Diablo III has some big shoes to fill. Pretty much every dungeon crawler to date has copied or generously lifted elements from Diablo II, so given the series’ pedigree, Blizzard really had to bring out the big guns the third time around to ensure that they keep the legacy alive.

While at first glance Diablo III seems to be a step back from it’s predecessor, it’s actually more complicated, and ultimately, a more satisfying experience.

To clarify right off the bat, I have obtained a level 60 Demon Hunter for the purposes of this review. I have experienced Inferno and I have alts (alternate characters) of every other class at least to level 10. I wanted to provide  a more thorough review of everything that Diablo III has to offer (not just Normal Mode), so I made sure to  max out my character and experience the brand new highest difficulty level; Inferno Mode.

Super difficult levels of play aren’t the only thing Blizzard is catering to with their newest dungeon crawler, however. Diablo III offers a brand new skill system that basically turns it’s predecessor on it’s head. Simply put, the new system is extremely accommodating to non-hardcore players. For instance, when I showed my wife Diablo II, I had to constantly tell her not to ‘waste” skill points on certain abilities, because they were useless end-game.

I told her to “save” her points and dump them in better higher level abilities. To be blunt, it didn’t really make for a fun experience, as she had to play a certain way in order to achieve success. While I didn’t personally have a problem with it, I’m well aware that she isn’t alone in thinking that this isn’t a particularly fun method of play. Diablo III thankfully allows people of all skill levels to experiment to their heart’s content.

If you want to test out a brand new ability, you’re free to do so. If you hate it; change it. If you’re happy; keep it. You’re free to change all of your abilities at will at any time, even during combat with no penalty (so long as you’re willing to deal with the 10 second respec cooldown for each changed ability). There are no skill points to invest, or any stat-lines to modify. While people may think this constitutes a “noob friendly” or “dumbed down” system, that sentiment couldn’t be more far off the mark.

Diablo III‘s Rune System is an excellent example of how a dungeon crawler can be easy to understand on the service, but ultimately incredible deep. To be clear, every ability in D3 can be modified by a handful of Rune abilities, which are unique to each skill: it’s basically like a modifier on the move itself. So for instance, a normal arrow shot can be changed into a multi-shot, a lightning bolt arrow, or a piercing arrow.

Every single skill in the game has modifiers like this, allowing you to customize your character and build exactly to your liking. On the surface, it seems as if you only have a paltry few skills, but if you experiment with different Runes, you’ll find a ton of possible combinations that would put most dungeon crawlers to shame.

I consistently am able to change my skills at will, experimenting with different builds to my heart’s content. Even though I’m an old-school Rogue-like fan by heart with the tried and true “stick to your build” mentality, I can still easily see the appeal of the Rune system here, and it doesn’t hurt the game in any way.

Boss fights are no longer giant kite sessions like they mostly were in Diablo II. Just like an MMO style raid, constant movement is key, and there are a number of different environmental hazards to impede your success in the middle of a big fight. While solo encounters can be a lot of fun, where the game really shines is during four player boss encounters; especially on higher difficulty levels where the bosses can frequently 1-2 shot your character.

Diablo III‘s playable classes include the Demon Hunter (ranged), the Barbarian (melee/tank), the Monk (melee/support), the Witch Doctor (ranged), and the Wizard (ranged). Each class feels fairly unique, and has a ton of special abilities that set them apart from the rest. In the hundreds of public games I’ve played in, rarely have I seen the same exact builds used.

I’ve seen modified Wizard hydra summons of all shapes and sizes, and whenever I encounter another Demon Hunter, we rarely use the same abilities as each other.  While gear usually tends to be around the same aesthetic design when comparing the same class of characters, you do have the ability to dye your gear a number of different colors to give it a more personal touch.

Any Diablo fan knows that your first playthrough on Normal Mode is considered the “tutorial” for your subsequent playthroughs. Just like Diablo II, D3 offers a Normal, Nightmare, and Hell level difficulty, but also adds the now infamous Inferno Mode. With each subsequent playthrough the denizens of hell are tougher and meaner, until you reach Inferno; the game’s biggest test. Inferno mode is essentially designed to take weeks, or even months to complete. In order to best Inferno, you’re tasked with grinding Hell Mode for the best loot and teaming up with your best three squad-mates to tactically take down the game’s biggest challenges.

