....or is it just me?

So it's been occurring to me for the last eleven years that the last Diablo game came out eleven years ago. I imagine a lot of younger gamers may not have played Diablo/Diablo 2 when it was first released (I'm 24, so i'm not exactly pushing retirement but for 16,17,18 yr olds it would have passed them by) so I can understand that some people aren't as excited as myself. But is there anyone else on giantbomb who DID play the original games? Who aren't worried about any of the so-called 'problems' (apparently art direction, skill points e.t.c) because Blizzard have more than proved they can make a mind-blowingly good game? Who aren't gonna be able to get any sleep the night before it's released?

I've seen a lot of people say they 'aren't too excited about this game' and I literally can't wait to see their reactions when they start playing. You guys literally don't know the fun your gonna be getting yourselves into! I should state as well, it's hard to describe but it's a game you can't really watch - you NEED to play it to understand why it's so great.

I thought I would be, but I picked up Torchlight again a few months ago and played it to death. Seeing the Diablo 3 footage just looks kinda like more of that and I'm not hugely excited about it. Still looking forward to it though, and I'll probably get it.

Diablo 3 will make every hater a lover and you can quote me on that. Just wait for it to release. :)

Insanely psyched. Diablo formed quite alot of my adult life / future career.

Nope, too jaded and cynical.

No.

It just doesn't look like Diablo anymore, they ruined the dark atmosphere with the cartoonish art style (yes, I went there again).

Also, the real money auction house lessens the fun you get out of finding rare items by yourself (at least for me). Too much real life shit in my game. I'm not going to support Blizzard - and no, I probably won't change my mind, I haven't bought a Blizzard game since Brood War (borrowed WC3 from a friend, got bored during campaign and didn't finish it) and I'm fine without them. After that, they became the money-grubbing company, that just seems to fine-tune it's games to make as much money as possible after release.

Not psychotically excited, but cautiously optimistic. I'm not entirely sure I like where they're going with the auction houses, but I do like the classes that they added.

I think I've probably spent more time in Diablo II than any other game I've played (Well, maybe not WoW). I was expecting to be super fucking excited for Diablo III, but that hasn't happened. In fact, every time they announce something about the game I lose and little bit of my excitement. I still think the game looks okay, and I'll probably get it when it comes out, but I'm bummed about some of the changes they've made.

Nah

@el_tajij said:

Who aren't worried about any of the so-called 'problems' (apparently art direction, skill points e.t.c) because Blizzard have more than proved they can make a mind-blowingly good game?

Blizzard certainly patches in a lot of polish into their games, and they have the formula down for a gambling simulator that constantly encourages. Their social features and pvp match-making look promising.

Honestly when GTA 2 went from 2D sprites to 3D first person game, that was a success, a dream come true. But Blizzard's goal to simply re-release old games in blocky 3D graphics just isn't that exciting.

Certainly Borderlands and God of War type stuff is the future of this genre.

Even from the die hard fans in the beta, I'm getting a strong apologetic vibe. Sluggish controlled pace, Warrcraft ugly art direction, narrow corridors, old directX 9 graphics, not alive or sandboxy at all; instead scripted, guided, small.

Also D2 was fun to watch, so I call BS on your claim that I have to play to understand.

YES.

im already scratching!

While I am happy that there are people out there that are super excited about this game, I really just don't care anymore about most of what Blizzard does nowadays. I am slightly intrigued to see what their other MMO will be though (just because it seems crazy to make another MMO when you run the most popular MMO of all time).

@CptBedlam said:

No.

It just doesn't look like Diablo anymore, they ruined the dark atmosphere with the cartoonish art style (yes, I went there again).

The developer team for Diablo 3 isn't the same of Diablo 2 - many of the elements actually work in Torchlight. It appears to me that they're trying the lame reinvision thing, that so many times was proved wrong and disappointing.

A big part of the fun for me was the dark fantasy part, with that out of the way, there isn't enough to be enthusiastic about.

@NotoriousPIG said:

Diablo 3 will make every hater a lover and you can quote me on that. Just wait for it to release. :)

Insanely psyched. Diablo formed quite alot of my adult life / future career.

This!

