Wasn't sure whether this would even work on my computer with an ATI X1650 SE (below the minimum requirement), but it did! Kinda slow at 1280 X 720 widescreen, but nice for those who want a more relaxed pace. Can get it to go faster by dropping the resolution.
I'm looking for King Leoric currently. Played about five hours.
Anyone else playing this game?
Quote from: 1989;540187Wasn't sure whether this would even work on my computer with an ATI X1650 SE (below the minimum requirement), but it did! Kinda slow at 1280 X 720 widescreen, but nice for those who want a more relaxed pace. Can get it to go faster by dropping the resolution.
I'm looking for King Leoric currently. Played about five hours.
Anyone else playing this game?
Me... it's so much fun. It's like they went through Diablo 2, removed all the un-fun, bullshit mechanics that didn't work anyway, and cut it down to the essentials. Then they gave it Blizzard-level polish.
Currently I've got a Wizard at lvl 11, based around magic missile, the ice nova and physical nova spells, and arcane orb (Ice nova, physical nova, arcane orb until everything around me is dead, then run like fuck away from anything still alive intil the novas recharge...) and a hardcore Barbarian, in honour of a friend who was a big D2 fan but died six years ago.
I'm under no illusions about how long the Barbarian will last - my Wizard had her first death in the next above-ground area after Leoric, and I'm not that good at computer games anyway - but he's fun to play. I do want to try a melee wizard based around a two-handed sword, charged bolt, nova...
Giving it a whirl here, too....very playable, though the jury is still out if it'll keep my attention as long as Diablo 2.
Quote from: Doom;540465Giving it a whirl here, too....very playable, though the jury is still out if it'll keep my attention as long as Diablo 2.
Is it still, "click the mouse as fast as you can"?
Because it appears I frequently suffer from trigger finger, and a game like that wouldn't go well for me.
I haven't tried it yet, and to be frank Ladybirds first sentence scares me a bit (every time I hear someone talk up a game referencing only how they've 'removed the un-fun stuff', not how they've added stuff or replaced stuff I'm reminded of just how many sequels I've played over the years that had the 'unfun' removed only to find said sequel now had the complexity and 'fun' of a game meant for small children (see also: Mass Effect 2, for example. Stripped the Un-fun right out of that sucker, along with almost everything that made ME more than just a sci-fi shooter.... I notice ME3 went around adding 'unfun' shit right back into the game, to 'prove' my point.)
I'll probably get it, may even tonight, so it can download while I sleep, saving me the aggrivation of watching the bar creep across the screen...
It's not like Diablo 1/2 were pinnacles of satisfying complexity in gaming.
Actually, I really don't like many action-RPGs, because the action/RPG mix isn't very well-tuned. Diablo 1/2 were okay, but I'm having a lot more fun with 3.
Quote from: Spike;540554I haven't tried it yet, and to be frank Ladybirds first sentence scares me a bit (every time I hear someone talk up a game referencing only how they've 'removed the un-fun stuff', not how they've added stuff or replaced stuff I'm reminded of just how many sequels I've played over the years that had the 'unfun' removed only to find said sequel now had the complexity and 'fun' of a game meant for small children (see also: Mass Effect 2, for example. Stripped the Un-fun right out of that sucker, along with almost everything that made ME more than just a sci-fi shooter.... I notice ME3 went around adding 'unfun' shit right back into the game, to 'prove' my point.)
The mechanics that they have removed, are the mechanics that didn't work as intended. Diablo 2 was not a game that presented the player with enough information for them to make valid choices about the allocation of their limited in-game resources (Mainly, stat and skill points), and provided no way of rectifying poor choices short of restarting the character (Until they added limited respecs... last year?).
Manual stat point assignment, frex, was something that didn't work. If you knew what you were doing in D2, you took enough STR and DEX to use your gear, and put all your other stat points in VIT... unless you had an ultraspecialised build, in which case you knew exactly how to put your points, without deviation. If you didn't know what you were doing (For which, read "hadn't spent enough time out of the game reading up on hidden mechanics"), you'd put stat points all over the place, and wonder why you were dying so quickly later in the game.
In D3, you get small stat increases each level, and what they all do is explained for you so you know which to go for. But those are insignificant increases compared to what you'll get from gems, later in the game. And if you make a poor gem choice, you can fix it, without losing your best gems and gear.
