Episode 009_Diablo IV

The transcription is a conversation between two friends discussing their experience playing Diablo 4. They talk about the game's launch, their enjoyment of playing it as a group, and how it compares to other similar games like Borderlands. They also mention the popularity of the game and how it has brought many people back to playing games. Overall, they had a positive experience with the game but acknowledge that it may not be as enjoyable to play alone. I'll just I'm gonna put my hands on my lap dude like I'm in like I'm in school. You're the teacher How do I sound do I sound juicy today? Oh great. All right. I've got dude I've switched the microphone around so much You know, it's funny Dion actually ended up getting the same mic too because he was like wow, that sounds so good So he bought the like slightly upgraded one that you can turn the lights off. We're all rich now. We all have $25 mic Oh Welcome back to the three-two-one backlog Podcast where we talk about games from our backlog. My name is Alec and this is James Don't confuse the people how did I even hold on? How did I actually just claim to be you? Welcome back to the know. So don't even that we're keeping them. All right, cool I'm not going to let you do it. All right, you're not gonna all right great. I I feel like we haven't talked in a minute about anything other than like bullshit What am I trying to say? All right, man, it's not like we're trying to do a podcast or anything is it possible to I don't really know how the steam deck works, but it would this be a game you can put on your steam deck, dude Yes, we're gonna put that in there like the steam deck to me from what I've heard from you Sounds like it's like a more polished way to emulate so yeah, it's funny you say that it actually I think it emulates Windows games is what it does. So there's its Linux space, but it has like essentially proton Which I think emulates Windows through Linux, but you it you can do a lot more than emulate So I played most of death stranding on the steam deck almost actually all of it And I probably played 40% of Diablo on the steam deck too But there's like hoops to get like you got to jump through in order to get it going this week We're actually going to be discussing Diablo 4. It's a very spooky game and it just came out. It's not necessarily Backlog material, but it's a pretty big deal to everybody It kind of you know, it may not have been backlogged, but it was definitely it was gonna go on my log Yeah, I was gonna go immediately so You know, welcome to three to one front log podcast. I like it. We're a lot more Yeah, so Diablo 4 it's an action role-playing game kind of a loot based game. It's published by Blizzard Entertainment It's the fourth installment in the Diablo series because Diablo Immortal never happened The game was announced at BlizzCon in 2019 and released on June 5th 2023 with early access starting on June 1st We did both participate in the early access. We paid them extra Diablo bucks We sold our soul to the devil to play a little bit early and it was worth it I think right right to Lilith right? Yeah, we gave the money right to her we got Roped in so we started playing the day that it came out. Probably I started playing within the hour I think you did too, right? Yeah within an hour of the servers launching and I Think my wait time to get into Into the server was probably 25 30 minutes. Okay, I think you were pretty pretty about the same But it was offset by maybe 10 minutes or so Yeah, I had my own experience trying to get in I as soon as I went to log in it was like you got to update your video drivers I pre-installed the game and everything and it was like hey and Video just released video driver update two days ago. You got to fix it so I tried to do that it failed to install and then I was it failed like four times to download and install the Drivers and then I looked it up and people were like, oh, yeah, just don't just click out of the message and ignore it It sucks. Anyway, they said that the update was causing crashes and and stuttering So I don't I don't know if my video card and ended up needing to be updated. I know that after the game pre-installed the Blizzard launcher like forced me to reboot Before it would launch and then that had its own update and then that's when I got put in line to access the servers Okay, so it wasn't too so I think as far as a Blizzard game launching goes I'd say it was pretty good Even even when it rolled out to like open access or whatever you want to call it like this public the peasant access Yeah, it still didn't do too bad. I think it was pretty good I didn't have too many crashes related to the server or anything like that There's been some weird rubber banding, but I'm used to that with video games like this Yeah, I don't think I I think this would have been like my first Blizzard Diablo launch. Sorry. Let me rephrase that. This is my first time playing a Blizzard game at launch That was Diablo. I've played like half of the World of Warcraft Every time they would launch a new one After Yeah, I think after Lich King when I got in there I think I did every launch that there was for a couple games But I don't think Diablo was ever that high on my list. Yeah, I I've never played a I don't know I think I might have played Diablo 3 at launch and there was a lot of weird issues where the game would just not Launch at all and a lot of people were returning it that game was kind of a disaster Anyhow, but I've played several World of Warcraft things at launch the expansions I remember specifically there was the one where it was cataclysm and there was the underwater level Yep And it was the whole entire like first Area start area was underwater and I remember all of us just in I think it was Skype at the time Just struggling through that and it was it was just it's cool. It's a fun thing It's like a midnight release party with the boys. Yeah, you know because for Diablo 4 we We got on at what 7 p.m. Eastern and then we played I think well after midnight Oh, yeah I played out way later than I should have but and I'm pretty sure I just got up and got back on it's Crazy how this all worked out. My wife got sick that sounds bad Honey, honey, you're fine. You're fine. Just play to the other room. No. Well, so she got sick and and I Generally, I don't get very sick. I think because I work around so many sick people I Usually can catch something and kick it really quick, but I ended up taking in the whole week off of work Because I would like wake up and I'd have like one symptom and be like, all right Well, I shouldn't work today and then I would you know By the end of the night I would feel better or feel worse depending just the opposite of what I felt when I woke up Well, I ended up having an entire week to play this game it wasn't planned I just took the week off and that's the way my scheduling oftentimes works. So yeah, I I got it's kind of funny How that worked out I just played a lot of Diablo the first week, but yeah Yeah, I I tried I tried to keep up. I I didn't even know it was launching or Honestly, I didn't even know it was coming out and then he said hey, we're getting on tonight We're playing Diablo for launch. I was like, all right. What are you talking? I'll spend $80 on a way What is this game about? Sorry, honey, you know, so that whoops whoops No, it's all right. Well, yeah, I won't go into that but Yeah, so we played it was fun. It's not a game. I typically gravitate towards I have played the Thing I played Diablo 2 Maybe some 3 I never played the first one and I'm old Yeah, I I mean When we you and I've been playing Blizzard games for yeah, but well over 15 years So, I mean, it's have you ever played this style of game you have I know you yeah Look at one that you always were on Path that's a path of exile. That's okay. Yeah, it's actually yeah, it's the true Diablo 3 So, you know, I I think that I tried playing with you on that a couple times I Don't really think I played any other type of game like this where has that like you have I well Well, I don't know if you're gonna pick the one. I think you are cuz I don't know if that is the same Borderlands 2 I think falls heavily borderlands in general actually falls in this category a lot really it's not Isometric top-down Yeah, and that's what drives the