[Sinequanon]

	Originally Posted by stasis To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	75% Maybe even 90% if we want to note the opt-in role inferno was intended to serve.

It's the exact same story each time you go through, you're supposed to go through 4 times; thus only 25% of the game that they knew would exist has any unique story content written for it. If you take 40 hours to play Mass Effect, and you decide to play it twice, that doesn't mean the game has 80 hours of unique content. However, if they designed Mass Effect so that they expected players would replay it 3 more times with the same character, they'd be derelict in their duty to create a story-driven experience if the game hosted the exact same story each of those other 3 times.

[stasis]

	Originally Posted by Sinequanon To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	It's the exact same story each time you go through, you're supposed to go through 4 times

The first time you go through, you've completed at least 75% of the playable content for the class played. This is most of the game's content and you are rewarded with completion events. By the third play (hell difficulty, clvl 60), you've completed at least 99% of the playable content.

Each difficulty setting does not contain 25% of the game's playable content. If you were to draw a content curve it would peak at clvl 35, which coincides with the terminus of the storyline, and decline sharply from there. Further gameplay is almost entirely reward-cycle treadmill (including story reward throughout nightmare in the form of more diary drops) rather than additional playable content. You are supposed to have developed a habit.

In Diablo III, unlike either prequel, the storytelling is placed front and center in the habit-forming process. It not only strides the lion's share of the playable content, that being normal difficulty, but it serves up and gates that content in a very prominent manner.

The notion that this amounts to afterthought is an absurd one.

[Zsych]

*skimming through the discussion* Maybe his point is just that the story isn't the primary vision that drives the game. The gameplay is the primary focus in the development of the game, and the story is just supposed to make the game experience cooler.

I'm somewhat more interested to know if the game gets cracked or not. That sounds like a more interesting undertaking.

[stasis]

It seems clear that the vision is ARPG
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
leading into miniaturized raids (in the form of affixed elite packs and phased boss mechanics). Like WoW and unlike D1 or D2, the hook for the treadmill in D3 is heavily comprised of story story story. Previous installments have relied more heavily upon other devices to generate immersion, such as the game physics (D2's legendary hack 'n slash feel) or the graphics and sound palette (D1's legendary atmosphere). D3 attempts to add to this rather than to reproduce it outright. And what the devs have opted to add is quasi-raid content fed by a lore hook. It's no afterthought.

[Zsych]

I agree that they put a lot of effort into the story itself.

[Arcanist]

	Originally Posted by Zsych To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I agree that they put a lot of effort into the story itself.

Is that sarcasm?

[Zsych]

No. Story is part of creating the epic feel of a game, and Blizzard know that.

I wonder how they'd do though, if they started off trying to tell a story and create a certain kind of experience, and then defined the game mechanics to support that experience - rather than creating the game engine and type of gameplay first.

"We want to create fear in x different ways" vs. "We can make traps like this, how would that work as part of the story?" - maybe not a huge difference, but a difference.

[Arcanist]

Yes, but the story is god awful. I don't see where they put lots of effort into it.

[Zsych]

They hired a decent writer. They put effort into the cinematics. But ultimately its supposed to be Diablo 2 enhanced. I'm somewhat more interested in seeing how Torchlight 2 turns out.

[stasis]

	Originally Posted by Arcanist To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Yes, but the story is god awful.

Target audience is kids.

[Arcanist]

	Originally Posted by Zsych To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	They hired a decent writer.

Um, Belial for starters...

Maghda...

( Show Spoiler )

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[stasis]

	Originally Posted by Arcanist To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	( Show Spoiler ) To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Extremely successful children's show.

19 seasons, 16 series, two feature films. Syndication. Merchandise. Hundreds of millions of dollars.

[Arcanist]

The target audience may have been children, but come on... 90s Disney movies were geared towards 10 year olds and were written better. This story is just straight up shameful.

[Cygnus]

	Originally Posted by stasis To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Target audience is kids.

The target audience is "mainstream" the broadest possible appeal like a summer blockbuster movie or McDonalds...etc. Not age specific. Maybe mainstream is not it either, maybe the target audience is people that enjoy and have enjoyed World of Warcraft.

Acti/Blizz is simply continuing the game and story formula that has been used all along form War Craft: Orcs & Humans. War Craft II and III, World of War Craft. Star Craft I and II, Diablo I, II and III. Not certain why some people are expecting Diablo III to fall outside Blizzard's traditional design pattern. Notice too the lack of character development, that gear defines the character is in synch between World of Warcraft and Diablo III? A key element of a role playing game is the separation of player and character skill, which is bent a lot in action role playing game titles. Blizzard is not cited for its innovation, more level of quality and polish.