Skill trees, again, didn't work - you needed to go outside of the game to find out how they all went together, and there were very few builds that could handle later stages of the game. In D3, new skills and runes unlock automatically as you level, and you can pick six active and three passive skills to use, like Guild Wars. They also level up with you (Actually, damage skills are based off your weapon damage), so everything is usable throughout the entire game.
What it adds up to, is that you can't get yourself into a position where your character will be unable to advance, and you have to reroll from the beginning. The amount of choice in the game has gone up, way up, because now you have the freedom to pick the skills and playstyle you
want to use... and if it turns out not to be effective, it doesn't mean restarting your character. The complexities - finding out what works for the playstyle you want, gearing up, understanding how and when to use your skills - are still there, just as they ever were, and you can still micro-optimise your character to a very large extent.
I do kinda miss having to identify items - blues are automatically identified, yellows aren't, and that is the highest I've found so far - and I think you should have to go to town to change your skills, but other than that, this is the game that D2 always wanted to be, but never actually was. Don't get me wrong, there are design choices I'd be iffy about in a tabletop game, but they work great for a video game about killing monsters.
I just got it and spent 14 hours with it yesterday (which is one reason I didn't post anything....)
My fears about the dumbing down of the complexity were not at all unfounded. Sure, I personally don't mind the automatic stat assignment, and perhaps a simplified skill tree might not have been amiss, but the current 'skill' system?
Bollocks.
In eassence there IS no skill system, just a sequence of level-dependent upgrades you have no actual say in. Sure, you can decide which ones to use at any given moment, but as far as character customization goes? Non-existant.
I suppose I should have predicted this but there were also distinct elements of 'WoWification' that irritated me. Also, blizzards absolutely ruthless insistance on online-shared play experiences continues to piss me off. I've got a fast computer, but have to deal with lag issues due to a crappy internet connection? NOT why I'm playing fucking Diablo!
So: If it were stand alone I'd give it four out of five stars and call it generous, but that shit-tastic internet only policy of Blizzards? That knocks it down to a solid 3, maybe a 2.5 if irritation removes my earlier generosity over their over-simplification of the game.
And yes; I know Diablo 1 was simpler than D3. Retrogression in games pisses me off regardless of where the peak lies.
Quote from: Spike;540751shit-tastic internet only policy
Goddess yes. Without any prompts whatsoever it defaulted me to being on the American servers, not EU, because I was in the open beta; I'd been playing since Tuesday night, and only noticed yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. After finding out that all my progress so far was locked on the US servers, and Blizzard wouldn't transfer it across, I raged for a few minutes... then sat down and played for ten hours straight with a brand-new Demon Hunter, who is currently a chunk of the way through Act 2.
I could go back to playing on US - the ping is no worse! - but anyone I know IRL will be on EU.
I've got a level 16 Hardcore Barbarian trapped on the US servers now. But that doesn't matter, I can't play any of them, because the EU servers are down (And the achievement server has been down since this morning). Le sigh.
I'm glad you guys are posting this. I was thinking about buying the game, but now I think I'll pass on it.
I never liked games built around "character building" in the statistical sense of the term, so it's great for me. Breaking away from traditional stats and skill systems is something I'd like more CRPGs to do.
Like yeah, they're telling you what you get every level, but the re-training is nice, I haven't found this "limitation" to affect fun, and I can only see it as a boon for new players.
The network thing does pose issues currently, but I think it'll only get better over time, and I have no qualms about online-only games, even if a lot of it is single-player. Blizzard North's old president, the guy currently doing Torchlight, even he sees F2P online as the future of PC gaming, and admitted Diablo 2 was entirely designed around the multi-player experience (and I'd tend to agree, because it's a pretty mediocre slog playing it by yourself, and multiplayer games are generally more fun than single-player ones, anyway).
How is the story compared to D2?
There's a lot more NPC's and side quests. I've seen a few new interesting critters as well... Love the treasure drops. Really like the new crafting as well, but you can tell it was designed by a WoW crew who thinks Grinding is a good idea. Bad Designer! No Twinkies for you!
I'm stuck at the moment fighting Belial. Lvl 24 with one companion and can't beat him. So the Boss fights totally blow chunks, Gotta go back and grind another 10 levels or so. Don't know if I'll be going back to do that or even buying any more games from Blizzard since I don't often play in online group style games, and Diablo was once a worthy solo game. I heard it runs laggy with group play.
