Diablo II: Resurrected

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

Some exiles can't see what sort of demand there is for a pick up and play arpg on multiple platforms that doesn't demand seasonal play, won't be volatile in terms of balance and has a solid reputation spanning decades. Which I find a little odd given so many of them bitch about game changes. D2R is about as reliable as an arpg gets in terms of what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. There is a comfort in that, and it's very welcome when you have other games that constantly change in the spirit of growth and evolution.

Sometimes you just want mac n cheese, and you want it just how you remember it.

That's been my biggest gripe with PoE since forever and maybe also the reason why I never really put effort into trying Last Epoch (the latter because it is not finished, yet, so stability is not to be expected).
And standard is not really an option - or rather, doesn't make a difference because it too will change every 3 months -, so I play each league, get one or two characters into the 80s and yellow maps and then the new league comes. Rinse and repeat.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

D2R is about as reliable as an arpg gets in terms of what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. There is a comfort in that, and it's very welcome when you have other games that constantly change in the spirit of growth and evolution.

Sometimes you just want mac n cheese, and you want it just how you remember it. But since your palate has changed, so too must the nostalgia-evoking product. That's the challenge of the remaster.

My prediction, which I hold with great conviction, is: this challenge is insurmountable. The mass reception to the game will turn sour.

Why? You can't have what the players call "balance" — or perhaps more accurately, the illusion thereof — and have this "mac and cheese" at the same time. I'm not saying that Diablo 2 had no illusion of balance, but it was the equivalent of Santa Claus — the type of illusion that can only fool a child. Yet that illusion is critical to, say, how people perceive D2's PvP. Heck, there are going to be lots who don't remember the balance of PvE because they underestimate just how much they cheated with third party programs back in the day.

Actually, mac and cheese isn't nearly the appropriate analogy. Plenty of grownups like mac and cheese. What Diablo 2 really was, was cotton candy. Sugar and fluff.

Well, sugar, fluff, and a damn good story. And by story, I don't just mean the excellent Marius cinematics, but music, bosses, level design — well, for the most part. Heck, if you're only going through it once, the sadism of the Chaos Sanctuary feels almost appropriate. If I am wrong about my little prediction and D2R ends up being relatively well received, it will be because it is received in spite of, rather than for, its potentially glaring lack of replayability. I think this is one of the reasons Final Fantasy 7 Remake was not merely accepted but adored — there were many places in that game that were genuinely beautiful to see — once. If the trip from the Rogue Encampment to, well, the Rogue Encampment again-but-Nightmare-this-time is good enough, then maybe, just maybe, people will find sufficient value in THAT journey to feel more than good about their purchase.

But if you think they're going to find it going from level 60 to level 80, I think you're kidding yourself.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

Well, sugar, fluff, and a damn good story. And by story, I don't just mean the excellent Marius cinematics, but music, bosses, level design — well, for the most part. Heck, if you're only going through it once, the sadism of the Chaos Sanctuary feels almost appropriate. If I am wrong about my little prediction and D2R ends up being relatively well received, it will be because it is received in spite of, rather than for, its potentially glaring lack of replayability. I think this is one of the reasons Final Fantasy 7 Remake was not merely accepted but adored — there were many places in that game that were genuinely beautiful to see — once. If the trip from the Rogue Encampment to, well, the Rogue Encampment again-but-Nightmare-this-time is good enough, then maybe, just maybe, people will find sufficient value in THAT journey to feel more than good about their purchase.

But if you think they're going to find it going from level 60 to level 80, I think you're kidding yourself.

Back in the days when winning mean beating the end game boss then watching the awesome credit roll and you know it is time to stop? When Does people find sufficient value for their purchase?

Too much "Replayability" can be a bad thing. Especially When it is build-in intentionally. The problem with "infinite" replayability games is you know sure as hell it doesn't have infinite content, it just run in a loop. It is a good thing the casuals are easily bored.

FF7 remake is decent and acceptable. Adored? Not really.

Adjacent update: per my current signature which will no doubt not be current forever, I'm utterly in love with Titan Quest Legendary Edition, the hand-crafted mobile version...and pairing a PS4 controller just makes it feel like the proper, lovingly made console version that never happened.

