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The crusader seems like a pretty chill and understanding lady.
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Sep 5, 2015 08:04
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That said Blizzard's cutscenes are pretty drat good, I can understand why some people complain but goddamn if those things aren't pretty.
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Sep 5, 2015 08:04
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Crystalgate posted:One theory I've seen about the story, is that back when Diablo II was made, Blizzard was forced to use a more effective storytelling due to limited space. They simple didn't have the space to throw cutscenes left and right, so they had make as much use as they can with what they had. This is no longer the case. Crystalgate posted:One theory I've seen about the story, is that back when A New Hope was made, Lucas was forced to use a more effective storytelling due to limited budget. They simple didn't have the budget to throw special effects left and right, so they had make as much use as they can with what they had. This is no longer the case.  Neruz posted:That said Blizzard's cutscenes are pretty drat good, I can understand why some people complain but goddamn if those things aren't pretty. I think it's important to note the difference between Blizzard's cinematics - the pre-rendered videos - and their cutscenes - which are done in-engine and tell most of the game's story. The cinematics are still the best in the business, as far as I'm concerned. The cutscenes, on the other hand, are where the bulk of the bad storytelling in D3 happens and they don't have the visual wow factor to back them up. Mr. Baps fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Sep 5, 2015 |
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Sep 5, 2015 08:24
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Walrus Pete posted:I think it's important to note the difference between Blizzard's cinematics - the pre-rendered videos - and their cutscenes - which are done in-engine and tell most of the game's story. The cinematics are still the best in the business, as far as I'm concerned. The cutscenes, on the other hand, are where the bulk of the bad storytelling in D3 happens and they don't have the visual wow factor to back them up. Oh yes right, I meant the cinematics
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Sep 5, 2015 08:38
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Neruz posted:Oh yes right, I meant the cinematics I was pretty sure you did. It can get confusing because hardly anyone but Blizzard uses the word "cinematics" anymore
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Sep 5, 2015 08:58
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Crystalgate posted:One theory I've seen about the story, is that back when Diablo II was made, Blizzard was forced to use a more effective storytelling due to limited space. They simple didn't have the space to throw cutscenes left and right, so they had make as much use as they can with what they had. This is no longer the case. Diablo 3's Story has a huge problem with talking. Entire Characters could have their Dialogue removed and become better characters in the process. Quite a few character love to hear themselves talk and can actually make the world tone and narrative worse by doing so, the worst case of this is not till much later and a Spoiler so I will talk/rant about that when it comes up likely. For this video just look at how much The Skeleton King talks. Did he need to? Not really, could have been just as if not more menacing with a single sentence. There are good moments and Story in Diablo 3 but it is almost entirely in the details around the world, not the primary story line. Like the Characters themselves are really well done, each has a personality that shows through with only bits and pieces of Dialogue here and there.
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Sep 5, 2015 09:59
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I will admit Leoric would be way better if he just silently ordered his minions around instead of monologueing constantly.
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Sep 5, 2015 10:01
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Ok this is (probably) the last thing I'll say about D3's shortcomings. for now In the first two games, Diablo spoke a total of one sentence. And when it happened, it was rad as gently caress. D3 gives us cartoon villains who love nothing more than shouting at our heroes instead of getting on with their villainous business, and it completely ruins any chance the game had of establishing a mood.
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Sep 5, 2015 10:11
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Yeah, the story wasn't all that great given how simple it was, but I guess I wasn't all that disappointed by the story for the tonal shift because Diablo 2 didn't seem to be that different from D3. The characters mostly just sat there and talked about how much their lives sucked. I did some quests for them but I was never frightened or even felt the gravity of an ending world. It was just there. It was fun there, but it was fairly easygoing. D3 was the same way. Sure there is a lot more "omfg it's the HERO" that is different, but it's the end of the story and Blizzard wanted to give a happy ending. The tone shifted because D2 was the turning point. Things are actually going well and some of the superbads are dead. Now it's time for humans to go on the offensive. And the offensive is murdering sea of demons in a colorful field. You guys are right though I just skipped all the enemy dialogue because they needed to shut up.
