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November 2014

Hover mouse over screenshots for commentary.

Diablo III

Diablo III came out on PC in 2013, but a version with the Reaper of Souls expansion was released for the PS4 in 2014.  The console version controls quite differently from the PC version - mostly because you use the left analogue stick to move your character rather than clicking on a location.

 

Diablo III is a Role-Playing Game, full of nerdy stats and randomized items.  Your character gains experience and increased stats for each defeated monster and completed quest.  The monsters you are fighting get stronger as you do so sometimes your strength growth isn't as noticeable as it would be if monsters stayed the same.  However, if the monsters didn't scale then the game would get too easy.  This is a classic gameplay dilemma faced by most RPGs, and Diablo actually handles this situation quite well.  In Diablo III, the monsters scale, but not very fast - before long the game will become fairly easy.  If the game is still a fun challenge for you then you can keep the difficulty as it is.  However, if you think the game is getting too easy you can increase the difficulty.  This increase in difficulty comes with an extra 75% bonus to gold and experience, so there is a huge incentive to increase the difficulty - if you can handle it.  Along with the bonus gold and experience, increased difficulty levels also bring a higher chance of finding better items (such as stronger armor or weapons that deal more damage).  There are 10 different difficulty levels in Diablo III, so a person could play for quite some time before they maxed out the challenge and replay value.  As an example of how much your character stats can develop over the course of the game, I took two screenshots - one towards the start of the game and another after I'd used the character for quite some time; my damage dealt (per second) increased from 9 to 2,156,000.  There are also six different character classes to choose from, each with their own play style, weapons, armor, and skills unlocked at each level progression.

 

I played the first Diablo game quite a bit as a kid and played Diablo II several years later.  I believe this game came out probably a decade after the previous one, so the graphics and gameplay are more refined.  However, the graphics look like they're from 2006, but whatever.  This type of game is usually pretty boring to me, especially on PC where you just click where you want to move and where you want to attack.  If I were to play the first Diablo game now I'd probably find it very boring.  However, Diablo III is just so well made that I couldn't help but find it engaging.  It also helped a lot that you actually control your character and attacks with the analogue stick and buttons rather than just mouse clicks.  It sounds small, but I think it really changes the feel of the game.

 

Another aspect of the game that many people will like (but that I haven't tried much myself) is that you can play same-screen multiplayer; not just online, but two humans actually in the same room (a once common experience now known as "couch co-op").  Playing online is pretty fun, too!

If you die in Hardcore mode then your save file is deleted.  In other words, the stakes are extremely high!  There's a trophy for beating the game in Hardcore mode, so of course I had to give it a shot . . .

I was playing online and was amazed at how much more powerful other players were!  We completed a rift trial and started a greater rift together.  We were getting so much experience from the powerful monsters that I got almost 150 levels in a few minutes!  Just touching an enemy would kill me instantly, though.

 

Through the magic of the internet I later learned that such player strength was impossible and I had been playing with CHEATERS!  I felt so dirty.  But, like a mob wife, I kept the spoils.

Fighting on top of a giant battering ram is definitely under-rated!

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