Diablo III Under Fire From Fans

[robwright]

Article by Devin Connors

After eight years of anticipation, Diablo III was uneviled by Blizzard at its Worldwide Invitational event last weekend in Paris. But some fans are not happy with how the game looks so far and are taking action.

http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2008/07/02/diablo3_petition/

 

[stemnin]

As much as I loved D2, I don't ever want to go back to that light radius crap. The near constant rain (we get enough rain outside here), and Tetris inventory. Good riddens.

Besides, we've only seen a small part of what is probably Act 1 (which they said was playable).

Those ppl have probably been playing D2 since 2000.. they've all gone mad! Diablofans is a scary site..

 

[robwright]

I'm not going to make a judgment either way just yet, because 1) we really haven't seen enough of Diablo III to make a proper call, and 2) I think some folks are suffering from nostalgia and have idealized Diablo/Diablo II. Just my opinion.

Anyway, realistic environments/dark lighting/shadows etc. aren't always the best way to go. Look at Grand Theft Auto IV. You can barely tell what's going on in that game at default display settings. So I'm just sayin'....

 

[nachowarrior]

haha, scary site indeed! Anyway, I don't really see how the lighting is a problem.... they can just turn their gamma down. These people need to get a monitors with a good contrast ratio and play some titan quest.. i imagine the lighting will be somewhat similar in caves and what not, and it's pretty decent for me... the demo video they released appears to be far from finished as far as the lighting goes, and there's already people complaining about it. and THAT is why you never realease anything before the game is almost finished... don't give the complainers time to really think about stuff to complain about.... then they've already bought the game.

If i were blizzard i would just think to myself "ok, spend a little more time on some lighting effects before launch. and the petition, that's just a garunteed 15k people that will buy the full version of the game no matter what crap we put out." hahaha.

note: the lighting in the demo video looks 100% better on a high contrast monitor compared to low contrast monitor, i watched it on both... I really do think the lighting effects could use some brushing, but I don't see the brightness as an issue, just turn the gamma down.

 

[nachowarrior]

agreed, the game is far from finished. I've heard estimates as far out as 2 years... but I don't know if blizzard would release a game play video 2 years before completion? You've been around the block Rob, you have any guestimates to when this might hit shelves? My personal guess is that they'll be aiming for holiday season of one or another, but who knows.

 

[robwright]

agreed, the game is far from finished. I've heard estimates as far out as 2 years... but I don't know if blizzard would release a game play video 2 years before completion? You've been around the block Rob, you have any guestimates to when this might hit shelves? My personal guess is that they'll be aiming for holiday season of one or another, but who knows.

Well, games like Diablo III are 5-6 year projects in my mind. And Blizzard will use all of that dev cycle time, believe me. So if the game has already been in the works for 3 years, then that means there's probably another two years minimum to go. We're looking at 2010, therefore. I think 2009 is a pipe dream frankly. Look at it this way: StarCraft II was announced what, a year ago? And we still don't have a release date. And if it comes out this year, it will be late 2008. So I think early-mid 2010 is probably a safe bet.

 

[fastanglx]

Here's something that hasn't been brought up yet. Anyone notice how it looks like Titan's Quest? I would even go so far as to say it could be TQ2.

Wonder if some ex Iron Lore employees ended up on Blizzards doorstep?

 

[robwright]

Here's something that hasn't been brought up yet. Anyone notice how it looks like Titan's Quest? I would even go so far as to say it could be TQ2.

Wonder if some ex Iron Lore employees ended up on Blizzards doorstep?

Interesting theory, but I'm not sure the timing works out. Diablo III has been in production for three years already, and Iron Lore went out of business a few months back. So even if Blizzard did pick up some of TQ design team, I'm not sure they'd have much time to contribute.

 

[bloodlust]

I think its a little too early to judge D3. Artistically I think its fine although it does have a slight warcraft feel to it, from what I've seen so far the action has improved and the new monsters look awesome especially the collossal sized ones. Kinda like Dungeon Siege 2.
Im sure the developers will do whats best for the fans, after all its not like they are going to rush it based on past experience.

 

[dirtmountain]

It's been so many years, but that comment on light radius reminded me of the "gotdamitsdark" helm lol

 

[gmatos78]

HAHAHA I can't believe this! I can;t believe Blizzard fanbois! Already criticizing a game that was just revealed? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! A game that will not be finished, let alone released for 1 or 2 years at the very least? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I play World of Warcraft and I am a very big Blizzard fan but come on people! There are more important things to do in life than judge a game based on 1 damn introductory level!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

 

[Oh Snap]

The rest of their screenshots are pretty lame and consist of messing with the levels and saturation, and increasing the intensity in the "light radius" of the character. This isn't Fallout 3 we're talking about. Blizzard isn't Bethesda. They're not going to **** up an awesome game.

 

[nachowarrior]

two years... uhg. I guess it does make sense though from a business standpoint. starcraft 2 first, for money 2008-2009 years, then 2009-2010 for diablo 3, why compete with yourself within your own fanbase... if they both released at the same time, and i only had 50 bucks in my pocket, i'd pick diablo 3 first... and i'm not likely to buy 2 games at once, as I don't really have enough time to switch between two games, i like to get into one game, then move onto the next one. and i think that the starcraft and diablo fanbase crosses over... so that will be a sure sign that you're right Rob... next year later on if not 2010, starcraft 2 will release fist i'd believe.

 

[JonathanDeane]

I have a super simple solution to people who crave D3 to be darker.... simply adjust your monitor to a darker setting and bam darker Diablo III.

Also I agree, wait till its done till you start complaining... I hate when my wife complains about something I just started.