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Sep 5, 2015 10:59
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Azmodan is the worst offender in the SATAM category. "I didn't even want those siege weapons! Anyway, I still have the rest of my invasion army and it's really big! *The Nephalem runs past, killing the rest of the invasion army at dozen demons per second* Zoltun Kulle is really good, I'll give Blizzard that. Zoltun has exactly the right kind of villainous devilry going on, and he challenges the protagonists' motivations in ways that actually make sense. StoryTime fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Sep 6, 2015 |
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Sep 5, 2015 11:52
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StoryTime posted:Azmodan is the worst offender in the SATAM category. "I didn't even want those siege weapons! Anyway, I still have the rest of my invasion army and it's really big! *The Nephalem runs past, killing the rest of the invasion army at dozen demons per second* Because of that, Azmodan comes off as a giant coward trying to scare off the hero with desperate bluster. Seriously, it works a lot better if you think of him that way. Tarezax fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Sep 6, 2015 |
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Sep 5, 2015 12:20
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Diablo 3 is basically Michael Bay's Diablo: it's loud and obnoxious and doesn't make sense when it really needs to, but drat, if there aren't some moments that look pretty as hell.Willie Tomg posted:I'm down with this post. Its not that the story is bad (though it is very, very bad), its that Chris Metzen--who, let's remember, is a grown-rear end man trying his very best--earnestly believes its good and forbade the player to skip it until the expansion. At least the talk of CORRUPTION is kept to a minimum. Then again, I only got to act 2 on the 360, so...
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Sep 5, 2015 12:21
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This was the first Diablo game I played, and after starting out on console I was deeply disappointed that the PC version had no option to dive-roll through all the destructible objects. Still, I liked the Crusader's personality and enjoyed it over all. One thing I was surprised at is how much work they'd put into the companion characters, all of whom had interesting dialogue appropriate to my class. Not the kind of thing I'm used to seeing in ARPGs.
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Sep 5, 2015 13:15
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I liked D3's story, because I like being a big drat hero and also I never played the first two games.
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Sep 5, 2015 17:09
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Astro Ambulance posted:and also I never played the first two games. That would definitely be a big help.
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Sep 5, 2015 17:31
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It's a good thing i don't have to hear about that goddamn inn anymore is all i'm saying.
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Sep 5, 2015 18:17
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Kaboom Dragoon posted:At least the talk of CORRUPTION is kept to a minimum. Then again, I only got to act 2 on the 360, so... CORRUPTION is indeed kept to a minimum in Diablo 3. The expansion, on the other hand...
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Sep 5, 2015 18:22
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In D1 our cannonical hero has returned home from one of the wars the Mad King had started, to find that everything has gone straight to Hell in his absence. Leoric is dead, murdered by his retainers (a good thing, but still), Prince Albrect kidnapped, and the town is reeling from Arch-Bishop Lazarus' recent failed attempt to rescue the boy (which we know to have been an attempt to wipe out anyone in town capable of stopping Diablo from taking control of the Princes' body). The town hero Farnam lost his mind in the fighting and is now a PTSD ridden drunk. Wirt (why the gently caress was he down there anyway?) nearly died before Griswold could rescue him, and lost his leg. Even Griswold (who is implied to be a descendant of the Nephalim) can't face going back into the dungeon. The Hero dives into the depths of the Cathedral, desperately trying to save his town and stop Diablo's resurrection. By the time he reaches Hell, Diablo has successfully taken over the boy, and the Hero's mind has been so twisted by the horrors he's seen that Diablo (whispering through the soul stone) is able to convince him that only he is strong enough to resist Diablo's control and protect Sanctuary by keeping the stone to himself. So he shoves it into his freaking forehead, and takes Diablo out of the dungeon. Hell 1 / Sanctuary 0 In D2, the Hero of Tristram is now the Dark Wanderer, and is marching inexorably to the East, leaving demons and death in his wake. The Diablo 2 hero chases him across the breadth of Sanctuary, and is always one step behind. By the time they reach the Monastery, he's already left the Pass. In Lut