Playing Diablo III - No time to post.

[GSHamster]

It's a little bit more complicated than that. The idea of "quest" in D3 is slightly different than most RPGs. It more accurately corresponds to "level" in a game like Super Mario Bros. That is, a quest is not a property of your character, but a property of the game you join.

So there is no real difference between single player and multiplayer. All you have is a character. You start a game at a specific quest and add your character to the game. By default the game starts (more or less) at the last quest that you were on. There's a button to change which quest you are on so you can go back and replay old quests.

People on your friends list can just drop into your game, or you can just jump into theirs. All characters inherit the current quest from the game. You can turn off allowing people to join your game.

Essentially, there is no real difference between a single player and multiplayer game of D3. A single player game is the multiplayer game with the option for other people to join turned off.

But yeah, it's essentially drop in and drop out. You can take your character and join a friend who is ahead of you, or join a friend who is behind you. Or you can play by yourself at any quest that you've unlocked. Or you can take your current game and make it public, allowing strangers to join.

 

[Umbran]

Haven't had time to play a huge amount of the game, but a few thoughts...

My laptop is new, but not exceedingly powerful. I started playing with the default settings, which are pretty high quality. It ran, and ran smoothly, and was very pretty, but it was also pretty pokey. "Run" was a bit of a misnomer.

I had understood that I'd probably have to turn down some settings to improve performance, and I did so...

...And it is still darned pretty, and not pokey. I have no qualms whatsoever about turning down some of the atmospherics to improve game play, simply 'cause the atmospherics are still very good when turned down. I can turn them down even more if I have multiplayer issues, and still expect to enjoy myself.

 

[Hand of Evil]

So far in solo play I have yet to see the need to buy anything as everything I seem to have is better than what is offered.

Does this change in multiplayer?

 

[Umbran]

My recollection from Diablo I and II is that way, as well. Purchasing was less frequent than finding and crafting.

 

[Spatula]

But yeah, it's essentially drop in and drop out. You can take your character and join a friend who is ahead of you, or join a friend who is behind you. Or you can play by yourself at any quest that you've unlocked. Or you can take your current game and make it public, allowing strangers to join.

If you joined someone ahead of you, wouldn't your character be under-leveled or under-equipped? Or is that not an issue?

I suppose the same is if you were helping a friend who was behind you. Wouldn't you stomp everything while he/she tagged along?

 

[GSHamster]

If you joined someone ahead of you, wouldn't your character be under-leveled or under-equipped? Or is that not an issue?

I suppose the same is if you were helping a friend who was behind you. Wouldn't you stomp everything while he/she tagged along?

Yes, you would be under or over levelled. But it depends how close the two of you are. So far, I would say that up to 7 levels isn't that big a deal.

 

[Raunalyn]

I'm enjoying the game so far. There are a few things I don't like about the game, but overall, it's pretty good.

Diablo 3 has a bit more of a story than its predecessors. However, 1&2 did a better job of dramatically revealing the story as you progressed. Diablo 3 hasn't really done that for me.

I do NOT like the character progression. It seems to linear. One of the best parts of Diablo 2 was the customizability of the characters...you could specialize in one tree, or you could dabble in all.

The graphics are breath-taking. The dungeons are beautifully atmospheric, and there were a few times when I had to stop and marvel at the background. The music is also spot-on.

Right now, I'm just playing the Monk...haven't tried any other characters. I will admit that he is actually quite fun to play, especially when you get the Deadly Reach and Piecing Trident...something about hitting and killing everything in front of you is very appealing.

Right now, I'm at around level 20 and in chapter 2. I do enjoy that the chapters are quite long, so there is some added value in the fact that it will take me a while to beat. Also, I do enjoy that they kept the random element to the dungeons so that the replay value is also there.

Overall, I would put the game as better than Diablo 1, but not as good as Diablo 2.

 

[renau1g]

I played for like 1/2 hour or so, up to level 5 I think. It's ok. Not too much different than the others and the server just randomly turned off in the middle of the Sanctuary church thing in Act 1.... that sucked, I had to restart so then I just stopped playing. Glad I had to play it online........

 

[Hand of Evil]

Had my first death tonight, of all things...pumpkins...had goats and trees attacking, killed all something like 25 and then those pumpkins started to pop and took me out!

Forging is interesting and has been worth the money!

 

[Thanee]

My recollection from Diablo I and II is that way, as well. Purchasing was less frequent than finding and crafting.

In D1 purchasing items from the vendors often provided better equipment than what you found.

I think in D2 you basically got all the good stuff from the big bosses.

Bye
Thanee