Diablo 3 - Gamepad Edition

[Shifty Geezer]

They say it is temporary and a friend told me that they were so lazy they just copied the skeleton king area to recreate most of the world of Diablo 1 and did strange things to animations.

The gameplay I've seen makes it look like a post filter and tweaking of animations. Basically palletise colours and sample animations at 10 fps or somesuch. Quite a nice idea for a look from a 3D source, although getting convincing sprites should require more work than just reducing the colours.

Given I already had to buy the game twice on PS3 because I was sold an unsupported, unpatched version 1 and required to buy the actually-going-to-be-supported version 2 of the same game, I'm loathe to buy it a third time for PS4, especially when the PSN asking price is £60! Especially when I can't resell the PS3 versions. Offer an upgrade price to show you appreciate my custom and loyalty and I might bite again.

It has to be said, that first requirement to buy the game was a pretty shitty move and definitely soured an otherwise incredible game which has provide countless free updates. Us early PS3 buyers who were asked to pay double have a residual bitterness that other D3 players won't appreciate.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I had to buy it twice too, once on th eps3 and then when reaper arrived I got it on my ps4. But I hate it that I am still an outsider in a way that I am not allowed to play on my PC now. I know its right in a way but with digital purchases I would want it to unlock all versions becuase anyways I have given up my right to resell the game, I am anyways investing more than an average guy in ur game. Sadly it doesnt seem to be happening. thanx to that having multiple systems to game on feels very disjointed and meaningless to me. I want a single library which carries accross devices. I should have the freedom to play your game on any system of my choice once i have bought it. WHy limit me to one when I can take the game with me on my laptop when I am away?

Portal 2 was a crossbuy between steam and ps3. I really wish more/all publishers do that for Steam+PSN. I wouldn't mind if it means the sales wont go that low anymore.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Is it available already? I havent checked on my console.

They say it is temporary and a friend told me that they were so lazy they just copied the skeleton king area to recreate most of the world of Diablo 1 and did strange things to animations.

Here are some of the features in detail:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-04-diablo-3-players-divided-on-20th-anniversary-patch

It being a timed event is definitely a bummer ! Why not let the content be there forever?

 

[Malo]

It being a timed event is definitely a bummer ! Why not let the content be there forever?

Why? it would be boring real fast. There's not really much to it, just something cool they did for the birthday and might as well have it available each birthday every year as something to look forward to. Maybe with some tweaks and extra stuff every year.

Just ran through the labyrinth for the first time, it's funny seeing classic stuff like Godly Plate of the Whale and Kings Sword of Haste drop.

The Dark Lord actually dropped a special gem, the Red Soul Shard. It's the first legendary gem to be able to socket into non-jewelry, in this case a helm. And equipping it gives a transmog to change your helm look to your normal head with glowing red eyes and a burning red symbol in your forehead. It's pretty cool. The actual gem seems to be quite powerful as well, with some possibly interesting levelling rules. When I hit 90% chance for levelling the gem, it failed every time! Seems only 100% allows it to level.



Here's me going through tristram with the event filters

 

[RenegadeRocks]

So that i can play it when i want. Having it in there wont hurt anyone. Also i havent played the original Diablo , nor have 99% of my friends ( not even D3, i seem to be the only addict) so it would be great to have in there to visit when u want.

Sent from my SM-N920G using Tapatalk

 

[Cyan]

The gameplay I've seen makes it look like a post filter and tweaking of animations. Basically palletise colours and sample animations at 10 fps or somesuch. Quite a nice idea for a look from a 3D source, although getting convincing sprites should require more work than just reducing the colours.

Given I already had to buy the game twice on PS3 because I was sold an unsupported, unpatched version 1 and required to buy the actually-going-to-be-supported version 2 of the same game, I'm loathe to buy it a third time for PS4, especially when the PSN asking price is £60! Especially when I can't resell the PS3 versions. Offer an upgrade price to show you appreciate my custom and loyalty and I might bite again.

It has to be said, that first requirement to buy the game was a pretty shitty move and definitely soured an otherwise incredible game which has provide countless free updates. Us early PS3 buyers who were asked to pay double have a residual bitterness that other D3 players won't appreciate.

Your mistrust is quite understandable. That should apply to X360 owners too. That would never happen in the PC world. Plus, asking full price for the PS3/X360 version of the original Diablo 3 AND also the Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition (the standard one in the PS4 and X1) should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, 'cos you have a paperweight at home (an utensil of bitterness and bad memories) called the original Diablo 3 for consoles, unpatched.

