Yeah, it was like Tim Burton. Creepy only in the cheesiest possible way. No, thanks. Not my definition of a dark setting. The current art direction (and voice acting, to boot) feels like Blizzard committing self-parody.
Gore is almost irrelevant to establishing a dark atmosphere. It's just gore. Especially when it just gets cheerfully splattered around like red Jell-O so some chuckling morons can say, 'Huhuh, cool. Dude. Fucking sweet.'
It totally desensitises the viewer/player to its more pointed use. If, indeed, it is to have any.
I believe Blizzard exists, yes. There seems to be ample enough evidence.
As for the art direction, which I believe is under discussion: either something appeals to me or it doesn't. At the moment the art direction doesn't, but my love of the setting doesn't end with the visual style, so I'm still interested, albeit apprehensive.
You are confusing dark lighting with a dark setting/mood/atmosphere. The former is only effective for people who are afraid of the dark. The Diablo series is a hell of a lot more moody than that, despite its history of dated graphics and huge, colourful spell effects. Take some time out to ponder it.
As it is, it is not dark and certainly not 'gothic'. It is like something you'd see on Cartoon Network, plus overdone gore as if the creatures were piñatas. As I said, like a Tim Burton film.
In terms of previous Blizzard games and their other settings, it's about as dark as WarCraft's undead and their lands. It's a cute kind of creepy. If that is what they're going for, I don't understand why it's not a WarCraft action-RPG.
Yeah that's pretty much it isn't it?
It's just a different kind of dark. Diablo 1 was totally unique with it's melancholy Dark Ages vibe, D2 had a range of styles that fitted pretty well together but at the same time nothing that quite rivaled that first Tristram setting that struck of chord with so many people.
Gothic comes under a number of different subgroups, D1 was based on the medieval horror genra but D3 is leaning very heavily on a number of influences that imo are best left in other Blizzard franchises.
I think it looks a lot better than it did before but seeing as so much of the 'seriousness' of the game appears to have been replaced with self-conscious caricature I doubt it'll rival the amazing sense of gloom and foreboding evil that they had in the first one.
That being said, the game will still be damn good and I'll no doubt spend hours playing in regardless of where they go from here. Still I do miss the old style and can't quite agree that this new path will ultimately make the game a more memorable and engaging experience.
Exactly. I think it would suit a WarCraft game extremely well, and I hope they use it in WarCraft IV. Hell, if World of WarCraft looked like this, I might even be playing it.
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Didn't they say arcane magic is based on pictures of outer space phenomenon? Those are almost always blue-ish purple, yeah? Type in "space cloud" in Google.
And yeah, I think that they're using gore in a humorous way. I mean, why does any blood at all, not to mention gallons upon gallons, come out of a half skellitized zombie?
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D3 Pros: Outdoors environment, night time environment, female Barbarian, rune spell system, the Wizard class
D3 Cons: Fantasy architecture, fantasy armor, fanstasy weapons, no shaders.
All the bone skills were primarily white weren't they?
Bones were Magic which was basically renamed to Arcane for the sake of consistency (since using the word Magic in itemization is much more appropriate to just relate to all magical abilities). Either way, white is lightning. And yellow looks retarded. I couldn't imagine a yellow spell being arcane. I adore purple colour especially that desaturated purple that leans towards blue, and I simply adore how it glows almost like..... THE BLACK NEON.
Srsrly, the new Arcane is so 60's
@Kenzai: Let me clear it up. In WoW, Arcane is white and Shaodw is purple. As far as I know Diablo will never have shadow damage. In the end there isn't really that much colours for all damage types. WoW pretty much used every colour there is for all its damage types.
Edit2: Just seen Dimebog' s post. Ok, as i said, forget about the WoW thing.
Also, would be perfect if the purple would be a bit darker but thats probably just me.
Yes I would prefer it a bit darker too.
