unmoses
15-02-2012, 23:18
Diablo 3 Beta Impressions #3651
Maybe a few less were in front of me, but so be it. :)
Quick background: Avid gamer, been playing games since the days of Wizardry 1 and before if that dates me. I've played both Diablo games to completion more times than I can count, and I'm looking forward to Diablo3 to pick up the time soak where the others have left off. I've also done the mmo world (Warcraft since release, almost all the others, and most recently TOR for a month) but to be honest I'm really looking foward to getting back to the Diablo roots, hopefully soon. Anyway, on with the thoughts/impressions:
Scope of the Beta: The D3 beta is very limited with respect to the overall scope of the game (or so I hope!), and as many others have noted, you can rifle through the main game skipping things in about 90 minutes. I averaged closer to 3-4 hours by exploring most nooks and crannies and doing some crafting work. It's apparent that this isn't a true beta in the sense that you aren't testing the full game, with all the modes and skills, so I would probably lump this more like a stress test (akin to the Diablo 2 Stress test but with all the characters) than an actual beta test.
Aesthetics: Let me start by saying as I did in another thread that I found the graphics of Diablo 2 to "feel" a step back from Diablo 1. I know that there were more lighting actions, more animated textures and doodads, but it was just a feeling I couldn't shake from the time I fired up the stress test on my laptop til I bought it. Having said that, I've played Diablo 2 for over 10 years on and off so obviously graphics aren't the end-all and be all. With that being said, I find the Diablo 3 graphics to be fantastic, but different so far than the themes put forth by D1 and D2 (I just recently fired up D1 the other day and am actually enjoying an old fashioned playthrough). I won't belabor this point as it has been mentioned many many times, but the soft filter feel does give it a painterly look, and the grotesquely misshapen trees, misty plains and dangling laterns give a "sleepy hollow" feel to the start of Act 1. There are the obligatory blood splatters and impaled people, a hanging tree (! loved the reference from the cinematic of d1), so we'll have to see what the rest of the game brings in terms of style and feel. However, I find the graphics to be pleasing to the eye and very well done.
Character Aesthetics: I find the characters of Diablo 3 to be hit or miss graphically. All of them suffer from a relatively bland texture look, particularly in the face and even visible from the character selection screen, but the overall designs of them are well done for the most part. I like the looks and animations of the barbarians, witch doctors and demon hunters the best, while the Monk suffers from a disproportionate look (at least the female one- seems like the body is too tall/gangly and the head/neck extend too high for example. They also lumber as they walk, I expected something a little different out of the monk) and the Wizard, while I like parts of it, has a really muddy face texture (Perhaps they all do to an extent, but the Wizard looks out of place for some reason). I know that once we start donning armor upgrades and the like, these probably won't matter.
Form, Function and Feel: The interface for the most part is fine with me. I miss having a character sheet as others have mentioned numerous timers.. It just feels missing. I do like the artwork for the side panels of your paper doll/inventory and quest log, they are nicely done. I feel the chat window is just a placeholder, because it's relatively mundane and everything else is as it should be. I won't touch too much on the controls other than they work very well in the diablo universe and I do love having direct press buttons as opposed to the two press approach of diablo 2 for example.
Other than the second night of the 100k beta start, I haven't noticed any lag to speak of. The controls are very response and I hope this will be indicative of the full release. Of course, having only played on closed B.net servers through Diablo 2, I remember painfully well the opening weeks of Diablo 2's release and while I plan on taking some time during the release of Diablo 3, I may wait a few days before taking off considering the probable success and hype of the game :).
Skills and skill choices: Too early to say for me how the approach of "skill release" vs. "skill points" actually feels, but in terms of clobbering the minions of the cathedral and considering the scope of the beta, you can't really tell the difference. Like others, I find the release paths of several of the characters to be a little strange early on (the wizard's armors for instance) but if you look back to D1 and D2, you weren't necessarily offered a plethora of choices to use early on either. I don't necessarily care for the limit of 3 skill choices at the end of the beta and feel this an arbitrary limit considering the lack of skill points, but it seems to be the path they've chosen. Once I got past the notion of being limited, it really didn't bother me so much as I found some fun skills and went on to killing monsters and collecting loot, which is what this is all about of course. We'll see if they can hold up their end of the bargain to making the 6 skill "choices" important without making you feel limited. I also think the "swap skills, wait 30 seconds" systems is very kludgy. We'll find out in the next week or so I suppose what their change will become but for now the system (skill swaps, cooldowns), while "working" feels tacked on.
