I've been playing a "Use found items only" Barbarian for fun on the European servers during maintenance. No vendors, blacksmith, jewelcrafter or auction house until level 60 I am having a blast so far.

Just started INFERNO!!! Didn't seem so bad at first. Then a Risen in the first "Cellar" I encountered, one-shotted me. The loot drops are obscene. Everything has stats WAY higher than anything that dropped in Hell.

I'm a level 60 Wizard, with 54814 Life and dealing 9132.73 DPS. Just finished the fight against Captain Daltyn in Adria's Hidden Cellar. The fight took over two minutes and I was near death several times. Thank goodness for Teleport with Fracture.

There is  going to be some white-knuckle combat ahead!

DING 60! I've never reached max level in a Diablo game before so I am pleased by this.

It got really hard and frustrating playing my Wizard in Act II Hell Difficulty until I heard this crazy tactic (maybe it's what everyone does and I'm the one who's crazy). I unsocketed ALL my gear and filled the sockets with +VIT. My Life went from 26K to 41K. HUGE difference when taking on Elites. Those few extra seconds of health buys me time to hotfoot it to the nearest health globe and keep killing. I am woefully undergeared, so now begins the expensive process of equipping myself with all iLvl 60 items (or better). I am really enjoying this! Back to crushing demons

Invulnerable Minions is now my least favorite Elite Mob skill. I thought Arcane Enchanted and Waller were bad. I was wrong.

58 Wizard now, Hell difficulty, Act II. Should hit the big 60 tonight. Am still in love with the game!

I've been playing for hours, despite the maintenance. Simply start the game, and BEFORE you log in, change your account settings to Europe or Asia, then you can play all you want while the North American servers are down. Keep in ming you can't transfer loot between regions so these out-of-region alts are on their own. But you can still play.

Then when the NA servers are back up, again BEFORE you log in, change your account settings back to North America and you'll be all set!

Enjoy.

My Wizard just finished Nightmare at Level 51 and I've had my first taste of Hell. It's pee-inducing so far. My first pack of elites was Vampiric, Electrified, Arcane Enchanted. I nearly had heart failure taking them down. Much running and swearing was involved.

Seriously as much of a Fanboi as I am of the Diablo series, Normal is actually fairly boring. Please don't give up on the game till you've tried Nightmare. That's when it gets really fun and you feel really powerful yet appropriately challenged. And the loot is sweet.

Not sure about Hell yet. It's too early to tell.

I haven't had disconnect problems either. I wandered away for over ten minutes once today and I was still logged in and in-game when I got back.

I never thought I'd say this but, the game only starts to get really good in Nightmare. I just fought for my life across the Weeping Hollow and each of the half-dozen Elite fights were intense. I had to really work to beat them, tactics were critical. And the loot they dropped was nuts. Mostly rares and gems. Between finally opening up the better skills, getting the good loot drops and Elites that fight back hard, Nightmare is twice the game Normal was. I'm having a blast!

I swear its like the entire Internets is playing a different game than me. I've had no troubles logging in, played when I wanted to and happily enjoyed the game. Already finished once (see above).

If it's any consolation when the game does work, it's wonderful. And it gets WAY BETTER in the later Acts. FYI.

Just finished my first game on Normal as a Wizard. Took me 17 hours 56 minutes. Finished at Level 31.

Verdict: HELLS YES! GO PLAY IT NOW.

Almost every aspect has been improved upon over Diablo 2. The most notable change is the combat. Its hella fun. You really have to pay attention and try, combat gets interesting fast. Tactics and strategy matter. The days of playing with my mouse hand and eating waffles with the other are over. Also notable is the difficulty. Normal difficulty is FAR MORE difficult to beat than vanilla Diablo 2 at launch. Felt like just the right amount of challenge. Though some of the boss fights were ridiculous until I figured out a strategy.

There's more loot, more kinds of loot, more awesome loot, crafted loot, loot, loot, loot. And loot really matters since all DPS is calculated off your weapon DPS. And the only way to alter your base stats is with armour and equipment. I really enjoyed the loot. Did I mention there's loot?

Minor issues: Gameplay gets slightly choppy during peak hours. The visuals look a lot more like WoW than Diablo. It really suffers from lack of an Act V (which I'm sure will be remedied). Acts III and IV are brutally short.

That's my review. GO PLAY IT NOW.

It's working fine for me up here in Happy Canada. No crashes, no bugs, no errors.

I'm loving the game so far. Am partway through Act II. I loved the cutscenes between acts 1 and 2. Awesome. I'm playing a wizard and enjoying it but I'm very surprised at how much more difficult the finished game is than the beta. I've died quite a bit, especially against certain elites. Not complaining though, would hate if it was too easy. They've also made crafting so expensive it's almost prohibitive for a first-time playthrough. But that's ok too.

