Diablo IV (Zero Punctuation)

[@theescapist]

This week's episode of Zero Punctuation on the System Shock Remake is out now for KZbin Memberships and Patreon. www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-85628552 Reminder that we've dropped the video player on the website and moved Zero Punctuation to be on the same schedule as the rest of our premium videos. Today's post-zp will also be on Diablo IV now that our schedules are synced.

[@CinnamonQuills]

Hello, just an FYI, the closed captions on this episode are borked!

[@theescapist]

@@CinnamonQuills If they are showing up as like one big text post, that's on KZbin, not us.

[@transformerstuff7029]

I like how necromancers are very buggy. They now crash the game. Working as intended I guess.

[@ZechsMerquise73]

I'm really surprised you liked the story of Diablo 4. Did you finish it? It's basically just killing off 90% of the characters from the older games in feigned emotional ways with expectation that new players will have any idea who the 3rd quest giver from the starting town in Diablo 1 is, and then setting up Diablo 5 and/or an expansion pack. Nothing happens. I would say the story is a nothing burger, but burger implies there's much there to begin with. In reality it was "Lilith is bad, stop Lilith" -- to which your character says "okay" and easily dispatches her, then sets off to single-handedly take out the evil legion she was sacrificing everything to stop, like the story of every other Blizzard title.

[@rocko7711]

👍

[@zanleer56]

best part of the story especially as a necromancer is one part where one of the main characters says "this stinks of Necromancy" and i'm like "wow i feel very attacked right now"

[@ananaithnid7495]

Or that part where we have to go get a book of necromantic rituals so someone can do necromancer things, and you're just standing there wearing half a graveyard like "are you serious right now?"

[@Morgan-ed2cb]

And you just awkwardly look around as a random enemy approaches and you necromancer the shit out of it haha

[@kryptonianguest1903]

Maybe your necromancy is the kind that's not smelly? Would explain why folks put up with you but not those other less hygienic defilers of corpses.

[@goldenhorde6944]

I love how much humor he's mined from being a summoner/necro main across so many different games

[@landencarr5443]

classic brit gettin others to do the work hahaha

[@exsilencio]

@@landencarr5443 Fuck, now all the skellies have Polish accents in my head.

[@professordetective807]

From Thinderella to here.

[@danvlasuk]

you could've said "dug up" .__.

[@AppleBiscuits]

Every now and then I wonder if Jim from Mogworld still lives in Yahtzee's head a little

[@diegofloor]

Liking it because you can listen to podcasts is the new "it's fun with friends".

[@Doodlesthegreat]

"Fun with podcasts." Yeah, that'll be entering marketing speak soon.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom entered marketing speak. She's the new fun that never ends....

[@LexGlad]

Temporally asynchronous friendships

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

@@LexGlad your mom's temporarily asynchronous

[@dobal1]

That sounds worth 70$ maybe cop a battle pass or two and a couple of skins valued at higher price than the prequel and you’re gold

[@alonso.torres]

"She was summoned in a nightmarish ritual of blood and tearing flesh but, aren't we all?" This really cracked my up hahaha

[@PoolNoodleGundam]

The parallel between summoning a demon and childbirth worked way smoother than my brain anticipated, and now that I think about it, they are absolutely the same thing, from process to outcome

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom's parallel brain anticipated way smoother childbirth 😂

[@nathank2289]

It even involves knifes half the time.

[@tuseroni6085]

i feel like either you are delivering babies wrong or summoning demons wrong...i'm not sure which.

[@reoperez]

You are definitely fun at parties, aintcha

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

@@reoperez not as fun as your mom.....

[@smokinggnu6584]

That was surprisingly positive, if only about the writing of the main villan.

[@mozxz]

which to be fair, most games these days fuck up very hard. I don't mind a Dick Dastardly type of villain, or Lord Dominator from Wander over Yonder, who are villains just because they are. But to make them make sense, and give them valid reasons for what they do, and get some empathy from the audience, like many modern villains try to do. Is quite hard. Also because Evil does not exist, there is only circumstances, the Hero in your story is the villain of the victims story.

[@quint3ssent1a]

Yeah, being a co-creator of the world, Lilith makes a rather interesting villain.

