Diablo III --Impressions start on page 36 --

[Knightshade Dragon]

Has any of the beta testers tried to play this in a laptop w/o a dedicated graphics card?

I run it on my laptop as well as my desktop. I have a Dell L501X. I know it has a dedicated graphics card, but it's the only example I have. The resolution is weak (bizzaro laptop 1366x768 resolution), but it runs the game perfectly.

[Harkonis]

Can we move on to complaining about the lack of a pause button?  If I get this it will be for playing single-player, so I'm pretty annoyed about the omission.

Use the soul stone to warp back to town.  Problem solved.

but then I lose my progress!  WHAAAAAAAAAAA!   (like most people complaining about this wouldn't end up replaying the same levels dozens of times anyway)

Also the graphics look just fine to me.  (hint:  watch them in HD instead of low res in a tiny window)

[Vidiot]

Can we move on to complaining about the lack of a pause button?  If I get this it will be for playing single-player, so I'm pretty annoyed about the omission.

Use the soul stone to warp back to town.  Problem solved.

but then I lose my progress!  WHAAAAAAAAAAA!   (like most people complaining about this wouldn't end up replaying the same levels dozens of times anyway)

Also the graphics look just fine to me.  (hint:  watch them in HD instead of low res in a tiny window)

Isn't it like a town portal where it saves the current state of the world until you go back to B.net?

[ibdoomed]

Can we move on to complaining about the lack of a pause button?  If I get this it will be for playing single-player, so I'm pretty annoyed about the omission.

Use the soul stone to warp back to town.  Problem solved.

but then I lose my progress!  WHAAAAAAAAAAA!   (like most people complaining about this wouldn't end up replaying the same levels dozens of times anyway)

Also the graphics look just fine to me.  (hint:  watch them in HD instead of low res in a tiny window)

This HD button? Yup, got it.



This doesn't look terribly pixelated to you? Again, I'm not comparing D2 to D3 but I am comparing it to newer games like Bastion.

[Purge]

Can we move on to complaining about the lack of a pause button?  If I get this it will be for playing single-player, so I'm pretty annoyed about the omission.

Use the soul stone to warp back to town.  Problem solved.

but then I lose my progress!  WHAAAAAAAAAAA!   (like most people complaining about this wouldn't end up replaying the same levels dozens of times anyway)

Also the graphics look just fine to me.  (hint:  watch them in HD instead of low res in a tiny window)

This HD button? Yup, got it.



This doesn't look terribly pixelated to you? Again, I'm not comparing D2 to D3 but I am comparing it to newer games like Bastion.

Bastions maps are tiny, the graphics aren't at all intense, and it's all pretty much static artwork.

Not to say I don't love Bastion, but it isn't really the same game type - there is a lot more going on in Diablo 3.

I do agree though that the screenshot you posted does look a little pixelated.

[Harkonis]

That screen shot does look pixelated, but I don't know for certain that's what it looks like when it's on your screen.  Going by videos is always a risky proposition.  Do you know what res it was recorded in?  What res it was played in?  Too many variables.  It might look bad, but jumping to that conclusion based on early vids is a bit naive.

[ibdoomed]

That screen shot does look pixelated, but I don't know for certain that's what it looks like when it's on your screen.  Going by videos is always a risky proposition.  Do you know what res it was recorded in?  What res it was played in?  Too many variables.  It might look bad, but jumping to that conclusion based on early vids is a bit naive.

It's KD's video so naturally I assumed it was captured in the absolute best possible way. There are faaar worse quality videos out there but I've not personally seen one better.

This is no way deters my purchase, obviously, it was more of an offhanded comment that it should run on just about any newish hardware these days, even laptops. I am curious what resolution they are forcing on us this time though and can it be windowed so that it's not blown up on a native 25x16 monitor to look like arse?

[cheeba]

Can we move on to complaining about the lack of a pause button?  If I get this it will be for playing single-player, so I'm pretty annoyed about the omission.

Use the soul stone to warp back to town.  Problem solved.

Or they could just stop with the stupid ass DRM schemes and allow players to pause the game in single-player. Problem solved.

