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Diablo III Spoiler Thread - Solving the Mysteries of the Mighty Barbarians

Macmanus

Member
Zultan kulle pretty much knew we was being played for suckers, Why does Diablo sound so camp on act 4 when you hear him taunt you during gameplay? I couldn't take him seriously at all, I didn't really like Tyreal becoming human forever and taking up wisdom instead of justice, he pretty much did nothing

ARE YOU READY TO FACE YOUR TEAR-OR!
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Mortals are nephalem, it was the tweaked world stone that turned them all into standard humans. The diablo 3 nephalem appeared either because the world stone was blown up, or because he has a high midi-chlorian count.

Personally, I present the theory that all the heroes of all the Diablo games are nephalem. The Diablo 3 heroes are just better nephalem.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
I won't be participating in the overall story conversation... but I have been skimming the thread and my main conclusion is; people that think D1/D2 story telling are vastly superior are essentially shit for brains.

People that can't adapt to change.

I mean - if we'd gotten Diablo 3 story presentation the first and second times... then reverted to a D1 or D2 style of story telling, you'd have a lot more unhappy campers.

As it is... the story is servicable - allowing for nifty cut scenes, scene changes and plenty of demon and monster killing. Allows for some amount of investment into the boss characters, before you beat the ever living shit out of them.

Were people really expecting a literary classic?
 
I don't want character investment in Satan the Devil in Devil Clicker 3.

Diablo 3 gets overindulgent in the idea that it's telling "the conclusion to an epic fantasy trilogy."
 
Christ, I didnt even know there was a story.

All I remember is for a few hours me and some other people beat the shit out of monsters till we killed the big devil...I didnt even know it was the end of the game, was like "heh, thats it?"

I do remember these things..
A chick who made me keep doing shit for her and going back to to town.
A guy who fell from the sky who I guess was an angel.
A spider lady.

The movie between the acts tho looked good, but I didnt listen to them since that was "smoke break" time.
On my second play through I might pay attention if I remember.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
I don't want character investment in Satan the Devil in Devil Clicker 3.

Diablo 3 gets overindulgent in the idea that it's telling "the conclusion to an epic fantasy trilogy."

It's only unwelcome by nerdy purists that absolutely can't take a respite from clicking to press space/escape when shit happens.

I mean, I guess that makes sense if you play through the game 50 times in a row, as Diablo is indeed designed for. But on the flipside, the vast majority of players will only ever go through once or twice.
 
I went through it the first time without skipping because it was presented to me and Blizzard clearly put effort into making it a serious story. If they're proud of it and make an effort to get me to watch, then I'll judge it instead of ignoring it. And it ended up being awful and a worse experience than the simpler stories of the first games. Change is fine when it's good, not when it's terrible.
 

Wallach

Member
I went through it the first time without skipping because it was presented to me and Blizzard clearly put effort into making it a serious story. If they're proud of it and make an effort to get me to watch, then I'll judge it instead of ignoring it. And it ended up being awful and a worse experience than the simpler stories of the first games. Change is fine when it's good, not when it's terrible.

It's kind of comical how awful it is. Like when you pick up the narrated letters from people... there are ones from Belial and Azmodan that I actually had to cancel. What the fuck were they thinking with those? Belial writes people letters? Really? Kindly fuck off. Whoever handled the villains in this game shouldn't be allowed to do so again, ever.
 

Rufus

Member
I don't want literary glory from Diablo, either. It just has to be pointed out how stupid the story is, considering that it could have been avoided by simply doing less.

It's kind of comical how awful it is. Like when you pick up the narrated letters from people... there are ones from Belial and Azmodan that I actually had to cancel. What the fuck were they thinking with those? Belial writes people letters? Really? Kindly fuck off. Whoever handled the villains in this game shouldn't be allowed to do so again, ever.
Funny thing is that Azmodan can project himself in front of you to gob at you worthlessly whenever he wishes. Diablo has some magical PA system at his disposal as well. Why would they need to write missives to their minions? And then most of them just say 'don't screw up, or else...' all the time.
 
like you're a demon lord of hell

can't you like warp their will or whatever instead of using messengers and written letters that amount to "Starscream you have failed me for the last time, again!"
 
In general terms, I will say a game's story is 'good' if I feel the game would not be better without it. And I can say that about D3. I was mildly interested in what would happen next(obviously I knew that I'd be fighting Diablo in the end, but I was curious how that would end up coming about(through a super-lame 'twist', admittedly)). Anyway, the villains are goofy, but they do some decent stuff with the followers, and, as has been noted, characters are typically likable if for the voice-acting more than anything else. That's OK, though, stupid can be fun.

