Well shit, Multiplayer Diablo-Clone - XBLA This Week (The Frothkadian Warriors)

[schild]

Three heroic shape-shifting warriors fight to release the Land of Arkadia from the evil Gorgon’s stony gaze. In the uniquely expansive “Arkadian Warriors,” randomly generated dungeons and cooperative multiplayer hack & slash action enhances a deep single-player campaign. The robust cooperative multiplayer mode is available for two players both locally and over Xbox LIVE. Upgrading is key as players hone their skills, acquire loot and master powerful magic spells and numerous deadly weapons in a journey of mythical proportions. “Arkadian Warriors” will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E10+ by the ESRB.

Also, too lazy for screenshots, it looks like Fate.

[Murgos]

Free Demo?

[MisterNoisy]

I'm pretty sure that MS requires a demo for all XBLA titles.

[MrHat]

Heh, HGL might have burned me out on all these games.

But, ya, demo plz.

[Rasix]

Trial is on XBL.  I won't be buying it. Even if it's only like 10 bucks.

[schild]

Turns out it's bad, yea. Heh.

[geldonyetich2]

There's another for the "cheap Diablo clone that fails" pile.  What a sizable pile it is.

[Rasix]

I've played plenty of Diablo clones.  This one doesn't compare favorably to even the worst ones.

[stray]

Is there some kind of MMO level of incompetence that transfers to Diablo-like games or what? Why can't many people pull off such a simple idea well?

[geldonyetich2]

I think they're underestimating it.  They think all they need to do is make an isometric randomized dungeon and add loot and voila, it's Diablo.  They don't really understand the spirit of the game they're emulating, and as a result their clone is little more than a zombie.

[stray]

Little do they know that there's probably as many gamers out there waiting for something new there as there was for Doom or C&C/Dune II.

Not to say all action rpg's are bad... I like the hell out of some of them -- But even the good ones weren't really Diablo-like per se.

[Tebonas]

Even Diablo 2 wasn't really Diablo-like for that matter.

[geldonyetich2]

Yep, and that was probably deliberate.  If all we wanted was more Diablo, we'd still be playing it, so Diablo II branches in new directions.

When a developer actually understands what it is that makes a game "tick", on an artistic level, then a realization should follow how they can improve it.  Unfortunately, many would-be game producers think that it's a technical exercise, causing them to think that all they need to do is write an effective program.  You can't approach making another Diablo like you would making another Microsoft Excel.

[Velorath]

So... looks like I can just skip this and go straight to downloading the new Burnout demo...

[HAMMER FRENZY]

This game was trash.

Back to Bomberman.

[Simond]

Someone should just bolt a isometric engine onto ADOM and put that up on XBL. 

[geldonyetich2]

That'd be awesome, ADOM-level depth with Diablo-level action and at least as much graphical detail.

[schild]

I'd prefer fushigi no dungeon or torneko just branch out. They're far more fit for the hardcore dungeon crawler/hack type on consoles. That said, so few people even know what they are that stuff like ADOM and Nethack and Rogue always get mentioned instead.

Baroque, the new PS2/Wii Atlus title, is very very nethacky. Or at least, the original incarnation was. Releases in March. Will be to having a review.