Digital Foundry I've linked the Eurogamer article, but here's a link to their youtube video as well (This DF article/video was written by one of their new writers! They're doing a great job IMO):...
Exemplary
Digital Foundry
I've linked the Eurogamer article, but here's a link to their youtube video as well (This DF article/video was written by one of their new writers! They're doing a great job IMO):
Anyone else been playing Diablo 4? I think they did a great job on the atmosphere, and the story delivery is better than any previous entry, but I haven't gotten deep enough to comment on the end-game. I will say that the veiled crystal scarcity is deeply annoying, I'm so short them to continue enchanting my weapon with an aspect. This is probably something that alleviates itself late game, when you change weapons significantly less.
Thoughts on PC GPUs
It's a strange generation of PC GPUs where it has taken so much longer into console's lifespan to get mid-range graphics cards that, at least on paper, are at feature parity with those on the console. Raw performance wise many cards exceed but, regarding VRAM side for NVIDIA, only $500 cards and up can actually match the texture settings of consoles, which is deeply disappointing! And on AMD, there is still no 7000s series card at a mid-range price-point to compare! Though you can do very well for yourself on the used market for the 6000s series. I understand that the VRAM conversation has begun to grate (at least on me it has), but I continue to baffled by the decisions regarding it. This is speaking as someone who is chained to the CUDA ecosystem...
EDIT: I would like to clarify that my lament regarding GPUs is concentrated at the middle-end of the market. I actually think that the low end (sub $300) and the high end (sup $800) is actually all right nowadays. The low end has awesome AMD last-gen GPUs on sale as well as the ARC A750 @ $200 whereas the high end value kind of goes out of the window for power, and each of the GPUs beyond that point are very powerful compared to last gen (though I maintain that the 4080 is still ridiculous in pricing).
Regarding the 16gb of VRAM, I certainly can't remember the last time I've seen such a big leap in system requirements in PC gaming. I have a GPU with 8gb VRAM and up until a few years ago most...
Regarding the 16gb of VRAM, I certainly can't remember the last time I've seen such a big leap in system requirements in PC gaming. I have a GPU with 8gb VRAM and up until a few years ago most games used at most 4gb, some more demanding asked for 6gb, but then all of the sudden now games want 16gb, SSDs, some Playstation ports even want 32gb of RAM minimum which is crazy to me.
On the other hand you have games like Starfield where the system requirements are more manageable on a lower-range PC, which leads the cynical side of me to suspect that the high requirements are in part due to game developers just not doing a good job with optimization, especially considering all the absolute dogsh*t ports we had the last year or so. All in all, I have a system that ran the vast majority of games well for nearly 10 years but with this sudden increase in requirements it now needs a thorough upgrade.
The first time I remember a game asking for more than 4GB (not demanding) was GTA V's PC port in 2015 though it might have been when it was updated later. Iirc I wasn't able to max out the...
The first time I remember a game asking for more than 4GB (not demanding) was GTA V's PC port in 2015 though it might have been when it was updated later. Iirc I wasn't able to max out the settings because I have a 980 and it has 4GB VRAM and the max for GTA V requires like 4.5.
*raises hand and the forces of hell* I have three toons at present... Level 61 Iceshards Sorc in T3 that isn't "endgame" as I'm playing it with a friend and at present we've only done about a...
Anyone else been playing Diablo 4? I think they did a great job on the atmosphere, and the story delivery is better than any previous entry, but I haven't gotten deep enough to comment on the end-game.
*raises hand and the forces of hell*
I have three toons at present...
Level 61 Iceshards Sorc in T3 that isn't "endgame" as I'm playing it with a friend and at present we've only done about a dozen T10 nightmare dungeons, no favors/whispers, and it's mostly used to do Helltides and world bosses. She could be T4 if we spent more time playing together. She's overpowered, tanky, and only dies if I stop paying attention and all my cooldowns are off. One shots pretty much all trash and pops most elites without emptying mana pool. Sorc needs a nerf, but I only say that as I play normal, once the season starts I'll play HC and complain about nerfs.
Shadow Necro that I was playing through the story with (I played the story with the Sorc obviously, but we skipped all the cutscenes to just get to T3 ASAP as my friend has infinitely less patience than I), but stopped and have semi-abandoned until I find an active clan to join and gets updated by Blizzard. Shadow Necro's blight blocks the screen for others which I don't want to bother people with but also could really use other people to play with to support the playstyle, Blood Necro needs gear I don't have, Bone Necro is just a bone version of my Sorc so don't want two of the same build, and Minions are seemingly useless until absolute endgame with perfect gear and paragon to support them (from what I've heard).
