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It s been almost 16 years since players were introduced to theworld of Diablo, full of danger, magic, loot, and more danger.While Blizzard s iconic dungeon crawler has had a long 12-yearabsence between Diablo II and Diablo III , a whole slew of dungeon crawlers have tried to further a genrethat Diablo once dominated. When you return to the town of Tristamin Diablo III, a lot has changed, but you can t help but get thefeeling that you re saying hi to old friends if your friends arethe horned and hellish lot. Blizzard seemed to acknowledge the way that roleplaying games wereheading towards further stat manipulations and exceptionalcustomization and instead chose to pivot and return to a morestreamlined, linear approach in Diablo III. Don t expect to havedifferent origin missions for each class or unique dialogue choicesor any of those modern trappings. The story is the same for each ofthe five classes (Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, andWizard) attacks are essentially a left and right mouse click (plusa few hotkeys), and side quests are few and far between. But not all of the revamping has been for the better. Instead ofbeing able to control where your upgrades go and how your characterprogresses (maxing out certain stats, for example), you ll gainaccess to specific abilities and skills only at certain experiencelevels. Not only does Diablo III eschew a traditional upgrade tree,but it takes an unintuitive and cumbersome approach to utilizingyour powers.Your primary attack buttons are your left and mouseclick, and while you'll unlock multiple attacks per button, you canfrustratingly only assign one attack each. You'll have tostrategize which combination works best for your attack stylewithout knowing which powers (runes and all) deal the most damage.The net result is a lot of trial and error and wishing Blizzardwould just let you assign your many powers to any hotkey of yourchoice. Diablo III s plot centers around a falling star colliding withTristam s cathedral, causing the undead to rise from their gravesand signaling the end of times. Series regular Cain has gonemissing, and you must help his niece, Leah, find him again andconfront the evil that is plaguing Sanctuary. The plot is asecondary concern in a game that plays fast and loose withJudeo-Christian mythology about heaven and hell (there s plenty ofmention of angels and demons but nothing overt like crosses).Characters have simple motivations, conversations, andarcs ultimately all problems in Sanctuary can only be solvedthrough the use of the sword. You re playing a dungeon crawler inthe vast sprawls of death traps and undead, there is little roomfor nuance. The first ten hours will see you slog through old favorites fromthe dungeon-crawler genre, including castles, torture chambers,graveyards, caves, and spider nests. The first three hours areparticularly well scripted and intuitive, ensuring the player knowsexactly where to go, what to collect, how to upgrade their armor,and how the whole battle system works. Each class has its ownweapons and energy sources, and learning how they re managed earlyon will set you on a path for dozens of hours spent poring overloot looking for powerful weapons and armor that you can equip. The second act will transport you to a more Arabian Nights type ofsetting, proving once again why Diablo is such an enduring series:it gives dungeon crawler fans more of what they love. Many dungeoncrawlers are content with auto-generating levels or a new paint jobon an old level; Blizzard does a great job of creating new worldswith compelling challenges. In a genre that is always about simplyclicking on an enemy to kill it, variation and challenge is whatkeeps players coming back. The boss battles in particular arebrutal, grandiose, multi-round prize fights; each battle has asignificant build up and pay off, giving you a definite sense ofaccomplishment. The rendering of the worlds is beautiful in its darkly gothicaesthetic, with little details like torches and collapsingbookcases making the world feel alive. Due to the scale of thegame, Diablo III won t wow you with its realism, but it sgraphics are still better than any other dungeon crawler you velikely played. On my 2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro, the game ran fairlywell, with a couple caveats: since Diablo III requires players(even in single player) to be online at all times, how well Diabloruns is somewhat determined by your connection. So I can t say forcertain if it s due to Internet lag or a simple gameplay bug thatsome undead would occasionally disappear and reappear right at myside. This isn t because they could teleport; the game simplyhiccupped and skipped a few frames, preventing me from keeping themat a distance with my Demon Hunter s bows. Blizzard s DRM policywill likely irk some users, though the ease of dropping in and outof co-op games through Battle.net is something that few dungeoncrawlers can replicate. Macworld s buying advice As I said before, Diablo III is a bit like meeting old friends. Butover the last ten years, dungeon crawlers and RPGs have changeddramatically, and so how much you enjoy the charms of Diablo IIIwill be ultimately dependent on how much you like its comparativelynarrow focus, its simple story, streamlined upgrade system and itslinear path. But even if you ve outgrown certain elements of theDiablo series, Blizzard does a great job of reminding you why thesegames are fun. [ Chris Holt is a frequent contributor to Macworld. ]. I am an expert from 100woolfelt.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China White Wool Felt , Sauna Felt, White Wool Felt,and more.
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