Alright I will review this game that has been out for a long time, better late than never. Diablo III, as the name suggests, is the third installment on one of Blizzard Entertainment's games. This game was first released on PC then on consoles (PS3, PS4, XB360 and XB1). The version I'm going to review is the Ultimate Evil edition of Diablo III that includes the expansion "Reaper of Souls" for PS3 (yes, I know this version is obsolete).
STORY
Diablo III's story takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, where the Archangel Tyrael destroyed the Worldstone that Baal corrupted. This unlocks the hidden power inside of few humans (especially newly born children) after the Worldstone's destruction. These people who have this power of both Angels and Demons are called Nephalem. The first act of the game shows Deckard Cain at the old Tristram's ruined cathedral with his niece Leah. They went there to search for tomes and scrolls on how to prevent the world's end. Suddenly a falling star crashed at the cathedral knocking away Leah and blasting Deckard Cain down into the cathedral's labyrinth. I don't know how Deckard Cain survived that blast, but whatever.
GAMEPLAY
Diablo III (RoS) have six character classes: Barbarian, Crusader (new in RoS), Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor and Wizard. Now you can select if you want your character to be male or female. Creating Hardcore (one life only) characters are back. Each classes use different Resources to use some skills, for example Barbarian uses Fury to use the Whirlwind skill. Resources also behave differently like Fury drains if you're not attacking an enemy or destroying an object. You can usually gather Resource points if you hit something, enemy or destructible object.
Diablo III have two modes to explore the world of Sactuary: Campaign (story mode) and Adventure (End Game mode) that grants you access to bounties and Nephalem Rifts.
Diablo III have two modes to explore the world of Sactuary: Campaign (story mode) and Adventure (End Game mode) that grants you access to bounties and Nephalem Rifts.
You can freely change the difficulty of the game just press the START button to open the pause menu and then selecting the CHANGE DIFFICULTY option. Harder difficulties grants you more EXP and high Legendary item drop rate.
The level cap is lvl 70. If you reach that level, you become a Paragon lvl 1 and earn Paragon EXP to level up. Being a Paragon gives you a Core point every level and the access to leveling your Core stats like Vitality, Health regen/steal, Resource regen depending of what character class you use. Paragon levels and the Core points earned also applies for your other characters even they didn't reached the level cap yet.
Some of Diablo III's map layout isn't randomized. To compensate for this, some of the entrances to the dungeons scattered around the map are randomly locked or open and some of these dungeons are also randomized.
The gameplay and combat of Diablo III is much faster than its previous installments. The character controls feels natural on consoles with the addition of a dodge move by tilting the right analog stick. You can attack/use skills by pressing the face buttons, R1 and R2.
You can access everything like stats, quests, lore in the Inventory screen (SELECT). Navigating through this screen is pretty easy. The gameplay pauses when you open this screen.
Diablo III's Companion System improved over the last installment (Diablo II). Now you can assign skills to your companion if they reached a specific level. There are 3 companions that will join you in your adventure: Templar (warrior), Scoundrel (archer) and Enchantress (magician). You can only pick one companion, but you can freely change companions when you're in town/encampment.
Instead of Diablo II's Horadric Cube, Diablo III have Artisans. These Artisans can make you a weapon or armor, repair your equipment or salvage your unwanted equipment for crafting items (Blacksmith), combine or socket/remove a gem to your equipment (Jeweler) and transmogrify/transform or "edit" your equipment (Mystic, new in RoS). Like the Companions, the Artisans join you in your travels and stays in town/encampment waiting to serve you.
You can access everything like stats, quests, lore in the Inventory screen (SELECT). Navigating through this screen is pretty easy. The gameplay pauses when you open this screen.
Diablo III's Companion System improved over the last installment (Diablo II). Now you can assign skills to your companion if they reached a specific level. There are 3 companions that will join you in your adventure: Templar (warrior), Scoundrel (archer) and Enchantress (magician). You can only pick one companion, but you can freely change companions when you're in town/encampment.
Instead of Diablo II's Horadric Cube, Diablo III have Artisans. These Artisans can make you a weapon or armor, repair your equipment or salvage your unwanted equipment for crafting items (Blacksmith), combine or socket/remove a gem to your equipment (Jeweler) and transmogrify/transform or "edit" your equipment (Mystic, new in RoS). Like the Companions, the Artisans join you in your travels and stays in town/encampment waiting to serve you.
Diablo III have flexible multiplayer mode. You can play up to 4 friends locally either by sharing one console or LAN mode up to 4 consoles. If you have an online connection, you have the option to let other players join you or just play solo. Having more players in your game, the tougher the enemies. BTW unlike the PC version you can play even without online connection.
GRAPHICS
The graphics of Diablo III for consoles is much weaker than the PC version especially the lighting effects. But the game mostly runs on smooth 60fps with frame rate drops up to 30fps depending of the number of enemies, effects and things happening in the game.
MUSIC/AUDIO
The soundtrack is great and similar to Diablo II. It's fitting to have these type of soundtrack to match the outdoor adventure and dungeon crawling, but I miss Diablo I's eerie soundtrack.
The characters are well voiced. Player characters are more talkative now and have occasional short conversations with their companions, the artisans, important NPCs and the townspeople
REPLAY VALUE
If you finished the game (story mode), you can try Adventure mode so that you can loot stuff and keep on increasing your Paragon level which goes up to level 300 or more.
CLOSING REMARKS
Well Diablo III and the RoS expansion is a pretty great game. The story (probably the weakest part of the game) and lore is okay. Combat and multiplayer is awesome. The map and graphics are well done. Music and audio is great. The game's high replayability will eat up most of your time. Go get this game guys, especially new comers, it's never too late. If you got a PS3 and PS4, i suggest you pick the PS4 version because that version is still supported by Blizzard Entertainment, meaning, the game are getting patches like the latest 1.0.4 version that fixes some bugs/glitches, gameplay improvements and includes a new map. event quests and Greater Rifts in Adventure mode. For PS3 owners like me, I'll keep playing till I buy a PS4 and export my save from PS3 to PS4.
GRAPHICS
The graphics of Diablo III for consoles is much weaker than the PC version especially the lighting effects. But the game mostly runs on smooth 60fps with frame rate drops up to 30fps depending of the number of enemies, effects and things happening in the game.
MUSIC/AUDIO
The soundtrack is great and similar to Diablo II. It's fitting to have these type of soundtrack to match the outdoor adventure and dungeon crawling, but I miss Diablo I's eerie soundtrack.
The characters are well voiced. Player characters are more talkative now and have occasional short conversations with their companions, the artisans, important NPCs and the townspeople
REPLAY VALUE
If you finished the game (story mode), you can try Adventure mode so that you can loot stuff and keep on increasing your Paragon level which goes up to level 300 or more.
CLOSING REMARKS
Well Diablo III and the RoS expansion is a pretty great game. The story (probably the weakest part of the game) and lore is okay. Combat and multiplayer is awesome. The map and graphics are well done. Music and audio is great. The game's high replayability will eat up most of your time. Go get this game guys, especially new comers, it's never too late. If you got a PS3 and PS4, i suggest you pick the PS4 version because that version is still supported by Blizzard Entertainment, meaning, the game are getting patches like the latest 1.0.4 version that fixes some bugs/glitches, gameplay improvements and includes a new map. event quests and Greater Rifts in Adventure mode. For PS3 owners like me, I'll keep playing till I buy a PS4 and export my save from PS3 to PS4.
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