As strange as it may sound to some, one of the things that has always attracted me the most about the Diablo series has been the atmosphere and the story. Already in 1998, when we played Diablo 1 on the PlayStation console with like-minded friends, we enjoyed spending an hour before the game in the main menu menu, where the developers included the story (lore) we read. In the case of the second and third parts, we were again very much looking forward to the end of each act to see another amazing “cinematic” episode. So my game plan for Diablo IV was clear: go through the story first, if possible, before inadvertently recommended Youtube previews or malicious people on social media ruin it for me by handing out some of those surprises.
Diablo IV aims to be an even bigger and better game in every way than the previous installments in the series – this also applies to the story, which this time offers even longer cinematic sequences than in the past, complementing these traditional fully rendered sequences with additional directly rendered in game engine, starring your character model (including any current gear or cosmetic mods). However, do not expect narrative sequences between individual acts, unfortunately, the creators “hid” the best only for the beginning and end of the story campaign, so most of the campaign has to be done only by pointing the cameras over the heads of the characters. during conversations and similar, simpler methods.
Overall, I felt that the game’s first act, which was also part of the public beta until the game’s near-finished release, was somewhat disappointing in terms of setting and story complexity. There are complex sequences in which you watch characters toasting victory or walking off into the night impressively singing a meaningful song. In a word, full of atmospheric details or frankly emotional sequences, including, for example, a rather scary mass in the church, the first meeting with the angel Inarius, and so on. The first act and the first few hours of the game leave a very good impression in terms of story and character creation, and my imagination and that of my teammate ran wild as we tried to predict what would happen next.
The main star of the story is, of course, the demonic Lilith, who, after endless battles between angels and demons, wished to get away from this eternal conflict, for which she found an unexpected ally, the angel Inarius, during one of the clashes on the battlefield. They then stole a magical “peace stone” together to use it to create the world of Sanctuary, separated from the eternal conflict. They subsequently populated it with their children, the “human” Nephals, with the potential for both good and evil, inherited from their angelic father and demonic mother. But when other angels and demons turned their attention to this new world and its inhabitants, Lilith decided to crack down on everyone on both sides of the eternal conflict who laid hands on her children. At the same time, its goal is to give people enough power so that they can defend themselves against the raids of supernatural invaders on their own. And here begins the story of the fourth part of the series.
Lilith is one of those villains you sympathize with: her motivation makes sense, and it’s entirely possible that her decision will make the world a better place. Moreover, from her interactions with people, it is clear that she truly loves them as her own children, although she also encourages them not to be afraid to sin and show their true nature. Among other things, this is why her former lover, the angel Inarius, condemned her, and he is preparing a great military campaign against Lilith and her hordes of demons with the faithful knights of his order. By this act, the “disinherited” angel also wants to earn the opportunity to return from the earthly Sanctuary back to heaven, among other angels. The conflict between the ex-lovers starts off promisingly, and during the game we argued passionately whether it turns out that Inarius doesn’t really want to kill his ex-mate. Likewise, we discussed quite passionately whether we would get a chance to join Lilith. We also looked forward to the appearance on the scene of Diablo and other demons of the “first evil”, because both sides of the conflict are counting with their participation, and the enemy of the enemy can be an ally. In general, the story is much more mature, darker and more sophisticated than in the previous parts of the series (although the legendary passage with the arrival of Diablo in front of the gates of heaven in the third part remained unsurpassed in my opinion).
Unfortunately, after a great and narrative first act, the game subsequently morphs into a predictable series of genre clichés for most of the campaign, mostly presented sparingly, with just a camera zoom over talking static characters. Thus, you will spend a good 15 of the 20 hours of the campaign on the classic rescue of civilians, finding magic keys, chasing all sorts of demons and other unimaginable missions that we have already seen many times in this series. The big exception to this gray is the desert expedition mission, where your eccentric guide and fabulous camel are on one of the most fun missions the series has ever offered. Fortunately, the creators paid the same attention to the last hours of the game as they did to the initial ones. However, the story is far from reaching its full potential and remains open in some ways, no doubt, with plans for years of supporting Diablo IV as a platform or “game as an online service” with regular expansions.
In terms of gameplay, the campaign is also full of contrasts, with some great locations or spectacular boss fights balanced by a significant amount of back and forth, or the fact that one of the campaign’s main bosses is “immortal”. “, so you will fight him many times over again. I have no doubt that there are other people who want to play Diablo mainly for the sake of the story – in this regard, it’s a bit of a betrayal that after smoothly leveling the missions to your character, the final six acts game is hardcoded to level 45, which you definitely won’t have if you only get there by completing the main story missions without playing the side activities.This is that classic moment when the developers tell you, “We don’t want you finished the story so fast, go do the required additional content and come back in a few hours.” This, of course, will not bother everyone, but it will probably be a few of us. On the other hand, it’s nice of the developers that after going through the campaign with one character it allows you to immediately skip it by the rest, and a number of other activities or parts of the game progress are common to all your played and future characters.
I completed the campaign as the Necromancer, although he has been heavily nerfed since the public beta and is by far the slowest character in the game in terms of movement. But I really liked the idea of \u200b\u200bfighting demons and evil with “one’s own weapon”, in short, the necromancer seemed interesting to me from the point of view of the plot. You can play the campaign on difficulty I or II, with the latter giving you experience and gold earned from killing enemies, but the rewards for completing the missions themselves are the same. Tier I is a pretty smooth ride in terms of difficulty, that is, short of the enemy level spike mentioned above.
More detailed impressions of the gameplay itself and the presentation of the game will be covered in the next article focused on all platforms, however on PS5 I always logged into the game without problems for one minute (although supposedly 20 million players used the game’s pre-launch) and the game on this console works, as in beta, smoothly and without bugs. However, what is absolutely perfect is the music and the sound system – especially on quality surround sound headphones, you will be blown away. Given the great interest and at the same time the large scope of the game, we will dedicate two more articles to it with the participation of several authors before reaching our verdict. But you can already ask us about everything that interests you in the game.
Source :Indian TV
