Originally posted by Veldara

I'm finding a lot of gamers that are very vocal and dislike this game usually are the ones that played the originals.  I can respect that they don't like the new direction of the game, but as a person that never has played the originals and who found TL1 while entertaining but clunky I really enjoy D3 far more.  It's bringing in players that never played these types of games, myself included.  The streamlined direction of the game flows well and is action packed and doesn't slow you down with far too much numbercrunching.



 

Your words depress me.

Perhaps the future of gaming really is a watered-down and incomplete version of the past.

Long live the glory days of gaming. Never forget.

Fair review...but I differed on a few things...

Aesthetics:  Beautifuly polished game....and was quite the contrast after playing a bit of Diablo 2 leading up to the D3 launch.  As the OP stated, the game is missing lots of effects & whatnot that many new games are capable of....but that hasn't ever really been Blizzard's style.  There are some very practicle reasons for keeping it simple stupid.

Gameplay:  D3 missed an opportunity to take these click-fest hack n' slash crawlers to a new level.  For example, NCSoft is rebooting the Lineage series in an isometric "Diablo / Torch Light" like format, called Lineage Eternal.  There are some videos out that show how they implemented "Mouse Gestures" in their gameplay.

Want a wall of fire?  Use the skill and drag a line on the screen where you want the fire wall to appear.  Want to perform a whirlwind attack?  Use the skill and drag a line in a circle around your character to AOE everything around you.    You can get pretty creative with allowing the gamer more control over the direction & amplitude of the skill....including varying amounts of mana usage, and selective targeting.

With that said, I'm very appreciative of having more of my skills available to me at the touch of a key or mouse button with the new UI.

Innovation:  This dove tails with the previous message around gameplay.  Gameplay innovation is limited (easier to access UI & destructable environment)  Everything else is the same as D2. 

Out of game innovation has, however, broken some ground for future games like these.  The ease of grouping is seamless (and almost too easy to the point it can be annoying if you don't turn off the autogroup setting).  They leveraged some great things from WOW (Chatting, Auction House, Item Linking, Party Options, cross game communications)

Polish:  what can I say...its a Blizzard game thats been under the knife for years on end.  To my experience, it's been bug free, graphics & animations are tops, features have been well fleshed out.

Longevity:  here is where I differ most from the OP.  I've actually found Nightmare a fair bit more challenging than Normal Mode.  I was forced to auction my gear for the first time about half way through ACT II Nightmare because the crap gear I've been getting hasn't been up to snuff.  Regular monsters are still a pushover....but elite / magical group monsters tear me up...mostly due to limitations of my class with that particualr monster.

I really like the game, but it just doesn't have it's hooks into me like D2 did (maybe im just getting old).  Having to AH my gear to progress, coupled with getting absolutely crap gear, has killed the whole gear chase aspect for me.  I found the initial game experience (especially the Diablo encounter & death) to be kinda...meh.  And now i have to do it all over again and I'm getting my butt kicked due to a gear check.

I'm trying to stay motivated to play....but I'm finding less and less to get excited about as the novelty wears off a bit.

Social:  Tops for this genere of gaming.  Chatting is obviously a boon for the series.  Grouping is almost too easy, and of course....it's part of the Blizzard eco-system so being able to chat with folks in WOW or SC2, while in Diablo is pretty dang cool.

Value:  If you're going to play it all the way through the difficulty modes, $60 bucks is a good buy.  If you're not particularly interested in going past Normal or Nightmare, $60 is a little expensive.  You can beat Normal mode in less than a week if you're running through the game.

Conclusion:  It's about what you expected......just that it's what I would have expected several years ago.  The game is great for what it is, and trys to be.....but given the time between D2 & D3....and the time spend on development, I would have expected something a little different.  I thought Blizzard would have been the one to introduce mouse gesture based skills, more immersive game play.....or just something else, outside typical Diablo fare. 

Still a great game, and a good buy for anyone that plans on reaching level cap & playing the varying difficulty modes.

The longevity question is going to vary from person to person.  Personally I'm already finding the novelty starting to wear off - somewhere about half-way through nightmare, the fun started to wane as I hit my own personal wall where my less-than-perfect reflexes couldn't reliably keep up or my build choices were too weak.  It will probably be one of those games I'll pull up from time to time when I'm bored, but it doesn't seem to maintain an MMOish hold on my life. 