Gholein, he's already freed his brother Baal (gonna give Hell a point for this one, they tricked the Horadrim into letting Baal take over the body of their strongest wizard, what a great loving plan guys), and in Kurast Mephisto is loose and has already corrupted and destroyed the formerly not-evil Paladin's of Zakarum. This is when the tide starts to change: the Hero kills Mephisto, invades Hell, beats back Diablo's army, kills Diablo, destroys his and Mephisto's soul-stones (wiping them out of existence). The Hero also kills the Lesser Evils Andariel and Duriel. Hell 3 / Sanctuary 3 In LoD, the Hero arrives at Harogath to finish the job by taking out the last brother, Baal. By the time he reaches the Worldstone at the center of Mt Arreat (the source of the Soul-Stones), Baal has already corrupted it, meaning that Sanctuary is on the path to becoming another Hell. The Hero kills Baal (and his soul-stone is destroyed, iirc), but Archangel Tyrael is left with no choice but to destroy the Worldstone, cutting out the cancer Sanctuary's heart. This leads to the destruction of Mt Arreat, and the Barbarians are force to abandon their ancestral home. Hell 5 / Sanctuary 4 Point Totals Hell: - Diablo's plan succeeds, he escapes his imprisonment. (1) - The Three tricked the Horadrim into giving Baal Tal-Rasha, their best mage. Baal escapes with his body and power. (1) - Mephisto corrupts the High Council of Kurast, and brings ruin to the religion of Zakarum. (1) - Baal corrupts the Worldstone, which leads to- (1) - Tyrael has to destroy the Worldstone, which permanently fucks up Sanctuary and causes the Barbarians to lose their home. (1) Sanctuary: - The Hero kills the Lesser Evils Andariel and Duriel. (1) - The Hero kills Diablo and Mephiso, and destroys their Soul Stones (2) - The Hero kills Baal and destroys his Soul Stone (1) Diablo 1 is an outright loss, and Diablo 2 was a Pyrrhic victory at best. Diablo 3 so far seems like "let's take all the names and places from those games, acknowledge that they happened and existed, but pretend that it didn't matter and use them for whatever the hell we want". Leoric being around sticks in my craw a bit. The Hero of Tristram put him to rest, he shouldn't be doing the things he's doing.
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Sep 5, 2015 18:42
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I honestly don't mind Leoric coming back again; the Skeleton King being an immortal entity that keeps reviving whenever something horrible happens is kind of thematic. The rest though, yeah.
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Sep 6, 2015 00:49
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Oblivion4568238 posted:I don't know if it's on my end or what, but audio seems to be ahead of the video by, like, a quarter of a second or something. It's not much, but it is noticeable at times. I didn't notice anything skipping through the videos, the game has some weird stuff when it comes to overwriting sound effects though. Danakir posted:OP, dunno if you noticed but at the end of the second video you didn't actually equip a weapon after switching around your passive. I did notice this afterwards! My recording drive was full really shortly after where that video left off so blame that quote:Future villains Please spoiler tag any future ~villains~, thanks. Edit: Neruz posted:I honestly don't mind Leoric coming back again; the Skeleton King being an immortal entity that keeps reviving whenever something horrible happens is kind of thematic. The rest though, yeah. 
Koobes fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Sep 6, 2015 |
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Sep 6, 2015 01:12
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Soooo, not gonna lie, I didn't really expect Female Crusader to win first place so easily. Not gonna complain, though, cause she is totally chill and it's awesome. Sidenote, I've actually met Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in person and she is equally chill and awesome. She totally owns the character.
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Sep 6, 2015 15:11
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Welp, this LP + actually watching the Apologia Diaboli LP got me to hunt down my D2 CD Keys so that I could register them on Blizzard's site. I've only bought the game... twice now? Lost my first set of disks. Of course, I was only able to find my original D2 key, not the LoD one, so they got another sale out of me. At least I never have to do that again. It's better than Baldur's Gate 2. I know I've bought that 4 times now.  Anyway, trying to complete the game with a Sorceress. I've only actually played the game all the way through with a Barbarian and a Paladin, so this has been entertaining. I've already got the runes to make the Leaf runeword, and I've got a sweet staff that I'm going to stick it in, but I had a question first that the Arreat summit kind-of answered, but in a round-about fashion. If I make an item into a runeword (and the item in question is a "normal" item, non-magical, 2 sockets) it just adds the runeword bonuses to it, right? It doesn't overwrite what's already there? Because my staff is pretty sweet already and I don't want to lose the mods I already have on it.
