Are Blizzard a bunch of hacks with no imagination? Yes.

[Vympel]

I recently saw a screenshot from Diablo 3, kindly provided by Stofsk.



It looks exactly like fucking WoW. I mean seriously, if I didn't tell you it was from Diablo 3, would you even know? The art style is identical, and they've even got their patented "we've got no way to make armor look interesting apart from making enormously impractical, fucking stupid looking shoulder pauldrons the main feature of the design."

Fuck this game, and I haven't even played it.

Rant over.

[Serafina]

Someone should build that armor in real life.

And then force the nutjob who designed it to wear it. Along with the rest of their art department.

And seriously, at least they have an excuse for their lousy graphics in WoW, it being an MMO and all that..but with Diablo 3?
That graphic looks like something from half a decade ago.
Oh, and replicating the style of WoW is a good way to make sure that i won't play it - not because it's not original, but because i am sick of it.

[Stofsk]

I'm not one for the 'man i haven't played the game because it hasn't come out yet but i still say it sucks' crowd, but...

But...

Man I hate those shoulder pauldrons. I think they're going with an awful design choice for Diablo 3. Here's a youtube video that also vexed me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQBtkJ97Fbo

I only watched the first minute and a half before I closed the tab. Basically, the first whirlwind animation looks good - it's crisp, clear, you see the Toon swinging around and it gets the point across. Then the idiots made a monster that had SUPRE AWESOME whirlwind, and the team whinged "oh man why doesn't the barbarian whirlwind look like that :'( we should totally change the barb animation" Which they then do. Only now it looks shit.

Makes me want to play Diablo 1 again.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I do not for the life of me get why the fuck they're going with the cartoony WoW bullshit (in Diablo of all fucking things). And the only thing worse than that are the Blizzard apologist wankers who see no problem in wildly spitting in the face of the previous Diablos' art style and aesthetic.

This fascination with fucked-up cartoony looks in general (Clone Wars? Old Republic? Really?) agitates me, but that's another topic. It's not like it's hard to do non-photo-realistic style art without becoming cartoony bullshit - Borderlands and Champions Online are good examples

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I cannot express with words how infuriating this nonsensical change is. Diablo has always been grim'n'gothic - it doesn't make any fucking sense to go in the opposite direction and call it Diablo. Seriously, what the flying fuck? If they wanted to do a retarded cartoony hack'n'slash, why the fuck didn't they just make WarCraft IV: Not Even Pretending to be an RTS Anymore?

[Serafina]

That way, they can make and sell two games.

[Stofsk]

TOR doesn't bother me at all. (other than the huge flashlights that are supposed to be lightsabres)

But for Diablo? Making it look like WoW turns my stomach. Another thing is the light radius. Diablo is supposed to be dark and gloomy, it adds to the atmosphere. So why can't they fool around with the light radius? Make it more spooky. The graphics don't need to be KICKASS SUPRE AWESOME or anything, they just need to add to the atmosphere.

[Gramzamber]

So.. um... a metal bra with pauldrons bigger than her head.. FORMULA FOR SUCCESS.

Blizzard being hacks? I've known that since I quit WoW in 2006 after realising what a boring, repetitive grind fest it is and how Blizzard shamelessly mine their own lore for EPIC ENDGAME CONTENT LOLFARMARTHAS, torpedoing any chance of a decent Warcraft 4.
It doesn't surprise me in the least that they're making Diablo III look like WoW. WoW = $$$$. Anything that looks like WoW = $$$$. WoW + Diablo = $$$$$$$$!!

[wautd]

So we have to wait longer because they decided to give a more crappy, cartoony look?

*scraps D3 of his wanting list*

[salm]

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I cannot express with words how infuriating this nonsensical change is. Diablo has always been grim'n'gothic - it doesn't make any fucking sense to go in the opposite direction and call it Diablo. Seriously, what the flying fuck? If they wanted to do a retarded cartoony hack'n'slash, why the fuck didn't they just make WarCraft IV: Not Even Pretending to be an RTS Anymore?

