04-13-2012, 06:58 PM
I prebought the game a couple weeks ago and just today got a beta invite in the final round of 300,000 invites they sent out with a month to go. Heavier stress testing, they say. That's fine. I decided to take a look.
This is not D2 reskinned. I can say that flat out, and I consider that a positive. A number of finer details remind me more of D1. Atmosphere, yes, but deeper than that. The combat engine has brought back a more tactical style of gameplay. The dev team has spoken of intending to keep the gameplay very simple but provide tactical depth, and I can feel this intent manifest in the flow of the game. There isn't the same-speed-as-monsters element of D1, nor the tile-based checkerboard map, nor the plethora of doorways and choke points, but the essence of the play is more similar to that than it is to D2's "maintain distance and just stay ahead of them" model.
Obviously, the beta does not contain enough content to make any final judgements. They could still falter in any number of ways. However, I do get the sense that the dev team actually gets it. They grok that D2 was tactically shallow in a way that D1 wasn't, and looked to capture the best of both games. That really is the foundational cornerstone upon which a good sequel must rest.
The game does have a pacing closer to D2, but this is mainly because D1 started as a turn-based game and they could only stretch that so far in to the real time world on the first pass. But pacing is less important than style -- and indeed, in today's market, a D1-paced game would just not sell as much anyway. But there is goodness to be found in the moments of more intense action, when you are chaining kills to increase your massacre bonus. D3 is GOOD when it is moving that fast, and it is also good that it does not always feel compelled to move that fast. So in a larger and deeper sense, the strategic pacing of the game is more akin to D1, even as the tactical pacing is fast like D2.
Nothing about my first play session with D3 reminds me of my list of gripes about D2 and especially LoD. That and I was having good fun. So I have to give them an A on first impression.
Some will be judgmental. Some will not be pleased by this or that detail. Some will set their expectations too high. But I find myself enjoying the game more as a successor to D1 than to D2 -- and that's right on target.
Blizz has won me over enough to look forward to the rest of the game with a hopeful outlook. This could well be the worthy successor we have waited so long to reach.
- Sirian
This is not D2 reskinned. I can say that flat out, and I consider that a positive. A number of finer details remind me more of D1. Atmosphere, yes, but deeper than that. The combat engine has brought back a more tactical style of gameplay. The dev team has spoken of intending to keep the gameplay very simple but provide tactical depth, and I can feel this intent manifest in the flow of the game. There isn't the same-speed-as-monsters element of D1, nor the tile-based checkerboard map, nor the plethora of doorways and choke points, but the essence of the play is more similar to that than it is to D2's "maintain distance and just stay ahead of them" model.
Obviously, the beta does not contain enough content to make any final judgements. They could still falter in any number of ways. However, I do get the sense that the dev team actually gets it. They grok that D2 was tactically shallow in a way that D1 wasn't, and looked to capture the best of both games. That really is the foundational cornerstone upon which a good sequel must rest.
The game does have a pacing closer to D2, but this is mainly because D1 started as a turn-based game and they could only stretch that so far in to the real time world on the first pass. But pacing is less important than style -- and indeed, in today's market, a D1-paced game would just not sell as much anyway. But there is goodness to be found in the moments of more intense action, when you are chaining kills to increase your massacre bonus. D3 is GOOD when it is moving that fast, and it is also good that it does not always feel compelled to move that fast. So in a larger and deeper sense, the strategic pacing of the game is more akin to D1, even as the tactical pacing is fast like D2.
Nothing about my first play session with D3 reminds me of my list of gripes about D2 and especially LoD. That and I was having good fun. So I have to give them an A on first impression.
Some will be judgmental. Some will not be pleased by this or that detail. Some will set their expectations too high. But I find myself enjoying the game more as a successor to D1 than to D2 -- and that's right on target.
Blizz has won me over enough to look forward to the rest of the game with a hopeful outlook. This could well be the worthy successor we have waited so long to reach.
- Sirian