cardinalphoenix reviewed Diablo III for the PC...

...and gave it a 9.5!

Like other reviewers, I'm 32 and was playing the original Diablo in high school. However, while I was never the wild online adventurer finding all the most elite strategies (whether on the net or through thousands of hours of experimenting), I know at least a few things.

People are saying that this game completely eliminates the customization innovated by Diablo 2, as D3 attributes stats for you and unlocks all the same skills for everyone who plays, as you level. The problem with the line of thinking is basically the difference between earlier Final Fantasy games and, say, Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

In early Final Fantasy and Squaresoft rpgs, you would get numerous people in your party, and if you didn't use them, they would never level. Thus, you either HAD TO use them (on the off-chance the game forced you to use an alternate party, a la FF7), or you HAD TO use a particular party because they have the right skills and equipment for every situation. In either case, your choices are very limited. In the two BioWare rpgs I mentioned, since all characters level and progress at the same rate, you can choose what characters you WANT in your party, as opposed to feeling obligated to choose certain ones based on their qualifications.

In D1, each class has a specific skill, and you were relegated to finding and/or buying spellbooks. Every character will likely end a solo adventure with a different spellbook based on what random books dropped or appeared in Adria's stock. D2 changed that up, as all the classes had the famous Skill Trees. Some people think this was a marvelous system, as you would get "rewarded" for making good choices in skills, and "punished" for making bad choices.

But how is that not completely limiting? People say that D3 makes all characters the same, but how many times have you played with a Bowazon or a Firesorc or an Axebarb that all had the same elite super mega runed up equipment loadouts?

The argument that D3 gets rid of customization is entirely unfounded, because frankly, the best characters in D2 were fairly standard builds with equipment they developed, bought or traded for themselves.

In D3, there are truly millions of combinations you can choose from for sets of skills. You benefit from trying new things and switching out combos, depending on what play style YOU WANT. Yes, certain skills and elements seem to work better against certain monsters, or in certain situations, but depending on your equipment, your level of aggression, your level of caution, your skills will work entirely different.

After all, most people applied stat points pretty much the same for every iteration of class in D2. It was a pain in the neck. The REAL things that made characters stand out as UNIQUE in D2 were 1) Skills. What skills people chose. Well, in D3, it's a lot more likely you'll find characters that use a different loadout of skills then you will in D2. In fact, how many times have you run into a character in D2 with a weird loadout of skills, and thought, "uh, you didn't put points into [blank]? what are you, a noob?" D3, you're encouraged to try new things. D2, if you try new things, you CAN'T progress. 2) Equipment. D3, not only are there MORE things to wear, but you can even go so far as customize what color they are. D2 equipment customization doesn't come close. Oh sure, it's got runes and jewels to put into sockets. Big deal. NO ONE put jewels into equipment unless they were rare or unique (lest they be called noobs), and the best of the best runes came out in Hell difficulty, and required hours and hours of grinding for just the right ones to transmute in your cube (another thing I'm thankful I don't have to do in D3), and if you didn't want to do that, you can just buy them on ebay or from some duper on Craigslist.

Everyone hating on this game for lack of customization, get over it. D3 streamlines a lot to save you time, not simply "make things easier." I'm happy I don't have to worry about "oh gosh, do I put 3 points into STR and 2 into VIT, or maybe 1 into DEX, and 3...lemme just look it up." And instead, I can worry about elites vortexing me, and making sure I'm keeping an eye on the ACTION. I'm happy the stupid Cube is gone. I'm happy you have to pay for gems to be combined. I'm happy there's a crafting system. I'm happy I need to pay for a bigger stash. Know why? Because it all does one thing that the previous games were equally as good at...

They all gave me things to work toward.

Sit back. Enjoy. Stop complaining. And wait for Blizzard to come out with DLC or Expansion packs, because I guarantee you, they're coming.

Get the full article at GameSpot

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