I don´t share the biased version of FSS and Blizzard "versions" but I can´t say that the author is wrong. Still remember some of the first developers chat with things like "encourage exploration", "different experience for the classes". "NO FEDEX QUESTS!"

Even now, at the left of the interface we have our progress in the faction. That was never implemented. During the beta, we saw all of the problems and the beta was almost exactly the final product.

Hellgate could have been a great game. But it didn´t deliver the promises they give to us.

I have faith in Blizzard. They just have to deliver what they promised and Diablo 3 will be the sequel the franchise deserve.

that author hates HGL pretty much i guess

I have Hellgate London, and while it is in the same genre as the Diablo franchise, HGL is really more of a RPG that still allows you to go around and whack stuff. Diablo may be a RPG (of sorts), but whacking stuff comes first and you can allow the story stuff to take a back seat... I feel that is the charm of Diablo.

Hellgate London is a pretty good game, but is more like City of Heroes than anything else.

hgl was weak

That made me lol =)  It looked a lot like someone complaining that HG:L wasn't Diablo 3, and now that Diablo 3 is out, they are complaining about the things they didn't like in HG:L as loud as they can in hopes that D3 wont make the same mistakes.  With credit to them for that I guess, its not easy for us "little guys" to get our voices heard in the spires of our favorite games creators.  Well, as far as I know anyway.  Being a .nzer, the most I can hope a bliz dude will hear about what my opinion on the taste of d3 is, is if I made a big complaininy rant about it and it got thrown around the net a lot lol.

My 2c re: HG:L/D3 (keeping in mind that I haven't even played HG:L either yet) is that I basically agree with that persons point in that post in that there were so many good ideas there that just went to waste.  If this is because most of the ideas were poached from bliz or if they were just rushing to beat bliz to the punch of a game they felt they had more right to (considering they were doing most of the work on D1 and D2).  I hope D3 comes out good, I hear HG:L surely didn't.  And the whole idea of D3 still feels like someone writing a sequel to someone elses book in my mind so far.  A good D3 will fix this I'm sure, but yeah, the idea seems strange

Not to say I'm not looking forward to it like AIDS sufferers look forward to a vaccine, 'cos I am, I just like to over-analyse things to give me something to do until D3 comes out lol

Decay said:

Cure, I meant cure.  I don't think a sufferer of anything cares much about the vaccine unless they're really selfless

I can't tell you how boring hellgate was to me.

I thought that game was very poorly done, all the underground levels looked exactly the same, and it seemed as though they just released it quickly to please diablo fans. But for the most part, i don't think they succeeded.

They did their job by exciting me as a diablo fan, but it ended up disappointing me. Diablo 3 will be so much better. Just for the fact it has the "Diablo" name on it.

Diablo is, and always will be the best.

i wish hgl woulda scored, that game sounded awesome

HG:L CAN be a good game. I´m so critic with it because it was a very promising game... and i hope it still can be it. It´s biggest problem is that they promised too much, even Max Shaefer talked about it, and in the end we didn´t have lots of KEY features.

The author compares a finished game with promises, so he is too much biased to me, we still don`t know if D3 will have all what they are promising. I trust Boyarsky and the rest of the team, but I trusted in Roper and Shaefer too.

But Blizzard have more resources than Flagship and can wait until the game is really finished so is more unlikely that the problems of HG will happen again. Still, a lot of people will be disapointed when the game ships, developers just can`t please everyone. Blizzard have an image of delivering polished products so the percentage of a great game is high.

ApplePie said:

Everything takes the backseat in hellgate. That comes from someone who still plays it. He got it pretty much right; while the game is at the moment playable, and enjoyable to an extent, it could've been more.

I am glad that D3 is almost finished. But it saddens me that it looks too much like "Warcraft". I would of rather like the originals creating this game. They would of had a more darker game. Instead of childs play. I want this game to basically be recommended for adults only. I want to see blood, guts, decapitations with arrows at random moments, Go into a dungeon and you will be required a torch to see.

Fact is im happy the game is here, but im disappointed with what I see.

Diablo 2 had a Mature rating... I bet Diablo 3 gets a teen rating for looking like a cartoon based story game...

I fear that a large majority of Diablo Fans will continue to play Diablo 2 and give up Diablo 3. I wonder if Diablo 2 will have more users then Diablo 3 lol.

That reminds me, can someone suggest on the D3 forum that they make a texture option that's "darker" , to allow for that group of people? I'm pretty sure those "improved" pictures just had a couple photoshop effects, which should be able to be applied on the fly?
I cant find my cd key, and only remember LOD off by heart :P

I bet Diablo III traumatizes your mother for finding you with a hand full of cream.
That'd be a pretty scary, and unfortunately not cartoony family moment.

I can see all the petitioners now, saliva ridden quilts, holding them to their face, seeing dead people.
Foggy breath 'cause DIII is going to be cold as hell.

