Torchlight on sale for $9.99 this weekend!

[averyblund]

Words Of Wisdom said:

vlad321 said:

See the differencec is that there is VERY little added to the Diablo 2 formula. They added a pet, and that's about it when it comes to significant changes. At least I'm hoping Blizzard themselves innovates upon D2 with Diablo 3. I really liked the boss that tore the barbarian in two pieces in the trailer they played, also the heavily destructive evironments would be amazing if used correctly. Also clones are never good because they are just clones, they can never be as good as an original game.

I disagree with pretty much everything you just said.

There should be no significant changes to existing franchises.  People like franchises for what they are so if you're majorly revamping gameplay then you should be doing so with an entirely different game.  For example Diablo 3 should be a hack'n'slash game, not an RTS, because that's the core gameplay of Diablo.  Sequels and clones shouldn't be looking to revamp, they should be looking to refine.  Take the elements that everyone loves and improve upon those, add minor things which will make the game better, however avoid adding so much that the game deviates from what makes it great in the first place.

Torchlight is great because it takes some of the elements that made Diablo 2 excellent and adds to them.  The result is that it pleases existing fans of these games like myself and opens the market to new players who've never played a game quite like this.  Will it be better than Diablo 3?  Probably not, but that doesn't make it bad.

Very well said. I agree. After Deux Ex II I think that a series should stick to its conventions. If drastic changes are needed either end the series, or develop a different game.

 

That said, innovation is a tricky thing because you often can't imagine it before it releases. If Blizzard can alter the formula while keeping it Diablo-like I would be thrilled. As such I will take a wait-and-see approach to reviewing D3. A pre-order no doubt though, unlike Starcraft which holds zero appeal to me.