[Harkonis]

That screen shot does look pixelated, but I don't know for certain that's what it looks like when it's on your screen.  Going by videos is always a risky proposition.  Do you know what res it was recorded in?  What res it was played in?  Too many variables.  It might look bad, but jumping to that conclusion based on early vids is a bit naive.

It's KD's video so naturally I assumed it was captured in the absolute best possible way. There are faaar worse quality videos out there but I've not personally seen one better.

This is no way deters my purchase, obviously, it was more of an offhanded comment that it should run on just about any newish hardware these days, even laptops. I am curious what resolution they are forcing on us this time though and can it be windowed so that it's not blown up on a native 25x16 monitor to look like arse?

I know what you mean.  Also it IS Blizzard so I don't expect awesome cutting edge graphics, but more of a scalable setup.

http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss166-hires.jpg looks pretty good, though if you zoom in you can still see that there is a lower detail.  i don't think the game is meant to be played zoomed in though so it should be pretty good.

[Purge]

One factor that may make a difference - does Diablo III show armor differences (aka Warrior dress-up)? Bastion was static except for weapon changes.

[ibdoomed]

I know what you mean.  Also it IS Blizzard so I don't expect awesome cutting edge graphics, but more of a scalable setup.

http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss166-hires.jpg looks pretty good, though if you zoom in you can still see that there is a lower detail.  i don't think the game is meant to be played zoomed in though so it should be pretty good.

That looks a lot better. Maybe KD does need to review his capture procedure.

One factor that may make a difference - does Diablo III show armor differences (aka Warrior dress-up)? Bastion was static except for weapon changes.

Bastion was just the first newer game I could think of that shares the same non-rotating perspective that diablo does. I'm sure there are others but things like witcher2 rotates so I didn't think it fair to compare.

[Purge]

I get where you're coming from, but my point is that the res is high, your character small, and equipment is a factor. I'd rather it be more detailed and a little pixelated at extreme zoom in than blurred out. :shrug:

Bliz's MO has always been to make games that can be played on tons of machines (as opposed to Crysis, who were trying to sell video card upgrades ).

[skystride]

Diablo 2 was so pixelated that it looked worse than Diablo 1.  I was pretty disappointed at first but then I got used to it.  I am a graphics whore but when gameplay is that good, it's easy to ignore the graphics.  I feel the same way about League of Legends which looks like shit.

P.S. I really don't know how D3 will look since I haven't been following the videos/screenshots religiously.  I'm hoping graphics are at the level of Dungeon Siege 3 at least.

[Harkonis]

I was never able to get past the graphics in D2 since they were truly behind what was available at the time by a long way.  I played the crap out of TQ when it came out as a result.

[th'FOOL]

I know what you mean.  Also it IS Blizzard so I don't expect awesome cutting edge graphics, but more of a scalable setup.

http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss166-hires.jpg looks pretty good, though if you zoom in you can still see that there is a lower detail.  i don't think the game is meant to be played zoomed in though so it should be pretty good.

That looks a lot better. Maybe KD does need to review his capture procedure.

We were discussing this in the podcast this week- it's very likely that the high-res textures have been held back for the final release. All of the official media from the site looks much crisper. Blizzard has made it clear that they are concerned with gameplay balancing for this beta so full-res textures wouldn't be necessary.

[Harkonis]

I know what you mean.  Also it IS Blizzard so I don't expect awesome cutting edge graphics, but more of a scalable setup.

http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss166-hires.jpg looks pretty good, though if you zoom in you can still see that there is a lower detail.  i don't think the game is meant to be played zoomed in though so it should be pretty good.

That looks a lot better. Maybe KD does need to review his capture procedure.

We were discussing this in the podcast this week- it's very likely that the high-res textures have been held back for the final release. All of the official media from the site looks much crisper. Blizzard has made it clear that they are concerned with gameplay balancing for this beta so full-res textures wouldn't be necessary.

that also limits download sizes quite a bit

[Mystic95Z]

No pause or offline play for single player play == no money from me.... Oh well blizz got the last $$ from me last month since I cancelled my WoW sub for good.

