I had no idea that Diablo was a game until I married my husband in 2003. By then, Diablo 2 and its expansion were out. My husband showed me the game, and I was a little dubious, but I tried it anyway and was hooked. I must point out that my husband is a cheater, so I blame him for teaching me to be a cheater. He played Diablo 1 and 2 with a character editor. What a character editor did was max out your character, so all you had to do was walk through the dungeons. It was fun! When Diablo 3 came out, I was excited because it could be a multiplayer game, and the graphics were awesome for the time.
It has been a while since the release of Diablo 3, so I didn’t think another was coming out. Admittedly, I don’t keep my eyes peeled for video game releases or updates like my husband. I’m more the books and movies girl in the family. Fortunately, my husband knew about Diablo, and we kept up on it and watched the trailers as they came out. He also had the foresight to pre-purchase the game. Good thing, too, because this past weekend was the final beta testing before the release in June.
Since, as I said, I am the proud owner of Diablo 4, I got to join the fun this past weekend. The character choices available for the game are sorcerer, barbarian, druid, necromancer, and rouge. For this beta, the druid and necromancer weren’t available. For me, that was completely fine as I favor the sorceress. What can I say? She’s a classic. The customization was *chef’s kiss. It wasn’t as in-depth as some, which was nice because I am no good at adjusting size, but enough that I was happy with the result of playing with my looks. I would have liked a bit more control over the color of my makeup, but I was able to customize my tattoo color so it balanced out. Speaking of tattoos, the choices were fantastic. Some were entire body tattoos, and others were smaller but just as nice. As a sorceress, I had a brilliant lit-up white eye color available, but not the same type but in purple that the rouge has.
The graphics are beautiful. The cinematics is better than in D3. There are still hiccups in the cinematics, but they were not severe, so they didn’t interfere with enjoying the story, just noticeable. I am confident that they will smooth it out before the release. I must say, they did an exquisite job on Lilith. They made her sexy and otherworldly, but not a Jessica Rabbit sexy. They got a great voice actor for her too. Unfortunately, Google didn’t seem to have the answer when I tried to find out the voice actor’s name.
I did not get as far as I had hoped. However, I got through the tutorial part. They did great on it because the play didn’t feel like a tutorial. The tutorial gives you an opportunity to get to know how the game works before getting around other players outside of the friends you group up to play with. Getting to Kyovashad opened the game up to where I saw other players.
The talent tree was very different from D3. My husband describes it as a mix between Path of Exile and D2. Rather than unlocking abilities or runes at each level, you get points. Well, more specifically, you get a point per level and choose where to put it. This gives you great customization. I do, however, wish you got more than a point per level. But, as I said to my hubby, it’s the beginning of the game, so it might look different later.
I played up to level ten and had a great time. I eagerly look forward to playing the full game. The Diablo games have come a long way since Diablo 1, both in story and graphics. Even the graphics in roaming between dungeons are better. In D3, I love wandering the map and going into little dungeons, so I am thrilled that aspect continues to be there.
I recommend Diablo 4. It’s a bunch of fun and a great way to get out some frustration. Diablo 4 drops June 6th, 2023. I can’t wait! How about you? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