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Sep 6, 2015 18:52
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Correct. Socketing in D2 gets silly.
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Sep 7, 2015 06:44
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Runewords only work on non-magical/rare/etc. items, by the way. It gets really good on those items that can have built-in skill bonuses even when nonmagical, i.e. staves, wands, and all the class-specific weapons/armor.
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Sep 7, 2015 06:59
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Willie Tomg posted:Correct. Socketing in D2 gets silly. I'm a level away from using it, and that level is only 19. I'm not out of Act 1 yet. The Leaf runeword adds the following: Adds 5-30 Fire Damage +3 To Fire Skills +3 To Fire Bolt (Sorceress Only) +3 To Inferno (Sorceress Only) +3 To Warmth (Sorceress Only) +2 To Mana After Each Kill + (2 Per Character Level) +2-198 To Defense (Based On Character Level) Cold Resist +33% The item in question already has: +2 to Ice Blast +2 to Frozen Armor +1 to Ice Bolt That means my staff will be giving me a total of 23 skill points worth of power, and that's just counting stuff I can use right now. I just wish there was an Ice variant, as I was trying to roll as a FrostSorc. By the time I've dropped 20 points in warmth (the first skill I'm maxing out), I'll have 330% Mana recharge. She's already strong enough without the super staff that she can run the Countesses tower with the game set as if I'm online and there are 8 other players (the /players 8 command). With it she's gonna be unstoppable. Just realized I had the stuff to make her the runeword armor Stealth, but she'll need four more points of strength for it. So she'll have that next level too. I've been playing this game since I was 14. It still fun. Jesus.
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Sep 7, 2015 07:04
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 New Update Videos: Episode #2-1 and Uncut Commentary Episode #2-2 and Uncut Commentary Episode #2-3 Talking with New Tristram #2 Beastiary: Lore Books:
We collected way too many journals over the course of this session, and I forgot to upload the videos before going to class 
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Sep 12, 2015 01:19
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drat dude, that's a lot of poo poo. Nice work. I'm actually really looking forward to going through all the stuff you're uploading and seeing the game from all angles! In the interest of content, based on the conversation we had while recording, I did A Retarded Thing:  I'd link to the thread, but it has since been closed, which surprised me; I figured it would just fall off the first page and be forgotten. I missed screenshotting two or three other responses, but nothing was overly funny (just like all my other posting). Welp.
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Sep 12, 2015 01:48
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Zarin posted:I'd link to the thread, but it has since been closed, which surprised me; I figured it would just fall off the first page and be forgotten. Blizzard are usually pretty good about killing threads with, uh... questionable content. Comes from long years of practice I assume since the Blizzard forums tend to be overflowing with rabid fans.
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Sep 12, 2015 01:50
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Neruz posted:Blizzard are usually pretty good about killing threads with, uh... questionable content. Comes from long years of practice I assume since the Blizzard forums tend to be overflowing with rabid fans. Yeah, makes sense. I guess I'm just so used to this forum, where nothing really gets deleted, it just gets sent to the gas chamber. A bit of a culture shock to actually have a thread straight up deleted, I guess Also surprised, considering the sheer amount of other garbage threads on the forum too haha
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Sep 12, 2015 02:32
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It's pretty much only threads with 'inappropriate' content that get deleted. Insults, rage, sexual themes etc. Blizzard like to keep their forums safe for minors.
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Sep 12, 2015 03:52
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I'm already hearing the familiar voice of Chris Metzen coming from one of the Cultists in the Khazra Den, surprisingly enough he doesn't voice that many characters since it seems they got actual VA's for most things.
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Sep 12, 2015 07:53
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Regarding the Stranger, I didn't know the thing about him. I felt really dumb after the reveal though.
