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Post by skylark on May 26, 2015 18:45:41 GMT -5
I don't think I'll ever understand the 'true stories are angsty/hopeless/depressing' mindset.
I kinda get the concept. After all, watching a hero actually pull themselves out of the muck and triumph after all the bullshit they go through gives off one of the best feelings ever. Which is what I'm hoping for when they finally finish up the series, and what I honestly believe the development team pre-expansion was trying to go for.
But no. People apparently don't want that anymore. Because that's not 'how it should be'.
But if a journey is nothing but hopelessness and bitterness, then what's the damn point if it all means nothing at the end? Nowadays, it's all about bittersweet/downer endings, betrayal and broken friendships, and just outright depression. Honestly, this trend in gaming (and writing in general) as a whole is beginning to concern me. It's like the words 'happy ending' suddenly became dirty words and it became a crime to actually dream that things could be better.
And for what? 'True Art is Angsty'? I mean, it's one thing to tug on the heartstrings. It's something completely different to tear them apart with garrot wire. *cough*CodeGeass!*cough*
Having said all that though, I have been on that bandwagon myself once. After all, everyone who been reading knows by now the direction Kalia is headed in Odyssey. Looking at things now, it's a direction I've never should have taken her in that I wish I could take back. All I can hope is that the triumph comes in the end.
But yeah. The Diablo world is one of suck, but is it truly a bad thing to want to make things better? Or is that wish just a pipe dream?
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Post by skylark on May 26, 2015 19:15:51 GMT -5
Reika: Now with THAT unpleasantness out of the way... :3
Malthael is down. Actually, he's been down for almost a week now.
But yeah, the ending and it's implications kinda triggered my above rant, but anyway...
My Monk is still my best character. I almost have an entire gear set for him for the Dashing Strike bonus, and my gear is good enough that I started him on Torment I. Been doing bounties and Adventure Mode like crazy, trying to get challenges and Paragon levels and all that good stuff.
At this point though, I'm in my 'get all possible character combinations through the prologue' phase. I got the six classes, then I'll invert genders and put the next six in Hardcore Mode for THOSE challenges. Unfortunately, I need PS+ if I'm ever going to get those co-op and Monk Healing challenges. =S
Current Roster:
Male Monk - Dual Fist Female Wizard - Wand with Focus Male Crusader - Sword and Board Female Barbarian - Mighty Weapon Male Witch Doctor - Ceremonial Dagger and Voodoo Trinket Female Demon Hunter - Dual Crossbow
Hardcore Roster:
Female Monk - Daibo Male Wizard - Magic Staff Female Crusader - Two-Handed Flail Male Barbarian - Axe and Shield Female Witch Doctor - Spear and Shield Male Demon Hunter - Bow and Quiver
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Post by Rune Lai on May 27, 2015 1:32:11 GMT -5
Hm. He usually takes a lot longer in the difficulties I've been playing in. (Though that tends to be Torment with my two best characters -- I even tried Torment II with the barb, which seems to be going fine too.) Wait... hard? That's like... the second easiest difficulty level. ^^;; (Though I guess it depends on whether you have played it before to a large extent and has had the time to build a proper collection of weapons and gems.) I had finished the original game once and for some reason or other I stopped a couple quests from the end of Act V so when I resumed I set my difficulty Hard because I couldn't remember what all my abilities were and if they were still good. That's how Mathiel ended up being a pushover. I was just a couple hours away from the end and since I still died along the way to crowds I was surprised the last boss wasn't harder. I'm currently leveling a new Crusader and he's a freaking tank so I'm playing on Master. I'm not sure I'll ever get up to Torment just because I like the loot parade too much. I know when you're max level the upgrades come slower and I'm not sure it'll be comfortable leveling in a Torment difficulty. The Diablo world is one of suck, but is it truly a bad thing to want to make things better? Or is that wish just a pipe dream? The thing is Diablo was dark and gritty before a lot of games were. The first one came out in 1996 (just one year after the original Lunar: Eternal Blue came out in the US). Sure, the world of suck is overdone now, but at the time Diablo was uncommon. It was the game where you knew after your protagonist's victory that he was going to succumb to evil. (I'm not sure if it's clear to someone new to the series, but the Dark Wanderer/Aidan who was Leah's father is the now canon version of the D1 protagonist. So yeah, your protagonist was corrupted by Diablo and you know it's going to happen as soon as you see the ending.) It's not bad to want to make things better, but I think it's out of character for this series to get brighter. Diablo isn't what you play to find the light at the end of the tunnel (to be honest I mostly play for smashing baddies and getting loot, though the gritty setting helps more than Whimsydale does). Blizzard does know how to have brighter, more optimistic games though, so I wouldn't get too hung up over angsty settings being a thing. Their upcoming Overwatch looks downright chipper.
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Post by northlander on May 27, 2015 14:31:33 GMT -5
Yep, that sounds about right. The thing about the Diablo series is that... well, I don't really consider it as much angsty as dark to the point of being almost smothering. Angst is when a character is being negative in an otherwise decent world. Diablo has characters that resolutely know what they have to do, even as the world is falling apart around them. The only time anyone ever got angsty in Diablo 3 was when Rakanoth kept Auriel imprisoned, thus quelling hope in the hearts of men and women. As influences go, that's angst that people are entitled to. Especially given the sheer amount of betrayal our heroes were subjected to before a certain... event.