That game originally got loads of hate comments. I was there in fact, as a Day one Diablo 3 owner (PC version), in the Diablo 3 forums telling how wrong the game was. Blizzard re-programmed most of the game, and it evolved just fine, plus as a console gamer I couldn't be happier with them overall. Great content in every patch, for free... This means only for the PS4 and X1 versions..

But they don't consider people like you, who have paid for the game religiously, twice. The other day I signed in and Steam had a free version of Skyrim Special Edition there for me, without even paying a single pennie, just because I had the original on PC, also on the X360 and got the Skyrim SE for the Xbox One quite recently. So I paid for 3 different versions of the game.

You just deserve a statue at the Blizzard offices but they don't see it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Our grumbling has paid off - D3 down from £60 yesterday to £16 today, and bought!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Bit more grumbling -

Started a three player online game. Chose Master Level 2 to offer a modicum of challenge for new characters (this game has been made a lot easier!). Only, one player hasn't imported their PS3 game (probably can't as it's not RoS) and so isn't allowed to play anything other than 'hard' difficulty, which is piss easy. When we first played D3, if you stood in the midst of the Field's of Misery and got charged by a bull or poisoned by a green cabbage attack from a tree, you died. Similarly if a molten enemy exploded, you died. Tonight I could stand in the middle of it all barely taking damage. My friend even failed to notice he was being impotently attacked by a yellow boss while looking at his skills.

Why impose such artificial limits?! Why not allow us to try Master Levels and change the difficulty down if we find it too hard? Utterly ridiculous.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Bit more grumbling -

Started a three player online game. Chose Master Level 2 to offer a modicum of challenge for new characters (this game has been made a lot easier!). Only, one player hasn't imported their PS3 game (probably can't as it's not RoS) and so isn't allowed to play anything other than 'hard' difficulty, which is piss easy. When we first played D3, if you stood in the midst of the Field's of Misery and got charged by a bull or poisoned by a green cabbage attack from a tree, you died. Similarly if a molten enemy exploded, you died. Tonight I could stand in the middle of it all barely taking damage. My friend even failed to notice he was being impotently attacked by a yellow boss while looking at his skills.

Why impose such artificial limits?! Why not allow us to try Master Levels and change the difficulty down if we find it too hard? Utterly ridiculous.

Yup, this was a major gripe from me too. Cannot go higher in difficulty for so long. The first playthrough is piss easy and its very natural to get turned off by that and just leave the game. no boss posed any challenge at all and that felt ridiculous. A lot of my friends I had pushed into this game just left after the first playhthrough, leaving just me to push on and find fun later. The lack of any excitement/sense of achievment in the first playthrough is a very very weird decision IMO.

 

[Cyan]

Some very good improvements in the game for the PS4 Pro.

-Diablo 3 uses a dynamic resolution adjusting image clarity based on how taxing a scene is
-Native 4K at highest and 1080p at lowest
-Resolution is typically much higher on the Pro in like for like scenes
-Diablo 3 also downsamples to 1080p displays
-Some UI elements are still 1080p
-Improved ambient occlusion
-Enhanced bloom
-Improved frame-rate, 60fps 99% of the time.
-The only significant drop came when it dropped to 30fps for a few seconds because of the double buffer vsync method

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Yup, this was a major gripe from me too. Cannot go higher in difficulty for so long. The first playthrough is piss easy and its very natural to get turned off by that and just leave the game. no boss posed any challenge at all and that felt ridiculous. A lot of my friends I had pushed into this game just left after the first playhthrough, leaving just me to push on and find fun later. The lack of any excitement/sense of achievment in the first playthrough is a very very weird decision IMO.

Discussing it with a friend, I wonder if it's just a left over from the original? IIRC the original on hard was definitely hard! I'm pretty sure bosses all added another attribute with each difficulty level, so normal would see a Fast Molten boss and Hard a Fast Molten Waller boss. It seems difficulty has been massively dumbed down but the completion requirement stupidly kept, making the game a breeze on first playthrough. At this point it needs to be played as a mindless button masher, and just an exploration of the skills.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

A

Discussing it with a friend, I wonder if it's just a left over from the original? IIRC the original on hard was definitely hard! I'm pretty sure bosses all added another attribute with each difficulty level, so normal would see a Fast Molten boss and Hard a Fast Molten Waller boss. It seems difficulty has been massively dumbed down but the completion requirement stupidly kept, making the game a breeze on first playthrough. At this point it needs to be played as a mindless button masher, and just an exploration of the skills.

