Diablo 3 - Gamepad Edition

[Deleted member 11852]

That’s much better then I expected! As soon as this dips below 40 quid, I’m double dipping.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I bought this yesterday and spent the evening getting to level 24. The game sure has changed a lot - for the better - since I played the original PC release. The Switch port is absolutely marvellous having almost no loading times at all. Truly impressive.

Playing a DH now and having a blast. Necro next then maybe a melee class.

 

[Xbat]

Console version was the superior version for me because of couch co op. Played the PS3 version like 200 hrs and then did it again on PS4. Only played the PC version for like 30 hrs.

I can see the draw of it on Switch too, mobile Diablo

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Having played both, the PC version a whole lot more, I much prefer the D3 on console too. I just prefer a controller.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Rolled a necro and loving the ebb and flow. Bowl into a group of enemies, death nova everybody, revive all the dead and just roll through everything in the dungeon. When a boss shows up, cast Army of the Dead. You're basically un-killable and never have to stop.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Yeah, same. This is a tremendous port. And a fantastic game.

The Necromancer is a ton of fun. Running through the regular campaign made me feel like I had activated a cheat code, though. Started on normal and then bumped up the difficulty twice and still everything just seemed to melt away.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

TBH that's the problem with D3. It's so easy to get unstoppable, and then you have to crank up the difficulty to offer any sort of challenge. And very often, mobs are no challenge at all but then bosses are ridiculously overpowered. Having sunk a ton of hours into the game, I feel it's not really that great. A superb time-killer, but not a great, balanced ARPG. It's all about the loot and the numbers rather than how you go about fighting the enemies.

 

[Sigfried1977]

It feels so much better than the entire competition, though (the competition I know of at least) Playing Victor Vran felt like pummeling enemies with a sack of kittens. I also love all the little visual touches. Enemies don't all just stand around the environments in D3. Most of them still do of course, but there's enough visual variety to make it all feel a lot less artificial. Like spiders erupting from eggs or coming from the ceiling, or creatures crawling out of underground burrows and crevices.
Maybe that feel is part of the problem, though. Fodder enemies are kinda needed to make the player feel powerful.
Still missing the Snowblind games from the PS2 era, though.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Army of the Dead and Death Nova you say? *forgot a about elective mode*

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It feels so much better than the entire competition, though (the competition I know of at least)

current competition, for sure. This genre is severly lacking in quality.

Still missing the Snowblind games from the PS2 era, though.

I found these much more engaging than D3. D3 is about switching off and going through the motions. It's hard to get it set up so it's a challenge. Tried a new monk on some hard difficulty (Torment 2?). Very hard to progress while attacking with no range, completely underpowered. But after a few levels and a bit of gear, mobs are no challenge at all. In contrast, take a new Level 1 character into CON in hard mode and you can progress, struggling at each encounter but being able to win by playing smart.

D3 AFAICS is about the gear game, so finding a Torment level that's too hard, and then getting gear that makes it easy and you progress to the next level. That seems to be the game loop. It's very engrossing and people clearly love it, but I prefer my action games to involve watching and responding to the action rather than standing in the thick of a sea of particle effects watching the skill icons for when they are recharged.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Army of the Dead and Death Nova you say? *forgot a about elective mode*

I'm only levelling through the campaign to get used to all the changes so no idea if these techniques will work latter on but I've tried a few builds. A hardcore pet mode with skeletons, a golem and revived enemies is also viable but the screen is really cluttered in heavy battles and it's very difficult to see what's going on.

First world necro problems; I have too many allies fighting for me that I can't see how much arse I'm kicking! When I actually see some of the background I'll summon a few skeleton archers.

 

[Globalisateur]

Diablo 3 is really great in co-op. It's probably one of the best co-op game I have played, the best on PS4. Alone it becomes quickly boring.

There is a co-op mode on Switch I assume ?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Diablo 3 is really great in co-op. It's probably one of the best co-op game I have played, the best on PS4. Alone it becomes quickly boring.

