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[PA Comic] Monday, May 21, 2012 - Incredulity
Geth
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
Posts
YOU ARE STANDING
NEXT TO
AN ANGEL
So, I just turned... six when Diablo came out. Can't imagine having been much older when I first played it (what's parental supervision?). Back then did I not only think that Metzen's Concept Art was good (I guess it still has a certain flair to it), but also that the Blizzard manuals were incredibly interesting. A good chunk of lore was written in those, and I always loved to absorb that stuff. Even though I'm sure it was neither ground-breaking nor particularly compelling writing (I remember thinking it was good, but, again, very young), I still to this day believe that the story was interesting and enriched the experience. I love stories. I think video games are actually suited to tell stories, particularly those focusing on lore. Diablo III is so exhausting in terms of storytelling. I really tried. Okay, so there's achievements linked to how much dialogue you have explored, and I made very little progress there, but the main storyline is just, and this is put with careful deliberation about eloquence,... blah.
Yes, sadly, I do care about the lore. I know this is my failing, but I also feel that the arbitrary flow of the plot affects the game design (really, to do this I have to collect these to do this to get that to kill him?). But that's another topic.
PS. Leah is a terrible, truly awful character. Deckard Cain is not much better, but at least he isn't the main protagonist.
kingworkscreative.com
kingworkscreative.blogspot.com
Fuck that, he's just a senile old coot who keeps yelling "The demons are coming! The demons are coming! We must warn general Washington!". I'd only be worried if the dead weren't rising from their graves to pop over for a spot of mead at the Slaughtered Lamb.
This. I thought exactly this.
Comic is pretty enh. I didn't notice Leah being overly stubborn or anything because I just didn't really care about her at all. Seriously, it's all about
If she's anything but shit tier we aren't playing the same game.
I agree. And I wonder how and why the writing and plotting of Diablo III is so inept. After all, I was under the impression that Metzen cared about narrative. Not that he was a genious at it, but that he cared about it. And after all, I still think that Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo are amongst the most iconic (serious) video game universes. Then, it took them about eleven years to come up with this, so I guess work ethic isn't the number one priority over at Blizzard "We swim in WoW money" Entertainment.
I disagree. Upon reflection, of course Diablo II has long stretches of narrative emptiness, but I actually prefer silence and a long-term goal which I can supplement with my imagination over the insanity of Diablo III's plot and blabber. I tried paying attention to Act I but got a headache over the "wha? why? what? huh? are you -? what just -?".
And even Diablo I, at least in my mind, created iconic moments. Because the story was spread out so thinly, each time it was mentioned, it carried more of a punch (and the atmosphere was much denser), plus, the Butcher's appearance, the Halls of the Blind or killing Lazarus were memorable to me. In today's light, they certainly arent, BUT if Blizzard was able to be iconic thousands of years ago, is it really too much to expect for them to at least strive to be iconic with much more expertise and money today?
I'd love for Diablo III to have a good story - it had a universe at its disposal. I would have settled for a narrative with good pacing, reliant on only a modicum of hooks (as usual, basically). But I'm disappointed with what I got.
However, I am aware that we are discussing the story of a Diablo game. It's a laughable waste of time, really.
I quit playing after that scene. Seriously. Done.
Blizzard would be dangerous if they ever hired some real writers.
The old Blizzard manuals for Diablo/Starcraft/Warcraft 2 all had decent enough stories in my opinion, though to be fair a lot of it was in the manual instead of the game. The Diablo 2 expansion suffered a bit though because the Worldstone really wasn't explained at all (until a novel series that came out later) and the expansion just had a tiny manual with very little story. I understand Diablo 3 follows the recent gaming trend of not really having a manual, though I guess in this case the Book of Cain serves the story-purposes that the manual would have normally filled.
Speaking of the Book of Cain, any idea how well it sold? I guess that would give an idea of the amount of people who care about the lore.
For the game itself, it's kind of weak if they're going the Transformers 2 route and having the world be oblivious and Cain be treated as a dottering old fool, though. What exactly does the general world think happened to Mount Arreat? Heck, what do they think happened in Lut Gholein and Kurast (and by extension the entire Zakarum religion)? Twenty years doesn't seem like enough time to write all that off as myths and fantasy (unless they tie it into Belial spreading lies and misinformation or something).