game and I think that I think that's why I'll enjoyed borderlands 2 so much Because it's a mix of two genres that I really enjoy. Yeah Yeah, looter shooter. I definitely the shooter part saved it for me. Yeah, I think because there's such a Insight is it's a hard thing to articulate because it's like there's another games as well But like the uncertainty of what you're going to get. Yeah, I think kind of throws me off a little bit Oh, I like that but for like using borderlands as the example like you can get away with it because The shooter aspect is still fun. The story is still fun all that, you know, I Yeah, I think that's why Diablo has never been at like the top of my like, oh, yeah I gotta go play it even though it was fun I think from one big thing for me I think is just the fact that every one of us was playing it even people that I haven't seen play games in a long Time I've been seeing them pop up on here like a guy I went to school with Has been playing it a lot. Both of my brother-in-laws are playing it now just Everybody it's kind of brought everybody out of the woodworks. I think because it is such a good game Yeah, I think that the for a play experience. I think it's better with a group Yeah to try to catch up to y'all's level because you were which To quit aside with that on this game. It's not really it scales to each person's if you're in a group Everybody is scaled kind of the same as far as what they're seeing, right? so it isn't it's not gonna have like one person that's really high and Just obliterating everything so it keeps that level But I do think When I went and tried to play by myself to catch up to those levels between you and the rest of our party It was a lot less enjoyable and a lot harder. So I Definitely enjoyed it more as a group. And yeah, if I was gonna go at this Without you saying hey, let's go play this. I probably would not pick it up again. Okay? Well that concludes our podcast. Thank you It's not fun if you're playing as a group definitely for me I think Yeah in general all games are more fun in a group, but you know, that's that's the way I always am I think especially these kinds of games you get better Supposedly you get better loot more loot. That's a bigger challenge I guess the enemies get stronger when you have more people in a party, right? So but it was just cool everybody having different abilities. We were all trying to figure everything out at the same time Yeah, we've got like one of our friends was playing a sorcerer another play was playing the necromancer So you've got really just like zombies everywhere all these elements everywhere. I played I was a werebear druid Yeah, I also played druid. Yeah, but you picked more spell casting type stuff. Mm-hmm yeah, I was trying to I was trying to be more support because I I was I was To me what I was fulfilling as a role in our little group was like I know you guys are getting much more enjoyment of this. I just wanted to play You know, so I like if you didn't if you didn't say hey the album's coming out. I never would have bought this You know, yeah, probably not So I was just like I want to make sure that I'm playing to hang out with you guys But also I want you to get I want you to play what you want to play and I'll just try to support Around it, which was it was so fun So our abilities didn't like clash we weren't trying to compete for aggro of being a tank or something like that so I think even though we were still playing a druid it was a Different enough yet. It kept that party Composition pretty balanced. Yeah, and it's also not the kind of game that traditionally needs like three DPS a healer and a tank There's a little bit more flexibility with that and it's kind of cool when two people play the same class and go a different route because you can discuss it as you play and kind of make suggestions and see a Little bit more insight to maybe how the game is going to go with your build and stuff I think you might enjoy it more now that the game has been out a little bit longer and we're kind of seeing a little bit more on The ways talents are going you might enjoy it a little bit more if you Actually go into a more damage role. There's still some support as well, but there's the option to Us. Yeah, I was watching you comb your beard there Yeah, there's if you go more into a damage role, too. I think you'll enjoy it more especially for solo play There's a lot of people that are doing the werewolf build and then they're using like storm strike I think it is so you're kind of like but it's I don't know the games crazy And there's a whole lot more to discuss about that But I know this isn't yeah, just watch YouTube if you if anybody listening wants advice on bills, it's gonna change They're gonna nerf everything and make it impossible to enjoy. Did you know did you know that the I think? The lead developer for this was the guy that was lead on heroes of the storm really so it'll be It'll be dead in a couple years. Yep He had nothing else on his plate, you know, it's just I I really wish heroes didn't die out how it did I it's I Still I think that game has a lot more potential to if they just put some effort towards it But anyway, that's a whole another discussion, but that's interesting. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what the title he actually is Because it's not I don't know if he's a director or something. But yeah Something yeah, he was a director the director. I'm getting a Twitter post here. Yeah. Anyways, that game is old This game is new Sorry, so we both picked Druid we kind of went down different routes. We were playing with a pretty diverse group here Yeah for the bro group the intro video was insanely long I While I was trying to install my drivers and everything and waiting in queue. I just watched the intro video on YouTube yeah, so that way I was like 13 minutes ahead of Everything and also quick aside that we're obviously going to have some spoilers on this So just keep that in mind we may be talking about some of the plot coming up and and Different parts of the game and story so be warned. There may be some spoilers coming up So yeah, but this game has been out for like 10 days Okay, you guys should be done by now by the time this recording comes out. It will been a bit longer So yeah, get it together Did you so How did you feel the difficulty was I know you said it was a little more difficult by yourself How did you feel overall? Did you pick tier one or two you pick? I because we all do is yeah, we all pick tier two which honestly I don't remember what the difference was I think it's just more loot like better loot more difficult you know, so Yeah, it was up to tier three and then four two once you play the game You can turn it up and make it a lot harder. Gotcha. I it was it was much more difficult by myself Yeah, I didn't have I don't know if any of the classes have like a self heal outside of potions Sort of but not not like reliably not not in the sense that you can just like, you know Cast a healing spell on yourself, right? Okay. There's a percentage based healing on based on damage and stuff like that. Okay. Yeah techniques Because I because I was building my character out to be support for you guys. Yeah, it didn't translate well by itself I don't know now in retrospect. I don't really know that that would work Well going too far into the game because especially by yourself But like when you see big group play like there's world bosses where you can go like tons of people Fighting against at the same time, right? It's just it seems like everyone's just trying to pump out as much damage as possible. The best defense is a good offense son Yeah, and that's and that's one thing talking about like different abilities that have like percentages on damage and all that like there's very number crunchy mechanics and stuff most games I play I I Don't dive too deep into the numbers, which you probably should You know talking about here's the storm you and and the rest of our group are like look at the towns like oh We got a 5% here and a 15 on this and this changes cooldowns. I'm like, yeah, but this one looks cool You know, I I definitely come at these games. Yeah. Yeah I won't give me extra magic missiles. I don't really know what it does Exactly. So I I definitely That part of the game. I I don't think I ever