Another thing that bites is having to play it on Battlenet. No internet connection means the game becomes worthless. Not my idea of a good buy
To get by the 3007 timeout error I simply login to General Chat as soon as I start the game and it stays connected to battlenet. If you switch to another chat channel you're likely to get punted off the server, and it'll do that every 10 minutes or so, so it's buggy as well. My latency is about 350 ms, so it's slow as snot to boot. In solo play.
Quote from: GameDaddy;540814I'm stuck at the moment fighting Belial. Lvl 24 with one companion and can't beat him. So the Boss fights totally blow chunks, Gotta go back and grind another 10 levels or so. Don't know if I'll be going back to do that or even buying any more games from Blizzard since I don't often play in online group style games, and Diablo was once a worthy solo game. I heard it runs laggy with group play.
Belial wasn't that tough as a Demon Hunter, although I did die twice to it. Have some sort of rapid movement skill to avoid his sweeps, stay out of the poison clouds, and just unload whenever you get the chance. Dunno about melee classes. I was either lvl 23 or 24, with Leap and Rapid Fire (Runed to reduce the Hatred cost).
Grinding won't help at any stage of the game, really - the stat increases are insignificant. The easiest way to boost your character (Massively) is the auction house. Filter for items with your class's main stat and whatever other properties you want, and a really low "buy it now" price, like 2000 gold or less. There is some brilliant stuff on there, dirt cheap. As far as I can tell, crafting at lowish levels is just a waste of money, and that money is better put straight into gear. Sell magic items, auction rares or better.
Crafting, to me, doesn't seem worth the cost when the AH gives you exactly what you want, for no initial investment.
You need to craft to make the item that opens the new Secret Level, Whimsyshire (http://youtu.be/R52P9zvuplQ).
Quote from: Ladybird;540820Grinding won't help at any stage of the game, really - the stat increases are insignificant. The easiest way to boost your character (Massively) is the auction house. Filter for items with your class's main stat and whatever other properties you want, and a really low "buy it now" price, like 2000 gold or less. There is some brilliant stuff on there, dirt cheap. As far as I can tell, crafting at lowish levels is just a waste of money, and that money is better put straight into gear. Sell magic items, auction rares or better.
I'll check on the auction house, thanks! Grinding might help here. I'm playing a Wizard (Always my first choice with a new game), and I have a sorceress companion. No healing to speak of here, except with gear. No speed boosts to speak of either, other than gear. What I do have is damage dealing.
Takes less than a minute to clear the minions, and just a couple more to bring Belial down to about 20% health, then he opens the gates of Hell and is fully healed with maybe triple the HP he had in Caleum. I never sit still in melee, early on just to survive, wizards have to keep moving. Still, I've got him down to 20% HP again before he finally overloads my damage resists and finishes me.
Maybe I should go back and pick up the Templar Companion. He had a healing boost and would buff my Wizard when my HP got low.
Quote from: GameDaddy;540999Maybe I should go back and pick up the Templar Companion. He had a healing boost and would buff my Wizard when my HP got low.
The Templar's great. His damage is shit, all the companions have crap damage, but his abilities are great; I had him with the taunt, heal, life regen, and resource regen skills. As a DH, none of the other companions were even worth the time.
If you've got him down that far, and you've got the movement sorted out, you should be fine; you've obviously got the technique sorted, and just need to do damage faster. Maybe slot in one of your defensive skills, or Teleport if you've not using it already? I haven't played that far with the wizard - my only relevant defensive skill as the DH was Leap. And you obviously want as much Int as you can get, for both damage and resists; as you've noticed, he has a lot of poison attacks.
One thing that does become increasingly apparent as you play through is that gear and character skills isn't enough, you need twitch gaming skills, you need to learn to read and react to attacks. It's much more of an action game than D2.
For reference, I had about 20 life/sec passive healing in total, plus some life-on-hit and life leeching affixes, spread over my gear. And Dex. Lots of Dex; I think I was sitting at around 300 in total. +22 Dex emeralds for 1399 gold each, seemingly without a level limit? Yeah, I'll be having some of those.
Downloaded it three days ago; only got to play it for a couple of hours today. I am not a hardcore videogamer, as my comments below will no doubt expose.
