Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Drakale]

My thought on the story:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I actually thought it was really good until the middle of act 2, and then went really bad. The way the story was progressing I was thinking that the last act would pit us against the heaven themselves, to protect mankind from eradication by the angelic council. Sadly the actual events where far more generic. With Cain and Diablo death, I the inevitable expansion will find some way to make the poor guys live again, because there is no Diablo without them. I predict time travel, as an easy cop out.

I do enjoy the actual game a lot though :p

[pilgrimboy]

My thought on the story:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I actually thought it was really good until the middle of act 2, and then went really bad. The way the story was progressing I was thinking that the last act would pit us against the heaven themselves, to protect mankind from eradication by the angelic council. Sadly the actual events where far more generic. With Cain and Diablo death, I the inevitable expansion will find some way to make the poor guys live again, because there is no Diablo without them. I predict time travel, as an easy cop out.

I do enjoy the actual game a lot though :p

I agree. It wasn't until the middle of Act II that the story went to crap. And then it gets worse and worse. I thought the story was great until then.

What I don't understand is why coming up with a good story would be difficult. They have the money to hire good writers. And it really doesn't need a whole lot of writers to come up with an overarching storyline. I bet it was written by committee or even each act written by different writers rather than one cohesive vision.

[nenjin]

PS

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Another example of WTF writing. In Act 2, if you talk to Haedric about his past, you actually start cracking jokes about Haedric's dead wife that you killed in Act 1 to end her misery as an undead. Haedric even says "hey, that's my wife you're talking about...." and yet the player continues making jokes about it. What. The. Fuck. I kept waiting for Haedric to go "Look you motherfucker, that happened like a week ago! Maybe you could quit being such a fucking asshole? I've asked you to leave me alone like 5 times, I've told you I don't really want to talk about it, and when I finally open up, you make fun of me and my dead wife? FUCK YOU!" *grabs a flaming mallet and caves the PC's skull in.

Also the "new historian" is terrible, compared to Deckard Cain. Cain tells you what the monster is about. The new guy just demonstrates constantly how little he actually knows about what he's describing.

[Levi]

Of the story,

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I didn't remember most of the story from the first two, so any inconsistencies didn't bother me.  I enjoyed Act 1 and 2, especially the bits with Zoltan Kulle. 

Act three was probably the lamest, as it basically went like this:

- You raised the catapults, but that won't help you at all!
- You sealed the breach, but my armies will somehow still get in!
- You broke all my balistas.  Um yeah, I didn't really need those.
- Huh, you entered into my hell dimension.  Psssssh.  My grandmother could do that.  I'm not worried.
- You slaughtered my succubus 2nd in command eh?  No big deal, hundreds of more where she came from. 
- You chopped of my head.  Hah, like that'll stop me.  Its just one of my many body parts! 

It started to feel pretty repetitive.  For some demon who was supposed to be a master strategist, it felt pretty hollow to keep thwarting his plans with no twists.

Act four was a little better for story, but it felt like a mini-version of act 3.

Still, overall I enjoyed it.  If they made an expansion I hope its got more of Zoltan Kulle.  That guy was the high point of the entire game for me.

[nenjin]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

To me, Zoltan Khule is just another version of the Horadric Mage legacies you dealt with in D2, aka Tal Rasha and "The Summoner." And the flail and all that other jazz. His levels are literally just a re-imagined Arcane Sanctuary (another "place out of time" level.) The only things that made him standout to me are his (totally unfelt) belief that he's making the Black Soulstone to free humanity, and his sense of humor. But like most Diablo characters, the game builds up this thousand year-old bad ass and the players can dismiss them entirely in an hour. Just like the Evils, Zoltan Khule lived to die. And I find that a little sad/underwhelming.

And yes, Act 3 was atrocious. The logic underpinning what you're doing is fine, but Azmodan's reaction to it is lame as hell. It's the worst of the trope where Bad Guys have henchmen specifically so they can be killed by heroes, not because they're actually capable of achieving the bad guy's objective. For all the effort Blizz puts into voicing and character design, the impact they have on the story is always minimal.

Also, what is it with the greatest powers in the land being unable to destroy the physical bodies of things? And yet when the player characters arrive, they stick a knife in shit and it dies just fine? The whole "dismembering/trapping powerful entities because we can't destroy them" logic doesn't hold much water. Ever. Want proof how dumb it is? Robot Chicken has it.

