Mike Reviews Diablo 3...and then plays some more

Blizzard has always felt like a revolutionary company. They have flagship games: Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft all seemed to revolutionize-- or at the very least carve an independent niche in – the strategy, role playing and massively online roleplaying genres. I don’t think any other video game companies can claim this kind of success. So when you fast-forward 10 years or so past the debut of these great games, and it’s time to make a sequel, what happens?

It’s not that Diablo 3 isn’t a good game. I’ve logged way, way too many hours since it came out Tuesday night, and I genuinely enjoy playing it (even on a lag-riddled, slow computer). But...it feels like it’s a sequel and nothing more. Blizzard has dropped the revolutionary attempts to change something fundamental about what everyone else is doing and opted for a graphics reboot with some fun gameplay. All their improvements or changes feel like Blizzard is following some of the current trends (little penalty for in-game death, skill sets that aren’t locked in stone) and not making them.

I can’t say I blame them. They have millions of fans who have been waiting for Diablo 3 for at least 10 years now, and they’re all going to buy the new game no matter what it is, so why piss them off trying something different? This feels like Diablo 2.5, not 3, and that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. It’s just not what I expect from Blizzard. The really sad thing is you can replace “Diablo 3” with “Starcraft 2” in all of the above and the review doesn't change.

What I think they did right:

The user-interface changes are pretty much mandatory, but they’re still welcome. Potions are stackable, inventory space is way easier to manage, and the mercenaries you can hire are easier to manage and fun to talk to. The crafting system is much better, and the server-wide auction house makes it really easy to upgrade your gear when you need to, and to find exactly what you need at a given time. The graphics are a lot better (and 3D).

The bread and butter of this game is the combat. I think it’s really fun. By adding six usable skill slots you have a lot of different options of escape moves, attack moves and combinations to stay alive. It takes a lot more skill moment-to-moment to string together something useful (and stay alive) rather than spam-clicking everything to death. The battles are frenetic and epic feeling, especially with a group of other players blasting spells and jumping around to take on huge hordes of creatures or really giant and strong monsters. Definitely a blast (except when my computer chugs to 2 frames a second, but that’s my computer’s fault, not D3).

They also changed the dynamic of the game to emphasize completing acts over running and redoing bosses over and over again. I haven't confirmed it, but I really suspect that major bosses drop way less good stuff than do the champion level random units you find on the map. And the champions really are well done; each difficulty level gives them more abilities, and you'll see some very cool (and BRUTAL) things like jailing, walling, mortar and arcane abilities. High level packs can have 4 of these abilities, all designed to completely jack you up. So I think Blizzard created the game around beating them, and ignored the bosses.

What I think they did wrong:

I feel like they stopped at the bare minimum to make a sequel. They upgraded the right things, made combat more fun, and that’s it. The story is so-so, designed to pull you from one level to another but that’s about it (it starts off strong and really craps out in the last 2 Acts). The first two Acts are actually complete ripoffs of Diablo 2; set in the same places (farmland and desert), with the same monsters, and even the same progression of things. This does not help the feeling that I’m playing Diablo 2.5.

I feel like they held back a lot of things so they could make an expansion pack really soon and sell it to make more money. Set items and legendary weapons are in the game, but as of completion of the game twice on the first two difficulty levels, I have yet to see one. D2 had these strewn all over the place, so you really felt like you were a cool dude with your level 5 legendary sword, or your crappy set that was useless in later levels. There are a fair amount of boss fights, and some are pretty fun and epic, but I feel like there could have been even more. I mean, this is based on a game where that’s literally all anyone did; run through the levels and fight the bosses. Blizzard said they wanted to keep that from happening this time around, but that doesn’t mean you can’t include more.

I feel like they removed a lot of individuality from this game. The skill system this time around works in the sense that all classes get all the same skills. The strategy, and the differentiation between characters, comes in where you have to choose which 6 skills to have active at any given time. You can swap out skills at any point if they aren’t working with no effort. The problem here is that there is still little differentiation between characters of the same class. I’ve spent the most time playing a Demon Hunter (basically the archer of the game), and the DH has one dominant strategy, with three skills that everyone has to have. I’ve watched a lot of high level DH players, and they all have basically the same skill setup.

Diablo 2 had three distinct trees for each class, so really there were more like 20 instead of 7 playable classes. Their archer could focus on shooting bows and arrows, or focus on using javelins in melee range. Their assassin could focus on traps or on hand-to-hand combat. Each tree was a completely different playstyle. Now that you can swap your skills, it’s more likely people will all gravitate to what the optimum build is (and they’ll find it) rather than something distinct. The only way I get to differentiate my DH is by the items I have, which is just what Blizzard wants, because that will make them more money in the long run.

What really bothers me about this game is I can feel the money making schemes all over it. Blizzard “conveniently” put in an in-game auction house, so people don’t have to use back-alley ways to sell their gems and stuff to other people. But oh, Blizzard also gets a 15% cut of whatever is sold. And it feels like they intentionally left out classes, bosses and levels just so they can add them in future expansion packs. Clearly, they are following Starcraft II’s path. There won’t be just one expansion, like for Diablo 2 or Starcraft, there are going to be multiple (at least 3). That way, Blizz can keep people engaged and take more of their money. But they’re releasing an incomplete game as a result, and as a result of that, I’m not super happy. But I’m also super addicted, and need to play more, so they're doing something right.