• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Blizzard Norths old version of Diablo III revealed!

hermit7 said:
They didn't shut it down he just had to rename it from World of Starcraft to Starcraft Universe.
Click to expand...

So all his foot-stomping ranting and raving was for no reason at all?

Edit: Seems they had to take out many MMORPG elements, such as levelling. "Oh, sure, you can still do the mod... just rename it and take out MMORPG elements and you're good!"
"But, the entire point of the mod is --"
"Take it or leave it."

Blizzard may as well have just shut it down.
 
Boy, what a great find. :D

Obviously unfinished, but looks a little too bland for my tastes. I'm not too excited with Diablo III's direction, but the older version looks DULL.
 
Stylistically, it certainly looks like a more natural and logical progression from Diablo II.

I think we can all see the influence from [Wo]Warcraft in the Diablo III we're getting now.


There's advantages and disadvantages to both, and they're both good art™ (it's Blizzard after all). But I think there's nothing wrong with preferring one over the other.
 
I like the look of the older one. I don't really have a good way to describe it, but warcraft 3 and WoW had this softer look that I hated. Seems like the newer Diablo 3 has the same style.
 
antonz said:
The new one just has too much of the WoW style too it. Its clearly toned down from WoW but the WoW style still stands out.
Click to expand...
Yeah, definitely.

zoukka said:
Thank the gods they didn't follow on Diablo II's footsteps. That shit looks sterile and stiff.
Click to expand...
emot-frog.gif
 
Sorry but just those flat chains scream Warcraft 3/WoW. Its the whole aesthetic that is different. Thats why the shots of the old D3s heaven look like Diablo even without a shadow on the screen while the dark new D3 looks like a new wing of Blackrock Mountain.
 
Wow, I like the scale in those and the environments look kind of intimitating. Would have been awesome some years ago.
 
mysteriousmage09 said:
The art style for the current Diablo III has a bunch of different moods as Blizzard has said it will go from moderate to utter hell as the game reaches the end. This shot shows how different the game feels at different points. You would never mistake this shot for Torchlight.

http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss128-hires.jpg

The old Diablo III pics are pretty cool though. I like both the old and the new styles.
Click to expand...

16594j.jpg


That seems like a great medium between the two styles. The one Nirolak posted is a bit heavy on the vivid hues.
 
water_wendi said:
Sorry but just those flat chains scream Warcraft 3/WoW. Its the whole aesthetic that is different. Thats why the shots of the old D3s heaven look like Diablo even without a shadow on the screen while the dark new D3 looks like a new wing of Blackrock Mountain.
Click to expand...

Yep could easily say that Diablo 3 screen could pass for a WoW Dungeon or Raid zone.
 
I prefer that to what diablo 3 currently looks like. Either way i'd be there day one though.

water_wendi said:
Looks like Diablo. If people didnt have a problem with Diablo 2 being essentially Diablo 1 i doubt they would care that Diablo 3 looked like Diablo 2.
Click to expand...

I thought diablo 2 was very different to diablo 1.
 
Dated graphics aside old D3's aesthetic looks much better than new D3's aesthetic in my opinion. I couldn't care less if Diablo 3 consisted of you riding around on unicorns shooting rainbows, but that architecture and setting completely blows away anything they've shown so far of the current D3 build.
 
AdventureRacing said:
I thought diablo 2 was very different to diablo 1.
Click to expand...
D2 did kind of have that Diablos Gate thing that made it different but there was a reason why people joked about Diablo 2 being the "best game of 1996." However thats not really a bad thing because Diablo 2 is basically the best type of sequel.. it adds more of what was good (more loot, more locales, more characters, more enemies), trims out what was bad (like the speed of movement), introduces some new gameplay elements that add depth (quests that are a little more involved, Horadric cube fusion), and is close enough to the original game to be instantly available to returning players.
 
I wonder why cancelled versions of games pretty much always look better than released ones.
 
I love how people are knocking the graphics for a game that was developed between 2000-2005. If this had come out in 2006 people would have shit themselves.
 
The current development version of Diablo III looks awesome and cuddly. Something that would appeal to all possible audiences.

The revealed rejected development style looks basically like Diablo II with a 3D engine thrown into the mix, resembling Titan Quest. Looks OK, but the minimal GUI work shows that it was never supposed to be final or usable.

I have full confidence that Blizzard will pull off a superb product with Diablo III, no matter which style they decide to stick with. It will look awesome and play very well after a few patches and it will keep on looking good and playing good well into the years to come.
 
It's not "WoW" influence. It's just evolution in their art design really. Those old shots look like some Age of Empires game. Way too realistic texturing and everything is noisy and full of detail. Blergh... I kinda understand how that looks nostalgic if you've played a lot of old sprite based WRPG's though.

I mean that blacksmith shot looks dope as hell... just look at the structure of that hut so tasty.
 
The older one actually looks like Diablo, the newer one like WC3 or WoW. I definitely prefer the look of the older one, it fits the series better. I mean, Diablo III looks nice, but I wish it had a more Diablo-like art style... Blizzard North's Diablo III had that, clearly.
 
zoukka said:
It's not "WoW" influence. It's just evolution in their art design really. Those old shots look like some Age of Empires game. Way too realistic texturing and everything is noisy and full of detail. Blergh... I kinda understand how that looks nostalgic if you've played a lot of old sprite based WRPG's though.

I mean that blacksmith shot looks dope as hell... just look at the structure of that hut so tasty.
Click to expand...
Looks like Warcraft to me.
 
