The summary of ‘Why Is Diablo 4 SO BAD?!’

The video discusses various criticisms and disappointments regarding Diablo 4. Key points include dissatisfaction with the game's deviation from earlier titles, the lack of challenge and progression in gameplay, criticisms of difficulty scaling, loot drops, and world design. The speaker highlights discrepancies in the game's art direction and mechanics, particularly emphasizing the lack of depth in storytelling, repetitive gameplay, and unexciting loot system. Overall, the speaker concludes that Diablo 4 falls short in delivering a meaningful and engaging RPG experience, citing numerous design flaws and limitations throughout the game.

00:00:00

In this part of the video, the speaker expresses disappointment with Diablo 4, stating it deviates from earlier games and doesn’t cater to their interests anymore. They highlight the game’s combat being fluid and fun, the satisfying leveling up process, and the emphasis on skill and strategy in boss fights. The speaker appreciates the return to the Gothic horror roots instead of the art style in Diablo 3. However, they criticize the game for being always online, lacking in social features, and having a cumbersome horse mechanic. They mention two major flaws in the game: difficulty and skill implementation, which they find to be fun-ruining and would prevent them from playing further unless changed.

00:05:00

In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the difficulty scaling in Diablo 4. They mention how everything in the game scales with the player’s level, making the game universally easy regardless of progression. While this system allows for seamless co-op play, it removes the sense of progression and challenge from the game. The speaker contrasts this scaling system with games like Diablo 1 and 2, highlighting the lack of difficulty spikes in Diablo 4. They emphasize that the game becomes repetitive and lacks the excitement of facing challenging content. Additionally, they praise the enemy design in Diablo 4 but criticize how the world and level design suffer due to the scaling difficulty. The speaker further explores the implications of such a system if applied to other games like World of Warcraft or Elden Ring, where the lack of varied difficulty levels can diminish the unique experiences in different zones.

00:10:00

In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses the importance of challenge and progression in RPG game design, focusing on examples from various games like Breath of the Wild, Diablo, and early Diablo games. The speaker highlights the satisfaction of overcoming difficult bosses and areas as a sign of growth and accomplishment in RPGs. They also compare the challenge level and design progression between different Diablo games, emphasizing the need for a balance between difficulty and power fantasy in gameplay. Additionally, the speaker addresses the dark tone and artistic direction of Diablo 4 compared to its gameplay mechanics, suggesting a potential mismatch between the two elements.

00:15:00

In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses the lack of scaling in Diablo 4, leading to trivializing combat and lack of challenge. They express disappointment in the repetitive gameplay due to limited skill options and lack of vertical progression. The speaker criticizes the five-skill limitation, the tediousness of changing builds, and the absence of a Loadout system. They question the game’s balance and emphasize the restricted customization options compared to previous Diablo titles. The speaker contrasts Diablo 4’s limitations with other RPGs like Divinity: Original Sin 2, highlighting the lack of investment in attributes until Level 50 in Diablo 4.

00:20:00

In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses the limitations and design issues in Diablo 4, specifically focusing on the lack of control of the field of view and the zooming restriction. They highlight the frustrations with the game design and criticize the quantity-over-quality approach to side content in the game, pointing out that the grind for Renown is tedious and will be reset every season. The speaker questions the appeal of such game design decisions and expresses disappointment in the focus on repetitive content instead of meaningful experiences. The video also touches on the importance of stats and loot in RPGs like Diablo 4.

00:25:00

In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses their dissatisfaction with the loot drops in Diablo 4. They find the loot unexciting, generic, and lacking in visual appeal compared to Diablo 1 and 2. The speaker also criticizes the overwhelming amount of meaningless stats on items, making it difficult to understand their impact. They express frustration with the lack of meaningful progression, useless core stats like strength, and the imbalance in the game’s item system. The speaker points out the issue with gold being devalued in Diablo 4, limiting choices in purchasing items and making the concept of buying equipment in the game superfluous. Overall, the speaker conveys a sense of disappointment with the loot system and item mechanics in Diablo 4.

00:30:00

In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the issues with in-game currency in an RPG causing gameplay elements to feel worthless and leads to skipping various activities like picking up gold, combat, chests, dungeons, and more. Regarding the story in Diablo 4, the speaker praises the opening cutscene for its depth and establishes a sense of terror and fear missing in Diablo 3. However, the story takes a nosedive after the introduction with most parts in the middle feeling mundane. Despite an interesting setup with characters like Lilith, Mephisto, and Anarius, the narrative lacks depth and impact, showcasing a deterioration in Blizzard’s writing style. Comparing cinematic storytelling between Diablo 2 and 4 highlights a significant difference in engagement and execution.

00:35:00

In this segment, the speaker criticizes the world design of Diablo 4, highlighting that the open world exists to provide activities for players rather than telling a cohesive story. They contrast this with the original Diablo game’s immersive single location, Tristram, with its few but richly developed characters that added depth and tension to quests. The lack of memorable locations and characters in Diablo 4 is criticized, with a specific focus on the lack of engaging NPCs like the iconic blacksmith Griswold from the original game. The comparison emphasizes how the original Diablo’s focused storytelling was more immersive and relatable than the vast world and numerous characters in Diablo 4.

00:40:00

In this segment, the speaker discusses the lack of depth and purpose of vendors and NPCs in Diablo 4 and how it impacts the world building of the game. They mention that many non-playable characters are not memorable or important, which affects the overall depth of the game world. The speaker criticizes the core gameplay for being too easy, boring, and repetitive, with uninteresting loot and content that they ended up skipping. They argue that despite Blizzard’s efforts to create a massive open-world game with replayability, Diablo 4 lacks depth and ends up being shallow. The speaker concludes that Diablo 4 is a bad game due to these shortcomings.