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Impressions from Diablo 3 closed beta from a 'not-so-hardcore' gamer's perspective.
Alright Diablo was one of the first games I played that really sucked me in. The graphics and gameplay elements at the time were spectacular. The loot was fun to pick up, the story was kind of cool, endless mobs of enemies to click on. It was paradise. You may look at Diablo as a dated game now and it surely is, but that doesn't take away from the experience that all of us had when we first installed that HDD crippling ~600mb piece of software. Hearing the Butcher say "mmmmm...fresh meat" was one of the more terrifying experiences I have ever had in a video game. Turning on Town-Kill hacks and casting apocalypse all over people, or duping gold until you were the 1%, these are the things I'll never forget. Diablo was a fast paced click-fest and it created some great memories that I'll never forget. Then Diablo 2 came out - more of the same it seemed, which was a good thing. I won't go into too much detail on D2 or LOD but Blizzard hit the nail on the head again. Plenty of fond memories were had in the game. Again, the game is dated now and you can call it what it is but it STILL doesn't take away from the fact that the game is/was amazing at the time. **Note: I won't be talking about the auction house or multiplayer. There is enough info out there on the subjects. This is purely from a "lets just enjoy the game" mentality. That being said the AH does need work.** Now - Diablo 3. First off, the game in it's current form is a blast. The root of it: clicking monsters, watching them die, picking up loot, comparing loot, repeat, is still there full blast. It'd be hard for them to fuck that one up. They've added some features from newer Diablo clones like summonable companions that run around collecting gold for you, there is an item which lets you sell items right from your inventory - no more town portals back and forth between town unless you need to do something there. These are welcome improvements and I think Blizzard deserves to use these features from other games. They innovated the core systems here so I see no problem with them borrowing from "updates" to the genre. I have played and beat the beta with all the classes and each one felt fully fleshed out. There isn't a "weak" character class so to speak and they all feel completely viable in combat. The beta is EASY. But what Diablo game has anyone played where the first chapter of the first act was hard? None. It's on an easy difficulty with no options to switch. Of course it's going to be a breeze. Clearly it will be harder on a higher difficulty setting. Maximum level is 13 for the beta. It took a few run throughs with each character to get there, mostly because you're stuck on easy and the monsters aren't scaling with you. I won't speak to later levels because they aren't in the beta. There is NO sense in worrying about what happens from level 13 and on because I haven't experienced it yet. That being said, leveling up felt more grindy than in the past, this could be due to three things in my opinion: 1. The UI. It's more WoW than Diablo but THAT'S OK folks. Borrowing design cues from your most successful franchise is not a bad thing. I'm using an FXAA injector mod that TOTALLY darkens the game and brings the overall atmosphere back to Diablo. This doesn't change the art style but it definitely makes a big enough difference that I now feel like I'm playing a Diablo game and not a Warcraft game. 2. The dated core system. I've been pointing and clicking at monsters on my screen for a long time now. This mechanic to me now has its ups and downs. Hearing rapid-fire clicking brings me back and nostalgia takes over from there. Then again, sometimes I realize what I'm really doing (repetitively clicking on things on the screen) - though this is far and few between and it's part of why the game is so great. This is a mixed bag for me but I think it has to do with me being older and more aware of what I'm actually doing in a video game. 3. The WoW quest system - 'nuff said. I get it, it's going to be the norm. I even defended them borrowing things from their most successful franchise just above and this is no different. Note that the actual quest content isn't really WoW (thank baby Jesus), just the manner in which you accept and complete them. