Diablo III (Spoiler Alert!)

He’s at it again. Sleeping late at night, sitting on his chair with earphones on, lost in the world of Sanctuary, hacking and slashing down enemies, picking up items, weapons and increasing magic and skills— all in Blizzard’s new released Diablo III game.

In some youtube videos uploaded earlier this month, I can’t help but wonder why a lot of the comments were negative. I took it that these commenters are younger gamers who’ve never played Diablo and Diablo II before. They would not know that this dark-fantasy game is as old as the first online bingo game played by enthusiasts like those at bingopalace.com and is a forerunner to online role-playing  multiplayer games nor would they appreciate the storyline that my generation were introduced to. Blame the 12 years release gap for that.

So what would you expect from  the most pre-ordered PC game of all time on Amazon.com?

There are five heroic characters – barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter – to choose from and following the previous story they will go on a quest to save the world of Sanctuary from the forces of the Burning Hells. You will recall that this is quite different from the characters of the two earlier versions.

There are 5 acts on this game divided into parts and since the hubby hasn’t finished the game yet, I will have to update this post later on. Players will be nostalgic to go about and around Tristram. There’d be familiar spots for sure and new roads, corners to tackle in the world of Sanctuary.

Gameplay is pretty much the same, click and point, hit your enemy and move your way down the dungeons and up again to find stuff, pick up loots and level up. Good thing is the mana and health system along with the skills rune got better as well as the skills of the characters mentioned above.

Also, upon completing the game, one can unlock three increasing difficulty modes – that’s coming Normal to Nightmare to Hell to the most difficult Inferno mode. Just like other online games that gained popularity through the years, one can participate in player vs. player battles in all new arenas designed specifically for the game mode in addition to the up to four player cooperative campaign mode. You just need to connect to a server. Diablo III has also added an auction house, first of its kind, that allows players to meet up to buy and sell in-game items through online auctions for in-game currency and real money (I think via paypal). Though this feature is met with doubts, let’s see what good this can bring enthusiasts.

Watching the theatrical theater, we see that Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice and Deckard Cain (“Hello my friend. Stay awhile and listen…“),  the last living human in the line of Horadric mages, are the recurring characters. Unfortunately, Cain dies survived by his adopted daughter, Leah. We learn that Tyrael has become mortal per sacrifice. This is to fulfill his promise that Man would not face the coming darkness alone.

Per Deckard Cain: He has intervened for the sake of humankind time and again, for he sees the potential for heroism and selflessness in each of us. He has even acted against the mandates of his fellow Council members to fight on our behalf. For that alone I always have and always will believe in him.

To be continued…

Tyrael confronts Imperius, added by Ralnon on http://diablo.wikia.com.