Diablo III announced

[G3ck0]

The only reason I will probably pick this up is because Blizzards games run on Macs. If my Mac will run it that is.

[Cerebral]

I'm not ashamed to say I fist-pumped. Looks amazing, will play.
_________________

My play-asia affiliate link (I may as well be honest about this)

[Infested Jibbs]

Am i still the only one that is feeling a lil uneasy abit the visuals.I know, i always put a negative slant on good news(hey free money......geez its heavy though.....and etc) but its just such a big departure from the series roots.

EDIT-to get the point across compare these two shots.Both outside, wilderness shots.I wont post the pics, as they'll hella stretch so i'll just give the links.

d2
http://r-1.ch/Screenshot032.jpg

d3
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/screenshots.xml

I mean, look at the d3 shots(the first 4).The sun is a shinin', nice healthy green foliage with a touch of autumn coming through, neon colours adorning spells and attack that even las vegas would be envious of, crystal blue waters lapping the sand(screen 2) and a FREAKIN RAINBOW(screen2).A RAINBOW IN DIABLO!

D2's settings and landscapes seemed altogether real, but with a wave of evil over the top.Everything seemed dark, the flora seemed lifeless and dull, rain/hail was common.I mean, d2 was downright creepy at times in the dungeons whereas the dungeon shown in the clip seemed overly bright and 'cartoon' scary;like a haunted ride at a fair.

I guess that's progress.And yeah, i know, ripping it a new one les then 24hrs after it's announcement is rough but i am excited, just a bit nervous too.I wasn't so concerned when warcrafts apparent artistic flair was shining through in sc2, it's a space rts, i won't whine over a ships lasers and protoss energies glowing all sorts of garish colors but this is diablo, cmon.
_________________

[werd123]

I'm the complete opposite of everyone else, I've now always stayed on PC while I've occasionaly dabbled in Consoles, they turn me off. I've always been ready for Diablo III.
_________________
Games DVD

[Benc82]

Watched the 20min gameplay vid. Looks great.

PS I hate the Blizzard downloader.
_________________
XBL/PSN/Steam: BenC82

[Benza]

[Infested Jibbs]

That shot is different.Yes, it's colourful as are alot of the spells in d2-but it is NOT neon.There is a difference, the neon effects in d3 are so bright they actually light up the surrounding environment making the spell/attack look 10x brighter then it were if there was no real time lighting.On that note, by the looks of things, it seems they have scrapped the light/sight radius system that used to surround the player.Yet another creepy gameplay mechanic (potentially running headlong into a group of enemies that you didnt know were there) has gone out the window.

Your still missing the point as well when you mention the desert and the jungle.The desert, even in the daytime, didn't look 'bright' in d2, it didn't have the excessive bloom that appears in the outside shots of d3.The jungle in d2 (imo) still looked half dead;there were no budding flowers, the rivers ran a murky brown colour and it just looked....bleh.Bad, creepy, what have you.

Btw, the argument about d2 being at night and rainy is moot as the difference between night and day in d2 in act 1 was arguable.Compare THIS to the grab i posted earlier and you'll see it makes lil difference.

That was as bright as it got in a wilderness setting in d2, compared to the saturday arvo at the local park feel i get when looking at d3's daytime outdoor shots.
_________________

[EvilHayama]

[ittekimasu]

They would've probably just turned off the FOW for the demo.

I'm looking forward to this, but I hope it doesn't come out nearl SC2 because I'm going to need alot of alone time with that game *takes box of tissues, exits room*
_________________

[Itachi]

Jibbs i know you have your doubts but i think you need to give blizzard some credit on there side. They really have made some fantastic games:

Diablo 1,2,LOD, Star Craft, Warcraft 1,2,3 and WOW

I see where your coming from thoe i really do hehe ^^ I just think we need to have a little faith. I for one as i have said many times can not wait!!!!

EDIT: I am bias thoe because i remember playing many many hours of Diablo 2 and wishing every rpg had an item system like that one.
_________________

[ObsoletE]

_________________


My Play-Asia Affiliate Link.

[Frozencry]

Thing is I'm actually taking a huge liking to Diablo III's art design and colour palette. When I used to play WoW, when you go to gloomy places such as the Undead capital (can't remember the name..sigh), it was all really dark and creepy, but still managed to retain an enormous amount of colours.

Considering how brilliant Blizzard's track record is on developing games, I really don't think they'll screw it up at all.
_________________

[Infested Jibbs]

Yeah, that's what we all thought about rare though.I'm pretty much amazed no one else is skeptical about the new direction.I can see your point about how warcraft was creepy.....but like i said before, it's cartoon creepy.

Cast your mind back to diablo 1, your about 3 floors down in the church on the hunt for 'the butcher'.You open a door and enter a room......covered, covered in blood....torso's and heads and body parts impaled on poles.....gizzards all over the floor.And then the butcher emerges, blood soaked apron and all and snarled 'mm....fresh meat'.Now i was about 10 at the time and that scared the freakin bejesus out of me, that was some downright old skool horror right there.This wasn't a excerpt out of duckula or some soft horror, this was the real deal.