If they did that people would complain that WarCraft has allways been an RTS and if they wanted to make a cartoony Hack and Slay game, why didn´t they just give Diablo a new style.
And if they made Diablo 3 with a similar look as Diablo 2 and 1 then people would complain that "uh, how awesome, a 59€ graphics update for Diablo".

I suspect that big companies like Blizzard usually do some kinds of surveys to find out what kind of style, featureas and stuff like that is wanted by most players.
Complaining about big game companies is a bit like complaining about hollywood shit. They´re catering to the masses and the masses are happy with crappy entertainment.
If you want unique or extraordinary games/films go look for an indy title. Now of course one can complain that indy titles aren´t as technically advanced but that´s a direct result from them not being as popular as mainstream titles.

[Ghost Rider]

LMAO...wow. No really, guys if the whole fact they made their gear slotting more like WoW didn't hint this, but giant pauldrons on a guy 5 cms did, just stop. Blizz delyas SC2 endlessly knowing the Koreans won't care, and Diablo 3 will come out sometime befor 2100.

And for me? If the gameplay is what I care for, then cool. If not? Guess I won't spend the money. As long it's not Hello Kitty Adventure Island, I can take a bit cartoony with some demon biting someone in half.

[Gaidin]

That graphic looks like something from half a decade ago.
Oh, and replicating the style of WoW is a good way to make sure that i won't play it - not because it's not original, but because i am sick of it.

Blizzard has always done this...Diablo2 started at friggin 648x480 and bumped up to 800x600 for the expansion. Them having half a decade old techniques so old computers can play is par for the course, not a "we're making an MMO" thing.

[TheMuffinKing]

And for me? If the gameplay is what I care for, then cool. If not? Guess I won't spend the money. As long it's not Hello Kitty Adventure Island, I can take a bit cartoony with some demon biting someone in half.

Hello Kitty Adventure Island, done in a Diablo style, would be f-ing awesome. A kitty paladin could swing a big cartoon sword shaped like a flower and decapitate a fire breathing domo-kun.

[Covenant]

Neph actually sent this to me with the text "Hey new WoW instance" and I totally bought it, and got real sad when I heard it was Diablo 3. While I am not one of the "grr it must be grimdarky gothic or it sucks forever" crowd, I do think that Diablo benefited by being something other than a WC3 pauldron-fest.The kinds of images I always saw, like this and this didn't look like WoW.

Everyone remember the photoshopped screenshot kerfuffle? While the Diablo designers were right that a) these screens would too low on information to be valuable to the player and b) they'd rely on a ton of intensive post-process stuff... I think that if you cut back on the colored WoW lighting (purple lights, green lights, etc) and stuck with a more naturalistic lighting scheme you would find players less upset at the look. Diablo I and II were not all pitch-black dungeon delves, but what really kills Diablo3 is not the fact that on a high zoom the banisters look low rez (oh no it'll play faster because it's not loading worthless background geometry, anything but that!) but that in some of these screenshots what's supposed to be eerie or unnerving looking just ends up looking like the Undead city of WoW because of the crayon-colored lights. No reason to make them pitch black or anything, or gray up the entire map, but I think the colored lights could stand to be diminished some.

[Transbot9]

I knew Blizzard was a hack when I found out about Warhammer. What's funny is when a WoW fan accuses Games Workshop of ripping off Blizzard. What's even funnier is when Blizzard sued Games Workshop claiming they were being ripped off, when Games Workshop could have sued them over trademark infringement when the original Warcraft came out and chose not to.

Guess who won.

[starfury]

I knew Blizzard was a hack when I found out about Warhammer. What's funny is when a WoW fan accuses Games Workshop of ripping off Blizzard. What's even funnier is when Blizzard sued Games Workshop claiming they were being ripped off, when Games Workshop could have sued them over trademark infringement when the original Warcraft came out and chose not to.

