Diablo 3: let's talk about the actual game bit

[arathain]

I like the companion dialogue, but there is a lot of repetition, and it does get annoying. It's also kind of puzzling, because there's quite a lot of recorded dialogue, since I'm getting new lines for different areas, neat little chats between my companion and Leah, when she's along. There's really no need to repeat stuff.

The difficulty thing is interesting. The design decision is clearly that the real challenge doesn't start until higher skill levels, which is very much catering to the hardcore and those with a lot of time to play. I totally get why Walker and many others find it annoying. I think it's also down to the class you play, however, since these games often seem to make melee pretty much easy mode for the first playthrough, since they're so tough. I'm finding my Demon Hunter is throwing me challenges now and again even in Act I, and I really do need to make good use of my skills to keep fighting even in normal fights.

[Labbes]

I'm not sure how many of you missed it, but it's possible to equip your skills in any slot you like, meaning with my wizard, I can use Ray of Frost on left click. You have to activate "elective mode" or something like that in Options->Gameplay.
It really opens up the game, and while it may not always be effective, it's quite a lot of fun.

[duff]

I'm not sure how many of you missed it, but it's possible to equip your skills in any slot you like, meaning with my wizard, I can use Ray of Frost on left click. You have to activate "elective mode" or something like that in Options->Gameplay.
It really opens up the game, and while it may not always be effective, it's quite a lot of fun.

Yeh it's very handy and everyone should use elective mode. With my Wizard I have my signature and secondary spells as normal. Then diamond form, ice nova, and time warp (all defensive skills) as my other skills. It's pretty effective as none of the defensive skills seem to have a mana cost. Perhaps not the highest dps build but very survivable and alot of fun to play.

[arathain]

Elective mode! Now there's an oddity. Why do you have to hunt out a tiny little tick box in the corner of the gameplay options with an obscure name just to get the full potential of the skill system? I guess they're trying to teach newer players to make a rounded build, but surely just arranging skills in categories does that any way. Besides, if you find yourself dying any player will just change their build, new or not.

[lasikbear]

Elective mode and advanced tooltips are such useful options.

Only played a few hours myself, managed to get a ton of real life in the way at the last minute. Still ended up staying up way too late trying to get a level so I could wear a new hat, but it was totally worth it. Finally my with doctor looks proper witchy with a mask rather than the little flower she was wearing on her head for far too long.

[SirKicksalot]

Elective mode! Now there's an oddity. Why do you have to hunt out a tiny little tick box in the corner of the gameplay options with an obscure name just to get the full potential of the skill system? I guess they're trying to teach newer players to make a rounded build, but surely just arranging skills in categories does that any way. Besides, if you find yourself dying any player will just change their build, new or not.

In the beta I've seen self-proclaimed hardcore gamers that screamed for more control over D3's skills but had no idea elective mode exists.
Sort of ironic that people who want more control aren't even able to check the game options. I do that with every game, and since Splinter Cell Bourne I'm also looking in the "extras" menu, just in case...

[Moraven]

-How each mob dies differently dependent on what ability is used.

-Seamless skill switching. I am constantly trying different skill setups. I use something different depending if solo, 2 people, or full group.

-Random world events quests. There seems to be a premade set of these (since you can get achievements for doing them all) but they make each play through a bit different. Rewards you for exploring. There is even non events, like a chest at a tree, which spawned him and 8 trees around you.

[arathain]

-How each mob dies differently dependent on what ability is used.

I started a Barbarian last night and can't help but notice I am thumping some zombies out of their skin.

[Jeremy]

The two things that are making this game most fun for me are the skill system and the random events. I was definitely skeptical about the skill system, and wasn't sure how much I would really enjoy being able to switch at will, but I think in practice it just makes a lot of sense. It allows me to play the way I like to play, and create a character with abilities and gear that I want. And it also gives me a chance to experiment a bit without the penalty of having to fuss about on forums, faqs, or worst of all, finding out that my build is worthless and I need to create a new character. Random events sort of speak for themselves. I have two characters, one that I'm playing solo, and another playing with friends, and I haven't duped any of the random events yet, which has been pretty cool to see. It definitely makes things a lot more interesting.

[cosmicolor]

I've been playing around with the starter edition, so far I'm feeling the monk and barbarian. They did a really good job of making the combat feel good to play with. Wizard and demon hunter seem a bit less exciting, but maybe they really get fun later in the game.