[@4pigeons]

@@mozxz "Also because Evil does not exist, there is only circumstances" Handsome Jack from BL2 and Maligula from psychonauts 2 are good examples

[@savagehyphen01]

@@mozxz people don’t have to suffer in order to succeed, so yeah evil exists.

[@2Scribble]

I mean, remember, it's Yahzee - he's having a good day if he doesn't piss on the loofa in the shower xD The game's one of the Diablo games - it just had to *not suck as much as immortal* and, largely, did that - so it's not surprising that he was - overall - positive Asking simply that the world be less fucky than usual xD

[@TheKeeperofChaos]

2:22 "Aren't we all?" What did we ever do to deserve you, Yahtzee?

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

What did we do to deserve your mom ? 😢

[@Darkprosper]

We don't.

[@Rhykker]

16 years later and I still love Yahtzee.

[@unixtreme]

incognito Rhykker.

[@agavisanin744]

How did you like his d3 review all then years ago😅?

[@cl8804]

nt, jewbani

[@Zackapo]

who's watching this in 2023 kinda comment

[@illCMAC]

Still laughing about asking the actors on the ghost ride to wear less scary costumes.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Unfortunately your mom can't comply, it's not a costume 😂

[@Bedinsis]

I also legit laughed at that.

[@cibo889]

It's like people asking fromsoft to add difficulty options.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

@@cibo889 I asked your mom for difficulty options from soft....

[@uhobme2028]

It's not a Zero Punctuation without at least one line thats got you hitting rewind

[@michaelbartlett7716]

Yea, almost missed the submarine bit

[@cartooncritique6625]

It takes me close to 20 minutes to watch one of his videos ''cause I'm either pausing or rewinding for nearly every other line. 😆

[@NuclearDuckie02]

tbf that often happens because i'm nodding off

[@jonathonadams678]

C+❤+

[@Megatron2100]

"Nightmarish ritual of blood and tearing flesh" Well, I'm never going to convince my wife to have kids after that. Thanks, Yahtzee.

[@gregoriomariano5070]

you could not show her the video i suppose

[@Rogeryoo]

I'm assuming they watched it together or apart already, otherwise this wouldn't be a problem.

[@gregoriomariano5070]

blood and flesh is the least disturbing part, the amount of liquid that comes out when a baby is born is astonishing

[@Mrhalligan39]

“I came into this world naked and screaming and covered in someone else’s blood, and I aim to go out the same way.”

[@VeritabIlIti]

Well how else would you describe it? Seems pretty apt to me

[@marcelblock2454]

So, you brought an army of bones to a two headed dog? It went exactly like you would expect😂

[@bird3713]

I thought the best part of this video was going to be when Yahtzee mentions that Lilith can't be all that bad just because she was summoned in a ritual of blood and flesh, just like the rest of us. And then Andy Serkis showed up.

[@ruairip7722]

That closing gag is gold

[@michaeldwhelchel]

It's a golden shower of a gag.

[@Alverant]

Gold plated toilet you mean! :)

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom's gag is gold 😂

[@VeritabIlIti]

I love when Yahtzee makes political stabs because he's British and Australian so he gives less than 1/10 of a shit

[@JJAB91]

I'm sure it will just be as timely 15 years from now

[@nicklager1666]

Yahtzee talking about Diablo IV, yes i do think i will stay awhile and listen.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom stayed a while and I listened..

[@VeritabIlIti]

​@@HumanityisEmbarrassingdude, are you ok? Need to talk? Lots of yo mamma jokes from you down here

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

@@VeritabIlIti lots of your mom down here too...

[@De-Nigma]

I did an audible double take there when I realised ‘Anemic Falls’ wasn’t one of Yahtzee’s joke names.

[@velocityraptor2890]

wait really?

[@CrizzyEyes]

They divided the game into so many regions and subregions. There's an absurd amount of names. Some of them are really great and atmospheric, like the swampy area in Act 5. With others, you could tell they had to fill a long list and were running low on creative juices.

[@meapickle]

So it has a waterfall that consists of water. Since that's basically what anemia is a lack of blood. So niagra falls is also, anemic falls.

