I guess it's not too surprising that Roper wouldn't have the most complimentary things to say about the upcoming game, and I definitely disagree with his thoughts on it not really "ringing with Diablo". Having played the game at BlizzCon, I can say that it doesn't just ring Diablo... it screams it. It's the Diablo I was hoping for all these years, and the whole idea of starting in a somewhat lighter area and descending into darkness rather than just having the game begin in the depths of hell (ie: where do you go from there?) seems perfect to me. We've only seen a tiny bit of Diablo 3 so far, and sometimes it's easy for people to lose sight of that."Roper, ex-vice president of Blizzard North, the now defunct Blizzard satellite studio that was responsible for the Diablo games, told VideoGamer.com in an interview to be published later this week, that while he "didn't look at it (the released Diablo III gameplay footage) and go, oh my God that's horrible", "as a player it just didn't really ring with Diablo".
He said: "One of the things I always enjoyed about that separation between Blizzard and Blizzard North was that the Diablo games had a very distinct art style. They had different art directors, they had different people working on it, they had a different sensibility about them. Diablo was I think grittier and darker and a little more leaning towards the photo realistic. Whereas the Craft games that were being built down in Irvine were bigger and broader in scope, brighter colours, just different pallets and different presentation. Both of those were very strong from that visual standpoint, for example.
"But it makes complete sense to me where they went because they basically took the Diablo universe and then approached it from the Blizzard Ivine stance for the visuals. That's the way they approach things. It wasn't that I looked at it and went, oh my God that looks terrible. I was like, that looks like Blizzard. The guys in Irvine. That's what it looks like to me. Their interpretation of it."
When asked if he was disappointed or pleased with Diablo's new art style, Roper, who is now design director and executive producer of Atari-owned Cryptic Studios, and in charge of Champions Online, a superhero MMO due out on PC this spring, said: "You know, I liked the darker grittier. I liked the differences in art style, to be honest. So, I think I would personally from a player standpoint prefer that."
"I think that one of the things that we always tried to get across was that Diablo was Gothic fantasy and I think there was just a need that was put in there from the visuals that I didn't necessarily get. I got it from the architecture and to a degree from the character design but not the feeling of the world. I can't say that I dislike it. I didn't look at it and go, oh my God that's horrible. But I looked at it and went, it's not really... to me as a player it just didn't really ring with Diablo.""
So what are your thoughts on the interview with Roper?
To the hot-heads: of course Roper DOESN'T LIKE where the artistic style and the visuals are going. It's a complete contrast of his previous work.
THE MF END
It's different, and I like it so far. From a realistic standpoint on how the game has to play out after 20 years of peace and growth, it's obvious to the casual observer that the world isn't already burnt to ash and that every person on earth can't already be in the most terrible misery ever and impaled on a stake. Given, I'm sure we'll see plenty of it as the game progresses.
I really hope this doesn't turn in to another pointless art debate.
Complete contrast is a little strong...yes its certainly different and like he said its more of a "irvine interpretation," and in the end its up to personal preference as to which is better. But still, you can't honestly say its a complete contrast.
Under "Irvine interpretation" I also understand the UNREALISTIC cookie-cutter nature of the models, the surroundings and just about EVERYTHING, when it's missing the gritty feeling that made me want to emo-cut myself...
(I'm quoting Roper on that)
I would like also to point out things that I kept thinking when there was that Artistic saga we lived right here on diablofans.com. Which is : Monster/equip color. I know we don't always think about it but Diablo II team did an AWEFUL job on special monsters and items color. Not only it didn't fit with their estethic design, it was also VERY ugly. I don't have Diablo 2 installed and can't find any screenshot right now. But it was very comon to see a pink (nearly glitching pixelized) sword or staff on a character that did'nt fit into the style. I also think that Diablo II never been a beautiful game, at least, it never been is strength.
Average diablofan before D3 announcement: I hope Bill Roper and the Blizzard North team go back and make D3 with it's cool gothic atmosphere. D2 and D1 were da bestest... Blizzard sucks for not giving us Diablo. *sob*
Excited diablofan after D3 announcement: Yuss. Blizz, Blizz, Blizz. I love dis game. It's da best, betr than dark and no-contrast previous Diablo. Blizz say this Diablo betr now. Dis game have mor contrast. Me like new rainbow. Me think Blizz smart when making fun of peoples and Bashiok veri funny too. Roper is bastard son of bitch. He hate Blizzaaard. Me no like Roper any moar. Me likes Blizz. Blizz tell me what to think... *drool*
Too late.
But that doesn't mean it will be bad.
I call it the "The wonderful adventures of Watercolor Cindy in the spooky mist where invisible evil wizards roam the peaceful land"
Paladin88, this is a public warning, and to anyone else out there thinking of jumping on this bandwagon. If you continue to insult people's ideas and opinions by making their ideas appear idiotic typographically, then you will receive infractions. Period. It's the same as flaming, and I'm not letting you drive this thread in to a nose dive.
this is my fav and gives me the most hope. They definitely didn't forget how to properly stack bodies ;D
It's pretty dark here, the guy on the left has his head down all sad like next to the huge pile of creepy corpses mirroring a scene right out of Gothic history and midevil times like the black plague.
Yea. It is definitely getting better.
Yet it's still UNREALISTIC and if you were looking at each object (both characters and surroundings) separately and without the knowledge that it was Diablo, I'm pretty sure half of the guys here would actually dislike it and regard it as 'lame'.
Lego-block characters FTW.
Great scene for her to be in.
Why are you at DiabloFans.com? All you are doing is criticizing every person who says something positive about our game that we have been waiting for for 9 long years. If you don't like it, please keep your opinion to yourself and stop flaming others.
Thank you.
Why would they regard it as lame? Maybe you would say that but you can't say the same for everybody.