PoE Killer Launching today bois

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mnieradko wrote:

At least the POE killer has an optimized engine that doesn't require year 2030 computer hardware to run year 2010-2012 graphics above 5 FPS.

It hasn't been this way in PoE for over a decade. Constant graphical updates and engine improvements, on top of higher quality assets etc.

In case you need a reminder, this is what PoE looked like in 2012.

There was also an engine change quite a while back that finally allowed higher-end GPUs to actually have an impact. Your higher-end CPU carried your shitty GPU for years because the graphics pipeline wasn't being squeezed as much. Nowadays, with more and higher resolution assets, among other things, you actually need a decent PC to play in 4k. As expected. The only seriously outdated graphics at this point are the older models. They really are an eyesore that will be fixed at some point, I guess.

People who play D4 will play D4, its just what they do.

I have the game but I stopped 3-4 months after initial release, came back here and there but still didnt like it, its very... turn your brain off gameplay, not really engaging.

And I will not be forking over 40 bucks more so I can play now with VoH. F that.

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Mashgesture wrote:

And I will not be forking over 40 bucks more so I can play now with VoH. F that.

Same, i'm kind of interested in the story but will just watch a "let's play" for it, those $40 will go straight into one of the new supporter packs end of month :)

Story was ok (it's an ARPG story) but it felt like 1/2 of the story content players should've gotten. I watched all of the cutscenes and way too much time is spent with assorted characters chanting. Mercenary backstories were cool.

Mercenaries and runes are an ok first draft. Difficulty changes seem good. Playing in T1 and don't see much of a reason to go higher but some players might.

Possibly just a false impression but it seems like they reduced the progression of the battle pass by like half. Scumming to increase accelerated battle pass purchases? Dunno.

Paragon boards still feel just ok and because streamers rushed to be the first to release paragon 300 trees they're all worthless and now everyone who started a build from a guide has a mangled tree they have to repair. I think the community will settle on endgame trees being paragon 200 eventually. There's nothing in the game worth grinding further.

Itemization and trading are still bad. I tried the party finder yesterday but it wasn't working. Going to try running bosses with the party finder and see how many rotation scammers there are. Once I get my full build online I'll try the raid on T1 and see if I want to keep playing after that. The game is in the state it should've been in June of last year when the base game launched. Not bad, not great. Worth a look every 3 months.

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DiabloImmoral wrote:

Story was ok (it's an ARPG story) but it felt like 1/2 of the story content players should've gotten. I watched all of the cutscenes and way too much time is spent with assorted characters chanting. Mercenary backstories were cool.

My problem with the story of D4 is in the telling: verbose dialogue, interminable fetch quests, and cutscenes of rando NPCs e.g. walking across a room/tethering a camel. Shoe horning that stuff into an action-focused RPG with generic player protagonist was certainly a choice.

And my word, you're right about all the chanting.

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ladish wrote:

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DiabloImmoral wrote:

Story was ok (it's an ARPG story) but it felt like 1/2 of the story content players should've gotten. I watched all of the cutscenes and way too much time is spent with assorted characters chanting. Mercenary backstories were cool.

My problem with the story of D4 is in the telling: verbose dialogue, interminable fetch quests, and cutscenes of rando NPCs e.g. walking across a room/tethering a camel. Shoe horning that stuff into an action-focused RPG with generic player protagonist was certainly a choice.

And my word, you're right about all the chanting.

Sounds like they haven't achieved Diablo 1 level of cinematics. Well, not that I'm surprised.

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Mikrotherion wrote:

Sounds like they haven't achieved Diablo 1 level of cinematics. Well, not that I'm surprised.

The cinematics and cut scenes are very realistic, top tier graphics.

Gameplay may not appeal to you, but there's no denying Blizzard's slick production in the graphics and animation department.

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superbomb1967 wrote:

The cinematics and cut scenes are very realistic, top tier graphics.

Gameplay may not appeal to you, but there's no denying Blizzard's slick production in the graphics and animation department.

How about story? Is it still good?

My last contact with lore of Diablo was with D3 exp. And i was dissapointed. Is it better in 4? Or cinematics are good but tell shieet story?

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de99ial wrote:

How about story? Is it still good?

I mean the cinematics are amazing.. I think if you just watched the cinematics the story might be ok? I don't think the game itself adds much of anything to the story beyond tens of hours of filler dialogue. But I suppose these things are subjective.

I still don't understand how, when constructing their narrative for D4, they could look at the one voice line per prime evil for D2 versus the cartoon villain monologues of D3 and think.. yep we should definitely lean into the D3 version but maybe step it up a notch.

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ladish wrote:

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de99ial wrote:

How about story? Is it still good?

I mean the cinematics are amazing.. I think if you just watched the cinematics the story might be ok?

You're in luck! Vessel of Hatred's cinematic supercuts are already on the 'Tube:


And for those who didn't play the base game, either:

Blizzard's cinematics team do make some best-in-class visuals, but I can't say I'm impressed by the calibre of writing on display, here. I'm sure some people are buying for story, but I'm a little puzzled as to why.

But, hey! It's earned a 2.5 2.7 user score on Metacritic!
https://www.metacritic.com/game/diablo-iv-vessel-of-hatred/

Which, to be fair, is higher than the base game:
https://www.metacritic.com/game/diablo-iv/

Good job, Blizzard! D4's devs are really cooking with gas now....