really found enjoyment and on those types of games is really like finding those Those those like perfect combination of Alan modifiers and balances and all that So I think that I come in a bit of a disadvantage not really caring about that and just wanting to just play You know, so my build that I made definitely does not do well solo Well, let's next time we all play together Let's look at what you picked and we should if I mean if you want to and then we can kind of go through And then we can kind of go through Respecting is super cheap, especially at low levels Also, you can drop gear for somebody from late game and just instantly make that person like rich Because it'll sell, you know for thirty thousand dollars or whatever we're using here, whatever the currency of the Sanctuary is the balloons The balloons for some reason I thought you said it's like the the balloons That's what I heard the balloons dude, it's balloons Yeah but yeah So you can kind of read if you're interested you can kind of respec and I think you might enjoy the game more too If you can kind of plow through it because people have fun when there is challenge to a game but like you're also going to have fun when you're able to get through it like Especially you not having not having it in front of me going off in memory. I think a lot of my abilities were like cc and Like damage reduction against enemies Yeah, so I I wasn't dealing out next to like I like any damage I wasn't doing nearly any at all right, but I was lessening the damage that was incoming to the party Slowing down their movement stunning them and all that. So as a party it worked great Yeah, and that'll be I think a lot of those things you can still do because I have on my build It's getting up there. I just hit level 60 last night But yeah, you can still build out for a lot of the damage control and damage reduction stuff and cc but you I also in turn can still dish it out, so I think that's just a little bit of You know respec and stuff we'll look at it and do it because I think it'll make the game more fun for you Talking about the specs for a minute Yeah, and I don't know if the other diablos did this but when when you're picking your character in your main selection screen You know we hovered over drew it and it kind of told you like the different things that can do And how it described it Thinking thinking back. I was expecting Like three or four. I can't remember how many distinct Talent trees so once you like I picked the like all the earth abilities and stuff I thought I was only going to get access to those similar to how like wow does it where if you're a Protection paladin you just get protection abilities, right? But it was kind of interesting as an option But I think to me it worked against me because there was just too much Just because you start out as your wear bear. You can then grab werewolf abilities for the druid and Spell casting you can just kind of you know pick and choose the whole way down It's like one massive tree with kind of options for each spec in there. Did the other diablos do that? They didn't do talent like talent trees the way that you're talking about it was more I remember on No, no, I think it was it was kind of similar to how this one is. I know Diablo 2 there's almost like a menu and you just click like extra points into certain abilities and stuff like that It was a little more simplified But yeah, it wasn't in the sense like I remember in like a like borderlands being another one where there's talent trees based on the spec And your goal is to kind of go all the way down the talent tree for the ultimate ability This one's a little bit more open which I think is good for the game I think that's a good thing because then you can do Some of those control abilities while also being in melee range and stuff like that You don't have to go all the way down one route and learn yourself. Yeah, I thought it was that it was interesting because I can't think of any other games that That like I know ones that pick and choose but kind of like that borderlands example it kind of like lessens your ability to Max out on like another one. So I said it was it's just something interesting to call out. Yeah, that's a good question I mean, that's it is true how? Usually in more games we played I think there is just a defined tree and you would say like oh on this spec Right instead of just naming the spec based on kind of some of the abilities you take so yeah Yeah, that's cool you played on the pc I played on a mix of both And then I I think out of our friend group. I was the first one to be like dude the controller play with a controller Yeah, it works pretty good, right? I've never played a game that felt this good on controller versus mouse and keyboard. Yeah, I and I think Quick quick thing this path of exile lets you use a controller or you've locked into that mouse and keyboard They I don't know about on pc, but I know it's been released on consoles like it's on xbox and I think playstation But I can't possibly play that well with a controller just because the game doesn't even play that well with a mouse and keyboard Gotcha. So I think I think one of the issues I had with this style of game And going way back in our gaming career like runescape Yeah, um that like point and click to move mechanic I never liked that Dude, do you play heroes all the time? Well in and let's be honest the movement in heroes I'm, not really a fan of because I mean just like with with that one that has like pathing issues You don't know where it's gonna go. It's it that's yeah home But it was just one of those those ways to play the game where I didn't like gravitating towards Like this this type of game because of of that mouse and keyboard structure with a controller. It is so Much better on like a play experience. The movement is fluid based on your controller Joystick moving around you don't have to click and then you know move your cursor while you're holding it and do all that It's just Much simpler to just use a joystick and your abilities when i'm sitting there Uh, I I do like the the flexibility of like how the mouse can switch between targets Oh, yeah, and that was a big thing. I think Having everything tied to the mouse for movement and Enemy selection and then switching over to your other hand for your abilities. I think the controller Simplified it but also expanded I don't know how i'm trying to articulate that but it It it just it felt more intuitive To use the controller than it did to use the mouse and keyboard and I guess I guess the only thing I could say would be Someone who's listening to to just try it both ways Yeah, and you can see that it I I think the keyboard or sorry. I think the the controller It just is a much smoother experience. It is too like I know later in the game You're not you're not there yet, but we're gonna drag you through hell literally Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, maybe the controller ends up being you get a horse later on a mount if you will and The mouse and keyboard with the mount feels so janky like you'll get snagged on everything constantly but If you use the controller none of that stuff happens and I don't know what they did and why that happened like Why that you know, I don't know what what occurred with the development that made it so much better But just generally moving you don't get hung up on stuff even when you're on foot nearly as often When when you're because I haven't gotten them out yet when you try to change direction if you're at a standstill and you want to go the Opposite direction your horse is pointing. Does it try to like go forward slightly then turn? Is that maybe what's happening is it tries to do a fluid motion instead of just flipping it. It tries to like Go forward then like like a horse movement would be yeah, I'm gonna have to take a brighter turn It does that a little bit But it's more like you'll be running from one part of a map to another and there's like a random stick on the ground and you You will only get hung up on it if you're using a mouse and keyboard For some reason if you're on a controller your horse is more athletic. I don't know right athletes control how I how I kind of like Perceived what was happening in the coding and again. I'm not a coder. I don't know if this is true But like as you