Diablo 3 - The Phantom Menace

[Curanhadin]

The OP makes a valid point but the Diablo fanbois just wont hear it,Diablo III is not even close to what is was hyped up to be and everyday you see people by the boatloads logging back into WoW business as usual,It's ok if you cant admit your long awaited game isnt what you wanted,we understand that it will take you time to finally admit it to yourself let alone your WoW friends.The majority of the ones playing D3 are pretty much cattle following the herd because thats what the rest of the "group" was doing.
You can even look back in my post history and i called it once a twice that this game will fail bigtime because it wont live up to expectations.So carry on hardcore D3 fans i salute you for you will be the last and only ones playing a game that even you yourself question yourself daily why you even play it.It would be great if WoW actually did have some competition to push the devs even harder to keep the player base from dropping,but like we have seen year after year nothing can touch WoW and never will.

MoP says hi and looks forward to seeing you soon and hey look on the brightside all you annual pass owners...you got a really cool mount out of the deal!

World of Warcraft,Destroyer of MMO's since '04.

I completly disagree D3 wasnt hyped by anyone except the players imo its eactly what I expected and Im happy with it. There are now tons of new fans of the game and genre that will continue to play it for years to come. The way some players hyped it up there was no way any game could have matched the expectations.

[Deleted]

I completly disagree D3 wasnt hyped by anyone except the players imo its eactly what I expected and Im happy with it. There are now tons of new fans of the game and genre that will continue to play it for years to come. The way some players hyped it up there was no way any game could have matched the expectations.

I think there's some truth in this. I remember quite funnily when Bashiok (I think it was him) went "oh please guys do not get too excited" and the community went in outrage "WTF is he de-hyping our game?! PICK UP THE TORCHES AND THE PITCHFORK"

[Draust]

Who/what is the Jar Jar Binks of Diablo 3?

Leah, by far. The most underdeveloped character you're supposed to care about, but the more you actually listen to what she says, you realize that she's just Jar Jar Binks.

[Maleficus]

only thing i don´t like is that there is no real punishment for dying -.- that sucks

My word man - you don't want that brutal punishment of losing XP back do you?

...wait...the XP loss when you die is not in D3 is it? /wrings hands nervously

OT: I don't think anything should be compared to SW:PM - that movie was wholly awful. Personally, i'd give D3 a 9/10 based on the amount of sleep it has robbed me of.

[Drakhar]

I wish all the people who make all these long-winded complaint posts about games they've played would just get blogs.

Naw man, then no one would read them and their tears of unfathomable sorrow wouldn't ever reach us, making it impossible for them to feel better about themselves. Then again, QQers like this I imagine never actually end up feeling better. Better plaster their woes everywhere they possibly can, THEN maybe it will work!

Excuse me why is that clear again? And furthermore why should any of us pretend the game doesn't exist and not comment and criticize it? My friends list is all about dead and it was populated by many many people on release day and has dwindled to only 2 or 3 playing diablo. Most have went back to warcraft or sc2. Anecdotal evidence is great like that.

Very cool story. Brah we know you hate everything about the devilspawn company known as Blizzard and you're just one of those people that lurks around here to complain at every chance you get, you're not fooling anyone. You don't comment or discuss, not even close, you just like to bitch and accuse others of being fanboys. Not giving you the satisfaction you were expecting, I take it? If it did I imagine you would have gotten a life at this point and moved on. But nope, still here I see.

Leah, by far. The most underdeveloped character you're supposed to care about, but the more you actually listen to what she says, you realize that she's just Jar Jar Binks.

But she died, and Jar Jar didn't, and we continued to be plagued by his existence

[Kelimbror]

Your not the first one to make that comparison and it fits in so many ways. I can drink bud once in a blue moon but it's definetly not something I could drink alot of or tolerate. Much like d3. I could log on for maybe an hour or so once a week and then probably not much more than that.

I'm calling you out on subliminally advertising for beer companies. Terrible.

I love Bud Light analogies because they're so easy to make. I wouldn't call D3 a Bud Light, though - it's higher quality than that. Maybe a Boulevard or Fat Tire? D1 and D2 were definitely premium domestics - maybe a Shiner or a Sam Adams.

Putting Fat Tire as only slightly over Bud Light is a disgrace. You clearly need to drink more bad beer to realize Fat Tire is leagues above that. I'm prescribing you a year of PBR to properly adjust your taste buds to good ale.

