credentials:
I played diablo 2 for... too long. 7ish years. I am a pretty harsh game critic, and think from more of an elitist point of view. For instance, After the first 10 hours of skyrim, the game began into a downward spiral that can only be compared to what Activision did to Blizzard games. If you aren't willing to take the good with the bad, please don't read.
What you are missing (as of right now):
Level 13 is the cap in the beta. You can hit it in a few hours with any class. For those of you who are sad that you don't have a key already, you aren't missing much. With this in mind, There is a lot of the game I cannot tell you about.
Graphics:
The first thing you will notice about a game is how it looks. Diablo 3 looks stellar, fact. The ability to use abilities that go "ka-boom" and send various parts of monsters flying multiple screens away, is, great. Really. 10 outta 10, from what I have seen, for a game that claims to have the content of a Diablo game. Any true gamer (people still playing Warcraft 3, or Starcraft 1 in 2009, or even the 50,000 users normally logged onto Diablo 2 at any given time) understand that graphics don't make a game.
Storyline:
As I am capped at level 13, I cannot say how well the overall story-line flows start to finish, what I can tell you is that the early story-line is complete garbage. Without ruining anything for anyone... you start off outside of a small town. guy says "cant open the gate until the road is safe" you reply "okay" and then together, kill things that run out onto the road. you go into town and are told by, "talk to that girl, she lost her uncle" and you reply "okay". You talk to the girl, she says "my uncle is lost in XXXXXX, and there are (bad guys) there." you reply "i will help" then you go to said place, and kill some baddies. talk to her again, she says "look, a trap door, we should see what is down there. but I want to sit here and read this book" you reply "okay, I will go by myself"... Yeah, seriously. I hope that gets my point across. It might not be those exact words, but the concept of lore is completely out the window. I am the guy who skips through text in any game, and later wonder what my goal is. The fact that people who love the diablo storyline are being presented with this trash, is saddening.
Gameplay:
Thankfully, they have really stuck with the classic "Diablo" style of play. Well, with exception to the ability to respec your hero at any given time. That one is pretty bogus. Also, so far, I am given set attributes when I level up. that is, I cannot make the conscious choice to put my first 40 points into strength, and my last 200 points into vitality. the game makes that choice for me. In old Diablo, the way you built your hero was set in stone. It made every unit very different. you would have 4 paladins, just to have different builds. Weekend warriors united to say "I only want to play a game once, and they experience all of the end game content from every angle possible" and their wish was done. In diablo 3, there are 5 classes that are easy to level, and once the unit is max level, you will never need to level another unit of that type. Hardcore players will have this done within 2 months, casual players within a year. Not the 10 years of replayability that Diablo 2 offered.
Uniqueness:
This is always a neat factor to a game. And, this game has little of it so far. With a level cap of 13, I really hope this opinion changes. All of the monsters I have encountered come from other versions of diablo, if you dont include graphics alone. (a puking zombie replaces "fallen shaman" while weaker zombies are "fallen" and bigger zombies are "zombies" then I find gloom bats, skeletons, cave crawlers.... There is 1 neat monster that is unique. I wont ruin him though, because it is an impressive first sight and fight. The storyline, which is early, is boring. Not to say that Diablo 2 had strong start either. Artisans, which I am yet to play with, add a nice uniqueness that I feel will be of little value once the economy is working. a way to add gold to the economy, and allow lower level players to craft things and make a little extra gold. No game changer. The skills, so far, are pretty much skills from Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, or World of Warcraft. When I saw "cleave" on a barbarian, I thought "lol, cleave is pure damage, this is OP in any custom game" and had to use it. Their idea factory is running low this game; but again, people have played Diablo 2 for 10 years; seeing something new only really gives you 1 opportunity to view it as new.
Overall:
I would give the graphics a 5 outta 5, great, love them. The text, storyline, ability to even attempt to draw you into a storyline, I woud give a 2 outta 5. The fact that it is a Diablo game, and is the most anticipated game to ever exist, means that it doesn't need a compelling story line for people to play start to finish in 2 sittings, interrupted by a nap and a single food break. Uniqueness is low, quite low. For anyone who loves to play Blizzard games for the Lore, the unique fights, the quests, see what strange skills they came up with.. well, you wont be too happy if you have ever played another blizzard game. Uniqueness I give a 2 outta 5.
General Opinion:
I can give a game lower ratings and still think it is good, right? I think it is a good game, and even though I will have played it fully by the time it is released, I will waste my hard earned money on it; to play it more with friends. A weekend warrior can enjoy this game as they play through it alone because they dont like to chat with other people. A hardcore Blizzard fan can blaze through the game, and enjoy it while playing it. The people who I feel will be let down most by this game are the hardcore players. the people who played Diablo 2 for a long time, or quit WoW when Cata came out (or shortly after beating it), or even the DoTA players... as much as I dislike that game... are the people who will not be enjoying this game as much as they expect it to. The biggest downside is that this game will have a short run time unless it is constantly being updated with new, bigger bosses, and more content. If in 2 years we aren't on "Act 11" I will be surprised. Act 9: "Gollum glued all the shards of the soulstones together and created "meh-di-al" the super devil. Act 10: "Your hero drank from the river of flame, battle internal monsters to save yourself form being overtaken by evil." Act 11: "Be passed as a large kidney stone"
Insert a disclaimer here about this being my opinion, and me being an opinionated person. If you have any questions about specific content, it is a good idea to check the Diablo 3 site. There is a lot of information on things not currently in the beta, and you can find the opinions of dozens of people who have tested whatever aspect of the beta you may have questions about.
