At a glance though, it's hard to see what makes the game fun. It's a point and click hack and slasher game with really not that much complexity to gameplay and only one point of view and two zoom modes. You point the mouse and left click an area, your character moves there. If a monster happens to be where you clicked, you bash it on the head. Or zap/shoot it. There are also so few abilities - seven including the health potion - that it is entirely possible to just play with just the mouse, leaving your other hand free to do other things...like....eating chips.
The Diablo franchise has also always been a game of grinds. You are encouraged to keep fighting through the same areas over and over to improve your character. Can't beat the next boss in the next area? Kill the one you just beat over and over and hope for some better gear to drop. The process will get you enough gear or levels so that the next stage will be easier and you can move on. Yes, many games tend to fail because of how grindy it is, but Diablo seems to be a game that thrives on it. I really hate grinds in games, but I just ended my most recent farming run so I can type up this post.
What makes the Diablo grind so tolerable is a combination of small things. For starters, there are monsters to fight almost everywhere. In a given map, you can count on a group of them waiting just around the next corner. There will always be the threat of your character dying if you are not careful as long as you play through an appropriately challenging area.
The randomness in the game also keeps everything fresh. Maps have some parts that are randomly generated and monsters are also randomly placed in there. That room of that dungeon you just farmed may no longer be there and may suddenly contain elite monsters hell bent to farm you for loot. Yes, this is also probably one of the more frustrating things in the game. The random monster generator can give you four that each shoots lasers, leaves fire trails, spits fire, and shields itself and there's nothing you can do but scream and whine while you reload your game.
But with the randomness comes the desire to try to beat whatever the game throws at you and the ability system of Diablo 3 allows you to costumize how you play. As I mentioned earlier, there are only 7 ability buttons in the game, one of which is reserved for the health potion, but there are a LOT of abilities for each character. And each ability comes with several runes that will add some effect or change how that ability works. By the time you hit level 60, you will have several options on how to play the game. Experimenting with builds and gear sets is also part of what makes the grind fun because now you are benchmarking yourself. Does the build work or feel better than the last one? No? Then switch up a few things to see if you can make it work.
Co-op games also make the grind bearable by being able to share the misery with others. People in your friends list can join your games at any time and it makes the encounters have they difficulty increased appropriately. Yes, this means that people will need to work together to beat some fights. As expected, joining a public game with strangers is far less satisfying than working with friends that have access to voice communications like Ventrilo or Skype or cans tied with really long string.
The last thing that makes the grind fun is the game's simplicity. Every action you do has some reaction. Be it moving from one place to another or hitting a monster so hard, pieces start flying off screen. There is that instant gratification factor in the game of just signing on and beating on monsters or finishing quests that, ironically, may make you forget the time of day. Even more ironically, Diablo may not be a game for you if you only have an hour or so of play time.
The auction house adds yet another level of instant gratification where you can help alleviate the game's random loot system. With gold relatively easy to make, and millions of people in the game, its not too difficult to find some bargains. Whether that will be true when the Real Money Auction House hits, that will be left to be seen.
One of the biggest flaws of the game is partly one of it's strengths in that Diablo 3 is a purely online game. If you do not have a BattleNet account, you cannot play. If the BattleNet servers go down, you cannot play. There's no offline mode for those who don't really care too much about the online aspects of the game. This could not have been more apparent than launch day where literally millions of people were trying to log on at the same time. And no, I waited it out and everything has been working well since then. But I would have love to have some kind of way I can play offline even if it means that gear and characters don't carry over.
With all that said, Diablo 3 is still not a game for everybody. As enjoyable as it is, the game is still a grind and not many really care for that. The difficulty levels can also discourage some players. Normal and Nightmare modes can be done through some brute force, but Hell and Inferno mode are deadly. I've personally hit a wall with Inferno mode and my time has been spent trying to find a way I can beat encounters. It is a wall that has had me thinking that perhaps the game has beaten me. Maybe I just need a few more hours to work out my build. Or a few days.
Time for more Diablo 3 to find out then.
Highlights
- The graphics are simply amazing! There is quite a lot of detail in the game world and it's a shame that the isometric view zoom level does not do it too much justice.
- Whimsyville. Google or Bing it. I suppose Yahoo works too.
- Co-op. It really is the best way to play.
- Auction house has revealed me to be a closet bargain shopper. Nothing like digging through the dollar box to find a good deal on an armour set.
- Inferno mode makes me want to kick a kitten. But it is very, VERY satisfying when progress is being made. I meant Inferno mode and not kicking kittens.
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