[DeadmanWalking]

I don't get where people say less people are playing D3 and so its obviously a fail. D3 was never meant to be played for months on end by a majority of players. It's not an MMO which is designed to make you grind to get your money on a long term basis. D3 is the kind of game that you only play as long as you remain interested in it, then when something shiny comes along you go chase that. There will be some drop dead serious people who play the game long term because thats what they enjoy doing. It's like an arcade, maybe you came in and spent all your coins on one machine every day for years (Pac Man) or maybe you came in and put a few coins in every machine that caught your interest. I myself played D2 whenever my college friends decided to have a Diablo night and then when I had my own computer I beat it once in normal mode and then rarely re-installed it to give it a play through a few years later.

I use to play SC solo game more often than I ever played SC2 solo. I only played SC2 through once and don't intend to ever pop it in because I didnt like the out of battle art direction or graphics.

Of course I didn't like SC2 because I didn't like certain aspects of it, not because I have an irrational hatred of Blizzard as a God of corporate greed. I guess that makes me a fanboy since I'm not h8ing for the proper reasons.

[Siight]

Meh, I thought phantom menace was a good movie. Not a great movie...of course I am not a fan boy of star wars, and wasn't a fan boy of diablo. So again, I thought diablo 3 was a good game, but not a great game. Since I had no expectations of either, both turned out good for me.

Of course i'm already done playing D3, I don't need to continue...next game.

[Fishyface]

I remember the spring of 99, waiting in a line of over a hundred for like 2 hours so I could see the very first showing of the Phantom Menace, the first new Star Wars movie in about 15 years. I was too little to remember the other ones in the theater but the Star Wars franchise was one of my all time favorites, like just about everyone else on the planet.

I had no doubts it was going to be awesome, I mean, it was the freaking Star Wars franchise, there's no way they'd ever make a bad Star Wars movie, amirite?

I remember walking of of the theater not knowing what to think. I mean, deep down I knew it was a crappy movie, but maybe I was just processing it correctly. I actually saw it again the next weekend, there were parts that were cool, but it just felt cold and boring and at all interesting or compelling.

And what is the movie's legacy? Well the hardcore fans hated it, the critics hated it, it's legacy was that of a bad joke, a punchline, the long awaited but disappointing and downright embarassing follow up to the legendary Star Wars franchise. The beginning of the end of the legend of Lucas.

How could this have happened? How could they have made it so bad? I mean parts of it were good, but the bad parts are so bad and unnecessary, they could have easily been fixed. It's like the took all the charm, originality, and character and squeezed it out of the franchise.

Interestingly enough the movie went on to be a major finacial success, in fact, not factoring in inflation, it's the #10 highest grossing movie of all time.

Sound familiar?

Behold, Diablo 3, the Phantom Menance. It's taken me a few weeks to recognize my feelings towards the game but now I remember when I felt like this before. It was after my couple viewings of Episode 1

Loved the phantom menace (as well as episode 1-3 far more than 4-6), and i love d3. Dont really care what the "hardcore fans" think the game is fun to alot of people. Im sorry that "their" game got pissed on but its not anyone else but these people's fault for putting so much hype on it.

[melodramocracy]

More OT however I personally feel a similar way. The Story (Alot More-so after Act 1) was uneventful, disappointing and cliche/predictable. Only VO's I enjoyed was Leah and Deckard. Dungeon Crawling became hopelessly boring and I'm not a Stat/Gear Obsessed person in any game so that whole aspect was completely lame (In alot of SP RPG's I'll actually take gear that LOOKS better visually then better stats). I play my games in Easy/Normal and have no desire to move into more difficult modes, More interested in the story then the challenge.

So basically in my opinion I generally agree with the OP... Extremely Hyped, mixed feelings initially, then you realise it's complete rubbish. True for Phantom Menace and true for D3 (IMO OFC). However I only did 1 playthrough, maybe 10-12 hours of gameplay instead of getting to 100 and then realising it was crap :S Got for free with AP so whatever >.>

I personally thought act III was the best of them all, and at least on normal, Belial was the toughest main boss fight. I've finished the game on normal, currently near the end of act II in nightmare. The game is entertaining, but not compelling the way some other games are. You don't ever feel 'sucked in' to what's going on, but it is a great game to simply hop on, blast things for 30 minutes or so with friends, then go do something else, much like an arcade game. But there are a lot of games like this.

I don't see me sticking with it in any long term fashion. I will get my monk to 60, but have no inclination to level anything else. Nor will I be doing the whole end-game gear grind... any game that makes a player rely on an AH system to progress is a broken one, plain and simple. I don't need to see act IV in inferno, I already know exactly what happens

Overall score = 7/10. Solid, but not a 'omg, I must own this' title. And FAR better than the Phantom Menace.

