Diablo III

Haha yeah also I'm glad it's not working while the sun is out, 8pm will suit this much better :)

COME, SIT A WHILE AND LISTEN

Whew... My video card is too old too.

i'm afraid i might be up to date, this could be a problem.
i have a busy weekend planned.

beta is pretty good stuff. it's a formula, but it works. it works too damn well!

i can understand the usual hardcore griping about it being simplified (I bet this would play great with a controller - only six hotkeys needed!) but i don't see that as a problem at all

still not sure if i'm gonna invest my life in this, but i might be tipped over if i can find a decent deal on the game

my video card does not run this very well, btw, more impetus to replace this iMac...

also kinda shocked that battle.net doesn't have voice chat

I can't get on the fucking beta though it looks like my new computer (from last year) runs this like a wizard
once i get on my life is over, nice knowing you guys

The good news is that they've still got it, the bad news is it's not 2000 any more and one-more-game oh-is-that-the-sunset sessions are, to put it fucking mildly, no longer a good match for my lifestyle.

But yeah, this is a really great game, while you're playing it. The faffing around with connecting to the server every time you want to run a single-player game is not so great (though I can totally see why they've done it), but the game is A-1.

The classes are all pretty simple to pick up, I love that any given playing experience is just six buttons, but you've got 3-4 skills for each of those buttons, and 4-5 runes to modify those skills... there will be some theorycrafting going on no doubt, but I'll also be able to pick what works well for me and play the game through at least twice.

I did dig the way that a new ability or a new rune for an old ability could really change your playstyle and/or your effectiveness. Also I'm curious how non-top-level PVP will work, if at all: "Hey there's a lvl 11 wizard let's tear his head off - oh no it's a lvl 12 wizard, run from the death machine!"

The demo's only really representative of the gameplay up to a point I suppose - the stuff where you're levelling through to the end boss is okay, but you'll continue going from there (about level 10?) rather than start grinding the boss again and again (because you can't get any further than him in the demo, and because the level cap is 13). Though I suppose practice with soul-destroying boss runs is also useful :)

I imagine the levelling will be tweaked in the finished product, as you're only supposed to hit level 30 at the end of your first run-through, which is the end of act IV. Or maybe they just want to get you up and running and a feel for the character as soon as possible.

I admit I never played much co-op in Diablo II, but I don't remember it being this awesome - the banners that teleport you to another player, the individual loot drops, the way that the quest progresses for all at the same time as one (and the way it'll confirm everyone is ready before teleporting you all together for an important set-piece). I can definitely see me levelling my 2nd to, er, 5th characters that way.

Also I got the authentic Diablo moment - after getting a few rares from various kills of the end boss, I got one just by knocking over an urn.

So yeah it was great, I.m glad I basically lost this weekend to it (argh it tells you how long you've been playing each of the characters - I'm over 20 hours in total lol @ me), and I'm also glad that I only buy games at £20 or less because I will need to Set Aside some time for this, and it eating my May would not be good.

Just beat the Beta with the monk; i think this will be harder in the final version.

the bad news is it's not 2000 any more and one-more-game oh-is-that-the-sunset sessions are, to put it fucking mildly, no longer a good match for my lifestyle.

Also it's great at its ambience of course, and the Witch Doctor's Zombie Dogs are genuinely unsettling.

Also also I forgot to mention some of the really "FYI we are not a Diablo clone so we can mix things up as much as we want" decisions.

I really love that the talent trees have been replaced by the (much cooler) set up I was talking about, where you don't get the choice to click the '+' next to the skill that increases fire damage by 1% or the one that reduced the cost of fire spell by 1%, but instead every level you get 1-4 new skills or new versions of old skills, which you can use as one of your six buttons. Crucially this means that I don't have to go up five levels knowing that the points I get for these levels will go towards an ability that, in another five levels, I will replace with the one I want, and never think about again.

What I'm not so certain about, but which might be genius, is that they've taken away the twin panel, the stats. You can still see them on the character profile, but your choice of class determines how they go up each level. You can still affect them with gear and some passive skills, but that's it.

And from that comes not just no stat requirements on gear, but a complete lack of armor classes - almost everyone can wear almost everything, and the same piece of armor looks different on different classes. They can get away with this because with the Paladin gone, the heavy hitters are the monk and the barbarian, both of which start in leather, so everyone's armor upgrades from leather -> mail -> more platey, and you can maintain a cohesive look for the class.

Thhis

Bah, ignore that bit at the end.

Just beat the Beta with the monk; i think this will be harder in the final version.

Yeah, definitely, the only time I died was when I was trying for the "kill a lot of enemies at the same time" achievement.

Ha, cheers for reporting back, Andrew/forks. I ended up on a consolation Torchlight run-through this weekend instead, heh.

Blizzard tend to be pretty good with the polish/depth - sounds like D3 has that in spades. How is the music/SFX, out of curiosity? The town theme from the original Diablo still gets stuck in my head/mashed-up with John Fahey, etc.

How much is/was in the beta? I put in an hour or so back in September on an early build at a friend's (who worked for Blizzard). I was never a big Diablo fan, and I wonder how much market there's going be for this in a world where Skyrim exists, but that's just cos I don't know what I'm talking about!

