Diablo IV!

[Deck Rickard]

So Blizzcon happened last week and we got not one but TWO Diablo IV trailers, one of which is nine minutes long. It might be a while before this puppy comes out but I'm sure it will be worth the wait. Diablo II is one of my favorite games of all time and I liked Diablo III a lot too (I know some fans loathe it but I thought it was a lot of fun and it expanded the mythology in interesting ways), so I can't want to see what's next. This one clearly looks a lot darker and bleaker than D3.

I hope the wait isn't too long because man, I need this game in my life now. Lilith looks terrifying. Also love how they brought back the Druid class. I hope we also see new versions of the Paladin/Crusader, the Demon Hunter and of course, the Necromancer.

As for the release... it seems to be a long ways off but this article expresses some skepticism over that, since Blizzard specifically mentioned that it would be available for the PS4, and that system is on its way out. Could we see D4 by the end of 2021?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

From the company that hates democracy!!!

 

[Deck Rickard]

From the company that hates democracy!!!

Yeah.... somehow I completely missed Blizzard's Hong Kong incident; a friend of mine brought it to my attention yesterday. I don't follow much of what Blizzard does outside of Diablo so I up until last night I hadn't heard anything about this. Their CEO issued an apology and reduced Chung's suspension and restored his prizemoney, but yeah... they still look like fascist A-holes here.

That said, I know they'll still get my money when D4 comes out because I'm a slave to the Diablo franchise.

 

[Marvolo]

This game is probably 2 years away at least. Diablo 3 was announced in 2008 and released in 2012. Overwatch was announced in 2014 and released in 2016.

And if this is anything like Diablo 3, the first year after its release it will be unbalanced due to some monetary BS. Blizzard hopefully wont repeat the mistake of including another auction house, but theyll definitely drown it in microtransactions and pay to win live service ****. Its also forced online multiplayer which will introduce a host of problems.

It might be a decent live service by 2022. And a great single player experience never.

The cinematic was a 10/10 as always.

 

[Deck Rickard]

What does it say about Blizzard that the CGI actors in the Diablo cinematics deliver better performances than the actual live actors in the Warcraft movie? lol

 

[OutOfBoose]

I love D1-2. Barely played D3 because of Disney aesthetic.

This one looks like return to form to some extent, at least visuals wise. There's still plenty of things I'm unhappy about. FX is incredibly busy, all that flyring dust, ****, blood, sparkles, highlights turn already gray palette into complete mess of undistinguishable objects. D1 and D2 had great visual clarity. Almost at any moment you could see what is what. Here? I barely can see anything. They need to to tone FX WAAAAAAY down at the very least. Rework palette. So we can almost always separate background, from mobs and and from the hero.

Camera is too close to the ground. Feels claustrophobic. D1-D2 didn't have monster clipping. Here they go through each other, as far as I can see.

Jumping data and life bars make the screen too busy. It needs to be at least toggle-able.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

What does it say about Blizzard that the CGI actors in the Diablo cinematics deliver better performances than the actual live actors in the Warcraft movie? lol

I dunno why they didn't just make the Warcraft movie with the cinematic team. I would've paid to have seen that.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I love D1-2. Barely played D3 because of Disney aesthetic.

This one looks like return to form to some extent, at least visuals wise. There's still plenty of things I'm unhappy about. FX is incredibly busy, all that flyring dust, ****, blood, sparkles, highlights turn already gray palette into complete mess of undistinguishable objects. D1 and D2 had great visual clarity. Almost at any moment you could see what is what. Here? I barely can see anything. They need to to tone FX WAAAAAAY down at the very least. Rework palette. So we can almost always separate background, from mobs and and from the hero.

Camera is too close to the ground. Feels claustrophobic. D1-D2 didn't have monster clipping. Here they go through each other, as far as I can see.

Jumping data and life bars make the screen too busy. It needs to be at least toggle-able.

I know people criticized D3 for what you call the Disney aspect, but I don't know... I thought it still had a great look to it. I agree that it was more colorful and perhaps more cartoonish than its predecessors but the graphics overall were so good on the whole that I grew to really love its look. My only problem with it was that it was so damned easy and the patches they released made it even easier. One of the things that made D2 (and I guess D1, though I didn't play that one much) so good was that it was HARD. I remember when I finally faced Diablo, it took me like an hour and a half just to beat him. He killed me like six times and I had to keep returning to his lair to loot my corpse, get all my items back, and Town Portal the hell out of there so I could equip everything before he killed me again. It's frustrating as hell but once you finally beat the game, you feel a true sense of accomplishment. I hope that this game recaptures some of that.

I dunno why they didn't just make the Warcraft movie with the cinematic team. I would've paid to have seen that.

Yeah, it probably would have been better. I get the desire to see these adaptations in live action, but only if it's good. The only video game adaptation that has been legitimately awesome (IMO) is the Castlevania series, and that's animated.