I find it funny that he listed under cons "Too easy except for Hell/Inferno."

He probably beat Normal and maybe went a couple quests deep into nightmare - if that -  since he was only like level 31 when he stopped to write the review.

The review hit some nails on the head, but you can't really know the full game to even give it a full, fair review without getting one character to Inferno and level 60.

But I do find it funny that even just with Normal beaten, it got an 8.5. As for the hacking of your friend, it's "Authenticator or gtfo" for the most part. Blizzard doesn't care much about the security of your account without an authenticator. Passwords aren't case sensitive, and I believe you can try the password an unlimited amount of time without having to wait to try again, or anything. 

It just adds to the feeling that they half-assed the majority of the game. :(

My friends found it fun to play but we all got bored with the grind and repetitive content. Some made it to inferno, some just to nightmare or hell but we are all bored now and have moved on.

I'd give longevity a 3/10.

I'd say our biggest complaints are the loot system favours using the AH way too much and there isn't enough randomisation in the content to make you want to go back and grind it out on other classes.

Most of us expected more from D3 and it failed to live up to expectations even thou its been a fun game to play.

Originally posted by Mykell

My friends found it fun to play but we all got bored with the grind and repetitive content. Some made it to inferno, some just to nightmare or hell but we are all bored now and have moved on.

I'd give longevity a 3/10.

I'd say our biggest complaints are the loot system favours using the AH way too much and there isn't enough randomisation in the content to make you want to go back and grind it out on other classes.

Most of us expected more from D3 and it failed to live up to expectations even thou its been a fun game to play.

Yeah same here. I gave it a shot, but over several hundred hours played, multiple classes at varying levels including 60s in Inferno.... im bored as hell. Havent touched the game since i think tuesday, maybe monday.. I actually grew tired of the game probably a week before that but kept at it for awhile hoping i would change my mind and find something more fun about it. Finally gave up though. I kept finding myself constantly alt-tabbing out looking for other stuff to do, anything but playing.

I Played D2 for a solid 2-3 years straight after launch, then on and off since then until D3 came out. I wanted to like D3, i loved D2. It just didnt cut it though, not even close About 2 weeks of enjoyment (if you can call it that)  from D3 vs years of enjoyment from D2.... what a disaster. I actually logged into D2 during maintenances, started new toons, and was having more fun there than in this turd.

I have wasted 60 dollars because of this crap.

Over an 8 is really pushing it.  The game has mediocre graphics, a mediocre story, mediocre dialogue, severe issues at its highest difficulty, lots of balance issues, a big itemization problem, and the list goes on and on.

As for the comments, I always give a second review.. Its obvious the haters who didnt get everything they wanted on the first week of the game release call it boring and AH intensive..

Yet they always state how they played Diablo 2 for 2-3 years straight though.

Cough Cough, bullshit.... The fact you expect to have all the loot in a week in itself, the thought is moronic at the least bit of considerate thought.. It's downright disrespectful and you clearly are not a Diablo fan nor do i doubt you played Diablo 2 at all to say such nonsense let alone 2 years straight.

I greatly enjoy D3, but it definitely has flaws, the biggest one of which is the itemization and how it relates to progression.

The big problem is that character power is much more dependent on gear this time around, especially compared to D2. Unfortunately, having completely random loot doesn't really work anymore, because if the RNG isn't on your side, you can hit a pretty big progression brick wall as early as nightmare difficulty. Yes, you can use the auction house, but for me that just kind of sucks the fun out of the game. Without loot it's just a pointless grind for gold (or EXP until 60).

Blizzard needs to adjust loot tables so that level appropriate goodies drop much more frequently, and certain items need to be made a little less random. A wizard specific hat should NEVER have STR as a primary stat on it, and I shouldn't be getting items in Inferno (or even late Hell) with +EXP on them, for example. Also, class-specific items should have some sort of incentive for using them over a non class-specific one which may be slightly better stat wise. Seeing Wizards running around with 2H battle axes makes me die a little inside.

Anyway, I give this game a solid 8 now, but a 9+ if they can fix itemization.

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by DAS1337

 

Spotty B.net service?  Really?  I haven't had any lag or any disconnects since the day after launch.  Either you are lying or you have had some pretty horrendous luck.  

