(AfroGamers.com) In June 2023, Blizzard’s action RPG Diablo IV dropped and it received mix reviews despite its financial success. A lot of the pushback towards the game comes from those who enjoyed Diablo III with a lot of the issues simply being issues about features that we’re either removed or should be standard for games such as inflexibility in the skill tree/builds and eventual repetition.
However, there were many who enjoyed the gameplay, story, and the endgame. Personally, I enjoyed the game but there were some things that irked me while playing. Let’s go into three things I enjoyed in Diablo IV.
Disclosure: my first Diablo game was D2 but I’ve played them all and completed the first two. D3 is a game I’ve played on PS3, Switch, and Xbox 360 but never finished. Actually, it’s similar to Skyrim and Fallout 4 in that respect. As a matter of fact, it was the for the same reason—I’ll get far with my character and figure that I can make them better from the beginning. Or I’ll get an idea about what I want to do with the character or build towards a particular combat play style and just start over.
As for Diablo Immortal, while it was Diablo in gameplay, the confines of mobile made it an enjoyable because you kind of had to cough up some cash if you really wanted to see progress. Going the route we all would go in just…investing time in the game wasn’t going to get you anywhere, really.
The Skill Tree and Paragon System in Diablo IV
I could see this being an issue with long-time Diablo fans but I love it. I’ve always said that a game with skill trees will get my attention and my time and D4 has really gotten me and my brother’s time. We go in, slam demons and bandits, and level up. Once you get that skill point or Paragon point, you’re off to the races as far as what you plan to do with it.
There are options to what you can make your class into. I’ve never been big on specific builds in any game. I’ve always found discussion of builds boring and feel, that if you like certain skills and want to invest points into it and enhancers for it: do that sh**. It makes your character that you invested a lot of time into unique to your play style and what you want to do in the game.
That is unless your goal is purely speedrunning it—then it might be best to just go with a build. However, if you’re in there to vibe, adventure or just play the game, make your character how you want. Assign those points however and adjust them as you wish.
Now, the reallocating points is a mixed bag. I enjoyed it when playing with my rogue and reallocating points after I got a whiff of what certain skills could do but I fell into a hole where I’d do it often. There got to a point when while playing with my brother, we would just run through the main story—racing to World Tier III—and the dungeons could be lengthy.
Stopping every time I gained a point to allocate it only to respect my points was becoming a problem.
The Crafting System
Another thing I enjoy is the crafting system. Now, this is the other thing that will get me to sink hours upon hours in a game: a really good crafting system. Diablo IV’s crafting system is pretty much along the same lines as other games featuring a crafting system in that you need to have the materials for whatever elixir you want or improving and customizing the gear you want to rock.
Of course, this means hitting the fields and dungeons for resources and cash, scrapping stuff for resources or selling them for cash. It’s a one-person supply line, honestly but a lot of that is fun to me because of the next part.
On that note, I can see how the whole approach is extremely tedious because gear and elixirs require a lot of resources. You might even find yourself sitting on gear for a while because you’ve got armor and weapons with the exact stats and enchantments you desire and improving something new that is more powerful and has potential might not be worth it.
Or rather, it might not be worth it at that moment. Then again, for that piece of equipment, it might never be worth it because there’s always the chance something better will come along. This is especially true once sacred and unique gear starts dropping. I will say that the amount of resource management in Diablo IV will make you into a bit of a warehouse supervisor.
The Side Quests and Endgame
I’ve never really be big on the main quests in games but I did enjoy the story of Diablo IV. It was just doing the related dungeons and traveling that I found a bit tedious. That’s mainly because it seemed like the story would never end and we wanted to do World Tier III.
With that said, the side quests and endgame quests—I’m really enjoying those. I’m a grinder and crafter at heart but I do enjoy battles but I enjoy them at my own pace. D4 is open-world, so you can do the main quest stuff at your own pace or skip it entirely which I’ll do with my druid character but I’m enjoying just solo-ing into smaller dungeons, basements, cleaning up side quests, slamming world bosses, and doing world events out in the field more than the story stuff.
I’m enjoying that there’s stuff to do after the main quest—that is, if you don’t no-life the game and end up with little to do.
What are some of the things you like or dislike about Diablo IV? Let us know in the comments!
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.