D3 atmosphere

[mub]

As I see it, the diablo series is so popular mainly to it's atmosphere-a contrast to, for example, WoW, which is so sweet and shiny and colourful and looks like made from melted action men. Diablo should be dark-and by that i mean D1 dark , because I feel that D2 was a little "lighter" in it's atmosphere. I mean it's still like the Exorcist compared to Scary Movie(WoW), but it missed something of this D1 feeling of danger, breathlessness and gore.

So, for D3 to be again hardcore, heavy and diabolic I believe the things that made the difference between D1 and D2 must come back-more gore, darker locations, eerie stuff that sent chivers down your spine(remember when you were to find Arkaines Valor, and you went up the corridor, you see it on a postument...and suddenly your eye catches some huge, dark shadows along the walls(horned demons)? Or the halls of the blind quest? Theese were dark and scary, and unfortunately I can't really compare any D2 quest to them(well, maybe the countess...).

Another thing are the quests-they shouldn't be all "designed for a shiny hero with a big sword"-apart from quests like rescue the soldiers or such there should be stuff like assasinations(maybe in another town in an act or maybe in a different act?), stealing and such. Also, no quests for free! Diablo world is mean and hard, so townsfolk perhaps should not ask everyone around for help(Radament quest in a2 was nice here, because the woman started with "I dont expect you to help me..."), they should try to buy , bribe our chars, maybe even make intrigues against other townsfolk...in a word-more conflict!!!

Also,there is this thing with items. Magical stuff is well...magical, and as I see it magic is not always100% positive as in D2. What I want to see are some items with drawbacks, like -20% res or stuff like that. Apart from variety it would bring, imagine these char building mysteries we would need to solve-You just find an axe with +350%dmg and 500%dmg to demons, but it sets your res at 1/3(just a quick example). Stuff like that was present in D1, and made some rather interesting possibilities. This could go even further, like cursed items-when worn, there is say 10% chance of misspelling, or maybe even stuff like 0.0001% chance for a ring to constrict an cut your finger off when struck,thus losing a ring slot on char(don't think it would be fun on amus though....possibilities are endless here.
All I want from D3, to be darker, heavier and moore spooky than D2 with maybe minor upgrades. Blizzard, you don't have to invent fire here for it to be a bestseller-just keep the atmosphere!!!

I wonder what other think about it, which way should the D3 "climate" go?

[PoiZonCraZy]

i agree with the magic thing. there should always be drawbacks to items that give you special abilities. this will make the game much more challenging.

i think they should make "light radius" more important in D3 too.

[raishi]

like better ar against monsters in lighted areas...like next to a torch...or reduced ar against monsters hiding in darkness...as if not being able to see them wasn't bad enough...

[Lyrs]

The guys that created the lore, designed the game, and finally coded it all together have mostly left Blizzard. However, given that you already have a cartoony, "fun," softcore game in WoW, i think Blizzard can definitely diversify their market by making the Diablo universe games much more sinister, cut-throat, and eventful via cooler single player storylines and more desperation type level design.

[prion]

we need some decapitations.

[Kiroptus]

Originally Posted by Lyrs

The guys that created the lore, designed the game, and finally coded it all together have mostly left Blizzard. However, given that you already have a cartoony, "fun," softcore game in WoW, i think Blizzard can definitely diversify their market by making the Diablo universe games much more sinister, cut-throat, and eventful via cooler single player storylines and more desperation type level design.

Thank god they left Blizzard, look at how silly HGL turned out to be and I am not talking about the game itself but of the atmosphere. The stupid crazy NPCs and the ridiculous storyline that never takes itself seriously.

And I think that one of the great mysteries that haunt me is to why people think that WoW is kiddy. Warcraft ALWAYS had that cartoony style but the tone of the story and the ambiance was always serious(there are even hanged corpses in the church of tarren mill) unlike the joking travesty that is Hellgate London. Since they(Bill Roper and Co) handled the atmosphere in such a ridiculous way I am really glad they arent working in Diablo 3.

[Lyrs]

HGL failed due to the lack of Focus. They tried to do hack/slash, magic, and FPS all a futuristic world with an ancient history legend factor. I doubt they could lose focus with a brand like Diablo.

[stillman]

PoisonCrazy, they should definitely make some usefullness out of light radius. I would go as far to have small items (jewelry, gems) appear on the ground, and the number increases with light radius. Your chr would not notice them otherwise and so, these items remain invisible without enough light radius. Increased stamina and slower stamina drain seem rather obsolete too. What if stamina was drained on attacks?

I also agree that there should be decremental mods on items. D2 is such a big mess in this regard. Gull dagger has a -5 to damage I think, and Andy's has -30 fire res...but that's where their creativity stoped. Why did they not employ the idea much further? Did they forget?

[Kiroptus]

Originally Posted by Lyrs

HGL failed due to the lack of Focus. They tried to do hack/slash, magic, and FPS all a futuristic world with an ancient history legend factor. I doubt they could lose focus with a brand like Diablo.

It failed because it was just badly designed game and a badly presented concept. There are things in HGL that are just unreal in terms of bad design (Angel Passage? The big shootdown? The robot?) and despictable in terms of presentantion (every NPC being a lunatic that spits nonsense and pop-culture references everytime they say anything, killing any atmosphere that the game could have).

It was just grotesque mistakes after mistakes, Im glad they are away from Diablo3 I had no idea that they were this insane.

[raishi]

Edit: stupid computer...i hate satilite...