were using as you were using your mouse to move I I think you could like click in that direction say if you were going to move from left to right you could click over To the right and just hold the mouse the the key good lord you could just hold down your Uh left click and it would continuously move. I don't remember if that actually was the case or if you had to keep clicking Uh, you just hold it down. Yeah, so I wonder if it's maybe registering on the map as like Continuous individual clicks versus the joystick, which is just I don't know. I don't it's it's just it's just weird I'm, not sure how it functions, but it just kind of that kind of reminds me of another thing the default in this game Left click is like a general Like use slash attack slash walk button Whereas on the on the controller you just point the joystick in the direction And you hit a if you want to do those things as well It's much easier as melee i've noticed to like you can attack while walking With the with the with the controller But if you're on mouse and keyboard your character pauses while while attacking for a second Yeah, I don't know just kind of a weird thing, but it felt really good on a controller. I don't know Yeah, it was it was it was easier to select which target you wanted or which enemy you wanted to target With a with a mouse with it with the controller it kind of just kind of if you were pointing in a certain direction It would kind of pick whichever one Either at random or have some kind of parameters on which enemy it should target if they were all clustered together and eventually you would kind of whittle through their their their their defenses as they went down, but There's one thing the mouse had over the controllers. You could actually pick exactly which enemy you wanted with the mouse versus the controller kind of just Attacked in that general direction. At least that's how it did for me. Isn't that a quote from like monty python or something? I don't know. No, never mind. Never mind Attacking a general direction I did notice that with the controller a lot too. Like I would go to use the I had a ability for a while where you can Throw a boulder out and it helps cc by pushing things away There would be times where I would be attacking something on my left And then I would go to use that on my right to try to get that enemy to leave And the game would be like no you're fighting the guy on the left. Obviously you wanted it. So Yeah, yeah, it's kind of like aim assist. It can be really good But it's like not always what you want when you want it, right? They both have their pitfalls yeah keyboard mouse versus controller, but I think The controller has more benefits versus cons for sure Yeah, I think it's kind of necessary though with a controller a lot of the time. I don't know it was it was it was Surprisingly really good. I felt like If it was before i've never played diablo 3 on a controller before but I feel like if you would have told me This was only going to be controller based like console I would probably have skipped it if I hadn't actually given it a shot And I think a lot of people are having the same experience too where it's a lot better than they expected With it with the controller, um, I played it on the steam deck, which There's some hoops. You got to jump through to get it to work because blizzard launcher doesn't want to play Well with the steam deck, but it's crazy how well this game runs It's my computer is kind of old and the steam deck is not a powerhouse necessarily But I had it on high settings and I was running like between 45 and 60 frames on the steam deck Now It's only 800p on the handheld it shockingly ran really well I don't I was very surprised very impressed with it. Good job blizzard. You did great. You can't do anything wrong Another okay. So how what was the last point you got up to do you remember what level you were or anything? I was like very close to 40, which I think is the Mount cut off. Well, I think it was like actually based on story. We've learned now Okay balls That I hadn't gotten that far to get a mount so Oh, let's see. We had yelenza. I think I was the last thing I was doing was going to yelenza To then go north, but I think it was a side quest. I yeah, that means yeah I don't know man. There are so many side quests and and all over the place with this game Yeah, uh, jason started playing it the other day and he was like level 40 and still on act one Whoa, okay, because he was just doing all these side quests and I was just like bruh, bruh, bruh You're gonna like be level 80 when you beat the game. Yeah, so we Through through through like basic setup. We ended up meeting this one npc It was like this girl that was like we're trying to find her mother, right? So yeah, I think we in fact we went to I think we dealt it went into that dungeon like three times And then down classic her mother's demon or whatever and I I think that's where I ended Okay, so I think that might be the end act one. Yeah, so I I may be in act two I don't know how far into act two I am Did you enjoy the story of it from what you saw? Like would you do you think it was I feel like these games the story's not usually a big deal but how did you feel from what you played the I'll preface this with uh, again world of warcraft was my blizzard thing not diablo to me From what very little I know it just feels like it's the same story over and over again, right? like You're a hero One of the big bad devils typically diablo is trying to don't do a bad thing you go Stop it, right and then this time apply that apply that generalized statement to anything though. Yes Just apply it to your job dude in diablo 4 was they reskinned kerrigan and You know, you got a lady devil this time like that's to me again not knowing next to anything about diablo That's what it looked like they were doing diablo. Diablo's lore is pretty deep, bro There's a lot like I yeah, I know you don't know it but you know, it's mephisto's daughter Did you know I did not know that yeah the daughter of hatred. Oh But yeah, it's like it's it's it's you know insert you know person of bad feeling They're the they're the big bad and then you have to go stop their big badness And I think the reason they all to me feel the same with better graphics is the entire World that you're walking through and like the level design and everything is very like Bloody and kind of body horror ish Um, they all look and feel the same right and so So to me it just felt like I don't know you it's you go through a bloody path And there's a dilapidated building Hey, look, there's a flayed body in the corner and a demon pops out rinse and repeat, right Everyone listening or instead of a demon. I love it or the goat person You know like yeah there. Yeah, you know That's that's how I see it through my very limited lens I the graphics were great But the to me not knowing anything about the story it all feels the same It's weird because a lot of people that play these types of games really like the dark setting and atmosphere that you're describing as kind of Like monotonous like it was how you would describe. Yeah, it was just it was constant and again not not Gravitating towards these games Oh, man um the fast and fast travel was a godsend because If I had to like walk from our main town like back to the yelenza, for example, just um, okay I I have a quest. I just need to get over here and talk to this dude And if I had to walk through that every time You get to me you get to a point in some of these games Where you've beat so many enemies Done all the stuff this area should be a little safer, right? I don't need to walk through and after two seconds of being out of a safe zone 35 demons show up out of nowhere like well that that changes a little bit when you get them out because you can kind of just like Enemies are less attracted to you when you're on a mount and then also if you end up in near a pack of them you can Hit spacebar or be right or right trigger. I'm sorry And just like blast through them like your horse will just like ram them out of your way So but they're still there it gets better. You just can't avoid it better, right? I just hell is ever present. I I I think I was It may not have come across this way, but what ended up happening I was getting real like Very tired At home because it was