[@Galamoth06]

I audibly rolled my eyes when I read this, and then I shrugged out loud.

[@De-Nigma]

@@Galamoth06 As in, I simultaneously did a double take and said out loud ‘what, what?’ I then laughed so hard that I delectably clapped my hands and said ‘oh, that’s good’ in complete silence.

[@jennymckenzie5304]

Still remember my favourite line from the D3 review: "Between me, the kamikaze triplets, a big zombie called Nigel and a giant spider with a flat cap and a pipe wrench..."

[@giantenemycrab5596]

Reminds me of when assassins creed had that whole gimmick of trying to teach history by letting you walk around the world and listened to prerecorded bits of dialogue about Roman bathhouses, except here you get to experience what it’s like to walk around Slough

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom's gimmick is a trying experience 😂

[@giantenemycrab5596]

@@HumanityisEmbarrassing found the Slough resident

[@nicholascross3557]

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, There isn't grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death! Sir John Betjeman CBE

[@diegofloor]

This definitely breaks my weekly habit of rewatching last week's video on youtube and watching the new one on the website. I've been doing that for years! But I get the thinking behind it, and it makes sense. Best of luck to the escapist team! you have a new patreon supporter.

[@theescapist]

Thanks for the support! Don't forget to check out the new show as well ;)

[@Salabar_]

You can always rewatch the previous episode.

[@Tenchinu]

@@Salabar_ naaa... not the same :(

[@EdShear_em]

As someone who only ever watches ZP on KZbin, what the hell did I miss?

[@emeraldmines1194]

@@EdShear_emthey released ZP a week behind when it was actually made so on the escapists it was always a week ahead now it’s re synched so KZbin and the website get it on the same day and you have to pay to get the new video a week ahead

[@DesertCavalier]

I love how whenever Yahtzee plays an MMO/RPG, he picks a mage class and tries to recreate Mogworld again.

[@thegreatmoof]

I'm just sorta shocked how well this was received after ActiBlizzard's solid year of scandals and everyone declaring they were gonna boycott their games,

[@andybutula3671]

Probably because 90% of the people who claim they're going to boycott something never had any intention of buying it in the first place. I think big corporations are starting to get wise to the fact that the vast majority of the pushback they receive comes from outside their actual audience.

[@DetectiveLance]

@@andybutula3671 Except I used to be part of their actual audience, played WoW for years, was a good little Blizzard boy and everything. Except I haven't paid them for anything for almost a year and a half now because of all the shiiiiit. The problem I think is they know the pushback they get from their audience is weak and anemic, most of them will be back on the grind teat for their fix.

[@andybutula3671]

@@DetectiveLance Yeah. You're the small minority that's going to deny yourself the "pleasure" of Diablo 4 on moral grounds. Problem is I don't think that there are a lot of people like you. There are a ton of vocal Blizzard critics that haven't played one of their games in years, if ever, and a lot of fans who planned to quietly buy and enjoy the game.

[@Aspharon]

Just because upper management is an absolute shitstorm doesn't mean they don't still have talented dev teams doing the actual important bits: Making really fun games

[@Xathroz]

Because the average gamer has the attention span of a goldfish and the self-respect of a recently fired Japanese salary man.

[@madspet9106]

Never thought I'd hear Yahtzee praise the writing in a Diablo game

[@seokkyunhong8812]

It's weirdly better than the last one to the point of being jarring. Lilith is more tricky than the lord of lies and Inarius is somehow more seething and hateful than Imperius.

[@sharrpshooter1]

Y'all are starting to sell me on this game actually, atleast when it goes on sale

[@Junebug89]

@@sharrpshooter1 The story is actually legitimately really enjoyable (which is a bit of a shock given d3 and blizzards other output of late), and the tone of the game is probably even darker than diablo 1 if that is important to you - certainly darker than 2, never mind 3.

[@Limrasson]

@@seokkyunhong8812 To be fair, being more tricky than the D3 Lord of Lies isn't too difficult, even a child could do it. That was so trivial even our characters in-story had figured it out.

[@MrSHURIKENCHO]

@@sharrpshooter1 I'd vote against giving Blizzard any money after all of the BS they did to the industry...