Landslide Werebear Druid that I'm soloing through the story. I'm in the early 40s and partway into Act III. Slow going on purpose, I do every side mission I come across before touching the story missions, go into every mini-dungeon, I talk to every NPC (people seem to ignore the fact that the game is fully voice acted), completely reveal the entire map in each area, etc. Act I was a slog as the Druid isn't very hard hitting after level 10 or so and legendaries are practically non-existent until you're past Act I. If I was to do it again on any toon, I'd just power through Act I as fast as possible to get to legendaries and rares I'd actually keep for 10-15 levels. I'm one aspect away from it having all the key aspects for the build, but I'm also hitting a bit of a wall with some mobs taking longer to kill than before/Druid being squishier than I'd like, so it appears I may need to find gear in the next breakpoint or give up some damage aspects for defensive ones.
I will say that the veiled crystal scarcity is deeply annoying, I'm so short them to continue enchanting my weapon with an aspect. This is probably something that alleviates itself late game, when you change weapons significantly less.
I haven't noticed a Veiled Crystal scarcity and just went to go look how many I have along with how much it costs to imprint a weapon. 250 VCs in stock, 12 to imprint one hand, 24 for two hand (this must be a real PITA for Barbs with four weapons). I guess I've been unknowingly doing the right combination of selling/salvaging to not have noticed how much they cost/use. That said...
Knowing that pre-T3 weapons will be changed often I either:
1a. Don't bother to imprint weapons.
1b. Only changed an imprinted/legendary weapon if it was a significant upgrade, is at the next ilevel breakpoint, or would be with an upgrade
1c. Put the weapon imprints on something that doesn't change as often, like gloves or rings
I don't upgrade gear/jewelry unless it's legendary, key to the build, and something I'm going to keep for awhile
2a. I don't upgrade anything past level 3 unless it's a unique, this will change once in T4 when min/maxing is a requirement
I respec often.
3a. I don't follow builds, I will reference them to make sure I'm not missing any synergies with other skills, but I use the skills I find fun/effective most of the time or respec to fit a legendary that dropped. The build guides are not meant to be fun, they're meant for maximum clear rate, which is meant to farm as fast as possible, and while I know The GrindTM is what Diablo and ARPGs are generally known for, but that's not why I play. For example, I had all the gear to make a solid Arclash Sorc. Tried it out, was boring as hell. One actual skill, just waving your wand around, and popping cooldowns. It killed stuff, sure, but there wasn't any actual playing of the game happening. I'm sure it's perfect for bot accounts. For the longest time I had a legendary aspect that made the Frozen Orb explode multiple times, was fun, zero builds even reference Frozen Orb. I I have gear stacked up to try another Lightning build that I haven't seen anywhere, same for Blizzard and Meteor builds for the Sorc and a Pulverize/Boulder build for the Druid.
There’s something off about this game but I can’t put my finger on what it is. I will say that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it and have gotten to level 67. The campaign was great and the story...
There’s something off about this game but I can’t put my finger on what it is.
I will say that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it and have gotten to level 67. The campaign was great and the story was more engaging to me than any of the previous Diablos. I’m a big ARPG fan so I’ve played Diablo 2/3, Titan Quest, PoE, Grim Dawn and a few other indie titles (some not so great).
What I’m finding with D4 though is, unlike practically every other well known ARPG including D2/3, I can’t play more than an hour without getting bored. Even when it first came out, I was playing a couple of hours and then I had to go do something else for a bit before I came back. Comparing this to how I was glued to TOTK just a week earlier, it has me feeling like something is off but I don’t know what. I got about 2 no-life sessions into D4 but that’s about it.
It’s a solid game. I’d give it an 8/10, but damn I wish I understood more of why this one’s not grabbing me like previous entries and other ARPGs. I know I don’t really like how gear functions in this one (I stopped getting excited about legendaries the first few days), and I really don’t like feeling like I need a math degree to understand what’s going on with all the “This gives you a 3% damage boost up to 9% for 20 seconds” stats. I think it might be the live-service model when I think more on it. The same way I feel about FO76 is the exact same way I feel about D4… fun for an hour a day, but quickly gets old.
A number of my friends are complaining about the "math degree" stuff you commented on. I've always been more of a "does this feel good or right? Then go with it!" kind of player when it comes to...
A number of my friends are complaining about the "math degree" stuff you commented on. I've always been more of a "does this feel good or right? Then go with it!" kind of player when it comes to ARPGs. I'm not interested in min/max-ing all the fun out of it.
I don't expect to be able to just ace everything and "win the game." In the end, I'm here to make monster go boom and click shiny things. That's generally enough for me. I also suspect Blizzard will continue to make updates and changes over the next 5+ years (at least) so I can always put it down and come back to it later.
You hit the nail on the head for me, somehow I'm just not sticking with this game. I play an hour or two, get bored or annoyed with something small, end up switching to something else (working...
