I have never played a Diablo game before, but heard that everybody loved it so much that I thought I'd give it a go.
===SKIP THIS PART IF YOU'RE NOT A FIRST TIME PLAYER OR HAVE PLAYED THE GAME ALLREADY===
The storyline still isn't very clear to me. Eventhough I've listened to all the dialogue and watched all the cutscenes. But that might be because I haven't played the previous versions (?). Anyway: it's the classic "save the world/humanity from evil that comes from hell" type of storyline. You choose a class of character which you can decide to be male or female and off you go to save the world. I personally like the fact that most of the controls are with the mouse, since I'm more of a console/controller type player. I really suck at controlling anything with my keyboard. I can, however, press the number keys, which is all you need your keyboard for in this game. After a few hours, your fingers are completely messed up from clicking everywhere though. I found the game easy to learn and get into for a first time player, so you should be fine if you've never played it before. The starting difficuly level (normal) proved perfect for me. Not too easy where it was a cakewalk, and not too hard where I tend to just give up the game alltogether.
=====================YOU CAN START READING AGAIN ;-) =================
I'm the "collector"-type. I explore every nook and cranny of every map, hunt for all the treasure and items I can possibly find etc. This game did satisfy this need. Area's were large enough to explore and rewarded enough for doing so, without punishing you too much if you just run for the next point in the questline.
Boss fights are fun and can be challenging. I played through the game on normal mode with a Barbarian and felt really powerfull and strong most of the time. Hords of enemies come rushing at you and you just blast and slash through them without much issues. This doesn't mean it's too easy. I died plenty of times for standing still too much or not using the correct powers at the right time. When you get it right however, it's a delight.
As of right now, the online auctionhouses are still up and I find it nice to hunt for even better armor and weapons at a good price and selling my unwanted/unusable items at better rates. Use the filters though. A lot of people put outrages prices on their stuff for no particular reason I can think of (you can't be showing off, your name/gamertag is not visible, so whats the point?).
To me, a lot of the enemies remind me of Dante's Inferno. They look strikingly simular sometimes. I was almost confused about which of the two I was playing at some points.
I've played through normal difficulty all by myself (you can let others into your game at any given point in the game) in about 22 hours (again: collect and explore person talking here). And it still felt a little short to me. Yes, I can go through it all again in Hardcore mode, and I did start the first chapter again in Hardcore, but it felt pointless to me. Eventhough I can take my previous character with me to power her up more (ended the game at level 32 out of possible 60).
Then the multiplayer: I don't know what is up with these players, but they play like the world is actually going to end... they RUSH through every quest, skipping all dialogue/cutscenes, don't stop to open chests or anything but just race to the end, fight the boss and on to the next quest. Everyone to it's own, but that's just not my style. Maybe I should find some real life friends to team up with...
The chat function is still unclear to me. Call me stupid, but I still can't figure out how to type something (?). Ctrl-C or any type of combination, tried it, doesn't work. And any chat I join is silent. Nobody talks.
Then just some things that bugged me: checkpoints feel random. Sometimes you get three in 10 minutes, sometimes it takes 20 minutes to reach one. This is annoying, because I like to play before dinnertime or whatever and I can't always tell people "sorry, gotta play until I get to the next checkpoint, there's no save in this game". It's also annoying because I tend to explore so much that if/when I die, the last checkpoint could be a looooong time ago. Eventhough you keep the stuff you found and just have to repair your stuff at a low price, it can take me another 10 minutes to get back to where I was.
Another thing: at first, I liked that the maps change on you whenever you restart the game. But when you just left at a checkpoint to check on your auctions (you have to leave the game to get to the auctionhouse) and then discover the whole map has changed when you come back, was not to my enjoyment.
Then finally the graphics:
I found myself trying to scroll with my mouse button to zoom in or out sometimes, which wasn't possible. I feel the graphics are so-so. I loved the final chapter graphics/area which I thought was very pretty. But most of the time I thought characters looked grainy/pointy. Almost like Dungeon Keeper 2 sometimes (not anywhere near THAT bad, but in the vicinity). Cutscenes were AMAZING though. I was struck by how detailed the face of the girl in the cutscenes was. But those moments are few.
Positive:
+ Controls are nice an smooth
+ Difficulty level just right for first time player that doesn't do well with keyboard controls
+ Character feels powerfull
+ Easy to learn/jump into
+ Auction house (when still up, but will stop in March 2014) is a nice addition
+ Being able to tinker with powers is nice, since not all powers worked well for me
Negative:
- Storyline a bit hard to follow sometimes, for first time players
- Fingers are killing you after a while from clicking
- Medium/short lenght and don't feel like going through the story again on another difficulty level
- Checkpoints not always convenient
- Graphics so-so
- Occasional bugs (Windows 8, 64-bits), once to the point where I had to hard-shutdown the pc
- You have to leave the game to acces the auctionhouse
Buy this game if:
- You like exploring, collecting, leveling up characters.
- You liked Dante's Inferno
Do not buy this game if:
- You want pretty graphics
- You want to play multiplayer with random people and talk to them/chat
- You want to be able to save your game at any point/need lot's of checkpoints
I gave this game a 7/10 because:
It was a fun game that I enjoyed playing. But it was medium/short in lenght and after restarting with other characters I found I didn't feel like starting the whole same story again from scratch. As well as Hardcore mode with my previous character. It was fun, but I'm not a fan. Got that: on to the next game! - feeling.
Tips:
- Don't watch the credits at the end, they take FOR-EV-ER, and there's no sweet cutscene or extra for sitting it out.
- Start using the auctionhouse early on. You'll be able to get great stuff and sell your own, sometimes useless stuff for a better price (useless because your character cannot use them). You could save them for another character to play with though if you wish.
- Don't leave the game unless you are at a checkpoint at the very beginning of a map. Otherwise the map will change when you get back and the place you need to get to for the quest is usually in a different place than before.