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Las Lágrimas del Reino

Back when my brothers and I were obsessed with the works of Blizzard Entertainment, we discovered the first of their Diablo series, with whose sequel and expansion I would spend significant time, given the multitude of classes. The third Diablo game wouldn’t see release until a decade after the second, and the fourth game, Diablo IV, would have a similar wait before it came out. The fourth entry, as a few other video game series in Japan and the West have, leaps into an open-world setting, like Nintendo’s Zelda and Pokémon franchises. Does it do so well?

The fourth game occurs half a century after the third in Sanctuary, where cultists summon the new antagonist, Lilith, daughter of the demon Mephisto, who seeks to fill the power vacuum created by the decline of angels and demons across the land. The narrative has varying cutscenes depending on which character class the player selects, along with plenty of texts that reveal backstories, sidequest subplots, and a well-developed central plot. A few narrative gaps still exist between the third and fourth games; however, the story remains engaging throughout the experience.

Players can select from five classes: Barbarian, Sorcerer, Druid, Rogue, and Necromancer, each with their unique ability trees, and choose a difficulty, accommodating to gamers of divergent skill levels. Regardless of whomever the player selects, all have a health orb whose depletion means death (in which case they can resurrect at the expense of a tenth of their equipment’s durability), a fixed number of potions with which they can recover their health (with upgrades to this amount found sporadically through Sanctuary’s dungeons), Spirit that the use of many abilities consumes (and which standard attacks can gradually recover), and many skills with a cooldown time before they can use them again.

Killing enemies earns the player experience, with foes frequently dropping money and treasure. Before reaching fifty levels, leveling gives players a point they can put into their class’s respective tree to unlock various abilities and bonuses. If players wish to do so, they can pay to reset points and redistribute them however they please. Players stop earning skill points when their character reaches the mentioned threshold. At that time, their Paragon Board unlocks, with its points acquired at fixed times while advancing to the next level and allowing for increased stats.

In towns, the player can repair their equipment (which doesn’t seem to wear down regardless of whatever combat they’ve seen, except upon death), replenish their potions and health, purchase new gear, and so forth, like in prior games. The mechanics work well, with plenty of quick action and rewarding exploration; however, players can’t pause the game, and the potential to waste a lot of time against bosses exists (though depleting their health to fixed amounts will cause them to drop health potions). Regardless, the fourth game nicely fuses elements from the second and third entries.

Control, however, could have used improvement. Among the primary issues is that one needs a constant internet connection and a PlayStation Plus membership to play Diablo IV in the first place, which is ridiculous since I had spent $60+ for my physical copy. Even so, there are a few quality-of-life features such as subtitles for the voiced dialogue, adjustable text size, helpful in-game maps with objective markers, the ability to skip cutscenes and through some dialogue (though the latter feature isn’t available during “cinematic” scenes), the option to exit dungeons instantly after completing them (though some exceptions exist), and readily-available teleportation across Sanctuary, even when the player is far away from a teleport point. As mentioned, however, the game is unpausable, along with other issues like the absence of an in-game measure of total playtime, the vagueness of a few sidequest objectives, and how the game doesn’t preserve the player’s current location whenever they quit the game and restart later. Ultimately, the fourth game could have interfaced better with players.

While the soundtrack features good instrumentation and has some callbacks to prior Diablo games, the fourth installment’s music is otherwise unremarkable, given the lack of memorable tracks and overreliance upon ambiance, which seems typical of most Western video games. However, the voice acting and sound effects shine brighter.

Diablo IV executes its visuals nicely, with realistic art direction for the human and nonhuman characters and players able to customize their protagonist’s appearance. Different equipment also affects character looks, with the environments and colors being believable, the weather and illumination effects gorgeous, and the critical story scenes having an engaging cinematic style. However, the typical imperfections of three-dimensional visuals abound, like poor collision detection, blurry and pixilated texturing, and occasional choppiness.

Given the lack of an in-game clock, assessment of total playtime is difficult. However, I sometimes used my watch timer and estimated I finished the game in over seventy-two hours, consisting of significant time exploring Sanctuary and completing sidequests, although advancing the main quest doesn’t take long. Replayability exists with the vastness of the game world, which I hadn’t fully mapped, countless sidequests, achievements, and so forth. However, the need for a PlayStation Plus membership to continue playing, which I immediately canceled upon finishing the main quest, will deter many from devoting additional time to the game.