It's all of Act I (of IV), I think.

The sound was pretty good, disturbing in places, doomy in places, lots of solid and possibly familiar sounds for "barrel shatters" - the sound of "fountain of gold sprays into the air and all over the floor" hit a deep comfortable spot.

I didn't notice the music, but then I generally don't.

Music/SFX are spot fucking on; they kept most of the original voices and a number of sound elements including the WUBBLEWUBBLEWUBBLE sound of dropping a weapon to the ground and the "stay awhile and listen" dude which brought back insane nostalgia.
Beta was really short for my tastes. Beat it solo in about three hours maybe. Beat it in a mob in about 45 minutes.

Haha I felt like I was going to be castigated as a slacker when playing co-op because I tend to pick up everything that drops ever (while moldering piles of laundry haunt my floor), and then nip back to sell / disenchant it all.

As long as you're the nice dude who offers things you don't need that seem semi-useful to others, that's cool.

Glad to report that the voice acting is still hilariously awful

co-op is set so that everyone gets unique loot; no stealing from your pals

I am sure that people will find some hilarious thing to be lame about, otherwise it wouldn't be Diablo

really like the unique loot thing, btw - it's kind of a pain in the ass even if you're playing with friends, since everyone has to stop and divide up the loot, in pretty much every game of this type (be it Titan Quest or Borderlands). the way it is now, you only see loot you can pick up. I believe Torchlight 2 will have the same thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2evIg-aYw8

so is there anything more to this game other than just killing stuff? looks pretty boring to me.

nope, that's the formula!

oh COME ON ste; you never played the original?

there's more than just killing stuff.... there's also collecting stuff !

forsk, i actually have it but never played it. (i got it with warcraft and starcraft in a package some years ago)

FORKS!

I think they're going to probably have the long-term game better planned out this time. afaik Diablo 2 is still playable, and they kept adding more shit you could do in multiplayer. Like if you kill Super Uber Hell Nightmare Diablo and his brothers they each drop a unique amulet and if you and your friends each throw those out in the town square in a new game then Super Duper Uber Diablo with flames shooting out his ass shows up and you can kill him or something.

Ste, it's as addictive and perfect as any game I've ever played. I failed at least one college class specifically because of diablo

it seems to me that Blizzard is responsible for a lot of college students' poor GPAs

xp i believe they're calling this strategy "the auction house"

now i just want to play warcraft 2

man I lost so much of my life to Dune II, I have no idea if I would have graduated had Warcraft 2 been released when I was in college

anyone diving in? I keep hemming and hawing about it. I don't know whether I want to go for this or Torchlight II; I can't imagine myself playing two click to kills.

is this out yet? haven't heard from some of my buddies in a few days - pretty much preparing to be without friends for a year or two b/c of this

midnight tonight.

I'm in your position, Snap, don't know if I really want to throw down on this. But for Torchlight II I'll wait until the Mac port comes out, at least.

i think i'm in but i'm gonna have to put some real serious boundaries on it or else i'm going to lose a job

I thought they were trying for a same date release for the Mac version. If not, that makes the choice much, much easier.

talking Torchlight II, obv. Diablo III is both systems as far as I know.

We can check for you on this thread every few days if you want, forks?

please do. i have a date tonight that a BIG part of me wants to cancel in favor of going home to bed and waking up at 1am to play for a few hours before work.

by the time it's released computers will be obsolete
― El Tomboto, Monday, June 30, 2008

pfffff i'll rep my iMac just as hard i did four years ago(!)

http://www.dinofarmgames.com/on-diablo/

sacred cow (level) killing. posted on facebook by banned ilxor j## w#######. interesting take that i partially disagree with.

is this gonna be like starting with Return of the King

storywise? nah, you already know the plot

yeah, the plot/characters are the dumbest thing by far. it's kind of charming how they didn't try to make the voice acting any better

dammit dammit dammit, i'm trying to resist getting this but it's hard.

very tired and have work to do and buying this now
please keep an eye on me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFVcjkQ1uDg

I have no idea why a) who is the target for this video* or b) why they'd be reading this thread, but it is a pretty solid 13 minutes of why it's fun to play Diablo now.

*basically a podcast and an attract screen.

I think I'm the target? I've never played Diablo, and still can't tell what the hell is going on when I watch videos. All I know of it is that people like it.

Oh, wait, this is primarily online multiplayer? Eh.

Ilxor Diablo crew? I’d be down

I appreciate that they made the seasons the most appealing way to play, rather than perpetually grinding the same character forever. The downside is that I end up being pretty much done playing for a while before the season ends, never clean up my stash, and then when it's all dumped back to my main account I end up losing crap.

Not that it matters if all I care about is the seasons, but w/e

Ilxor Diablo crew? I’d be down

I started an ILX clan, called simply 'ILX.'

Oh ok. Anyone ever play? Any interest in setting a date / time to play MP?

It's entirely online, Josh, even when you're playing singleplayer - a brutal but effective way prevent people hacking their characters to a trillion gold and all the gear.

I think the console versions allow offline play, but they're on a different set of servers and have some other variations

D3 has been an effective heatwave/quarantine killer this week. Say hi if you're around.

I'm burnt out on it and prefer Grim Dawn anyway but Reaper of Souls rules.