I disagree.Nautical Honors Society said:
The DRM for a single player game is ridiculous to me. Setting aside the argument that high-speed internet isn't available to all Americans (about 20% in rural areas don't have a single option), requiring an internet connection for the single-player portion defeats the purpose of the single-player aspect. If I'm interested in the SP, it's probably because I'll need something to do while separated from my friends - like while traveling, when internet isn't guaranteed.
Regardless of the DRM, I'm still not impressed. I look at it and all I see is WoW (or WC3, depending on where you think the art style really began). It's my biggest beef with Blizzard ever since I quit WoW after BC came out: They're not trying anymore. Oh, they'll pay some artist to spend a week making one of the most awesome paintings of a character ever imagined - but then in-game that character is some cartoonish, blocky bull-shit with a color pallette straight out of a 6th grade crayon box. I can't stand it anymore (the same way I'm getting so fucking sick of the Unreal engine for FPS games). Blizzard(Activision) has simply stopped moving forward with their graphics and style. I know why they did it - it's easier to identify enemies and keep track of party members if everything is vibrant and the environment is the water-color look (which makes it easy to ignore in battle), but the environments really suffer for it - and not once did the graphics designer argue that the environments could be dark/gritty while the character models could be vibrant.
Character customization is lacking. Period. Not only aren't there reasons to have several different characters of the same class to try out different builds, but taking away player choice in stat distribution is something I'll ever regret. Yes, before you understand the mechanics of the game, you can be pretty poor at distributing stats (though every recent game has some form of point-reset), but it also takes away the "fuck-it, let's see if a Barbarian can go ranged" builds. For instance, in ME3's multiplayer I just finished making a Krogan Sentinel who does nothing but beat the ever-loving shit out of stuff on Bronze. That's the character's entire purpose; shits 'n giggles, and it is extremely fun to play. Can't do much of that with D3.
The auction house isn't something I'm interested in. It is eBay with the caveat that what you're buying isn't tangible, and actually buying items for a video game with real money never made any sense to me - though I'm not offended if people want to do so.
Bnet isn't as good as it should be. Why can friends jump into your game (whether you want them to or not) by default? Why does Bnet 2.0+ seem little more than an Achievements tracker with an IM built in instead of a place to play other people? Etc.
The story is on the high-end of "Average" for fantasy games. Blizzard hasn't ever been good at tightly-woven, intricate plots; "Generic Fantasy done pretty good" describes everything they've ever written to a 'T.' However, even for Blizzard, D3's story seems lacking. You start in Tristram (again), meet up with Deckard Cain (whose voice actor clearly isn't taking the game seriously), and end up fighting Diablo as the end boss (for the third time in the series). There are bits inbetween, but the first time was exciting. The second time felt like a good return. The third time feels like Blizzard is playing too safe. Yeah, there are a few twists (and one half-decent twist), but overall it reeks of "more of the same in the hopes of getting the same level of success."
It just doesn't feel like a sequel should. Not one made 10 years after the previous. It feels like the one which could have come out in 2005. The style is slightly different and the graphics are improved, yeah, but Blizzard's desire for the game to be able to run on machines built when John Kerry was a candidate means I'm not seeing my character as a "Diablo" character, but rather as a "Blizzard Generic Class #9" character. Looking at the class-selection screen is like looking at a Diablo Mod for WoW. The story has been tread - twice by Blizzard themselves. It's not new, it's not engaging, and relies too heavily on glitz of the cinematics to obscure the fact that the same story could be had for $3 out of your B&N bargain bin. The character customization is a step backwards. I enjoy the idea of being able to modify a single spell in a dozen different ways, but it's not a replacement for the rush you get at level up and deciding how your character progresses.
Also, the destructable portions of the environment are gimmicky, and little else.
So, yeah, I'm not buying a copy for myself. It's not all bad. The combat (and gameplay in general) is very fluid, and they've obviously spent a lot of time refining many of the UI components and systems. Blizzard has done what they do best - take other ideas and polish them to a mirror shine to present to the public. However, in this case it was their own IP that they stole from and proceeded polish in some funky cloning experiment or incestuous relationship with itself, making all their good aspects shine - but all their bad aspects stand out like a sore thumb.
It just doesn't feel like Diablo. It feels like "Diablo - as presented by Blizzard-Activision, the famous creators of WoW and SC2!"
Claim nostalgia goggles and whatever counter-arguments you want, but I think Blizzard is suffering from being too internal. They're taking their position in the market for granted, just like BioWare does with RPGs. Sure, people will play Diablo III - but many will be playing it because it's a Blizzard game, not because it's Diablo III.
can't wait to kill it)
