You quite clearly didn't spend 10 hours a day for years playing Diablo 1 and the same for Diablo 2.
If you had, you'd realize that the darkness of both games cannot be achieved by turning down gamma. Diablo 3 looks like a fuzzy colorful dream or something in comparison.
I did play both of those games and those dungeons are arguably MORE WELL LIT than the ones in D3.
Don't tell me this is a darker than D3.
This is a classic case of your interpretation of the past warping your perception of the now. Just like how everyone said that the beta was too easy and compared it to how hard D2 was and The D3 team had to show footage of the beginning of D2 just to prove that the stuff in the beginning area didn't even bother attacking you. I lol'd.
Secondly, none of you are taking into account that with the beta we most likely haven't seen the maximum graphics levels. Also adjusting gamma in every game I play now adds to the darkness. It's not hard to do.
Just to repeat, as some people simply think a designer has left D3 (which I think a designer did leave in the past - even the head of art left I believe?). It was the lead producer who left.
As a screenwriter/film maker, I can say with assurance that a producer on a film doesn't just leave before it's done. They are there every step of the way. I would assume a LEAD producer on a AAA game is the same.
If they aren't the same then, that's cool. Except why is Blizzard currently hiring a new one? Why did his announcement to leave come right after the new changes were announced by Jay Wilson?
I'm not calling out a conspiracy. I'm just saying that something seems off in Diablo development land.
They could easily show things at Blizzcon and make tons of cash off it if if they wanted to put something together. But instead they said themselves that Blizz con is cancelled for development reasons. They need to get us our games ASAP - yet they've also told us every step of the way that they will take all the time they want to release it. Perhaps some investors are getting impatient on the side? Perhaps the pressure is rising at camp D3 to where they are having to cut a lot of ideas and game sections just to get this sucker out.
Don't get me wrong - I could be wrong with my intuition and blatant assumption on this one. I admit that. I wonder if the problems with new Blizz games runs deeper than the obvious. I think WoW being so successful has cast a shadow over their other titles and made them work harder than ever to make them live up to the addictive gameplay that is WoW. Instead I think it may be making them spend more time than needed and even question themselves more while making games like Diablo 3 and SC2. I could be wrong, they could possibly have it all in hand, but things do seem off lately.
Man, I loved the october 2011 iteration, with the cube, caldron, and stone and the character art above it. So slick looking and almost like you have a detailed portrait of your character to check out when you're working with items. Now it's just artless items sitting there with a bunch of stats and numbers. Soulless. Dead. Nerd math.
How strange it is to me that a game in beta, with a website showing everything from the rune/skill system to itemization is getting such a huge overhaul. Not only is more money involved, but it seems disingenuous as an informative website and beta testing imply that a game will be with us soon. It's almost as if at the last minute that he questioned himself and the game instead of just releasing what I've been told by many is a smoothly working, amazing game even in beta.
I don't want to bitch and moan like I know many will, but I do have some qualms with what Jay told us. I understand that Blizzard reiterates and reiterates and polishes until the chrome nearly comes off its games. That's why they're so good - no good, isn't the right word. Classic, works. Classic pop-culture monstrosities works too. But such an overhaul this late in the game can only mean that there is doubt in Blizzard in living up to the now super inflated expectations of outdoing Diablo 2.
Now on to my problems:
I liked the cauldron and cube and I loved the stone of recall. Each one of these items was special and found on your journey. They were satisfying steps towards making your character more bad ass. They can be seen in your inventory and more importantly, they helped you salvage anything. Which extends a great feeling of constant progression in the game. They were the equivalent to John Mclaine finding his first walkie talkie or machine gun in Die Hard. They were steps of our hero's progression.
In D2 I grabbed everything I could. I hated even leaving white items behind. Now that there was a way to collect them, salvage them on the fly to keep my inventory open, and later make a new weapon for my character, I was stoked. Let's face it: Sometimes the rapid clicking leads to grabbing some junk here and there. And being able to salvage it right away would be fun and build anticipation of the better items ahead.
Instant gold or useful materials from junk? That was everything I ever wanted from D2 instead of having to go back to town and stand there spending time doing errands. In D3 I could keep adventuring and go back of my own accord - not at the command of an overloaded backpack. Now that option is gone.
Then scroll of town portal. Gone. Instead just hit the portal button! Um, now wait a sec. A signature in Diablo and immersion is giving us actual items to work with - not just hitting the yummy super button and moving on. I'm not saying that having town scrolls in our inventory is needed, but the stone of recall seemed to do the job already and it was an item we had to find early on in the game which was exciting. Again, immersion is leaving the playing field.
