Monster Ideas D4

General Discussion
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I was thinking about monsters and enemies from other games and whether or not they’d fit into the type of game D4 is. The scariest one I can remember was the Controller from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. He was usually at the end of long dark corridors. If it was near, your screen would change and you’d hear this noise that you knew meant something bad was about to happen. Then he’d pull your attention right to his face and hurt you. It was startling and never really got old.

I know it would be impossible to implement it in the way it was in that game, but I just keep wondering if the effect could be reproduced. Maybe in a dark corridor of a sewer you’d hear this noise and a disturbing looking monster (maybe some sort of amalgamation of distorted faces implanted into the ground? something you just feel uncomfortable looking at) instantly pulls you to it from off-screen causing massive damage. He sends you back to your original position just as fast. In order to defeat it you’d have to run in quick when you notice the screen change or noise begin. Almost like a panic monster. It shouldn’t be a very common encounter either

Perhaps the screen goes completely back around your character when it happens or something?

What monster types from other games do you guys think would fit right into D4?

2 Likes
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Will be annoying as hell.

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That actually sounds pretty good. And honestly it wouldn’t be out of place either since Diablo 3 does have monster elite affixes like Vortex, which has the elite monsters pull a player close to them, and wormhole, which creates a fissure that if a player stay in, they’re teleported to another location. A monster that you described sounds like it would have the best of both (or worst in a player’s perspective). So yeah, it would definitely work out imo, especially since it wouldn’t be a very common encounter.

As for what monster I think we could battle against; I think it’d be interesting if we could fight against a monster that can shapeshift itself into our characters. There’s an enemy in the game Dragon Crown called doppelganger that can take the shape of a player when it hits them; I think it’d be interesting to have something like that. A demon that after doing a certain attack (like a special stab move that extracts the character’s blood) can take the form of a player and use some of their skills, then after a certain amount of time (like 20 seconds), it changes back to it’s original form.

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I’m just giving an example in hopes people would share their monster ideas from other games.

A little negative but alright, fair enough. What would you suggest to create the same scare as in STALKER in place of whatever you find “annoying”?

That sounds really cool. I think Diablo 3 tried something like it with the Diablo fight but man they failed " You cannot defeat your own terroooarr" haha. Solid idea, very bad implementation. I like your idea way better. The transformation could be your exact character except made from blood vessels or something, and just a lot less pleasing to the eye.

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How about a mob that disables each ability used on it? Alone, the mob wouldn’t pose much of a threat buuut if it spawns with monsters that require most of your abilities to defeat, it could create a challenge. You’d likely want to leave it for last, doing everything you could to avoid hitting it. I’d call it a Soul Thief. :ghost:

I like your mob idea but only if it’s a rare encounter, mostly in order to keep its panic-inducing scare relatively fresh.

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All kinds of unavoidable auto-damage (or auto-control) feel terrible in Diablo 3 and must be out of the game in D4 at all costs. This is what I mean by annoying.

As for scariness… I think neither D3 nor D2 can boast of having it. D1 can, though. There is one situation coming to my mind: catacombs and weavers. The place itself is very dark and grim, and weavers are invisible and tend to attack in groups, surrounding you from all sides. Again, they can reveal themselves and then again disappear into darkness to attack from a different position. This can be easily replicated in D4 and will be scary enough.

Another spooky thing is classic “hands from the walls” or something alike. These can grab you (if you are too close to a wall) and hold you until you break out; or even drag you inside the wall if you won’t be able to release yourself. Again, possible in D4 engine, but requires additional animations.

Some deadly hidden traps can also do the job (Prince of Persia games had some cool traps). However, one might find these annoying as well (traps are almost always annoying, especially so in action games).

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Ok, we could add a very small window to use the new dodge mechanic or something except that now creates two ways to avoid the monster’s damage. The first way to avoid the damage is to get to the demon and kill it before it can do anything, that’s the actual mini-game. It gave away that it’s down the corridor and you now have to deal with it before it deals with you. The noise/screen distortion/hint is a buildup to create panic but it also gives the player more than enough time to find the demon. Maybe instead of doing massive damage I’ll change it to enough that you really don’t want to be hit by it. :slight_smile:

I agree and think a lot of the scariness in D1 comes from the fact that you’re unable to escape monster easily. They can follow you just as fast as you can walk away. It creates this very claustrophobic feeling that’s intensified by the atmosphere and sounds.

I like that. Classic.

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That would certainly induce panic on players as losing access to abilities could end up being a nightmare depending on the situation.

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I hope for a typical Brute Monster.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/81/46/18/814618d8480a8f26584005dbf9863df9.jpg
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I have a feeling you’ll get your wish!

