Imagine we told you the story of a game where you hack things up over and over and over and over by clicking the mouse to gain items. These items allow you to go into harder areas of a dungeon and hack things up over and over again. Would you buy into it? Probably not.
Yet Diablo, since its inception, has fascinated gamers with the fundamental goals of hacking and slashing your way to a hellish beast in hopes to hack and slash him as well. It does, however, have a firm storyline which has gotten better with age and usually marvels gamers with graphic advancements set to blow the mind.
Diablo II had some nice graphics, but they were not mind blowing and earth shattering but the game continued to be fun to play. So fun, some gamers continue to play Diablo II even today, grinding out armor and weapons. What’s the fascination?
Blizzard Entertainment seems to be born on the wind of success, each title pulling more gaming headlines than the last. Diablo III has taken over gaming RSS feeds, headline news and has presented itself on social media sites like it was the second coming (perhaps, just the opposite?)
Diablo 3, graphically, and functionally, seems to highly exceed the levels it set with the last two titles. Destructible environments being one of the best additions to the franchise, along with new classes, weapons and enemies.
The core of the game, based on the gameplay footage, is fundamentally the same: beat baddies in excess and capture cool items. Blizzard has mastered the “grind” for items and the repeated quest plots in all of its title, especially World of Warcraft, but they’ve done it in an addicting manner. We know its repeatative yet we desire to continue to play. Work of genius.
How much Diablo 3 can a single person play before growing bored? For most, boredom is quite the opposite of the hack and slash experience, choosing to sit down with their Fritos and Soda and waste away the days.
Again, please skip me from the contest, I don’t have the spare time to finish games I’ve started on Christmas, never mind starting new ones.
… at some point two guys decided to play a prank on their boss (1st of April). They photoshop-ed a picture of one of them to make him look like a mobster – car boot full of guns, that sort of sh!t – then the other one ‘leaked’ the photos to their boss.
Both of them got fired. Something to think about, Paul …
@Cruel April Fool’s Joke posts fake Half-Life 2: Episode Three Steam page
Oh yeah … this is among the cruelest ones. Jonah, a lot of people fear that Valve remained just an online store. On the other hand, they did release Portal 2 after Steam got big. On the other hand, both Portal, DOTA and TF are game/game mechanics that were developed by outside teams, then bought by Valve.
@Path of Exile to feature yearly major expansions
Paul, sorry, I had no idea what you were talking about – Jonah was right.
@Former Diablo III director states the auction houses were a mistake
The problem with former developers is that they can be labeled as disgruntled employees. He is actually right about the fact that Blizzard enjoys the cut.
@EA prez Gibeau: “DRM is a failed dead-end strategy”
Re he heeealy? Diablo III, Starcraft II both use MMO-like techniques in otherwise valid single player games, but apparently not for the massive multiplayer experience.
And now, having these previous examples in mind, I’m expected to believe that you aimed for an MMO to begin with?
Nice podcast guys! I remember one of my friends set his co-worker’s startup sound on his computer to a clip of around 5 minutes of silence, and then random beeps for about 5 more minutes after that. It really drove him (the co-worker) crazy because he didn’t know where the sound was coming from!
@Half-life 2 Episode 3: Yeah that really was a cruel one. Imagine if they actually did release “Episode 3” when October comes along! I would like to see how people react if that actually were to happen.
@Diablo 3 auction houses: It really was a big mistake by Blizzard, and it will be interesting to see how they will try to increase sales along with the Playstation release.
I look forward to future podcasts and I hope I can win that copy of HotS! Thank you guys for doing this.
@Half-Life Episode 3
Man, what a cruel joke. It’s like playing Duke Nukem Forever after waiting for 12 years. As a side note, the best April’s fool I remember was an advert for a personal domestic mini nuclear reactor that would solve all your energy problems for the next 50 thousand years. All the power of Chernobyl in your bedroom.
@Fifa’s Creed 2013
No they don’t want an Assassin’s Creed every year. Shut up, Ubisoft. You know nothing. People don’t want a yearly update of a game unless it has two dozen fit sweating men in boxers kicking balls on a grass field.
@Diablo 3 is already out?
Action House hurt Diablo 3. As opposed to DRM which made everyone happy…I would never use the auction houses because paying real money for digital code that may or may not have been obtained illegally is not what I want. And from what I hear, if you don’t use the auction house you will be put at a disadvantage. Maybe I will play the console version at some point.
@EA’s public image smells a lot like DooDoo
If he would spit any more bullshit, EA could start selling it to farmers and open up an agriculture business. Trying to cover your own ass at the expense of hard working employees. Capitalism at it’s finest.
@Topical Burn: Starcraft 2:Heart of the swarm
If you never played Starcraft 2, now is the best time to start. You won’t get much competition online since the Koreans are too busy pointing nukes at eachother…
@Half-Life 3
Don’t we get the same joke every year on April Fool’s with that game? It’s not easy to admit but my really conscious first contact with the game was the Black Mesa game that came out some time ago on Steam. I really enjoyed it but I don’t think that’s enough to make me go back to the original games with all the recent games still waiting to be played.
@Assassin’s Creed
Arthur made a great point about FIFA and other sports games, as a matter of fact. EA Sports don’t really change much in those games between the editions and people still buy them. The most obvious example of crappping on your customers is the PS Vita edition of FIFA which this year was a glorified roster update. I’m afraid AC will become something similar. A couple of new missions here and there but nothing new and exciting. New IPs, please. There’s demand for that.
@Starcraft and Koreans @Arthur V
With all the training they had since the first Starcraft came out, I doubt North Korea stands a chance…
Oh, by the way. Thanks Paul, for sticking up for me last week 😉 I assume next time there is a region-free giveaway I’m first in line 😉
@Diablo 3
The auction house is indeed hurting the game, due to the fact that people can flip it, which is crashing the market. Along with that, botters are putting MASSIVE amounts of gold on the market, causing items to become extremely overpriced. And Blizzard doesn’t care due to the fact that they are receiving a $1 cut from each sale.