Note: This is the first time in a little over an year that I have actually loaded up Diablo III (not even any PTR) let alone the Battle.net desktop app (BDA). So there were a lot of updates I wasn’t aware of when it came to the BDA like streaming (Facebook only?) and voice chat.
Anyway, the reason I am checking out the PTR is to see what the anniversary event (Diablo I remake inside Diablo III) is like. As expected, it mostly reuses existing textures, monster models, and tile sets since it is a trade off of trying to recreate the essence of the Diablo I using existing artwork and mechanics which reduces the amount/cost of production to create new textures and models. So it is obvious that a faithful recreation would not be possible; just a close facsimile that allows players to get a nostalgic feeling; one that pays homage to that first version of the game in the franchise.
With that said, the whole retrovision filter, lighting (with light radius but still lacking actual dynamic lighting), and Diablo I music gives this event portion of the game the sort of atmosphere that has been sorely missing from Diablo III.
For example, the Cathedral level tile sets with this filter/lighting and the Dungeons music from Diablo I makes that environment a lot more fitting compared to the washed out color they originally decided to go with for the entire game. I am in no way advocating that this retrovision filtering (with the pixelation) be something they consider for the next game in the franchise; what I am saying is that light radius (which they also iterated out from Diablo III), some level of dynamic lighting (which they also decided against), and music are very important to setting the environmental tone in a game like this.
Lore audio was something that was greatly expanded in Diablo III in terms of having that lore voiced by the NPC (in D1 and D2, it was primarily narration when a tome was discovered; but that iconic narration was voiced mostly by Paul Eiding who also did the voicing for Pepin, Archbishop Lazarus, the Warrior in D1, Mephisto, Summoner in D2, and Mayor Holus, Chancellor Eamon in D3). That overall narration (and the style that Eiding used) is what I felt was missing while playing through this remake.
Some of the loot did have the names of some very memorable magic items though like Archangel’s Staff of the Apocalypse, Godly Plate of the Whale, Arkaine’s Valor, and Harlequin Crest as some small examples (all with flavor text on them). Those items unfortunately lose a whole lot of impact due to D3’s lackluster itemization (and this is core to the issues many have articulated when it comes to distilling what made these original ARPG’s feel the way they did by comparison).
The Butcher fight was probably the most nostalgic part of this event which felt about right. I am playing on a character that is barely Torment I capable so when I popped open the door to his chamber on the 2nd level, his first hit took off nearly half of my characters health; in other words, it felt almost like how most legitimate Butcher fights were like in D1 where I had to run around (even how he chased after me reminded me of those old times); the only difference is no health and mana potion spamming.
King Leoric’s tomb is a modified version of the Jar of Souls event with the Skeleton King. You do also come across memorable monsters like Gharbad the Weak and Snotspill (though they have none of their iconic dialogs; again, that would be additional production cost for voicing). Level 5-8 utilize the Ruins of Corvus tiles. Chamber of Bone uses the Plagued Tunnels/Repository of Bones tile set. That is where I ended up triggering the Act V Beastmaster of Westmarch achievement breaking the immersion a little. Zhar the Mad was a mini version of Zoltun Kulle but without any of the originals “kooky” sounding sorcerer dialog or the humorous retort the character gives when you kill him.
That last part has to be taken into the context of the original game where playing through these middle levels kept you on edge since there were certain things that could take chunks of health out of you. So in the original, these little moments of banter provided a moment of levity and comic relief (but weren’t overdone so as to keep the mostly dark mood of the atmosphere that was being conveyed).
I will say this right now; the D3 designers do understand the nostalgic aspect with this event but they also have a knack for missing the subtle things about the original Diablo which they didn’t quite capture. And it is this trend of not quite hitting it on the execution that is bothersome. And that became more apparent as one descends down the deeper levels of the dungeon (which I will point out later).