Two Thumbs Up, way up, so far.

Installed! Waiting patiently. Was at work during install so never saw the install intro sequence, is it posted somewhere?

[Spoiler]

I too was unsatisfied with the last 5 minutes, but 98% of awesome is still awesome.

I would have preferred to see

Spoiler for Hiden:

Fran Kranz sacrifice himself to save the world

[Spoiler]

Just got back.

My fairly spoiler free thoughts, but just in case, to be polite...

Spoiler for Hiden:

Original, funny, brilliant! Not perfect, but very entertaining. Third act build-up to the climax was the coolest scene since The Battle of Minas Tirith from RotK or The Freeway from Matrix Reloaded. My mind was blown. A genre-bender and mind-twister on par with Memento, Sixth Sense or The Usual Suspects. Best horror movie to come out of Hollywood in a very, very long time. Strongly recommended for fans of the genre.

In short, I LOVED IT.

I am very interested in this game, but have not played Diable 1 or 2. Is it worth trying Diablo 2 now, or just want and play Diablo 3?

Depends on your age and nostalgia tolerance. The Diablo games are VERY outdated both technically and in gameplay conventions. But they are both hella fun. I've recently replayed and finished both of them. For a noob I'd recommend playing Diablo 2 or waiting for Diablo 3.

Hey there's a Science Fiction Short Story Contest going on over at www.writingforums.org. Maybe I'll give it a try. It would be a good exercise I think.

Orgull, sorry to hear you've decided to hang it up as a filmmaker. Independent filmmaker is not for the faint of heart. It's brutal. You must a tremendous thick skin, stamina, ability to network, and just a hardcore work ethic. I've been making films independently for over 6 years now, and I'm about to embark on producing my first feature length after much soul-searching and preparation by producing shorts. I've not had tremendous sucess, but have been told that I'm talented and have potential, so I'm going to forge ahead with my project. It'll take the better part of the next two years to put my first film out. And I'll be age 40 when it happens. Still, when you have the conviction that you've a voice and have something to say, which I do, you just can't quit.

That's very mature to you to see that you didn't cut it as a filmmaker. I wish you the best of luck as you embark of being a writer. How about writing screenplays and see if you can get your film ideas produced that way?

Do not give up being creative. Creativity takes courage. Creativity takes cojones. Creativity nourishes the mind and the sould tremendously. Even if you never make it at some sort of mainstream commercial level, much good will come from you staying creative.

Thanks for the wonderful and inspiring post PR_GMR!

That's an excellent idea you mentioned. I have several unpolished screenplays I plan to finish after I've blown the cobwebs out with a novel or two.

At this moment, writing is providing an outlet for my creative energy without costing me any resources. It's also cathartic and great therapy.

I'm very interested in seeing your future features and providing you with plenty of constructive criticism.

I want to work on films some day. A friend of mine entered a contest on Amazon last month. The goal was to write a synopsis based on a framework they set forth for a sci-fi movie. Well he was one of the 4 winners picked to help write a treatment. He will receive $10K to work on this team. How freaking awesome is that?

That's wonderful! I'm so glad there are opportunites like that for creative people to get involved and get noticed.

 

+1 for Cruisis. Whacktards of the Apocalypse was a really fun (if incredibly demented) read.

Man. He wins for that title alone. That's a whole lot of awesome

Pros I mean. I've seen plenty of evidence of good storytelling on the boards over the years, but I'm wondering if anyone here does it for a living? Would be interested to know.

I ask because I've always been a creative person and a storyteller, but my dreams of becoming a pro filmmaker are collapsing. Despite being a crazy, driven, creative personality, I am capable of self-criticism and can fucntion within the bounds of reality.And the reality is, I'm not a very good filmmaker. I enjoy it. My friends and I have a great time doing it. But I'm not very good at it. I can write a good script and can tell a good story, everyone can agree on that, even people who don't like me. People seem to like my music too, but that's something I do for pure pleasure. But my movies really suck. I know they suck and I know why they suck, which puts me slightly above the herd, but the odds of me becoming a pro before retirement age are very slim.

So I've been looking for work and in the process, thoroughly examining my skill set. Ten years ago I spent 3 months doing a creative writing course in college. It's the only post-secondary education I have. I recently dug out all my work, going back to 1990 when I first tried to write seriously. The early stuff was beyond abysmal. It was so bad it warps space around on itself until it touches itself and becomes awesome in its badness. Then there was the stuff before the writing course in 1997. Bad but there were moments of funny and/or ok. The stuff i did during the course was good enough to ace the course, but not good enough to publish.