[Sinequanon]

	Originally Posted by stasis To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	The first time you go through, you've completed at least 75% of the playable content for the class played. This is most of the game's content and you are rewarded with completion events. By the third play (hell difficulty, clvl 60), you've completed at least 99% of the playable content.

This depends on what you think the game is about. Contrast this thread with the Mass Effect 3 thread, where the last X number of pages are people bitching about the story, and this thread which prior this tangent, was people bitching about the poor design of the game's upper echelon and gear distribution. To say Diablo is about its story is laughable, but even if you were correct (99% of the playable content by lvl 60), it's still problematic because the game was designed presumably for you to have something meaningful to do at level 60, and that experience is mismanaged.

Each difficulty setting does not contain 25% of the game's playable content. If you were to draw a content curve it would peak at clvl 35, which coincides with the terminus of the storyline, and decline sharply from there. Further gameplay is almost entirely reward-cycle treadmill (including story reward throughout nightmare in the form of more diary drops) rather than additional playable content. You are supposed to have developed a habit.

How does the bolded differ from the statement I made earlier saying that by after completing normal, you've been exposed to 100% (or nearly so) of the game's [story] content?

Mind you, you're also not factoring in that the game presumably features 5 different play dimensions through other classes. Aside from some minor dialog changes, there's zero meaningful difference when playing with a monk vs. a barbarian in terms of the story (hearing your character tell the templar that they throw criminals in jail or that they're judged by a council does not constitute a meaningful story difference to me; maybe you're more easily satisfied).

	In Diablo III, unlike either prequel, the storytelling is placed front and center in the habit-forming process. It not only strides the lion's share of the playable content, that being normal difficulty, but it serves up and gates that content in a very prominent manner. The notion that this amounts to afterthought is an absurd one.

The story is defininetly pervasive in the sense that you're required to sit through it, and on second, third, ... nth playthroughs, the heavy-handedness of the production is entirely unnecessary, but from a mechanical standpoint, the story is absolutely an afterthought. It's not required to comprehend or play the game, and the way its told distracts from the habit-forming behavior the game seeks to create (which is to grind for gear at high levels).

[Alober]

From my perspective, now that I've got the staff to get into Whimseyville and completed a lot of the achievements, I don't even care if I get to end-game. At this point it's something that fills in 15 minute to 1/2 hour time slots between other things. I found World of Warcraft to be a lot more engaging. Just my 2 cents.

[Arcanist]

	Originally Posted by Alober To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	From my perspective, now that I've got the staff to get into Whimseyville and completed a lot of the achievements, I don't even care if I get to end-game. At this point it's something that fills in 15 minute to 1/2 hour time slots between other things. I found World of Warcraft to be a lot more engaging. Just my 2 cents.

I played for about 5 weeks before I got sick of it. It was more satisfying to return to WoW where I rolled an alt on a new server with no heirloom gear and no guild. I'm having more fun with that than I ever did with D3.

[rahdam]

Patch 1.04 tomorrow!

[Nostalgia]

I currently have $15 USD in my account from selling stuff on the RMAH....the highest bid I got on one of my item was $5.99, rest of them are from selling gold.... who buy this stuff????
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[nom4d]

	Originally Posted by rahdam To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Patch 1.04 tomorrow!

Got a source to back that up?

[stasis]

	Originally Posted by nom4d To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Got a source to back that up?

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[Merak]

Tried dusting off D3 the other day. Played for about 10 minutes and quit out of boredom.

The whole situation is laughable. Now there is some drama over Jay using the word "fuck" and people pretending to feel insulted.

I don't care much for the game. Besides the first two games in the franchise, I find ARPG's to be extremely boring. I'm not sure why the first two managed to keep my interest.

However, as ridiculous as the hype over the game is, I do find it interesting from a social study perspective. I am guessing the reason is I've never been around such fandom and I've never realized how dedicated some are to the "cause".

[Awesome]

Diablo 3 for 9.98
on toys r us

OUCH

[Jezebel]

	Originally Posted by Awesome To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Diablo 3 for 9.98 on toys r us OUCH

A bunch of AAA games are going for $10 at Toys R Us. I wouldn't read too much into it.