Apeforce

Diablo has launched the official Diablo 3 site.

First impressions: We’ve seen this *type* of game before, most notably Neverwinter Nights, but this looks to have significant improvement in these areas:

1. Graphics - Blizzard is committed to high-quality detailed art. This applies to character models, equipment, environments. Their cinematics are unmatched in my opinion. This game will be totally 3d (D2 is a creative blend of sprites, but 2d nonetheless). The weapons show their effects (lightning, fire, etc) and the environmental destruction looks good too (at least from the demo vid).

2. Interface - the gameplay demo mentions easier switching between skills, using the tab button and probably hotkeys as well, and the narrarator hinted at combos, which have not existed in the Diablo universe before.

3. Battle.net - I don’t know if online play will remain free like it is for D2 or if they will attempt to create more revenue like with World of Warcraft, but they mentioned that it will have new features (hopefully an easier buddy/friend system is among them). I’ve never played NWN multiplayer, but I have a feeling this will be superior due to the combat gameplay. I doubt, however, that it will be as fulfilling as questing in NWN, because I don’t know if D3 will have a system to create user-mods. Online D2 playing consists mainly of “grinding” which is fun, but the storyline lacks in those instances, but that’s what happens in an MMORPG, right?

So far they’ve only released 2 of the 5 character classes: Barbarian (male/female) and Witch Doctor (male/female). That’s right, all classes will have male/female versions. The witch doctor appears to be the D2 necromancer re-imagined (as far as gameplay goes), but graphically like the Troll Shaman from Warcraft 3. The Necromancer (or lovingly ‘negromaster’) is my favorite character in D2, so it slurps that he won’t be making the transition (not sure I can dig this witch doctor, but the ‘locust swarm’ ability looks pretty cool). I’m betting that the other character classes will be a Ranger/Beastmaster type, and of course a Wizard/Sorcerer/Conjurer type, and…well…I dunno. Ninja/Assassin/Paladin/Samurai?

Either way I think this will be a really good game. Everything (so far) that Blizz spits out has been at least decent (esp after patches) that I’ve tried, and always has high production values. Of course there will be at least one expansion pack, probably more (to create more revenue), so I’m not worried about the initial limitations of the character classes/abilities.

It’s still early in the dev cycle, and there’s a lot more to be revealed as time goes on. But I have to admit - I have my hopes up!