 I have been playing this for about a  week now and the only 'lag' or 'rubberbanding' I have experienced has been due to me being on a wifi connection.  [mod edit]

 

On what planet have you been on holiday since launch? I would like to know, so we all can travel there too!

[mod edit]

 

As all the Error 37 and Error 73 jokes, constant server downtimes and maintenance (especially here in Europe!!) , endless complain threads about it (both on official forums and these and other forums), videos about it, etc.... that is all fake??

 

[mod edit]

 

I have been playing this for about a  week now and the only 'lag' or 'rubberbanding' I have experienced has been due to me being on a wifi connection.  [mod edit]

Woah, that's a high review.

I LOVE this game and am severely addicted to it at the momant, but still I think maybe 8.5 is a little too high. The only problems with it are, the campaign is less than 24 hours long, and B.net is still very shoddy atm (in Europe atleast, I hear the Americans have no problems). Actually, even though it's 4:50am, the only reason we're not still playing RIGHT FUCKING NOW is because the server just came down.

Although the campaign is short, I'm still going to be gearing up in Inferno for a long, LONG time to come, they're adding new legendarys soon too. The gameplay is outstanding, so fluid and addictive. I'm itching for the PvP patch to come out already, and cannot wait to empty all your pockets on the RMAH ;) (It's good that Blizzard are making repair costs 6x more, this means gold will likely keep its value, and you'll literally be paying the good half of the players out your pockets for your deaths. So you guys in pub's can still abuse the quick res & player tele system, but you better have a lot of gold, or a deep pocket to do so).

Anyway, server being down = bed time.

Decent review, though it seems most reviews have a lot of text about what they don't like then the final verdict doesn't match the text. As for 10/10 longevity... that seems to be a bit overstated.  How many people will be playing in a year if the game doesn't go on sale?

I bought D3 because I wanted to play with friends.  It definetly feels more shallow than D2.  I agree with the comments on initial difficulty.. the only way you die is if you're not watching the screen or if you encounter a gimmick mob for the first time and don't realize what is happening... like trees and their poison plants (yes, that was me).

I was not thrilled with the final battle.  Even on "normal" difficulty, you would think there would be a challenge, but it felt like any other boss fight.  Blizzard's vision of how this final battle / boss would look is even underwhelming.  The boss should have looked and felt more significant.

With all that said, I enjoyed playing with friends.  I seemed to get disconnected less when I was in a multiplayer game.  Played solo several nights and was disconnected frequently, though that may be coincidence.

If this were D2, I would have still played the online version so that I could play any of my characters with friends, so the always on DRM doesn't bother me... but I understand how it bothers those that played D2 solo, so I'm not discounting your complaints.  Still, my issue isn't with the always on DRM, its the fact that you can't stay online, even weeks after launch, without being disconnected.  Sometimes its hours, sometimes its minutes.  When I don't have problems with most other online games, don't tell me to go adjust router settings to fix my problem.

D3 is a decent game, but it just doesn't live up to D2, even when I remove my rose colored glasses.  Still, I had fun playing with friends, so I can't call it a failure.  It's just not a masterpiece... which is what most of us wanted even if we weren't really expecting that.

Diablo fans need to buy this because they can't help it.  Everyone else? Buy it if you have friends playing, it will still be fun... but if you're not sure about it, then save your money.

Originally posted by Jimmydean

lol 10/10 value, 9/10 longevity.   

My exact thoughts. Kinda reminded of the SWTOR review.

I have to agree with the commenters who disagree about the longevity score.  Currently I'm incredibly bored with this game.  Sometimes I log on and do an inferno butcher run to grind some gold, but most of the time I log on, check my stuff on the AH, and then log off.  Actually playing the game is getting less and less entertaining, as I really can't see why I should spend endless amounts of time grinding to kill bosses I've already killed plenty of times. 

On top of very little PvE endgame, the PvP endgame is currently non-existent, and I can't imagine it'll be very balanced immediately upon implementation.  It is going to require some tweaking, and by the time they can put the PvP in place and get it to a relatively balanced place, I will have lost interest entirely or be primarily playing another game.

Seriously, a 9.5/10 for longevity? Its like knowing that Anakin Skywalker is going to turn into Darth Vader, why bother after you already know thats going to happen??  You know what happens after your first easy run through and then other than a loot grind there is no point in playing again. In fact, i'd guess thats why only 1.9% of the games population has unlocked inferno mode.  They just got bored after playing.  I agree with a lot of what you said in this review but I can't believe the 9.5/10 for Longevity...and I would wager to say that if Blizzard offered a satisfaction or money back guarantee, they would only have 1.9% of the game sales they orginally had when it first came out.

