We spend some quality time with a demo version of Blizzard's upcoming action RPG.
ANAHEIM, California--There are long queues for everything, merchandise is pricey, and the exclusive in-game mounts for World of Warcraft that were included in the price of admission can't be claimed yet. Nevertheless, the trip to this year's BlizzCon event has definitely been worthwhile because Diablo III is playable here for the first time anywhere outside of Blizzard's office.
The demo station that we were allocated on this occasion was set up for us to play as a barbarian, so, although we fully intend to check out the witch doctor and the newly announced wizard class before this show is over, that was who we played as. The level that we played through was set in the catacombs of a cathedral in which, after jumping through a few hoops to fulfill quest objectives along the way, our ultimate goal was to defeat a large boss by the name of Skeleton King.
En route to the king's tomb, we had to do battle with countless skeletons and other enemies that, unlike their counterparts in previous games, attacked us using a variety of different tactics. For example, the skeleton shield-bearers behaved almost like MMOG players in a tanking role; they stepped up to the front line and soaked up damage to protect other enemies with ranged attacks who were positioned behind them. Skeleton summoners also made for some memorable encounters. These puny enemies are extremely easy to kill, but you have to get to them first, and that's not always easy when there are a dozen or so skeletons doing their best to stand between them and you. Of course, you can kill the skeletons, but the summoners can replace them almost as quickly as you can kill them, so you really have to find a way to either create a path through the skeletons or to lead them away from the summoners that they're protecting.
We played as a level 10 barbarian, and the skills at our disposal included a few different melee attacks and a couple of buffs that could be activated anytime we amassed enough rage. One of the melee attacks was mapped to the left mouse button, which is used for movement anytime your cursor isn't hovering over an enemy. The remaining two melee attacks were mapped to the right button, and could be switched between using either the Tab key or the mouse wheel. Furthermore, keys 1 through 4 can have abilities mapped to them, and keys 5 and 6 are used for potions. It's certainly a more complex system than anything used in previous Diablo games, but it still looks very accessible by today's standards.
As we explored the labyrinthine catacombs, we were pleased to find that there were lots of environmental objects that we could interact with. Loose floor stones invariably had coins hidden under them, bookshelves could be searched for scrolls, locked doors could be smashed, and inconspicuous switches triggered traps such as falling chandeliers. Of course, there were also plenty of treasure chests to find, though the severely limited bag space afforded to us in the demo (not to mention the limited time that we had with the game) meant that we weren't able to pick up and examine everything that we found. Discarding items is as easy as dragging them out of the bag, but when you're playing Diablo III for the first time ever, item storage isn't really what you want to be concerning yourself with.
One of the high points of the demo was undoubtedly the soundtrack, which was suitably creepy and, although at times it seemed to get quite loud, it never interfered with the satisfying sounds of our mace crushing bones or our barbarian speaking up to let us know that her backpack was full. Diablo III's visuals also impressed, though the fixed camera angle didn't always afford us a great view of the action and, on one occasion, the lighting in a corridor was so dark that we couldn't make out a giant door at one end of it until we stood almost right next to it.
We were told during one of today's Diablo III panels that the BlizzCon demo of the game is different every time you play it. We'll let you know if that's true once we've had a chance to check it out as both the witch doctor and the wizard tomorrow.
Justin's youth was largely misspent playing Commodore 64 and Amiga games. He left the UK's Official PlayStation Magazine to join GameSpot in 2000, believes that he's one of the best Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe players in the world, and puts HP Sauce on everything.
delayed until 2011 now, Already getting over the game, was all excited but now because Blizzard are trying to make it sooo perfect, its becoming old news, bigger better games are already starting to squash the big name "Diablo III" You guys suck, employ more people or hurry the F up already...
Definitely gonna get this. I was just introduced to mmo's, but i hate the fact of monthly pay, so Diablo 3 will be perfect. Hoping for the best!!!
Im a really big FAN of the Diablo series, and I cant wait for this game to be released. Alos another question, will Diablo 3 have lan play?
So, any idea what the storyline is going to be about? Game play is great and I'm glad that Blizzard finally is talking about release of D3... but one of the reasons I keep playing is for the storyline.