I can safely say that if people are looking for a challenge, Act IV Hell Mode and into Inferno will deliver. Just about every unique enemy that roams the map is boss-like in nature, and will require coordinate to best — that’s not even including the main bosses. Additionally, Diablo‘s classic Hardcore Mode, where your character is deleted upon your first and only death, is still intact, so when you couple it with the game’s brand new robust achievement and challenge system, there’s plenty of replay value to be found here.

Visually, the game isn’t very impressive, but it gets the job done. Although it doesn’t use the same grimdark tone that Diablo II, or even the game’s own cinematics have, the action still looks crisp and clean, and each ability looks unique on-screen. While the sound comes in crystal clear and incredible sharp, the music leaves a lot to be desired.

There’s a ton of tracks on here that I’d consider pretty solid, but nothing is even close to the classic tracks of it’s predecessor. It’s a shame given how long Blizzard had to work on the game’s score, but after I completed the game for the first time and heard the entire selection, I just listened to my own custom soundtrack anyway.

While the game is an incredibly fun experience overall, I do have a major problem with the game’s narrative. The story is extremely dull, and only long-term Diablo fans such as myself will get any real enjoyment out of it. Blizzard has it’s signature master crafted cinematics fully intact here, but outside of those few moments, practically everything is as tropey as a Saturday Morning Cartoon (and even then, sometimes a little worse).

Dialogue reads like it was written by a World of Warcraft fetch quest writer, and most of the game’s voice actors deliver their lines like they couldn’t wait to get out of the recording studio. Thankfully, you can skip every single movie, conversation, and story segment at any point with the spacebar and escape keys, which I proceeded to do after my first completion of the game.

While some fans may find this unforgivable, I can honestly say that nearly every single dungeon crawler I’ve played also has a forgettable story (barring a few rogue-likes, which aren’t in the same dungeon crawling action genre as the Diablo series). The lack of story didn’t really bother me, because just like a fighting game, the bulk of the game is spent in combat.

It may bother casual fans who only plan on beating the game once that the story is fairly throwaway, but I personally couldn’t care less about story in a dungeon crawler. To fans of the genre, the real test is how fun the game is to replay over and over, and the story is fairly inconsequential, so long as the world is fun to be in. Still, it’s something to consider.

As you’ve no doubt heard, Diablo III has a number of issues regarding it’s “always-on DRM”. Essentially, the game requires you to connect to Blizzard’s servers to play the game. If you don’t have an internet connection, or if your connection is down; you simply cannot play the game in any capacity.

While many people will be immediately turned off by this (not only pragmatically, but by the principle of the thing), I haven’t had many major issues myself. I managed to not only beat Normal, Nightmare, and Hell with my Demon Hunter, but I beat it a number of times with my other alternate characters. I’ve only really had a handful of disconnects, and the game basically put me within five minutes of where I was when I logged back in.

One of the disconnects was during the final boss, which was a bummer (as it cancelled the fight), but ultimately the juice is very much worth the squeeze, and unless you have a super spotty network connection, it’s not nearly as bad as it seems. Of course Blizzard should be held accountable for angering it’s consumers in the first place, as this business decision has no doubt accounted for some major lost sales, and Hardcore Mode fans might be a little more than angry about a potential disconnect for their high level character.

As a complete package the game is fairly incredible, but what will the future hold? Legacy wise, the real question is whether or not Diablo III will live up to it’s older brother’s accomplishments. Will people still be playing the game in over ten years time? Will the PVP update be able to balance player combat with PVE in a sufficient manner without breaking the game? Will the allegedly planned two expansions provide as much replay value as Lord of Destruction?

All of these questions have yet to be answered, but out of the box, Diablo III is still a experience you won’t want to miss, regardless of your genre preferences.

This review was based on a digital copy of Diablo III for the PC.