 

[fulle]

^a key point in the petition, is if they "wait to complain", it will be too late. You complain about small things in a near finished product, like balance, things missing from the UI, spell tree layout. Not the art direction. Frankly, its already probably too late.

I don't mind the new look, and on first glance thought it just seemed very "blizzard" in style... it reminded me of color use in Starcraft and Warcraft games... but, admittedly, while I liked it, I didn't think that this looked like a Diablo game.

My experience with Diablo, was mainly from Diablo 2, and Lord of Destruction. The characters were in proportion, seemed to be intended to be realistic, had no customization, and the environments were dark, dirty, and gothic. It all added up to a certain atmosphere, that currently Diablo III does not have.

I credit this to Blizzard taking the art direction of Diablo to a broader audience.... and I don't like the sellout attitude.

I have many questions for Blizzard on this one... for starters: Why in the living **** are there female barbarians in Diablo III? Why are the character models cartoonish? Why are the armor and weapons exaggerated? Why do the textures look like they were made by oil pastels? What happened to the light radius? Are you merging the Diablo and Warcraft franchises? Do I get to play as an Orc?

If I wanted a cartoon Diablo clone with pastel textures, I'd just play Mythos... its going to be free, and apparently has some ex-Diablo programmers working on the project.

 

[WhoIsTheFarmer]

I haven't played Diablo for a long time but when I reached the town in Duskwood in WoW I thought that if they were working on a Diablo sequel then that's how Tristram would look like.

I think the blue green glow they could change easily but they can't do it at the last minute...so maybe it's not too early to voice opinions regarding the art direction.

 

[Pist]

During the interview they said its a secret when someone ask about secret cow level, but in another interview on a website they said theres no secret cow level.

They better add the cow level or make a new one.

 

[JDocs]

Yes, we need an excuse to cut off Wart's other leg eh?

 

[stemnin]

Blizzard's lead producer Keith Lee

So this is what Lee had to say about the art direction when we spoke in Paris: “One of the things that we considered when we were working on the visuals for ‘Diablo III’ is the fact that color is your friend. We feel that color actually helps to create a lot of highlights in the game so that there is contrast. A great analogy is like in ‘Lord of the Rings’ — not everything is dark. It allows you to see what a creepy dungeon can be like but if everything is dark it doesn’t allow you to have a lot of contrast.”

He continued: “‘Diablo I’ and ‘Diablo II’ are darker, and I think that the one of the main reasons why is the fact that in ‘Diablo I,’ you’re basically in a dungeon the whole time. And in contrast to ‘Diablo III,’ you’ll be exploring outdoors, you’ll be in dungeons, you’ll be experiencing so many different areas. We want to bring as much variety as we can when you’re playing the game so that you’re excited to check out new environments. We don’t want everything to look the same and that’s really what we’re trying to aim for.

 

[infornography42]

While I will say that the concept image for what they want looks much cooler, I'm not sure if it would be as playable. Also the art is just fine as is. It isn't anything special, but I never really played Diablo for the art. I mean really, who loaded up Diablo 2 and went 'wow, this art is amazing'.

I'm just going to sit back and keep an eye on this game. I trust Blizzard to make it good.

 

[Flakes]

you know, i still hold out hope for a high resolution patch for D2 but i have no idea why(for my 1680x1050 lcd i guess)

im really looking forward to D3, but im gonna have to forget about it till the release, or try and get in the BETA(if its not already out)

 

[Archvictoros]

I like what they have because it's so blizzard in style. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is Blizzard definitely know what they are doing and if you want darker environments simply adjust the gamma and the issue is solved. I've had enough of raining and dark areas in D2 LOD and I Don't want to see another D2. I know keeping the good things up are necssary but I don't think doing the same things again and again without adding something new would please the mainstream fanbase. IF I have to put it into one sentence, it's simply breakout of that boring custom(darker, gothic theme, it's ok to be gothic but don't make the whole game gothic) and do what's right, 1/3 new ideas, 1/3 classic designs, and 1/3 whatever they think it's right to the fanbase.

 

[crom]

I think they went that route for D3 simply because of the success of WoW. WoW succeeds, partially because it can be played on almost any modern PC in the last 4-5 years or so.

You also use an existing graphics engine, in this case it looks almost exactly the same as the engine they built for Star Craft 2, and you build it to run on Direct X 8 or greater cards. I also would have liked to see a more realistic approach of the game as well, but I can see why they are pushing this route.

 

[JessMyz]

HI All.. new to this forum

Like many of you here... I am pumped about Diablo 3's release and I'm certianly not going to let a mess of nonsense from "colour haters" and"scenery bashers" ruin that.

I totally agree with te sentiments of Archvictoros-some gothic elements are classic, but leave a little room for originality.

Came across this pro Dioablo petition attempting to squelch the anti-Diablo sentiment in the air..

http://www.thenextbench.com/hpg/blog/article?message.uid=4883

 

[pocketdrummer]

The whole friggin' game doesn't need to be so dark that you can't see anything. That's just stupid. I don't know about you guys, but in the dark, I don't glow. Watch the Diablo 3 Gameplay Trailer on fileplanet. Fast forward to about 3:20 and pause it. Look around at the scenery there and tell me that isn't very dark. Sure, you can see, but that's a good thing in my book. What's the point of creating all that art if you can only see it when you're a foot away? In fact, everything from the beginning to about 11:45 is dark enough.

The problem for me only arose around 11:55. Those textures are straight out of WoW. I may have a little problem with that. The game does seem to have lost it's gritty feeling. Maybe this could be improved. But, CURSE the ridiculous light radius. I don't even want that to return.

Either way, I'll still buy the game, because the game-play will undoubtedly make up for any stylistic goof up.