I don't know if I would word it that way, but I am pretty excited about it. I've been toying around with the skill calculator and the skill system is much deeper than I anticipated it would be. I would love for it to come out this year, but I don't see that happening. If I could only get in the beta...

Having items randomly generated which then are sold in an auction house for dollars, isn't that essentially gambling?  - Shouldn't you contact your Gambling Control commission? http://www.cgcc.ca.gov/
 
Online Poker is prohibited in the US, why allow this?

Actually I am more skeptic then excited, but I do want to play the game.

could not care less dark souls on the other hand

No Diablo clone has ever matched the feel of the original for me, so yes. Definitely yes.

I've never had any real nostalgia over a Diablo game, so no not really.

Never played a Diablo game and I don't plan on starting anytime soon.

Not really, and Diablo II is one of my favorite games of all time, and I guess that's why, I just know that it'll never be as good as D2 was.

Yes absolutely stoked.

Today I decided I could play Diablo 2 again with a friend, was quite some years since I've played it the last time.

And...boy does this game not hold up well at all. The worst are obviously the graphics/visuals and the controls. Walking feels so cluncky, blargh.

The resolution is also just too, too bad. Also this just made clear how fucking retarded all those people are who complain about the graphics of Diablo 3. Diablo 2 looks like shit. Like goddamn ugly shit. While Diablo 3 looks frigging fantastic. And the atmosphere doesn't suffer at all. Diablo 2 is just one of those games which has an especially weird atmosphere duo to just being terribly outdated, having only few colors and a laughably bad max. resolution. But oh well, most of those people at the same time also really like Torchlight for some reason which is such a huge contradiction that they cannot be taken seriously, ever again.

@CptBedlam said:

No.

It just doesn't look like Diablo anymore, they ruined the dark atmosphere with the cartoonish art style (yes, I went there again).

Also, the real money auction house lessens the fun you get out of finding rare items by yourself (at least for me). Too much real life shit in my game. I'm not going to support Blizzard - and no, I probably won't change my mind, I haven't bought a Blizzard game since Brood War (borrowed WC3 from a friend, got bored during campaign and didn't finish it) and I'm fine without them. After that, they became the money-grubbing company, that just seems to fine-tune it's games to make as much money as possible after release.

I remember the first time I was in a prison level; it was so dark, filled with chopped bodies and blood everywhere, then I was sold. It was the bleak and terrifying atmosphere (Hell on Earth) that made the game so memorable to me (along with the soundtrack), but now it's less dark, colorful, somewhat similar looking to other games like Torchlight. Diablo 3 will never be a true successor in this regard.

@Ghost_Cat said:

@CptBedlam said:

No.

It just doesn't look like Diablo anymore, they ruined the dark atmosphere with the cartoonish art style (yes, I went there again).

Also, the real money auction house lessens the fun you get out of finding rare items by yourself (at least for me). Too much real life shit in my game. I'm not going to support Blizzard - and no, I probably won't change my mind, I haven't bought a Blizzard game since Brood War (borrowed WC3 from a friend, got bored during campaign and didn't finish it) and I'm fine without them. After that, they became the money-grubbing company, that just seems to fine-tune it's games to make as much money as possible after release.

I remember the first time I was in a prison level; it was so dark, filled with chopped bodies and blood everywhere, then I was sold. It was the bleak and terrifying atmosphere (Hell on Earth) that made the game so memorable to me (along with the soundtrack), but now it's less dark, colorful, somewhat similar looking to other games like Torchlight. Diablo 3 will never be a true successor in this regard.

I couldn't agree more about how you describe the atmosphere of the original games, but you should watch some of the people-playing-beta videos on youtube - the atmosphere is still well and truly there. I mean, the original Diablo had people depicted as crucified on crosses in some of the levels, but Diablo 2 didn't go near that level of gruesome - I feel diablo 3 is on par with Diablo 2 in terms of atmosphere judging from the videos so far.

@el_tajij said:

@Ghost_Cat said:

@CptBedlam said:

No.

It just doesn't look like Diablo anymore, they ruined the dark atmosphere with the cartoonish art style (yes, I went there again).

