Diablo 3

[steveflam]

So, Blizzard is releasing it in May! I am so excited I pre-ordered it even! Any of you looking forward to it?

[High Priest Mikhal]

Personally, no. I mean I love the previous Diablo games and xpacs, but this blurb I read about how you can buy--using real money--experience levels has me wondering. Throw in this promotion where, if you agree to maintain a subscription to WoW for a full year, you get automatic beta access to Mists of Pandaria, Diablo 3 free, and an in-game (WoW) mount called Tyrael's Charger and I have to ask what the mad grab for cash is about? Have they overextended themselves financially? If so, what does that mean for D3? Are they releasing it prematurely or have they taken the time to debug it as much as possible? I'll wait for the reviews to come out.

[HuManBing]

To be fair, the Faustian pact of "We withhold content unless you pay us money" has become a sad reality for a lot of games these days - especially the big-publisher ones like EA.

Diablo 3 might do this but it's hardly alone. Not only are plenty of other games doing it, but most annoyingly of all, gamers are letting them get away with it by coughing up to pay extra for this unlockable content.

[Zilfer]

^True though I really don't think that's going to be changing in the near future. Kinda sad because I think it ruins the quality of some games when the developers plan to do that. Irritates me, to no end. Shouldn't they care about selling a complete game, so the customer is happy? Players>money please! xD

[High Priest Mikhal]

To be fair, the Faustian pact of "We withhold content unless you pay us money" has become a sad reality for a lot of games these days - especially the big-publisher ones like EA.

Ugh, don't remind me about them. They're the ones that pushed Star Wars: The Old Republic out before it was finalized, leaving a game that is still very raw. That isn't even the first time they've pulled such a stunt. They're infamous for it, actually. They get the money for being the publisher and the developer is left holding the bag. The same can be said of book, movie, and really every other art medium publisher. Most don't care if it's good or bad, just that it makes them money.

One philosophy I've followed in the past, and that I really should follow again, is to wait for a game to be out for a few months before buying. That way I could read the reviews and decide if I wanted to buy or not, and for computer games it was also time for patches to be released for the more heinous bugs. That last part is especially true for online games like SC2 and D3, which while not true MMOs are still tied to an online network and subject to said network's problems.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

I'm sorry to say that I'm off the Diablo carousel.

Fantasy games have been legion but Diablo was always set apart by its brutal horror themes.
I will never forget the time that I saw the Diablo teaser video as an extra on the Warcraft II CD. I remember the sound of creaking shutters, the wind whistling though empty homes, and the lonely call of the crow. Then came the dizzying flight through stone labyrinths, past hideous monsters and towards deathless beasts that should not be. After legions of monstrosities, came silence... rent by the hideous scream of Diablo himself!

The teaser promised the visceral thrill of a journey into darkness and the game delivered in spades. The world of Diablo was a dark and brutal grind that took me from the shadows of a bloodstained church to the blinding glare of the fires of hell. Options were few and far between; the best advances were measured in the booty and spells that I collected as I hacked my way into the yawning abyss beneath the tortured Earth. I thrilled to wander shadowed galleries in search of chests and to fire arrows through grates at deathless skeletons. I can never forget the terror I felt when I came face to face with the Buchure and heard him cry “Fresh meat!”. There was a real sense of accomplishment when I finally squared off against the elder fiend Diablo and tore his soul stone from the body of the prince. To this day, I still don’t know why the Wanderer jabbed the soul stone into his own head.

Diablo II was a great advance technologically, but a step in the wrong direction stylistically. The world of Diablo felt bigger, but brighter too. It was no longer a claustrophobic dungeon that pressed upon you like a prison. In many ways it was an improvement, and yet, something was lost. The class progression suggested wide options for advancement, though I found that for most classes there was one true progression path and all other options were wasteful.
The battle with Duriel, the slug fiend was everything for which I could hope. It was a terrifying struggle for survival while trapped against an immortal beast half-gastropod, half- speeding freight train. The final battle with Diablo too was epic. Best of all was the thunderous terror of the stampeding spawn of the dreaded Cow King. Still, those visceral thrills were fewer and the sense of immediate danger diminished.

[HuManBing]

One philosophy I've followed in the past, and that I really should follow again, is to wait for a game to be out for a few months before buying. That way I could read the reviews and decide if I wanted to buy or not, and for computer games it was also time for patches to be released for the more heinous bugs.

This is a very solid philosophy, and it's served me well in years past. I often wait a year or two before I play a game for the same reason. The passage of time means they've had a chance to iron out bugs, review the game's merits, and even bring the price down a notch or two. Even then, there's a risk I might end up buying a game I don't like, but the chance is lower and either way I'm out of pocket less.

The last few games I've played have been a mixed bag, but they're all old games. The amount of money you have to pay in order to afford the latest games and the latest PC rig to play them really don't make much economic sense for my budget.

[Zilfer]

It's a good idea but I don't think I can hold myself to that for games i like. I mean even if i don't like it on a grand scale I do usually enjoy playing it regardless of whether I don't like certain aspects of a game.

[High Priest Mikhal]

The last few games I've played have been a mixed bag, but they're all old games. The amount of money you have to pay in order to afford the latest games and the latest PC rig to play them really don't make much economic sense for my budget.

Tell me about it. A low-end gaming rig can run $1,000+, with the high-end rigs costing $3-4,000. The "newest" game I'm playing right now is Skyrim, and even then I'm going back to replay a lot of older games (TES3 and 4, Civ IV, WC3, SC: BW, KotOR 1 & 2, even the XCOM trilogy on Steam). And knowing how modern game developers work these days it's easier to just wait and not deal with the inevitable parade of patches until it looks like they've gotten things worked out. That's really my sentiment for Diablo 3: wait until it's been patched up enough to play. And knowing Blizzard, that may well be a year or more.

[Zilfer]

KOTOR 1 + 2. If this place had a karma system i'd totally +1 you. xD

[Le Noir Faineant]

I won't play that one either.

While I am sure it will be awesome, I, generally, disagree with this DLC culture.
Like, holy Hextor, Mass Effect 3, or, Castlevania, and will not buy new games that seem to rely on that extensively.

At the same time, there's so much awesome older stuff out there that I haven't really touched yet.

Arx Fatalis being a shining example, FYI, or, Deadly Premonition, which in my humble opinion is the single best horror game ever done.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Hurray for old games! I'm currently playing Prince of Persia (the 2008 one? nope, The Two Thrones!) and Final Fantasy (XIII? nope, IX!)

[Zilfer]

The Two Thrones I liked, but of course it's the only one I ever played. I liked having to try and figure out how to kill most of the enemies quickly and efficiently.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Panzer Dragoon Orta this evening, like a boss!

[High Priest Mikhal]

Hurray for old games! I'm currently playing Prince of Persia (the 2008 one? nope, The Two Thrones!) and Final Fantasy (XIII? nope, IX!)

I thought FF XIII was pretty good (better than XIII-2), and yeah. IX was damn fun. This is why I retain a subscription to GOG (Good Old Games) and Steam. I've also started playing some old games I need DosBox for (Eye of the Beholder Trilogy, QFG 1-4 + 5, Strahd's Possession and Stone Prophet, Dreamweb, even the original System Shock). Hell, I got some older Sega games (CD, Saturn, and Dreamcast) out and played them on emulators. You just can't quite beat classics like Carrier and Illbleed for true horror.