Diablo 3 release announced - May 15th

[Menegrothx]

Any D2 veterans played the game yet? It still seems like many people are saying that they removed everything that was good about the original games from D3 Man I wanna try out D3 but dont feel like risking my money yet. No IGN/GS review on youtube so far

[Stark]

Any D2 veterans played the game yet? It still seems like many people are saying that they removed everything that was good about the original games from D3 Man I wanna try out D3 but dont feel like risking my money yet. No IGN/GS review on youtube so far

Who are these many people? I'm a "veteran" of the series and I would say it's everything I wanted for a sequel that I've waited 11 years for. It has the look and feel of a game from the Diablo 'verse, music, soundeffects, and NPC interaction, they just nailed it. As usual with Blizzard, the story is interesting and the CGI is the best in any medium, IMO. So, basically, Diablo 2 with updated hi-res graphics (1080P on my tv), outstanding animation and gameplay, and MMO-like co-op interaction.

EDIT: Also, I feel like reviewers at large don't know how to enjoy a game any more. Just my two cents.

[MrPopo]

Any D2 veterans played the game yet? It still seems like many people are saying that they removed everything that was good about the original games from D3 Man I wanna try out D3 but dont feel like risking my money yet.

They removed several things from D2 that made it better than D1 but when looked at objectively are completely unnecessary and kinda clunky. D2 had a ton of false choice in the skill and attribute system. Attributes were "enough to wear gear, enough to hit enemies, no energy, and rest vitality". Skills was pick your skill of choice, dump 20 points ASAP. The synergy system meant that spending more than one point in an early skill like firebolt wasn't a complete waste, but you still didn't put more than one point until you've maxed your end-game skills. It made for a really sloggy early-mid game where you have only a couple skills which are completely outclassed in terms of damage because the game is balanced around not having that red skill point button active. By contrast D3's skill system is amazing. My build constantly shifts as I level up and unlock skills and runes. My end game build is going to be a completely different set of skills from my leveling build.

Also, the end-act bosses in D3 are awesomely epic. The end-act bosses of D2 are a total letdown in comparison.

No IGN/GS review on youtube so far

It amuses me that on a text-based forum you're complaining that there are no video reviews of D3.

[jay_red]

EDIT: Not sure what your fiancee's laptop has, but my sister is playing D3 at 45-60 FPS on a 4 year old laptop with a 8600M GT. I love how Blizzard tries their hardest to not have to make you upgrade just for graphics. Exception being Starcraft II which just requires a really decent CPU.

Her laptop is a couple years old, an HP Pavilion. Running an AMD Turion x2 with Radeon 3300 graphics and 4 gigs of ram. It doesnt meet the min requirements, but we took a chance anyway and it seems to be ok.

Did anyone else have a hell of a time installing the game? Both of our computers were stuck at the "updating install files" box, I thought it was normal and let it sit for like 45 mins before I looked into the issue to discover that I had to make a setting change to get it past that. Then on my desktop it installed from the disc, then downloaded the patch, but then game kept telling me that a patch was needed and kicked me back to the desktop. The launcher would tell me that the game was up to date, so I ended up reinstalling and it seemed to go fine.

[avrame]

Did anyone else have a hell of a time installing the game? Both of our computers were stuck at the "updating install files" box, I thought it was normal and let it sit for like 45 mins before I looked into the issue to discover that I had to make a setting change to get it past that. Then on my desktop it installed from the disc, then downloaded the patch, but then game kept telling me that a patch was needed and kicked me back to the desktop. The launcher would tell me that the game was up to date, so I ended up reinstalling and it seemed to go fine.

Had that issue myself, but it was on launch day. My installer was stuck on "Downloading setup update files... 18.1 MB remaining" for an hour, then I gave up and went to sleep. Woke up at 5:30 AM and saw the update was done

[Menegrothx]

Who are these many people? I'm a "veteran" of the series and I would say it's everything I wanted for a sequel that I've waited 11 years for.