Secondly, no more scroll of identify...because you're character is a bad ass? What about our character being the bad ass warrior who needs help from wise supporting characters along the way? What about using mystical items to help us discover what is hidden in our christmas package? Now we just have a time bar...which seems useless if you ask me. Just let us see what the item is already if you're going to remove scrolls. You could have easily invented an "Eye of X" item that we find on a quest in order to identify items in order to bypass the scrolls. With this change we lose another important "Diablo Signature": The important game element where the character has a connection with the elders and townsfolk around them. I'd have Cain or Leah or an "Eye of X" identify my items any day and not feel any less of a bad ass for it. In fact, I contend that identifying my own items isn't even a little bad ass.
The Mystic. Well, removing her means a little less customization and to think of how the maps and programming had to change is mind boggling. The art people made, the voice acting - perhaps the mystic's back story as well - all gone. I can live with it, but it definitely shows that the game won't come out soon when things this large are being removed. I liked the idea of a mystic enchanting my items with attributes which enhanced my gameplay style. I wonder why tweaking current enchants to have different abilities than the socket system couldn't happen. According to Jay a whole new system would take too much time. But redesigning the entire character attributes system and rebalancing and itemizing the game is okay? I supposed they don't have time for both, but I can't help but wonder if simply changing the enchants of the mystic to more simple things like "Chance to X" or simply an aesthetic quality "Makes your weapon glow X color" or "Enhances X ability by X%" couldn't happen. I feel like there is a clever way to make her contribution relevant and they just didn't want to explore it right now.
By the end of the article, I felt like some traits that had me excited for the game were gone, but more importantly signature traits of a Diablo game that worked in today's gaming experience were gone. I felt that D3 was improving over D2 in significant ways only to discover that we are reverting to D2 - basically going back to town and standing around in our awesome armor instead of getting out there into the muck. The action. The real badassery.
I could be completely wrong. These changes may improve and not hinder the experience at all and they certainly don't change my mind about purchasing the game. I'm just putting in my 2 cents on this one. I should stop following this game for another 6 months though as these huge changes will take some time to implement and balance.
I have been a firm supporter of Kraft Cheese for a countless number of years. I have loved everything they've done for the world of cheese and the products they have released for our cheesy satisfaction. However, the amount of time fans and supporters have waited for a new product is getting borderline outrageous. This conflict in Korea with the cheese board is obviously holding the cheese back. It's absolutely absurd for Kraft and company to try and deny this fact and continue to string along the very people that make the company stay afloat and progress in the dairy industry. It's high tide that we (the little people) get recognized and get, at the very least, a date for release. This way we can have some semblance of peace knowing Kraft Singles is well on its way to making it to our fridge. Give us what we want Kraft, stop jerking us around. I think we have endured enough.
3
1
I did play both of those games and those dungeons are arguably MORE WELL LIT than the ones in D3.
Don't tell me this is a darker than D3.
This is a classic case of your interpretation of the past warping your perception of the now. Just like how everyone said that the beta was too easy and compared it to how hard D2 was and The D3 team had to show footage of the beginning of D2 just to prove that the stuff in the beginning area didn't even bother attacking you. I lol'd.
Secondly, none of you are taking into account that with the beta we most likely haven't seen the maximum graphics levels. Also adjusting gamma in every game I play now adds to the darkness. It's not hard to do.
1
As a screenwriter/film maker, I can say with assurance that a producer on a film doesn't just leave before it's done. They are there every step of the way. I would assume a LEAD producer on a AAA game is the same.
If they aren't the same then, that's cool. Except why is Blizzard currently hiring a new one? Why did his announcement to leave come right after the new changes were announced by Jay Wilson?
I'm not calling out a conspiracy. I'm just saying that something seems off in Diablo development land.
They could easily show things at Blizzcon and make tons of cash off it if if they wanted to put something together. But instead they said themselves that Blizz con is cancelled for development reasons. They need to get us our games ASAP - yet they've also told us every step of the way that they will take all the time they want to release it. Perhaps some investors are getting impatient on the side? Perhaps the pressure is rising at camp D3 to where they are having to cut a lot of ideas and game sections just to get this sucker out.
Don't get me wrong - I could be wrong with my intuition and blatant assumption on this one. I admit that. I wonder if the problems with new Blizz games runs deeper than the obvious. I think WoW being so successful has cast a shadow over their other titles and made them work harder than ever to make them live up to the addictive gameplay that is WoW. Instead I think it may be making them spend more time than needed and even question themselves more while making games like Diablo 3 and SC2. I could be wrong, they could possibly have it all in hand, but things do seem off lately.
