Diablo Immortal - Gameplay Video

[Marston]

Hello there. I haven't seen this in any thread so far, so here is a gameplay video I found on youtube.



Now, while watching, keep in mind the following:

- This is an early demo. Much is missing, including but not limited to:
-- The inventory
-- 3 classes
-- Level ups
-- A town with Merchants
-- Ability swapping
- The area shown was made specifcially for Blizzcon and won't appear in the final game.
- The difficulty of said area is lower than what to expect in the final game, simply since many people may have never played such a game on their phone.

I can't post sources for a few of these statements as I myself took most of that from this thread on ResetEra, where basically all known information from Blizzcon and various interviews got compiled.

However, with that out of the way:

I have to admit, the game looks quite fun. Yes, it looks somewhat basic at times, but I am sure much of it comes from the fact that some things are simply missing (most notable inventory and skill swapping). From a gameplay point it really looks like Diablo Mobile and the boss fight at the end looks quite cool. I am still somewhat sceptic, simply because I am not sure how well the controls will really be in the end. But I could see myself playing this on the go for a few minutes or at home on a tablet for longer play sessions with friends.

I made this thread mainly so people could see actual gameplay footage. If something like this already existed I am sorry, but aside from a barrage of locked threads and some other dicsussions I haven't seen a gameplay video yet.

[Gaidax]

I think the game will be solid, especially because of Netease who have a proven track record of making such games.

Blizz just dropped the ball massively announcing it at Blizzcon. They should have announced it at some other 3rd party event, not a bloody hardcore pc/console diehard fans event.

[Nfinitii]

Hello there. I haven't seen this in any thread so far, so here is a gameplay video I found on youtube.



Now, while watching, keep in mind the following:

- This is an early demo. Much is missing, including but not limited to:
-- The inventory
-- 3 classes
-- Level ups
-- A town with Merchants
-- Ability swapping
- The area shown was made specifcially for Blizzcon and won't appear in the final game.
- The difficulty of said area is lower than what to expect in the final game, simply since many people may have never played such a game on their phone.

I can't post sources for a few of these statements as I myself took most of that from this thread on ResetEra, where basically all known information from Blizzcon and various interviews got compiled.

However, with that out of the way:

I have to admit, the game looks quite fun. Yes, it looks somewhat basic at times, but I am sure much of it comes from the fact that some things are simply missing (most notable inventory and skill swapping). From a gameplay point it really looks like Diablo Mobile and the boss fight at the end looks quite cool. I am still somewhat sceptic, simply because I am not sure how well the controls will really be in the end. But I could see myself playing this on the go for a few minutes or at home on a tablet for longer play sessions with friends.

I made this thread mainly so people could see actual gameplay footage. If something like this already existed I am sorry, but aside from a barrage of locked threads and some other dicsussions I haven't seen a gameplay video yet.

Thanks for posting this. I haven’t seen anything but raging from the community. After seeing this video I really think this can be a positive game for blizzard. Looks really fun to play. I can’t wait to c more about the game in the coming months.

[bonewax]

I think the game will be solid, especially because of Netease who have a proven track record of making such games.

Blizz just dropped the ball massively announcing it at Blizzcon. They should have announced it at some other 3rd party event, not a bloody hardcore pc/console diehard fans event.

it will be solid alright. A solid failure

[Dhrizzle]

Looks fun, I daresay there'll be a few hours of entertainment before it starts to feel like cash needs to be spent. Does anyone know what sort of mobile it was being played on?

[Stormspark]

Thanks for the link, I was looking for that so I can downvote it.

[MoanaLisa]

Being honest about it, it looks like it's fun.

Blizzard revealed in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't think there's really any argument about that but what's there looks OK.

[Gaidax]

The game's going to be ok.

[The One Percent]

An even simpler Diablo 3. That's definitely what the franchise needed, less depth. GGG must be laughing it's ass off to the bank right now.