getting late and just ready to progress stuff So I think you guys like got caught fighting something. I just kept walking Really far and I aggroed so many things and you guys eventually started Following me and you made the comment of like whoa, we're not We're the you know, where'd all these things come from? It was like three different groups of uh, Things that I heard that all just like were resetting And just swarming back down you know, it just it got to a point where i'm I was at the level even with the build talking about how Support based my build was I was at a level where they weren't necessarily a threat But I had to deal with them anyway, and it just got a little annoying yeah, I wanted to I read the story and continue But I had to sit there and at the time I was using the mouse just sit there and clicked over and over and over Again, it just got boring it can be kind of I agree it can be kind of frustrating because the the mob density is decent I guess in the game, but I would I know I noticed in dungeons for me a lot of the time like It'll be like you need to go kill this boss and this boss to unlock this door to fight the big boss, right? so on my character I would find myself just like using as many movement skills as I could to get past everything and through everything And when they would start to catch up to me, I would turn around throw that boulder thing down Knock them all back further away from me into the dungeon and give myself more space to keep going And I noticed I would do that a lot because it can get kind of like that Especially and you're you're using later in the game. You're using your abilities and resources To avoid the monotonous stuff Right and you and you you enjoy these games a lot more than I do. So that right there is telling me that your Core group of players efficient. I'm very efficient your core group of fans and players Are at times still finding that it might be a bit much now if it's a reason you've never come to before Absolutely put hordes and hordes for sure you go into a dungeon clear that dungeon Leave and then go back into that dungeon. It better be empty still Because you've dealt with that area if I have a main thoroughfare From one town to another and i've cleared all the enemies. They should not be spawning as fast How or you know instantly spawning just hundreds of enemies again. It's just Which again, that's that's this game I and I fully understand that It just seemed a little frustrating at times It was just a little much for you. Yeah Yeah, I know that's it's dude. It's kind of the style of game though It's just like constant you want high mob density because you're going to get more loot right stuff So I I get what you're saying, too I and I do agree because I mean there's evidence that i've tried to avoid some of it if I could But that is kind of the style of the game as well and I forget your initial Question that started me on this tangent. It was it was uh Do you regret having children? Oh god You're like you're just trying to get them away and keep going No, i'm kidding But no, the graphics were great, even though you know, it all feels the same and story-wise graphics are great Sound quality was great the sound atmosphere It checked the box for what it was trying to portray, which was creepy and Demonic at times and all that it did put you into that world. It was great Yeah, it's not it doesn't seem like I don't think anybody ever wakes up and wishes that they lived in sanctuary You know nobody, you know, there's some settings and games where you're like, yeah, I could live here. You don't want to live here There's nothing enjoyable about this place. I think that's the atmosphere. They're trying to portray is that like you're miserable All that was that was something else because I when we when we talked briefly Like we decided to do this diablo episode yesterday So well, I mean we we had no choice I was sitting there like I don't know if you do this now that we've been doing a podcast but like When we pick a topic I'll start like coming up with things. I want to talk about like in the car And and stuff so yeah, one of them was and I don't know the answer to this you might I think I know the answer because of I do I know this is how diablo is structured, but Sanctuary is bad place. Things are terrible for everybody. There are like angels or they're the equivalent of angels with what Tyrael and and Ariel and yes and all that. So yeah At any point in any of these diablo games. Do you get to traverse to those areas that are Not overrun by demons and maybe see through the sunshine and green grass at any point so Okay, there's Is there again on the fourth game in the series? Is there like a nagrand? From from world. Oh, I don't know if it ever gets that nice But I so at one point in diablo 3 you go to heaven. There you go So it's just but it's not a good time I think it's because like Diablo himself is like, all right, we're bringing the fight to the home base kind of thing, right? more Red skinned and bloodiness. Well, it's but it's also very Like majestic looking kind of you know, but there are like demons there that you're fighting again, right? All right, so different landscape, but the same same stuff Yeah, I think if you if you take any it's it's an eternal war zone essentially So like anything you build is going to slow like quick like, you know, you're always fighting these demons and stuff it's never it's a never-ending conflict between like heaven's archangels and and like the evils of the world and that's what sanctuary is kind of the battleground for that because ld I'm, sorry if I get any of this wrong because this is a very expansive game and people are really passionate But lilith is the daughter of mephisto and she got a little bit freaky with an arias back in the day and created the nephilim which are the inhabitants of Sanctuary all of the people they're like the adam and eve of sanctuary I think and over time they they were these like super powerful beings, but they all just kind of lost a lot of their pizzazz because they just were like They were just kind of lazy or something the pizzazz so that's a good they lost they lost the it factor So I think that's like what it is and and they're you're kind of caught in like a lover's quarrel between the two in this game and they're both trying like I think in arias is trying to get his like win his win heaven back over because he's been expelled from that cool kids club up up in the sky and Lilith is trying to kind of do her own thing. But yeah, they they were lovers and we are the kids i'm, not a historian, so You said the the inhabitants of sanctuary are nephilim. Yeah in other story worlds and stuff nephilims are like when I when I when an immortal being like a an angel or a Devil or something demon or demon? Have good times with like a mortal Yeah, right So does that mean that are we playing as nephilim or we're nephilim like a long past thing? They're half angel half demon in diablo's world. Oh, okay So not not with a mortal being but between two Like a romeo and juliet situation. Yeah. Gotcha. So I think everybody there is technically nephilim They're all the spawn of this mistake right of lilith and inarius getting freaky I believe But yeah, so these things and they're all kind of just become modernized and lazy and fat like everyone else I think I could be wrong if I am wrong. I want you to directly find me dm Me send me letter to my house in the comment. Let me know. I want you. Yeah no, I want you to come to my house and just Explain it to me put a give me a poster board. Tell me all about it But yeah, so there's a you know, I I don't remember why we got on that subject, but we did anyhow, but Oh, yeah, because you wanted a happier setting I I wanted You know, I wanted something I wanted it to be broken up Right, like I know we're in bad time. Hell give me give me a flashback of like good times Give me give me give me something to break away For for those that That maybe don't want to sit there and see flayed people on the screen the entire You know 50 hours i'm going to put in this game. Maybe just break it up a little bit Give me something to me like a smiling baby elephant for just I mean for the for the story right now I know it's the it's the looter you know that that's that's the main part of the game, but when