You hit the nail on the head for me, somehow I'm just not sticking with this game. I play an hour or two, get bored or annoyed with something small, end up switching to something else (working through the Yakuza series right now). I also can't pinpoint what it is, because nothing major sticks out to me is wrong. I'd actually go as far as to say that I generally like it.
Diablo 4 is a lot of fun. I don't know if it's my play style or that I'm still early in the "end game" part of the game (I think my character is level 53 or 54) but I've yet to run into a real...
Diablo 4 is a lot of fun. I don't know if it's my play style or that I'm still early in the "end game" part of the game (I think my character is level 53 or 54) but I've yet to run into a real resource constraint. I think part of it is that I don't spend anything on upgrades while leveling to the end game. I've just been disenchanting (or whatever they call it when the blacksmith breaks your stuff down) almost everything (kept all of the legendaries).
I guess since I've been playing Diablo since the first one, I kind of know what to do early on to set myself up for success later.
Anyways, just a good entry in the series. It'll be interesting to see what happens when they start the seasons.
I did the same. I'm 65 and I only disenchant stuff, never sell. I haven't run out of money and I haven't ever had problems with mats for upgrades. I also have four bank tabs full of legendary...
I did the same. I'm 65 and I only disenchant stuff, never sell. I haven't run out of money and I haven't ever had problems with mats for upgrades. I also have four bank tabs full of legendary items.
I do think the last part of the renown system is tedious, but that's just me. Getting all the altars of Lilith took 3 evenings, but was worth it. I guess I will just run tier 1 world on dungeons until I clear all of the renown stuff.
I wouldn't call the PC version a "port", but since Diablo II Resurrected, it sure feels like the consoles are first class citizens, and it shows on the UI. I don't know if you've played with a...
I wouldn't call the PC version a "port", but since Diablo II Resurrected, it sure feels like the consoles are first class citizens, and it shows on the UI. I don't know if you've played with a controller, but I find it more enjoyable than a keyboard+mouse
Digital Foundry
I've linked the Eurogamer article, but here's a link to their youtube video as well (This DF article/video was written by one of their new writers! They're doing a great job IMO):
Here's also to their link to a console comparison for Diablo 4
Diablo 4
Anyone else been playing Diablo 4? I think they did a great job on the atmosphere, and the story delivery is better than any previous entry, but I haven't gotten deep enough to comment on the end-game. I will say that the veiled crystal scarcity is deeply annoying, I'm so short them to continue enchanting my weapon with an aspect. This is probably something that alleviates itself late game, when you change weapons significantly less.
Thoughts on PC GPUs
It's a strange generation of PC GPUs where it has taken so much longer into console's lifespan to get mid-range graphics cards that, at least on paper, are at feature parity with those on the console. Raw performance wise many cards exceed but, regarding VRAM side for NVIDIA, only $500 cards and up can actually match the texture settings of consoles, which is deeply disappointing! And on AMD, there is still no 7000s series card at a mid-range price-point to compare! Though you can do very well for yourself on the used market for the 6000s series. I understand that the VRAM conversation has begun to grate (at least on me it has), but I continue to baffled by the decisions regarding it. This is speaking as someone who is chained to the CUDA ecosystem...
EDIT: I would like to clarify that my lament regarding GPUs is concentrated at the middle-end of the market. I actually think that the low end (sub $300) and the high end (sup $800) is actually all right nowadays. The low end has awesome AMD last-gen GPUs on sale as well as the ARC A750 @ $200 whereas the high end value kind of goes out of the window for power, and each of the GPUs beyond that point are very powerful compared to last gen (though I maintain that the 4080 is still ridiculous in pricing).
Regarding the 16gb of VRAM, I certainly can't remember the last time I've seen such a big leap in system requirements in PC gaming. I have a GPU with 8gb VRAM and up until a few years ago most games used at most 4gb, some more demanding asked for 6gb, but then all of the sudden now games want 16gb, SSDs, some Playstation ports even want 32gb of RAM minimum which is crazy to me.
On the other hand you have games like Starfield where the system requirements are more manageable on a lower-range PC, which leads the cynical side of me to suspect that the high requirements are in part due to game developers just not doing a good job with optimization, especially considering all the absolute dogsh*t ports we had the last year or so. All in all, I have a system that ran the vast majority of games well for nearly 10 years but with this sudden increase in requirements it now needs a thorough upgrade.
The first time I remember a game asking for more than 4GB (not demanding) was GTA V's PC port in 2015 though it might have been when it was updated later. Iirc I wasn't able to max out the settings because I have a 980 and it has 4GB VRAM and the max for GTA V requires like 4.5.
I have three toons at present...
