Game Review: The Heavens and Hells of Diablo 3

Now that people can finally log onto the Diablo 3 servers and partake in its endless grind, it’s time to sit back and think about what other games in the Role Playing Game (RPG) genre can learn from Blizzard Entertainment, and what Blizzard should have learnt from them. Let’s start with the good:

The Social Aspect

The Witcher 2 is one of the best RPGs I’ve played in recent years. Dragon Age 2 is a game I’d describe as ‘good’. Most likely I’ll play The Witcher 2 twice in my life, and Dragon Age 2 once. But I’ll probably sink ten times as much time into Diablo 3 because of the possibilities its online play offers. It’s not just the fact that it’s fun to play along with your friends; Diablo 3 taps into a dark impulse that RPGs have traditionally relied on: the willingness to undergo hours, days, or even weeks of repetitive activity for the sake of ’levelling up’.

The Pokemon games were built on this idea. Of course, a crucial element of the formula is that you have to be able to compare your levels with those of other people, cooperate with them to reach shared goals, and if possible, compete to establish your superiority over them somehow. That’s where player versus player comes in, which Blizzard hasn’t activated yet, but plans to in the future. There are enough ways to customise your Diablo 3 characters to keep you busy for a long time.

The rational part of me bristles at the injustice of having to play the same game over and over again, another part of me feels compelled to do it nevertheless. A lot of RPGs are moving away from the idea of the grind - probably rightly so- but it shouldn’t be too hard to think up competitive systems that reward skill more than the amount of time invested.

The Combat

RPGs generally encourage tactics over point-and-shoot mechanics but are increasingly trying to make their combat more dynamic.

Blizzard fans can’t seem to agree if Diablo 3 plays too close to Diablo 2, or not enough, and whether this is a good or a bad thing. Some complain that for some classes, combat involves far too much kiting. Others say that the melee classes are tougher to play with. While there’s some weight to these claims, Diablo 3 still boasts combat that is much more exciting and fast-paced than most of its competitors, balancing action with tactics quite well.

Of course, good cannot exist without evil, and there are some things about Diablo 3 that make one grind one’s teeth (instead of grinding one of the dungeons in the game).

The Insipid Story

One thing that a lot of RPGs have been doing well for some time is giving their players breathtaking depth in terms of story and characters. Diablo 3, on the other hand, like Starcraft 2, has a rather juvenile story with uninteresting, shallow characters. The sidekicks you encounter on your journey are stereotypes built up in a rather formulaic manner, each with one secret: A noble templar who follows a holy order which is not what it seems. A sorceress who serves a prophet who is not who he seems.

Compare them to Bioware characters and one realises how weak Blizzard’s effort is. The story too echoes themes that are done to death: Humanity is strong, one must carve one’s own destiny, etc. Other RPGs (even Final fantasy XIII, for gods sake, in between all its emo) explore morality, society, metaphysics. The bar for RPGs has been set high, and Diablo 3 didn’t make it at all.

Always Online isn’t the answer

Most people understand a game company’s need to deal with piracy and in-game hacks. Integrating single player with multiplayer does have its perks; it’s nice to be able to jump in and out of my friends’ games, or invite them to mine, without hassle. It’s clear, however, that Blizzard’s solution of requiring players to be online at all times while playing Diablo 3, even if they want to play single player, isn’t a good one.

The annoyances are far too noticable: being unable to play the game at all during server downtime; facing lag in single player; having to restart a dungeon if the server happens to randomly boot you. The experience isn’t actively unpleasant, but the arrangement is far from ideal.