In the spirit of Halloween, I dusted off my Diablo 3 characters and killed some demons. I say this as if I had planned it though. That is definitely not the case. To be brutally honest I had completely forgotten that I owned Diablo 3.
The Video:
I want to start with a bit of background on the video. The music comes from two separate places. The intro song is “Calling to the Night” from one of the Metal Gear Solid games, though I’m not sure which it originated on. The song that plays throughout the game play is “Mitternacht” by E Nomine. I found the music appropriate for the mood.
Here is my Demon Hunter in the launch menu.
As for actual game details, I was running my level 45 Demon Hunter. I feel the game doesn’t present a huge challenge to me on Demon Hunter. Even though I was on Nightmare difficulty I had to crank the monster level up to 10 to get a real challenge. Then I still only died a few times so it wasn’t a real challenge. I think there was only one monster I really struggled with, but it’s in the video so go watch it.
Story:
The opening of Act I.
The story kicks off with a “falling star” crashing into the church in New Tristram. No matter which class you pick, you are for some reason or another interested in this star. You get entangled in a struggle between good and evil after discovering that the star was a Fallen Angel.
I had never played the previous Diablo titles, so I knew nothing of the ongoing story. That being said, the way the game is introduced you really do not need the previous games to understand this one. I found the story enticing enough to hold me through my first play even though the combat was repetitive. After seeing the story once though it loses its entertainment value.
Part of the female Wizard story scenes.
I definitely recommend watching the story segments on your first playthrough. After that, don’t bother–there is very little that is different between the classes in the story. On a side note, the banter between you character and the followers is quite amusing. After an initial play through, if you want to hear it all, do an additional play through for each follower beginning to end. This banter does alter somewhat per class.
Gameplay:
There is a considerable amount of skill customization with the correct settings. There is one setting that allows you to place any skill in your skill spots, though I can’t remember it off the top of my head. This way you don’t have to keep useless skills on your bar. Some of the skill tables give no good skills so being restricted to a skill table on your slots is annoying.
If you watch the video I posted, Demon Hunter really has it easy. The Rapid Fire skill just annihilates everything. While this does speed up progression, it also makes the game very boring. Monk’s Deadly Reach has a similar effect, with only a slight risk increase. I’m not sure if Witch Doctor and Barbarian have easy mode skills, but Wizard is super easy mode. I couldn’t justify advancing my Wizard because of how easy it was.
Here I’ve done what I recommend not doing below. I’ve started a brand new Hardcore character on monster level 10. Luckily, it’s a Wizard so it’s easy mode.
As far as the increases in difficulty from Normal to Nightmare and beyond, it really doesn’t add to the excitement. This is why I normally always play on monster level 10. It’s the only way I can get enjoyment out of the battles.
If you are playing Hardcore mode though, I recommend not cranking it up to 10. Hardcore is perma-death, so don’t get overconfident just because it’s a little easy.
My Evaluation:
As an initial play through the game is really thrilling and entertaining. If you’ve beat it though the excitement just disappears. Taking into account initial playthroughs and replays I give this game an 8 out of 10. I think it’s being generous though since there really is no reason to do a replay.