In terms of the skills themselves, I found a goodly portion to be useful and fun. They've gone a long way to making each skill feel at least somewhat important. I do find some overlaps in some of the "generators" for the Barbarian for example, and even the DH, that don't seem to differentiate themselves too much at least early in the game. As always, we'll have to see how Runestones play into opening up the game, obviously the promise is there for some excellent variation.
Part of their design goals were to make the skills have a big visual impact, and they have done this, but I almost feel in some cases it's too much. Almost every skill has over-the-top graphics and high impact sounds (I'll get to this in a second) and I think they could actually tone down some of it. Hopefully it won't be fatiguing come end-game and loot grinds.
Soundscape: This was one of my bigger worries coming in as a huge fan of Matt Uelmen's work on D1, D2 and WoW. So far, I'm happy to report the music has been excellent. Some nostalgic haunting nods, some of the guitar work that I always liked in the lower level of D1 (caves) has a few nods to it as well. Basically some excellent background and atmospheric music for the game that helps establish mood. It's well done. They could use a little more variety in the Cathedral (though since I've played it a bunch of times due to the size of the beta, that's probably why I'm finding it repetitious :)), but otherwise I really enjoyed it (Thank god!).
Voiceovers- This is something I can't fathom- they are either very good or very bad. The templar and female wizard voice to me don't fit at all. The barbarian sounds good, as does the DH. Leia's is fine, and Deckards is of course excellent. But there are some cringyworthy moments for sure, specifically from the Templar companion. Not sure if they will do anything about it (hey anything is possible, they redid the Zerg female voice for "min-ee-rals" from beta to release of SC2) but it does seem odd that the amount of production values that have gone into the graphics and gameplay fall flat on voice-overs.
Also in terms of skill sounds, some of them which are constantly in use can be a bit over-bearing. I noticed a little audio fatigue, even though they said they changed the sound a bit for each skill press, I notice that the mix is very hot. We shall see.
Randomization and Dungeon Structure: Here is where I worry a little bit. I liked the openness of the area before you get to the cathedral, but a few of the dungeons feel very much like grids. And of course the start is very linear. Obviously it's very early in the game and I'm sure it'll be more open, but it's something I keep in the back of my mind.
Multiplayer: I've played about 20 games in the public option of autojoining and about 3 with a friend who got in. It's tough in the early stage of the game, and with the relative ease of the game to get a feel for how the players interract and the rock/scissors/paper aspect if there even is one to this game. Diablo2 really didn't have too much of this either, it was more about mashing faces other than the curses or the buffs, but I say it is very fun with others. I don't miss having 8, I never ever went through a diablo 2 game where 8 people were all together except baal's room, so *shrug*.. it was usually 3-4 sticking together and I think that'll continue to work here. My first reaction to the 4 player announcement was disappointment though until I thought it through and recalled how this sweetspot was usually met when playing random Diablo 2 games.
Un-named games: I think I will miss this, but considering I'll be playing with friends it won't bother me *that* much. It seems contrived that they remove game names, maybe people here are right and they don't want others to open trading games, I'm not sure. The ability to join at specific quests is nice and seems to cover a portion of it, but I dislike losing flexibility in a sequel.
and finally:
Is it fun? Absolutely! I'll tell you it's always strange playing something that you've been looking forward to for a long time. It's impossible to live up to the hype and nostalgia filter that your mind puts on the good times you've had in the past. Once I got past the opening 30 minutes and started rolling through the more open plains, I really started getting on a roll and then I realized I had just spent 2 hours getting to the end of the beta without knowing where those two hours went. The combat so far feels great, the responsiveness is nice, the loot carrot will be there, and crafting adds a NICE time-sync that I know I'll be using alot of while playing. Time will tell if I miss creating multiple characters of the same class (aka the skill permanence issue), but inferno seems like it'll provide a nice balance for end game looting, at least until expansions arrive.
