Diablo Immortal Review

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Jakobmiller

Diablo 3 released 10 years ago and probably nothing has been innovated upon for this game, except the monetisation. Kind of sad, if you ask me.

Chumo

Jakobmiller said:

Diablo 3 released 10 years ago and probably nothing has been innovated upon for this game, except the monetisation. Kind of sad, if you ask me.

Patently un-true if you actually play through this mobile game and then play through even D3. Not promoting the game's disgusting monetization, but as a core game and if you ignore the store, this game is incredible for a f2p mobile game.

That being said, everyone should uninstall it b/c fk rewarding these greedy fks for making this kind of trash.

Jakobmiller

Chumo said:

Jakobmiller said:

Diablo 3 released 10 years ago and probably nothing has been innovated upon for this game, except the monetisation. Kind of sad, if you ask me.

Patently un-true if you actually play through this mobile game and then play through even D3. Not promoting the game's disgusting monetization, but as a core game and if you ignore the store, this game is incredible for a f2p mobile game.



That being said, everyone should uninstall it b/c fk rewarding these greedy fks for making this kind of trash.

I do get the feeling that a lot of assets, level layouts are directly re-used from D3.

But yes, for a mobile game, they have done a good job. I just hate that we live in a gaming world where "mobile gamer" is a different thing than any other gamer, and somehow justifies the insane amount of money they actually cost to play. "wHy dO yOu cArE? iTs sTiLl fUn tO pLaY?", but is it really fun to have a gimped experience compared to others, just because you can't financially or can't ever see yourself drop the insane amount of money expected? I personally don't.

The game I've spent the most money in is Path of Exile and for every supporter pack purchase, I've had the mentality that I want to support the developers for their great job. Not because I am forced to do so in order to get a a close experience to others.

Dattelis

Almost fair to me, though I would rate it a 5 even and yes mostly because of the monetization since its so entrenched in the game's progression.

Slapshot1188

What a waste and a shame...

Chumo

Dattelis said:

Almost fair to me, though I would rate it a 5 even and yes mostly because of the monetization since its so entrenched in the game's progression.

Except that its not. You can easily grind to 60 and finish the story and contribute as pure f2p. I see f2p players with 6 2 star gems that havent dropped a dime and they are only a bit behind the dolphins that have dropped 500+. You don't need to spend a dime and aside from penis-envy if you inspect whales, you wont even notice them

mcrippins

Typo in the title. They accidentally added a T.

Eelon

Still think the score is too high for even this.

Kyleran

Question, what mobile platform and phone model was the review played on?

Wondering if the experience might be any different on an iPhone vs Android, and really wondering how it might play on the Samsung Fold with it's expanded screen size when opened.

Can this game be played on tablets even? I've been looking for years now for a game to actually play on a tablet, wondering if this might be one to try doing so?

Anyone have a link to maybe a stream where this was discussed or explored?

slowz2secret

5.5 Is too much, this game is a 3.0, repetitive af, super pay to win, boring battles, boring pvp, boring dungeons, boring bosses, boring raids, the raid is just, enter into a little intance and kill the boss, the boss don't even move so you can kill him without any problem...

slowz2secret

Kyleran said:

Question, what mobile platform and phone model was the review played on?

Wondering if the experience might be any different on an iPhone vs Android, and really wondering how it might play on the Samsung Fold with it's expanded screen size when opened.

Can this game be played on tablets even? I've been looking for years now for a game to actually play on a tablet, wondering if this might be one to try doing so?

Anyone have a link to maybe a stream where this was discussed or explored?

yes it can be played on tablet (tried it on my ipad pro 12.9)

Scot

"I don't think everything should be free, and people should be paid well for their work. In the capitalist world we live in, that's just a reality we face."

Firstly why do journos in the gaming media feel the need to make statements like "I wa(nt) to clarify that I have nothing against game companies making money off their games"?

Who does not think that? It is common sense they need to make a good profit, I have not seen one post on here saying games should be made for free and I think we represent social media on that one. To say a cash shop has gone too far is not a stance against common sense.

Secondly, I think you will find when MMOs had decent ways of funding themselves we were already a capitalist economy. We did not suddenly become capitalist last year and voila DI is the result. Gaming studios have changed, their gaming ethos has gone out the window and been replaced with a corporate one.

That aside I think the review was spot on 5.5 seems about right.

Dattelis

Chumo said:

Dattelis said:

Almost fair to me, though I would rate it a 5 even and yes mostly because of the monetization since its so entrenched in the game's progression.

Except that its not. You can easily grind to 60 and finish the story and contribute as pure f2p. I see f2p players with 6 2 star gems that havent dropped a dime and they are only a bit behind the dolphins that have dropped 500+. You don't need to spend a dime and aside from penis-envy if you inspect whales, you wont even notice them

The problem with that logic is most people that play games like this dont want to settle for 'good enough as f2p.' Even if you spend money to say get battle pass and boon, so maybe 20-25 dollars a month, you're still barely better than a f2p. It definitely needs to be treated better at least in that respect.

Ryukan

If they use DI as inspiration for D4 then I am done with the franchise and done with Blizzard altogether. DI granted me a revelation about myself and that revelation is that despite being an MMO addict of sorts I find I really don't care for Diablo as an MMO. I also despise Diablo as a mobile game, but that was practically a given.

