• she/her

@imhkr on twitter

late 30s trans girl

Video Games, Retro tech,

anime and tokusatsu nerd

behind the scenes @cathoderaydude

FFXIV Daria Imhkr@Ultros
FFXI Imhkr@bahamut

Art by @dataerase

Abandoned
https://bsky.app/profile/imhkr.bsky.social


Giving your character dialog was a bad choice. It feels as off as when Serge talks in Chrono Cross. But on top of that, the game is trying way too hard way too early for emotional payoffs. I won't spoil the story, but I just finished Act II for the second time (Waiting for @cathoderaydude to have some free time so we can continue the story together), and I gotta say, Diablo III had me far more invested at this stage than Diablo IV. I think the large of it is that none of these characters have any history with the player, whereas Deckard Cain, Tyrael etc were. In any case, if Blizzard wanted me to care about [character deaths] they should have spent more than half an act on them.

Blizzard really really wants to catch up to Final Fantasy XIV's storytelling, but can't plan for longer than a season pass. Most of FFXIV's characters took years to mature into the fan favorites they are now. Even Zero, the newest character introduced in FFXIV's post Endwalker storyline, has had far more time to mature and grow than any character I've met and watched die in Diablo IV.

Side content and incidental dialog bore me to death here as well. Many sidequests only exist to give the player an excuse to collect bear asses. As soon as the NPC expresses their need and you collect, they say thanks and that's it. Even FFXIV's side quests serve more of a narrative purpose. Incidental dialog in FFXIV shows off the world building, Diablo IV's feels like it's chiding you for clicking on a NPC who isn't offering you a quest at this point.

Not every game needs a grand emotional story. I think diablo IV is worse off for trying to have one.