On that note, take this with a grain of salt but a rumor emerged last year that Blizzard and Netflix may be developing a Diablo series. Not sure whether it will be live action, animated, or computer animated (if it even happens at all) but let's hope they learned their lessons from Warcraft and don't **** it up this time.

 

[X Knight]

D3 was my 1st and only experience with Diablo. It has been one of my main go-to games this gen.

so, I'm quite excited for D4. I actually like the darker tone/look of D4. most likely, this will be a cross gen title, so I'd expect next gen versions to be announced in the future. And I'd probably pick it up for PS5 then.

and the cinematic was great. I wouldn't mind a Diablo live action film, if done right. or a Netflix Diablo live action series.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah I think the potential is there for a good live action film or show. The story and characters are great. There’s a unique mythology too that blends fantasy with Judeo-Christian religious beliefs. It just depends on getting the right talent and whether they are willing to take the risk.

 

[X Knight]

even though IV seems to be drawing upon II for class choices and style, I'm hoping the demon hunter from III returns. I'd think they would fit well with the darker tone of IV. And, since Sorceress seems to focus on elemental magic, then Demon Hunters can use shadow magic or something similar.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I love D1-2. Barely played D3 because of Disney aesthetic.

This one looks like return to form to some extent, at least visuals wise. There's still plenty of things I'm unhappy about. FX is incredibly busy, all that flyring dust, ****, blood, sparkles, highlights turn already gray palette into complete mess of undistinguishable objects. D1 and D2 had great visual clarity. Almost at any moment you could see what is what. Here? I barely can see anything. They need to to tone FX WAAAAAAY down at the very least. Rework palette. So we can almost always separate background, from mobs and and from the hero.

Camera is too close to the ground. Feels claustrophobic. D1-D2 didn't have monster clipping. Here they go through each other, as far as I can see.

Jumping data and life bars make the screen too busy. It needs to be at least toggle-able.

I don't know what kind of weird censoring they do over in Russia, but that is not how Disney looks.

It looked like WOW, their own game. Not Disney. Also I am sorry they added color and character to a game series that lacked it.

 

[OutOfBoose]

I don't know what kind of weird censoring they do over in Russia, but that is not how Disney looks.

It looked like WOW, their own game. Not Disney. Also I am sorry they added color and character to a game series that lacked it.

Yes, it looked like WoW. The point is it didn't look like Diablo I loved. They killed the atmosphere of gritty darkness.

Diablo didn't lack color. It was bleak by design. Yes, it's their franchise and they're free to **** it up any way they like. And I'm free to hate their decision and spend money elsewhere.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I don’t know, I think both had a dark aesthetic. 2 was definitely darker than 3 but you also had really bleak and horror-inspired settings like the Ruins of Secheron and Azmodan’s lair. And Whimsyshire and Not the Cow Level were two of the greatest inventions the game ever had.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Blizzard just announced that Diablo II is going to be remastered for consoles and modern PCs!

 

[Gee]

First impressions are out and they're... very positive?

Diablo 4 is the Diablo I've been waiting for
Diablo 4 Hands-On Preview: We Played Act 1 and Hit Level 25 - IGN
Diablo 4 is taking itself very seriously

Leaked release date is June 5 next year.

 

[Iceman]

Trailer and release date!

 

[Iceman]

First impressions are out and they're... very positive?

Diablo 4 is the Diablo I've been waiting for
Diablo 4 Hands-On Preview: We Played Act 1 and Hit Level 25 - IGN
Diablo 4 is taking itself very seriously

Leaked release date is June 5 next year.

Nice!

Very close, looks like it’s 6th June 23.

 

[BlackFox]

Early access beta out today.

Cant wait to try my first Diablo game!

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Man, that Beta was a lot of fun. This game just shot to the top of my list for sure.

 

[BlackFox]

Yeah the wait to get in aside, which did improve as it went, the beta was a lot of fun. Lots of variety in things to do, and builds to create with the skill tree offer lots of different ways to create your character, the graphics are really nice and detailed for this type of game too, the armor on your characters has really nice detail and textures.

The most surprising thing though was the quality of the cut scenes and story which had me hooked from the start. The opening scene was very ghost in the shell.

Looking forward to trying the open beta this weekend to try out other classes and just get back into the world that was fun to explore and playing in co-op is just going to add to it.

There's a few things that need a little work, the dungeons themselves can get a little back tracky at times and legendry loot didnt feel all that different but these are things that might be tweaked and changed in time or added to. Solid first impressions though and cant wait for the full thing.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

One thing that always annoys me is limited character customisation options haha Like, adding character creation for the first time in Diablo was a fantastic evolution... But please give me more than 4 faces haha

 

[Gee]

Being reviewed very well for a live-service game.

Diablo IV Reviews

 

[Iceman]

Being reviewed very well for a live-service game.

Diablo IV Reviews

Yeah, that is good. Even the live service games that are good now, many reviewed poorly when first launched.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Stoked for this. I rarely buy games on day one but I might have to shell out the $70 for this one.