News Diablo 3 unchanged after Art Director quits

The whole Diablo 3 issue is not solely because of the colouring, it's the whole Warcraft-like design and textures of the in-game fixtures and surfaces. Dont get me wrong, the D3 demo was truly amazing when looking at the special moves, general game play and 3D environments. I think Blizzard has truly done an amazing job in this regard. But the smooth surfaces, cartoon like, lit up, "pretty" fixtures and beautiful outside world has nothing to do with what made Diablo one of the best selling games in history. If you knew nothing of the Diablo series and picked up D3 for the first time, you'd probably be amazed. I, as a hardcore Diablo fan am horrified to see each and every element which initially made Diablo, Diablo ... disappear.

I agree with Blizzard that the game as a whole would probably be more enjoyable having diverse environments, but IF I happen to stumble into a dungeon, it must LOOK like a dungeon and not a scene cut and pasted from Warcraft.! In the demo, where the barbarian spoke to Deckard Cain - the interaction IS AN EXACT REPLICA OF WHAT WARCRAFT LOOKS LIKE!

I've read Blizzard say that they were undoubtedly influenced by WoW when creating D3. I think the whole problem lies in that single sentence....

I signed th petition and will be first in line to get a D3 mod.

 

Diablo III is still in developement, one could say it's in early developement as well, since Blizzard can show a teaser and still work on a game for years. Drawing harsh conclusions from a part of two zones showed as a teaser is hardly reasonable nor well founded by any stretch.

There is a major difference in how things look when you change from 600x480 or 800x600 resolutions to full 1280x1024 or above. The sheer lack of amount of pixels available in the previous games made it impossible to make anything look as lively or vibrant as they can now. That's hardly a reason to not to, but if you want to keep playing on those resolutions I'm sure nobody minds, as long as you're happy with it.

Kiepa you sound like you know better how to design games than Blizzard does. How does a dungeon look like to you? Why is one thing a "proper dungeon" and another one isn't? Is a dungeon not a dungeon just because you are limiting yourself and your perspective to a certain set of attributes? Some others (including the designers) might not see the same attributes as relevant, ever thought of that?

I've also played both of the previous games for countless hours and still occasionally do. I also think they are outdated while legendary pieces of hack and slash gaming history. So don't bother putting me in the "new age gamer" section to wave a hand at what I'm saying.

Games and designers evolve and want to do things differently. Gamers are obviously starting to fall behind.

 

What a fickle bunch gamers are.... Starting to think the old adage of "you can never please a woman" applies to computer gamers aswell.

 

SathyDiablo III is still in developement, one could say it's in early developement as well, since Blizzard can show a teaser and still work on a game for years. Drawing harsh conclusions from a part of two zones showed as a teaser is hardly reasonable nor well founded by any stretch.)

"Harsh conclusions nor well founded by any stretch"? Son, have you been following the story the last couple of months or do YOU go around posting unfounded replies?

Lead “Diablo III” designer Jay Wilson said that even though 55,000 “Diablo” fans have signed a petition asking Blizzard to return to the darker, more gothic look of the old “Diablo” games, the new, vibrant art style is here to stay.

“There’s no going back now,” he said during an interview in a Manhattan hotel where Blizzard was showcasing their newest games. “We’re very happy with how the art style is. The art team’s happy. The company’s happy. We really like this art style, and we’re not changing it.”

Whether D3 is still in development phase or whether it's a day before the release, the art direction "IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE". I see it as moronic to call a solid statement like that "unfounded by any stretch".

I don't recall either saying that I want to play at poor resolutions. I looked hard through my original post, but I just cant find myself making that statement. And a dungeon is MOST CERTAINLY NOT just a dungeon. You want to tell me that if a 5 year old girl draws a dungeon and serial killer draws a dungeon it's going to look the same? Diablo is about setting a dark, macabre mood. That's what made D1 famous - the fact that it broke away from the trends. Dark, scary, confined dungeons (which actually makes you feel like you are in one) with your character's sight limited to his/her light radius. If the "dungeon" in the demo is anything to go by it would feel like my character is strolling through a nice WoW field. It's lit up, beautiful fixtures and no limited sight. The tension and scariness of the first Diablo seems to be lost with D3, which leaves it up to superbly produced ambience music to set the mood. While a 3D game will always be 'smoother' and more clean cut than its 2D counterparts, probably 100's of thousands of diablo fans including myself feel that Blizzard is spitting in the faces of their loyal fans by seemingly incorporating too many Warcraft elements. Diablo is not Warcraft.

I don't know of many fans who were disappointed when D2 came out. Odd that there's a massive online petition going on now against D3. Maybe it's just me. And while you can never please everyone ... why change the core of a winning recipe to this extent? To win over WoW players perhaps? Hmmmm...

 

Sorry to see that my post failed to deliver it's point, as you've obviously missed nearly everything I said Kiepa, might have something to do with what it takes to be needing to call others boys to make it easier for yourself to believe you're right. Well gramps, lets try it again, really crystal clear and in slow motion this time.

Having seen parts of two zones and drawing conclusions how the rest of the game will look like from it is clearly the the way to go, as you've so well pointed out. After all Blizzards honchos have said the rest of the game (we haven't yet seen) will be full of rainbows, purple fluffy bunnies and all things anti-gothic. That's what I said, and that's what you missed. Oh, and remember Blizzard stating at WWI08 (I think) that they want the zones to feel different? I know it's not fun to not know how the finished game will look like. Well, except for you and the other 54 999 people.

I'm sure your theory of catering to WoW fans is correct too. After all, it's not gameplay or story people are interested in, nevermind good games in general, but the pretty cartoon graphics that come with it. Yes!

Why should game developers be stuck in "this is how it's always been done"?
Blizzard are known from making games the way they see fit, and have so far done a great job at it. Expecting them to bend to the will of people who are so saturated by how things were that they're unable to see anything beyond that...I can't help but finding it amusing.

Next time try to read whole sentences instead of ignoring the actual message and focusing on the more "annoying words", please.

 

That's your reply?? I think you should put those thick, not-so-hip glasses of yours on sonny and actually read what I said. From what I've heard so far I can only hope that 'words' are the only things you put into other people's mouths. I rest my case....

 

Better?

Worse?


D3 Looks good to me, from what I've seen.

 

^No doubt.