[Nadaka]

There is certainly more story in d3 than the previous diablo's.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And up to  the end of act 3 I was expecting the expansion content to be defending sanctuary from the wrath of angels after they discover that sanctuary had been corrupted (even though you defeat diablo (yet again) at the end of act 4). That would have been far cooler.

[AustralianWinter]

There is certainly more story in d3 than the previous diablo's.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And up to  the end of act 3 I was expecting the expansion content to be defending sanctuary from the wrath of angels after they discover that sanctuary had been corrupted (even though you defeat diablo (yet again) at the end of act 4). That would have been far cooler.

Oh, much more story. It's not a good thing, I find.

[nenjin]

There is certainly more story in d3 than the previous diablo's.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And up to  the end of act 3 I was expecting the expansion content to be defending sanctuary from the wrath of angels after they discover that sanctuary had been corrupted (even though you defeat diablo (yet again) at the end of act 4). That would have been far cooler.

Yes, and WHAT ABOUT THAT HRRRMMMMM!!!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We're told that the presence of the Prime Evils must be hidden from the powers of Heaven or they'll go apeshit and wreck the world. Except, starting in Act 1, they know about it, and punish Tyrael while doing absolutely nothing until the minute Diablo arrives at the Diamond Gates and makes Imperious his bitch.

I can't even begin to take the story seriously when it doesn't take itself seriously.

[Ivefan]

There was a time in the series when the story was not only good, it was a major reason why you played on.

I know it's supposed to be all cool to go "I skip cutscenes hurr hurr hurr", but considering Blizzard spends millions on both the writing, artistry and cut scenes, I try to watch. Since, honestly, it's shit like that, which made this a $60 game that took 10+ years to come out. So when people just ignore them I feel like it's almost as bad as ignoring terrible gameplay. Because, once a upon a time, people actually gave a shit about the story because it was worth giving a shit about.

Really? I loved Diablo 1 but only have vague memories of any story. mostly that leoric was a good king that went mad and that people was led into a trap in the church.
I've probably played diablo 2 more than any other game but I only watched the cutscenes the first time i think, because I recall them even less than diablo 1.

Now, this does not mean i dont enjoy stories. I read a lot of fantasy and i consider Planescape tornment to be the best RPG, But story is not why i play diablo and when its so obviously cheesy i skip it.

The cutscenes looks awesome as always though.

[nenjin]

I think the earlier story was more effective because the bad guys didn't talk to you so much. You'd get your "now you die" when you meet the bosses, but in D3, you have illusions talking to you, journal entries, long interactions with obnoxious child emperors....and as one friend of mine said "The beauty of the earlier stories was the simplicity. World is going to shit, it's on you. There's a Lord of Hell: Go to hell and kill them." That was the premise. Now it's been overblown in typical Blizzard fashion, to the point where it's about everything except going to Hell to kill a demon lord.

[Neonivek]

Oddly enough though they don't tell you the expansion content seems somewhat obvious right now. Especially if you pay attention.

The real question is if they are going to use the already existing story to carry it... or make something up.

I am speaking of course of

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Invictus is going to be the new villain of the expansion. Possibly possessed but possibly not

[Drakale]

Yeah that's a given Neonivek, or at least he will be one of the bad guys, with

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Adria

[sambojin]

Damn it, I was fully expecting the second one to be a villian at some point in the story-line of this game. First you help someone, then you lop their head off because they were secretly evil. It makes perfect diablo logical sense (and rpg sense as a whole).

I'm buying it Thursday, but I'll be slightly miffed that I won't be killing that NPC. I personally think that Haemon should be on my hit-list as well. He probably secretly harbours resentment towards me for not finding any other solution to his problem than killing his wife, so goes the standard round-about way of arming and armouring us heavily so that we can start a war between heaven and hell, with us either perishing by the hand of daemons or the whole world being destroyed as his goal. The sweet part is that once he finally manages to get you killed off, he's also got himself a top of the line forge with millions in cash and a stack of ingredients to keep his arms dealing empire running. He will be able to control the war between heaven and hell, with him as the only real winner. The angels didn't help, hell was the problem, and heroes the murderers. They'll all pay, revenge is sweet.

Again, standard rpg logic. I can't believe that Blizzard didn't think of it. Oh well, there's still at least one expansion pack for them to write that in to

[Carcanken]

Latency problems.. so annoying!! 

[Catastrophic lolcats]

I guess managing to have latency lag in single player is an impressive and new feat ... right?