ZenJelly

What a poorly done disingenuous review. "I love the game but the money system!!" Don't interact with it then. Simple.

Splattr

ZenJelly said:

What a poorly done disingenuous review. "I love the game but the money system!!" Don't interact with it then. Simple.

Wow. I agree that for a regular player, if you like the game but not the cash shop that you either need to ignore it or walk away if you can't. But as a reviewer Robin should be evaluating the total package.

k61977

Ignoring the monetization of the game the thing I think I dislike the most about the game is I can't actually play it solo. I really only play ARPG as solo games. I don't enjoy fighting with other people to get kills for my quest. Having to wait for others to join groups to actually do some of the content is also awful. I don't mind coop ARPG where you have to invite people to play in the same areas as you or having towns where there are others, but I don't want them out in the world killing everything as fast as it spawns where 80% of my time is spent looking for mobs instead of actually enjoying the game.

uriel_mafess

Who the hell would give this game a 9 if it wasnt for monetization? Have you all gone blind or are so deep down the drain that you dont even remember what a good game is?

Diablo immortal is Mu Online with D3 assets. A game 20 years old has the same mechanics, gameplay, skills, leveling...

Story, dialogs, lore are even worse then in D3 (that was pretty underwhelming in its time). Music and effects are just average. Gameplay is repetitive, boring, slow paced (unless you have top tier $$$$ items that reduce CDs), far from spectacular.

This game is garbage as a game. As a cash grab is just plain immoral.

ACommonMugger

ZenJelly said:

What a poorly done disingenuous review. "I love the game but the money system!!" Don't interact with it then. Simple.

Found the whale. 

Kyleran

halfmystic said:

ZenJelly said:

What a poorly done disingenuous review. "I love the game but the money system!!" Don't interact with it then. Simple.

Found the whale. 

Or a true freep which isn't any better in my book.

Slapshot1188

Kyleran said:

halfmystic said:

ZenJelly said:

What a poorly done disingenuous review. "I love the game but the money system!!" Don't interact with it then. Simple.

Found the whale. 

Or a true freep which isn't any better in my book.

I agree.  In many ways the people who refuse to pay for games drive this stuff as much as the whales...

Vidahr

I hit 60 and actually really enjoyed the game..

Up until I realized that I had to spend a ton of money for a CHANCE to progress. It was very disheartening. The gameplay was pretty fun for just a mobile ARPG.

The problem with people defending the monetization is that you literally can't progress without giving up potentially egregious amounts of money. It's not even a paywall, it's a payskyscraper.

So it's like, sure I don't have to engage in monetization. If I don't engage in monetization I literally cannot play.

Arlee

Kyleran said:

Question, what mobile platform and phone model was the review played on?

Wondering if the experience might be any different on an iPhone vs Android, and really wondering how it might play on the Samsung Fold with it's expanded screen size when opened.

Can this game be played on tablets even? I've been looking for years now for a game to actually play on a tablet, wondering if this might be one to try doing so?

Anyone have a link to maybe a stream where this was discussed or explored?

Ah, you're right I forgot to include that. I'll ask that to be added, but for now I was playing on an iPhone 11 Pro.

Scot said:

"I don't think everything should be free, and people should be paid well for their work. In the capitalist world we live in, that's just a reality we face."



Firstly why do journos in the gaming media feel the need to make statements like "I wa(nt) to clarify that I have nothing against game companies making money off their games"?



Who does not think that? It is common sense they need to make a good profit, I have not seen one post on here saying games should be made for free and I think we represent social media on that one. To say a cash shop has gone too far is not a stance against common sense.



Secondly, I think you will find when MMOs had decent ways of funding themselves we were already a capitalist economy. We did not suddenly become capitalist last year and voila DI is the result. Gaming studios have changed, their gaming ethos has gone out the window and been replaced with a corporate one.

That aside I think the review was spot on 5.5 seems about right.

I added that because every time I criticize anything having to do with monetization/price of games, it's never too long before someone shows up with a take about how I just want everything to be free and somehow for devs to be paid more, and I'm exhausted from that crap. I'm sure others do it for similar reasons as well. It's just something which you can be sure will happen sooner or later.

Iselin

Good honest review as always, Robin.

The game itself really isn't bad - not great but definitely a passable ARPG with some good features.

I personally really liked the Essence Transfer system for legendary weapons and armor. It's a great way to remove gear level and/or quality considerations from the use of the power affix you want to use in those gear slots... not to mention that it gets rid of a lot of inventory and stash clutter and makes the limits more manageable, If this has been done before in another ARPG, I'm not aware of it.

It's also good to see that the monetization influenced your score as it should. When monetization impacts game play as much as it does here it really can't be ignored when arriving at an overall rating for the game.

It often IS ignored in reviews or at least not given enough weight so I'm happy to see that you did give it appropriate weight.

Kyleran

Iselin said:

Good honest review as always, Robin.

The game itself really isn't bad - not great but definitely a passable ARPG with some good features.

I personally really liked the Essence Transfer system for legendary weapons and armor. It's a great way to remove gear level and/or quality considerations from the use of the power affix you want to use in those gear slots... not to mention that it gets rid of a lot of inventory and stash clutter and makes the limits more manageable, If this has been done before in another ARPG, I'm not aware of it.

Sounds a lot like Lost Ark's Gear level and Skill transfer systems, though I haven't availed myself of the latter.