you're looking at a I don't know. I I feel like just other other games have a mix So you're not burned out Seeing the same thing over and over again going completely different, uh franchise halo, right? You've got most of the game look somewhat similar between um, like the the human or whatever their version of human was and the alien race But then that break from the monotony of it is like the flood So just something just some thing to break just to break up the the constant slog of just The same thing no matter what the subject matter is just the same over and over and over again I need something to just Give me a brief uh reprieve from from that thing which in this case is The constant this is not a game for you then again, I guess not. I mean again, I I got it Because you said hey, we're all playing this game tonight. I said great. I'll get it and we can all Have a good you know, you're just going in blind, huh? Yeah, pretty much crazy. Okay Yeah, I don't think there's ever going to be that that moment. It might not like sitting there I'm trying to think of those and unicorns. That's funny. You say that because that was uh, Diablo 3 had a like the end game of it. There was a rainbows and unicorns zone Oh, was there really it really was and everyone hated it. Oh, come on All right Maybe i'm trying to think of the name of it. What was it? Whimsy shire is what it was called And it was so I need the diablo for Rainbows and unicorns patch just as so alec is the target audience for that Just nonsense that everyone hated i'm sending you a picture in discord Of this is all that might be a bit much Dude, but isn't it? It's funny that you said rainbows and unicorns and there it is. Oh my goodness That was the end game. There was like a weird process to acquire that zone It was like a secret zone, but it's crazy because you just you called it exactly It's almost like you did more research than you could have ever imagined. No, so that that right there just looking at that screenshot I did not play Diablo 3 I think I may have played diablo 2 then the diablo 3 actually Aside from that got a lot of complaints that the game was too bright and happy Really? Yeah, it's funny. I oh, I mean and I you know what? Hey, I fully acknowledge like if this is if the main Jesus the main fan base Is this is the game that that you guys like and i'm maybe an outsider coming in thinking the complete wrong set of or having the wrong set of expectations or or Criticisms i'll say, you know, it is what it is, but that's um, that's kind of what I what I kind of Had as my as my thoughts like I yeah, you know when we play here is the storm one of my favorite Um, I may not be very good at it But one of my favorite heroes to play with is the butcher love the butcher That's been my uh, one of my we could talk about that It's been one of my icons I think in that game Forever, you know, uh, it's a really cool character. I like it. I like I like that stuff I don't know. I just I think I just wanted something different all their other games from blizzard Well the warcraft obviously a lot of different areas you can go to but a very different kind of game Their starcraft side you've got the different factions and things that you get to to split up how the game is where the mechanics are the same they break up the Monotony by seeing different factions and different abilities within those factions There's breaking it up some right maybe respecting or or playing a different class is what you that might be a version of that Yeah, yeah, because I and again i've only played a portion of the druid So yeah, I fully I fully acknowledge that I may not be the best one to pass judgment on this game But that's what we're here to do three two one back on this game Okay, so you hated it Good to hear. No, I didn't hate it. I think I might be just being over critical I got asked a question of how do I how do I think about it? So that's what yeah Yeah, no, I get it. I do. Yeah. No, it's it's all valid. It's true that it is a very like If you're already if you're sad, maybe it's not the best game to play like if you're having a I don't know but maybe it is because you get to take your rage out by Turning in turning into a werebear and smacking some zombies around it was so so here's one that i'll say After all of that, right when you got one nice thing to say no when when the four of us were playing Yeah, when when all four of us had computers that worked. Oh, it was a fun gaming experience Yeah So so, you know, i'm i'm I can still you can still enjoy the game. I can still have those criticisms, right? It was still enjoyable So yeah, but both both things can be true, right? I'm a gaming expert What is the so what is the atmosphere of a game that you enjoy like what what game has a very good setting for you? Just worry in the blind forest You gotta be kidding me Oh, all right Atmosphere. All right. So because it's a top of mind in the atmosphere of a game Limbo was really good. Let me let me let me get like dark and terrible and depressing too I feel like that. You know, well it limbo feels like it was a game that was made by somebody that lives in sanctuary Yeah, you get the kids dying everywhere Well, no, I mean, okay. So no atmosphere of a game is the feeling that's trying to portray through your visuals your sound voices and and What feeling is trying to portray right? And I think diablo did a very good job of portraying Or setting the tone of the of the atmosphere they were trying to get across they did that very well Yeah, right. They were trying to make it a demon filled dreary place that everyone hated Their their existence living in right because it was a it was a very bad place bad things were happening Constantly and they portrayed that perfectly, right? Right Did I want just in my in my gameplay experience did I want for me sitting in my computer? Or sitting sitting in my computer room Did I want to just have a little bit of a of a break from that for? Five minutes. Yes, I did. You imagine if it was raining that week when you tried to play like it just in real life Just be a little too much. Yeah All right. So wait, what's a good setting for a game for you? What's your so Like I assassins creed. I love those Is there that moment of stopping? I guess there is like where you stop and you you get up on one of those watch towers and you can kind of Look down and see everything. Yeah, and I and I I we got to do an assassin's creed Episode because I I'd like to there's like I haven't ever played flag My the absolute for me top Game from that franchise It's so good Uh, the one thing I want to touch on a little bit. Um, Did you have like a moment that you really enjoyed in the game? Like was there any like where you were like, oh, this is it or was it just kind of the group play for you? No, all right moving on No, the Playing as a group was great. I did like seeing the druid specific area. Oh, yeah, that was cool I agree. That was kind of a neat area. Yeah You know and and i'll try not to keep shitting on it and saying the same stuff over again. It was It was a druid area With the demons and the dungeons and all that stuff that it was just a different landscape, right? Yeah But it was it was It was nice to see um something class specific later later on in the game. You get to kill a lot of humans Hmm It's pretty nice, right? It's a little spoiler maybe but yeah, you get to kill some good old-fashioned people Uh one thing I want to say so later on in the game. There's you fight a boss named durio and he is a boss from Diablo 2 and when I played diablo 2 back way back in the day I remember just basically throwing my corpse over and over and over at this guy durio because it was I My build sucked that was like a melee necromancer that also focused on shooting bone spears or something It was terrible. I had a very bad build. I didn't know anything about the game but durio was this giant like Worm maggot type thing or maybe a mealworm. I don't know. It was like this big anyway It's like yeah, i'm just constantly throwing my body at this thing And then late in the game you you fight him again and there's zero indication whatsoever that you're going to fight him There's hardly even a mention of him, but he just comes back like they brought him back I guess and when I saw him pop up and it said his name and I was like here