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Diablo III

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Diablo III
File:DiabloSplash.JPG
Diablo III website splash page
Developer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Designer(s)Jay Wilson (lead)
Leonard Boyarsky (world design)
Composer(s)Russell Brower[2]
SeriesDiablo
Enginein-house engine
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X[3][4]
ReleaseTBA[1]
Genre(s)Action role-playing (hack and slash)
Mode(s)Single-player, online multiplayer (over Battle.net)

Diablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game developed by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise. The game, which features elements of the hack and slash and "dungeon roaming" genres, was first announced on June 28, 2008, at Blizzard's World Wide Invitational in Paris, France.[3]

Plot

The game takes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world of the Diablo series. This world was saved twenty years prior by a handful of unnamed heroes in Diablo II. Warriors that survived the onslaught of the armies of the Burning Hells have gone mad from their ordeals and it is up to a new generation of heroes to face the forces of evil threatening the world of Sanctuary. Players will have the opportunity to explore familiar settings such as Tristram.

The only confirmed NPCs are Deckard Cain,[5] who has appeared in both of the previous games, and his stepdaughter, a new character that accompanies the hero in quests from time to time. Cain's journal on the official site brings the player up to speed on the events of the first two games.[6] Diablo's world map is composed primarily of two main continents with several small islands in the Northwest region.[7]

Gameplay

File:Diablo-III-gameplay.jpg
Diablo III's inventory and HUD will retain a feel similar to that found in earlier games in the series, including a viewpoint reminiscent of the old isometric view. The inventory has sixty slots for items. Armor and weaponry will each occupy two slots and all other items will each occupy one slot. Blizzard has also made a dedicated charm inventory that will display a set amount of certain charms sizes that you may possess at one time.[citation needed]

Diablo III is similar in style to its predecessor, Diablo II. The proprietary engine will incorporate Blizzard's custom in-house physics, a change from the original usage of Havok's physics engine,[8] and feature destructible environments with an in-game damage effect. The developers are aiming to make the game run on a wide range of systems, and have stated that DirectX 10 will not be required.[9] Diablo III will use a custom 3D game engine[10] in order to present an overhead view to the player, in a somewhat similar way to the isometric view used in previous games in the series.[9] Enemies will utilize the 3D environment as well, in ways such as crawling up the side of a wall from the depths into the combat area.[5]

As in Diablo II, multiplayer games will be possible using Blizzard's Battle.net service,[11] with many of the new features developed for StarCraft II also available in Diablo III.[9] Players will be able to drop in and out of sessions of co-operative play with others.[12]

An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are slated for use in order to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed.[3] Overall, the game will include both static and randomly generated levels.[12] Additionally, there will be class-specific quests to go along with the main storyline quests.[13] Blizzard originally planned to have in-game cutscenes,[14] but decided these would divert from the gameplay and decided against them. Three new armor pieces will be available: shoulder plates, arm-guards and leggings.

Unlike previous iterations, gold can be picked up merely by touching it, rather than having to manually pick it up.[14] Sidekicks, unlike Diablo II, are now distinct NPCs who join the player, rather than randomly generated and endlessly replaceable hires.[14] One of the new features intended to speed gameplay is that health orbs drop from enemies, replacing the need to have a potion bar, which itself is replaced by a skill bar that allows a player to assign quick bar buttons to skills and spells; previously, players could only assign two skills (one for each mouse button) and had to swap skills with the keyboard. Players can still assign specific attacks to mouse buttons.[14]

Skill Runes, another new feature, are skill-modifying items that are randomly dropped by monsters and used across all classes. Similar to runes in Diablo II but instead of changing equippable items, they can be attached to skills as though they are items, often completely changing the gameplay of each skill.[15] They also have the ability to make one particular spell in each class more powerful, and give the player options as to how the rune will enhance a particular spell. For example, investing Skill Runes on the Wizard's "Lightning" can allow the players to make the lightning jump towards additional enemies, or, alternatively, adding the runes with explosion effect blows the enemy up and causes damage to the surrounding area.[16]

Artisans

Artisans are NPCs who sell, craft, and enhance equipment. Three types of Artisans can be acquired by completing a quest for each: a blacksmith, a mystic, and a jeweler. Artisans create items using materials the player can gather by scrapping acquired items and reducing them to their component parts. Unlike Diablo II, rare and magic items can be enhanced, not just basic weaponry and armor. These materials are used to create items which will have random bonuses. Crafting can also be used to train and improve the skills of the artisans rather than create new items. When Artisans gain new levels, their shop reflects their higher skill level. The process of salvaging items into materials also make inventory management easier. Blizzard stated that this crafting system was designed so that it would not slow down the pace of the game.[17][18]

PvP Combat

PvP, or 'Player versus player' has been implemented in Diablo III for players. Fought in many unique arenas, they're designed with differing amounts of terrain and cover. You participate in PvP using the character of your choice, with access to all of the gear and skills you've gathered from playing the game in singleplayer or cooperative mode. You will not receive the best gear and weapons by participating in arenas. There will be several game types you will be able to play such as ranked games. When you participate in ranked games ('Best of' match series), you will earn points for advancement based on how many kills you acquire throughout matches, accomplished objectives, victories, and much more. The points you earn lead to multiplayer achievements, titles, and other factors. The system is mainly for encouraging furious combat and multiplayer progression, not for hacking and exploiting the entire system for one's benefit. You will earn points after any match you play in (while not leaving) and Battle.net matchmaking will do their best to place you against similarly skilled opponents. Also, there may be a '1-on-1' dueling system coming into play.