1
1
How strange it is to me that a game in beta, with a website showing everything from the rune/skill system to itemization is getting such a huge overhaul. Not only is more money involved, but it seems disingenuous as an informative website and beta testing imply that a game will be with us soon. It's almost as if at the last minute that he questioned himself and the game instead of just releasing what I've been told by many is a smoothly working, amazing game even in beta.
I don't want to bitch and moan like I know many will, but I do have some qualms with what Jay told us. I understand that Blizzard reiterates and reiterates and polishes until the chrome nearly comes off its games. That's why they're so good - no good, isn't the right word. Classic, works. Classic pop-culture monstrosities works too. But such an overhaul this late in the game can only mean that there is doubt in Blizzard in living up to the now super inflated expectations of outdoing Diablo 2.
Now on to my problems:
I liked the cauldron and cube and I loved the stone of recall. Each one of these items was special and found on your journey. They were satisfying steps towards making your character more bad ass. They can be seen in your inventory and more importantly, they helped you salvage anything. Which extends a great feeling of constant progression in the game. They were the equivalent to John Mclaine finding his first walkie talkie or machine gun in Die Hard. They were steps of our hero's progression.
In D2 I grabbed everything I could. I hated even leaving white items behind. Now that there was a way to collect them, salvage them on the fly to keep my inventory open, and later make a new weapon for my character, I was stoked. Let's face it: Sometimes the rapid clicking leads to grabbing some junk here and there. And being able to salvage it right away would be fun and build anticipation of the better items ahead.
Instant gold or useful materials from junk? That was everything I ever wanted from D2 instead of having to go back to town and stand there spending time doing errands. In D3 I could keep adventuring and go back of my own accord - not at the command of an overloaded backpack. Now that option is gone.
Then scroll of town portal. Gone. Instead just hit the portal button! Um, now wait a sec. A signature in Diablo and immersion is giving us actual items to work with - not just hitting the yummy super button and moving on. I'm not saying that having town scrolls in our inventory is needed, but the stone of recall seemed to do the job already and it was an item we had to find early on in the game which was exciting. Again, immersion is leaving the playing field.
Secondly, no more scroll of identify...because you're character is a bad ass? What about our character being the bad ass warrior who needs help from wise supporting characters along the way? What about using mystical items to help us discover what is hidden in our christmas package? Now we just have a time bar...which seems useless if you ask me. Just let us see what the item is already if you're going to remove scrolls. You could have easily invented an "Eye of X" item that we find on a quest in order to identify items in order to bypass the scrolls. With this change we lose another important "Diablo Signature": The important game element where the character has a connection with the elders and townsfolk around them. I'd have Cain or Leah or an "Eye of X" identify my items any day and not feel any less of a bad ass for it. In fact, I contend that identifying my own items isn't even a little bad ass.
The Mystic. Well, removing her means a little less customization and to think of how the maps and programming had to change is mind boggling. The art people made, the voice acting - perhaps the mystic's back story as well - all gone. I can live with it, but it definitely shows that the game won't come out soon when things this large are being removed. I liked the idea of a mystic enchanting my items with attributes which enhanced my gameplay style. I wonder why tweaking current enchants to have different abilities than the socket system couldn't happen. According to Jay a whole new system would take too much time. But redesigning the entire character attributes system and rebalancing and itemizing the game is okay? I supposed they don't have time for both, but I can't help but wonder if simply changing the enchants of the mystic to more simple things like "Chance to X" or simply an aesthetic quality "Makes your weapon glow X color" or "Enhances X ability by X%" couldn't happen. I feel like there is a clever way to make her contribution relevant and they just didn't want to explore it right now.
By the end of the article, I felt like some traits that had me excited for the game were gone, but more importantly signature traits of a Diablo game that worked in today's gaming experience were gone. I felt that D3 was improving over D2 in significant ways only to discover that we are reverting to D2 - basically going back to town and standing around in our awesome armor instead of getting out there into the muck. The action. The real badassery.
I could be completely wrong. These changes may improve and not hinder the experience at all and they certainly don't change my mind about purchasing the game. I'm just putting in my 2 cents on this one. I should stop following this game for another 6 months though as these huge changes will take some time to implement and balance.
1
FLYING CONFIRMED in DIABLO 3!!!
(Just kidding. As in take this 'interview' with a grain of salt.)
3
Sincerely,
Cheeser in distress
1
Batman and Dead Space are honorable mentions.
1