Also, the real money auction house lessens the fun you get out of finding rare items by yourself (at least for me). Too much real life shit in my game. I'm not going to support Blizzard - and no, I probably won't change my mind, I haven't bought a Blizzard game since Brood War (borrowed WC3 from a friend, got bored during campaign and didn't finish it) and I'm fine without them. After that, they became the money-grubbing company, that just seems to fine-tune it's games to make as much money as possible after release.

I remember the first time I was in a prison level; it was so dark, filled with chopped bodies and blood everywhere, then I was sold. It was the bleak and terrifying atmosphere (Hell on Earth) that made the game so memorable to me (along with the soundtrack), but now it's less dark, colorful, somewhat similar looking to other games like Torchlight. Diablo 3 will never be a true successor in this regard.

I couldn't agree more about how you describe the atmosphere of the original games, but you should watch some of the people-playing-beta videos on youtube - the atmosphere is still well and truly there. I mean, the original Diablo had people depicted as crucified on crosses in some of the levels, but Diablo 2 didn't go near that level of gruesome - I feel diablo 3 is on par with Diablo 2 in terms of atmosphere judging from the videos so far.

Watching Videos of D3 really does nothing for me. It's just not as gritty and dirty looking as Diablo 1 & 2. Even though D3 takes place at night as well, it looks rather dreamy and smooth (very soft lighting, blurry textures). Dungeons are lit with colored lights and there's colored fog everywhere. It's just part of the cartoonish style and it just doesn't invoke the same atmosphere as D1&2 did.

Path of Exile looks way more Diablo-ish than Diablo3:

@CptBedlam said:

@el_tajij said:

@Ghost_Cat said:

@CptBedlam said:

No.

It just doesn't look like Diablo anymore, they ruined the dark atmosphere with the cartoonish art style (yes, I went there again).

Also, the real money auction house lessens the fun you get out of finding rare items by yourself (at least for me). Too much real life shit in my game. I'm not going to support Blizzard - and no, I probably won't change my mind, I haven't bought a Blizzard game since Brood War (borrowed WC3 from a friend, got bored during campaign and didn't finish it) and I'm fine without them. After that, they became the money-grubbing company, that just seems to fine-tune it's games to make as much money as possible after release.

I remember the first time I was in a prison level; it was so dark, filled with chopped bodies and blood everywhere, then I was sold. It was the bleak and terrifying atmosphere (Hell on Earth) that made the game so memorable to me (along with the soundtrack), but now it's less dark, colorful, somewhat similar looking to other games like Torchlight. Diablo 3 will never be a true successor in this regard.

I couldn't agree more about how you describe the atmosphere of the original games, but you should watch some of the people-playing-beta videos on youtube - the atmosphere is still well and truly there. I mean, the original Diablo had people depicted as crucified on crosses in some of the levels, but Diablo 2 didn't go near that level of gruesome - I feel diablo 3 is on par with Diablo 2 in terms of atmosphere judging from the videos so far.

Watching Videos of D3 really does nothing for me. It's just not as gritty and dirty looking as Diablo 1 & 2. Even though D3 takes place at night as well, it looks rather dreamy and smooth (very soft lighting, blurry textures). Dungeons are lit with colored lights and there's colored fog everywhere. It's just part of the cartoonish style and it just doesn't invoke the same atmosphere as D1&2 did.

You are right. It just isn't dirty and dark enough. I'm also not impress with how the monsters look.

I'm hyped for it, but I wouldn't put it on the top of my most anticipated list. I'm a Blizzard junkie by default but I'm nowhere near as excited for D3 as I was for Starcraft II. Maybe when we get a release date I'll be a bit more excited as we approach that date but for now, I'm just happy it's coming out.

Y'know, I was.  

For the longest time I was totally sure it was the game that I was going to buy a new rig for, but after playing a few (albeit inferior I'm sure) dungeon crawlers I'm starting to question if that gameplay speaks to me like it used to. 
 
...though full details and a release date could potentially put me back into a Diablo induced fever.

@Ghost_Cat said:

@CptBedlam said:

@el_tajij said:

@Ghost_Cat said:

@CptBedlam said:

No.

It just doesn't look like Diablo anymore, they ruined the dark atmosphere with the cartoonish art style (yes, I went there again).

