David Bernard, Barbarian, PC
I have been looking forward to the release of the fourth part of the iconic Diablo series since its announcement. For the past two weeks, I’ve been consumed by the hype and spent my free time browsing the gaming forums. At midnight Friday, I was already sitting at the computer, completely clogged with energy drinks and non-alcoholic beer. Initially, I planned to play all night, but, as usual, it did not work out. I must be getting old. However, that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve spent over forty hours in the world of Sanctuary in the past three days. The breaks were only for dog walking, showers and gastronomic experiences in the form of frozen pizza. And I must say that I really like this unhealthy game.
As a character, I chose a barbarian. After all, as in every Diablo. I never played part of the series because of the story, but rather because of the endorphin rush that comes from your hero’s gradual beep and the sound you hear when you drop a legendary item. That’s why I always aimed for the endgame as quickly as possible. However, this time I took a completely different approach. I read all the dialogues, watched the cutscenes, and researched everything I could. Didn’t expect to enjoy the main storyline so much. The gloomy atmosphere, as if dropped out of the legendary second part, is combined here with excellent musical accompaniment and top voice acting of the characters. Of course, this is not a candidate for a literary award, but I still prepared very nicely and I’m curious to see what the creators will bring us in seasons and datadiscs.
Unfortunately, I can not get around the negative side of the impression, namely the technical state of the game. During the last beta weekend (server slam), the game ran almost without problems. But I can’t say the same for the sharp version. My rig is definitely not a top tier one (Ryzen 5600x, RTX 3070Ti, 32GB RAM, 1440p @ 165Hz), but it shouldn’t be that frequent stuttering and freezing. I even encountered some graphical artifacts, but here I can’t tell if it’s a problem in the game or something is wrong with my card. Since I have no problems in other games, I tend to the first option. I hope so.
The negative side of my experience so far is the technical state of the game.
According to various posts on Reddit, I’m definitely not alone. For some, the game even allegedly “blew up” their video card. Again, often these were RTX 3080/3080Ti and I was reminded of the infamous and similar New World incident. Just in case, I recommend limiting the number of images using software (RivaTuner/MSI Afterburner). These extreme incidents are likely caused by the hardware itself, but we can say for sure. It also stunned me in situations where my graphics card used more VRAM after textures were downgraded than when textures were set to overdetail. Strange.
It’s definitely not an optimization mess like Jedi Survivor or the PC version of The Last of Us, but it’s just not nice. However, I don’t have many complaints from friends, so don’t take my experience as an established fact. Of course, gameplay will vary from system to system. Also, riding a horse that is often strangely stuck and unresponsive is a bit of a pain in the ass. Despite the technical issues, I really like the new Diablo, and I already know that I will spend hundreds, if not thousands of hours in it in the coming months. After all, games are entertainment. And I’m having a great time. Too bad Blizzard nerfed (loosened) my build today. Arch!
Pavlina Nouzova, Archer, Xbox (Series S)
Diablo is a series that has the magical ability to absorb the player and spit them out after many hours. Drink elixir, shoot wildly, collect gold and dig for hours in the collected loot – this proven recipe is perfect for the fourth part and you will easily pass the evening / night / day. At the same time, the game is very accessible and extremely convenient compared to some other titles. For example, the dueling system: my archer very quickly mastered skills that were both spectacular and effective. But I could constantly experiment with them. Switching skills is so cheap, at least initially, that you won’t get one, and the developers will definitely push you to learn new tricks. Once you feel like you’re just mindlessly pushing buttons and killing one demon after another, swap in a few abilities and the fights are refreshing again.
Similarly, the inventory is clear and if the weapon or armor is to your liking, it can be easily upgraded. Love the special ability of your old legendary bow, but stumbled upon a new one? It’s okay, you can mix and match. Diablo IV has a lot of “upgrades” that make traveling through Sanctuary more enjoyable. And I can imagine that even if I postpone the title for a few months, I can easily return to it.