Over the weekend, I spent approximately three hours farming the materials and the 150,000 gold required to enter the secret level in Diablo III. It was kind of a pain, but it was completely worth it to be able to send three of my friends in utterly free of charge, and enjoy it with them before most of it was sufficiently spoiled.

Because most of the guides I’ve found aren’t particularly concise in their directions, and provide spoilers to boot, I’m going to make a completely spoiler-free guide on how to access the secret level itself.

1) The Basics: you need five reagents to build the staff to access the secret level, in addition to the recipe to build the staff itself.

The recipe is found in Act 4 near the very end of the game, so I suggest beating the game on Normal (you should be around level 30), then clearing all of these areas with your high-level character. It will be much easier to do so.

2) Act I:  The first item is the Black Mushroom. You can find this on the first floor of the Cathedral in Act I, but it will not spawn every time. Take the Cathedral Gardens waypoint and walk left towards the Cathedral, falling down into it as normal. Put on your fastest movement gear/passives/skills and run around until you find a Black Mushroom growing on the floor.

If you don’t, quit the game and hit “resume game”, repeating the process. It took me around 10 runs to find it, so don’t give up.

3) Act I: The next item is Leoric’s Shinbone. This is one of the easiest items to grab, but one of the least likely to spawn. Take the Leoric’s Manor waypoint in Act I. When you enter the Manor itself, you’ll be greeted with around 30 minions.

Run past or eliminate them, and head to the first door on your right. At the end of the room you’ll find an unlit fireplace. If you can click on it, Leoric’s Shinbone will pop out. If not, leave the game, and resume to try again.

4) Act II: Wirt’s Bell is the easiest to get.

All you need to do is find Squirt in Act II at the Caldeum Bazaar near the South-West tip of the town. Buy the bell for 100,000 gold.

5) Act II: Liquid Rainbow is next. Enter Act II and take the Path to the Oasis waypoint. Go completely south until you find a shack with Zaven the Alchemist near it. If he doesn’t spawn, leave the game and resume until you find him.

Once you save him from attack, enter the Mysterious Cave. In this cave, you may find the Mysterious Chest on either the first or second floor. It’s not a guaranteed spawn, so keep leaving and resuming until you find it — if Zaven doesn’t spawn, you have to try it again.

6) Act III: The Gibbering Gemstone in my opinion is the hardest piece of the puzzle. Take the The Bridge of Korsikk waypoint in Act III and go up to reach the Fields of Slaughter. In the Fields of Slaughter, one of two caves can spawn. The Icefall Caves or the Caverns of Frost. You want the Caverns of Frost — if the Icefall Caves spawn, leave the game and resume to try again.

If you spawn the Caverns of Frost, enter it and find a unique enemy called Chiltara. It’s a cat-like unique purple creature. Kill it to obtain the Gibbering Gemstone. This took me around 20 attempts to do, so be prepared.

7) Act IV: Finally, the plans are within your grasp. Enter Act 4 with the Gardens of Hope Tier 2 waypoint. Clear the one room required and fight the second boss (to avoid spoilers, it’s the one fought right before Diablo in a circular arena).

The boss will randomly drop the plans.

8 ) Once you have the plans, give them to the blacksmith to gain the ability to craft the Staff of Herding for 50,000 gold.

9) Take the staff in-hand and go to the very first town in Act I (New Tristram). Go out the right gate and head North until you reach a left-bend — head up the road and you will see the ghost of the Cow King. Talk to him to enter the crack in the ground, and enjoy the secret level!

In Nightmare Mode, you’ll need the Nightmarish Staff of Herding. Buy it from Gorell the Quartermaster in Act 4, and you’ll be able to craft the Nightmarish Staff with the original staff and 200,000 gold.

Remember Hawken? That indie mech game that went free to play? While we’re still quite a bit away from it’s December 12th release, the PC cloud streaming service Gaikai has locked up a deal to demo the game in the near future. If you’re not familiar with Gaiaki, it’s basically a demo service similar to OnLive, in that it streams the game to your browser/PC with hardly any hardware requirements.

Of course, it’s not a good way to test and see if the full game can viably run on your machine, but at least it’s something. Keep your eyes peeled for PlayHawken.com.

