Diablo III Ending Editorial

Of all the complaints I’ve heard about Blizzard’s action-RPG threequel, having a disappointing ending wasn’t one of them, especially considering how the genre never particularly focused on storytelling. That said, I suppose it is legitimate criticism, and some might be interested in reading it, so I bring to you this editorial/impression piece from Kotaku’s Kirk Hamilton, who found the ending of the title worse than Mass Effect 3’s. Here’s a snippet:

Counter to Diablo’s predictions, I did indeed wake from this nightmare. I’m not sure what he meant about how my Nephalem powers wouldn’t help me I kinda felt about the same in the nightmare realm as in the regular one. So then Diablo got more difficult, and I clicked him some more, and it felt like a proper boss fight for a little while, and then I killed him.

That was all fine I could see this being a decent fight, particularly in a big party on a higher difficulty. But after it ended. my little entourage of still-alive NPCs assembled where Diablo had fallen, and everyone stood still for a while. I gathered some loot from Diablo I got a belt, and a staff, and a couple of archery things that I can’t use. The belt wasn’t that good, the staff was okay. And then it was time to end the game.

A cutscene played (and not even a particularly cool one by Blizzard’s very high cutscene standards). And then it was time to start all over again.

It’s not the end of the world or anything. (Heyo! Diablo humor!) No, but really, this game just doesn’t get by on its epic story, great writing, etc. I had a fine time playing it. I’ll probably keep pecking at it for a good long while. All the same, I found myself surprised by the. chintziness?. of the post-boss wrapup. A game that was in development for this long, that concludes a trilogy this beloved. well, it could have felt a bit more substantial, you know?

I don’t hate Diablo III, not by a long shot. But I’ve been disappointed with a lot of things about it. Bearing in mind all the disappointments I’d felt throughout my time with the game, I wasn’t expecting the finale to blow me away or move me to tears. But I also wasn’t expecting to be so thoroughly underwhelmed. I realize that the two games are very different (and hesitate to go down this path at all), but I have to say: The Mass Effect 3 ending was far more satisfying and less flawed than this business.