Heck, even the original event in Tristram should have been well-known as not only did it involve the royal family of Khanduras, but the game established that tons of adventurers heard about it and came from distant lands seeking treasure (though to be fair most of them died, went mad, or disappeared).
I'm even crazier, though. I see video games as an excellent medium for storytelling, provided that you as designer know what kind of story suits your game.
Eh. I don't know much about the Book of Cain, but I'm not giving Blizzard my money these days (I didn't even buy Diablo - my brother gave me access to his account over the weekend). Because the storytelling in-game leaves me unsatisfied I should go out and throw more money at Blizzard? No way. Aside from the many things the company has done wrong, in my opinion, I know what video game literature is like - I even read a couple of Starcraft novels. And most importantly: Games can tell stories! You've got images, you've got words, you've got cinematography, you've got music... This game just doesn't make an effort (as far as I know, it doesn't even have a comprehensive quest log...). Well, it does make an effort in every aspect except for storytelling.
On Topic: I've, coincidentally, only now realized that I dislike Leah's likeness in the comic. I think she has a solid character design in the game (and is striking in the cinematics), but this comic doesn't really manage to capture it. Mh. Nor Cain for that matter, kinda. Ah, well.
"Then how do YOU explain those goblins bursting into flames?"
"I don't have to know the explanation for it to exist! 'Magic' is just a word that feels like an explanation but doesn't actually explain anything!"
"Why can't you just accept that there are things you don't understand and can't explain?"
"That's what I just said!"
your = belonging to you
their = belonging to them
there = not here
they're = they are
When it comes to writing actual characters though...man oh man they are bad, and they've had a trend for a long time now trying to make their plots busier and busier, and they get worse and worse. I won't comment on WoW which was never my cup of tea, but the story for Diablo 2 was merely blandly acceptable, Warcraft 3 was bad, and Starcraft 2 was outright ludicrous.
I still enjoyed playing all these games, but it is such a pity to see games that have such high production values in most respects be served so badly in one aspect. If they would only hire one good writer, just one!
Steam: badger2d
"hey this big demon guy is back go kill him"
then the rest is all side quests and random lore bits which are the best parts of diablo 3
i don't really remember a lot of the dialog from within the previous diablo games, but I still watch D2 cutscenes from time to time. they're on a whole other level
On the black screen
That was me all of Act III
Me: I killed all your guys.
Azmodan: POINTLESS, as we are now under your base and you cannot stop me!
Me: They're dead, too.
Azmodan: I DID NOT EVEN NEED THOSE, as my war machines will tear down your walls and we will sweep you away!
Me: Those are rubble.
REPEAT SEVERAL MORE TIMES UNTIL END OF ACT.
Seriously, 80's cartoon villains had better writing than he did.
The Diablo series has NEVER had an amazingly unique, original, or complex narrative. Heaven vs Hell, kill demons, save the day, thats it. However the presentation is where Diablo and Blizzard games have always shined. Blizzard could make a cinematic where a guy picks up a burger from the McDonald's drive-thru seem epic and exalting. Its Diablo's atmosphere, world, and the way it is conveyed that makes it enthralling. I think the presentation and writing are easily better than what was presented in Diablo 1 and 2. There was just so much less of it in those games and I see a tendency for gamers to believe that the more vague something is, the more they are allowed to fill in the blanks themselves making them believe it is a more interesting story, when it isn't.
Also, Act 3 Goodness:
Pretty much all of the Scoundrel's dialogue and much of the Enchantress's makes the game for me.
i agree that the plot has never been spectacular, but the dialog, man! it's almost constantly "I, [title] have [somehow gotten here], and now [motivation]!"
that ain't good exposition! it's CAD, the hit video game.
(plus i can't have nostalgia goggles cuz i barely played the first two :colbert: )
i do actually love the way the witch doctor is written though. he's so chill in a world of overwrought heroes and villains.
On the black screen
Yes, yes, all of this.
Like in Diablo 2, they should really just have one line in-game ("You're too late! [laughs]," "Not even death can save you from me!" and "My brothers will not have died in vain!"). That's it. Job well done. Go home. You're fired.
On the black screen
Just stop it, Mike. For every lung and eye your art has evolved, this thing is goddamn appendix.