Ultimately, Diablo IV was an ambitious production from Blizzard and nicely accomplishes its transition of the series to open-world format, in my opinion, even better than other major video game franchises that have done the same despite their “universally positive” reception. The gameplay is fun and rewarding, the narrative is intricate regarding its backstory and “present” plotline, the visuals are top-notch, and plenty of extra content can occupy players endlessly. However, issues such as the need for a constant internet connection and PlayStation Plus membership to play, various interface problems, and unremarkable sound prevent it from “game of the year” status. Despite its faults, it warrants a playthrough from those who enjoyed its predecessors and is one of 2023's better releases.

This review is based on a playthrough of a physical copy purchased by the reviewer as a Druid.

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Mom has pancreatic cancer. She'll eventually be going in for more tests to see if it's spread any, and whether it's treatable remains to be seen.

Since my main concern is about what would happen financially should she pass, I've somewhat amped up my job search to include jobs from my town's school district and my old community college, part-time and hopefully able to work into my fixed bootcamp schedule. I've got some references I could use, but I dread my sudden termination from my last job might hamper my job prospects.

Coding bootcamp continues to be a slog. I was paired with a fellow student just as in the dark as I was, although we did make minor progress since our instructor walked through some of the solutions to the problems we were posed, mostly regarding making regular functions to mimic callback functions.

Gaming

Diablo IV

Advanced a few story quests and did some quests to unlock more abilities for the Druid.

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation

Have to get money so I can use the Fashion Forge to make my equipment more stylish to pass the fashion show so I can get the magic carpet and advance the plot.

Hollow Knight

I got the illuminator, so now I can traverse dark areas, and I'm making decent headway.

Phantasy Star (Sega Ages)

Wanted a quick game since I'm got my hands full, so I bought and downloaded this onto my Switch, and the contemporary features really make a world of difference. I've got Odin and Myau in my party, and have had little problem aside from the often-low encounter rate that slightly impedes my ability to accumulate money.

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¡Viva la resurrección!

Back in the mid-1990s, my brothers and I discovered the Warcraft series of computer games, starting with the first sequel, which had us hooked and gave us interest in developer Blizzard Entertainment’s other titles, among them the Diablo action RPG franchise, which we had the chance to play from its inaugural installment. The turn of the millennium marked the release of the original Diablo’s first sequel, which would receive the expansion Lord of Destruction, and with which I would spend a ton of time, given the myriad character classes. A little over two decades later, Blizzard released a remaster of the second Diablo and its expansion, Diablo II: Resurrected, allowing modern generations to experience the classic roleplaying game.

When starting a new game, online or offline, the player has a choice from seven classes, each with its own set of three skill trees consisting of passive abilities and spells that consume mana. All characters have four primary stats: strength, which determines attack power and dictates what type of equipment, including weapons and armor, one can wear; dexterity, which determines weapon accuracy and is often necessary for being able to equip specific weapon types; vitality, which determines maximum health; and energy, which dictates maximum mana. Characters also have stamina that drains whenever they run and recovers whenever they have it toggled off or are standing still.

When starting a new game, online or offline, the player has a choice from seven classes, each with its own set of three skill trees consisting of passive abilities and spells that consume mana. All characters have four primary stats: strength, which determines attack power and dictates what type of equipment, including weapons and armor, one can wear; dexterity, which determines weapon accuracy and is often necessary for being able to equip specific weapon types; vitality, which determines maximum health; and energy, which dictates maximum mana. Characters also have stamina that drains whenever they run and recovers whenever they have it toggled off or are standing still.

As in most RPGs, the player’s character obtains experience whenever they kill enemies, and upon leveling, they can invest five points into the mentioned four base stats and one point into a skill in their respective tree, with higher-level abilities unlocked at certain levels provided the player has at least one point in a lower-level passive or active ability. In the PlayStation 4 version of Resurrected, players can assign ten action shortcuts (including attacking normally), which really becomes handy especially with classes that have a variety of useful actions in their skill trees, such as the Druid, which can shapeshift, cast elemental magic, and summon creatures to his side.

Should the player die in offline gameplay, they lose all current equipment and items yet can retrace their steps to where their character died to loot their own corpse and get everything back, a fair penalty. The default offline difficulty is fair, with players seeking a different challenge able to scale the toil of combat to higher levels, meaning greater rewards but more risk in that they lose everything their character has if they die. The game mechanics are enjoyable, although the remaster lacks quality-of-life features such as a suspend save and the ability to pause the action, even in offline gameplay, and the finite inventory space will irk some, given the balance they need to consider about things such as keeping stat-boosting charms their item space and what exactly to keep and sell.

