struck by how off-base i think cameron is about how the diablo series has evolved since two. his general point is comparing how that franchise has evolved from the 90s into modernity as video game construction and monetization has changed to fallout …. but he says at one point that diablo 3 had some early live service-y ideas because it was post-world of warcraft, which is spot on, but then suggests that there was a bifurcation into diablo immortal (the microtransactions-y fork) and diablo 4 which he says “promised more of a return to 2.” i am paraphrasing and perhaps inaccurately but that is simply not what diablo 4 is or ever pretended to be.
the art style is a return to something more like diablo 2 but diablo 4 is to its core a modern live service game. the base game is there, yes, but itexists to get you into the seasonal content model which comes complete with paid battle passes and micro transaction cosmetics and the whole deal. you can spend $25 on an armor set that does nothing but make you look cool. it’s less that two diablos split off from 3 and more that one (immortal) is aggressively a mobile game and the other is a very direct continuation of a lot of diablo 3’s ideas and monetization.
it doesn’t ruin the overall point cameron is making when he says these things about the evolution of fallout or anything, just weirdly dissonant to hear someone with such a different conception of what diablo 4 is.
thinking about all this lead me again to remember the initial reaction to oblivion horse armor dlc and how that situation looks in retrospect given how many video games work these days. oblivion horse armor was only $2.50, which even adjusted for inflation is like $3.50-4. diablo 4 will sell you horse armor too! and for way more money.
anyway. rip too much future. you were a great show. see you again when someone finally makes the mistake of producing a fallout tv show