Zeliard said:
16594j.jpg


That seems like a great medium between the two styles. The one Nirolak posted is a bit heavy on the vivid hues.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is a better representation of D3. Wish they would hurry up and release it.
 
glaurung said:
Why do people keep saying that like it's a bad thing?
Click to expand...
Because.. its supposed to be a Diablo game? It would be like if the a new Metroid came out but instead of looking like Metroid it looked like Yoshi's Story.
 
glaurung said:
Why do people keep saying that like it's a bad thing?
Click to expand...
Because until the official reveal of Diablo III, Diablo has never adopted a visual style like Warcraft's. It just doesn't feel or look like a Diablo game. That's what I think, anyway.
 
glaurung said:
Why do people keep saying that like it's a bad thing?
Click to expand...
Because Warcraft and Diablo are not the same game series. Diablo isn't Warcraft and shouldn't look just like it.

It's not saying anything about whether one is better or worse, I'd say, it's more about how they should not be the same, each was better with its own style.
 
water_wendi said:
Because.. its supposed to be a Diablo game? It would be like if the a new Metroid came out but instead of looking like Metroid it looked like Yoshi's Story.
Click to expand...

This got me more than it should have.
I'd buy the game if it were better than Metroid: Other M.

Also, consider me in the camp with those that prefer the more detailed environments of ye olde Diablo.
 
A Black Falcon said:
Because Warcraft and Diablo are not the same game series. Diablo isn't Warcraft and shouldn't look just like it.
Click to expand...

Come on, it's an old series and you can't prevent standards changing and evolving. Every series goes through this if they last long enough. I hate it when people just cling to some arbitary guidelines and tout that something isn't SOMETHING anymore because the game doesn't look exactly like my favourite installment. You expect the new generation of artists just copy the shit that was made for D2? This is their vision of Diablo's world and what's most important is that it looks awesome.

Also it doesn't look like Warcraft to me. I heard the same fucking shit about Starcraft II and in hindsight I can only shake my head at those complaints.
 
&#8704 said:
Because until the official reveal of Diablo III, Diablo has never adopted a visual style like Warcraft's. It just doesn't feel or look like a Diablo game. That's what I think, anyway.
Click to expand...

I disagree I think it both feels and looks like a Diablo game, it's gonna be amazing, I really don't understand the thoughts of it looking like wow when it really doesn't look that much like Wow at all and basically a better looking Diablo.
 
People have officially lost it. Go look at some goddamn video. D3's style has changed but it doesn't look SHIT like wow during gameplay.

You dont get to say "Oh hey, that's 3d, and has detailed textures, so it looks like 'X' now". Tech evolves, get over it.
 
Cipherr said:
People have officially lost it. Go look at some goddamn video. D3's style has changed but it doesn't look SHIT like wow during gameplay.

You dont get to say "Oh hey, that's 3d, and has detailed textures, so it looks like 'X' now". Tech evolves, get over it.
Click to expand...

thisisneogaf.gif

But yeah, in motion with blood flying everywhere awesome fire effects and other awesome things going on, nothing like WoW at all.
 
zoukka said:
It's not "WoW" influence. It's just evolution in their art design really. Those old shots look like some Age of Empires game. Way too realistic texturing and everything is noisy and full of detail. Blergh... I kinda understand how that looks nostalgic if you've played a lot of old sprite based WRPG's though.

I mean that blacksmith shot looks dope as hell... just look at the structure of that hut so tasty.
Click to expand...
This is patently wrong.

The original two Diablo games were developed by Blizzard North. They had a particular penchant towards a gothic art style; Bill Roper can tell you all about the different art philosophy of Blizzard Irvine and Blizzard North. When development was handed over to Irvine, they used the art style that they had used in every game that they had developed in the past six years. This wasn't exactly a decision made by a cohesive team where they decided that this art style was what was best for the series; This was a decision made entirely as a result of Diablo being developed by a different team and a different philosophy.

I'm not at all surprised that I like the North build's art style better, although the 3D segments that break perspective would have irritated me greatly (much like they do in the Irvine build).
 
Zeliard said:
http://i52.tinypic.com/16594j.jpg[/IG]

That seems like a great medium between the two styles. The one Nirolak posted is a bit heavy on the vivid hues.[/QUOTE]
wow, that shot just screams "play me"
Click to expand...
 
I dunno the current version of Diablo III looks too cartoony. Its the same problem I have with WoW. It reminds me of the old Disney Gummi Bears & Dungeon & Dragons cartoons.
 
Cipherr said:
People have officially lost it. Go look at some goddamn video. D3's style has changed but it doesn't look SHIT like wow during gameplay.

You dont get to say "Oh hey, that's 3d, and has detailed textures, so it looks like 'X' now". Tech evolves, get over it.
Click to expand...

Come on, the pic everyone is reacting to is basically straight out of early BC. In fact if you cropped out the characters I would swear I saw that burning door somewhere in Hellfire Peninsula or Blackrock Mountain.
 
Those 'keep' shots especially are very reminiscent of Diablo 1. I think it's something I would have preferred over DIII's style. But whatever, I'm sure someone over at Blizzard is intelligent enough to have preserved something of Diablo's essence and I'm glad I'll finally be playing it this year.
 
I prefer it to what they've shown of Diablo 3's colourful art. Good thing it's a PC game and someone will mod all that colour out of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Rod Fergusson Departs Blizzard, Diablo Franchise
2 3
110
3K
Hawk The Slayer replied
Blizzard says it's open to even more Diablo 2 expansions and reworks unless people get really mad at it
2
66
933
I collect VHS tapes replied
Diablo: IV | The Lord of Hatred Review Thread
Analysis  2
50
693
Joramun replied
blizzard should some offline games
42
676
Radical_3d replied
“Steam/PC Version” of PS Deals?
10
235
nikos replied
Top Bottom