Diablo III is finally here, and if you can get past the initial shock of playing a game with single player always-on DRM, you can experience it yourself. With five classes ranging from the Wizard, Monk, Barbarian, Demon Hunter, and Witch Doctor, there’s pretty much something for everyone here to experience — personally, I couldn’t resist the demonic gaze of the Demon Hunter.

For the purposes of this impressions piece, I have a level 30 Demon Hunter that just finished Act 4 (the final episode), but I have dabbled in every other class, and found them all fairly exciting in their own way. Join me as I muse on various aspects of Diablo III from levels 1-30, which encompasses all of the game’s Normal level difficulty.

Diablo III hits you fast and hard, and immediately sucks you into the action. Unlike Diablo I and II, which can be fairly vague in explaining everything to you in-game, D3 pretty much tells you everything you need to know at all times. That isn’t to say the game is holding your hand, as you still have to fight the denizens of hell all on your own, but it makes it easier to identify what new skills you’ve earned on a level-up, for example.

For the hardcore D2 fans who re-rolled and deleted entire characters, you don’t have to worry here: you can change all of your passive and active skills at will at any time without any penalty. Your character will trek through Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulty levels, but of course, a true Diablo fan knows that the real fun of the game is found in hundreds of runs of the highest difficulty level.

The character I beat Normal mode with, and the one I have the most experience playing, is the Demon Hunter. Simply put, I think this class is probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a Diablo game. My build is basically centered around AOE damage and maneuverability. Using a smoke screen and a battle flip, I can move around the field at will, increasing my movement speed with one of my passives — it basically means that at any point, I can escape a boss characters special attack, or get out of a sticky group enemy situation. It also means that I’m a glass cannon — able to die  in mere seconds if I don’t act quickly.

At first glance only being able to use 6 skills at a time looks “dumbed down”, but that notion couldn’t be far from the truth. In essence, your character is more open to options than any other dungeon crawler to date. Using the insane amount of passive skills, you can custom tailor you build to pretty much any play style within reason. Do you want your Demon Hunter to do lots of base arrow damage, and increase your damage when you’re extremely far away? You can do that. Do you want your class to do tons of up close damage, inside the action, and have a bit more survivability? You can do that as well.

While the Monk and Barbarian classes inherently take 30% less damage than the other three, making them more survivable, every class to their own limits can make themselves bulkier. The ability to instantly change builds depending on the situation also helps heaps, and this only gets better after you’ve beaten the game and know what’s coming — making it more raid-like in nature than a typical dungeon crawler. Each class also has it’s own unique resource system. For instance, the Demon Hunter has both Hatred and Discipline, which allow him to use different types of skills. Hatred can be gained by using your standard attack (which is kind of like a Berserker class in most RPGs), and Discipline naturally regains over time (or through certain parameters depending on your setup). Having both resources to micro-manage adds to the strategy of the game, and allows you to further your build if you wish. Other classes like the Barbarian have Fury, which you gain from taking and inflicting damage (which subsides over time), or the Wizard’s standard Mana resource.

Speaking of “raids”, the boss encounters are set up to basically be just that. Instead of aimlessly following you around like most dungeon crawlers (Diablo II included), bosses will have environmental implications as well, and nearly every class has a dodging/dashing ability to quickly move out of harms way. The notion of “staying out of the fire” in a raid is present here, as is the imperative nature of constant movement. I can’t wait to see what higher level difficulties can bring, because if normal boss encounters are any indication of future fights, I’m extremely excited.

Another antiquated D2 notion, “mules”, is completely eliminated. For non-Diablo fans, “mules” were characters that were created for the sole purposes of exchanging items between characters. In order to give say, your Wizard alt a staff that you found with your Amazon, you had to make a game, have someone stay in it, quit, then come back and grab the item either on the ground (which could be lost if the game was ended), or from the other trusted player.

Thankfully this time around Blizzard not only implemented a system where all characters share the stash chest (your bank), but you share gold as well. When I say “share gold”, I literally mean that all of your characters will have a running gold purse between all of them — if you start a new level 1 character after beating the game with your main, you’ll have all of the main’s gold. This is a smart move on Blizzard’s part, as it allows you to skip the pageantry when making a new character and get right into the thick of things. Blizzard knows that you can still only find the best loot through.