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Sep 12, 2015 08:02
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Since stats were mentioned in the video, there is one thing I've never understood about them. Why do they have strength, dexterity and intelligence? Can't they just have one single stat, let's call it "combat", and have it affect damage? Then also make it so that the combat stat adds to armor for Barbarians and Crusaders, resistance for Witch Doctors and Wizards and chance to dodge for Demon Hunters and Monks. This would also have removed the need to make loot self aware and adjust their probability of having certain stats depending on their owner. Anyway, we have a tomb only the nephalem can enter, but Magda could no problem teleport in a score of her goons? She however couldn't teleport in and make off with the shard while the heroes were hunting for the orbs? Maybe she is bound by the same rule as the heroes, great loot cannot be obtained without killing.
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Sep 12, 2015 11:56
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Crystalgate posted:Since stats were mentioned in the video, there is one thing I've never understood about them. Why do they have strength, dexterity and intelligence? Can't they just have one single stat, let's call it "combat", and have it affect damage? Then also make it so that the combat stat adds to armor for Barbarians and Crusaders, resistance for Witch Doctors and Wizards and chance to dodge for Demon Hunters and Monks. This would also have removed the need to make loot self aware and adjust their probability of having certain stats depending on their owner. An old holdover of game design. Star Wars: The Old Republic is doing more or less exactly this, doing away with class-specific primary stats in favor of one primary stat that does the same thing for everyone, and there's been an ungodly amount of bitching on their forums about how it's dumbing down and simplifying the game.
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Sep 12, 2015 12:44
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The reason they don't do the thing with one statistic is because it's not as interesting from a consumer stand-point. It removes the positive feedback from getting that one great piece of armour that you can clearly see makes you amazing. This is one of those things that has always been true, in theory multiple statistics make the game more fun because they're more interesting than one statistic called combat. Also in your set up the classes lose the benefits they'd get from other statistics, for example whilst you want a stamina and strength piece on a tank barbarian that doesn't mean also getting dexterity/intelligence isn't nice because they increase your ability to tank damage as well. Also pretty sure the tomb only opens for Nephilim but once open it's possible for anyone to enter, for example your companions when you aren't playing multi-player can come into the tomb.
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Sep 12, 2015 12:47
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Koobes posted:
D3 is kinda entertaining, but 1h 15m is a huge amount of monster-bashing to plough through in one sitting. It'd be far easier to digest as 3x20m vids spread out over the week. I do understand that's more work, of course. EDIT: Lord_Magmar posted:The reason they don't do the thing with one statistic is because it's not as interesting from a consumer stand-point. And that is precisely the source of a lot of the bitching about Diablo 3 compared to Diablo 2. Because they did basically just delete the system and replace it with one stat, and then fork it into different-name versions for the different classes. All the tedium of no stats, with all the frustration of having your equipment be rubbish because it's badly arranged. Ghostwoods fucked around with this message at 13:24 on Sep 12, 2015 |
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Sep 12, 2015 13:20
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Ghostwoods posted:D3 is kinda entertaining, but 1h 15m is a huge amount of monster-bashing to plough through in one sitting. It'd be far easier to digest as 3x20m vids spread out over the week. I do understand that's more work, of course. This is probably going to be the last update of this size. My University starts this week and I guess I was just plugging away at what we had made up to that point. My original plan was to make ~20-25 minute videos per update and I think I overworked myself up to this point
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Sep 12, 2015 19:56
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Koobes posted:This is probably going to be the last update of this size. My University starts this week and I guess I was just plugging away at what we had made up to that point. I'm enjoying the LP, and I definitely don't intend any insult, but that would be lovely  As a freelancer, setting aside over an hour in one tranche is surprisingly tricky.
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Sep 12, 2015 20:20
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Lord_Magmar posted:The reason they don't do the thing with one statistic is because it's not as interesting from a consumer stand-point. It removes the positive feedback from getting that one great piece of armour that you can clearly see makes you amazing. This is one of those things that has always been true, in theory multiple statistics make the game more fun because they're more interesting than one statistic called combat. Also in your set up the classes lose the benefits they'd get from other statistics, for example whilst you want a stamina and strength piece on a tank barbarian that doesn't mean also getting dexterity/intelligence isn't nice because they increase your ability to tank damage as well.
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Sep 13, 2015 06:46
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It really doesn't matter much what you wear when leveling anyway but all endgame builds demand you to be in highly specialized gear with the correct stats, or you will never progress to the highest difficulty levels and content.
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Sep 13, 2015 06:55
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