Diablo 3 Information

By David Smith


"Twenty years have passed since the Prime Evils were defeated and banished from the world of Sanctuary. Now, you must return to where it all began - the town of Tristram - and investigate rumors of a fallen star, for this is the first sign of evil's rebirth, and an omen that the End Times have begun."

This is the story behind Diablo III, a dungeon crawl and hack-and-slash PC-based video game that is the third in a series developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment in mid-2012. Diablo III set a new record for the fastest-selling PC-game ever, with over 3.5 million copies being sold in the first 24 hours of being out, as well being the highest selling PC game of 2012 at all, with over 12 million copies being purchased. Developers are working on versions for the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4 (which is set to release in late-2013).

The game takes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world of the Diablo series. Set twenty years after the events in Diablo II, Diablo III introduces a few major changes to game play, but with many of the same thru-themes from the previous games in the franchise. In Diablo III there are five character classes available during play, each of which has different attributes and abilities, including the Witch Doctor, Wizard, Monk, Demon Hunter and Barbarian. Other than the Witch Doctor, which is a new character, all of the characters are revamped and refashioned from Diablo I and II, with newer features and stronger skill sets. Diablo III also allows you to pick the gender of whichever character you choose to play, which is different from the previous versions of the game where the gender was fixed.

This newest installment of the Diablo series also introduces a brand new, custom 3D game engine. This provides gamers a new sort of perspective, while also encouraging a fine-tuning of skills, since enemies in the game are able to utilize said environment as well, crawling over the walls and ceiling to come from the depths into the foreground of combat. Skill runes (also new to this version) are skill modifiers that are unlocked as player beat levels, and the assigning and swapping of skills has also been made easier in this version of the game. Auction houses are treated differently in Diablo III, as now there are two types of houses, one where players spend in-game gold (standard) and a new one, where players may buy or sell various virtual items using real-world money.

Although Diablo III has been well-received by critics and gamers alike, there is one major area of criticism. Due to the game's strong digital rights management demands, to play Diablo III you must be connected to the internet at all times, rendering offline single-player gaming impossible.




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