Diablo III: Observance [spoilers]

‘Ello, folks! I’m still kicking, and I’m here to give my critique of Diablo III!

Now, it might be a good idea to note that I haven’t actually played the game… at all. But I have followed the hype and seen a number of videos playing through the entirety of normal difficulty, at the very least. And having played Diablo II to the extent of just stopping before Diablo himself (using an unlatched necromancer with a crazy build that rightfully left most of my summons DOA), that gives me a modest, though not entirely unbiased ballpark to estimate from.

Now, where to begin?

First off is the drop system. The nephalem valor buff is a nice touch, encouraging, though not necessarily forcing, players to cut through champions and uniques before going toe-to-toe with the big, bad boys such as Belial for substantial loot. It certainly helps in generating a number of gold items.

My problem with the system is that there seems to be far, FAR too many blues and golds that come out of normal gameplay. Everything from crates to normal monsters have a fairly high chance of dropping a blue item, much more so than Diablo II, where I believe destructible scenery almost, if ever gave a blue, while commons dropped blues few and far between. Golds don’t have as much of an issue, as they uncommonly come from champions and uniques, but bosses tend to drop them at a somewhat uneasy rate.

However, that cannot be helped, for equipment has become the standard for damage, instead of skills. The skill system is revamped to a number of active and passive skills, the active ones having various runes to modify the effects of the skill in minute, or drastic, ways. For instance, the wizard’s disintegrate spell can be augmented to have increased width, or cause enemies to explode, doing splash damage. The quick and organized system–which is a bit clunky–means any character can switch to any role applicable to their character. A summoning witch doctor can go for direct damage; an AOE-focused player can change to single-target attacks, perhaps in preparation to a boss fight.

The skill system runs on percentage rather than leveling, and the runes unlock through leveling. For these reasons, it would be impractical for damage to be skill-based, as some critics have bemoaned.

The crafting system seems… underwhelming. Although it has the benefit of offering items to craft, many of one’s needs can be easily found hacking and slashing away. In a four player game, one can smoothly run through normal difficulty like butter if there is cooperation and adequate item swapping. I presume that for nightmare and hell, crafting may become more pivotal, but then inferno will completely throw that system out the window.

The monsters are even more grotesque than in Diablo II (sorry, grotesques). There are a lot more non-shambling dead things, which presents a nasty surprise to the typical zombies that still make cameos.The fallen have diversified to become even more threatening–though I kind of wish they kept their color-name system. The human enemies actually look human, as opposed to them corrupted rogues, though their demeanor is obviously unchanged.

But, there’s just something… unfamiliar about these enemies. Yes, there are zombies, goatmen, fallen, skeletons, spiders, and a host of familiar foes. Yet, there aren’t enough… well, levels, of each type of opponent, I suppose. All of the types of zombies are essentially confined to Act I, whereas in Diablo II they were around as late as Act III. Goatmen show up in only two different types, in two different acts; in the old game, there were quite a few of those (and I’m pretty sure the cows were reskinned goats). Ah well, it’s not too much of a problem.

Except for the mallet lord. These things I just don’t find intimidating. Well, they are intimidating; with four oversized arms, they crush anything they hit, albeit their attack speed is protracted (fortunately). But the name, “mallet lord.” It doesn’t have that ring that would be typical of an Act IV opponent. I mean, “oh, I’m fighting the prince of whack-a-mole. Next to that terror demon trying to kill me.” Meh, it’s just a peeve.

The storyline is aesthetically pleasing. They are very dramatic, and the graphics are awesome. Still, I can’t help but think that the story is a bit… dry. Deckard Cain’s part is far too short, and his death too underwhelming (though it is still a bit sad to see a major character go). The introduction of Mahgda is way too brief–yet appropriate to her part regarding Belial. Imperius made his role work, though; a cameo early on followed by his consistent interference in the final act makes perfect sense.

Diablo and Act IV… eh. It fell a little short of my expectations from the “Prime Evil.” Most of the enemies were the signature fire-based sorts that one would expect from the lord of fire and brimstone. But if he was the embodiment of all of the evils, where were Diablo’s other henchmen? I might have been a nice recap to see more serpent people, as well as a few fallen and stuff like that. Just to give it a nice closure.

Diablo as a boss… hmm. I’m not too keen on that either. He retains many of the same attacks as from Diablo II (and I should know; I died from most of them). Some of the new ones are quite spiffy, though. The fireball-DoT attack is neat, as well as that persistently annoying bone cage effect. The whole shadow realm thing is a really nice touch. However, again, being the Prime Evil and such, I expected a little more from him. Some frost novas from Duriel’s side? Hell lightning from the sky like Belial? Toxic fumes from Mephisto? No? Shame.

Oh well. Overall, it’s not a badly designed game; if anything, it’s quite elegantly made. It hasn’t worked out all of its kinks yet, but as a sequel to Diablo II, it’ll work.

Plus, have you SEEN the easter egg?