I can see the car accidents now, me being a part of the statistic, unable to function with that box in my possession, collidin' with parked cars, perpindicular parking in front of the crib, keys in the ignition... neighbors seeing me surface a week later with Looney Toons fingers larger than my head, a whole Matrix of gibberish on my fingertips from incessant slamming of buttons, furious as Hell, terrified, talkin' to the demons in the game like FPS Doug - makin' threats, hella excited, fuckin' demons worlds up.

All the while arbitrarily running into the 50,000.

If it were possible, I'd bet cash.

God of Wisdon said:

O ya totally. I completely agree. We haven't see any blood, gore, or decapitations at all yet. None. Zero. And it's so disappointing.... is this Diablo 3 or Hello Kitty Island Adventures? I honestly can't tell.

I mean all games that look "cartoony" or are have exaggerated graphics are never rated M, only E or T. It has never happened, ever! I mean, just look at this god awful game

  

I mean, that's such crap. Stupid and ulgy color scheme, it looks so "cartoony", and I bet it plays like a child's game too. I bet my little 6 year old cousin and his stupid friends play it, and that's it.

Games that show you exactly where you are and don't make it hard to play, aren't games worthwhile to play. What's the point in playing a game if you don't have to work for it? What kind of adult wants to play a game like that? None, only immature brats.

Seriously. If this game doesn't turn it's head and move in the opposite direction, it wont even beat a game that at this point is over 8 years older than it. Seriously...


...:rolleyes:

Quote

Donald Duck adventures? lol who the hell is this idiot?

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Lol yeah right. D2 is so shitty these days. No matter what D3 looks like(it looks good now) it will be a lot better.

edit. early morning, read fast didnt see smiley at the end :)

Mr Icicle said:

I must have missed the part where the monster decapitated the barbarian by biting off his head.

I hope you are being sarcastic.

akse said:

Fix your sarcasm detector.

Personally there were mistakes made by flagship that made it fail. it wasnt that bad of a game but there were dire mistakes that makes many just want to quit. And these mistakes wont be made with d3. Firstly, it takes too much to run hg:l, that is one problem.. then they made a division amongst the community, subscribers and non, that was a big issue, and the fact that the world was so enclosed and you had to port to a section and it didnt feel like a world really. diablo will have that feel as though it is a world


oh and about the writers possible doubts and concerns, blizz is loaded and can afford to pay attention to the game very well, so therefore the random quests and stuff will be handled with beautiful precision. the only thing people are complaining about is the graphics and the lack of darkness....i mean..have you SEEN how much blood there is? i love how d3 is and it will not fail

I feel that article brought up a lot of great points.  One thing that it neglected, and that I find very important, is that FSS is not a well established game developer with years of experience, independence, and vast resources. (like blizzard)

Here is my point: If FSS had not played up the idea that this would be a D3 or even said they were from blizzard I would think that in its own right HGL has a lot of things going for it.  The level randomization is beautiful and diverse in some areas, other it sucks.  The items are intertaining and the being able to dismantle the components and create something new and better is one of my favorite parts of the game.  Even the fight is pretty good most of the time.  

But FSS is not Blizzard.  They had evil overlords directing their actions and wanting deadlines and due dates.  The first games blizzard put out were not spectacular but very entertaining.  It took time to get to the point where they had the ability to say we will never put out a game that isn't ready.  FSS has bills to pay.  A lot of them I am guessing, as game developement has changed dramatically over the last ten or fifteen years.  It went from a small group of coders with some knowledge of graphics splicing together a game in a short amount of time that was fairly interesting and being a hit to modern day where development takes years, huge staffs dedicated to the multiple different aspects of the game(texturing, shading, coloring, splines, art design, physics, AI, etc.), and massive ressources to accomplish it all in a realitively short amount of time so that you don't go completely broke in the process.  Its hard and I don't think we, the gaming community as a whole, credit for what they have accomplished.  They shot for the stars and fell short.  Oh well, they have another great game, Mythos which really hasn't recieved the credit it deserves as being far more D2 like with great elements and a lot of fun.(Honestly, the first time I played Mythos I suddenly found that I had blown more than 3 hours of time and had not even realized it.  That is a sign of a good game.)

I agree with the author on many points.  HGL is not D3 and is not nearly good enough.  One thing I though was funny that one of the titles in the article was "The Day the Music Dies" when honestly HGL has some of the best adaptive music scores I have ever hear with very excellent sound effects.  I will state unequivocally that I disagree with the idea that they stole production notes from their former employers.  

That is my two bits.

I still get a bad taste in my mouth when I think of those hideous boring repetitive dark bland Tilesets in Hellgate:London, A weak story that was obviously not put together and obviously the lack of work shows, The random map generator was garbage, it often created maps that were impossible to complete due to uncircuited connections, poor voice acting - along with 1 second cinematics all being the same at the end of each Act, tons of bugs, I mean the list just goes on and on, waste of money it was. It shows the game was badly rushed, although I doubt it would have gone much further if they took their time.