Diablo is Dead

I killed him, and his little friends too…

It was shorter than I remember previously, I reckon I got through the game on normal in about 25 hours, whereas Diablo 2 took me closer to 50 if I recall correctly. Maybe I’m just better at this type of gameplay these days.

I died a few times on the way to heaven. Twice when the client switched out when another process started up, and a couple of other times when I wasn’t paying attention. Any other game the client would have paused when it lost focus, unfortunately Blizzards decision to do this online only, never pause, MMO version of Diablo has its drawbacks.

Other than disconnecting from the servers when I left it idle too long, the only other technical issue was when I was initially downloading the client. The download killed my router a number of times which required a off/on restart. Apparently this is a know issue, but usually when the game is running. I had no problems there. Oh, but I did have problems buying the game online, Blizzard kept rejecting my credit card (and was charging 79 Aussie dollars) I ended up going into a store and buying it for $59.

As I said the game felt shorter, especially the last act. I remember hell in D2 being very large, much larger than heaven in D3. I guess that’s because hell needs more space for residents than heaven does.

The graphics were fine, very nice and atmospheric in fact. I don’t know what the fuss about it being too colorful back in the day was about.

I didn’t use any auction house facilities, gold or real money, I decided to be stubborn about this. I hated the idea when it was announced, and still do. I’ve come to the conclusion that auction houses of any kind destroy games, WoW included. But that’s another post.

There were some incongruities with the difficulty of various bosses. Killing the spider lady Cydaea in Act III was orders of magnitude harder than the next boss, Azmodan who was a complete walkover. The boss fights seemed to be escalating and I was expecting a tough battle, I was a little disappointed there.

The voice acting was excellent. I recognized Claudia Black as soon as Cydaea spoke, I love her in game roles, always comes across brilliantly.

I also liked the story overall and how it tied together with Diablo 2. This is a spoiler free zone though.

Overall, I’d say it was worth the $59. At $2.36 an hour it’s not bad value.

Will I play it again at a higher difficulty? Maybe. I tend to play games through once for the story, but I’m not into repetition that much. I might leave it for a while and come back to it.

Hardcore Mode

Some games like Diablo 2 and Torchlight offer players the opportunity to play in hardcore mode. This option offers up greater rewards for taking the risk of permanent character death if that character is defeated.

Now Permadeath is one of those hot topics in MMORPGs. It tends to produce two, completely opposed camps. One group wants it, and wants everyone to be subject to it, reasoning that it makes the game more realistic (among other things.) The other camp is completely opposed to the idea. They think that it opens the way for griefers and laggy connections to ruin a players day.

Both camps have some good points, and their arguments have merit. But the evidence does weigh more heavily for the No-Permadeath camp’s stance. Unfortunately, players can lose their characters through no fault of their own, or through griefing and exploits. This alone makes a Permadeath game unappealing for many.

But what if Permadeath was purely voluntary in the same way it is in Diablo and Torchlight?

A player could select that little box a creation, or perhaps do a quest later in the game, to enable the Permadeath feature.

As a result, there would be faster XP gain, more skillpoints, or perhaps some other rewards and social benefits. Maybe uber epic mounts would be half price. Add in the ability to transfer that epic mount or other heirloom equipment to a newly created character upon death, and the idea of voluntary Permadeath might become more attractive to players.

Here’s the question. Would you be interested in playing a character in hardcore mode if you were given the choice, and there were appropriate rewards for doing so?

If you’re playing Torchlight will you be choosing the hardcore mode for any of your characters?

Let me know in the comments.