Even though i've seen such a small amount of d3(ive seen the movie btw), i just don't see that sort of horror coming through in the games current iteration.I see maybe some corpses resembling the corpses from the meatwagon in warcraft 3, sure.......but that's not scary.

In d1 especially, and d2, there were moments where i had to psych myself up to proceed with no potions and 1/4 hp, knowing full well i'd come upon some downright twisted demons or another room full of mutilated bodies(the harem in d2 springs to mind).I just don't see it materialising in d3.

Read that other post one more time.........the bolded part.A rainbow.In diablo.Nuff' said.

EDIT-

^I mean LOOK at that shit!Just look at it.10 yrs old, walk into a room BAM, scarred for life!This was around the time super mario bros was king, i take a break from playing yoshi's island and this is what i'm greeted with in diablo, that is some sick, sick shit.D2 had a few scenes similiar to the above, but i didn't even see a wiff of anything in d3 that resembled that, and even if i did, the cartoony art style they've gone with would have muted the horror anyways.
_________________

[Fly]

[Frozencry]

Jibbs: Plussed for the memories of The Butcher. That guy was one of my biggest fears in Diablo 1.

I definitely see your point, but I don't know..I'm just not sceptical about it. I'm playing through Diablo II at the moment and the game isn't really creepy, but just downright intense. Hordes of monsters attack you from all sides and it's thrilling when you're a pumped up Paladin clobbering through them. The first Diablo was creepier, but I was also much younger at the time.

We'll see as the game progresses in development I guess, as really it's too early to say anything, as generally with the demonstrations they show it's always fixed in some form.

And hey, I still like Rare!
_________________

[Itachi]

I don't think i have said this but the one thing that made me love the 19 min game play was seeing the bodies go flying off the bridge in that cave area. That was just amazing!! Also my one love of Diablo 2 and soon to be Diablo 3 was the item system seriously it pisses on every single rpg out there. I love the sets of Items like 1/5 and the rare items and the very very rare Golden items . Brings back memories i tell ya.

Jibbs i see your point of view about the style but seriously look at blizzards track record. I don't know i am just going to find it very hard to wait for this game.
_________________

[ObsoletE]

[Benza]

Ya know I've done Kara heaps and I've never seen that room.
_________________

[LeonJ]

I think you're jumping the gun Jibbs. Diablo is a horror game. I'm sure deep down in the murks of hell there will be rooms full of chopped up bodies and man placed onto spikes. Plus Blizzard tend not to give too much away for their games either, let alone the best bits one of the most anticipated games in a long time.

If you are going to trust any developer on the planet, trust Blizzard. They only make quality games.
_________________
Shin J Leon.

XBL - LeonJ
PSN - LeonJ

[ObsoletE]

[teknohead]

I am a huge Diablo 2 fan and have sunk hundreds of hours into that game. I also played WoW for a while despite the fact that I fucking HATE HATE HATE the graphics in it.

It's a big kick in the teeth for me that Diablo 3 is taking on the whole cartoon shit style that wow has because it is very much not to my taste. D2 had a very gritty depressing style to it that fit the game well, D3 looks a bit colorful for me so far.

[Infested Jibbs]

^At least someone else see's it.With everyone ignoring the obvious huge shift in graphical style i'd swear i was delving into the halls of the blind yet again...


I can see what you see not.

Vision milky, then eyes rot.

Then you see what cannot be,

A rainbow shimmering in Diablo 3

Out of the darkness and out of their mind

Blizzard execs have commited a crime,

Fog of war, horror themes, gore and sin

Have been culled to reuse a pseudo warcraft 3 en-gine,

Neon colours, sunshine and bubbling brooks

Are the order of the day or so it looks

Gone is the sense of danger exploring the dank,

As Blizzard laughs all the way to the bank
_________________

[Jellyfish]

Having watched the gameplay trailer at work today, all I can say is that it looks like a done up Baldar's Gate 2 with whacky over the top character models but without the D&D goodness.

Must be nice to earn $8.8 billion? a year and just pump out uninnovative cash-ins.

[Benza]

How does the art style differ? I know you've gone on about it being cartoony and bright and shit. But the lighting, the colours etc are all coming from a change of place in the game not an actual shift in the art style.
The realistic character proportions, dull muted colour scheme, intricately detailed backgrounds, Gothic architecture, copious amounts of blood. All pretty diablo like.
Yeah there is no horrifying walking into a room full of corpses and shit, but honestly would it be very horrifying if they revealed it in the very first trailer of the game?

The art style looks basically the same only cleaner, which probably has a lot to do with it being rendered in 3D instead of crappy old sprites full of pixelation.

[EvilHayama]

Thanks Jibbs for your Diablo 3 Emo Theme! I don't really see the art style problems, the characters don't have the crazy anatomy of WoW, but they have gone more generic fantasy this time. Looking back at D2 the characters look pretty generic and wonky ingame anyway, which was pretty much the norm for the time.
_________________
Playing: 30sec Hero, Scribblenauts, Dungeon Crawl