Whaleman - 29 June 2008 01:21 PM
Having watched the 20 minute 720 gameplay trailer posted, I have to say that I think I can finally learn to like a Diablo game… but that’s only if we have two computers that can run it when it hits the street… since I doubt I’d like going solo in it. No more than I liked going solo in WoW. Diablo III looks like WoW, but less and offline… but with all new settings and new classes… so it can at least be fun for a bit. Feels odd to have so much solid gameplay footage n the day the game is annonced though… but I bet things will change.
As much as I wanted see a new IP come from Blizzard, I guess from their perspective it throws something back to the RPG and indulging story folks who don’t really want an MMO. The Warcraft universe has already gone there and obviously Starcraft fills the RTS genre. In my mind, Starcraft deserved a sequel and I’m still very much looking forward to that more so than another Diablo.
I remember playing the first Diablo and loving it. I confess I never really got far into Diablo 2 for a number of reasons, but the one which stands out the most is college probably. One of these days I ought to attempt to replay it through.
Like Shawn said, the Diablo games to me were always about playing solo. If playing Mass Effect on PC recently has taught me anything it’s that I missed playing a decent, engaging single player game. I really haven’t in such a long time. Friends and I tried to play Diablo 2 together a few times but in the end I saw the multiplayer aspect suffer from people playing and leveling solo on their own anyway. When one person fell behind a few levels because the rest were off playing solo on their own time, the whole effort fell apart when we tried to play together again until person A caught back up to person B. So unless 2 or more people commit to only playing when they can play together (and I know you and Lovisa do, Johan), I just don’t see Diablo as that type of game.
This is sadly what I hate in WoW as well, and it bugs me when you have to level grind to keep up or be on the same part of some quest as everyone else or even more grudgingly, when someone goes off to get their higher level toon because the encounter seems too difficult to defeat with the current group makeup. WoW is what it is though and it has plenty of other merits for being a dedicated MMO. But if I do pickup Diablo 3 ever, I’ll more than likely be happy to enjoy it alone.
Also, wonder how this one will be since the guys from Blizzard North (the guys who made the first two titles) have long since left. Then again, Hellgate London wasn’t really the best either.
If you truly were a computer fanboy you’d call StarFox a dumbed down Falcon 4.0, Mario a simplified Baldur’s Gate and Metal Gear Solid a messed up Thief. You would also die before you touched a controller and regard all console gamers (even those who play computer games as well) as a lower form of life. You would be so deep into your elitist mindset that any title not released solely on computers would be considered worthless and too heavily adapted for console gamers to be worth even downloading a demo for.