Fluff that ignores its MANY problems..

Exactly what everybody was expecting..

This review is a total joke.  How can you give a game a 7 in gameplay and a 10 in longevity?  How can you review a game that has major features missing?  What is the basis of these categories?  Social?  Really?!  How about technical?

Professional game reviews are really becoming a joke these days.

Game reviews should have 3 parts:

#1 Technical-  How well the game runs.

#2 Objective-  Flat list of what the game has and does.

#3 Subjective0-  an uncategorized opinion piece.

How does D3 stack up in a nutshell?

Technical: 

The game runs on a wide variety of machines, but also has a wide array of errors and functionality problems.  The always-on feature of Diablo 3 is a major drawback, and it prevents players from playing offline at all.  This can also make the game unplayable for long periods of time due to AH or game crashes.  For a single player game, people tend to frown on the always-online model, especially for a worldwide release.  In rare cases, people pay for internet subscriptions by the hour, and in other cases, people in the world still use dialup.  There are also a number of sound and graphical issues, including the inability to scale chat font size, a horrendous graphics bug that can crash you to desktop, and a soundbug that can switch your sound card on and off at random times.  To its credit, the game also has a wide array of gameplay updates, and they are rolling out fixes, but is by no means a technical masterpiece.  This is partly by design.  Although the game can be controlled with fewer buttons than most controllers have, the game lacks controller support of any kind. 

Objective:

* 1-4 Players

* Constant Online Connection required, even for solo play.

* 10-30 hours of unique replay, with repeatable quests.

* Friend Lists.

* Achievements.

* No ladder mode.

* No PVP.  "Coming Soon"

* Similar itemization to Diablo 2, though slightly less robust.

* Random generation of levels returns in only a very minimal way.

* Real money auctions planned.

Subjective:

In my opinion, some of the technical problems in this game should have been fixed during the four year beta process.  Additionally, some features we saw in alpha, or even in Diablo 2, were not present here.  Finally, we have Blizzard Irvine trying their hand at rendering hell.  In my opinion, D3 fails to capture this, except in rare portions of Act II, and a rare instance during the many dialogues in the game.  This hurts the overall experience of playing.    Furthermore, the game features blacksmithing and jewelcrafting across shared characters, but the problem with the game is that these crafts have costs which far outweigh the rewards.  Diablo III is listed as an ARPG, but in reality it is an action game with no RPG elements at all.  With the removal of skill trees, one would think that there would at least be a few moral choices ala Starcraft II, (especially considering the M-rating), but these never make an appearance.  A new Nephalem Valor mechanic is in place, whereby players on harder difficulties recieve a buff for sticking with one spec for a short time.  In theory, this allows players the identify with their build, but in practice, it simply penalizes players for being different and trying new things.  Additionally, some of the skills in the game are basically useless, regardless of which class you play.  Are you sure this game had a beta?

On Nightmare difficulty and above, elite mobs come with powers that make them more powerful than the bosses themselves.  Many of these powers force you to stay at range, so if you ever intended to play a melee character from start to finish, you are sadly mistaken.  That's right, the game forces you to play ranged against certain elite mobs.  You might think you have some good tactics planned, but when you face an "arcane + frozen" mob that does 800 DPS on nightmare and keeps you frozen in place, tactics do not matter.

To the game's credit, the new skill system can only gimp a character for a short time, and there are many fights and situations that bring back the old Diablo 1 +2 feel, but when you start facing lackluster bosses and terrible voice acting, the nostalgia quickly fades and you're left with a very rushed game.

My overall subjective opinion?  4/10

Dude I just played GW2. Just wanted to say the I feel so glad I got rid of my D3 copy. Jeeezee :)

What kinda disappointed me is, that many of the runes look like fillers. Gain a little bit of life, gain a little bit of mana, reduce the cooldown. That stuff shows up a lot. It might be interesting on a tactical level, but when I play the game, and I know that for the next few hours nothing interesting will change on my character, then I get bored and my motivation to play drops.

Stuff like the rune where the zombies form a tower to fall down on people: now that's interesting and worth playing for. Stuff that reads "gain 3% life"... that just blows.