My all time favorite game is Diablo 2. So coming from that game, I was expecting Diablo 3 to be something at least equally as amazing, or better. Well, as it turns out, it was a huge disappointment, even after giving it a BIG chance playing the game entirely from beginning to end. Here's what I noted:
CONS
- The game is way too easy on normal. I did get very lucking finding magical items that gave me a combination of very high intelligence, vitality, and life regeneration (so my character was practically immortal and very strong). I think the inherent problem here is that the guys at Blizzard didn't think things through all the way and didn't correctly balance out character stats vs AI stats, making it extremely easy to kill AI monsters when increasing certain character attributes. In Diablo 2, even when finding very powerful weapons and armor, you still had a hard time killing bosses and such on Normal mode. In this game, I literally killed Diablo in 60 seconds.
- Music was weak. Although a very minor detail to most, I feel like the soundtracks throughout gameplay in Diablo 2 were alot better and gave the game a very different feel, more mystical and creepy.
- The cinematics weren't amazing (except for the one for the last Act, which was impressive). In Diablo 2, I remember feeling thrilled watching every cinematic for each Act.
- I think it was so stupid not being able to use my equipped weapon. You're always forced to use your Left or Right mouse buttons for a specific skill you choose, and your weapon's damage is the determining factor of how much damage your skill does. That's stupid. You should be able to use your weapon freely, and it should have its own damage, and your skills should have their own damage and you should be able to use those separately.
- I thought the characters looked pretty weak. I selected a wizard, and my character just looked like an adolescent. In Diablo 2, I remember the necromancer looking strong and powerful in the character selection screen (again, probably for minor detail for some, but for me it was just another little thing that showed me there was lack in attention to detail in this game).
- Big lack of content. I was able to beat this game very quickly and go through the Acts fast. I feel like Diablo 2 had alot MORE maps and places to go in every Act.
- Having to be always online to play the game was a HUGE mistake. I have one of the fastest internet service packages on the market, and even with that I still experienced lag many times while playing the game. It was extremely annoying hitting barrels and watching it shatter 10 seconds later.
- I don't like that you couldn't really increase your Arcane Power (which used to be your Manna). Sometimes, you would find loot that would alter it by a couple points, and leveling up never increased it. Thats just stupid. A wizard, which is what I was, should have very high Arcane Power, Low Health points.
- You never really used potions here. Minor detail, but I liked how Diablo 2 had a wide range of potions you could use for different benefits. Here, non-existent, just a Health Potion you rarely used because either your equipment gives you insane amount of health regeneration or theres tons of health globes laying around (I didn't like the health globes).
PROS
- Graphics are an improvement.
- Being able to remove gems from socketed items is an improvement, as well as combining gems to craft better gems. Huge plus.
- I like that you were able to craft items using an Artisan, which before, in Diablo 2, was only restricted to the Horadric cube. Even though most of your good items will be found in loot, I was still able to craft 1 armor item that was better than what I currently had equipped.
I will say this, is the game entertaining? Yes. Is it better than many other games out there (because I do think alot of games out there in the world are just crap)? Yes. Is it worth the buy? Sure, but don't expect this to be as good as Diablo 2, because it really isn't.
I will finish by saying this, and I hope the guys at Blizzard see this. I am truly disappointed that after making millions of dollars and having had so many years to develop a good game, that Blizzard deviated so far from the original game. You should really stick to the basics to what made a previous game amazing, and not try to reinvent the wheel, just improve on things, not completely change it.