Guess who won.

Funny, I thought Blizzard rose to the Top by building Polished easy dumb shit for the masses, they never really cared about the IP shit even then and always use it as a coating for whatever game they are building. The IP, even gaming mechancies are less importantly then whether they can get the general public to give a damm and buy their stuff as opposed to the hardcore crowd.

[Wing Commander MAD]

As long, as noone whines that this sucks becuase Roper and company left Blizzard, I doubt I'll care too much how it looks (though I do prefer the grim, dark, gothic style). Flagship Studios and HellGate:London showcased their current abilities and current talent, it was pretty much the modern Daikatana. Hell, Bill Roper is pretty much the modern day John Romero.

PS: For anyone who isn't aware of the whole debacle try visiting flagshipped.com if it still exists to learn about this epic failure of a game and company.

[Oskuro]

I knew Blizzard was a hack when I found out about Warhammer. What's funny is when a WoW fan accuses Games Workshop of ripping off Blizzard. What's even funnier is when Blizzard sued Games Workshop claiming they were being ripped off, when Games Workshop could have sued them over trademark infringement when the original Warcraft came out and chose not to.

Guess who won.

Blizzard suing GW? What are you babbling about?

The story, as it is known, is that Blizzard began development of a Warhammer Fantasy RTS, but eventually Games Workshop backed out and denied use of their IP, so Blizzard relabeled all the content they had and released Warcraft.

They also publicly admitted to Starcraft being based on Warhammer 40k among other pop culture references (like Aliens).

So the similarities between Warhammer and Warcraft are more than coincidence, although Blizzard has added so many pop-culture references in WoW that it's really hard to say what's truly original there anyway.


As for Diablo, I agree with the notion that the grim art style made a lot for the setting, and going into colorful cartoonish style will change the tone of the game. Pity, they could've tried for a more dark horror hack'n'slash game, rather than having a barbarian that, quite frankly, looks and acts too much like Kratos from God of War.

[Stark]

Sorry, I don't really care about the 'art style' of Diablo (which as far as I can see was 'fuck ugly' style). The size of armour bits in a stupid fantasy game doesn't really interest me; I'm only interested in the game's mechanics (which might actually be interesting).

The idea that Diablo is anything like 'dark horror hack'n'slash' is bizarre to me. Regardless, Blizzard has changed since the 90s and doubtless considers D3 (like SC2) a tiny footnote at the bottom of their money-printing machine.

[Ford Prefect]

Sorry, I don't really care about the 'art style' of Diablo (which as far as I can see was 'fuck ugly' style). The size of armour bits in a stupid fantasy game doesn't really interest me; I'm only interested in the game's mechanics (which might actually be interesting).

Seriously, even my best mate - the biggest Diablo II fanboy the world has ever seen who viciously despises WoW - has moved past the 'oh noes the grass is too bright a shade of green' stage. While I have to say I prefer the look of the lighting in that shopped screenshot of Cov's, it doesn't really matter. Stuff like some sort of gigantic and gruesomely palid centuar demon who spews ravenous zombies from his gut after death is pretty much as Diablo as it is possible to be. It's strengths were always in its mechanics, which are more or less the same.

[Vympel]

I don't give a shit about how bright the grass is. It's the design aesthetic. It's awful. All of Blizzard's games have begun to look the same. It's just pathetic.

I was actually somewhat keen on D3 from early videos - this is someone who despised D2 for seeming barren and soulless and having unacceptably crap graphics given the year the game was made. I never even finished it.

[Ghost Rider]

I don't give a shit about how bright the grass is. It's the design aesthetic. It's awful. All of Blizzard's games have begun to look the same. It's just pathetic.

I was actually somewhat keen on D3 from early videos - this is someone who despised D2 for seeming barren and soulless and having unacceptably crap graphics given the year the game was made. I never even finished it.

Are you really surprised? Be honest. They disbanded most of the old teams, hired new people but from the looks they did what Disney did long ago and go "Follow this look or you're fired!".

