im not sure if there is already a thread on this topic but why did blizz take out the health bars at the top of the screen so u can see how damgaged the monster is rather than have a red bar hovering over their bodies getting in the way like the gameplay video had
I would not worry to much about that, from my point of view, they simply had no time to make the interface or it was not working properly. The healthbar is to great an asset to be absent for the final product. Where they put it is up to blizzard but with the possibility of attacking several opponents at once the new version is optima.
With the resolution limitations that Blizzard had back in the day in Diablo 2, a bar hovering over mobs would have been about as bulky as you saw it on the top of the screen. The new way they aren't nearly as big, and only show on the mob you have your cursor over, so I personally don't see it ever getting in the way of anything, and is just a way of improving their gameplay with the technology that has improved over the ages.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The certain prospect of death could sweeten every life with a precious and fragrant drop of levity, and now you
strange apothecary souls have turned it into an ill-tasting drop of poison that makes the whole of life repulsive." -Nietzsche
New one is nice. With the big resolution it would be annoying to watch on top all the time. Besides with multiple mobs its easy to hover the mouse over them and see the overall status immediately. I find it difficult to see the mob health even now in D2 with the crap resolution.. when i watch the amount of hp sometimes I'm not sure which mob health it actually is and I have to move the mouse back and forth which takes time and is damn difficult while I'm whirlwinding.
Immersion is a state, many achieve it by feeling like their character, what they see, do, hear. Anything can lead up to this, it probably no doubt varies from person to person but it certainly exists.
No game is 100% immersing, but the closer you are the better. Unless your game happens to be The Texas Chainsaw massacre etc.
As for the HUD, it's smaller. I get more screen time. That's a win on my part.
On-topic. For game play interface purposes, this is much nicer. Even more convenient to not have to focus on the top of your screen, rather than the actual foe. And it probably helps considering the combat is so dynamic now.
I really hope blizzard has a huge list of things that can be turned on/off, so I can turn off every thing that stands between me and seeing the full details of what each of my hits does to the mobs of the monster.
Its certainly better than looking at some dumb floating numbers or a red bar on top of a monster's head.
Video Games main objective is to be as immersive and engrossing as possible. Obviously, now we are limited by technology. However, I feel that in the future controlling a character and being a character are going to be pretty close to the same thing, and we will truly feel like a part of the game.
If we find a way to control our characters with our own mind, and see what they see in a virtual world, then the only things left are to feel, taste, and smell. That is true immersion, and borders on the idea of alternate reality. Since If can achieve an experience that is so believable our minds perceive it to be as such, then we have in sense created a new reality different from our own original reality.
That's very beautiful and all, but we're dealing with a third person (iso-immitation) perspective here, with a HUD and iconography. Shouldn't the delivery match the perspective - doesn't it have to in some ways?
Diablo is very clearly a narrative. A story presented to us. Characters presented to us. These are things deliberately being presented to us, not snuck beneath the surface to make us feel like we're really there.
I always felt that Diablo games were akin to a third person narrative. In this instance, you learn more than what your character knows in the story, and have an almost god-like prospective on characters, or in Diablo's case, the isometric view of the camera. This does in a way remove the feeling that you are yourself the character. However, a high level of immersion can still exist if you feel close to the characters in the story and can in some way relate, or sympathize with them. This is also true if the gameplay is intuitive enough and the setting believable enough to convince you that you are indeed part of the game.
In my mind the level of immersion into a game depends on both the user and the game itself. The game must connect with the user emotionally, and the user in turn must feel as though he is a part of the world in which the game exists.
I think a lot of people, and Blizzard included, think these new features like the health nearer to the monster are really useful. The problem is that it's really just annoying, you're killing so fast you're not even going to see the monster health drop down. Even in Hell my strongest characters can take down 5-10 tough monsters in one shot.
I really hope blizzard has a huge list of things that can be turned on/off, so I can turn off every thing that stands between me and seeing the full details of what each of my hits does to the mobs of the monster.
Its certainly better than looking at some dumb floating numbers or a red bar on top of a monster's head.
I don't care about immersion. Immersion is a silly fantasy concept - a catchy paradigm - a false ideal. My cursor breaks immersion - my out of body experience breaks immersion etc etc etc...
Quote from "intrinsik4" »
Controlling a character is a far cry from being a character...