So I just put my tablet into stand mode on the coffee table, pair the controller and enjoy hours of the best TQ outside of the PC version.

Sadly there is too much lag when I try to cast it to the tv but that's just icing and I've always been content with muffins rather than cake.

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Sadaukar wrote:

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MagosX wrote:

They lost the assets, the 3d models that were used to generate the 2d sprites. They never lost the source code.

D2R recreated new models from scratch, so it wasn't much of a problem.

after a quick google search:

https://www.gamebyte.com/file-corruption-is-the-reason-well-likely-never-get-a-diablo-2-remaster/

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"According to the creators, the entire backup of the game’s source code and assets was lost during the final stages of development thanks to a file corruption."
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"However, there’s still no root code or assets to build from, meaning that if Blizzard ever decided to reboot the game in the form of a remaster, it would be a pretty massive task."

https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-2s-lost-assets-werent-really-a-problem-for-diablo-2-resurrected/

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according to Diablo lead Rod Fergusson and principal designer Rob Gallerani, the code and asset loss wasn't really as bad as the Schaefers remembered.

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MagosX wrote:

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according to Diablo lead Rod Fergusson and principal designer Rob Gallerani, the code and asset loss wasn't really as bad as the Schaefers remembered.

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It would make it very difficult for Blizzard to do a Diablo 2 remaster because all the assets we used are pretty much gone. They'd have to make them from scratch.

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the original art assets actually weren't vital because they remade "every single asset in the game," Fergusson said. Resurrected lets you switch between the classic graphics, which are untouched, and a completely new 3D engine. The cutscenes have been entirely remade as well.

Diablo creators: It is difficult to make a Diablo 2 remaster because all the assets we used are pretty much gone.

Blizzard : IT IS SO EAZY.

LOL. Doesn't matter if they can just remake everything.

D2 only have two options, really: Either they greatly improve over the original game or it will burn just like WC3 reforged did

As great of a game D2 was, lets not fool ourselves, it pales in comparison to PoE, even with all the warts PoE has

That game from 20 y ago have many serious flaws: The end-game was nothing more than rushing to wathever boss you could handle for as long as your patience holds. Runes were the main currency, but anything above lem dropped about as often as mirrors until a patch that came almost a literal decade too late(just remember how valuable the forge quest were and all that work for a rune that could not be above gul...). The 1.10 patch made the game much more fun, but also made it umbalanced as hell(dont bellieve me? Just glance at the price of torches: A pala or sorc torch is very valuable, even if its 10/10. A necro/sin/barb torch on the other hand is pretty much unsellable unless its 20/18 minimun). Infinite life leech also made melee OP, playing the game on many builds was just click on monsters and facetank everithing the game trow at you, for melees there was just 2 state of life: 100% or 0% since life leech was instant and the damage output was insanely above defence marks, it was simple, tedious, but super fast and super safe. The 2 button selection system and binding F-keys to change the right click worked decades ago, but it is a terribly dated interface and compared to any recent game, it really shows its age

No, D2 cant compete with modern games if it turns out to be just a graphic update and dont improve over the game from 20y ago. It was amazing for the standards we had back then and even players who still play can tell it aged quite well, but on many aspects it really shows it age

Considering blizzard north that was behind the original 2 diablos left blizzard long ago, i just dont bellieve they have the competence to take what D2 left and improve it on the important spots(and considering how D3 turned out, i dont bellieve they can even improve it at all)

This isn't supposed to make D2 last longer, it's just a bunch of quick money and adding native mod support to the game. Median XL is gonna get nuts when they're not just hacking the game and running an assload of separate scripts to make everything work.

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LV9999Majin wrote:

This isn't supposed to make D2 last longer, it's just a bunch of quick money and adding native mod support to the game. Median XL is gonna get nuts when they're not just hacking the game and running an assload of separate scripts to make everything work.

There isn't going to be any mod support for D2R. ActiBlizz announced shortly before the beta that there will be no TCP/IP, effectively killing modding.

I read the opposite. *googles for a few minutes*

Yeah just looked in to it again, that's messed up. I was really hyped for Median XL to get ported at some point. Don't really see what the point in making it was then, I can't imagine they're profiting much off it.