So I played D3…
Being human and nostalgic, I had to play Diablo 3. So my god-daughter bought a copy for me and it was game on! And then, my wife woke up at 4am and I had to sleep. I love my wife for keeping me sane at times. :D
But still, I managed to kill of the Skeleton King before I log off. Some random thoughts that buzzed through my mind this morning:
- The user experience was reminisce of past Diablo games. My instincts took over almost immediately upon log in. Hack and slashing with my Barbarian. It was just like a trip down memory lane.
- However it also meant that, the game play hasn’t changed that much. Which was quite a bummer, especially since Blizzard had over 10 years to think about this. I kind of expected that the road to Skeleton King and killing him was more of a challenge but it was really easy.
- Blizzard did improve on what was lacking in previous Diablo games. The inventory and equipping system had a fresh look. I am still puzzled on the skill tree portion but it looks very well balanced. The user interface is cleaner and more logical. The on-screen map was really useful as well.
- The artwork was excellent along with the cinematics. Blizzard choose to retain the same look and feel for the game. But having said that, I felt that there was no significant leap forward compared to Warcraft.
- Installation was a pain, 15GB on the Mac! Why?!
- The Battle.net was a real pain as every single time you play the game, you have to log in. I can understand the rational of it but still…
- Which leads me to my last point: People, stop b*t*hing about the servers. I think they have done an excellent job in launching such a global-scale game. If the server crashes, go to sleep. It will be up again soon.
All in all, last night was a good gaming night. But for a game that is over 10 years in the works, Blizzard has chosen a very traditional gaming style.
