Diablo 4

[Mantis]

It's not just the graphics though, the overall artistic design of the game made it feel more cartoon like. The glitzy spell effects for instance, which were really vibrant and filled the screen.

I really wasn't a fan of the skill system in 3 either.

[Raid]

I don't really see how the spell effects look cartoonish, but regardless they seem to have gone with exactly the same style of effects in IV. The only thing that's changed is, again, the saturation, but frankly I think the saturation suits the game when you're flinging chain lightning and summoning flaming meteors. I'm not complaining about any of this, I hasten to add, I think Diablo IV looks excellent.

I liked the skill system in III, but it always felt like half of the abilities and most of the runes were a bit pointless. I played an awful lot of Wizards, and every single one of them used Disintegrate because it always felt like the right mix of crowd control and power for any situation. I frequently spent ages in the skill screen trying to find something that would at least contribute more than 10% of my usual damage output as a companion to my fiery beam of destruction. Special equipment effects from legendaries and sets did allow for a little more interest in my builds, but it always felt too easy to find a good build and then stick to it despite how much variety it gave you.

What the skill system in III didn't do was make your character feel like it was your own; the fact that you could swap abilities around after every single fight meant that you could constantly chop and change; nothing ever felt like it had real permanence. I don't want the sequel to return to the mold of II, wherein there was absolutely no ability to change your choices up without leveling a whole new character, but there needs to be something in between. I don't have the time to play for ten hours just to find I don't like the build I chose and have to start over.

[Wrathbone]

What if every level you got the option to change an existing skill?

[Raid]

So long as you also got the option on a Paragon level up (or whatever the Diablo IV equivalent is), that could work. I'd personally rather use a vendor/cost based system that allowed you to do it whenever you wanted but at a fairly extortionate cost (that would also scale by level).

[Mantis]

Yeah something as simple as only being able to do it back at a particular base point would have been better. Worked perfectly fine in Divinity OS 2.

[DjchunKfunK]

So it sounds like this game is moving towards the Destiny model with the open world being a shared space and dungeons and story areas being instanced. Have to say I'm not a fan, I don't really want to see people running around in my world that aren't part of my group. Despite the co-op nature of these games it has always been a fairly solo/lonely experience for me and that has been part of the draw. This change doesn't allow me to do that anymore and whilst Blizzard have said that the number of people you see will vary, with more people being present in towns, I have to say it has really put me off. I'm pretty tired of developers trying to turn these games into mini-MMOs.

[Mantis]

Hopefully there will be an option to play in an entirely private server. I don't like the idea of random players "turning up in my world" as the Eurogamer preview puts it.

I'm glad the rune system for skills is gone. Hopefully this one will be better, though it was explained as characters having four skills with one being an ultimate style attack which sounds a bit too MobA to me.

[Raid]

I don't like the sound of any of those changes, frankly. Diablo is not a world where I think "Ultimates" really fit, nor does it make sense to have tons of heroes running around.

Which is to say these things don't make sense in a Diablo 2 or 3 setting, I'm sure they'll come up with logical reasons for it.

[Mantis]

Hour of footage here which shows the Blizzcon demo played with each of the three currently announced classes.



I know it's early days, but it still doesn't really look like it'll play any differently to D3.

[DjchunKfunK]

It is indeed early days as some people seem to think it wont be with us until 2022.

From what Blizzard have said there will be no private-server option. Maybe it will come in a paid subscription service at a later date ala Fallout 76. ¬_¬

[Mantis]

I might not bother then. The combat from that video just looks like the same mindless spam of really snazzy effects to mow through enemies with zero challenge. And being in town seeing other people who look identical to your character while you listen to NPCs deliver quest dialogue looks so jarring.

You can't make the game more dark and horror based and then make such a huge compromise by making the world a huge hub where 100 players are running around.

[Alan]

Genre peaked with Torchlight 1. Wish they’d remaster it with multiplayer.

[arqueturus]

Genre peaked with Torchlight 1. Wish they’d remaster it with multiplayer.

I thought that Torchlight 2 was an improvement over 1 in every way but other than that, I agree with you.

[Maturin]

I don't think there's any way I could go back to the Torchlight games after Grim Dawn, with it being such a refinement/advancement. I did enjoy them back in the day though.

[Alan]

Never got into Torchlight 2. I just don’t really care for sprawling land maps since Lut Gholein made D2 crap just like whatever the sand area is D3 makes it crap. The constant dungeon descent is more focused and just more fun for me. I would utterly love if they remade Diablo 1 in the Diablo 2 engine with all the D2 classes and drops etc. In the later games I’m generally always bored on the map hoping the next area is a dungeon.

I guess I just like going down.
*holds hand up for a high five that will never come*