I made a Barbarian because WoW has no Barbarians. Sure, there's Fury Warriors, but Warriors are a bitch to level solo. So I jumped at the chance to play a mighty-thewed, axe-swinging Northman with superhuman anger management issues, a cliché as comfortable as an old shoe.
The Barbarian has an axe. When he hits a ghoul, there's a loud, satisfying crunch. And a knockback proc. The fluff is also satisfying in its grimdark apocalyptic urgency; very WFRP-ish. I enter a dungeon under a cathedral and kill a bunch of monsters dropping a chandelier. There are loose tiles with loot under them. Life is good.
Next thing you know I'm disconnected from the server.
Great little game, not life-changing but a hell of a lot of fun. But seriously, fuck the online only thing.
Quote from: The Butcher;542997Great little game, not life-changing but a hell of a lot of fun.
When you get home from working a 12-hour shift and don't really feel like thinking much, it's great. Stupid, simple, fun, and satisfying.
QuoteBut seriously, fuck the online only thing.
Sucks. :(
I had some ping issues early on, but so far no disconnects *crosses fingers*.
Quote from: Peregrin;543007When you get home from working a 12-hour shift and don't really feel like thinking much, it's great. Stupid, simple, fun, and satisfying.
That changes when you hit Nightmare, and the mobs start becoming capable of serious damage - champion packs get a new trait each difficulty, and there are a lot you won't see on Normal. The difficulty goes up quickly.
It's okay as a difficulty system, but I kinda wish you could just start a second character character directly at higher difficulties if you feel you can handle it.
Quote from: Peregrin;543007When you get home from working a 12-hour shift and don't really feel like thinking much, it's great. Stupid, simple, fun, and satisfying.
I've been a casual gamer for a while now, and you've just made me realize why I am, and shall remain one. Thanks :)
Yeah, it's a sure-fire cure for the frustratiing work-day. Though I'm not sure other classes will be as effective as the Barbarian in this; loud crunch and knockback go a long way. I suppose the Wizard must be satisfying too...
Repeating the Fuck the Online sentiment: I was babying up a Demonhunter on Hardcore (you know: Die and that's it), only to die to easy mobs (spiders) due to a lag spike.
Thank you Blizzard. I can't tell you how much fuck that was. Ooops, I meant fun.
Quote from: Ladybird;543092That changes when you hit Nightmare, and the mobs start becoming capable of serious damage - champion packs get a new trait each difficulty, and there are a lot you won't see on Normal. The difficulty goes up quickly.
It's okay as a difficulty system, but I kinda wish you could just start a second character character directly at higher difficulties if you feel you can handle it.
No doubt! But I mean, it's still simple conceptually, even if it may get more challenging. I play Team Fortress 2 a lot, too, and I play against skilled folks who give me a real challenge, but it's still far easier on the brain than coming home and playing something like Hearts of Iron or Age of Wonders or something.
More muscle/twitch memory and some minor tactical thinking, less long-term strategic thinking.
Quote from: The Butcher;543145I've been a casual gamer for a while now, and you've just made me realize why I am, and shall remain one. Thanks :)
I'm actually not that much of a "hardcore" gamer in the grand scheme of things. I build my own PCs, and yeah, I've got a ton of titles on my Steam account, but the actual amount of time I spend playing is pretty limited, because I have so many other interests and I usually prefer to go out whenever I can. I have a lot of shallow knowledge, but I'm not a master at any game (though I guess I've played enough Team Fortress by now to be considered relatively competent).
Really, I'm not a fan of folks who self-identify as "hardcore gamers," or snub "casual shit." Games should be fun, and maybe a game doesn't cater to someone's taste, but there is no complexity or learning-curve requirement for a game to be good.
QuoteYeah, it's a sure-fire cure for the frustratiing work-day. Though I'm not sure other classes will be as effective as the Barbarian in this; loud crunch and knockback go a long way. I suppose the Wizard must be satisfying too...
The wizard is great for hordes, and if you like the idea of eventually getting powers that bring down giant comets or shoot out dozens of magic missiles to clear out a large chunk of the screen, you'll probably have fun with it.
I've only played the Wizard and the Barbarian. I liked the Barbarian better, at first, but now I'm starting to dig the wizard, even though I don't like the way he looks. (I named my wizard character "Gandork.") The wizard's area/radius stuff is great: freeze 'em in a radius, then blast 'em in a radius, then clean up with your signature spells and cannon-spells for the tough monsters.