Agree, it does feel very casual until one is allowed to bump up theh difficulty after a few acts. Do keep checking, I think u can bump it higher after Act 3, don't remember.

Am downloading the PC trial right now, curious to see how different it looks on the PC , if at all, and how would it feel with a mouse ! Cos the controller feel is too good except for the inventory which is a mess. The sticks to make the character walk part really changes the feel to a more action oriented title. I wonder if I will be put ogg by the wholeclick to move as well as cclick to attack stuff. Can we use the controller on PC D3?

 

[RenegadeRocks]

played the trial on PC and whoa got a legendary helm within 20 minutes of playing ! What a change ! what a change from the first elgendary I ever got back then.
Have to restarting on a new platform feels very refreshing

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Was it Leoric's Crown?

 

[cjo]

Was it Leoric's Crown?

ssssh Shifty, don't tell him!

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Was it Leoric's Crown?

Nope. Much befoer that,didn't even reach the Skeleton King yet. Thats why I was so surprised.

Went back to th eps4, and the game is so much better with a controller, i will just stick with the ps4. made a new Demon Hunter and defeated the Skeleton King there.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Nope. Much befoer that,didn't even reach the Skeleton King yet. Thats why I was so surprised.

I had the crown drop from a mob well before meeting the king.

Went back to th eps4, and the game is so much better with a controller, i will just stick with the ps4. made a new Demon Hunter and defeated the Skeleton King there.

Yes, I utterly hate the PC approach. Tired it in multiple similar games like Dungeon Siege and Torchlight, and I reckon it's basically a broken interface, though PC payer will argue passionately with me. Fact is in the mouse interface that centres on the character, the area you want to target keeps moving. You have your mouse over an enemy to target them, the camera moves as you character does, perhaps not predictable due to path finding, and when you click you hit just to the side of the enemy and start running next to them! Can't see why anyone would want to play such indirect control. That's like playing a racing game where you click a path you want the car to follow instead of controlling its steering directly.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Where does one get console support for this game? Blizzard say they don't do console support, and I can't find anywhere on Sony's Playstation support website to ask for support on games. Voice chat worked with three players on Saturday. Last night, same three players, clients couldn't hear each other but host could hear both of us. I can see that being a Sony issue if using PSN services, so it's understandable why Blizzard wash their hands of it, but it'd be nice if someone took responsibility for their paying customers to provide the product and services paid for...

 

[Malo]

What would you do at the time, call someone? I highly doubt some help desk guy is going to be able to fix an issue with voice chat across PSN, other than report it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'm not looking for immediate phone-type support, but at least a way to raise the issue. It's an issue with either the game or the service. I should be able to report it and be given instructions how to fix it or have it bug fixed. I recall Borderlands on PS3 had broken voice chat and Take Two just shrugged it off, and that was a bitter pill to swallow. As a player, you either have to endure shit customer support because they don't give a damn, or boycott the products which has no effect because no-one else is. It'd be nice if there were companies out there that genuinely valued their customers instead of just providing a statistically relevant PR front and sweeping minority issues under the rug leaving behind angry, frustrated users. You see it plenty of times on game forums, customers ranting about significant problems and not even attracting an apology from the devs/service provider in recognition of the problem.

In this case there are particular curious circumstances that may be coincidental or not. First time we tried, two of us had PS4 RoS and imported PS3 RoS game saves; the third did not import his old PS3 save and played fresh PS4 RoS. Everything worked as normal though we couldn't play a meaningfully challenging difficulty level. This time the third player imported his PS3 save, but it's only the original version and not the RoS version. His imported characters strangely had different difficulty levels available to newly generated characters. Newly generated characters could be played on Master level. Are our problems caused by a glitch from an incompatible save game import? Did Blizzard properly test that or did they overlook it because the PC source doesn't account for the original, non-RoS upgrade possibility? Can it be fixed by some combination of clearing data caches or something? Or is it a PSN issue? Do they even use the PSN chat system (if so, how come PS4 party chat worked fine?)?

We'll never know because no-one wants to address the situation. I've no idea how Blizzard can just fob off their console customers this way though. I guess they're really a PC-focussed company (I see console Overwatch bugs aren't addressed also). I'll factor that in when considering future Blizzard purchases.