[Ridah]

Barbarian footage up. My favorite class to play...

[jersoc]

anyone get lucky in this round? more went out late night.

[TheAtomicKid]

Can we include some download links somewhere? For some reason the best I can get from the website is black boxes with no video. Compatibility problem with either firefox, noscript, or something else on my rig. (also doesn't appear to like chrome on my system... maybe it's the flash player?)

Anyways, I got the demonhunter vid from youtube... (ten minutes of it? only one part vs multiple parts here? dunno what's up with that)...

but the simple inclusion of some download links would be extremely helpful. or just put everything up on youtube, or whatnot.

Thanks for the vids

Atomic

Lookit that, it doesn't seem to like internet exploder either. I'm guessing it's my flash player, or something. Works for everything else though.

[Crabbs]

Check your inboxes this morning. Opt-in invites went out overnight!

No joy in my box though

[th'FOOL]

Can we include some download links somewhere? For some reason the best I can get from the website is black boxes with no video. Compatibility problem with either firefox, noscript, or something else on my rig. (also doesn't appear to like chrome on my system... maybe it's the flash player?)

Anyways, I got the demonhunter vid from youtube... (ten minutes of it? only one part vs multiple parts here? dunno what's up with that)...

but the simple inclusion of some download links would be extremely helpful. or just put everything up on youtube, or whatnot.

Thanks for the vids

Atomic

Lookit that, it doesn't seem to like internet exploder either. I'm guessing it's my flash player, or something. Works for everything else though.

Yeah, sounds like your Flash player. We weren't planning on simultaneously posting all of these on Youtube (looks like one snuck by) and no longer do download links for vids now that we have a CDN for our video.

I'd say your best bet would be to check your flash player.

[ibdoomed]

We were discussing this in the podcast this week

I don't have an ipod but if I ever get one, I'll be sure to check that out.

I know what you mean.  Also it IS Blizzard so I don't expect awesome cutting edge graphics, but more of a scalable setup.

http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss166-hires.jpg looks pretty good, though if you zoom in you can still see that there is a lower detail.  i don't think the game is meant to be played zoomed in though so it should be pretty good.

That looks a lot better. Maybe KD does need to review his capture procedure.

We were discussing this in the podcast this week- it's very likely that the high-res textures have been held back for the final release. All of the official media from the site looks much crisper. Blizzard has made it clear that they are concerned with gameplay balancing for this beta so full-res textures wouldn't be necessary.

that also limits download sizes quite a bit

Whew! That's a relief. I just saw the Path of Exile video too....

[th'FOOL]

We were discussing this in the podcast this week

I don't have an ipod but if I ever get one, I'll be sure to check that out.

You know it's just an audio file, right? You don't necessarily need an iPod...

[Knightshade Dragon]

It's KD's video so naturally I assumed it was captured in the absolute best possible way. There are faaar worse quality videos out there but I've not personally seen one better.

This is no way deters my purchase, obviously, it was more of an offhanded comment that it should run on just about any newish hardware these days, even laptops. I am curious what resolution they are forcing on us this time though and can it be windowed so that it's not blown up on a native 25x16 monitor to look like arse?

  I played the game at 1080p and the videos are the same.  They are roughly 19-20GB per 10 minutes of video that I convert to .m2ts (a high-res mpeg-2 stream) that makes them come out at roughly 1GB per 10 minutes.  The game will look slightly better, but not by much.   I think the video does a pretty great job at showing you what you'll be getting. 

[Knightshade Dragon]

One factor that may make a difference - does Diablo III show armor differences (aka Warrior dress-up)? Bastion was static except for weapon changes.

Absolutely.  Every piece is reflected. 

[Purge]

One factor that may make a difference - does Diablo III show armor differences (aka Warrior dress-up)? Bastion was static except for weapon changes.

Absolutely.  Every piece is reflected. 

I can't wait.

[Knightshade Dragon]

We were discussing this in the podcast this week

I don't have an ipod but if I ever get one, I'll be sure to check that out.

You know it's just an audio file, right? You don't necessarily need an iPod...

