Pros:
+ looting and leveling up never gets old
+ streamlined interface and controls on consoles work splendidly
+ dodge move is a welcome addition to the vocabulary
+ trap kills and other environmental elements are smart innovations
+ the quality of the loot is roughly estimated before pickup
+ the sound design and music are as great as ever
+ incredible technical performance on PS4 Pro
Cons:
- comic art style is unbefitting of the series and setting
- single player feels unfinished and generally neglected
- story mode and endless audio logs are forced upon first time players
- settings are mostly recycled from D2
- quests are mostly fetch quests and offer no variety
- no build variety and RPG elements are locked behind the level cap
- difficulty level is generally far too low, with options locked behind progress
- life restoration equipment and reworked potions make combat mostly trivial
- item durability has basically been made redundant, removing strategy from the gameplay
- most passive skills are just entirely useless
- damage number inflation is silly and breaks the immersion
- item management has been dumped down and is unrewarding (especially compared to the PC version)
- bosses are recycled from previous games and have become talky parodies of themselves
- final boss of Act V is a brick wall with cheap attacks
- animations are choppy and feel unfinished (attacks into thin air, rolling recovery etc.)
Blahgic Moment: Entering the same old desert from D2 and almost falling asleep from the boredom.
My Class: Crusader, finished at level 70 with a few Paragon levels.
Playtime: One long, tedious weekend in April, single player only.
Verdict:
Long before the spineless betrayal that was Diablo Immortal, Diablo 3 already watered down the core tenets of the franchise and chose mainstream appeal over quality: its streamlined approach to the classic gameplay loop and fantastic atmosphere created by the first Diablo and perfected by the second has been turned into a casual, tedious experience for the masses. Even with greedy ideas like the auction house removed from the console version, the game appears to be solely designed around multiplayer and the endless repetition of a handful of dungeon ideas, with solo players able to get through the entire campaign in a weekend. The laughably low difficulty makes suicidal runs into enemy positions a viable strategy, and with the exception of some of the later bosses, mindlessly circle-pushing the skill buttons will win you the game without even looking at the screen. In fact, I used my first potion at the end of Act I by accident, died for the first time at the end of Act IV because I wasn't paying attention and only ever got stuck on the boss of Act V because it is flatout badly designed. Additionally, there are no memorable set pieces or boss areas to be found, and the events on the overworld are rare and not worth discussing.
It's no wonder that this game is mostly ignored by the fanbase, which has largely opted to stay faithful to Diablo 2 instead, and I don't think there is any reason to play this ever again... or even once. What a fall from grace for this series.
+ looting and leveling up never gets old
+ streamlined interface and controls on consoles work splendidly
+ dodge move is a welcome addition to the vocabulary
+ trap kills and other environmental elements are smart innovations
+ the quality of the loot is roughly estimated before pickup
+ the sound design and music are as great as ever
+ incredible technical performance on PS4 Pro
Cons:
- comic art style is unbefitting of the series and setting
- single player feels unfinished and generally neglected
- story mode and endless audio logs are forced upon first time players
- settings are mostly recycled from D2
- quests are mostly fetch quests and offer no variety
- no build variety and RPG elements are locked behind the level cap
- difficulty level is generally far too low, with options locked behind progress
- life restoration equipment and reworked potions make combat mostly trivial
- item durability has basically been made redundant, removing strategy from the gameplay
- most passive skills are just entirely useless
- damage number inflation is silly and breaks the immersion
- item management has been dumped down and is unrewarding (especially compared to the PC version)
- bosses are recycled from previous games and have become talky parodies of themselves
- final boss of Act V is a brick wall with cheap attacks
- animations are choppy and feel unfinished (attacks into thin air, rolling recovery etc.)
Blahgic Moment: Entering the same old desert from D2 and almost falling asleep from the boredom.
My Class: Crusader, finished at level 70 with a few Paragon levels.
Playtime: One long, tedious weekend in April, single player only.
Verdict:
Long before the spineless betrayal that was Diablo Immortal, Diablo 3 already watered down the core tenets of the franchise and chose mainstream appeal over quality: its streamlined approach to the classic gameplay loop and fantastic atmosphere created by the first Diablo and perfected by the second has been turned into a casual, tedious experience for the masses. Even with greedy ideas like the auction house removed from the console version, the game appears to be solely designed around multiplayer and the endless repetition of a handful of dungeon ideas, with solo players able to get through the entire campaign in a weekend. The laughably low difficulty makes suicidal runs into enemy positions a viable strategy, and with the exception of some of the later bosses, mindlessly circle-pushing the skill buttons will win you the game without even looking at the screen. In fact, I used my first potion at the end of Act I by accident, died for the first time at the end of Act IV because I wasn't paying attention and only ever got stuck on the boss of Act V because it is flatout badly designed. Additionally, there are no memorable set pieces or boss areas to be found, and the events on the overworld are rare and not worth discussing.
It's no wonder that this game is mostly ignored by the fanbase, which has largely opted to stay faithful to Diablo 2 instead, and I don't think there is any reason to play this ever again... or even once. What a fall from grace for this series.