I haven't noticed a Veiled Crystal scarcity and just went to go look how many I have along with how much it costs to imprint a weapon. 250 VCs in stock, 12 to imprint one hand, 24 for two hand (this must be a real PITA for Barbs with four weapons). I guess I've been unknowingly doing the right combination of selling/salvaging to not have noticed how much they cost/use. That said...
1a. Don't bother to imprint weapons.
1b. Only changed an imprinted/legendary weapon if it was a significant upgrade, is at the next ilevel breakpoint, or would be with an upgrade
1c. Put the weapon imprints on something that doesn't change as often, like gloves or rings
2a. I don't upgrade anything past level 3 unless it's a unique, this will change once in T4 when min/maxing is a requirement
3a. I don't follow builds, I will reference them to make sure I'm not missing any synergies with other skills, but I use the skills I find fun/effective most of the time or respec to fit a legendary that dropped. The build guides are not meant to be fun, they're meant for maximum clear rate, which is meant to farm as fast as possible, and while I know The GrindTM is what Diablo and ARPGs are generally known for, but that's not why I play. For example, I had all the gear to make a solid Arclash Sorc. Tried it out, was boring as hell. One actual skill, just waving your wand around, and popping cooldowns. It killed stuff, sure, but there wasn't any actual playing of the game happening. I'm sure it's perfect for bot accounts. For the longest time I had a legendary aspect that made the Frozen Orb explode multiple times, was fun, zero builds even reference Frozen Orb. I I have gear stacked up to try another Lightning build that I haven't seen anywhere, same for Blizzard and Meteor builds for the Sorc and a Pulverize/Boulder build for the Druid.
There’s something off about this game but I can’t put my finger on what it is.
I will say that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it and have gotten to level 67. The campaign was great and the story was more engaging to me than any of the previous Diablos. I’m a big ARPG fan so I’ve played Diablo 2/3, Titan Quest, PoE, Grim Dawn and a few other indie titles (some not so great).
What I’m finding with D4 though is, unlike practically every other well known ARPG including D2/3, I can’t play more than an hour without getting bored. Even when it first came out, I was playing a couple of hours and then I had to go do something else for a bit before I came back. Comparing this to how I was glued to TOTK just a week earlier, it has me feeling like something is off but I don’t know what. I got about 2 no-life sessions into D4 but that’s about it.
It’s a solid game. I’d give it an 8/10, but damn I wish I understood more of why this one’s not grabbing me like previous entries and other ARPGs. I know I don’t really like how gear functions in this one (I stopped getting excited about legendaries the first few days), and I really don’t like feeling like I need a math degree to understand what’s going on with all the “This gives you a 3% damage boost up to 9% for 20 seconds” stats. I think it might be the live-service model when I think more on it. The same way I feel about FO76 is the exact same way I feel about D4… fun for an hour a day, but quickly gets old.
A number of my friends are complaining about the "math degree" stuff you commented on. I've always been more of a "does this feel good or right? Then go with it!" kind of player when it comes to ARPGs. I'm not interested in min/max-ing all the fun out of it.
I don't expect to be able to just ace everything and "win the game." In the end, I'm here to make monster go boom and click shiny things. That's generally enough for me. I also suspect Blizzard will continue to make updates and changes over the next 5+ years (at least) so I can always put it down and come back to it later.
You hit the nail on the head for me, somehow I'm just not sticking with this game. I play an hour or two, get bored or annoyed with something small, end up switching to something else (working through the Yakuza series right now). I also can't pinpoint what it is, because nothing major sticks out to me is wrong. I'd actually go as far as to say that I generally like it.
That’s so coincidental, I’m also working through the Yakuza games starting from 0 right now also, you have good tastes my friend
Diablo 4 is a lot of fun. I don't know if it's my play style or that I'm still early in the "end game" part of the game (I think my character is level 53 or 54) but I've yet to run into a real resource constraint. I think part of it is that I don't spend anything on upgrades while leveling to the end game. I've just been disenchanting (or whatever they call it when the blacksmith breaks your stuff down) almost everything (kept all of the legendaries).
I guess since I've been playing Diablo since the first one, I kind of know what to do early on to set myself up for success later.
Anyways, just a good entry in the series. It'll be interesting to see what happens when they start the seasons.
I did the same. I'm 65 and I only disenchant stuff, never sell. I haven't run out of money and I haven't ever had problems with mats for upgrades. I also have four bank tabs full of legendary items.
I do think the last part of the renown system is tedious, but that's just me. Getting all the altars of Lilith took 3 evenings, but was worth it. I guess I will just run tier 1 world on dungeons until I clear all of the renown stuff.
Calling Diablo 4 a PC port makes me feel ancient.
I wouldn't call the PC version a "port", but since Diablo II Resurrected, it sure feels like the consoles are first class citizens, and it shows on the UI. I don't know if you've played with a controller, but I find it more enjoyable than a keyboard+mouse