Character classes

The five character classes of Diablo III.
L-R Wizard, Witch Doctor, Demon Hunter, Barbarian and Monk

There will be five available character classes:[19][20]

  • The Witch Doctor is a new character reminiscent of the Diablo II Necromancer, but with skills more traditionally associated with voodoo culture. The Witch Doctor has the ability to summon monsters, cast curses, harvest souls, and hurl poisons and explosives at his enemies.
  • The Barbarians will have a variety of revamped skills at their disposal based on the use of their incredible physical prowess. The Barbarian is able to Whirlwind through crowds, cleave through swarms, leap across crags, and crush opponents upon landing.
  • The Wizard is a version of the Sorceress from Diablo II or the Sorcerer from Diablo. The Wizard's abilities range from shooting lightning, fire and ice at their enemies to slowing time and teleporting around enemies and through walls.
  • The Monk is a melee attacker, using martial arts to cripple foes, resist damage, deflect projectiles, attack with blinding speed, and land explosive killing blows. It combines the melee elements of Diablo II's Assassin class with the "holy warrior" role of the Paladin. Blizzard has stated that the Monk is not related in any way to the Monk class from the Sierra Entertainment-made Diablo: Hellfire expansion.[21]
  • The Demon Hunter combines elements of Diablo II's Amazon and Assassin classes. Demon Hunters use crossbows as their main weapon and also throw small bombs at enemies. Some of their skills have been revealed and among them are arrow skills such as Chain Arrow.

The Archivist was presented on April 1, 2009, following Blizzard's April Fool's Day joke tradition.[22] In the previous two games, each class had a fixed gender, but in Diablo III players may choose the gender they would like to play.[5] Although Blizzard initially revealed only one gender per class, the alternate gender has been revealed slowly in the lead-up to the game's release.

Development

File:DiabloIII cain.jpg
Deckard Cain speaking to a barbarian player in an in-engine cutscene.

Development on Diablo III began in 2001 when Blizzard North was still in operation. The original artistic design differed from that shown at Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008 demonstration, and had undergone three revisions before reaching the standards felt necessary by the team behind Diablo III.

Diablo III's lead designer is Jay Wilson, a former Relic Entertainment designer credited with work on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes as well as Blood II: The Chosen for Monolith Productions. Its lead world designer is Leonard Boyarsky, one of the six co-creators of Fallout.[23]

The game is being planned for a simultaneous release on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Blizzard is considering a concept design for consoles, reportedly even hiring staff for a console version,[24] while stating this concept will not affect PC/Macintosh release dates.[25]

On May 9, 2011 an announcement by Mike Morhaime was made that Diablo III will indeed be placed into beta in Q3 of this year. The requirements of being selected as one of the beta testers is mentioned on the Blizzard website.[26]

Music

Russell Brower composed the music for Diablo III. When composing for the orchestra, he tried to respect the Wagnerian style from Lord of Destruction expansion of the second game in the series.[27] The Overture is considered the main theme of the game and it has been performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra.[28] A similar composition was used on the Cinematic Teaser Trailer of the game. The Tristram theme from the first Diablo videogame, also used in the second game, is present in Diablo III with few changes to it.

References

  1. ^ "When will Diablo III be released?". Diablo III - Frequently Asked Questions. Blizzard Entertainment. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  2. ^ PC Gamer US (2008-08-01). "Diablo III Preview". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  3. ^ a b c "Diablo III Unveiled" (Press release). Blizzard Entertainment. 2008-06-28. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  4. ^ "Diablo III Coming to Consoles" (Press release). Blizzard Entertainment. 20011-03-08. Archived from the original on 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2011-03-08. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b c "Diablo III 'Classes' Gameplay (video)". GameVideos.com. 2008-06-28.
  6. ^ "Deckard's Journal - Diablo III". Blizzard Entertainment. 2008-06-28.
  7. ^ "Diablo III World Map". Diablo 3 Release. 2010-03-23.
  8. ^ "Battle.net - English Forums".
  9. ^ a b c Charles Onyett (2008-06-28). "Diablo III Gameplay Panel Live Blog". IGN. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  10. ^ "Diablo III - Frequently Asked Questions". Blizzard Entertainment.
  11. ^ "Live From Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational 2008". IGN. 2008-06-28. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  12. ^ a b Oli Welsh (2008-06-28). "Blizzard announces Diablo III". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  13. ^ "Diablo III - Frequently Asked Questions" (Document). Blizzard Entertainment. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  14. ^ a b c d Diablo III Developer Video, Official site
  15. ^ Breckon, Nick. "ShackNews 19 May 2009, retrieved on 2009-19-05". Shacknews.com. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
  16. ^ Gamephoton. "Gamephoton 19 May 2009, retrieved on 2009-19-05". Gamephoton.com. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  17. ^ Nathan Schlotan (2010-08-21). "Travel With the Caravan in Diablo III". RPGamer. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  18. ^ Charles Onyett (2010-08-28). "Diablo III's Artisan System Revealed". Diablo 3 Release News. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  19. ^ "FAQ Which characters will be in Diablo III?". Blizzard.com. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
  20. ^ "Diablo III Character classes". Us.blizzard.com. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  21. ^ Bashiok (2009-08-24). "Lies about old classes? -Monk-". Blizzard Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  22. ^ "Diablo III - Archivist". Blizzard.com. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  23. ^ Chris Remo (2008-06-30). "Blizzard mines my 90s-era gaming memories". Remowned. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  24. ^ "Console rumours".
  25. ^ Jun Yang. "Activision Expands `Diablo 3' Team to Develop Version for Games Consoles". Bloomberg.
  26. ^ Bashiok. "Diablo 3 Beta keys". Battle.net Forums.
  27. ^ Flux (2009-03-31). "Diablo III's Composer Speaks". incgamers.com.
  28. ^ Flux (2009). "Diablo III Overture - Single, Russell Brower & The Eminence Symphony Orchestra". itunes.com.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Diablo_III&oldid=429484233"