Yup, all you have to do is click the play button and it'll play in your browser, or you can download them for convenience.  You don't have to touch the wretched iTunes application in any way. 

[ibdoomed]

It's KD's video so naturally I assumed it was captured in the absolute best possible way. There are faaar worse quality videos out there but I've not personally seen one better.

This is no way deters my purchase, obviously, it was more of an offhanded comment that it should run on just about any newish hardware these days, even laptops. I am curious what resolution they are forcing on us this time though and can it be windowed so that it's not blown up on a native 25x16 monitor to look like arse?

  I played the game at 1080p and the videos are the same.  They are roughly 19-20GB per 10 minutes of video that I convert to .m2ts (a high-res mpeg-2 stream) that makes them come out at roughly 1GB per 10 minutes.  The game will look slightly better, but not by much.   I think the video does a pretty great job at showing you what you'll be getting. 

Crap. I was afraid of that. Here's hoping that, as previously stated, those are the low res graphics and they are holding back hi-res for release.

[ibdoomed]

We were discussing this in the podcast this week

I don't have an ipod but if I ever get one, I'll be sure to check that out.

You know it's just an audio file, right? You don't necessarily need an iPod...

Yup, all you have to do is click the play button and it'll play in your browser, or you can download them for convenience.  You don't have to touch the wretched iTunes application in any way. 

Ahhhh ok, the term 'podcast' has changed so much over the years.

[Harkonis]

We were discussing this in the podcast this week

I don't have an ipod but if I ever get one, I'll be sure to check that out.

You know it's just an audio file, right? You don't necessarily need an iPod...

Yup, all you have to do is click the play button and it'll play in your browser, or you can download them for convenience.  You don't have to touch the wretched iTunes application in any way. 

Ahhhh ok, the term 'podcast' has changed so much over the years.

That's been true since they first came out as far as I know   They were just made to be played on the ipods, but were not made to only be played on the ipod.

[CeeKay]

wow, I just got  'Diablo III beta test invitation!' from diablo3 at d3-blizzard.com in my junk file.  looks legit.

[Blackjack]

wow, I just got  'Diablo III beta test invitation!' from diablo3 at d3-blizzard.com in my junk file.  looks legit.

fwiw, Blizzard's web site says it's best to log into your bnet account and check there to see if you were accepted into a beta (i.e., don't click any links in an e-mail purporting to be from Blizzard).

Unless you're being sarcastic, in which case, never mind. 

[Asharak]

Unless you're being sarcastic, in which case, never mind. 

Don't worry, he's not being even the slightest bit sarcastic.

- Ash

[Blackjack]

Unless you're being sarcastic, in which case, never mind.  

Don't worry, he's not being even the slightest bit sarcastic.

- Ash

Wait, are you being sarcastic? I'm so confused without smiley cues.  

I did check my webmail spam, and aside from the usual pleas to enter my Battle.net account information at very strange-reading links to get a free item for a game I haven't played in 6 years (WoW), I saw no beta love.  

I don't know if today's Penny Arcade is about Diablo III (NOTE: It is, according to Tycho there), but it reminded me of the early going in various Diablo and Diablo-style games, and MMOs for that matter... (i.e., sifting through 99% worthless loot that is largely named "crappy item" and being constantly sent to visit generic, uninteresting NPCS who reward you with junk cause - presumably - they don't want it to be too easy for you to get good stuff. ).
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/09/28

Tycho seems to enjoy it so far despite coming to it with cynicism:

I came into the beta of Diablo III with a sizable chip placed squarely on my shoulder, a chip of substance, very nearly a pauldron.  The reality is that Runic games makes a twenty dollar version of the Diablo series with grace and expertise that satisfies the starving gecko in my brain which longs to click.  I played the sequel at PAX, and it’s incredible; I would buy the game for the idle animation on the female Berserker alone.  You see “tough” barbarian-types, you see “crazy” ones, there’s a pronounced “noble” strain - but you don’t see wild, for some reason, which I thought was the point.  Her eyes are rolling around in her head like marbles.  I’ve never seen the like.

