Evil Defeated

Now that I've actually played through Diablo 3 by myself, I can accurately give my opinions, or at least my impressions from normal mode. Keep in mind that I have not played Diablo 1 or 2, so my judgements are based solely on my experience with this game only.

To start, I really love this kind of lore. I love any kind of fantasy-type lore really, but taking angels and demons (in a non-religious manner), making a war between them, and having the game M-rated? Not only is that badass, but interesting and cool as well. It's the center of the lore in this game series, and it really sets the stage.

Personally, I'm having a lot of fun playing this game. With the five classes and killing endless amounts of demons and monsters with the seemingly limitless combinations of abilities at my disposal, I'm realizing that this game is a massive, MASSIVE time sink. Exploring all the randomly generated environments is great fun, especially with some monsters being incredibly difficult to kill on later difficulties. It's been too long since I've played a game that hasn't been simplified to oblivion. Though I've been told that 1 and 2 are much more unforgiving with their mechanics, I think it's important to find a balance between difficulty and simplification, and I think Diablo 3 does this well.

There's also loads of achievements, 3 additional difficulties past normal mode (the highly acclaimed and most difficult "Inferno" mode couldn't even be defeated by Blizzard developers themselves before they released it), and even an auction house for trading items for in-game gold or real life currency (!).

Frankly though, I can't say the game is for everyone. It's my understanding that a core gameplay mechanic that makes a game a Diablo game is the huge amount of clicking involved, and for the unaware, it could prove a little obnoxious. Clicking to move, to talk to NPCs, and to attack is pretty much the most efficient and well-known way for the average player it seems, but to be fair, it is possible to change up your key bindings.

Also, even though there are multiple difficulties and several classes, you will be playing through what is essentially the same exact story and events every time you start a new difficulty or new character. This can get really old really fast, and that is somewhat of a problem. Playing with some friends can alleviate that slightly, but it's very possible that if you're like me and want to try all the classes at the same time, you might be bored even before reaching the next difficulty on any of your characters. Not that I'm bored, but this game has a very repetitive nature, and you may not think that it's worth your $60 as a result.

All in all, Diablo 3 is a very fun game. It's easy to see why some common complaints are popping up about it, like the story you have to run through over and over and especially the problems with the "you must be online" requirement. However, I think for what it is, it will give you hours upon hours of entertainment, and with at least one expansion in the works, it's bound to be one hell of a ride. For all the work that Blizzard put into this game, the large amount of things to do, and the fun times to be had playing with your friends, I would definitely recommend it.

One hell of a ride...lame puns are lame. Happy 50th post. :)