I've started writing fiction again while I job hunt. The work is awful but I know why it's awful and I know what do to to fix it. I find it satisfying and I'm wondering if I can make a career out of it. I'm sharing with you guys because none of my friends and family are creative, at best they don't understand me, at worst they think I'm fucking Van Gogh and I'm in constant danger of cutting off my own ear. I just wanted someone to express these thoughts to.

Any feedback, positive or negative is welcome.

P.S. I hear Crusis here is a writer?

Which does beg the question, not to get too OT, but how much freaking money does Blizzard have anyway?  It's hard to imagine any company being able to have so many employees working full time without new product being delivered.  For all their talk of releasing "when it's done" everyone knows it's BS - if they ran out of money they would release tomorrow, they'd have no choice.  I guess WoW is just a monsterous cash cow that everyone feeds on?  Or Mitt Romney is funding them?  

World of Warcraft.

10,000,000 players @ $15 mo = $150,000,000. Per month. They have more money than God. I realize my math may be slightly off but it's illustrative at least.

EDIT:

10,300,000 subscribers as of Sept, 2011 @ 14.99 (1 month) to 12.99 (6 months) = $133,797,000 to $154,387,000 (Recalculated using the most recent data I could find.)

Server: Kath Hound (RP, U.S. East)
Name: Bellemorte  
Class: Sith Warrior (Level 10 Dec 21)

Thats awesome and hilarious!

I get it every time on my new PC. Rocket Mobile stick on alienware Laptop. I dont mind, but it is a nuisance.

Thanks for the replies! I see some Civ V, Fallout New Vegas, Tropico 4 action in my future . At least until Diablo 3 comese out!

Ah yes. Missed New Vegas AND Civ V. Looks like I'm headed to the store tomorrow

I like to play games that are actually games and that are fun. Genre is irrelevant to me, though RPG's are extra appealing to me.

Just bought myself an Alienware M18X (It's Wonderful) and I've realized I barely bought any games over the past two years.

In the past two years I've bought Torchlight, Dragon Age Origins and um... I can't recall buying much since Spore actually. Love Civ IV, play Diablo, TItan Quest and Sacred 2 constantly. Need a game that can really use my rigs power and look good doing it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Cool thanks for all the replies.

I think I'll go with The Shield then Firefly next.

 

Hi!

Looking for a series to watch on DVD (the best way to watch tv).

Series I enjoyed with no reservations: Supernatural, Dexter, The Wire, Fringe

Series I enjoyed: Buffy, Dollhouse, Mentalist, Lie to Me, Sons of Anarchy, The Unit

Series I enjoyed despite glaring flaws: Lost, Heroes, Sopranos, Ghost Whisperer, Medium.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Wow. Count me in. I love the idea. It sounds like a cross between Warhammer, Diablo and Starcraft with the benefit of the Spore Creature Creator.

Epic.

Game or Series, PC CRPG, any subtype. Which is (or was) the best in your opinion and why?

(The loosest definition of Role-Playing-Game applies)

I was having trouble believing the hype, but I just got back from seeing it.

Inception in a masterpiece. Easily one of the best films produced in my lifetime, if not the best so far. I so need to see it again ASAP.

Congrats Ron! They're beautiful. 

 
Oh hells yes!

Sad. I like the new Bond franchise. I hope MGM's troubles pass or they get bought by someone with a lot of money.

So I bought Torchlight and I'm enjoying it very much. When I got to the first crypt I thought I was playing Diablo 3 and that was a very good thing. I like it a lot, thanks!

Risen is like Gothic with normal controls.

Ah. I might have to check it out then. In the short term, I'm Steam-ing the Torchlight Demo now

Torchlight sounds like it might suit me, especially since I enjoyed its predecessor, Fate.

I own Sacred 2 but got bored of it. I loved Fallout 3 and actually finished it twice. I've never played either Mass Effect and I'm leery of Risen because I despised Gothic with a passion. I can forgive anything except a bad control scheme.

After a nine month hiatus from gaming I decided to return with some RPG goodness. I played Dragon Age: Origins and enjoyed it for about two weeks. I wanted something less linear so I thought I'd fire up Oblivion. I got bored long before I even got out of the sewers.

So I returned to my favorite game ever, Diablo 2: LOD. Even though it looks like smashed asshole on my 22" widescreen LCD it's still by far the most fun I've had plating a PC game.

I'm wondering, have I missed anything really special in the world of CRPG's? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance (and please, no MMO's.)