Also, the real money auction house lessens the fun you get out of finding rare items by yourself (at least for me). Too much real life shit in my game. I'm not going to support Blizzard - and no, I probably won't change my mind, I haven't bought a Blizzard game since Brood War (borrowed WC3 from a friend, got bored during campaign and didn't finish it) and I'm fine without them. After that, they became the money-grubbing company, that just seems to fine-tune it's games to make as much money as possible after release.

I remember the first time I was in a prison level; it was so dark, filled with chopped bodies and blood everywhere, then I was sold. It was the bleak and terrifying atmosphere (Hell on Earth) that made the game so memorable to me (along with the soundtrack), but now it's less dark, colorful, somewhat similar looking to other games like Torchlight. Diablo 3 will never be a true successor in this regard.

I couldn't agree more about how you describe the atmosphere of the original games, but you should watch some of the people-playing-beta videos on youtube - the atmosphere is still well and truly there. I mean, the original Diablo had people depicted as crucified on crosses in some of the levels, but Diablo 2 didn't go near that level of gruesome - I feel diablo 3 is on par with Diablo 2 in terms of atmosphere judging from the videos so far.

Watching Videos of D3 really does nothing for me. It's just not as gritty and dirty looking as Diablo 1 & 2. Even though D3 takes place at night as well, it looks rather dreamy and smooth (very soft lighting, blurry textures). Dungeons are lit with colored lights and there's colored fog everywhere. It's just part of the cartoonish style and it just doesn't invoke the same atmosphere as D1&2 did.

You are right. It just isn't dirty and dark enough. I'm also not impress with how the monsters look.

@jozzy: Yep, it's gritty, dirty and "realistic" looking. D3 looks different, way more smooth and soft.

No, I'm getting my fill of dunegon-crawling from Torchlight right now.

Absolutely. I'm not worried about it not being D2 because the art style(which most peopoe seem to have a problem with) was never the reason I played Diablo. I played it because it was fun and I liked upgrading my dude. If you say atmospheric Diablo 2 would probably take a long time to come to mind if you just told me to name games that fit that description. I never got anything out of it, and I never thought it looked amazing or realistic.

@YI_Orange said:

Absolutely. I'm not worried about it not being D2 because the art style(which most people seem to have a problem with) was never the reason I played Diablo. I played it because it was fun and I liked upgrading my dude. If you say atmospheric Diablo 2 would probably take a long time to come to mind if you just told me to name games that fit that description. I never got anything out of it, and I never thought it looked amazing or realistic.

I am firmly with you in this camp.

And to the OP, I am very excited for Diablo 3. Ever since I played a build last year, I have been exercising my right index finger FURIOUSLY.

I'm not excited for Diablo 3 at all, sadly.

And the more they seem to announce about that game the less interested I get.

@YI_Orange said:

Absolutely. I'm not worried about it not being D2 because the art style(which most peopoe seem to have a problem with) was never the reason I played Diablo. I played it because it was fun and I liked upgrading my dude. If you say atmospheric Diablo 2 would probably take a long time to come to mind if you just told me to name games that fit that description. I never got anything out of it, and I never thought it looked amazing or realistic.

You, my friend, absolutely and 100% hit the nail on the head!

@myketuna said:

@YI_Orange said:

Absolutely. I'm not worried about it not being D2 because the art style(which most people seem to have a problem with) was never the reason I played Diablo. I played it because it was fun and I liked upgrading my dude. If you say atmospheric Diablo 2 would probably take a long time to come to mind if you just told me to name games that fit that description. I never got anything out of it, and I never thought it looked amazing or realistic.

I am firmly with you in this camp.

And to the OP, I am very excited for Diablo 3. Ever since I played a build last year, I have been exercising my right index finger FURIOUSLY.

And if you've played a build of Diablo 3 already then I am HUMONGOUSLY jealous!

@CptBedlam said:

@jozzy: Yep, it's gritty, dirty and "realistic" looking. D3 looks different, way more smooth and soft.

A lovely screenshot if I ever saw one. This 2D stuff is pixel perfect.

3D graphics really have no benefit if you are locked to just one perspective, It's just easier to animate. Think of painstakingly hand drawn animated cartoons vs. cheap animated 3D on television. I rememember an Interview with a Diablo animator who complained how gruesome it was to paint all the moving frames for 16 different directions a character could face.