The lack of dynamic lighting in the Halls of the Blind is one of those which again, makes very dark zones like that feel dimensionless. For those who are not aware, this was brought up as a point of contention during development and the following was the devs response (posted through Bashiok) as to why they chose not to utilize dynamic lighting.
Skills are not light sources, all effects are baked into the skill effect. It’s partially because in multiplayer games things could get downright psychedelic with that many colored lights going off, but it also doesn’t work super well with the painterly art style.
Oh and not to mention performance hits unless we get super careful about class and monster skills. Skill design can be more fun not having to worry about that severe performance hit of having dozens of light sources.
The irony of course is that the “spell effects vomit” during multiplayer play has gone over the top in Reaper of Souls. Furthermore, many other games have no issues with dynamic lighting when it comes to multiplayer play or game performance (client and server). What it all boiled down to was that line about how it doesn’t go with the painterly art style and the mostly brighter graphics they decided to go with.
Level 9-12 utilizes the tile set/layout from dungeons like Den of the Fallen, Scavenger’s Den, Khazra Den, Lost Mines, etc; levels 9-12 were fairly short and was probably the first ones that didn’t really capture the feel of the original (which had those areas of lava). From level 13 onwards, it utilized the Halls of Agony tiles/layout. The majority of the levels were short mainly because of how most levels designs are in Diablo III. They could have replicated larger levels by utilizing the prison tile set (since they have shown that one can be scaled in size like how it shows up in some rifts) but I presume the textures didn’t match.
And it was from here (level 13) where the entire essence of this remake began to be lost. A better tile set to utilize for these final levels might have been Arreat Crater for example (to give it that familiar atmosphere). Again, I have to reiterate that I understand this is not meant to be a faithful reproduction but these levels were also really short. Level 13 in the original is where the game made you aware that things were going to get difficult the closer you got to Diablo. You had to deal with a ton of succubi that are spamming blood star so the lack of succubi and the low monster density failed to capture the growing tension you felt as you descended deeper into the dungeon. Level 14 was a little bit better in terms of the monsters but again, not a lot of succubi/witches while the blood knights didn’t feel as dangerous (like how they would converge/surround and block you while chipping away at your health while succubi dealt out there blood star spam. Level 15 was usually soul burner blood star spam but that wasn’t even replicated to any degree.
The Unholy Altar where you eventually fight the Arch-Bishop Lazarus was a little bit better when it came to the hell spawn and advocates. And when you hit those books and were teleported into the tiny rooms filled with mobs, that was probably the closest these lower levels felt to conveying the originals dangerous and threatening feel.
Finally is the level where Diablo is (which unfortunately did not use the pentagram on the ground). I still remember the first time I played through this (not using any cheats) and it took forever to clear out that final level little by little to get to each lever that would eventually unleash the dark lord himself. And yes, they clearly decided to condense this final area (using one of the Halls of Agony intersection tile set that has those rooms) which was rather unfortunate considering this is a limited time event. It would have been a much more fitting end if you could have fought Diablo in a slightly more open area so that you could at least appreciate the heftier model of him.
It is not like I don’t appreciate the effort that was done with this event (since again, it is constrained by the amount of additional production they can do). The thing is that there are many players who play Diablo III that have never played Diablo I. And there will be some who will literally believe that is how the original was like. The original was unforgiving at times and the combat ultra clunky where many times you were flailing at air. That was all part of the original charm of the game though from a time when it was really considered mind blowing.
But this in-game remake is still Diablo III core game play/loot mechanics; just with several axis of character movement removed. Again, it did make initially for some nostalgic moments but once I completed it, the desire to do it again was not there which is contrary to those feelings I had when I first played Diablo I and Diablo II. And initially, it was like that for Diablo III where I played it a whole lot before they implemented the initial Paragon system.
Finally, as mentioned at the top, this was the first time in over an year that I have actually touched Diablo III. The sad reality is that even playing it again on the PTR, it has done little to entice me back to playing it normally on live.
