16 May 2012
"I have to kill the injured -- how could I kill my own wife?" pleaded Haedrig, the town's stereotypical blacksmith whom I'd just met -- his voice was melancholic and filled with fear; his wife, having been injured by one of the interloping zombies, was now condemned to death to prevent spread of the disease. My character interjected: "She'd want you to do it. Here, I'll help you." Well, that's probably not what I'd say to someone I'd just met -- especially when I don't know Haedrig's wife in the slightest. I feared the response I would receive, wondering how my character could be so pompous and socially inept. Luckily, Haedrig was just as bad: "OK! Follow me!"
He sounded excited and adventurous -- as if preparing to plunge into the Mines of Moria in search of mithral artifacts, or, perhaps more parallel, as if he'd been "holding it" all day and finally stumbled across a bathroom.
Either this man is a sociopath or he's poorly written. I'll cling to my desire to keep the game bearable and opt for the former, for now.
Haedrig vigorously led me to the town's containment cellar, sprinting forward and preparing to bring his weapons to bear. I selected my freezing spells, hoping that the story may take a turn for the better and allow for saving these rejected members of society; perhaps, I had hoped, I could freeze them and then use some sort of antidote.
We entered the tomb.
The first wave of zombies posed no threat -- I knew they were nameless and non-questable, so I blasted them with a quick force push-equivalent. I saw that Haedrig's wife, standing in the next room, had a gleam of light shining upon her and that she had not 'turned' yet. I attempted to talk to Haedrig, and unable to do so, I stepped into the next room and waited for the obviously-scripted trigger to happen.
And so it did.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" A mad man, whom I noted as Haedrig only when I saw his classic, large weapon brandished overhead, charged past me and toward the woman in the room. He sliced mellifluously, exclaiming with each successive blow; stupified, I stood in the corner idly and waited for what I had hoped would be another trigger event, ideally one that would allow me to kill the psychotic axe murderer / town smith in front of me.
No. She died, Haedrig thanked me for my help, and then jogged swiftly back to his spot in the town as a delightfully pleasant smith.
The simple fact is that this was one occurrence -- these overhyped AAA games, as we've discussed before, are allowed a few slip-ups. Venturing on did not bode well for the game's writing, though, as I later encountered this string of dialogue from the town's storyteller, Deckard Cain:
THAT'S IT! His sword -- just as likely a mundane piece of scrap as a magical artifact -- clearly is the root of all these problems! Quickly, locate the sword that FELL FROM THE SKY, then SHATTERED INTO PIECES, and retrieve it from goatmen who have obviously been driven mad by the sword.
It's PERFECT.
There's absolutely no reason not to believe the delusional man who thinks he fell to earth from the heavens, crashed through several levels of a stone cathedral infested with hundreds of zombies, slammed into the earth and then sat there awaiting our triggered event; the fact that nothing else was in the crater only proves that he is Thor, God of Thunder! This game is starting to get good, now.
Or, maybe -- just maybe -- it's really bad writing.
I'm not sure which. I'll keep making stories up in my head, if only to pretend that Diablo's original epic moments are still somewhere buried within Diablo 3.
Blech.
-Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.
Comments (9)
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2012-07-01 17:28:11 | WolfpackLax
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2012-05-22 12:39:59 | Lelldorianx
@Jake U: Rather than retyping what one of our writers has already done, I'll simply link you to our analysis of Diablo 3's narrative and gameplay mechanics.
Cheers.
http://www.gamersnexus.net/reviews/78-games/850-diablo-3-analysis- review
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2012-05-22 09:16:42 | Incredible Skulk
hmmm... I actually agree with him though. Every game deals with these things, but some actually know that they're RPG's, others pretend they are RPG's (diablo is one of the others).
Don't be blinded by fanboyism, diablo is just a mainstream and crappy click game now.
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2012-05-22 08:44:40 | Jake U - This is Sanctuary!
You seem to totally discredit the world of Sanctuary. If you've read the books you'd realize that the denizens of Sanctuary are people who live in constant strife - way more so then our environment. These are people who have been away from literal demonic manifestations for only just long enough that their children are beginning to doubt their tales.
These are people dealing with loss at breakfast lunch and dinner.
Let me round it out by saying Blizzard also made sure the dialogue didn't impede the gameplay. As a player who's been through the whole game three times now with 1 character I would be bitching if Haedrig casually walked - or like you seem to prefer slumped over to the cellar. That would be atrocious!
Deckard Cain has studied the denizens of heaven and hell. He's seen the impact of their presence on the mortal world and can spot it from a mile away. Do you also make fun of a cop's intuition in crime dramas? Comon, man. You're bitching for the sake of bitchery in this article.
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2012-05-21 01:00:43 | Lelldorianx
@NullSoldier: Thanks for your compliments. I really appreciate it when someone goes out of their way to leave me such an encouraging note!
Oh, and thanks for your link. I've never heard of this "wikipedia" website before, I'll have to bookmark it and look more into it.
Since you seem to be an expert on this topic, I was hoping you could fill me in a bit: Could you please provide a pragmatic analysis of the diametrically-opposing paradigms exhibited by Diablo's otherwise-archetypal story? I'm specifically interested in a symbolic interactionary dissection of character motifs and the story's insinuations, juxtaposed with Diablo 3's conflicting aesthetic direction.
Thanks! I'd love to hear your expert opinion (just don't use diction that is too advanced for my immature writing style and pitiful ideas -- I might not comprehend it).
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2012-05-20 23:50:52 | NullSoldier
Your writing style in this article is immature and your ideas are just as pitiful. I feel like someone should link you to this article, because you've never heard of this topic before. Is this your first time experiencing a narrative? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief
You also DEMAND that the writers fill in every gap or else it's absurd that the characters could have come to such a ludicrous conclusion while in reality leaving gaps allows for auto driven players to create their own details which make the story even more grand.
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2012-05-20 09:07:51 | trickysheep - Yup....same feelings here
I thought I was the only one who noticed that Cain had "mad" detective skills...
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Yeah funny stuff that thing with the smith! I "died" laughing when he smashed his hammer toward his wife lol.I am in the first act too, and have to find the sword.I bet the guy who fell from the sky is an Angel.I hope like you the story will be better , but I have to admit the sound and the gameplay is oldschool (kinda cool I think).The really thing that the game has not but I wanted to is: Horror, Medieval and well maybe Polygon.
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2012-05-16 23:19:55 | general trymutos
Looks like their quest system is very similar to WoW, at least the writing is.
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@NullSoldier - The problem with linking to an explanation of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief is that it isn't meant to apply to a situation of purely implausible/bad writing. Writers ask that their readers suspend disbelief when told of a new virus that doesn't exist, but that the writer has made plausible because it's based on research. But not when someone claims to "engage the safety on their Glock" because anyone who knows the first thing about Glock pistols knows they don't have one.
That's not asking for a Willing Suspension of Disbelief, that's a writer who got lazy and didn't do their homework. It's just bad writing.
Suspension of Disbelief asks you to set aside your knowledge of the fact that something 'can't really happen' because the writer has done enough to make it likely within the world they've created. And I'm sorry, but even in the world of Diablo, no one goes from tearfully grappling with a decision that has no good outcome (kill their beloved or let her become something horrible) to maniacally destroying her and then cheerfully returning to their post without acknowledging the remorse that choice should inspire. It's just not realistic or plausible.