I have this 'trademark' purple colour that I use on MSN and stuff. It's kind of darker and a tad less saturated.
@Thrasher: Actually the colour used to depict arcane is a purple that leans more towards blue and not more towards red. The one you used is almost pink.
It wasn't I who used it was Eldritch.
And here is his explanation for the ones who missed it.
Originally Posted by Eldritch Actually, I'm about to get very geeky, but I'm a big fan of the colour commonly used for arcane magic, which is also used here, because it is very amusing if you know a bit about light and the human brain.
This colour, which is the one most frequently used, from Baldur's Gate to Hellgate: London, doesn't exist in the light spectrum. Whereas every other colour has its own position in the spectrum, we see this colour because we are presented with the otherwise brain-breaking situation of detecting wavelengths from both ends of the light spectrum at once. Generally speaking, our brain has two options for interpreting the input data:[alphalist=a]
Sum the input responses to produce a colour halfway between red and violet in the spectrum (which would in this case produce green – not a very representative colour of a red and violet mix)
Invent a new colour halfway between red and violet[/alphalist]This is the evidence that the brain takes option b – it has constructed a colour to bridge the gap between red and violet, because such a colour does not exist in the light spectrum -- since it isn't actually a wheel, but a finite line from low to high wavelengths.
What better colour for arcane magic than one that doesn't exist but is produced by our minds when presented with a visual paradox? I always grin.
Yeah that's pretty much it isn't it?
It's just a different kind of dark. Diablo 1 was totally unique with it's melancholy Dark Ages vibe, D2 had a range of styles that fitted pretty well together but at the same time nothing that quite rivaled that first Tristram setting that struck of chord with so many people.
Gothic comes under a number of different subgroups, D1 was based on the medieval horror genra but D3 is leaning very heavily on a number of influences that imo are best left in other Blizzard franchises.
I think it looks a lot better than it did before but seeing as so much of the 'seriousness' of the game appears to have been replaced with self-conscious caricature I doubt it'll rival the amazing sense of gloom and foreboding evil that they had in the first one.
That being said, the game will still be damn good and I'll no doubt spend hours playing in regardless of where they go from here. Still I do miss the old style and can't quite agree that this new path will ultimately make the game a more memorable and engaging experience.
The style itself actually doesnt bother me. I think it is a well done style, but not for diablo.
~not going to buy a wow-ish diablo 3~
~this is the petition you're looking for~
‘I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL WE ALL HAVE AIDS!’—The importance of calling them ‘mercenaries.’
Haha, WoW is the first Blizzard game to come out in 10 years I have not bought or played, for that very reason!
It's good, I like it.
Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions
Fuck you, I'm a dragon.
And yeah, I think that they're using gore in a humorous way. I mean, why does any blood at all, not to mention gallons upon gallons, come out of a half skellitized zombie?
D3 Pros: Outdoors environment, night time environment, female Barbarian, rune spell system, the Wizard class
D3 Cons: Fantasy architecture, fantasy armor, fanstasy weapons, no shaders.
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Wise ElderI'm glad it's not blue or red, we got enough of that and Yellow usually = holy.
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Wise ElderWhat color would you prefer?
Green is poison, red is fire, blue is lightning and ice, yellow is holy usually, etc etc.
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Wise ElderAll the bone skills were primarily white weren't they?
Srsrly, the new Arcane is so 60's
@Kenzai: Let me clear it up. In WoW, Arcane is white and Shaodw is purple. As far as I know Diablo will never have shadow damage. In the end there isn't really that much colours for all damage types. WoW pretty much used every colour there is for all its damage types.
I have this 'trademark' purple colour that I use on MSN and stuff. It's kind of darker and a tad less saturated.
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Wise ElderThat seemed a little over the top, glow is fine but it was pretty bright.
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Wise ElderOr burn with purple flames!
Sorry, I think it'd be cool!
And here is his explanation for the ones who missed it.
I think purple really fits.