Thanks for reading if you did.. Lots of words, mostly repeating what many have said :)
Cheers :jig:
Maybe a few less were in front of me, but so be it. :)
Quick background: Avid gamer, been playing games since the days of Wizardry 1 and before if that dates me. I've played both Diablo games to completion more times than I can count, and I'm looking forward to Diablo3 to pick up the time soak where the others have left off. I've also done the mmo world (Warcraft since release, almost all the others, and most recently TOR for a month) but to be honest I'm really looking foward to getting back to the Diablo roots, hopefully soon. Anyway, on with the thoughts/impressions:
Scope of the Beta: The D3 beta is very limited with respect to the overall scope of the game (or so I hope!), and as many others have noted, you can rifle through the main game skipping things in about 90 minutes. I averaged closer to 3-4 hours by exploring most nooks and crannies and doing some crafting work. It's apparent that this isn't a true beta in the sense that you aren't testing the full game, with all the modes and skills, so I would probably lump this more like a stress test (akin to the Diablo 2 Stress test but with all the characters) than an actual beta test.
Aesthetics: Let me start by saying as I did in another thread that I found the graphics of Diablo 2 to "feel" a step back from Diablo 1. I know that there were more lighting actions, more animated textures and doodads, but it was just a feeling I couldn't shake from the time I fired up the stress test on my laptop til I bought it. Having said that, I've played Diablo 2 for over 10 years on and off so obviously graphics aren't the end-all and be all. With that being said, I find the Diablo 3 graphics to be fantastic, but different so far than the themes put forth by D1 and D2 (I just recently fired up D1 the other day and am actually enjoying an old fashioned playthrough). I won't belabor this point as it has been mentioned many many times, but the soft filter feel does give it a painterly look, and the grotesquely misshapen trees, misty plains and dangling laterns give a "sleepy hollow" feel to the start of Act 1. There are the obligatory blood splatters and impaled people, a hanging tree (! loved the reference from the cinematic of d1), so we'll have to see what the rest of the game brings in terms of style and feel. However, I find the graphics to be pleasing to the eye and very well done.
Character Aesthetics: I find the characters of Diablo 3 to be hit or miss graphically. All of them suffer from a relatively bland texture look, particularly in the face and even visible from the character selection screen, but the overall designs of them are well done for the most part. I like the looks and animations of the barbarians, witch doctors and demon hunters the best, while the Monk suffers from a disproportionate look (at least the female one- seems like the body is too tall/gangly and the head/neck extend too high for example. They also lumber as they walk, I expected something a little different out of the monk) and the Wizard, while I like parts of it, has a really muddy face texture (Perhaps they all do to an extent, but the Wizard looks out of place for some reason). I know that once we start donning armor upgrades and the like, these probably won't matter.
Form, Function and Feel: The interface for the most part is fine with me. I miss having a character sheet as others have mentioned numerous timers.. It just feels missing. I do like the artwork for the side panels of your paper doll/inventory and quest log, they are nicely done. I feel the chat window is just a placeholder, because it's relatively mundane and everything else is as it should be. I won't touch too much on the controls other than they work very well in the diablo universe and I do love having direct press buttons as opposed to the two press approach of diablo 2 for example.
Other than the second night of the 100k beta start, I haven't noticed any lag to speak of. The controls are very response and I hope this will be indicative of the full release. Of course, having only played on closed B.net servers through Diablo 2, I remember painfully well the opening weeks of Diablo 2's release and while I plan on taking some time during the release of Diablo 3, I may wait a few days before taking off considering the probable success and hype of the game :).
Skills and skill choices: Too early to say for me how the approach of "skill release" vs. "skill points" actually feels, but in terms of clobbering the minions of the cathedral and considering the scope of the beta, you can't really tell the difference. Like others, I find the release paths of several of the characters to be a little strange early on (the wizard's armors for instance) but if you look back to D1 and D2, you weren't necessarily offered a plethora of choices to use early on either. I don't necessarily care for the limit of 3 skill choices at the end of the beta and feel this an arbitrary limit considering the lack of skill points, but it seems to be the path they've chosen. Once I got past the notion of being limited, it really didn't bother me so much as I found some fun skills and went on to killing monsters and collecting loot, which is what this is all about of course. We'll see if they can hold up their end of the bargain to making the 6 skill "choices" important without making you feel limited. I also think the "swap skills, wait 30 seconds" systems is very kludgy. We'll find out in the next week or so I suppose what their change will become but for now the system (skill swaps, cooldowns), while "working" feels tacked on.