There is a co-op mode on Switch I assume ?

There is, I've only played it solo. I just can't have more on the screen right now. It would also been unfair to the demons of hell, I have to give them a sporting chance.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Diablo 3 is really great in co-op. It's probably one of the best co-op game I have played, the best on PS4. Alone it becomes quickly boring.

I disagree. We were playing tonight 3 player. One person could easily just take their hands off the controller and the other two minced through the enemies. That's mostly because we can't increase difficulty beyond 'hard' as one player has not completed it before. Half the time I don't even know where my Necro is amongst the mobs and particle effects but everything seems to die anyway.

TBH it's probably about as good as coop gets shy of Overcooked. Almost all games approach coop as several people playing independently in the same space, maybe picking skills that augment teammates' damage. It's very frustrating how limited actual cooperation is. Overcooked obviously is full-on cooperation and very good in that regard. FIFA was also great coop when we played it, but a particularly niche title.

 

[Malo]

Yeah Diablo 3 isn't really a challenge until you open up Torment levels and progress through them.

 

[Cyan]

TBH that's the problem with D3. It's so easy to get unstoppable, and then you have to crank up the difficulty to offer any sort of challenge. And very often, mobs are no challenge at all but then bosses are ridiculously overpowered. Having sunk a ton of hours into the game, I feel it's not really that great. A superb time-killer, but not a great, balanced ARPG. It's all about the loot and the numbers rather than how you go about fighting the enemies.

have you tried the Demon Hunter? I am currently dying quite a bit at level 27, playing Expert -before going into Master, you must complete the Act IV of the game-. At my best, when I had a DH at level 70 on the Xbox One, I remember falling....

Diablo 3 is really great in co-op. It's probably one of the best co-op game I have played, the best on PS4. Alone it becomes quickly boring.

There is a co-op mode on Switch I assume ?

a fun game coop, and perfect to level up if you lost a character -like my DH on console- but I am playing alone, a private game, on PC and having tons of fun. That's how I used to play Diablo 2.

 

[Cyan]

current competition, for sure. This genre is severly lacking in quality.

Path of Exile is the best competitor out there, afaik. Not a bad game, at least the little I played with the Witch. It is free on Steam, iirc.

Torchlight -currently free on the X360 with Gold- was a bit of a disappointment. Not bad, but I never fancied the art direction.

Rolled a necro and loving the ebb and flow. Bowl into a group of enemies, death nova everybody, revive all the dead and just roll through everything in the dungeon. When a boss shows up, cast Army of the Dead. You're basically un-killable and never have to stop.

that sounds like a Diablo 2 build, the Overlord (Necromancer). I wrote a guide about the Overlord at the time, based on a guide originally in English.

Does the Necromancer DLC include something extra like new content for the campaign?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The Necromancer DLC is just a character. At £15 when I looked a few months ago, I decided that was exorbitant and didn't buy. The upside is it meant having a new class to play in a new coop game round my friend's.

 

[Cyan]

I disagree. We were playing tonight 3 player. One person could easily just take their hands off the controller and the other two minced through the enemies. That's mostly because we can't increase difficulty beyond 'hard' as one player has not completed it before. Half the time I don't even know where my Necro is amongst the mobs and particle effects but everything seems to die anyway.

TBH it's probably about as good as coop gets shy of Overcooked. Almost all games approach coop as several people playing independently in the same space, maybe picking skills that augment teammates' damage. It's very frustrating how limited actual cooperation is. Overcooked obviously is full-on cooperation and very good in that regard. FIFA was also great coop when we played it, but a particularly niche title.

Well, Hard isn't challenging at all. Expert starts to be a bit challenging solo but doable -DH-, Master and beyond is another story. Regarding weak classes, if you want challenge perhaps the Demon Hunter suits you well.

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/d3/topic/20761946345

https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/d3/topic/17610461257

https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/d3/topic/10188548890

 

[AlphaWolf]

I bet you can find threads like that for most classes.