Not to mention how absolutely insane WoW has made money for them. If they could make WoW the single player and make it work, they would. Really, I do understand thinking it's crap but they are easily larger bits to complain then minor shoulder work. To start I'd go over the design of "Warrior, Mage, Eastern Guy, funky extra and a story of the return of the evil darkest one....the guy you buttraped twice.". Really, Diablo 3 is akin to SC2. They are making for one demographic and trying to squeeze the last they can from them.

[Covenant]

Sorry, I don't really care about the 'art style' of Diablo (which as far as I can see was 'fuck ugly' style). The size of armour bits in a stupid fantasy game doesn't really interest me; I'm only interested in the game's mechanics (which might actually be interesting).

The idea that Diablo is anything like 'dark horror hack'n'slash' is bizarre to me. Regardless, Blizzard has changed since the 90s and doubtless considers D3 (like SC2) a tiny footnote at the bottom of their money-printing machine.

I sincerely doubt you'll be impressed by the mechanics. Everything we've seen, even their 'coolest' stuff, has put them squarely within the realm of the currently understandable. Now, if they said they were moving away from merely point-and-click attack style (my poor mouse doesn't want that many clicks) or had shown us some kind of new gameplay not before seen in the other Diablo-style games, I'd be more intrigued.

The aesthetic isn't bad, but it's unimaginative and leads them to this criticism by being too wonky. I like most of the stuff I've seen, I just want them to chill it on the ambient dungeon lighting, because as a gameplay mechanics, darkness was part of the way those monsters got at you. Maybe they're not going for that at all, and that's fine since I'll be okay without being jumped, but it makes it a little less interesting. It was kinda fun to have critters lurching out from a darkened hallway, or to throw a firewall down that's create a lit-up and visible piece of map. Honestly I was hoping they'd go more for that, and make the darkness element more pronounced. I can think of lots of stuff you could do with that!

[Transbot9]

I knew Blizzard was a hack when I found out about Warhammer. What's funny is when a WoW fan accuses Games Workshop of ripping off Blizzard. What's even funnier is when Blizzard sued Games Workshop claiming they were being ripped off, when Games Workshop could have sued them over trademark infringement when the original Warcraft came out and chose not to.

Guess who won.

Blizzard suing GW? What are you babbling about?

I'm having trouble finding it on Google right now, but I'll post it as soon as I do. I know about the early day stuff you posted. Basically, Blizzard's parent company tried to sue Games Workshop for infringment of trademark/copywrite when they developed a Warhammer 40K RTS.

[Serafina]

I knew Blizzard was a hack when I found out about Warhammer. What's funny is when a WoW fan accuses Games Workshop of ripping off Blizzard. What's even funnier is when Blizzard sued Games Workshop claiming they were being ripped off, when Games Workshop could have sued them over trademark infringement when the original Warcraft came out and chose not to.

Guess who won.

Blizzard suing GW? What are you babbling about?

I'm having trouble finding it on Google right now, but I'll post it as soon as I do. I know about the early day stuff you posted. Basically, Blizzard's parent company tried to sue Games Workshop for infringment of trademark/copywrite when they developed a Warhammer 40K RTS.

Wasn't that a rumor from angry (blizzard-kiddy) fans who did not get that Blizzard got inspired by GW and not vice versa?

Btw, the whole "ripped of" or "stolen" accusations one way or the other are pretty stupid.
Sure, Protoss have some aspects from Eldar, and Zerg from Tyrandids. But Protoss have pretty different philosophy, and Tyrandids don't have a single overmind with such a personality.
And overall, the SC-story is pretty original.
Same goes for Warcraft.

[Ritterin Sophia]

...and Tyrandids don't have a single overmind with such a personality.

What? Last I remembered the Tyranid Hive Mind had such a personality that psykers trying to read synapse creatures started frothing at the mouth after losing all pretenses of sanity, excluding the extremely high end tier Psykers.