Games Wednesday: Catching up on games

The Diablo 3 Saga

So since getting my gaming PC I've finally been able to catch up on one game that I've been wanting to play for months but haven't had the ability to do so because of the fact that the laptop I had been using for two and a half years was a pile of junk.  The game I'm talking about of course is Diablo 3.

  

I have been a  big fan of the Diablo franchise since I was about 11 having played the original Diablo online with friends and on my own.  We then moved onto Diablo 2 which over the years I have completed many times on my own and with friends due to its highly addictive nature of killing everything in an area, collecting the loot monsters drop and then returning to town to equip new items, sell old/useless ones and then venture forth again to collect even more loot.  Every time I've played Diablo 2 over the years I've been looking forward to a potential sequel that didn't come.  But when the sequel was finally announced I was extremely excited but also apprehensive because I realised that I would possibly not be able to play it because of my outdated laptop that could barely run one of Blizzard's older games (Starcraft 2).  My fears were confirmed when I was able to try Diablo 3 when Blizzard ran an open Beta for the game for one day only.  With the limited graphics options set to as low as possible it was an extremely laggy experience and I don't even think I finished the length of the Beta (it ends after the defeat of the skeleton king).  So having realised that I'd have to wait to play this I put it to the back of my mind.

In November I finally managed to purchase my first gaming PC (see introduction post for specs) and the possibility to play Diablo 3 was now a reality (as my PC could play Crysis on full settings smoothly so therefore should easily run Diablo 3) unfortunately due to limited funds (starting my PhD, paying rent/bills and fiancée not finding work) I still couldn't play Diablo 3.  Finally my opportunity to play the game came around.  It was my birthday last week and thankfully my parents were willing to buy it for me..... SUCCESS!!

So how does the game hold up?  So far it has been amazing.  When I heard about the new mechanics they were introducing (such as not being able to assign skill points or spam potions) I was hesitant it was going to be fun but having spent a few hours playing it, plus activating elective mode and tool tips, I am now convinced many of the changes they have made work extremely well.  Elective mode in particular needs to be turned on as without it I can see the system they use working far better on consoles than on PC due to limited flexibility in skill mappings.  Tool tips are also necessary for advanced players or Diablo 2 veterans as with out them it is difficult to understand why you would want to use certain skills or why constantly upgrading your weapon is also important (as weapon damage is now related to skill damage).  After realising all this the game is far deeper than it appears on the surface and I look forward to constantly finding more loot, levelling up to unlock more skills/runes and experiencing the story.

Other Games

So I'm also currently also playing Far Cry 3.  I was initially not going to bother with this game but having won it in a competition (along with Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs) I thought that I would give it a go.  So far this game is highly addictive (on par with Skyrim in which I compared Far Cry to it saying its the same but with guns and pirates instead of swords and dragons) and I look forward to exploring more of the island and playing out the rest of the so far compelling story.

Thanks for reading my first games Wednesday post and I look forward to providing more insights and anecdotes into my gaming lifestyle.  Also read my older posts and my future posts including Science Fridays.