Diablo IV (Campaign)

I like how this game goes the opposite approach of what to take and change from the previous games, especially Diablo 2, versus the approach with D3. This one had the mechanics with the skills and itemization and classes be closer to D2 but the story was completely different.

After playing through the campaigns again I respect this one even more for how much it makes this game be it’s own as oppose to D3 feeling too much like a rehash of D2 with changing what shouldn’t be and keep the same what likely would have been better changed. But I still appreciate its story as well for how much it brings together stories from the first two games. So at the same time in a sense D3 walked so D4 can run. Story and lore wise since the first two games, well at least the first one from the accounts I’ve found had no intention in it’s story but was rather more random quests put together for the gameplay to have something supporting it.

I like how there’s more cutscenes in general but don’t like the absence of the stylized cutscenes at the end of each act. In playing again Donan’s story of grief resonated with me so much more. It’s just heartbreaking to see. I feel the story is done so much better in this game. I said when I first played it and stand by it that the story is the best in the series.

Now in playing the Vessel of Hatred campaign again, seeing the opening cutscene is still one of the most haunting cutscenes ever. But playing the beginning of the campaign I couldn’t help but mention the giant motivation shift that feels random with Raheir where he goes from saying he didn’t help Neyrelle because he had to protect Fay and Gea Kul to once in Nahantu he when asked what about Fay and the city he basically says oh they’re fine and just blows off the massive amount of concern he gave for being their protector not even five minutes ago. I didn’t think too much about this when playing the campaign when it first came out but playing it back to back with the base game story just makes the drop in writing quality so obvious.

When I first finished the Vessel of Hatred campaign I was disappointed that you don’t fight Mephisto but now I’m just hyped for the next expansion. I definitely enjoyed the first one more the second time around and I really like how Nahantu is more enemy dense so playing it was more fun than the base game campaign. I really enjoy the story and feel it’s the most captivating in the series but due to length and how slow it can be during the action I don’t know how often I’d play it but I can definitely see experiencing it again sometime in the future. But likely not with every expansion but then again who knows when I’ll be down for it again.