[@WolfHreda]

"Yes, she was summoned in a nightmarish ritual of blood and tearing flesh, but... aren't we all?" Dammit, Yahtz. How are you always so good at this? I always enjoyed Diablo, and I adored Diablo II. Thankfully, I still have them both, so I still don't have to give Blizzard anymore money. Diablo II holds up beautifully.

[@HyperionHarry]

RIP to Milton Keynes, as accurate as the comparison may be.

[@pokemastercube]

yet its the best place i have been to for getting about in my wheelchair

[@lindleland]

Honestly I'm just happy to have our existence acknowledged for once.

[@Pranaynaynay]

All i know about them is that they stole away the soccer team from another town wimbledon. So i hate them

[@jameswhee]

I think it gets too much stick. Yeah it has no real culture but it's also very accessible, has lots of cycle routes, and a remarkable amount of green space for a city.

[@otakamerd1220]

We have many roundabouts and not much else

[@Ali-xw5nw]

Some poor kid in 15 years is going to watch this review and wonder what significance does a chandelier and a bunch of military intel in a bathroom has.

[@bananasean5145]

This is over my head now. I don't understand what he is referring to.

[@D4mnTh4tsBig]

@@bananasean5145 trumps embarrassing treatment of the classified documents he stole

[@Doodlesthegreat]

@@bananasean5145 I had to look up Milton Keynes. Thought it was a person.

[@Fakan]

With any luck, it'll become an evergreen joke, like Hitler having one ball or Michael Jackson being a weirdo.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

​@@Fakanyour mom is an evergreen joke...

[@unvergebeneid]

Having to mute the podcast for the story bits describes 90% of games I play these days. I'm still waiting for games to get an in-game podcast player that automatically pauses for story bits, puzzles and boss fights. That would be both really useful and also at least honest.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Muting your mom is 90% useful

[@valiensr1037]

@@HumanityisEmbarrassingare you twelve? Seriously, grow up

[@Darkflo23]

@@valiensr1037 @p3nguin8tor is a bot, report for spam and move on.

[@VeritabIlIti]

Xbox added Spotify support where you can access the controls directly from the home button pop-up. Never has it been so easy to only half play the game you're playing

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

kind of like fallout with its radio or holotapes, except instead its an irl podcast.

[@youngthinker1]

From other reviewers, it seems to be more dependent on the type of class and character build you go for. Certain ones will steam roll easier than others, like Sorcerer in Diablo 2, while others are like the Barbarian in every Diablo game with a Barbarian.

[@katherinek6166]

And just every other game with a barbarian. Prefacing this with, "easy doesn't mean bad," barbarian is easy to write, easy to balance, and easy to play. Not mechanically, necessarily, but conceptually. Everyone has sort of a uniform understanding of what barbarian is all about, and that's what makes the designer-to-player connection so much easier to make. You say, "There's a barbarian class in the game," and I already have a pretty good picture. You say sorcerer or druid? I'm going to be asking clarifying questions. And if the designers thought sorcerer means something and players try to play it completely differently, the latter will have a bad time. Fortunately, Diablo has the benefit of a lot of hindsight to balance at least some of these, not to mention budget to throw at it, but for any new game, that's a thing to pay attention to very carefully.

[@youngthinker1]

@@katherinek6166 I enjoy the Barbarian take in Diablo 2, simply because it focused so much more on a leader or scavenger playstyle which I don't see all to often in other games. Shouts to buff teammates to ridiculous points, and to cut down the time grinding for specific gear.

[@se7enist]

​@@youngthinker1Or....and hear me out here, you invest in nothing but throwing weapon proficiency, axe proficiency, and double throw, and get throwing axes which benefit from both your proficiency bonuses, and one shot everything.

[@youngthinker1]

@@se7enist But I really like shouting at things till they die.

[@se7enist]

@@youngthinker1 Barbs in D2 were just too much fun. Hard to build one in a way that wasn't fun.

[@practicalparagon]

Spanish is my first language and every time he says "Daiablo" a part of me dies and laugh at the same time.