The full “real money” Auction House isn’t up yet in the US (it’s set to drop on the 22nd), but I have dabbled a bit in the in-game gold currency AH. To be blunt, it’s pretty much what you’d expect out of an Auction House. There’s tons of drop-down menus to select exactly what sub-series of gear you want, and there’s tons of parameters you can input to get your perfect piece. Gold prices are extremely high right now, but I expect them to subside as the game progresses, and certain loot becomes more common. As for the effectiveness of the AH, I can safely say that I have sold a few rare items over it with hardly any effort on my part.

If it’s story you’re looking for in this iteration, I’d probably search elsewhere. Sadly, outside of some Diablo fanboy revelations (a group that I am proudly a part of), the story is extremely lacking. Other than some particularly boss action cutscenes, the narrative is both extremely predictable, and fairly droll. After your initial “oohs and ahhs” at some character reveals, there really isn’t anything to write home about. But of course, old fashioned dungeon crawlers aren’t going to give two Wirt’s Legs about the story — I’m just warning the newly converted here.

The Acts themselves however, are pretty incredible, and I can easily say that D3 is more equally yolked in terms of Act balance than the other two games (even if D1 didn’t technically have “Acts”). Each Act sort of builds up in a crescendoed manner, and the final conclusion is nothing sort of amazing in terms of the setting. Unlike Diablo II, there’s no clear “throwaway act” like Act III (at least in my opinion, and the opinion of my D2 community): everything feels equally fun and entertaining

Overall Diablo III is a pretty incredible game. I can’t say for certain whether it will have the 10+ year staying power of it’s little brother just yet, as I haven’t experienced Inferno Mode, but I’m excited to see what it can bring to the table. With a planned PVP patch and two potential expansions on the way, it’s safe to say your purchase will probably be justified in terms of the long-haul. If you’re worried about the DRM issue and whether or not Blizzard will support your characters in say, 15 years, I’d point to both Starcraft I and Warcraft III, which Blizzard is still supporting after all these years.

Also, I’d like to think that years down the line, Blizzard may implement or patch in some sort of offline play to placate people who are afraid of server loss. Of course this is all speculation, but Blizzard has a history of supporting their games, and I feel fairly comfortable with my purchase. It may be a while before my official review drops, because I want to experience everything before I pass a final judgement, but I hope this helps answer some of your questions if you’re on the fence regarding Blizzard’s latest dungeon crawler.

[As you may have heard, Diablo III is not immune to disconnecting you from the game, also known as "Error 37". In-game I haven't actually encountered this more than a few times, but it was extremely frustrating. Actually, it happened twice in a row when I was fighting the final boss, which is a fairly long encounter, and I nearly pulled my hair out, as I had to start the fight all over both times. Although Blizzard expects to have these issues ironed out as early as this week, keep in mind that this sort of thing can happen]

[Update - I experienced this part of the game myself, and can safely say that as long as the Templar is your follower officially, you should be ok on this one. I personally waited until my companion was level 13 before testing this just to be sure, in case there was a certain low level range this could trigger in]

Without resorting to any spoilers, this PSA is fairly simple. Whenever you obtain a Templar follower in Diablo III, do not equip him with a new shield. In fact, don’t equip him with anything just to be sure.

Eurogamer is reporting that this issue apparently is restricted to the Demon Hunter class (wouldn’t you know it, my favorite class), but just in case, I wouldn’t recommend trying it with any class if you value your playtime.

If you engage the glitch, you’ll not only be booted out of D3′s servers, but you’ll be unable to re-enter them until Blizzard pushes a fix. An absurd workaround is noted by some users, consisting of creating a new Power User Windows account, and attempting to log in that way.

Blizzard is investigating. As a temporary workaround it suggested players not give the Templar any gear until after they have accepted him as their follower through the user interface pop-up.

[Eurogamer]

While there were rumblings of GameStop having an exclusive deal with Steam to distribute Steam Wallet giftcards, it looks like the cat is officially out of the bag. As of today, there are $20 and $50 gifcards available to apply towards your wallet, which will certainly help all the younger gamers out there, or anyone not comfortable sharing their financial account information over the internet.