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I wouldnt add more monsters. Diablo monsters are iconic. Old school stuff. If anything I would highlight them more. Monsters itself should be almost as big part of the game as gears and player.

Thats where my idea of taking photos with monsters comes from.

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I mean, facing new monsters and enemies is inevitable. Just looking at some of the game trailers and blogs shows new enemies that we haven’t seen in the previous Diablo games.

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Oh, damn, so they decided to add new enemies. I would have made the current ones more iconic. But oh well.

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Yep. For example:

The drowned monster family:
https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/I5II31OK7G2F1582662148648.jpg

The cannibal monster family:
https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/HKZ6MDKVQ9TC1582662145938.jpg

Then the gameplay trailer shows a few new enemies as well.

And I’m sure that’s all just the tip of the iceberg too.

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This claustrophobic feeling is enhanced by the corridor and the fact of being a dead end. But this types of games focus on solo player experience with static level design, in which panic mostly occur for the 1st play through. What is scary is the unprecedented nature of the event and It emphasizes the importance for d4 of randomized maps and of monster location, to maintain surprise and alertness.

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Yeah, speaking of surprises, I was thinking about another monster type. It’s similar to the Dune Thresher from D3 except it lurks under frozen lakes. Imagine a scenario where a player is running through the frozen wilderness and has to cross a lake on the shallow side. The lake is solid in the middle but the edges are iffy. Any damage the player does on top of the ice begins to weaken it. The player would have to make sure they don’t do too much damage to enemies in one area or risk being waist deep in freezing water, making them slow and vulnerable. Once the player reaches the quest objective, they have to backtrack through the ice that was all smashed except now water’s exposed and they have to contend with new monsters coming from beneath trying to pull them in

I’d love to see the odd area that’s too swampy or muddy to bring your horse, forcing you to walk through knee-deep mud, unable to quickly evade enemies or something. I don’t think we always need to make enemies fast to create tension, I think it’s ok to slow the player down, forcing them to think differently. It’d create that claustrophobic feeling we all miss imo

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They should just throw monsters straight at you out of the nowhere with some kind of charge, or pop out of nowhere some camouflage where you have to react quickly and on instinct instead of predicting and foreseeing every foe that you will encounter.

Something similar like finding Izzual in Diablo 2,. but implemented encounter instantly in some atmosphere like those “hidden” which are invisible until you get attacked, like in catacombs in D1.
https://diablo.gamepedia.com/Hidden_(Diablo_I)

Another tool would be adapt monsters appeal according to the area (darker in areas where you have overall less sight, transparent/blurry in some foggy areas and camouflaged in kind of forest areas), to be able to distinguish them harder like in e.g. mentioned areas.

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Oh those monsters will be plentiful, I’m sure. It’s nice to mix it up once in a while instead of always expecting the same sort of thing every playthrough though. They have awesome design tools for D4 so I’m hoping they use them to create a world that improves the way fights play out. Frozen trees, when knocked into, might drop shards of ice on the player or demon causing a little bit of damage. Ice should break, water should slow, etc. The weather and shadow systems shouldn’t be wasted on the obvious “oh it’s raining now” or “the dungeon has dark shadows”. Really give us something new and evolutionary in D4 that makes the world really feel connected to the monsters and player. Things we haven’t seen in an ARPG before!

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Thats cool stuff. Cannibal especially. Would Mayans work for Diablo? They were pretty crazies back in the days. Used Cleavers. some Diablo weapons, chopped head with big Axes etc. Mayans were spiritualist too, magic stuff. Used Spiritual Daggers too.

Mayan Culture is pretty close to Diablo if asked from me, to take inspiration from.

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Random Skeleton Archer - spam multishot and vault.

Random Skeleton Warrior - spam spectral blade, 50% block rate, spam blessed shield.

Random Fallen Shaman - spam Explosion Orb, revive fallen, spam Fire Hydra

Random non-unded Archer - spam elemental arrows and smoke screen.

Random Oblivion Knight - spam bone spear, bone spirit, corpse explosion, and decrepify.

Random Bat monster - spam poison nova, and teleport.

Random Bird monster - spam energy twister, thunder storm, thunder armor.

Act Bosses - have their own personal armies assisting them when fighting the players. (E.g. something like Baal with 6 Minion of Destructions)

High level Fire mage type monsters - spam meteor shower, fire hydra, and disintegrate beam

High level Cold type monsters - spam Frozen Orb, Blizzard, and Land of the Dead - Frozen Land

High level Thunder type monsters - spam Chain Lightning, Thunder Orb, Lightning Nova, and Charged Bolt.

1 Like