[jvbastel]

Loved the phantom menace (as well as episode 1-3 far more than 4-6), and i love d3. Dont really care what the "hardcore fans" think the game is fun to alot of people. Im sorry that "their" game got pissed on but its not anyone else but these people's fault for putting so much hype on it.

Actually, all of the "hardcore fans" I know love it

Well except for the one who didn't buy it after they revealed that there wouldn't be modding

[DeadmanWalking]

The reason Act III is the best is not only the constant waves of baddies but the fact that you have objectives besides 'Run through the dungeon' and 'Kill a boss'. Its a shame they didn't have more stuff like that to do to break the mold of d2.

Personally I don't get the Phantom Menace reference, D3 didn't become bad because the director wanted to sell childrens toys, throw in needless amounts of background eye candy to make toys from, or write the whole plot with an 8 year old in mind. d3 director also didn't divorce his wife who was the only person keeping episode 4,5 & partially 6 from getting stupid. If George Lucas's wife had not fixed his scripts then Han Solo would of been a lizard man (fact) and if you think kissing her brother was gross wait til she locks lips with the creature from the black lagoon.

There were a lot more problems with phantom menace from an ending which flashed between annakin in space, darth maul battle and queen amadalia taking her throne that had entirely different over riding 'atmospheres of human feeling' so much that they didnt make any sense and could not be seperated after the fact, or trying to kill jedi with a white gas when carbon can't be smelled or seen. Why not just tell the Jedi the negotiations are over and to get off my ship? Bad child actors? How many times in the movie do we have to see 'Theres always a bigger fish' theme play out? Jar-Jar Binks was created just to add comedy for kids, and C3P0 should never of been played as a wise cracking comedy twist.

My point being that phantom menace had 99 problems and Diablo 3 had 1 large problem and 2 minor ones. To make a comparison between the two is overreaching and obviously shows a lack of comparitive comprehension for anyone agreeing that they are the same.

[littleking]

I always think criticisms like this are unfair. Eg, let's take the OPs criticism of Star Wars 1.

The first 3 films (Episodes 4,5,6) are almost EXACTLY the same style wise. They are written in the form of a 1950s B-Movie matinee with cheesy dialogue, basic plotlines and whatnot. The two films directed by George were absolute toss, and its only when Irwin Winkler helmed the second as a favour that they achieved some form of critical success. They still, however, had a bland, insipid script, one-dimensional characters, moments of danger/love etc, everything you would expect from a 1950s Flash Gordon era style matinee film. The same was with the Indiana Jones films, however, because people are so in love with both series due to them being intrinsically linked to childhood, they have become sacred cows, and are untouchable. However, seriously watch them again, and analyse the script, usage of screen wipes to cut from scene to scene, and you will actually see how terribad the first and second film actually are (ignore Empire, its actually good, but different director). However, they were right place, right time, never been seen before films that captured the imagination. But critically? They were shit.
Then people expected something different from the newer releases? They were basically a carbon copy formula. If you watch them in the SAME manner of expectation of the first 3, that of a Sunday Morning B-Movie matinee type film, they are actually very enjoyable. However, it was purely fanbase expectation that made them seem less than they were.

Now lets take the Diablo games. First one and second one were arguably "right place right time" games. If you play them now (especially the first one), and actually analyse them with the same critical eye of games we play now, they are actually pretty weak. Poor UIs, bad sound, poor gfx and whatnot. However, people garner a huge amount of enjoyment from them, so they remain oblivious (myself included) to their faults, and woe betide you if you attempt to criticise them, as like the Star Wars films, they are sacred cows and can do no wrong.
Then Diablo 3 comes out, does EXACTLY what its predecessors did game wise, and people are shocked? Its the same with the Star Wars films, but the issue isn't with the film/game itself (errors and silly online thing aside) but the playerbase expecting something vastly different as they had expecations of the same fulfillment they got with the second and first game.

TLDR version - Its player fault for expecting something different from a genre that isn't intended to be different.

some one just hates life apparently.


TLDR: "i see something as shit so NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO BE HAPPY FROM THIS!!!! IM A PRICK!!!"

essentially

Infracted. Don't quote a post to insult the poster

[Grraarrgghh]

Is there any point to bitching about a game that you are no longer playing?

Are peoples lives so devoid of any sense of accomplishment that the only satisfaction they get is from saying "I told you so!" to random strangers on the internet?

Are there literally no other games they enjoy so they are "stuck" playing this one?

[DeadmanWalking]

Is there any point to bitching about a game that you are no longer playing?

Are peoples lives so devoid of any sense of accomplishment that the only satisfaction they get is from saying "I told you so!" to random strangers on the internet?