[Coldkil]

Finally a video showing how the game actually is. Doesn't look a lot different from other "double thumb" arpgs available on store, but i'm getting the Diablo vibe from it. May actually be a decent time filler between other games.

- - - Updated - - -

And of course there is the valid concern that as a NetEase game it will be riddled with MTX.

That's the major issue imho. Microtx are just going to happen, but as we know there are multiple ways to make them and hopefully it's going to be something like PoE store where you can buy skins/spell effects only.

But again, we're not the main market for this game.

[Kieldon]

The game is not the problem. I might even try it, at least I can do something else on my mobile than browsing reddit.

They should've just said they're working on D4 or a remaster of D2 and Immortal should've been annouced somewhere else.

[MoanaLisa]

What I've read so far from reviewers is that Barbarian and Monk are fun though very simple and Wizard is crap (there is no resource management, abilities work on cooldown and since Wizard abilities have cast times the class is not fluid at all). I mean on one hand I'd think that this is not supposed to be played for hours on end so it being simple will not be that much of a problem, on the other hand though the dungeons are probably at least 20-30 minute affairs. And of course there is the valid concern that as a NetEase game it will be riddled with MTX.

In some ways I prefer cooldowns to resource management. Different choices. It's too soon to know what the thing will finally look like.

Just wanted to note that the demo did not look terrible for whatever that's worth. I'm not mad at Blizzard particularly. The rollout was really badly conceived but that might have something to do with shifting sands at the top. It does make me think though that Blizzcon, like Blizzard, is in transition. If Blizzard goes aggressively multi-platform as I expect they will, the days of Blizzcon being a PC-only affair will be done. It's a nice get-together for fans but it's the best chance Blizzard has all year to bring out their products, all of their products. They would do well to respect tradition though and put the PC stuff up first for promotion. A brief video about a remastered D2 or a new D4 followed by "And we have this in the pipeline for mobile" probably would have been fine for most people.

We'll see on the MTX. I'm a pretty patient player. I have a few games with aggressive revenue schemes and I find that if I get truly blocked, well, there's other games. It's quite true that the games I have for tablet/phone are rarely out for more than 20 minutes at a time. This looks good for that but there's still too much we don't know. Like WoW, it would not be out-of-line to expect that MTX for the West might be a different look than MTX for China and the East. We shouldn't get trapped by assuming right off the bat that what China sees for transactions will necessarily be the same as what we see. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.

[Xaviaton]

To me the mechanics look fun enough for a mobile game. They were going to make a game like this anyway, they hired a team specifically to make a mobile game, I'm glad they did it with an existing IP. A Starcraft / Warcraft / HotS game could have been made, but the styles would have been very different, so I'm glad they went with Diablo. What I am worried about, as people in the thread has said, is the payment methods. Microtransactions suck the fun out of so many mobile games, if they do this with D:I, there's no way I'm playing it.

[Liftbrul]

It looks like garbage. I'd rather dip my balls in a woodchipper than debase myself by playing it.

[Eon Drache]

Looks pretty fun. Good time spender between games or when I'm just sitting passenger in the car.

[MoanaLisa]

An even simpler Diablo 3. That's definitely what the franchise needed, less depth. GGG must be laughing it's ass off to the bank right now.

While PoE and Diablo are both ARPG's there's a world of difference even apart from D:I. GGG is playing to a different audience than Blizzard. If that works for both of them who are we to say that one is better than the other? I'm great with having game options. I play D2, D3, Grim Dawn and PoE. They're all technically in competition I guess but the audience is pretty diverse and no one has to limit themselves to just one game.

EDIT: Come to think of it I still play the two Torchlights as well. I love me my ARPG's. I do. I need to start a SSF character in PoE. I wish I could love their combat engine more.

[Blackmist]

I think the game will be solid, especially because of Netease who have a proven track record of making such games.