The issues with inventory management and the lack of pausing and a suspend save are the primary strikes against control, although there are plenty positives such as teleportation back to town at fixed points within each of the game’s five acts, not to mention the ability to summon portals back to town at any time within each area so long as players have the respective scrolls to do so. There’s also little difficulty in figuring out how to advance the central storyline, although the PlayStation 4 version can crash at points (which happened to me chiefly in Act IV), and there is a fair bit of loading. Regardless, Resurrected does decently in interaction.

The second Diablo’s narrative picks up where the first left off in the world of Sanctuary, the nameless character of the first game trying to contain the franchise’s eponymous demon within his/her body, the Lord of Terror corrupting him/her and allowing demons to wreak havoc. Cutscenes between acts focus on the Dark Wanderer, while each act has its substories, dialogue often varying depending upon which class the player has chosen. There are links to the first game, the fate of the town that served as a hub in the first game highlighted, and the mythos and backstory are excellent, but whichever character the player creates lacks development. Regardless, the storyline mostly glues the sequel well.

The soundtrack has several solid tracks such as the title screen theme, not to mention other orchestral pieces that shine the most in Act V, though not a lot of the music is memorable. The voice acting is mostly good as well, and the sound effects are never out of place, resulting in a decent-sounding game.

The remastered visuals are in many respects breathtaking, keeping the same style as those in the original version and its expansion, with an isometric perspective like the first Diablo game, with a general aura of darkness about the environments, the lighting effects and shadows being superb and realistic, alongside photorealistic upscaled CG cutscenes in between acts. Other positives include different equipment affecting the appearance of the player’s character, though this doesn’t apply to whichever mercenary they have. There are a few other issues such as occasional choppiness and many reskinned enemies, but otherwise, the remaster’s graphics look great.

Finally, the sequel ranges from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, with the myriad classes, replay mode received upon completion of the main quest, and other things such as PlayStation Trophies very well enhancing lasting appeal, though mileage will vary as to the heavy inventory management.

Overall, Diablo II: Resurrected is mostly a solid remaster, the graphical upscaling being most notable whilst other aspects largely remain unchanged, which is certainly not a bad thing. Other positives include the excellent gameplay with endless variations, both online and offline whichever the player decides, the good continuation of the original game’s storyline, and great soundtrack. Granted, there are a few issues regarding the possible difficulty balance that can vary among classes, the absence of pausing or a suspend save feature, the sizeable inventory management, the lack of memorable music, and a few issues with the visuals that existed in the sequel’s initial incarnation, but new generations of gamers will likely be more than happy to experience the classic for the first time.

This review is based on a single playthrough of the digital PlayStation 4 version as the Druid offline.

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Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
Well-assembled game mechanics with initial choice of class. Clear direction with new dungeon maps for different playthroughs. Great narrative with minor plot differences depending on class. Solid audiovisual presentation. Endless lasting appeal.	Difficulty will vary from class to class. No pausing or suspend save. Mileage may vary regarding inventory control. Not a lot of memorable music. A lot of reskinned enemies.
The Bottom Line
A great way for newcomers to experience the classic action RPG.
Platform	PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics	8.5/10
Control	7.5/10
Story	8.5/10
Aurals	9.0/10
Visuals	8.0/10
Lasting Appeal	9.5/10
Difficulty	Variable
Playtime	24-48+ Hours
Overall: 8.5/10

This was the very first paid YCH commission I did this decade, with the last commissioned art I did being in the previous decade, and luckily, he was an excellent customer.

This is my current price sheet for my Furs Across America YCH, and I'm pretty much open all the time for any kind of furry artwork:

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I got my new(ish) 50" television, and it took a little time to get it set up with my consoles and all so that there weren't any horizontal lines down the screen. I look forward to trying it out with my games proper tomorrow. Speaking of which...

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Gaming

Diablo II: Resurrected - I got the staff piece from the maggots' lair and have the Horadric Cube so I can mess around with item synthesis. I can start making Super Rejuvenation Potions from all those I have in my stash, but I'm definitely saving them for much later.

Live A Live - Finished the Sundown Kid's storyline, next I'll do Present Day.

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth - Continuing to slog along in the final (I hope) labyrinth, and have made a little progress in the third floor. Most of the characters' Personas have evolved, but physical and physical elemental skills still miss very, very often. I've also seen bits of Japanese still left in the game during the translation progress, and I remember the first one being rushed in terms of translation as well.

I purchased the full deluxe edition of Fuga: Melodies of Steel and will hopefully transfer my demo data and continue with the full game tomorrow.