One of DIII's strong points is the atmosphere. The game manages to recapture much of the feel of the original game, which, I argue, was to some degree lost in Diablo II. One of the aspects of the original Diablo that appealed to me was the overall ambiance. Most of Diablo takes place underground in dungeon or otherwordly environments, places of darkness, mystery and deep shadows. Between the visuals and the sound effects, Diablo created a foreboding atmosphere that made players feel that doom could be waiting around any crumbling wall or through any broken archway.
The only area in Diablo II where I can remember having that same sense of atmosphere was in the tombs beneath the desert. So much of Diablo II took place above ground and just didn't have the same feel to it. As much as I enjoyed Diablo II, it didn't hold the same magic for me as the original.
I was happy to see some semblance of that ambiance back in DIII. The area around New Tristram and Old Tristram is dark, misty and full of menace. You can hear the moaning of zombies and the cries of wretched mothers and bird calls as you make your way along the winding paths, through fields and over bridges.
The cellars and dungeons below ground are also well realized and full of atmosphere. Everything from the lighting to the sounds and sense of depth combine for a strong feeling of immersion. The sense of depth is something one could easily overlook because it feels so natural in the dungeon environments. You climb up and down stairs; from balconies you can see areas below where zombies, skeletons or other denizens await—the zombies more often than not feasting on the corpse of a hapless villager.
And that's another aspect that adds to the sense of horror: You actually see the zombies crowded 'round a body, devouring it. In dungeons you pass walls where body parts dangle from chains like sides of beef. Remember the Butcher's room in the original Diablo? Yes, it's very much like that.
The first time I met the Butcher in Diablo, I was actually a little shocked at how graphically that scene was depicted. I don't think I'd seen anything like that in a computer game before. Granted, by modern standards it would seem pretty tame, but it left an impression on me.
DIII has done a good job of delivering on that same sense of horror.
The graphics are also impressive—colorful, detailed, well rendered. The blending of colors in some areas has the effect of watercolor paintings come to life. The play of light and shadow highlights the strong visual presentation. Ironically, it actually reminds me of a less cartoonish Torchlight. I also cannot help but be reminded to some degree of Dungeon Siege III. And that's not a bad thing.
The gameplay is standard action-RPG fare with primary and secondary attacks mapped to the left and right mouse buttons. Using one ability accumulates spirit, which can be spent to use the other ability. Defensive abilities are mapped to number keys and perform actions such as briefly stunning enemies surrounding the character or healing the character and party members. Slicing, firing and kicking your way through mobs in DIII feels comfortably familiar.
In addition to the spoken dialogue, the audio lore updates, journal and diary readings have been a pleasant surprise. I'm a sucker for anything that enhances the dramatic presentation of the story or the immersion. A nice touch for these is that you can continue to run around killing monsters and collecting loot while the audio plays. So when you click on a journal you've found in a study, you're not stuck watching the text scroll or frozen in place while the audio plays. You are free to roam around and do whatever you want while you listen. In this case it's don't stay awhile, just listen.
All of these factors combine for an enjoyable gaming experience, but I can't help being a little grumpy about the skill system. It seems like all of the new action RPGs—and even MMOs—have decided to take the attribute point distribution out of the equation. Skill systems are more streamlined and simplified, maybe even—dare I say it—oversimplified. Admittedly, I may be entrenched in a decidedly old-school mindset when it comes to RPG character development, but I honestly like having control over where my points go. And I would like to be able to select from a pool of skills rather than have them dictated to me. I align this to some degree with allocating skill points and choosing feats in D&D.
Part of making a character your own is having some freedom to do whatever you want with your skills and attributes. Yes, this opens the door for someone "gimping" a character, but it lends itself to creating something that is uniquely yours. The original Diablo, for example, placed no restrictions on what spells or abilities your character could use as long as the primary attribute was high enough to learn and use it. I had a friend who played a mage in Diablo. Instead of doing what you'd naturally expect someone to do with a magic-using character, he did nearly the opposite. Since he was always going to have a nice amount of mana for casting spells, he invested points in strength so he could wield swords and wear heavy armor. It was kind of an odd choice, but it worked. He relied heavily on items that boosted strength to do it, but he had mage running around in full plate who could also blast enemies with frost nova and smack them with swords.
So the character customization could be better. Yes, it's nice to be able to play a class as either gender instead of the classes being locked to a specific one, and, yes, it's nice to see the character appearance change with the items equipped and to be able to dye clothing to different colors. I can understand what this effectively does for the game. It lends more focus to the quests and the gameplay rather than the number crunching. But it's not quite the same as being able to take your character development off the beaten path if you wanted to—whether ill advised or not. The choice should be the player's.
I still have a lot of gaming ahead of me in DIII, so a final verdict will be long in coming. In the meantime, I'm impressed with a lot the game has to offer and hope it can continue to be engaging and immersive.
The gameplay is standard action-RPG fare with primary and secondary attacks mapped to the left and right mouse buttons. Using one ability accumulates spirit, which can be spent to use the other ability. Defensive abilities are mapped to number keys and perform actions such as briefly stunning enemies surrounding the character or healing the character and party members. Slicing, firing and kicking your way through mobs in DIII feels comfortably familiar.
In addition to the spoken dialogue, the audio lore updates, journal and diary readings have been a pleasant surprise. I'm a sucker for anything that enhances the dramatic presentation of the story or the immersion. A nice touch for these is that you can continue to run around killing monsters and collecting loot while the audio plays. So when you click on a journal you've found in a study, you're not stuck watching the text scroll or frozen in place while the audio plays. You are free to roam around and do whatever you want while you listen. In this case it's don't stay awhile, just listen.
All of these factors combine for an enjoyable gaming experience, but I can't help being a little grumpy about the skill system. It seems like all of the new action RPGs—and even MMOs—have decided to take the attribute point distribution out of the equation. Skill systems are more streamlined and simplified, maybe even—dare I say it—oversimplified. Admittedly, I may be entrenched in a decidedly old-school mindset when it comes to RPG character development, but I honestly like having control over where my points go. And I would like to be able to select from a pool of skills rather than have them dictated to me. I align this to some degree with allocating skill points and choosing feats in D&D.
Part of making a character your own is having some freedom to do whatever you want with your skills and attributes. Yes, this opens the door for someone "gimping" a character, but it lends itself to creating something that is uniquely yours. The original Diablo, for example, placed no restrictions on what spells or abilities your character could use as long as the primary attribute was high enough to learn and use it. I had a friend who played a mage in Diablo. Instead of doing what you'd naturally expect someone to do with a magic-using character, he did nearly the opposite. Since he was always going to have a nice amount of mana for casting spells, he invested points in strength so he could wield swords and wear heavy armor. It was kind of an odd choice, but it worked. He relied heavily on items that boosted strength to do it, but he had mage running around in full plate who could also blast enemies with frost nova and smack them with swords.
So the character customization could be better. Yes, it's nice to be able to play a class as either gender instead of the classes being locked to a specific one, and, yes, it's nice to see the character appearance change with the items equipped and to be able to dye clothing to different colors. I can understand what this effectively does for the game. It lends more focus to the quests and the gameplay rather than the number crunching. But it's not quite the same as being able to take your character development off the beaten path if you wanted to—whether ill advised or not. The choice should be the player's.
I still have a lot of gaming ahead of me in DIII, so a final verdict will be long in coming. In the meantime, I'm impressed with a lot the game has to offer and hope it can continue to be engaging and immersive.
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