More so Blizzard wants graphics to be scalable to even run on the shittiest MACs and it's all based on a graphics programming interface from 2004, two generations behind current directx11. Basically D3 will be - at best - the visual quality of a console port.

"Visual Quality" is almost entirely subjective though, and Blizzard have some of the best artists in the business.

The people complaining about how it isn't brown anymore are pretty dumb. This game is going to be divine.

I thought I would be but I'm not really. Once it gets a release date then I'll be more pysched. Atm I am looking forward to BF3 and Skyrim a lot more simply because I know they are coming. It's hard for me to get excited about a game/I don't myself get excited about a game that doesn't have a release date yet.

Yes, I love Diablo games and so far Blizzard has never made a game I didn't like. Also as much as I love Torchlight and Titans Quest, their is something about the Diablo setting I really like. (No the fact that their is color now doesn't ruin it, go whine with the Max Payne guys.)

Edit: The real money Ah is BS though.

I'm so excited for real money AH, I'm sure it's going to be great. I'm also sure the game itself is going to be great, but I am looking forward to Torchlight 2 too, is it's cheaper and somewhat the same experience, just lighter, I think. Hoping both games will be out soon!

Absolutely, watching D3 video just made me actually more excited for it, than anything else.

The new way the skills work is great I think, though I was initially a bit upset about the change of skill point system. This makes a lot more sense, as it means there isn't just 1-2 skills you use and ignore every other one (to this day, there are some D2 skills I've never actually seen used). The way they handle the multiplayer stuff, like how loot is instanced to each character, is such a simple idea but a great one. It makes me a lot more comfortable with the idea of D3 being 'always online' since now there is virtually no reason to not be playing with other people constantly. Other things just serve to streamline the genre as a whole, taking systems like Torchlight's pet-vendor to the next level (Cauldron of Jordan).

Overall it seems like a more streamlined, enjoyable experience. The people who got off on some of the raw tedious qualities of the genre (what!? I don't have to constantly lug all this loot back to town every five minutes? Blizzard sucks!) may not like it. I think the vast majority of people will see it as a big improvement though.

Also, Blizzard has long since bought my loyalty for life. They produced games for the Mac (natively) back when NOBODY made Mac games. The fact that they still do same day releases for Mac to do this day makes me very happy and very impressed. Yeah these days there's bootcamp, but having to restart from productivity mode to gaming mode is not that fun typically, and makes it much less likely for me to touch computer games I have to do that for.

I've never played the Diablo games. There I said it!

@el_tajij said:

(I'm 24, so i'm not exactly pushing retirement but for 16,17,18 yr olds it would have passed them by) so I can understand that some people aren't as excited as myself.

I'm 18, so I've never played a Diablo game, but I want to be excited for Diablo 3. Should I go back and play Diablo 2 or just wait?

Haven't really played the previous Diablo games yet, or gotten into the genre, really. Maybe I will at some point, but not anytime soon.

I'm not worried about it being bad, but a little worried about it being different than the Diablo I know, just due to staff changes and how long its been and how much games have changed in the last decade.  It looks really good but I don't get hyped up about PC games for whatever reason.  I always feel like, 'Okay, that looks really cool.  Tell me when it's out.'  and Diablo 2 is one of the my favorite games so I'll probably go from 0 to 100 the second I can actually play it.

i remember playing d2 on a 233mhz celeron with with 64mb of ram and an S3 Savage on board graphics chip. most importantly that sucker had a 1x cd rom drive. i hated having to install that game especially since i couldn't do a full install. i had to settle for a multiplayer install since i had a 6gb hard drive at the time.

...that was a long fucking time ago. god damn i can't wait for d3.

No... I had my fill of dungeon crawlers with Dungeon Siege 2(over 300hours) and Titan Quest(130hours). I will probably play it but I don't expect anything but great gameplay. Also I didn't like Diablo 2. Man, that game is boring and easy.

Le fu, the first beta test I would've really liked to participate in but no such luck. I actually played Diablo 2 for the first time last year, needless to say it holds up incredibly well. I liked it a lot more than Torchlight which was the first Diabloesque game I played.