Can't wait, big fan of games like this. Never played Diablo, but I can already say that I'm gonna like this.
Nope. Afraid you are wrong Magic Dragon. Jay Wilson himself said at Blizzcon that the Skeleton King the players fought in the demo of Diablo 3 was indeed King Leoric and that players must yet again put him to rest yadda yadda blah blah blah. That came from Jay himself. He also went on to say there will be more old friends and foes that return aswell.
the truth is that in most MMO music is shut down when ventrilo-teamspeak come into play not a big deal i mean for the music lets hope theyll sacrifice a bit time from the time spent on music and focus on the gameplay and the interface :D
lets hope the hotkeys and the way they are interaleted with the gameplay vwont be a problem gogo bliz go
"this comes out 3 days after my birthday so im definatly getting it" Did I miss something? I wasn't aware that a release date had been announced.
I didn't read the entire article, so forgive me if they said this, but in the end of Diablo 2, you kill Diablo and destroy his soul stone. How did he manage to come back this time around?
I'm pretty sure there are more kings that are liable to becoming skeletons, just because it is a skeleton king doesn't mean it is King Leoric
I'm glad they didn't make the game "full" 3D. A fixed angle is always the best solution in a game like this.
this comes out 3 days after my birthday :D so im definatly getting it, as im a huge fan on diablo 2 although ive never played the first one
as long as it sticks to the Diablo formula i know ill be impressed, and it has to keep its eary music (the one you heard will in town for D1)
The Skeleton Kings is Leoric... He must be... anyone who played diablo 1 knows what I'm talking about... ;)
Woot, I got to play the demo at Blizzcon and my brother and my friend and I even managed to kill the Skeleton King! By the way, skills mapped to 1-4 are "passive" activate skills such as Storm Armor, Mirror Image, Battle Cry, Summon Zombie Dog, etc. and key 6 was for elixirs while 5 was health potions. I didn't find any mana potions but it seems that the Witch Doctor had some kind of mana recharge skill (Soul Harvest). The health pot was also instant like rejuvs in D2. Health orbs filled health like the health pots in D2.
". Lose floor stones invariably had coins hidden under them, bookshelves could be searched for scrolls, locked doors could be smashed, and inconspicuous switched triggered traps such as falling chandeliers." It's amazing how often people mix "lose" and "loose" up..
im sure the system requirements wont be very high, maybe a little bit stronger than Titan Quest's.
XFireLinkX, you should really go back and play the originals... Or atleast Diablo 2... they're really fun and addictive.It's online and singleplayer, and it has a story with really cool bosses. And basically, all you really do is run around clicking on monsters, and then finding an occasional awesome item that you can be proud of, and brag about lol. You can't really explain why it's fun, because when you try it sounds stupid. I just think you should try D2, and i can gaurentee you will be addicted.
Hopefully they bring the Amazon/Assassin in as a single class, but you choose which play style you want with your spec like in WoW: Amazon= ranged Assassin = melee
Another excellent reason to spend my life savings on a beast of a gaming PC. Dawn of War 2 and StarCraft 2 are the only PC games that I want right now.
i am looking forward to playing as the wizard i wounder what other classes there will be.
hmmm.............. im gonna need a new comp soon, mine is the crappiest one in the world...
XFireLinkX Diablo games always have an incredible single player driven experience and also a really awesome online experience. It tends to be, because I don't know what exactly they are doing for this game, up to 8 players that can join up in a party and do all the quests together, some of my best memories of Diablo 1 and 2 are online.
This game really looks great. Every Blizzard game is perfect. They don't make 10-20 games at the same time. They take time to make the games worth playing, which is really good.
to answer your question XFireLinkX it's single player story based but contains online play via battlenet, which lets you and your online buddy's roam around killing monsters together
Ibex, your PC sounds roughly equivalent to mine (2ghz dual core, 3 GB ram, same card), so if that is true I think it'll run fine on it. XFireLink, it's single player with online play too.
Where is the paladin huh huh best character in the game all arua no mana need loved it so is there gonna be a HEALER IN THE THIS TIME AROUND OR DO I HAVE TO CAST HOLYBOLT!!!
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