[@Dazzaleinstein]

Just to clarify, is it pronounced Dee-ab-low? I've been having this argument with my friend since we were children, heh

[@seokkyunhong8812]

*laughs in jajaja*

[@muddro420]

@@Dazzaleinstein No it's DAI, as in AI-talian

[@ShadowWolfRising]

@@dahn57 Isn't that just all Brits?

[@benhoppe24]

It's like when a British person says "BUR-EYE-TO" or "TACK-O".

[@ACuriousTanuki]

2:42 It's an amusing dissonance that during all the panicked NPC dialogue about all the evil baddies they're beset by, entreating your noble, heroic person for aid, no one bats an eye at your posse of reanimated skeletons and hulking flesh golem 🤷. Particularly the part where you perform an exorcism while surrounded by your own personal unholy army of the undead.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom's hulking golem is amusing dissonance 😂

[@ACuriousTanuki]

@@HumanityisEmbarrassing so fleshy, too

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

@@ACuriousTanuki wait,... what?

[@SinHurr]

To be fair, Necromancers have been around since almost forever within the game world and are keepers of the balance. It'd be disconcerting to see for the average folk, but they're largely known as positive forces in the world.

[@ACuriousTanuki]

@@SinHurr For sure, but they're still typically regarded with suspicion or as outcasts. Given most folks' interactions with the undead are likely less cordial, and current events have people on edge, some negative responses wouldn't be surprising. More realistically, it's just extra scripting and coding. All 5 classes already share 98% of their dialogue - Necros don't even get unique lines when visiting what should be their holy site - so unique interactions to account for pets just weren't in the cards.

[@ChrisWhiton]

As a single man whos majority of bowls are fancy china passed down from a family member... the bit about eating popcorn out of it just really hit home :)

[@DanGamingFan2406]

"Ooh, that closing gag won't age well, will it?" I can't wait for him to be proven right. And with this, the old tradition of uploading to the Escapist website has come to an end, and a new era of early access is born. Kind of like what games do, except these are still as great when officially released.

[@watershipup7101]

And I for one welcome it.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

​@@watershipup7101I welcome your mom for one 😂

[@waterbullstudios9195]

I can't wait.

[@garnetbird7557]

Agreed

[@MrAsaqe]

Too bad he can't swear anymore without being demonetizex

[@SpideySensei72]

That anemic falls joke almost made me choke to death!! 🤣

[@davidphetteplace4769]

RIP @spideysensei72

[@Sadarak1980]

Translation: He liked it as a background activity for podcasts. He also liked the story but the two didn't meld very well.

[@jackmesrel4933]

Also even when he liked it, he affirmed that it's a lesser Diablo game compared to the previous ones.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

​@@jackmesrel4933your mom is a lesser game

[@aquamarinerose5405]

I remembered playing the beta with a close friend of mine, and while I enjoyed my time with what I got, I could instantaneously see the writing on the wall for everything that was going to go wrong with this game.

[@robgraham5697]

Just the larf I needed to start the day. That metaphor about the internet being the opposite of sewage removal was fucking hilarious.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom is fucking hilarious...

[@falleithani5411]

​@@HumanityisEmbarrassing Your _mom_ is his mom.

[@CrizzyEyes]

"Inverse shit pipe" is a good phrase

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

@@falleithani5411 my mom is your dad.

[@falleithani5411]

@@HumanityisEmbarrassing Ohmygods, that explains _so_ much. Like... sooooo _MUCH!_

[@nathanfealko9193]

Spacing out while you're clicking enough to enough bats IS the quintessential diablo experience tho

[@regislourenso]

"Guess what my favorite downhill sledding-related winter sport is." The luge?

[@CM-ux9yh]

Skeleton?

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom is my favourite downhill sport😂

[@rapeydave2049]

Milton Keynes, catching strays since 1967

[@ThatMakoGuy]

The story alone is what kept me going until the end.. I liked Lilith, but I wish there was more direct contact with her. I felt like a random stalker trying to get the attention of a workaholic by sabotaging all of her work. Which did absolutely nothing until the end when she noticed me spying on her. I dont know about the rest of yall, but I would have rather joined her team than the one we were stuck with.