But Diablo III doesn’t leave anything to chance; it implants the proboscis with utter precision.  Even if you are a jaded gaming satirist actively hostile to it, your hypothalamus is pumped with so much liquid nectar that the corners of your mouth curve up into a smile even as the saliva wells behind the lower lip.  The best way to say it is that the experience is clean, magnificently clean, without being sterile or predictable.  That’s quite a trick.

[jersoc]

well, 70% of the fun is finding the phat lewts.

[Blackjack]

Can we include some download links somewhere? For some reason the best I can get from the website is black boxes with no video. Compatibility problem with either firefox, noscript, or something else on my rig. (also doesn't appear to like chrome on my system... maybe it's the flash player?)

Anyways, I got the demonhunter vid from youtube... (ten minutes of it? only one part vs multiple parts here? dunno what's up with that)...

but the simple inclusion of some download links would be extremely helpful. or just put everything up on youtube, or whatnot.

Thanks for the vids

Atomic

Lookit that, it doesn't seem to like internet exploder either. I'm guessing it's my flash player, or something. Works for everything else though.

Yeah, sounds like your Flash player. We weren't planning on simultaneously posting all of these on Youtube (looks like one snuck by) and no longer do download links for vids now that we have a CDN for our video.

I'd say your best bet would be to check your flash player.

fwiw, I had to enable something called "playwire.com" in NoScript's list of scripts on that page in order to get the movies to display and function.

Also, I pulled up GamingTrend and viewed a couple of the videos on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet at a Best Buy tonight. It played them without a hitch at a good speed. 

[th'FOOL]

Can we include some download links somewhere? For some reason the best I can get from the website is black boxes with no video. Compatibility problem with either firefox, noscript, or something else on my rig. (also doesn't appear to like chrome on my system... maybe it's the flash player?)

Anyways, I got the demonhunter vid from youtube... (ten minutes of it? only one part vs multiple parts here? dunno what's up with that)...

but the simple inclusion of some download links would be extremely helpful. or just put everything up on youtube, or whatnot.

Thanks for the vids

Atomic

Lookit that, it doesn't seem to like internet exploder either. I'm guessing it's my flash player, or something. Works for everything else though.

Yeah, sounds like your Flash player. We weren't planning on simultaneously posting all of these on Youtube (looks like one snuck by) and no longer do download links for vids now that we have a CDN for our video.

I'd say your best bet would be to check your flash player.

fwiw, I had to enable something called "playwire.com" in NoScript's list of scripts on that page in order to get the movies to display and function.

Also, I pulled up GamingTrend and viewed a couple of the videos on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet at a Best Buy tonight. It played them without a hitch at a good speed. 

Nice!  Yeah, Playwire is our video CDN

[Purge]

Hey Blizzard! Let me into the Diablo 3 beta....

[Blackjack]

Can we include some download links somewhere? For some reason the best I can get from the website is black boxes with no video. Compatibility problem with either firefox, noscript, or something else on my rig. (also doesn't appear to like chrome on my system... maybe it's the flash player?)

Anyways, I got the demonhunter vid from youtube... (ten minutes of it? only one part vs multiple parts here? dunno what's up with that)...

but the simple inclusion of some download links would be extremely helpful. or just put everything up on youtube, or whatnot.

Thanks for the vids

Atomic

Lookit that, it doesn't seem to like internet exploder either. I'm guessing it's my flash player, or something. Works for everything else though.

Yeah, sounds like your Flash player. We weren't planning on simultaneously posting all of these on Youtube (looks like one snuck by) and no longer do download links for vids now that we have a CDN for our video.

I'd say your best bet would be to check your flash player.

fwiw, I had to enable something called "playwire.com" in NoScript's list of scripts on that page in order to get the movies to display and function.

Also, I pulled up GamingTrend and viewed a couple of the videos on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet at a Best Buy tonight. It played them without a hitch at a good speed.  

fwiw, a peek at one of the GT D3 vids on a Galaxy Tab at a Best Buy...

It certainly handled Flash movies with aplomb -- all the GT D3 beta vids ran without a hitch, and I could zoom them in/out.