Some changes applaudable, some changes not.
You could call me a lore-whore, and the first quality I look at any game is whether it has good storytelling elements to it. And that is the reason, above all other things, why I love Blizzard games so much.
Since Warcraft 3, Blizzard worked hard to present the world to the player, through in-game cut scenes instead of giving scrolls of texts to read to fend off the boredom of loading the game.
Diablo 3, which is the last of what I call 'Blizzard Cycle' (Warcraft 3 -> Starcraft 2-> Diablo3 ->Warcraft 4?) have inherited the know-hows from Warcraft and Starcraft 2's storytelling mechanics. And even from the installing screen, players will quickly learn the history of Diablo, and the story of two prequels which led to Diablo 3. Through various conversations and in-game cut scenes, Diablo 3 invites the player to the world in the brink of destruction from the horde of demons, and return of the demon lord Diablo.
But Diablo 3 offers more than just a story of 5 heroes, who's path cross in New Tamriel while investigating a meteor which fell in the Cathederal near the undear beseiged village. Side quests and challenges in the dungeon offers more to the Diablo world, and this enables the player to interact with the world in more depth like never before.
But not all players are lore-lovers, which is shown when a party of demon hunters in Korea who have managed to slay Diablo just over 6 hours after the release. And although the storytelling is one of the most important factor, THE most important factor of the game is the gameplay system itself.
At first notice, players of Diablo 2 would feel relaxed at the interface, which has obviously changed, but it still kept the similar design to the previous title, and therefore not alienating the hardcore players. Some of the familiar faces, such as the Barbarian, are also a welcoming sight.
But when it comes to the actual gameplay, the opinions divide. Those who praise Diablo 3 have applauded the game for it's easy-to-approach game system. Unlike recent RPGs such as Skyrim, the Witcher 2, TERA or Vindictus, where the style of game is more close to FPS than a traditional point-and-click RPG, Diablo 3 is much easier and quickly teaches the player even if they are not used to this kind of genre.
However, while Diablo may have succeeded in gathering the new gamers, it cannot avoid the criticisms from the fan of Diablo 3. Yes, old fan complain all the time when new title from the series is out. But that does not mean the developers can ignore them.
Putting aside the numerous server problems and bugs, what the critics, myself included, are upset from Diablo 3 is the dramatic change in the customization of the characters.
I remember playing a Sorceress wielding a greatsword in Diablo 2. Yes, it was not the most ideal way to play as a Sorceress, but when you spend your stats on strength and vitality and spend skill points on enchant weapon and other weapons which buffs the character rather than attacking the enemy, you will get quite a decent swordspell Sorceress.
But that is impossible in Diablo 3, as you can no longer invest stat or skill points. All stats are allocated automatically, and the skills are learned based on your level. You can still choose your skills, and same skills have lots of variations thanks to the rune system. However, even that is somewhat limited and skills where you allocate them into quick slots are also limited. In another words, the customization element of Diablo is, arguably, gone, and that is something that Blizzard should never have done.
I may be exaggerating, but if the stats are fixed, this means that the strength of the character will be heavily relied on the equipment, and crafting system, another new feature to Diablo 3, has enabled the player to do so. That is not the problem. But the problem occurs when even the skills are somewhat fixed.
In case of Diablo 2, although there were 7 characters (including the Expansion) to choose from, these 7 characters had three types of skill trees. Although the player can freely spend their points in any of three types, not many would spend on Javelin and Bow skills at the same time for Amazon, and even the bow tree can be split into bows or crossbows. And depending on the selection of their weapons and skills, their equipment and enchantments have changed.
But it is hard to see such thing in Diablo 3, and as for me, who plays Demon Hunter, find it extremely annoying to see my character's intelligence increase, which only boosts her resistance, when it could have been spent on dexterity to increase the damage. And because the skills are somewhat limited, it is easy for certain skills to be favored and others neglected.
None of the problems listed above would be relatively little problem if Diablo 3 is a single/co-op game. But them problem will certainly occur when PVP, the feature which dragged the released date of the game, will be available.
Although items will make a difference, because the stats and skills are relatively fixed, the result of the PVP will be determined mainly by the control skill of the player. And while that is the main purpose of the PVP, to determine who is more skilled player, PVP system will not be as attractive as Diablo 2.
Diablo 3 is, without a single doubt, and will be one of the best remembered game in history, and a decade wait for the sequel was worth the wait, and I believe that Blizzard have put lots of effort into the game, and I believe that Diablo 3 still holds limitless potentials.
I must confess that while I enjoyed the game a lot, I could not help but feel the bitterness in relation to the limited character customization, which was the second reason, after the extensive lore, why I played Diablo 2.
As a matter of fact, Starcraft 2, which was expected to replace Starcraft in Korea, have failed because of some of drastic changes in the game. Personally, I would argue that the changes from Diablo 2 to 3 have the same magnitude of change as the changes from Starcraft to Starcraft 2. The game has been released and there is no turning back. All that Blizzard have to focus on is to stabilize Diablo 3 and make it a game worth remembering and upholding the glory of Blizzard.