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm just not a huge fan of WoW and how it has affected the industry as a whole. I've played the game for a few periods of time and I just couldn't really stick with it. Grinding up to max level so that I can grind for more gear isn't the point of an MMO for me. That aspect of gameplay feels much more at home in Diablo. So while the leveling feels a little more grindy than I remember it's still FUN and satisfying. I think I had most fun with the monk. Mechanics for the monk work like a charm: use your primary attack to generate spirit and then use your special abilities. I had my monk set up with a healing spell that used 50 spirit and one of my abilities was that I gained health for every spirit spent. This made me feel like a god - especially at these easy levels. A sweeping flurry of fists - my primary attack stuns enemies in the area as well. If I needed space I had a special kick that knocked enemies back a few paces. I don't want to spoil TOO much character stuff but that is a little insight into the mechanics of one of the classes. All the classes have fun and engaging mechanics like this. I'm not worried about higher levels - higher levels in any game are going to feel like a plateau until you hit end-game I think the spacing of skill unlocks will help with this to a point. You're going to progress more naturally than the past 2 games most definitely. The increased difficulty levels and increased amount of loot will also take some of the edge off this plateau effect. Plus, it's hard to really focus on this stuff when you're clicking as fast as you can, picking up, and crafting new stuff. They've also added side quests that you can choose to participate in. These little things will add a little more variety to those dead zone levels that seem to drag on and on. There is no character customization, true, but?.when has there ever been character customization in a Diablo game? They gave us a banner to edit: a few different backdrops with some emblems and customizable colors - that's plenty for this game. I realize it's 2011 but this is Diablo. If you want character customization go play another game. In fact I'd be disappointed if they added too much character customization. It takes away from the simplicity of the system. A monk is a monk, a barbarian is a barbarian etc? I like that simplicity. I think the real customization, like in the past 2 games, comes from gear. Loot. Clickable, craftable, sweet, glorious treasures. The crafting (blacksmith only in beta) system is great. Again, they're borrowing from WoW here but it's well executed and differs enough to feel new. In the beginning your crafted items will have 1 set effect and 1 random effect. The set effect is randomly generated from a range of values (ie +1-8 Defense). You can acquire materials by destroying items (right from the inventory, no town portals needed, just an item). I have spent a good amount of time crafting, trying to get that perfect combo of the highest set effect in its range and the best random effect for that character. It's quite fun and I can see why the crafting system will be very useful - this is where your "character customization" is, if you're looking for that. Finding new blueprints and leveling up your crafters abilities (by finding 5 pages of a book, combining it and then giving that plus some materials to the crafter) is going to add a lot of dynamics to the game. Even at the lower crafting levels you can make some seemingly powerful stuff. I can't imagine what high level crafting will be like but I imagine it will be awesome. The followers (a templar in the beta) are helpful at this level but not needed. I hear that the followers will actually be useful at later levels but I'll believe that when I see it. I let him follow me around more for companionship than anything. Some of the cheesy one liners that come out of his mouth crack me up. It's pure cheezeball but it's fun - poking fun at itself almost. Like making bad jokes with your friends. The overall dialog in the game is?mediocre. I wish they would have improved this, being 2011 and all but then again, this IS Diablo. The dialog is not really the point. I don't really know how else to explain it. It's just?there. Boxes of text to read once and then rapid-click through on subsequent playthroughs. Voice acting is acceptable though, good even. Deckard Cain didn't QUITE have the voice I remember but I haven't heard him talk too much. If he doesn't ask me to stay a while and listen in the full game I WILL be upset. All that being said, one thing I think everyone needs to be careful of is their expectations. I'm not trying to lower anyones expectations here but this isn't the be all end all game. It's Diablo 3. It's not "modern" in any sense. It feels like Diablo, it looks like Diablo. It IS Diablo. They've just added a few things and made some obvious technical updates. If you're expecting this to be anything but that, you will most likely be disappointed. There is a lot of stuff that I haven't even touched on - the auction house and multiplayer obviously, the skill stone, graphics, inventory, how cool it is to launch hordes of exploding frogs at people etc? There is a lot more to talk about, just from the beta. The game is looking great so far and I am really enjoying it, definitely looking forward to the finished product. I'm going to go play now, writing about it has made me thirst for it. Like a fine wine. more