In terms of the skills themselves, I found a goodly portion to be useful and fun. They've gone a long way to making each skill feel at least somewhat important. I do find some overlaps in some of the "generators" for the Barbarian for example, and even the DH, that don't seem to differentiate themselves too much at least early in the game. As always, we'll have to see how Runestones play into opening up the game, obviously the promise is there for some excellent variation.
Part of their design goals were to make the skills have a big visual impact, and they have done this, but I almost feel in some cases it's too much. Almost every skill has over-the-top graphics and high impact sounds (I'll get to this in a second) and I think they could actually tone down some of it. Hopefully it won't be fatiguing come end-game and loot grinds.
Soundscape: This was one of my bigger worries coming in as a huge fan of Matt Uelmen's work on D1, D2 and WoW. So far, I'm happy to report the music has been excellent. Some nostalgic haunting nods, some of the guitar work that I always liked in the lower level of D1 (caves) has a few nods to it as well. Basically some excellent background and atmospheric music for the game that helps establish mood. It's well done. They could use a little more variety in the Cathedral (though since I've played it a bunch of times due to the size of the beta, that's probably why I'm finding it repetitious :)), but otherwise I really enjoyed it (Thank god!).
Voiceovers- This is something I can't fathom- they are either very good or very bad. The templar and female wizard voice to me don't fit at all. The barbarian sounds good, as does the DH. Leia's is fine, and Deckards is of course excellent. But there are some cringyworthy moments for sure, specifically from the Templar companion. Not sure if they will do anything about it (hey anything is possible, they redid the Zerg female voice for "min-ee-rals" from beta to release of SC2) but it does seem odd that the amount of production values that have gone into the graphics and gameplay fall flat on voice-overs.
Also in terms of skill sounds, some of them which are constantly in use can be a bit over-bearing. I noticed a little audio fatigue, even though they said they changed the sound a bit for each skill press, I notice that the mix is very hot. We shall see.
Randomization and Dungeon Structure: Here is where I worry a little bit. I liked the openness of the area before you get to the cathedral, but a few of the dungeons feel very much like grids. And of course the start is very linear. Obviously it's very early in the game and I'm sure it'll be more open, but it's something I keep in the back of my mind.
Multiplayer: I've played about 20 games in the public option of autojoining and about 3 with a friend who got in. It's tough in the early stage of the game, and with the relative ease of the game to get a feel for how the players interract and the rock/scissors/paper aspect if there even is one to this game. Diablo2 really didn't have too much of this either, it was more about mashing faces other than the curses or the buffs, but I say it is very fun with others. I don't miss having 8, I never ever went through a diablo 2 game where 8 people were all together except baal's room, so *shrug*.. it was usually 3-4 sticking together and I think that'll continue to work here. My first reaction to the 4 player announcement was disappointment though until I thought it through and recalled how this sweetspot was usually met when playing random Diablo 2 games.
Un-named games: I think I will miss this, but considering I'll be playing with friends it won't bother me *that* much. It seems contrived that they remove game names, maybe people here are right and they don't want others to open trading games, I'm not sure. The ability to join at specific quests is nice and seems to cover a portion of it, but I dislike losing flexibility in a sequel.
and finally:
Is it fun? Absolutely! I'll tell you it's always strange playing something that you've been looking forward to for a long time. It's impossible to live up to the hype and nostalgia filter that your mind puts on the good times you've had in the past. Once I got past the opening 30 minutes and started rolling through the more open plains, I really started getting on a roll and then I realized I had just spent 2 hours getting to the end of the beta without knowing where those two hours went. The combat so far feels great, the responsiveness is nice, the loot carrot will be there, and crafting adds a NICE time-sync that I know I'll be using alot of while playing. Time will tell if I miss creating multiple characters of the same class (aka the skill permanence issue), but inferno seems like it'll provide a nice balance for end game looting, at least until expansions arrive.
Thanks for reading if you did.. Lots of words, mostly repeating what many have said :)
Cheers :jig: