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Diablo III: Maybe the Philistines Are Right

Added by Brad on Sept. 11, 2008 83 comments

For the record, I think the outdoor stuff looks fine.

Doctored screenshots just weren't enough! From the Debate-that-wouldn't-die department* comes this user-created Diablo III video taking some of the saturation, some of the greens and blues, some of the happiness out of June's lengthy debut video of Blizzard's forthcoming click-happy dungeon crawl. Destructoid has a very brief clip showing the contrast, but you should head over to Soheill Deriss' home page if you want to see the whole thing. (That's the guy who made this.)

Man, I feel like a total hypocrite for throwing in with this lot after just railing against people who post online petitions earlier today. But this example looks an awful lot more like the Diablo I remember than the stock footage does. Maybe I missed out on the necessary high school goth phase that would have purged my need for such darkness, but I always liked that the Diablo games skewed a lot grittier next to the tongue-in-cheek humor of Starcraft and Warcraft's relatively cartoon-like style. It's not that the default art style looks bad, it just doesn't scream Diablo at me the way this does. Anyway, I have the utmost faith that Blizzard will continue to make excellent games until they prove me wrong, so let's all just wait till we get our hands on the final game before passing any serious judgement. In 2019.

*Alternately known as the Wish-I-had-thought-of-this department or the Bob-Colayco-is-going-to-IM-me-in-a-huff-later department or the Jeff-is-shaking-his-head-at-this-and-making-that-frustrated-blowing-sound department

Filed under : Diablo III, PC

84 Comments

mrfluke
on Sept. 11, 2008

people will stop bitching once they play the game but the fan made stuff looks cool

deaux
on Sept. 11, 2008

That darker version does look better to me, so hats off to that guy. Still, people who get all worked up about it are silly.

GoodAssLettuce
on Sept. 11, 2008

I originally thought these people were crazy as well, but this video actually fits with the overall esthetic of the Diablo series.

aurahack
on Sept. 11, 2008

It looks neat but fanboys need to get their narrow-minded heads out of their not-so-narrow ass. If you don't like the art direction and think it will affect your enjoyment of the game, then vote with your dollar and opt not to purchase it. Simple as that. I, however, will be enjoying the game regardless of texture color.

FengShuiGod
on Sept. 11, 2008

The game will be awesome regardless of color scheme, but I do like the darker look. It adds more tension and atmosphere to the game.

JoshuaN
on Sept. 11, 2008

I still cant get over the fact people still want to play a diablo game. It was great back in the day, but all this looks like is brand new graphics.

DedBeet
on Sept. 11, 2008

I think I'll join Jeff in the "making-that-frustrated-blowing-sound" department. Do any of us truly believe that we only played Diablo 2 because of the dark palette? I joined up and stuck it through for gameplay and loot, period. Can't speak for the loot, but D3 looks to have gameplay in spades.

Thermonuclear
on Sept. 11, 2008

The Black does look better then the green tint but its too dark anyway. Your cant see anything apart from directly around the character and the torches. The torches themselves arent actually lighting any surroundings. Due to the poor lighting your not going to see many monsters until they are right in your face which is quite a problem for ranged classes.

Still I think the Black is better then the Green but then there probably are black, red, yellow themed dungeons as well as many more. I mean it would suck if they were all Black which is what Blizzard is getting at. You need variety or you get bored.

DavidSnakes
on Sept. 11, 2008

I still prefer original color scheme. The dark limits the visibility.

Vinchenzo
on Sept. 11, 2008

Blizzard knows what they're doing. Never, once, have I seen them mess up a franchise. (Well except for WoW, but that's just in terms of lore.)

Mooshu
on Sept. 11, 2008

Hmmm... It actually does look a lot better. I would be happy if they made the game look more like this, but it's nothing for me to get too worked up over.

I DO like how the guy presents it respectfully though.

SuperJoe
on Sept. 11, 2008

it should start off bright and cheery, then gradually become darker as you progress. the final level should be so dark that it requires night vision goggles. make it happen colaycovision

bzooty
on Sept. 11, 2008

Playing a game and watching a video are pretty different activities. Have a range of color beyond dark and darker conveys a bunch of information to the player. I think I'll just play the version that Blizzard releases.

Chocobo_Blitzer
on Sept. 11, 2008

ah, I changed my mind about a dozen times while watching that, I eventually landed on Blizzard's original. Some of that looked pretty neat, though!

Player1
on Sept. 11, 2008

I personally love the bright colors. I'm not a Diablo player however. The dark gray style is getting a little old imo.

ADC
on Sept. 11, 2008

I don't think there's any question: Blizzard's colors look better. Big props to the guy who made the video, as he did an excellent job; but brown plus gray does not equal pretty, nor does bright dude plus dark environment equal easy to play.

Leon31
on Sept. 11, 2008

I have to say that it does look a bit better in my opinion, however I still find it hard to care to the extent of starting a petition online against Blizzards choices for their own property.

Kael
on Sept. 11, 2008

That's a great video. It gives a really good sense of the alternative to Blizzard's new take on the franchise. I'd avoid being too critical of exactly what you see in the video, though, because it's still just post-processing; it's no real substitute for Blizzard taking this approach in-game, but it does convey the concept, the idea, really well; I have to congratulate the one who made it, they did a great job.

chililili
on Sept. 11, 2008

*SIGH* this has already been discussed, changing prerendered videos or screenshots do not work, as the game must be rendered in real time, and if it were too shadow intensive it would suck to play it. Also they lighted things up to allow the player to be able to actually see stuff and not have dark enemies against a dark background.

MrKlorox is online
on Sept. 11, 2008

Dude... I'm sure modders will be able to figure out how to put filters on the game resulting in visuals that resemble the video and screenshots. It is such a non-issue!

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