Quote from "intrinsik4" »
That's very beautiful and all, but we're dealing with a third person (iso-immitation) perspective here, with a HUD and iconography. Shouldn't the delivery match the perspective - doesn't it have to in some ways?
Diablo is very clearly a narrative. A story presented to us. Characters presented to us. These are things deliberately being presented to us, not snuck beneath the surface to make us feel like we're really there...
blah blah blah blah!
Look, the point is that some people like it when their screen is less cluttered with data and iconography. There's no point in trying to argue otherwise... just because you personally might be acutely aware that you're just a person staring at a monitor with a mouse in your hand when you play a game doesn't mean that other people aren't able to "immerse" themselves in that game. If these people think less HUD helps their immersion, well who are you to argue otherwise? Many game designers try to remove/reduce any evidence of a HUD specifically to help put the player in the game characters shoes. Fact.
The monsters that have health bars near you are just easily killed fodder, I don't see what it matters. It's more convenient and it only appears in a certain radius of you didn't it?
As long as you don't stand for minutes killing something it shouldn't matter if there is a life bar too close to your character.
I think a lot of people, and Blizzard included, think these new features like the health nearer to the monster are really useful. The problem is that it's really just annoying, you're killing so fast you're not even going to see the monster health drop down. Even in Hell my strongest characters can take down 5-10 tough monsters in one shot.
Yeah sure when u have all the duped runeword stuffs on and the best cookie cutter build hammerdin.. try something else.
Maybe the game D3 won't be so broken when it comes to class balance.
strange apothecary souls have turned it into an ill-tasting drop of poison that makes the whole of life repulsive." -Nietzsche
RIP: Demon Hunter: lvl 50 | Barb: lvl 60 (plvl 5) | Monk: lvl12 & lvl70 (plvl 200)
Immersion is a state, many achieve it by feeling like their character, what they see, do, hear. Anything can lead up to this, it probably no doubt varies from person to person but it certainly exists.
No game is 100% immersing, but the closer you are the better. Unless your game happens to be The Texas Chainsaw massacre etc.
As for the HUD, it's smaller. I get more screen time. That's a win on my part.
On-topic. For game play interface purposes, this is much nicer. Even more convenient to not have to focus on the top of your screen, rather than the actual foe. And it probably helps considering the combat is so dynamic now.
Its certainly better than looking at some dumb floating numbers or a red bar on top of a monster's head.
If we find a way to control our characters with our own mind, and see what they see in a virtual world, then the only things left are to feel, taste, and smell. That is true immersion, and borders on the idea of alternate reality. Since If can achieve an experience that is so believable our minds perceive it to be as such, then we have in sense created a new reality different from our own original reality.
I always felt that Diablo games were akin to a third person narrative. In this instance, you learn more than what your character knows in the story, and have an almost god-like prospective on characters, or in Diablo's case, the isometric view of the camera. This does in a way remove the feeling that you are yourself the character. However, a high level of immersion can still exist if you feel close to the characters in the story and can in some way relate, or sympathize with them. This is also true if the gameplay is intuitive enough and the setting believable enough to convince you that you are indeed part of the game.
In my mind the level of immersion into a game depends on both the user and the game itself. The game must connect with the user emotionally, and the user in turn must feel as though he is a part of the world in which the game exists.
Words I hate in Gaming Culture:
Epic
Hardcore
E-Sports
/agreed, power to the players
blah blah blah blah!
Look, the point is that some people like it when their screen is less cluttered with data and iconography. There's no point in trying to argue otherwise... just because you personally might be acutely aware that you're just a person staring at a monitor with a mouse in your hand when you play a game doesn't mean that other people aren't able to "immerse" themselves in that game. If these people think less HUD helps their immersion, well who are you to argue otherwise? Many game designers try to remove/reduce any evidence of a HUD specifically to help put the player in the game characters shoes. Fact.
As long as you don't stand for minutes killing something it shouldn't matter if there is a life bar too close to your character.
Maybe the game D3 won't be so broken when it comes to class balance.
RIP: Demon Hunter: lvl 50 | Barb: lvl 60 (plvl 5) | Monk: lvl12 & lvl70 (plvl 200)
How about my completely legit, under geared Pheonix Striker?
Hairy_FruitBat USWest.
She's level 76 currently and while she can't take hits she can still own an entire room so long as there are no elec immunes.
Words I hate in Gaming Culture:
Epic
Hardcore
E-Sports
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."