Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Seems like a divided crowd in here. We have a slew of folks utterly pissed (and rightfully so) that they are having troubles actually playing a game that they just payed good money for, blatantly slamming Blizzard for this crippled launch. We have some folks who have offered a more critical critique of the game, some of them well reasoned and sound. Then there seems to be those who are in here preaching patience to those who are frustrated, doing their best to cushion the damage of the initial release by explaining that there is no way Bizzard could have known that many people would connect day one... They try to draw our attention to what they see as good with this game and it is clear many of them probably receive a bi-weekly paycheck from the game-makers as their posts read a little too much like an advert for the game, then they do an honest review. Those in the last category tell us to be patient, quit over-reacting, Blizzard really has created a great game here and this will be abundantly clear to everyone as soon as the minor 'server' glitches are worked out. But they are overlooking something critical. Even after the glitches are worked out, we will still have to be on the internet every time we want to play this game. This is a MAJOR DESIGN FAIL. This means, if the internet goes down, so too does your ability to play this single player game. If you are riding in the back of your parents van on your way to a lame vacation destination, sorry kid, you are out of luck. If you are work-a-holic father like myself who likes to steal an hour here and there, usually in a place where the internet is either non-existent or spotty, too bad dad, this game is not for you. If you were hoping to play on that long flight across the country to help pass the time, sorry again, you won't be playing this game. This decision on the part of Blizzard, mark my words, will do nothing but encourage the online pirating community to pirate the ever loving heck out of this game, if only to be able to play it the way those of us who have purchased it, should have been able to play it on day one. In the quiet comfort of our own living room, hassle free, with a mountain dew by our side, lights dimmed, peace and Diablo with no frustrating network errors. Instead, we get a big screw you and quit your whining from Blizzard and their lackeys on these boards. Open your eyes I say. You really screwed the pooch on this one.. You initially got one star from me for this alone out of shear frustration. I am improving my score slightly and changing the flavor of my review a bit, but it should be noted that this is still a strong influence on my opinion of this game over-all... Now onto the game itself... The game looks and plays great in my opinion. The graphics plus over all mechanics and feel are well done. I do like the approach they took with the graphics, though I know there are many out there who feel differently. The game is fun to play, and you can tell there was some time and care put into the game mechanics to give them the smooth flow which we have always enjoyed from a blizzard game. Nothing choppy about it. If I had never played Diablo 2 I might have been inclined to give this game a higher score. In my opinion however, the better graphics and mechanics are about the only thing that has improved in this version of Diablo. If they had simply re-done Diablo 2 and added better graphics, plus a few new classes, this would have been a much better game, and I doubt any other lover of Diablo would disagree with that statement... What I don't like in general is the way everything has been over-simplified in this release. As I carry on with the game, I am finding more and more that there seems to be very little opportunity for customizing my Wizard. When I get to high level, it seems there will be nothing other than my gear to distinguish my character from any other of the same class out there... This is a big blow to the replay factor of this game. The attribute system is gone, as is the skill tree that lets you focus your mage in one of 3 schools of magic.. Now, when you level, your skill is essentially chosen for you. Blizzard does still make you choose it though. I mean, you have to click the add skill button and select it to add it, which maybe gives some who might not take the time to figure out that it is the only choice available, the illusion of their hand on the rudder. It isn't. In addition your barbarian, who knows nothing of magic, can now know exactly what the magical properties of that club are, as soon as he picks it up. It would seem as though scrawled along the handle were the words (+2 to damage against undead). There is no longer a need for scrolls/books of various colors, something I really liked about the game that I would have liked to have seen improved if anything, not removed from this game. A lot of the customization factor in this game comes not from you improving your own character, but from leveling up the other people in the town by giving them gold (blacksmith, etc). They also will follow you for some reason everywhere you go (this was true in Diablo 2 somewhat too, but is more exaggerated in this game)... The fact that monsters now drop health orbs and that you have to wait for a cool down to expire before you can drink another potion, is another wtf blow to realism that should have been avoided. This is not Contra. It is Diablo. How can a dying monster drop a globe of health for me. If he had it on his person, why would he not have used it himself? I am not an energy vampire. None of these changes in any way resemble an improvement in my humble opinion. Software designers need to learn that people in this world are quite different and varied in their interests. The best thing you can do to make most people happy, is offer them more room to be strategic, customize, and make something their own, not less.. And if you do offer them less room to teak then you did before, don't be surprised when your fan base lashes out. If you are concerned about making your game appealing to half wits then fine, add a really good optional (yes optional, we can disable it in the game options menu) 'suggestion trainer' feature to the game that will hold their hand while they are trying to figure out which skill or attribute to sink their pnts into... Let it auto suggest where the pnts should go so that they can just click yes and approve the improvements, but leave the option of the complex in the game for those of us who prefer it. This game had so much potential, had it simply followed a different fundamental vision, 'more not less'... As I said before, it would have received a higher rating from me had I never played Diablo 2. On it's own, it is still a good game. Graphics improvements aside though, Diablo 2 is a better over all game and experience than Diablo 3. This and the fact that I have to play it in established locations where the internet exists, constitute the low star rating from yours truly...