we go Revenge time like this is it I get that like my character this time is good. Like I have a good build I'm playing really well. I haven't really died in solo play in forever. Let's go Dude, this thing stomped me into the ground so hard. I I died twice back to back It was it was cool because it was all this stuff that I remembered like why it was difficult It burrows into the ground and creates these giant holes that you can't walk over So it's constantly changing the environment of the fight, right? And then it has it's very quick even though it's this giant worm It's very quick and it just I mean it was humbling and it stomped me into the ground. It was cool because I did finally beat it and it felt very rewarding, but it was just crazy because it was I thought for sure I was going to get my little revenge like 12 year old James was going to feel real good about it and I got stomped Another thing that I thought was kind of neat was the sorry shoot. I lost it, dude Oh When we found the when we were all playing together and we saw the butcher Yes, it just popped up in a dungeon. I think it was like that. Oh dang kind of moment and the butcher is yeah, so the butcher is like the the He's very tough like i've only been able to kill him one time out of all of our times And we did it me and eric were able to do it by Finding a pillar and kind of running around line of sighting him a little bit And healing a little and stuff like that But yeah It's very tough fight and it's kind of like a big gear check like if you see him if you're on hardcore I feel like most people see him when they're playing hardcore and they probably just alt f4 out of the game But yeah, it was kind of cool I did I did like seeing him I Is he a reoccurring like elite in all the diablo games or was he like a story boss in one of them before? So I think he was in diablo 3, but he was kind of just like brought back And but and that's kind of what revitalized some of his popularity in blizzard lore But he was a boss in diablo 1 but the thing is you have no Indication that he's going to appear at all. You have nothing right? You're just like traversing through this like dungeon and it's kind of you know You're in like a slow spot of a dungeon And then you just hear fresh meat and the guy comes like running at you And chops you up and he's I guess he's kind of like that's what he does He's a very tough high hitting damage boss, right 600 stacks of meat and I guess that's kind of what was iconic about it is that you You don't have any indication that he was going to be there and that's like the feeling they brought back in the dungeons, too You will just be dominating and dominating a dungeon with with the boys And then out of nowhere, it's the butcher and you're never ready for it, right? If you knew the butcher was coming up like it's a boss fight room and you knew it was going to happen Maybe but you could pull a huge pack of mobs and the butcher comes out of nowhere and that's kind of why Yeah, so it's cool. I I thought that was like it was When we were all playing and just running through it and we got butchered yeah, it was like it felt good to die Yeah, I think that was the first time that we did die in in our initial playthrough. We all got obliterated Yeah, I was kind of hoping because we immediately went back into that dungeon I was hoping he was still there so we could give another shot, but he was gone. Yeah Yeah, and that's also good too because you know you get your shot and I guess he has a pretty good loot table Pretty good drops from him. So you get your one shot kind of like the treasure goblins like you see of treasure goblins I think I don't see that many now. Yeah while we were playing With since i've been playing I think we've seen like five or six Which feels like a lot. Yeah, it's not too it's not I think there's less now Maybe they're more frequent when there's a lot of players or maybe just the fact that we had more people we noticed them more Yeah, those were those and I think we got all of them except for one the last one that I experienced I think he got away. Yeah, they they always get away from me when i'm playing by myself My character hits like once every hour for really hard one thing that I guess blizzard is aware of this Doesn't really matter but the loot table for druids is like all whacked out right now and it has been there's like a lot of reports of druids are getting like Barbarian drops and they're not supposed to like there's something wrong with it. I don't know So it makes they're very difficult to gear up one thing that was bothering me with our loot was I would continuously get drops For things that I think would be better for your build But they that's yeah, but they were total garbage for me. So I mean i'm encountering that non-stop right now I get so much stuff trying to push me into being like tornado bill. Yeah, and I feel like blizzard Especially like taking world of warcraft as an example I remember you telling me a story I think before I really started playing world of warcraft Of you spent like months doing like raiding Every week with your guild and all that and like the thing finally dropped the day you weren't there Right. It was like some it sounds about like my experience and and over the years they've kind of Softened your experience some some would say for the better. Some would say some would say for detriment of the game It was death bringer as well But they would make it easier and more streamlined for people to play get loot and get loot that was relevant To what they were playing right even to the point now where I think Say you're playing a druid in world of warcraft when uh when uh, A legendary item drops it is good for all specs, right? but based on what spec you're on it will enable certain I think that reduces the right so Longevity of the game by doing that though, right? Right. So i'm just saying I so why I brought that up I think it was I was surprised that blizzard softening their other games to that level Going to diablo 4 you're getting loot that is completely useless Or in the case of getting barbarian stuff like their loot tables are are messed up. So it was just a surprising thing to see Same same company same same, uh developer for these other games and they've they've gotten this formula down I mean wow still a pretty big game. It's just for their their loot table on diablo 4 brand new game should be polished right off launch Yeah The loot table problem is is definitely an issue I get what you're saying that I think it would decrease the longevity of the game a little bit if it if the items Adapted to your spec because then you could just easily respect but the reason there is the option of Salvaging for materials. So there's materials you can only get from legendary items by salvaging them. So they're not useless to acquire them. It's just Your their currency you just don't I think because of because of the the current level i'm at it's like, okay i'm building this thing specific to Like not doing the the wear bear for example, right? So when you give me loot and I can only get a benefit from it if I have a talent that is wear bear Specific. Yeah, so what am I going to do with that? I'm either going to salvage it or sell it or whatever It's like it just I feel like so there's another thing too that I don't know if we really knew it when we were playing Altogether but you can get aspects from dungeons or take the aspects off of some gear And then print it on other gear later on so you can take a you can go through a dungeon acquire a Codex of power and then you can upgrade any rare like yellow or yellow item to a legendary status Okay, and then make it for your build. So Event eventually. Yeah Okay, so that's you know, I guess add the grinding aspect of trying to get the oh yeah Can't use to you know, I I think that kind of that Do you have anything else you want to add about it? Do you want to talk about the setting a little bit more? um, yeah, we probably could give it I mean you'd have to run it, um a general like Story set up of what people could encounter what they have. I didn't get through the whole thing Did you end up finishing the main plot? Yeah, I did I finished it I want to say Like maybe the day after it was actually released so it took me like six days to complete It would have been faster. But