Diablo III Coming Soon

Perhaps the most interesting going on in the world of Cybergame now is the upcoming Diablo III. It is an action role-playing game currently in development and the third installment of Blizzard’s Diablo franchise. It was unveiled on June 28, 2008 at the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France.

STORY

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 NPC is Deckard Cain, who has appeared in both of the previous games. Cain’s journal on the official site brings players up to speed on the events of the first two games.

CHARACTERS

As stated on the official site, there will be 5 different classes, the two confirmed ones being the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor.

The Witch Doctor will be a new class. They can summon undead monsters, but without the need of dead bodies like the Necromancer. They appear to be a mixture of the Necromancer, the Druid and an alchemist, with some skills also reminiscent of the Warlock from World of Warcraft, such as Terrify and Mass Confusion. While these are old Necromancer skills, they seem to be a bit more potent now.

The Barbarian makes a comeback from Diablo II as the straightforward brute-force fighter, with some new abilities as well.

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

The entire quest system has been revamped. Along with the main storyline quests, there will be character specific quests as well as random adventures - mini quests generated randomly on the map.

The player can explore almost the entirety of Sanctuary. The outdoor environment has been left unspoilt for 20 years and looks more like a fantasy setting. The dungeons are still randomized but the random map generator has undergone an overhaul.

The game now incorporates the Havok physics engine and enables players to utilise the environment to help in their quest. For example, huge walls can be reduced to rubble to squash monsters by the Barbarian skill Seismic Slam. Even monsters use the environment which was demonstrated by Ghouls scaling the walls to reach the Barbarian.

Potions have lesser importance because of globes. Whenever a monster is killed, a life or mana globe is left behind. If a player picks it up, it acts like the generic health and mana potions. If there are other players nearby, it replenishes them too.

In co-operative play, loot is dropped for individual players. So, one player cannot see what the other gets. This was done to encourage trading between players in a group and reducing thievery.

Similar to the characters, the NPCs are also more lively and will have interesting backstories. The gameplay video showed the Barbarian communicating to Deckard Cain in a new interface. The player characters have also been given more interactivity and are able to chose conversation options while conversing with NPCs. The characters have unique voices and will reveal their own backstory in conversation.

Here are some of the game play videos…

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