Blizz just dropped the ball massively announcing it at Blizzcon. They should have announced it at some other 3rd party event, not a bloody hardcore pc/console diehard fans event.

Blizzard can't figure out the difference between Blizzcon and a shareholder meeting.

"You guys won't believe how much we'll ignore you once we see how much money we'll be making from this baby!" is not really what people paying a thousand bucks to get to a PR event want to hear. We see phones and mobiles as a gateway to our preferred gaming platforms, not as a final destination.

[Gaidax]

Well I guess they did want to make an announcement to raise awareness to this game...

That said, there are plenty other events where they could do it.

On the flipside, world is changing and the change gravitates towards mobile, so eventually Blizzcon will do too, but maybe they took the jump too early there - they should first nurture that mobile fanbase before it becomes part of Blizzcon.

[Coldkil]

Well multiple Chinese posters have described how NetEase games usually work. You get something like an energy bar, you can do 3-4 dungeon runs or other things per day and then you have to pay to refill it, by far the easiest way to gear is to buy multiple gear boxes (and multiples of ten give you better chances at loot).
It is of course possible that the game runs with a different business model in China and in the rest of the world.

What truly boggles the mind is that the game IS a simple double thump ARPG. Which means it is piss easy to emulate on PC and thus it could be ported to PC and Battle.net with minimal effort. Why not do it?
I fully expect that we will get a DI PC port within a year from release. It's just so damn silly not to. I mean had they made use of controls that cannot be emulated easily I'd get it but they are evidently not.

I don't think we're going to see a zone-based different business model, though we don't really know. The core of development is outsourced, as they're providing only art assets and work for the game. I expect gameplay to be as monotonous as it can be as it is in every double thumb mobile arpg.

As for pc ports, yes a it's doable but is it actually worth? I wouldn't play it. I'll play it only because it's mobile and i can play it in the sparse free time i have during the day, when i get home i play real games and not mockeries of them (though on mobile we see very cool ports of other games that are much more enjoyable, but the come from pc/consoles).

- - - Updated - - -

Well I guess they did want to make an announcement to raise awareness to this game...

That said, there are plenty other events where they could do it.

On the flipside, world is changing and the change gravitates towards mobile, so eventually Blizzcon will do too, but maybe they took the jump too early there - they should first nurture that mobile fanbase before it becomes part of Blizzcon.

Agree. They havchosen the worst way possible to announce it - especially since they gave it way too much visibility. It should have been one of multiple smaller stuff that come in preparation to the next big installment.

[Dhrizzle]

In some ways I prefer cooldowns to resource management. Different choices. It's too soon to know what the thing will finally look like.

Just wanted to note that the demo did not look terrible for whatever that's worth. I'm not mad at Blizzard particularly. The rollout was really badly conceived but that might have something to do with shifting sands at the top. It does make me think though that Blizzcon, like Blizzard, is in transition. If Blizzard goes aggressively multi-platform as I expect they will, the days of Blizzcon being a PC-only affair will be done. It's a nice get-together for fans but it's the best chance Blizzard has all year to bring out their products, all of their products. They would do well to respect tradition though and put the PC stuff up first for promotion. A brief video about a remastered D2 or a new D4 followed by "And we have this in the pipeline for mobile" probably would have been fine for most people.

We'll see on the MTX. I'm a pretty patient player. I have a few games with aggressive revenue schemes and I find that if I get truly blocked, well, there's other games. It's quite true that the games I have for tablet/phone are rarely out for more than 20 minutes at a time. This looks good for that but there's still too much we don't know. Like WoW, it would not be out-of-line to expect that MTX for the West might be a different look than MTX for China and the East. We shouldn't get trapped by assuming right off the bat that what China sees for transactions will necessarily be the same as what we see. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.

If rumours are to be believed there were originally plans to talk a bit about Diablo 4 but they were shelved due to development still being in flux. I assume that is part of Blizz's recent policy of only showing things that will definitely be in the game to avoid cries of "broken promises."