Diablo III; Screenshots, Story Outline, and More!

[Joey D]

Oh man am I excited for this game, Diablo II is my favourite game of all time and I've played through it countless times. So far the details are a bit thin on the sequel but I'll do my best to update the community on the latest happenings with the game.

Features:
# Brand-new 3D graphics engine enhanced with spectacular visual effects and Havok physics
# Numerous indoor and outdoor areas detailing new regions in the world of Sanctuary
# Interactive environments with dangerous traps and obstacles, and destructible elements
# Randomly generated worlds bolstered by scripted events for endless and dynamic gameplay
# Vast assortment of fiendish monsters, with unique attack patterns and behaviors
# New quest system and character-customization options for the ultimate action RPG experience

Story:
"It has been twenty years since the events of Diablo II. Of those who faced the Lords of Hatred, Terror, and Destruction in the battle over the fate of Sanctuary, there are few still living who can bear to remember the horrors that the Prime Evils wrought upon the world. And of those who did not witness the terrible events firsthand, most believe the stories to be little more than myth. But something evil is stirring once again in Tristram, and it may already have claimed its first victim: Deckard Cain."

Confirmed Classes:
- Barbarian
- Witch Doctor

There will be five classes in total upon the release of the game, with a great deal of customisation and the ability to choose the sex of the character. My guesses are you will see a Paladin and a Mage with some other new class that focuses on archery.

Items:

Kazo: "I watched the gameplay video again and took some pictures from moments when the items and skill descriptions are visible. Some new type of items that dropped from Diablo3 monsters in the video:

- Minor Lethality Rune
- Minor Power Rune
- Ancient Medalion
- Minor Energy Rune
- Chipped Star Topaz - New "star" variant
- Elixir of Vitality I
- Elixir of Willpower I

INVENTORY
Blizzard said they have plans for making the inventory much better.
In the video we can see room for 30 items. It seems each item will have it's own reserved space with no size variations, similar to the bag system of World of Warcraft. The Barbarian, however, has only 12 item spaces "active" or "available", other 18 being "greyed out". This means characters in D3 will be able to carry variable sizes of bags. If you look at the bottom of the inventory space, there are 4 greyed out slots for bags, similar to World of Warcraft. The icon for these bags is the same as the main inventory screen icon.

Mulitplayer Support:
Battle.net has been reworked for the game and will offer unique game play experiences. There is no word on whether there will be a cost attached or not.

Specs:
Unknown

Release Date:
Unknown

Screens:

Links:
Official Website
Screenshots
Other Media, Including Trailers
Diablofans

 

[Loon]

I still have Diablo and Diablo II. This is going to be a great game, I can't wait for it to come out.

 

[Danoff]

If they release this anywhere near Starcraft 2 I don't know how I'm going to have time for both of them, let alone anything else in my life.

 

[Joey D]

I'm just impressed it came to be, well to be honest I thought StarCraft 2 would never arrive either. I guess Blizzard is doing alright for themselves since they have this, SC2, and another WOW expansion all due out in the near future.

 

[Joey D]

So there is a very sketchy rumour of a release date 149 days away. Which is about 5 months away which puts the release in December. I have doubts about this since it was just announced but if it happens this year I'll be set for all of 2009 for gaming...unless of course they somehow slip another The Elder Scrolls series out without my knowledge.

Some Game Shops are listing Diablo III for pre-order in UK at the price of 24.99 Euros. It is incredible how some of these shops claim the game is shipping in 149 days when the other classes have not been announced yet. There is much more to be revealed. So don't hold your breath until Blizzard gives fans the official release date via Press Release.

 

[zoxxy]

...unless of course they somehow slip another The Elder Scrolls series out without my knowledge.

Oh my god, that would've been so awesome. But to be OnT, alot of people, including me, has been a little bit bugged about the graphics being a little to WC3/WoW-like. Diablo has always been about dark corners and evil oozing from the walls. Some dude thought it should look lie this;

and I couldn't agree more.

 

[Viper_Maniac]

I do agree with that although it still looks pretty sweet in the first pic. Hopefully someone will do a mod for it that will do that.

 

[Joey D]

It's still in the working phase so I wouldn't be surprised to see the game play a little more dark during the final game. Who knows though, a lot of it might be based on where the story is taking place.

 

[Joey D]

The producer of Diablo III, Keith Lee, has listened to complaints about the lack of darkness and responded.

Diablo III Lead Producer Keith Lee responded to criticism toward the Art Direction of Diablo III during a brief interview with MTV Multiplayer during the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals. Who would have foreseen that in less than a week from the official announcement a Petition Online would have over 23,000 signatures of people who wish to express their disappointment toward how Diablo III artistic direction is being done.

Personally, I liked what I saw -- and I saw that demo right on my face on a HUGE screen at the event with plenty of detail. The outdoors naturally need to look sharp and colorful, while the dungeons have that dark ambience. There is also obviously a change of illumination between 2D and 3D environments.

One of the things that we considered when we were working on the visuals for Diablo III is the fact that color is your friend. We feel that color actually helps to create a lot of highlights in the game so that there is contrast. A great analogy is like in Lord of the Rings. Not everything is dark. It allows you to see what a creepy dungeon can be like but if everything is dark it doesn't allow you to have a lot of contrast.

He continued: Diablo I and Diablo II are darker, and I think that the one of the main reasons why is the fact that in Diablo I, you're basically in a dungeon the whole time. And in contrast to Diablo III, you'll be exploring outdoors, you'll be in dungeons, you'll be experiencing so many different areas. We want to bring as much variety as we can when you're playing the game so that you're excited to check out new environments. We don't want everything to look the same and that's really what we're trying to aim for.

 

[thugbear2005]

I still play Diablo II from time to time and can't wait for this to drop. I seriously doubt this will be coming out anytime near when SC2 comes out. Blizzard has a way of building the hype(granted, their games are worth the hype) well before release. I don't think we'll be seeing this anytime within the next 2 years.

 

[tomivav]

One of my favourite series. I don't know why it's so good, but I love it! I re-played Diablo II for like 7 times I think. It's still good, sometimes I wanna play it, but I know it would be a bit boring.
I would like to thank Blizzard for doing Diablo III so it can run on week computers. That was the only thing I was afraid of - system requirements.
Also, Diablo III is gonna be the first game I'll actually buy for a full price, as original.
The only thing that sucks a bit is the atmosphere, the colors that appeared. I wish it was like in Diablo II or even Diablo I. But the game will still be an adiction. Looking forward to it.