I'm sure this has been discussed, but I guess we're going to be fighting Imperium in the expansion yeah? Looking forward to uppercutting some angels.
 
like you're a demon lord of hell

can't you like warp their will or whatever instead of using messengers and written letters that amount to "Starscream you have failed me for the last time, again!"

Kinda makes sense though, hell is upper middle management after all.


More on topic, wished there where more cool cgi movies and less pan-overs over that map all the time. Once it even interupted what one of the angels was saying even.
 
The followers/NPCs were the most entertaining bits, wish they had sidequests built in. More interested in Shen's jewel, the Templar's order, the Scoundrel's brother+wife in Kingsport, and the Enchantress' crazy time travel and sisters than in whatever Diablo was up to.

I do like how much dialogue the followers have, was pleasantly surprised to hear the Enchantress commenting on everything during my second playthru in the parts of the game before you get her.
 

Ketch

Member
The story in Diablo is like the story in a Micheal Bay film: doesn't matter. That being said, I don't think it's any worse then the first two games... just told with fancier special effects.

I really really wish there was like a check box for "skip all story/dialogue". That would be awesome.
 

Haunted

Member
If you see the other female Leahblo designs they concepted on the BTS DVD, the final one actually turned out pretty well.
 
If you see the other female Leahblo designs they concepted on the BTS DVD, the final one actually turned out pretty well.

The final design is clearly the best one out of all the prototypes they show. At least some of the concepts are in the art book too, which has additional concept art/sketches for various things I never saw anywhere else before.
 

linkboy

Member
...Diablo has boobs and wide hips?

He possessed what was essentially his daughter and the reason for her creation (to be a vessel for him to return to).

Would kinda make sense for him to take on some of her.

Either that or Diablo has always wanted to be a female, knowing Blizzard, who knows.
 

Corto

Member
How do you people complaining of Azmodan and Diablo sending letters to their minions even play videogames? If that breaks the illusion of verisimilitude and immersion then the only games you can enjoy are abstract puzzles and hardcore wargames and flight/racer simulators.
 

Tacitus_

Member
So what exactly is a Nephalem? What is this significance of it? Or is it basically a placeholder title for voice acting.

Humans are the offspring of angels and demons. The original humans were called nephalem and were more powerful than both angels and demons. When this was realized, the worldstone was tuned to sap the powers of the nephalem, turning them to weak basic humans over the generations. With the worldstone broken, the humans are starting to return to their nephalem roots.
 

Suairyu

Banned
I finished both within two weeks of D3 launch. So unless three paragraphs of exposition constitutes super-long monologues - just no. You're incorrect or have the attention span of a gnat or simply don't know what a monologue is.
As did I. Deckard Cain is a painful, slow-talking motherfucker who wastes minutes of your time in one go. Other quest givers are little better. Quest dialogue in D2 and D1 lasts much longer than it does in 3. It's nothing to do with my attention span (nor your false assertion that you need to be longer than 3 paragraphs to be a monologue) but the entire delivery of it. It's just poor.
 
Anyone else getting "No items found" as the result for any auction house search? This has been happening to me for several days on the asian hardcore server (but not on other servers). Kind of makes me unable to play since the auction house is the only way of getting items...

edit: oops I meant to post this in the OT sorry.

On topic: What happened with the fact that in D2, the soulstones with the prime evils were destroyed at the hell forge?
 
How do you people complaining of Azmodan and Diablo sending letters to their minions even play videogames? If that breaks the illusion of verisimilitude and immersion then the only games you can enjoy are abstract puzzles and hardcore wargames and flight/racer simulators.

Azmodan and Diablo send messages in every game except abstract puzzles and hardcore wargames?
 

Rufus

Member
How do you people complaining of Azmodan and Diablo sending letters to their minions even play videogames? If that breaks the illusion of verisimilitude and immersion then the only games you can enjoy are abstract puzzles and hardcore wargames and flight/racer simulators.
No, bullshit. The impact on my enjoyment doesn't match the tone of my criticisms every time, that's how I for one 'manage'. I'm not slashing my wrists at the first sign of awful prose or stupid plot twists. (And I was never immersed in the story in the first place, besides wanting to know what was going to happen next, on the off chance that it might actually surprise.)

The stuff mentioned here's just dumb shit that's on occasion even funny in how stupid it is, why is there this resistance to calling it out?
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
I think the really interesting thing is how one of the biggest houses of gaming with a superstar budget can't hire decent writers. I mean BioWare having terrible writing... they're small potatoes but Blizzard?
 