Are there literally no other games they enjoy so they are "stuck" playing this one?

Some people are just bored at work or school and spend their time here complaining because its better than going to find work that needs to be done. The more you do the more they make you do. If they were at home they would be gaming and not here. I had one guy who was constantly posting Diablo 3 hatred admit to this much.

[Grraarrgghh]

Some people are just bored at work or school and spend their time here complaining because its better than going to find work that needs to be done. The more you do the more they make you do. If they were at home they would be gaming and not here. I had one guy who was constantly posting Diablo 3 hatred admit to this much.

This is the most honest answer I've seen yet, and lends fully to my suggestion that we have one big awful thread for bitching, so we can leave the rest of the forum open to tutorials, help threads, strats, build speculation, etc. etc.

[Zaqwert]

Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't The Old Rep- I mean, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Nostalgia's a bitch, eh? It's pretty clear that there's only a small minority that agrees with you, who also tend to be the ones that bitch the loudest. Hell, I've never seen my friends list this packed 24/7. I log on WoW and get shit for not spending every waking hour on Diablo with them. That includes a few people I didn't even know played video games, and probably haven't since playing D1/2, but are loving this game. Go play some other shit game and stop whining, and pretend Diablo 3 doesn't exist like I do with that pathetic excuse for an Indiana Jones movie.

That's the point, it's not nostalgia. The original three Indiana Jones movies are just way, way better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's not nostalgia that makes people think so, it's just the fact the other movies were better to most people.

Clearly movie preference is subjective, but I'm talking about general consensus opinion.

The only thing more annoying than nostalgia fanboys are buffons who think praise of anything past a year or two ago is nostalgia. Here is a shocking revelation, did you ever consider that maybe the current version of everthing ISN"T best? In fact considering how much content there was in the past, odds are the best stuff is going to be from back in the day.

But continue to watch Transformers 3 (the best movie ever, anyone who disagrees is just being nostalgic) listen to Katy Perry, (the best music ever, anyone who disagrees is just being nostalgic), watch the Big Bang Theory (the best tv show ever, anyone who disagrees is just being nostalic).

[Dragore]

I liked the Phantom Menace better then the other 2 because Hadin Christianson(sp) wasn't in them and Darth Maul was so bad ass i wish he played through the end to the third movie...but anyways i can kind see what OP is saying. I myself am kind of disappointed in how the game is end game. I dont get bored clearing through content because the content is a little different to me in each difficulty due to the difficulty. Huge fan of D1-D2:LOD and i was so excited for D3 and i love the game but ill probably stop my chars once they hit 60 and finish hell. I don't see the point in end game in D3 atm. I don't want to farm the AH i want to farm in game and get those specific items that i loved to get in the older versions. LOD comes to mind as it was my favorite. There was nothing like finding a Unique Hydra Bow because i knew that i just fond me a windforce, balls yeah!. I hate, HATE this new system of random ass crap on random as items everything is so damn random i personally dont like that so much. I don't get excited because nothing ever drops. At least in Normal/Nightmare they have specific things that dropped i actually saw uniques and sets, granted they suck but i still got to see them i was working toward something that seemed reasonable. I've found 1 horrendous legendary so far over 2 chars, its not doing much for me...

[DeadmanWalking]

I hate, HATE this new system of random ass crap on random as items everything is so damn random i personally dont like that so much. I don't get excited because nothing ever drops. At least in Normal/Nightmare they have specific things that dropped i actually saw uniques and sets, granted they suck but i still got to see them i was working toward something that seemed reasonable. I've found 1 horrendous legendary so far over 2 chars, its not doing much for me...

I hate to tell you this but the random system is not new. It is what makes Diablo Diablo, and its what makes Diablo spawn dozens of rip offs. Any dungeon crawler you see today is because of Diablo. If D3 didn't have random drops then those who enjoyed D2 and D1 would explode like a million megaton nerdbomb. If you didn't know about that aspect of the game then I'm sorry but its a staple of the Genre. Frankly there wouldn't be any challenge to the game if the game gave you exactly what you need whenever you needed it. There are enough people complaining that the game is too easy as it is.

And Bliz has said that Legendaries were not intended to be more powerful than anything else in the game. I personally would of made them awesome but as I am not awesome enough to be making video games I really can't complain.

[jakeic]

And Bliz has said that Legendaries were not intended to be more powerful than anything else in the game. I personally would of made them awesome but as I am not awesome enough to be making video games I really can't complain.

i am aware that blizzard did state that legendaries aren't meant to be more powerful than rares, but that doesn't make any sense. legendaries have a really minuscule chance of dropping compared to a rare, so what are the point of legendaries if they're not better?