People who played it religously back in the day who I've talked with online. Regarding MrPopo's comments, the criticism seems to be more directed at how the multiplayer and things like that are implemented rather than game mechanics. The moment the first screenshots of D3 arrived after the Blizzcon 2008, people were already saying that D3 is ruined because it looks way too colorful, cheery and WoWish

I've never played Starcraft but as I understand it, they killed the sort of LAN gaming thing that made Starcraft popular in the first place in SC II and that same thing happened to Diablo 3. You have to be online and stay connected even when you want to play offline singleplayer in D3 if I'm not mistaken. Despite never having played multiplayer Diablo, I can understand why people are pissed if the game is tied to official servers.

My end game build is going to be a completely different set of skills from my leveling build.

Nothing like focusing all your talent points on AoE skills while you level up and then failing to kill the final boss where that sort of attacks are utterly useless and powerless I dont see why some people are against the idea of being able to re-spec. But then again, playing with different kind of specs seemed to be a major part of the game experience for many people in Diablo 2.

[MrPopo]

Regarding MrPopo's comments, the criticism seems to be more directed at how the multiplayer and things like that are implemented rather than game mechanics. The moment the first screenshots of D3 arrived after the Blizzcon 2008, people were already saying that D3 is ruined because it looks way too colorful, cheery and WoWish

Aka, whining for the sake of whining, or they changed it, now it sucks.

I've never played Starcraft but as I understand it, they killed the sort of LAN gaming thing that made Starcraft popular in the first place in SC II and that same thing happened to Diablo 3. You have to be online and stay connected even when you want to play offline singleplayer in D3 if I'm not mistaken. Despite never having played multiplayer Diablo, I can understand why people are pissed if the game is tied to official servers.

LAN was never the reason that StarCraft was popular, and anyone who claims otherwise is full of shit. It was popular because it was a well balanced RTS with interesting factions, a good online system through Battle.net, and a flexible map editor for custom scenarios. The always online thing is for that narrow subset of people who never want to go online. Playing D2 single player if you were also going to play multiplayer was a complete waste of time, as those characters couldn't be used online (technically they could, on the open battle.net, but that was rife with hacks).

My end game build is going to be a completely different set of skills from my leveling build.

Nothing like focusing all your talent points on AoE skills while you level up and then failing to kill the final boss where that sort of attacks are utterly useless and powerless I dont see why some people are against the idea of being able to re-spec. But then again, playing with different kind of specs seemed to be a major part of the game experience for many people in Diablo 2.

That's just a form of Stockholm Syndrome that people who play early forerunners to genres get into. Trying out new builds is fun. Rerolling characters to try out new builds is not. I see the same sort of thing with old EQ veterans when you talk about the mechanics of any major MMO. They're always quick to defend horrible practices like incredibly rare drops off of mobs with spawn times measured in hours or days.

[Jmustang1968]

I played a ton of Diablo 1 and 2 and I am really enjoying 3 right now. I've had great fun in groups and solo.

I like the graphics and look of it. It is still dark and disturbing while also not looking grainy. The art just seems better while not sacrificing the mood of the game.

I like the skill system as well. There is strategy involved in picking which active skills to use. My gameplay is varied as I play the game, instead of being locked into a certain style the entire time. I can then also set up my skills depending on the level or encounter. This also helps with playing solo or in a group. I have different set ups for solo and group play.

The online all the time is only annoying when there are server issues. For the majority of pc gamers now, we are always online anyway. So it typically doesnt have any negative effect on me. Getting in groups and such with friends is also very easy and seamless.

[Menegrothx]

Aka, whining for the sake of whining, or they changed it, now it sucks.

I wouldn't call complaining about major changes in art direction and the general athmosphere/tone of the game (Western Silent Hill games, modern Resident Evil games) or removing LAN/always-online DRM "whining for the sake of whining"

LAN was never the reason that StarCraft was popular, and anyone who claims otherwise is full of shit.

LAN probably didnt affect the popularity of SC or Warcraft 3 as much as unit/race balance, but playing D2 via LAN was very popular for a long time and a major reason why many people liked it so much.

The always online thing is for that narrow subset of people who never want to go online.

Don't forget the narrow subset of video game collectors who want to be able to play their games even after it's not profitable for Blizzard to host Diablo 3 servers anymore. Or people who dont have the priviledge of stable/fast internet connection (US soldiers stationed in third world countries for example).

Thankfully Warcraft 3 servers are still up, but nowadays it's more like this
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/34 ... wn-may-31/

[Anapan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I43GUnZN_s4