As a former Diablo PC player, I was also pleasantly surprised by the move to Xbox. If someone told me to switch the controller back to the keyboard, I would probably complain a lot. Although the Series S is a weaker console, the game ran absolutely smoothly at 60fps on it with a single crash. It’s a bit of a shame that even when playing solo you have to be online, but in the end I never stood in line for more than half a minute. The same store that immediately offers various cosmetic sets for real currency and to which I reacted with great skepticism. As a result, I didn’t have to buy anything, and the armor I found scattered around the world was even better in some cases. The question, of course, will be what the future of Diablo IV as games as a service will look like.
Never waited in line for more than half a minute.
The gameplay is excellent, except for a few small moments. What I struggled with a bit was the story side. The first minutes will absorb you, and you will remember the films that Blizzard took special care of – blood, violence, betrayal, religious motives … But over time, the story of your main character or heroine will begin to go in the direction that we have already experienced in games more than once. You are the chosen one, save the world. Help people you don’t know at all, and most importantly, don’t question it in any way. Personally, I would like to use Lilith and her ambiguity more. And a slightly more daring protagonist. But other than that, Diablo 4 is very fun and engaging. This is exactly what I wanted from him.
Martin Zavrzel, Necromancer, PlayStation 5
We finished the story campaign already on Saturday, and I wrote down my impressions of it (no spoilers, except for spoilers about length or structure, or the very opinion of quality). Since then, we have completely immersed ourselves in endgame and grinding. Blizzard was probably quite surprised at how “quickly” their new big game was able to be mined and completed by the most active players – at least that’s how Blizzard’s reaction could be interpreted, which managed to release a patch over the weekend, nerfing almost all the abilities , which the strongest and fastest players in the world (mostly streamers) have used to achieve an imaginary level 100 endgame. This patch was indeed very similar to a simple “weaken all the strongest and buff all the weakest”, with the result that almost all professions in the game now seem to be somewhat “average”.
However, this does not stop the progress of the determined player, because thanks to the rich equipment options, abilities and paragons of the system, creating a character trying his way to an imaginary endgame is still quite simple, it will just be slower and not as fun. At the same time, I think one of the big draws of Diablo is the feeling of absolute power when you get the right items and build the right abilities. Blizzard’s attempt to stifle these feelings seems very counterproductive to me, although of course it is very strikingly similar to similar processes from other live service games such as Destiny.
Other than that, I’m enjoying the game immensely, even though I’ve already played it for about 50 hours (yes, I didn’t get enough sleep over the weekend). While it’s basically the same thing all the time (you run around the map and hit monsters to make you and the monsters stronger), the fun abilities and great audio-visual processing make the action fun and, of course, a lot of fun. in new stronger equipment found. I was especially excited when we moved from World Tier II difficulty to Tier 3, where options for “sacred” items began to drop, causing our characters’ overall strength and stamina to jump in ways we hadn’t experienced on any of the previous levels. . games. And, of course, the sound of a dropped legendary item is still mesmerizing.
The ability and great audiovisuals make the action interesting.
Thanks to the easily accessible ability to redistribute the points poured into your character’s abilities, I have changed my build drastically several times (once I played a long-range deadly bone spear thrower, another time as a bone warrior-shepherd, the third time as a poisonous villain, spewing caustic poison everywhere, and so on) and each I felt like I was starting a new game. Finding the rarest “unique” gear that is specifically designed to significantly change how your character works can have a similar impact on your play style. With all this variety, it probably doesn’t need to be explained that I’m really looking forward to playing the game again for a different profession. What will be even more fun, because you will unlock a huge number of upgrades for your entire profile, so that the newly created characters will immediately become stronger, better equipped and on the map with open teleports to all parts of the map.
On the PlayStation 5, the game runs perfectly without problems, I did not notice any bugs at all, no problems with smoothness or even online connection. I could enter the game either immediately or within a minute each time. Of course, I’m still curious about the post-launch hype for Standard Edition owners, but it looks like Blizzard really got the servers up and running this time around, and the game itself is in pretty good shape. technical condition, as well as very rich and “finished” in content. While some of the items in the cosmetic shop are good and quite expensive, the legendary armor looks so good on higher difficulty levels that I’m not tempted to buy cosmetics. I am very curious to see how the game will continue to be filled with new content and what success it will have with the public.
Source :Indian TV
