LeonardoCarolo
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I was never a fan of the genre but had always wanted to play Diablo to try it out. Since D3 always put me off with its color scheme and graphics, making it look like another generic fantasy MMORPG, i never did. And then Diablo IV comes out with its truly grimdark, black and red realistic feel and i knew this had to be the one. Despite an unwisely spent 70€, which at the time was all i had, i threw myself blindly into the game and turns out i was enjoying it a lot.
It took me some time to finish the campaign as i just kept exploring the map and doing non-important stuff, which i believe is a good sign. If a player is liking the story and still decides to put it off in pursuit of other things in the game, means the retention loop is really well crafted. I kept playing and noticed that i didn't feel myself necessarily grinding. I never replayed dungeons over and over, or went out of town to kill monsters and sell the loot and repeat. Just naturally playing the game was levelling my character appropriately. The story was simple, nothing too intricate, but the whole conflict between Inarius and Lilith was simply amazing. They carried the story on their shoulders. The campaign, to my recollection, never featured backtracking missions, where you're forced to go to place A then B, then do that a couple times. Normally, it was A-b-c-d all the way to the end. And if there was any backtracking, the fact that i don't remember it speaks for itself.
Gameplay wise, this is incredible. The feel of combat has been nailed to near perfection. The impact of some of the abilities really makes you feel like a god. The skill tree is impressive. The sheer amount of distinct build possibilities blows other games out of the park. If you then combine the Aspects you take that to another level. Upon reaching Lvl50 i started playing with a friend and we joined the World Tier 3 and finally got access to the helltides. Now i don't think i've ever seen a retention loop as good as this one. Every time i think about helltides, i wonder "Damn, what if theres a helltide running now, i want to go play the game and get that loot". And they happen every other hour! The idea of higher stakes = better loot in a specific zone, and then teaming up with other random people in the same situation to kill as many monsters as we can so we can rack up those souls to trade in for the high tier loot just drives me insane. I've had multiple nights where it's 4 am and i want to go to sleep, but, OH LOOK, a helltide spawned...
Continuing, the endgame content seems vast for now and that is really good. Now most of my negative points come from the Season 1.
The story was, meh. I didn't find it interesting, and soon felt like a list of chores to just get the "Yoohoo, you finished this". The new hearts system felt like worse type of aspect that i just didn't bother to even use. And the fact that i have to re-run every location again makes me suffer mentally because i've already seen all these places before. I'd say, make it so that beating the Seasonal campaign unlocks all waypoints you have previously found.
I have now played with a Ranged Rogue, a Death Blow Barbarian and is now entering into Ice Storm Wizard territory. Eventually I'll play as Necromancer, which has always been the class i wanted to use the most.
It remains to be seen how the game ages, but i think i still have a lot of enjoyment to take out of it.
It took me some time to finish the campaign as i just kept exploring the map and doing non-important stuff, which i believe is a good sign. If a player is liking the story and still decides to put it off in pursuit of other things in the game, means the retention loop is really well crafted. I kept playing and noticed that i didn't feel myself necessarily grinding. I never replayed dungeons over and over, or went out of town to kill monsters and sell the loot and repeat. Just naturally playing the game was levelling my character appropriately. The story was simple, nothing too intricate, but the whole conflict between Inarius and Lilith was simply amazing. They carried the story on their shoulders. The campaign, to my recollection, never featured backtracking missions, where you're forced to go to place A then B, then do that a couple times. Normally, it was A-b-c-d all the way to the end. And if there was any backtracking, the fact that i don't remember it speaks for itself.
Gameplay wise, this is incredible. The feel of combat has been nailed to near perfection. The impact of some of the abilities really makes you feel like a god. The skill tree is impressive. The sheer amount of distinct build possibilities blows other games out of the park. If you then combine the Aspects you take that to another level. Upon reaching Lvl50 i started playing with a friend and we joined the World Tier 3 and finally got access to the helltides. Now i don't think i've ever seen a retention loop as good as this one. Every time i think about helltides, i wonder "Damn, what if theres a helltide running now, i want to go play the game and get that loot". And they happen every other hour! The idea of higher stakes = better loot in a specific zone, and then teaming up with other random people in the same situation to kill as many monsters as we can so we can rack up those souls to trade in for the high tier loot just drives me insane. I've had multiple nights where it's 4 am and i want to go to sleep, but, OH LOOK, a helltide spawned...
Continuing, the endgame content seems vast for now and that is really good. Now most of my negative points come from the Season 1.
The story was, meh. I didn't find it interesting, and soon felt like a list of chores to just get the "Yoohoo, you finished this". The new hearts system felt like worse type of aspect that i just didn't bother to even use. And the fact that i have to re-run every location again makes me suffer mentally because i've already seen all these places before. I'd say, make it so that beating the Seasonal campaign unlocks all waypoints you have previously found.
I have now played with a Ranged Rogue, a Death Blow Barbarian and is now entering into Ice Storm Wizard territory. Eventually I'll play as Necromancer, which has always been the class i wanted to use the most.
It remains to be seen how the game ages, but i think i still have a lot of enjoyment to take out of it.
This review contains spoilers
I finally got to play the game and finished it in one sitting. Incredibly engaging game. The love that was put into it is undeniable. The art style is amazing. I often stopped just to enjoy the feel of the scenery. Incredibly cinematic at times. The gameplay had some minor issues, such as extremely difficult to reach platforms and jump sequences, while the rest of the game was a breeze. It was just 1 or 2 platforms that seemed to need absolute pixel perfect precision, whereas the rest of the game didn't need, making it feel like a problem rather than a decision. The characters were compelling, despite being objects. Got a few quotes that really hit like: "If you don't realise you can only be a teapot, you'll never try to be anything but a teapot".
The major qualm i haver with the game is the Anima System, which we use throughout the game and is our main mechanic. It often feels underworked and feels as though it was meant to have multiple charges (perhaps because we need to hold to use it instead of single presses).
Overall, its use feels clunky at times.
The animations are incredible. The run really makes you feel like she's a marathon runner only to run out of breath, and that whole sequence has so much life put into it.
The plot is extremely simple. The plot twist can be seen 5 minutes into the game.
But the world building and theme for the story is superb. There's so much more that can be done with this world.
And that intro scene was truly special.
The major qualm i haver with the game is the Anima System, which we use throughout the game and is our main mechanic. It often feels underworked and feels as though it was meant to have multiple charges (perhaps because we need to hold to use it instead of single presses).
Overall, its use feels clunky at times.
The animations are incredible. The run really makes you feel like she's a marathon runner only to run out of breath, and that whole sequence has so much life put into it.
The plot is extremely simple. The plot twist can be seen 5 minutes into the game.
But the world building and theme for the story is superb. There's so much more that can be done with this world.
And that intro scene was truly special.
This review contains spoilers
Had to finish with a downloaded save that was way too strong and so i beat the final boss extremely easy. Regardless the entire game didn't pose much of a challenge. I beat 3 bosses first try and 2 second try. The final boss was supposed to be first try too but i died when he had 1 pixel of hp.
The game was solid, good storytelling, the gameplay was engaging. The rooms were incredibly enjoyable, the way the maze shifts continuously.
I appreciated that upon killing a boss i can skip them.
The game was solid, good storytelling, the gameplay was engaging. The rooms were incredibly enjoyable, the way the maze shifts continuously.
I appreciated that upon killing a boss i can skip them.