Exactly what it says in the title. Any spoilers will be after the read more.
It was good. 8/10 maybe? Possible 9/10 on a good day. Was it worth me breaking my personal boycott against Activison Blizzard? I dunno. I've had that boycott even before most people did, I started it up after their bullshit over banning a guy for calling out atrocities in Hong Kong, but I broke it twice before, once for a single month of WoW in 2020 cause I needed the escape, and again for Diablo 2 remaster, because it's one of the best games ever made, friends worked on it, and they made my two favorite meme builds viable so I cracked. But here? Hmm. Time will tell how I feel in the end, but I did enjoy the game quite a bit. It was very hard to resist. I could probably resist a Warcraft IV, maaaaybe a Starcraft III. But Diablo? That's one of my favorite things right there.
We owned Diablo II when I was a kid. Skipped over the first entirely. And it's one of the best games ever made. One of my absolute favorites. I have played many, many, MANY games in my life. Thousands upon thousands. It's in my top 10. Maybe top 5. I've replayed it a hundred times. Diablo IV was NEVER beating that, and it does not. It's not as good as Diablo II, though it sure does want to be compared to it. Leading up to its release, and shortly after, I kept asking "are they basing it more on Diablo II or Diablo III?" It's a kind of blend but there was actually a LOT there for a Diablo II fan like me.
Is it better than Diablo III? Hmm... yeah, probably. I didn't HATE Diablo III and I enjoyed it enough playing it, but I never wanted to go back to it. I played it once, as Witch Doctor, and was like "yeah that's good :)". I played the expansion and I don't even remember if I beat it, I'm not gonna lie. It is a resounding 6/10 or 7/10. Diablo IV is quite a bit better, because I DO want to go back and try the other classes.
Okay. Let's talk about my general thoughts. System, first.... Isn't it funny how in this modern era of AI, where we rely on things to create for us on the fly, where random level generation would be kind of in the zeitgeist, they basically threw that entire thing out the window?? That's like, Diablo's thing to me. Diablo 2's generation has patterns, sure, but it still helps the replayability. I'm a little worried about D4's replayability in comparison.
The world and level design are alright. I was doing lots of quests at first and then just kinda went "nah I wanna finish the story" cause the world started to feel a little samey, but there are some cool stories and setpieces and areas to explore. I did notice a lot of repeating enemies, but like, they were keeping the same pace with me and just being stronger, it felt a little weird? It being so open world means that I have to suspend my disbelief. This wolf was piss easy at level 4, now at level 50 it's still the same exact difficulty. It's a little odd.
Characters are fun. I'm glad Druid came back, it was always my favorite D2 class. I could even do Crow Druid if I want, my favorite shitpost build, though not REALLY. There is more freedom of choice for your builds than D3, that's for sure. And you can mix and match abilities. At first I did a full bear, then got a cool item and tried bear/werewolf. When that eventually became weak cause my weapon was outpaced, I switched to earth/storm druid and that carried me to the end. You can mix and match pretty well, in fact, but there's still like... four or so possible builds, that you can do a bit of mixing in. Crows and beasts ARE there but as a supplement, which is sad. Companion Druid was loads of fun. I dunno how it is for the other classes, but I assume it's also the same way. You also gotta be a bit careful about your builds, cause you're only allowed 6 skills, which is a bit of a shame but I guess it allows for more precise build design. I know D2's build design can be overwhelming, and also a trap cause you end up building absolute dogshit.
This game loves to call back to Diablo 2. There's like, no Diablo 1 love at all, but we see the battle of Arreat, lots of people call back to it, Meshif of all fucking characters makes a return at age like 110 (seriously how is that fucker still alive, it's literally like 80 years after D2), not to mention 4 of the 5 classes are Diablo 2 classes. Druid, Necro, Sorceress, and Barb all make a return. And then Rogue does from D1 which is fascinating, so I guess there IS a little D1 love, okay. It was neat.
Let's talk story and characters a bit. How about we start with Lilith? ...You know, I thought of that one meme. Blizzard: "I made a new design for a sexy villainess." Players: "A new design, or Kerrigan again?" Blizzard: "Kerrigan again." She just looks like Kerrigan. But Kerrigan is hot so it's okay. Also, add Lilith to the list of characters who are Correct, but need to have a bad case of the Evils so we don't actually root for them. "Sin is okay, actually. It's a construct designed by the church to control you. You should be allowed to do what you want. But lol what I actually mean is, murder everyone, that's the only sin that matters". Not even any of the sexy sins. I'd gluttony, lust, and be prideful all day, or at least I would if I wasn't so slothful. But wrath and greed are like the only ones she cares about lol. Also "I want to stop demons from destroying humanity but to do that I have to destroy humanity". Lady, please.
Diablo has always had an issue with their storytelling, and that's that since D2, the games are about chasing down people and juuuust missing them. Well, D3 beat that a bit, but it had it a little bit. But in D2 and D4 you are just chasing the bad guy to the very end of the game, and then it all ends on a kinda sad note cause you weren't fast enough ):. It's a little disappointing, and one of the weaker parts of D2, but the fact it's just repeated here is especially weak. Feels disappointing, like we have no agency. But that's also kind of THE POINT of Diablo. It's a crapsack shitty world and everything you do fails in the end. Even when you succeed, there's a catch. Like a corrupted soulstone or something.
I like Lorath and Donan. They're fun. Neyrelle is good too. The Vigo stuff made me genuinely sad. Gee, I think this game has an issue with organized religion, huh? So many people treated so shittily will make you at least KINDA feel for them, especially Donan, jesus Christ poor Donan. That fucker does NOT catch a break. It kinda feels like they killed him off just for the fuck of it? Like oh hey, welcome back, Donan's dead now. Oh, speaking of moments that shoulda hit hard but fell flat. If you do half of the Act 5 Lorath and Nayrelle part, then go do Donan's, the game literally spoils that Neyrelle's arm gets chopped off. So when it happened, a scene that's CHILLING, it didn't hit as hard. That sucks.
I'm mostly just rambling at this point. It sets up DLC/a sequel way WAY better than D3 ever did. Can't wait to see what horrible shit happens to Nayrelle, like it did with Leah. Can't wait to feel like shit about that AGAIN, like I did with Leah, except this time it's a 15 year old. Just kick that can down the way, Blizzard.
Anyways, game good. If you don't care about the boycott, it's recommended. If you DO care about boycotting Activision Blizzard games, maaaybe play D2 again instead, but I DID enjoy it.