...in my opinion, of course.
But yes, the whole "dark and gritty" thing is everywhere now. Also, all three selectable protagonists in Diablo got their own personalities and backstories. For instance, the rogue went from being the rogue in Diablo 1 to becoming Blood Raven in Diablo 2, while the sorcerer eventually became the Summoner.
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Post by Rune Lai on May 29, 2015 13:42:25 GMT -5
The Sorcerer became the Summoner? I must not have been paying attention. I remember being sad about Blood Raven though.
I was a little disappointed we didn't see anything of the D2 protag(s) in D3. But then the way I pseudo-RPed my necromancer with my friends was unconventional so maybe it's better that way...
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Post by northlander on May 29, 2015 15:10:20 GMT -5
Actually, you do see the sorceress at some point if you play as the Wizard. At least the female wizard -- it might be different if you play a male one, I dunno. With the crusader, the gender of the... uh, mission-based character you met at a certain point in the game changed depending on the gender of the character you chose, though their dialogue remained the same. For that part, I love both the wizard's exchange and the crusaders'. There's just this amazingly endearing personal exchange that you take part in, and I always go through all the dialogue options when I get there. As much as I love the barbarian as a player character, his exchange with his equivalent in that point in the game was kind of boring. Apparently, the female wizard is the canon one, go figure.
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Post by Rune Lai on May 29, 2015 15:21:17 GMT -5
I liked that conversation with my male Demon Hunter, but haven't gotten there yet on my male Crusader. Probably eventually, but my gaming time isn't quite what it used to be.
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Post by skylark on May 29, 2015 23:59:33 GMT -5
Finally got the Raiment of 1000 Storms set completed. 12500% Dashing Strike damage increase is nothing to sneeze at... But T6 is freaking MURDER. I think I need Ancient drops to survive that.
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Post by northlander on May 30, 2015 5:37:08 GMT -5
Plus a very high paragon level.
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Post by skylark on Jan 13, 2016 13:07:02 GMT -5
Well, Patch 2.4 dropped yesterday, and it is a game-changer.
Healing from abilities has been nerfed to the Burning Hells and back, possibly to curb multiplayer attitudes of ZDPS and exclusionism due to parties demanding healer Monks. To compensate, every class has been given massive buffs to their survivability. Thorns damage got a huge boost, a redesigned passive gives Barabarians a reason to actually use Shields, and one of the new equipment sets makes a melee-based Demon Hunter finally viable.
Reika: Don't forget the boosts to Wizard's channeling spells due to unique equipment. So sexy... *drools*
Plus, new dungeons based on completed armor sets, a new area to explore, new recipes and power extractions from Kanai's Cube... This is probably their best patch yet.
Reika: Yep, they came a long way from the days of that first launch. Thank Dog we didn't get involved in that mess.
....Dog?
Reika: <.<... >.>... <.<...
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Post by Rune Lai on Jan 13, 2016 13:37:04 GMT -5
I probably should get back to that and check it out... but so many games... and such a backlog... Since I play on PC I have Blizzard's Battle.net launcher which loads whenever I want to play one of their games. So when I start it, I have World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm all staring me in the face. WoW still has friends of mine and it's mostly paid for (you can buy sub time with gold now, and I have enough in-game wealth to buy almost two years of game time if I stopped earning money today, which I won't). I play Hearthstone maybe 2-3 times a month to keep up to date and chat with my brother (who is a big Hearthstone fan). And I play Heroes of the Storm once a week on Fridays with a friend of mine who lives across the country now. I don't have a Diablo III play buddy though, so it sits around a lot more.
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Post by skylark on Jan 13, 2016 13:47:17 GMT -5
Reika: Oh yeah. Best part of all: Moar Stash Space! A hoarder's dream come true. So, I have a Monk and a Barbarian. What next? Reika: Wizard. It'd be nice to take the Witch Doctor out for a spin... Reika: Wizard. <.< Maybe try the melee build for Demon Hunter... Reika: Wizard. =< Ooh, somebody already has a Thorns build for Crusader up! Reika: .......dammit, Lark... >_<
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Post by skylark on Jan 13, 2016 14:13:53 GMT -5
I probably should get back to that and check it out... but so many games... and such a backlog... Since I play on PC I have Blizzard's Battle.net launcher which loads whenever I want to play one of their games. So when I start it, I have World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm all staring me in the face. WoW still has friends of mine and it's mostly paid for (you can buy sub time with gold now, and I have enough in-game wealth to buy almost two years of game time if I stopped earning money today, which I won't). I play Hearthstone maybe 2-3 times a month to keep up to date and chat with my brother (who is a big Hearthstone fan). And I play Heroes of the Storm once a week on Fridays with a friend of mine who lives across the country now. I don't have a Diablo III play buddy though, so it sits around a lot more. Is Diablo III multiplayer cross-platform? Because I still have two months left on PS+.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jan 13, 2016 18:23:32 GMT -5
I did a quick Google search and it looks like the answer is no. Boo.
Apparently there are basic network differences between PC and console. They're not built to talk with each other.
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Post by skylark on Jan 13, 2016 19:00:10 GMT -5
I did a quick Google search and it looks like the answer is no. Boo. Apparently there are basic network differences between PC and console. They're not built to talk with each other. Well, damn. Guess that idea's out. =<
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