every every time someone else logged on that wasn't up to my story I opted to play on their thing and i've still been doing that. So jason just finished the game last night and I Sorry, my dog is growling at something Uh, jason just finished the story last night and i'm that means i'm playing on tier two So my gear that i'm getting isn't is not relevant So right i'm essentially just getting some materials by playing with him And you know helping him through the game or whatever just for the fun aspect of it But yeah, I finished it. It was a good ending I liked I don't know. I liked the game overall and it the game picked up a lot towards the end There was like one part man If anybody's listening to the desert where you're walking through a sandstorm good god And then there was like a mission where you're walking through a snake storm essentially It's like the sandstorm 2.0, but you're just following a snake Man, it's just like they don't need to put that kind of crap in games anymore. It's fun. Yeah, I don't know I liked it. It was a good game. The story ended. Well, i'll we'll play it I think You know it I started another character too already, but I don't i'm gonna probably shelf it and stop but uh, yeah I'd probably play again. I Still going through death stranding which we haven't recorded yet. So depending on when this comes out we've Most recently released ori in the blind forest Bioshocks on the way. We're still playing death stranding and then we Snuck diablo in so i'm uh, i'm a little behind on on on some stuff here so I want to wrap up death stranding before I get too far into Diablo but Yeah, diablo, I feel like it's going to be one of those games that we keep playing for a while There will be seasons which are going to reset like your characters and you'll play through the story again kind of right, um, but it'll be New mechanics introduced to the game, you know, like shrines are in the game right now but I think like they'll introduce maybe a new like a new type of shrine or just a new gimmick of the game that kind of switches it up and then If it if it's a good mechanic they leave it in for the main game But your characters usually reset when they when they do that So right, it's kind of like what path of exile does now if you're into that kind of game These types of games are very time consuming and then eventually there isn't much to talk about other than the mechanic and the best way to get loot, so I don't know. I feel like this is going to be one of the games that we kind of migrate to off and on Back and forth heroes got a little stale for a while there. It hasn't been updated in nine years. So Yeah Uh, and oh man, I got into a little spat with somebody on heroes last time like like to another player Yeah, like oh, okay. I was like man. I don't remember that a couple weeks ago for some weird reason I think after we recorded something I like I was bored. I I think you went to go do something And I was like, let me just play heroes match and I won I came up mvp on butcher and People were just giving us all like give me all this they might have been trolling but it was just The player base of heroes of the storm right now is just pure garbage It's like the player base of every game I play kind of sucks like I played counter-strike a little while ago with one of our friends and I i'm not experienced with the game. I think i'm decent at shooters, but i'm not I don't know all of the details of the Game, but like they've tried I made one little mistake and then there's like a vote to kick me out of the game comes up I'm, like come on man. Just yeah, you know, like I think we would have lost that either way I don't think it comes down to me You were the first one to die probably the guy that initiated the vote you were dead before me. So yeah, I don't know people are crazy I I I the older I get the more I gravitate towards games that are story driven versus a like diablo Exactly so get a steam deck. Yeah, i'm just kidding killing me. I'm killing you. Yeah, dude. They go well, maybe with the Rog ally people will sell them third party for a little bit cheaper or something too But it is a console too like I know something you have to consider It's not just like a cell phone, but there's also like a third party things that function really similarly that maybe are cheaper It's an investment, but i've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it for sure Man, we just need more people to listen on apple podcast. Yeah, we just get us a steam deck sponsor me valve All right. Let's see here. So yeah, I think we're gonna go ahead and wrap up this episode for diablo 4 So you overall you enjoyed it? Yeah, I enjoyed it. I think i'm gonna continue to enjoy it I I look forward to the next time you want to play again as well I think that The level oh we never mentioned it but the level scaling is super good you kind of briefly like like tapped a finger on it But the level scaling in the game makes it a lot more enjoyable for people that can't play all at the same time But yeah, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to playing with with more of the groups I think when everybody kind of ends up in the same End game area. It'll be a little bit more enjoyable again because right now It's pretty spread. Everyone's getting a little bit spread out. Yeah Yeah, but no i'm not going to discount it fully I I definitely i'm going to play the game I won't be playing it by myself. Yeah, but i'll definitely when we have our our game nights. I'll i'll definitely hop in Yeah, i'll look up a couple like do you think you'd rather be a wolf boy or a bear child? um if i'm going melee I typically try to be higher dps if I had to um If I had to guess i'd say wolf would probably be like faster and more agile to do quicker attacks and stuff Yeah, um, so i'd probably go wolfy boy or the game wants you to do it or play a different class all together Oh shoot You know Yeah, I know Four or five classes. So yeah the It seems like if you want melee and fast I started playing the i'm almost done with act one and i'm like level 10 That's how quick and just ridiculous the Assassin rogue whatever class is it's kind of nuts Okay. Oh, you know that there was one thing I was going to bring up for this episode and now Who knows if i'll put it in because it's like so random, but I mentioned earlier As we're trying to do our outro I mentioned earlier where i'll like be in the car Thinking of things to talk about for an episode. Yeah Yeah, I think you did I tell you the story when we were trying to name our son our most recent boy, uh You wanted another name that started with? We wanted a letter Yeah, I was gonna name I I pitched to my wife and she Quickly shut it down. Come on. Decker's a good name record and I thought it was great So we we wanted a d name So our initials right now in the family mine's a My wife starts with a c my son starts with a b Or our oldest son. So we were already a b c in the house. I was like we gotta have a d name, right? and Uh, we ended up not going with a d name because they all suck. Sorry everybody named. I don't know doug. All right, darryl Darryl, your name sucks dave So You know, I was like, oh what about deckard and I was that's a good name like 90 serious and She rapidly said no, that's terrible. She didn't know the game. Can I go? Yeah. Well, dude, just name your son. Diablo Diablo I said so like when we're real When when we were still picking names or trying to pick names, I would send her Like just random words throughout the day that started with d uh durango diablo um Dungarees, you know stuff like that. But yeah I tried, you know for those that are saying hey, this guy doesn't like diablo at all. I tried to name my son deckard So I tried right We did the best we could Oh and with that, I think we're gonna go ahead and roll that music So Thanks so much for listening that wraps up our discussion for diablo 4 if you enjoyed this episode Please let us know with a thumbs up a comment or sharing with your friends and family If you're able to do so play along with us We'll post upcoming games to our socials and what games are up next at the end of each episode This has been 321 backlog by alec and james You can connect with us on any of our social media pages and by sending us an email at 321 backlog at gmail.com Until next time So You