Bored

So I'm going to take this opportunity to rant about Diablo 3, because I am pissed. I was going to wait until the end of the game to withhold my judgement, but I need to vent a little bit. I also seem to be the only person save maybe...one that seems to have negative opinions of the game so I apologize for my bitter old veteran speech.

Let me make this perfectly clear. The one aspect that REALLY gets my knickers in a knot is the ONLINE ALL THE TIME gameplay that Blizzard seems to think is necessary. This is bull shit. This means that if I want to play online, alone...as in single player without anyone else (if that wasn't already clear), I have to be signed in to my battle.net account and be logged in to a server 100% of the time. 1) The servers are always overloaded. 2) My internet connections sucks. 3) My laptop sucks. 4) Blizzard is a cash whore. OH DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD? No you idiot this is text. God.

Seriously though, I can't play any session without the game lagging to the point where it is unplayable. The fact that I need a constant internet connection is not an asset. This means I can't play if I do not have access to the internet (to my knowledge). Maybe there's an offline mode, but I have not heard of one. If there was, I would have just set it to that in the first place. Not only that, once I add friends, they always know when I'm online, can see everything I do and there is no longer any anonymous activity. You have your full name up there 100% of the time. This is a problem for people with names like mine. I am the only one in the world with this name (again, to my knowledge) so I can't just add random strangers I know from YouTube and such without worrying about some creeper stalking me online. I see why this was done, there are good aspects to it, but this isn't going to stop trolls or people exploiting the system.

Now the actual game when I can manage to play for 10 mins without lagging out, getting disconnected, having the server go down or other stupid internet related problems, is horribly cheesy. I can't believe how cartoony it has gotten. Actually, scratch that. I knew it would get this way. Blizzard has a "style" now. We don't want dark. immersive, story-centred games. We want casual, silly games that makes Blizzard lots and lots of money! Yeah I get you're trying to appeal to a wider audience here Blizzard. I get that you want the game mechanics to be smoother and easier to understand (though I don't get why you had to hide away the option that allows you to take personal control over your skills and abilities). I get that you have the choice to take the story wherever the hell you want (no pun intended), but really, who did you honestly make this game for?

Think about it. After so many years, why make the game at all? For its fans. You didn't need this game for money. You have the World of Warcraft cash cow for that. So why make Diablo 3? I assume they wanted to appeal to that group of us that have a particular fondness for the game, but when the original developers of the game have long moved on...why bother? I'd almost prefer to be left with the masterpieces that they were. They are far out-stripped by a lot of games today. Games today have come a long way and...well they ARE much better. The games piss people like me off because I have a nostalgic love of the old games, and the new games do not meet the standards I have for the series. This is why I don't believe in remakes. I don't believe in continuing a series a decade after. It doesn't work for its fans. AND THAT IS WHY YOU MADE IT. Granted, there are new comers to the field. Well good for them. Make a new game. Keep the same universe if you want, but don't try to continue the story. Don't try pass it off as a continuation of the same series. TRY SOMETHING ELSE. This is why you were good in the past Blizzard.

Okay, so now that I've had my rant (and feel only marginally better), what's good about the game? Well, I'll admit that the social aspect is one of the only reasons I'm still playing after all my frustration. It has given me the opportunity to play with people that don't obsess over being the best or getting all the greatest items. It has given me the opportunity to spend quality time with people that I haven't seen in ages. Most of all, it's just fun to talk about all the crazy stuff in the game, the cartoony and cheesy story and how epic the cutscenes are. Yes, the cutscenes, as always, are fantastic. Cheese aside, Blizzard really gets you interested in the cutscenes. They are well done, high-scale and all round enjoyable. You forget that the plot is one of the lamest, cliched stories ever created by humanity. I watched Act II's cutscene last night (yes I'm only on Act II of normal...see the above rant) and man was it good. had my attention.

The voice acting is all over the place. Some of it is great and some of it is EXTREMELY bad. The queen at the end of the first act is pretty bad and Cain sounds like he's voiced by a young guy pretending to be an old guy (though I shouldn't be so critical after hearing how bad my voice acting its). the music is wonderful. Say what you want about Blizzard games, but no one can say they have terrible soundtracks. I love the music in these games and I'm glad to see it's just as good as it used to be.

Lastly...the cheesiness kind of works for it. Once I get over the fact that this game actually scared the shit out of me when I was younger and many of the bosses were actually intimidating, it's super hilarious. I love the physics and how bodies just cartwheel through the air at the slightest provocation. Dropping chandeliers on demon's heads and crushing others with logs. I'm playing a wizard right now and I have to admit I enjoy zapping dudes. That, and I have a GOD DAMNED LASER. Everything is better with lasers. That and I giggle constantly at how chill everyone is about demons and the forces of Hell cropping up everywhere. The Blacksmith ends up needing help killing his wife at the beginning and right after he's all "time to get back to work...now where's that darned apprentice..."

Overall, the game angers me, but it has redeeming attributes. I will continue to play it. I already have plans for a Barbarian after my wizard so that's cool. I just really needed to get that out, mostly because the hype that that game is getting from my friends and the general gaming community is just so blown out of proportion. Need a bit of a counter-balance every now and then. In return, I will try to relax a little and just enjoy it for what it is....grudgingly.