Diablo III – The Necromancer – Impressions

The Necromancer DLC pack for Diablo 3 released this week and as it usually happens when I play Blizzard games, I paid for whatever it was they wanted me to buy and got the new implementation of my favourite character in Diablo 2.

In the olden days of Diablo 2 and its expansion Lord of Destruction, I used to play Necromancer almost exclusively, except for that one Assassin I built once, which I’ll admit was incredibly fun. Continue reading Diablo III – The Necromancer – Impressions

Overwatch Analysis – On Storytelling

I like Overwatch. I think I’ve mentioned that in the past. It’s the first multiplayer first person shooter I’ve genuinely loved and I’m waiting for the launch next week on the 24th, the same day I return to streaming. Coincidence? Maaaaybe…

But that’s not what I’m going to talk about today. This time I want to focus on the story, characters and the storytelling—or lack thereof to be honest—of this new Blizzard Entertainment IP. Continue reading Overwatch Analysis – On Storytelling

Preview: Wolcen Lords of Mayhem aka Umbra

Last year I backed a project on Kickstarter, my first ever backing and it was for a top-down Action-RPG (aka Diablo-clone) built using the CryEngine. Its name was Umbra but recently on entering Steam Early Access, it received a name revamp, one I’m not particularly fond of, to Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem.

I really hate the new name, I thought Umbra had a lot more character and added a sense of mystique to the world. So for the rest of this article, I’ll keep calling it Umbra.

When you launch Umbra, the first thing you’ll see is a warning reminding you of the Alpha stage of the game, and how because of that there is very little in terms of sound design in the game, which is true as there are barely any sound effects, let alone music to find in the current build. Continue reading Preview: Wolcen Lords of Mayhem aka Umbra

Grim Dawn Now Available on Steam

Grim Dawn, the Action-RPG Spiritual Successor to the now defunct Iron Lore’s fantastic Greek Myth inspired Titan Quest, is now available for purchase on Steam, with both a 10% discount until November 12th and Early Access for those who purchase it. Continue reading Grim Dawn Now Available on Steam

D3 – Diablo Disappointment Discussion

WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Diablo 3, a lot’s been said about it and now’s my turn.

Let’s get a few things out of the way:

  • No, it’s not Diablo 2, it’s not that game with a better engine and it was never meant to be.
  • The game was never going to fulfill the fanbase’s expectations, mostly because those expectations were unreal. A game with over ten years in development and over 5 years’ worth of teasers created Messiah-like expectations. Disappointment in one way or another was inevitable.
  • The argument of D2 being play-to-win and D3 being pay-to-win is moronic, and I’ll give you a little fact, something I know most blind haters can’t deal with. Pay-to-win was already around in D2, people sold and bought their items off each other, it was just done in forums and you risked being swindled and your accounts being compromised. Blizzard simply decided to get a piece of the action in D3, as well as provide you with a non-real-money alternative. Buy crap with gold, i.e., use make-believe-money to buy make-believe-crap. You can still buy make-believe-crap with real money, but now you commit that idiocy through secure servers.

With that out of the way, let’s get started. Continue reading D3 – Diablo Disappointment Discussion