Diablo III

[RBerman]

I haven't shelled out for this yet. Reviews seem mixed. I don't like but do understand the "only online play" part. Blizzard wants people using their auction site. That means (1) They want people playing online to lower the threshold for using that service, and (2) They need people playing on their servers to prevent fraud. However, it sounds like the gameplay itself is even further dumbed down from D2. If there aren't a wide variety of valid character builds, that will cut way back on replayability. Any anecdotes?

[Hamster]

The auction house (which uses real money to buy videogame items from other players) is such a terrible idea

[Soyeong]

With being forced to use the same character builds, the main thing that's going to differentiate between characters is gear. The feeds nicely into creating a higher demand for the top gear, go figure. I have one brother who plays D3 and likes it and says most of the negative reviews are from people griping about not being ale to log on the first day, the AH, and no single player mode, and not about gameplay. I'm temped to buy it, but I'll weight until it gets cheaper. My other brother and I preordered Torchlight 2, which looks like it will be the better buy. I'm really tempted to get the Thief collection, which are $13.50 each on steam today, though it might go 75% off at the summer sale.

[Chrs]

. My other brother and I preordered Torchlight 2, which looks like it will be the better buy.

Aye, I'm waiting for TL2 for my clicky click click click action.

[RBerman]

Torchlight 1 was a great example of how not to do Diablo, lacking depth in the two things that made D2 great: flexible character builds, and imaginative equipment sets. Will these two things be corrected in T2?

[Chrs]

Torchlight 1 was a great example of how not to do Diablo, lacking depth in the two things that made D2 great: flexible character builds, and imaginative equipment sets. Will these two things be corrected in T2?

Really? My only gripe with TL1 was the lack of multiplayer. The combat in TL1 felt really nice, it had some nifty features and fairly interesting character progression. It was definitely good value.

If you like video, here's one on TL2. It looks nice so far.

EDIT: Oh, and TL1 was a bit easy.

[RBerman]

TL1 was a decent value, and the graphics were fine for $20. It was easy, and it didn't introduce any new elements as it went along. I was using (stronger versions of) the same strategies at the end of the game that I was using at the beginning.

[Zero Tolerance]

DIII is a victim of its own genre, own hype. It's a decent playthrough the first time on normal mode, but after that, it is very stale, very boring.

[Darth Executor]

With being forced to use the same character builds, the main thing that's going to differentiate between characters is gear.

D2 forced specific character builds a lot more than D3 does. That said, I haven't bought D3. I'm still butthurt I never got beta access.