The Outside (Diablo 3)

Yeah, I used a Staind song for a blog post title. It fits on multiple levels. Cope.

I didn't much care for Diablo. Every single time I think of the game, I paraphrase a quote from Cecil Adams. That game did for point and plick what Stonehenge did for rocks. The game looked kinda cool with it's pre-rendered graphics and 2D lighting effects. But it was super dull. (Did I mention I have an exceptionally low tolerance for grinding?) I didn't even bother with the demo for the sequel until a few days ago, and then only for research for this post. As a Diablo outsider, here is my opinion on the current kerfluffle.

What the kerfluffle is.

Blizzard released gameplay footage from the still in development Diablo 3 at an event they held in Paris a few weeks ago. The fans went nuts. They went nuts with joy. They also went nuts with anger. Based on what was shown, D3's art direction is a lot cleaner, prettier, and more colorful than the older games. The usual internet petition was started (and got over 50k signatures). Game journos and bloggers derided it. And I was glad to see it go away.

But it didn't stay away, largely thanks to Tracey John continuing to stir the pot with this interview with D3 lead designer, Jay Wilson. Suddenly everyone was talking about it again, which was bad enough. But on top of that, none of the podcasters seemed to be saying what I was feeling. The fans are complaining because they don't feel that the new Diablo captures the feel of the old ones. The developers are explaining that they tried to do something closer to the old games, but it didn't work for them. And the enthusiast press are aghast at presumptuous fans trying to tell one of the planet's most respected developers how to do their job. But it seems to me that there are legitimate questions that aren't being addressed. And what do I do when no one understands me? I blog to myself. :P

My questions:

Why does the enthusiast press still overreact when fanboys overreact? That's what fanboys do. And yet, there were enthusiast press rants which were just as vitriolic, rambling, and overgeneralized as the fanboy rants. (Evil Avatar Radio, I'm looking at you.)

Why is no one admitting that the fanboys have a point? What we've seen of D3 so far looks more like paintings of Titan Quest than D1 or D2. It's beautiful, but it doesn't feel like Diablo. This is understandable. The people who worked on the old games mostly left Blizzard, and the new folks don't have the same vision. So is their vision different enough that this isn't exactly a sequel? Is it more of a reinvention or reimagining (or some other PR friendly term)?

To me, these seem like valid questions to ask, and maybe small changes in terminology that could let a few thousand people adjust their expectations and stop being upset. But there are so many fears and accusations, it may take a while for people to calm down enough to address them.

And now that D3's art director has left Blizzard, maybe we've gone too far for a real reconciliation.