Reason I stopped playing D3 was never the graphics quality or design. It was the stale gameplay and systems design, to say nothing on giving up and not producing another expansion for it.
Same with D4. I could easily live with D3 graphics in D4, especially if we had the game 3 years sooner! You need to keep up with the gameplay, keep making iterations and changes. The recent D4 dev update shows that it’s overdone in terms of art, and I really hope it’s not at the expense of the gameplay. This is why I still play D2, regardless of the outdated graphics - they’re still cool! - the gameplay rocks! - it’s all that matters!
Also, The level of detail and art style in D4 is not conductive to the longevity of the game. I was expecting them to take note from D3 and WOW (relax, I don’t mean to make it cartoony), and make a design that would be stylized and withstand the test of time.
If only the gameplay people had just 10% of the budget that the Graphics/Cinematics/Sound people had…
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Agree OP. Way too much being dedicated to “realistic” looking graphics from the looks of things in the last blog.
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“Make it look pretty but train it to kill.”
Agreed. Graphics are not irrelevant, but they are really far down the list of priorities.
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How do you know how the budget is devided among different dev teams in D4? It’s ok if graphics is not your cup of tea, but stateing from one Q update on graphics, the very first in fact, that they don’t care about game play mechanics, and are working more on looks is bit of a salty attitude.
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Not sure any game needs to be Uncanny Valley-level photorealistic. Maybe some VR games.
Now, if D4 has 3D/VR/AR… that might be very fun.
D3 does indeed have a problem with graphics, but it is not a big reason I stopped playing. I stopped playing because of the itemization, rain of legendary items, OP sets, no choice in skill progression, boring end-game, paragon grind (no choice, boring infinite bonuses), and the feather in the cap is the cartoony graphics and poor presentation of the story/characters.
D4 looks to be better in every aspect so far, but remains to be seen how much better in some of the key aspects, such as itemization and enemy affixes.
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While graphics are certainly secondary in terms of my concerns for Diablo 4, especially when in comparison to things like gameplay functions, character building and such, I still think that graphics are also important; since if done right and properly, it can help set the mood and tone of the game. After all, I don’t just play the Diablo games for the gameplay, but also for the mood and atmosphere the games have. So all in all, if they can do handle improving both graphics and gameplay, then I’d got no complaints.
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FUlly agree with your evaluation:
Graphics are very important to the game because graphics set the tone and environment for the game. The more unique, put together, and detailed in their design the more the world begin to matter to the enjoyment of the game.
Does graphics trump gameplay? Hell no, but both are fairly important to getting me to spend 200 hours in the game. Whether it is realistic or more fantasy based both play an integral role in making the game feel immersive
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Exactly. Torchlight 1 and 2 were fun games (nowhere near D2), but the graphics are a put-off and don’t make me want to stick around for hundreds of hours. A good style/story sets the tone and carries that feeling every time you play the game.
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D3 and D4 never had issues with GFX -Focus on Gameplay!
Well, guess why? Because THEY focused on …GFX too, like they do in D4, hence, the reason why …“they never had issues with GFX”. If they didn’t also focus in GFX, you would be the first to open a thread “GFX SUCKS!! Blizzard, you are a multi-billion company, wtf???”
Is not that they didn’t focus on game-play in D3. They did … A LOT actually, but they failed to deliver. THAT’s another story which has nothing to do with focusing on GFX ( 2 different departments here ).
Is not like they took their “game-play staff” and put them to work on… GFX. And no, don’t say it. Don’t say what you mean? Don’t say that they spend their money on GFX staff and when it was time to hire for … Game-Play, they were like “Oh well, we run out of money, so we just focus on GFX!”
C’mon , common sense please!
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Well said. There has been a ton of discussion about how dated D3 looked at the reveal in 2008 to today. If graphics weren’t an issue those threads and comments would never have been made. This is different than the colorful WoWification of Diablo talk, which was equally loud.
It doesn’t matter how many of us who don’t prioritize graphics there are, we are greatly outnumbered.
Regardless, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make a game look good. Seeing what those character models look like, reinforces my belief that these are original assets from the 3rd person souls like version. Highly detailed everything seems unnecessary for an isometric game.
Art is a very big deal. At least for me. It’s THE reason I could never get into WoW…the toons look horrible and colorful compared to Rift or other WoW knockoffs.
The graphics are looking absolutely stunning but, yes, they’re not as important as other things like atmosphere and depth.