Re: Diablo IV

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

On Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:57:33 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>

On 7/21/2024 10:12 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Arguably I may have worsened the experience by playing
it on a console (honestly, any game that demands I use a gamepad feels
worse to me) but I don't think I'd have had more fun on a PC.

>
Ugh.  I can't imagine.  The game seems really set up for point and click.
>
On the other hand I enjoyed Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and Bard's Tale
on the PS2 which are also ARPGs, so maybe I'm wrong.

>
Yeah, I got a lot of "Dark Alliance" vibes while playing D3 on
console. I don't know how well the gameplay on console compares to the
PC version, but it was... adequate. My problems with the game had more
to do with the game's design (shallow gameworlds, linear quests, too
much combat, unrewarding loot) than the fact I had to use a gamepad.
The same problems, I'm pretty sure, I'd have had if I'd played "Diablo
3" on PC.
>
But I can't necessarily disagree that the gamepad might have made the
game worse.
>
I actually rather enjoyed the "Dark Alliance" games, although I think
that was more because I was so surprised that the games were at all
playable with a gamepad. I expected a totally horrific experience, and
that... the "Dark Alliance" games weren't. They were simplistic, sure,
but fun, in a mindless popcorn-movie way.
>
   [Yay for low expectations!]
>
That said, I enjoyed "Diablo 3" a lot less than those older games.
But, again, that's more because I just don't care for "Diablo's"
design. Those games, it seems to me, are more focussed on their
multplayer experience than the single-player, and this effects
everything in the game: the equipment, the skills, the monster
placement, the pacing. Everything is designed to be balanced in
multiplayer. "Dark Alliance" is primarily a single-player experience,
and this is reflected in how your character steadily becomes more and
more powerful. It's just more rewarding gameplay as far as I'm
concerned.

I never got that from Diablo 1 and 2.
I mostly played single player, once in a blue moon doing modem network
games with a friend.
We'd both start up a network game usually soloing, but if one ran into a
problem that couldn't be dealt with solo, phone for help and the other
would join the game to help.

Not once did I set foot on battle.net until forced to with diablo3.

Which I also played single player, only with a wait to log in, lag and
random disconnects.

This is also why I did NOT buy the upgraded hi-res Diablo2, because you
have to be online on battle.net and I have literally zero interest in
that, single player only and forcing me to be online for single player
with all the issues blizzards online play comes with ... FUCK THAT!

Sell me the upgraded graphics with what the original game came with, the
freedom to not be online when I want to solo play.  Freedom from lag,
freedom from disconnects, freedom from waiting in line just to play.

So they fucked up the play, upgraded the graphics and want $55 for it, I
say again FUCK THAT!

$30 max for the upgraded graphics, with original play.

As it is, they'd have to pay me to take it with that battle.net
albatross hanging from it.

Xocyll