Draft

Member
I think most of the complaints about the story are just nerd bullshit, but the ending is pretty lulzy. I guess Blizzard North had kind of fallen into a rut story line wise because every previous Diablo product ends ominously. Like, you did something OK, but holy crap, things are about to get SO MUCH WORSE. D3 spins that on its ear and ends in absolute triumph and while I can't fault Blizzard for trying something new, it doesn't feel very Diablo.
 

Rufus

Member
Wha? Budgets, schbudgets. Bioware's case is much worse because half of the appeal is the narrative. The story in Diablo 3 is the second helping of dry as the desert marble cake you really didn't want, but your grandma didn't ask whether you wanted more or not and she's a loveable old lady. It's much more critical for the former to have a good story.
 

Draft

Member
I think the really interesting thing is how one of the biggest houses of gaming with a superstar budget can't hire decent writers. I mean BioWare having terrible writing... they're small potatoes but Blizzard?
V0q3t.jpg


Top down problem.
 

MacAttack

Member
Just found my first page of the Black Rock Ledger (page 4). Apparently there are 6 pages numbered using the "Lost" numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.

Pretty cool reference but does anyone know what they do yet?
 
The same person can't be responsible for both D3's dialogue and its CG act segues. The difference in quality -- let alone tone -- was enormous. One minute I'm talking to a cackling butterfly woman, the next I'm seeing demons pouring from the earth.
 

Concept17

Member
I won't be participating in the overall story conversation... but I have been skimming the thread and my main conclusion is; people that think D1/D2 story telling are vastly superior are essentially shit for brains.

People that can't adapt to change.

I mean - if we'd gotten Diablo 3 story presentation the first and second times... then reverted to a D1 or D2 style of story telling, you'd have a lot more unhappy campers.

As it is... the story is servicable - allowing for nifty cut scenes, scene changes and plenty of demon and monster killing. Allows for some amount of investment into the boss characters, before you beat the ever living shit out of them.

Were people really expecting a literary classic?

This is how I feel as well. D1 and D2 were exceptionally worse. Also the letters/missives etc you find throughout the game help fill it out a bit more.
 
The same person can't be responsible for both D3's dialogue and its CG act segues. The difference in quality -- let alone tone -- was enormous. One minute I'm talking to a cackling butterfly woman, the next I'm seeing demons pouring from the earth.

The difference is probably that Blizzard's CG team has a director that knows what he or she is doing.
 

Draft

Member
The same person can't be responsible for both D3's dialogue and its CG act segues. The difference in quality -- let alone tone -- was enormous. One minute I'm talking to a cackling butterfly woman, the next I'm seeing demons pouring from the earth.
URvmz.jpg
 
Guess I'm the one who dug the story.

Nah I dug it too, perfect video game story that shouldn't be taken too seriously. I don't know what some of you guys were expecting, but it was on par with the Diablo 1 and 2 stories. I can't help but think it's rose tinted goggles from something went through when we were over a decade younger.
 
It's cool that some of you guys liked the story or at the very least didn't mind it. That doesn't elevate it above criticism...come on. It's not just "hardcore nerd bullshit" to say we hated it. Kinda sad that we can't have a discussion about the game without people getting all uppity about the complaints.
 

Somnid

Member
You need to come at this with a suspension of disbelief. Blizzard was first and foremost crafting a game not a novel. You want to know about Sanctuary but you don't want to spend a lot of time standing around listening to people talk. This why Belial writes letters and Cain has lost about 20 satchels. I think it was also to create pacing breaks in the action. So every so often Azmodan teases you because otherwise Act 3 has no plot and no real breaks in it, you just tear through a couple thousand demons going from A to B (let's also forget how you stopped an entire demon invasion single-handedly). It's really there because it's a cool set-piece.

The storytelling in Diablo games was never in plot, hell Deckard Cain and Tyrael were the only real characters D2, D1 had nothing. It's in the backstory lore which up until D3 was relegated to the instruction manual, But we all know instruction manuals don't exist anymore.
 
It just turns all the characters into idiots. I can suspend my disbelief about magical letters and lost satchels just fine, but when the wise sages are complete dumbasses and the malevolent demons trying to destroy the world are annoying incompetent loud mouths, then that takes things down a peg for me. You don't have to "play Diablo for the story" to get annoyed at all of these idiots constantly talking about nothing.
 

bengraven

Member
It's cool that some of you guys liked the story or at the very least didn't mind it. That doesn't elevate it above criticism...come on. It's not just "hardcore nerd bullshit" to say we hated it. Kinda sad that we can't have a discussion about the game without people getting all uppity about the complaints.

I didn't say that. I just said I liked it.
 

zlatko

Banned
I liked the story. Especially the CG scenes.

The end of Act 1 CG scene is one of my favorite in any game. Love when Imperius is all," SACRILIGE" as Tyrael rips his wings off.
 
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