While it is a bit weird given that GameStop and Steam are both technically PC game distribution outlets, it’s nice to see an option in regards to funding your Steam account.

Amazon is reporting today that Diablo III is their most successful PC game ever in terms of pre-order sales — which is quite a big deal for both Blizzard and Amazon. Even though various parties across the internet are claiming to boycott the game due to contentions with Blizzards “always on”  single player DRM, and issues with “dumbed down gameplay” compared to Diablo II, it looks like Blizzard is going to be fine.

Even though the above reasons are certainly a valid excuse to abstain from a purchase, there are also a number of people who don’t plan on playing the game just because it’s “Activision”. Here’s a message for everyone who’s going to ignore Diablo III, even if it turns out to be a good game, in favor of Torchlight II because it’s “indie”: why not try both?

[Joystiq]

The latest Korean MMO has just dropped in the US — TERA Online. Combat is done in an action oriented manner, forcing players to dodge enemy attacks while launching attacks of their own. To supplement this action approach, the game has support for traditional controllers in addition the typical keyboard and mouse setup. Standard MMO tropes like the healer, tank, and DPS trinity exist,  as well as the inclusion of a traditional quest system, world encounters (BAMs), and instances.

In addition to the aforementioned gameplay elements, the developers have also adapted a version of Eve’s PLEX system, which allows for a currency called Chronoscrolls to be purchased by players for real cash. Chronoscrolls can be subsequently sold or bought on the action house, as dictated by the player economy — using them will net you extra game-time. In case you’re interested,  expect more TERA coverage from Gamer Limit in the coming weeks.

While I know everyone is grimacing at the thought of simulating the dysfunctional Grimes family, fear not, Walking Dead fans, as the upcoming game has nothing to do with the comic/TV show’s cast. Instead, Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead game will focus in on various other survivors in the universe, while keeping the same themes and overall ideas — additionally, it is said the game will be canon.

Each episode is priced at $4.99, but you can nab the entire project for $19.99, which will essentially buys you one bonus episode/game.  Telltale’s latest will be released on the 360, PC, and PS3 platforms — hopefully it won’t be as slow as the first half of Season 2!

Color me surprised for two reasons. One: there’s going to be a limited edition of Blades of Time coming to PC and Mac at the end of May 2012. Two: Because publisher Iceberg Interactive is handling distribution rather than Konami, the game was actually announced before the release date!

Retail copies will be available  in Europe, Australia/New Zealand, and South Africa, while digital copies will be available worldwide. Blades of Time: Limited Edition will come with the Dismal Swamp DLC, exclusive Outbreak mode maps, a digital version of the game’s soundtrack, and more.

[Source: Iceberg Interactive]

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is allegedly on the way! According to a German magazine called “PC Action”, news has broke of a Dark Souls PC port. While this is pretty awesome news for fans of the Souls series, unfortunately the only new content that the magazine has confirmed is a few extra bosses — outside of that, it seems like the game is pretty much a straight port.

Dark Souls was my Game of the Year for 2011, and for good reason. If the bosses are interesting enough, hopefully the PC version will sell enough to warrant additional projects. I know for a fact that fans are already clamoring for a Steam release! Just keep in mind this is not 100% confirmed, as there has been no official announcement yet.

The Mistborn fantasy series by author Brandon Sanderson will be “lurching” its way onto PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,  PC, and Mac in fall 2013 courtesy of developer Little Orbit. Sanderson himself is writing the story for the game, titled Mistorn: Birthright, and it will be set several hundred years before the events of the books.

The game is set to be an action-RPG, and Mistborn‘s unique magic system based off metals lends itself well to an interactive medium. This won’t be Sanderson’s first time working with videogames as he did story development for iOS game Infinity Blade II and wrote the Infinity Blade: Awakening tie-in novella. According to the press release, players will “suit up as Fendin “Fiddle” Fathvell, an arrogant young nobleman who must quickly master his newfound Allomantic abilities before forces at work can destroy his entire family.”

[Source: Mistborn: Birthright]