Diablo III

I believe the term is "Action RPG". :) I'm guessing a 2012 release date... which would make it 4 years from this weekend's announcement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trdi

I hate the hack&slash RPG genre.

I hate you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by trdi

I agree. And I will say it again, that I hate "Action" RPG's ONLY because of that RPG in the name. It's a fine genre for fans of hack&slash.

Maybe not everyone knows this, but RPG's are actually one of the top selling video game genres. Average age of a real RPG player is much higher than it is with other games (hell, I know a nice gentleman who is 68 yrs old and plays games like Neverwinter nights, Oblivion, Gothic etc.). Also RPG genre probably has the highest percentage of female players and lowest percentage of piracy copies (due to higher average age players actually have money to buy the games). It's a big industry and it worries me that publishers are trying to cut into this pie with some hack&slash "RPG's". This in turn brings hack&slash RPGers to real RPG's forums, asking for more action, more fights, claiming that our favorite RPG's are boring etc. I feel like my favorite genre is being endangered and that's probably the reason for the irrational feelings towards hack&slash RPG's. :)

It's been how many years since the first Diablo came out? 11?! And while that game may have brought a new style of "RPG" into the market, there have been a ton of outstanding RPG's since then: System Shock (and 2), Morrowind, Oblivion, the Deus Ex series, Mass Effect, NWN (and 2), Baldur's Gate (and 2), Planescape:Torment, several iterations of Final Fantasy, KOTOR, Fable, Gothic, Fallout, etc...

I think the RPG market is alive and well, honestly. I also think the best of the games among the above list offer you a true RPG experience as well: immersive environments and storylines, flexible character options, multiple methods of "solving" a problem (including non-combat alternatives), and the option to explore and make the world as big, or little, as you like. And it's only getting better, IMO.

To the topic though, the Diablo series is a very well polished set of games, and incorporates more than a few of those RPG elements. If anything is to blame for hurting the genre, it isn't this series.

So far the release date is December 29th, 2009. Which means its more likely going to be June 17th, 2012.