Let me start by saying something positive: The games overall visuals, texture detail, lighting, art and sound are all superb and deserve to get some credit. This is why the part that I will talk about here sticks out like a sore thumb and bothers me unbearably.
Example: In D3 every zombie I killed in act 1 with a lvl 3 barb with the basic bash skill exploded in a huge explosion of blood and gore with a large area on the ground being covered in blood and that was super satisfying.
Now there is hardly any blood at all! Here in D4 I kill a pack of 20 ghouls and there is sometimes no blood on the ground at all and little dismemberment (playing as barb).
This is so much less satisfying that I am considering to cancel my pre order. I will not support a game which has had its gore cut to nothing in order to get it rated for China.
Even in some of the earlier trailers there was much more gore and blood on the ground after monsters were hit and died. But all that seems to have been toned down and the blood also looks like barbecue sauce and not like blood its not red, its just dark. Also, I play on ultra settings so its not like I’m missing out on effects that would be there on higher settings.
And nobody is talking about this? Did Anyone play D3 recently? Did you go to act 1 and whirlwind through a pack of zombies and the went to D4 and did the same? The difference is extreme!
The only gore effect that I feel is kind of ok, is when you use hammer of the ancients and smash a mob and it turns him into a gory mess on the ground. But even with this effect there could be much more of a splash effect added which is missing or not significant enough.
Say what you will about Wilson and his involvement in D3 but at least he did the most important aspect of the game right: The gory combat and satisfying feedback of mobs exploding in heaps of blood and gore.
This is missing here almost entirely. Its not satisfying and it is extremely shocking to me that NO ONE is bringing this up, like it’s ok. No its NOT ok and it needs to be changed.
I wrote a similar post on reddit and got downvoted because I assume people didn’t want someone to come and reduce their excitement for the game, which I can understand. but this needs to be said. I need my voice to be heard and hope that someone from blizzard reads this, because if they can improve on this aspect of the game then we would be in for one of the best games ever made. But if the combat stays like this (China rated 0 gore) then the building is missing its foundation and nothing else matters.
Yes I may be overexaggerating by saying 0 gore, but I am trying to make a point here and I think anyone who has done the above mentioned (kill zombies in act 1 D3 with barb and then kill ghouls or zombies in D4 with bash skill) will have to agree that D3 is worlds more satisfying to play with the much more visceral blood effects.
In the end what is most important is to make the player feel like he has a great impact on his targets or enemies. If there is no blood on the floor after every strike I take on a zombie then I do not feel like I have any impact. It is plain boring. There needs to be a wow effect, something that makes me go: “Man I really messed this guy up, damn!” And again this was done splendidly in D3 and in D4 is missing almost entirely.
If you think the game is fine as it is then I am glad for you but I cannot enjoy this game without satisfying gory combat and a diablo game should never be in a place where someone would ever say something like “not enough blood” . There should only be complaints about “too much blood”. If people talked like that, then you would know its good.
And again not to put too much negativity out here: The rest of the game I can hardly find anything to complain about, I am very happy with above mentioned graphics, art, sound and music. And that’s great. I am just so worried that the gore will not change because of China and that it is not a dev but a top down decision where they cannot do anything about it because of the business hierarchy.