Colin StevensDiablo 3 Fails To Save Action vs Role Playing (LINK)
June 29th 2008 07:08
Blizzard have put us out of our collective miseries by finally revealing Diablo 3 will be hitting shelves in the foreseeable future (although being Blizzard that time will be when they decide it's the right time). And in a questionable departure from the tried and true formula that has rarely been successfully repeated since, Blizzard says RPG elements will be heavily featured.
In an interview conducted with the website IGN, Rob Pardo, Blizzard's Executive Vice President of Game Design, revealed that the newest edition to the Blizzard family will be heavier on the role playing than the previous dungeon crawlers. Pardo says "If you look at Diablo and Diablo II, they're really action games. The story was light, the RPG were very light and I think one of the things we looked at with Diablo III was that doesn't have to be the case."
For those that were fans of the original style though, this could spell a move away from the action that drew us to this title. Pardo goes on to say "We want to have side quests and scenarios that are much more involved…like defend the town from attack or something like that."
This would indicate a more episodic feel, where rather than non-stop action that could be joined at any time, quests and storyline would play a major role. Although Pardo reassures us that (thay are) "taking cues from games like Zelda, God of War, games like that, (to) bring that to the action-RPG genre" they are obviously looking at a more mission based game style, sacrificing at least part of the incredibly enjoyable flow of the game.
Thinking about the frantic monster slaying mayhem of the past, players may rightly think that they don't particularly want any extra role playing elements getting in the way. The real draw card for the series has always been its frenetic pace, the ease and speed in which it could be picked up and played and randomly generated battles. If Diablo 3 were to turn into more of a Neverwinter Nights it would not have the same audience, disillusioning its fan base.We want another Diable, not another Dungeon Siege.
| 53 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Anonymous
One guys says a couple of sentences, and already it's "Oh Gods, it's another Dungeon Siege, Blizzard has murdered everything that is good and true! Rage, rage against the dying of the action game!!"
Blizzard has got to be one of the most true developers I've ever had the joy of playing games from. If you don't believe that, after everything they've done, they can't possibly add a bit MORE to the Diablo series, you're a fool.
Comment by OnlineWriter
Online Writing Jobs
Game Carbon
I heard it was similar to Titan Quest which I played for about an hour. Click, click, click, get better crap, kill different stuff. Seriously?
I may try it one day so I'm not opinionated with no valid reason but I like a killer story and a billion stats and items to manage in my RPGs.
Comment by Newbasorus rex
I give this article two thumbs down.