[arathain]

My level 18 Demon Hunter is a big box of interesting tools. I'm not having so much problem with the game feeling too easy, either. It's not that it's super-hard, but I really can't take many hits, even from the smaller stuff, so I have to use mobility and control to stay alive.

[Juan Carlo]

I still say that this game is just whack-a-mole with loot.

So basically no different than Chuckie-Cheese's Whack-a-mole, only the Chuckie-Cheese version didn't have DRM.

[Spider Jerusalem]

i hate this game. playing a 4-man run on hardcore, up to level 44 now, and the loot is a disgrace. trying to get geared well enough to survive consists of grinding for gold and then hitting up the auction house.

[Bankrotas]

My level 18 Demon Hunter is a big box of interesting tools. I'm not having so much problem with the game feeling too easy, either. It's not that it's super-hard, but I really can't take many hits, even from the smaller stuff, so I have to use mobility and control to stay alive.

You're ranged character and you want to be not squishy?

I still say that this game is just whack-a-mole with loot.

So basically no different than Chuckie-Cheese's Whack-a-mole, only the Chuckie-Cheese version didn't have DRM.

Does Chuckie-Cheese's Whack-a-mole has a healthbar and customizable mallets?

i hate this game. playing a 4-man run on hardcore, up to level 44 now, and the loot is a disgrace. trying to get geared well enough to survive consists of grinding for gold and then hitting up the auction house.

I can't remember D2 or LoD drop great loot either.

[SirKicksalot]

My normal level 27 Barbarian is happy with his loot.
Magic find is only 10. Sweet yellows and very good blues drop constantly. Not too often, but they're good enough. Compare it to Kingdoms of Amalur, where every item was amazing - so loot became boring. I am pleased with what D3 throws at me.

[Bankrotas]

Loot was always terrible at KoA. Crafting made you godmode almost in KoA.

[arathain]

You're ranged character and you want to be not squishy?

Oh, I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite; I enjoy having to think about my build and use it well, even in Normal. I don't die all that often, but when I make a mistake I get punished for it.

I mention this because it seems like a lot of folk are finding Normal can be completed with one-button clicking- John and Alec have both complained of this. This may well be the case for other classes, but it isn't the case for the Demon Hunter.

[Bankrotas]

Or you're just not that good at this type of games as I am too.

[Alphabet]

I died once in Normal, in Act III, because to relieve boredom I was rushing into dozens, hundreds of monsters and seeing how many I could take down at once. And I would have been fine even then if I hadn't failed to realise that I'd gone from like 200 health to about 1000 and the little health potion I expected to save me only cured something like 250 damage.

I think it's a truly terrible game. My suspicion is that those who love it really love the meta-game - the auction house, debating character progression and gear, um, and all that good stuff.

For me, the gold auction house ruins the game. For 1,000 gold (which you can get from killing one or two screens of monsters) I could buyout on the gold auction house a rare item that boosted intelligence. Equipped with only rares, I was massively OP. Not only that, but there was no point in even looking at the magic-level loot that dropped, spoiling a big part of the game. Even rares were usually (like 95% of the time) worthless to me and I just salvaged them at once.

So killing monsters was embarrassingly easy, looting was pointless, gold find was WAY more efficient than magic find, the writing was unironically hideous, the plot was beyond obvious, the environments were (especially late on) completely linear, the voice acting was poor (and the actors often sounded embarrassed by the lines they had to deliver), the cut scenes were derivative of the first few minutes + Rivendell from Peter Jackson's LoTR movies, the religious undercurrent was a bit unsettling and underdeveloped and not at all ironised, I could go on.

Positives: the impact of skills felt great, the monsters moved in a believable way, the early environments were beautiful, the world events were fun, the incidental music and noises in bars and caverns were nearly as good as in middle-period Bioware games. Um. Eh. No, I think that's it for the good stuff.

But overall? Not nearly as good an isometric ARPG as Divine Divinity or Sacred. I'd give it 0.3 out of Titan Quest.

[Bankrotas]

But overall? Not nearly as good an isometric ARPG as Divine Divinity or Sacred. I'd give it 0.3 out of Titan Quest.

You don't bullshit calling Sacred a good ARPG?
Not going to argue, whether Titan Quest was good rpg, to me it had same issue as Sacred, but latter one had even more. How does action game, which has camera miles away from character feel good?
That one of main aspects of the ARPG to me and ones truly capturing essence of ARPG are games with close enough, but not too close camera.