Diablo III - OPEN Beta Weekend starting today for EVERYONE!

[lestatdark]

Staude said:

lestatdark said:

Staude said:

lestatdark said:

Usually when I talk about PCs and laptops that can run games I talk about those with actual gaming capacities. Inboard Graphic laptops (and some PCs as well) aren't exactly gaming status, but I see your POV.

I really don't think that about the art direction, mostly because from what I've seen so far, it has made sense. The dark atmosphere is there when it should be (like dungeons and so on) and there's a more natural atmosphere in the barely tainted places because it wouldn't have made sense to make a dark and gritty atmosphere there. DII also had that on Act II, mostly because the deserts surrounding Lut Golhein had barely been touched by Diablo&Baal before you get there. I do see a more "cartoony/BD" approach to enemy design, but I don't necessarily think that's childish since those can also be dark and gritty when they have to.

Well, from the open beta, which was only in new/old tristram and the sourrounding area, as well as the cemetary - I just don't think the art direction is dark enough. But that's just opinion. The atmosphere is mostly fine.

I have no doubt it's gonna be a great game. I would however, have liked to see the world of diablo - post diablo 2, as a fully realised 3d world :P

Most of the videos I've seen detailing the characters backgrounds and other pieces there have been plenty of dark dungeons and tombs, probably that area was shown to have been recovered to simbolize a return of hope for Tristram after two gruelling developments there? I dunno, probably we'll know more once we play the actual game.

I agree with you on the last phrase. I would have loved to have a fully developed and realized 3D version of Sanctuary, but that would have been a lot to hope for I guess, given the actual dimensions of Sanctuary itself (the areas we explored on DII are just very tiny fragments of it).

@Chark - Old Oblivion mod right? I had to use that same mod for my very first laptop because it too could barely run it. That's the problem with laptops, if you don't buy a top-end one, you'll run out of gaming capaciticies pretty fast or have to be constantly upgrading, since you cannot switch the essential pieces to keep it up-to-date. My current one can run everything on the market on all max settings or pretty close to it, but it costed me an arm and a leg and a couple of years of saving up to it

Well since the dead had risen again, with them having to burn every corpse for them not to rise I don't think it was supposed to be like that :P It was intended as dark I'm pretty sure. - I don't know. I just think it's gonna take a while for me to get used to :P - It's not horrible. I just think it's too cartoony to take seriously.

 

I also took slight issue with the AI and the way you converse with people. It's still not contextual. For instance, a bunch of undead might be roaming and you click an npc and hes like "glorious day isn't it"

That one was made up, but my point is, they are still completely unaware of anything.

I was asked to talk to someone who WAS RIGHT NEXT to the person I was already talking to :P That is so.. 1999. Why not just have a dialogue with both people at the same time ? It can be done. :P

 

All of this being said though, some things were very nice. There was a good impact when you hit stuff, and you can still upgrade your abilities which is nice. The fact that you can now use up to 6 or 7 with quick access is also a good thing.

Braindead NPCs unfortunately are a trademark of these kind of action-RPG games (and most games as well). I agree that it shouldn't be hard to program the NPC AIs so you could have simultaneous conversations or to make them more aware of their environment, but would it be an effective thing to do since I don't believe most players would have noticed it or probably thought it was a mere novelty.

In DII you could also have abilities in quick access (on the Fx keys, all the way to F12), but I hear that now you're limited to 4 hotkeys + the 2 mouse keys. Even though you can quick swap hotkey skills even during combat, I have to see if it's not too clunky for me.