The Case of the Restless Redhead
It has come to pass. The Dark Lord and his evil brethren have risen to ensure that in 2012, mankind will perish in the flames of non-productivity. Diablo 3 is finally out and while much is the same there are many things different, but was it all worth the wait. For the uninitiated Diablo 3 is an action RPG where the driving reason to play is coke high simulating never ending loop of click, kill, loot, repeat.
Prosecution
I could go on and on about the WoW-ification of the art style, recycling the first game within act one, reduced skill options and really a slew of moderately trivial gripes I have with the game, but nothing compares to rage inducing always online requirement and how it's executed. Your game is always considered an online game, even if you are playing single player. So if Blizzard's servers can't keep up with the amount of users online at a given time, you simply cannot play the game you paid your hard earned money for. Blizzard should also be given an award for being the first company that released a game that lags in a single player setting. I was killed a few times mid battle when monsters stopped moving for a few moments then I was suddenly moved forward into an alternate timeline where I had been repeatedly punched in the face for ten seconds as Battle.net synced up with my game.
Defense
Blizzard has taken nothing away from its users besides having to make arbitrary decisions. What's the point of spending attribute points when you put them all in the category that gives you more damage? What's the point of giving you a skill tree when almost every player has the same build to max out DPS? Attributes are now given automatically based on your class and as for skills, they've reduced your total number of skills and gave you five ways to customize each skill with runes. Turn your Ray of Frost from a laser beam to a dome of ice if you want, and since you don't spend points there's no time wasted bad builds or the need to go back in town for an expensive reset character item.
The presentation in this game is second to none. The CGI cut scenes look and sound better then most Hollywood blockbusters. Blizzard has also taken a cue from modern games and included fully voice acted journals that are picked up throughout game and fill in the gaps in the story without getting in they way of slaughtering helpless demons. The sound effects are amazing as well. Hits are impactful and spells come to life in ways I didn't expect. Even changing a rune not only effects the visualization, but subtle shifts in audio as well.
Verdict
Guilty of wasting vacation time on launch day. There are enough people who have no intention of playing online or using the auction house for Blizzard to include an off-line mode. At the very least a one time per session online check because lag in a single player game is absolutely unacceptable.
Not guilty of phoning in a sequel. Whatever your opinion on the new art style is (hated it), the countless hours spent on making the game play, look and feel almost perfect are evident at every step. Bonus points for wearing D&D references proudly on it's sleeves.
via Judgernaut.com