[@meapickle]

Before the game even came out. Every trailer and cutscene that I could find that showed lilith or inarius, made me want to join her...but no we have to be on the angels side because it's heaven and may be they'd upset their catholic audience

[@MrAsaqe]

I didn't mind having to serve alongside Inarius since the point of D4 is to show how little heaven cares about us and how the forces of light aren't good people just because they oppose the Prime Evils

[@meapickle]

@MrAsaqe that's fair and I do like that to. But just the lack of awareness towards this fact from the player character would be frustrating

[@Hudson316]

Part of the choice for her to barely notice us till we reached the end was due to criticism of the writing in Diablo 3 with us being Mary Sues of infinite power and Azmodan spouting off Saturday morning cartoon dialogue at us for a whole act. As for the side we're on, it's worth noting we are very much not on team Inarius, we work with the cathedral because they're useful, but once Inarius himself enters the picture he just messes things up for us constantly, and when they lose their nut and go full jihad we only follow them through Caldeum as the path of least resistance, and then we end up at war with them anyway because Prava is a weak minded zealot who spent too long in the realm of Hatred in hell

[@khululyp]

@@meapickle I think the church of the light is very much depicted in a horrible light as well, if you play the side mission you can see they did more bad than good.

[@Tiberium10332]

If there is ever some kind of peaceful time in the diablo universe, do they keep the names for the places? "Where do you come from? I'm from the death fields, it's quite nice this time the year."

[@AnotherCraig]

James Stephanie Sterling would be proud to know that when Yahtz said "skeleton warriors" I immediately pictured that clip

[@guguy00]

THESE ARE THE TALES OF THE SKELETON WARRIORS

[@Vugen18]

this is so nostalgic to watch , nice to see ur still going strong zero punctuation. love how u never breath

[@juggalonumber27]

I'm part of the "Are WE the bad guys?" crew. We kept getting told what Lilith would do but had 0 proof, then confronted her and she was like "what? no? thats not at all what I want to do" and we were like "LIAR!"

[@alexandercandicedad1355]

This is your brain on propaganda.

[@muddro420]

This would be a fantastic twist in a game like this. To fight all the way to the end and fall to the antagonist BY CHOICE... could be you choose to be braindead and do what you think you're supposed to do, or you choose a more moral path after being convinced and get another finale act to play.

[@bbullerdiek]

I mean, I keep thinking she's got a point, and then there is a wake of needless death and destruction and horribly mutilated folks wherever you go. Then there are cathedral bastards burning people at the stake and I'm just like... Y'all deserve each other have a nice day.

[@unixtreme]

@@alexandercandicedad1355 These are the same people who'd be like "are we sure vaccines are good for you" and "maybe Putin isn't so bad after all".

[@argentaegis]

@@bbullerdiek This is kinda why I'm just not that interested in the game. Everyone's just horrid and the world is horrid and things pretty much are always horrid and nothing you do will make a dent in the horridness. Also, it looks like another always online treadmill and I already have a job.

[@liamalexander4054]

Bro I always have to watch these at least 3 times because I'm laughing too hard to keep up with yahtzee 😂. The comedic aspect of zero punctuation is criminally underrated, keep it up lads great vid.

[@benlinton1696]

I play Diablo for the storyline, Path of Exile for the gameplay, and Last Epoch for the crafting, all while waiting for the day an ARPG can blend all three in a perfect combination

[@arcticcirclepit2008]

GRim Dawn scratched that itch for me.

[@Torguemada]

And thats why i will wait until the game is atleast 50% of preferably with expansion pack included before i get D4 as I'm definedly not paying 70 buck for a game with real money cosmetic store, a season pass and no endgame.

[@amandaschuller4546]

I care an awful lot that Diablo IV is always online, because it's literally the only reason I haven't bought it yet. I think I'd enjoy the living daylights out of the game, but I'm not in a place in my life where I can honestly afford to give up the ability to pause. Nor am I likely to ever be again, honestly. So that's one sale lost from me, not that Blizzard will ever notice -- or care.

[@LDragon]

Bonus points to Yahtzee for gratuitous use of the Castle Grayskull playset as a visual aid. I'm just nerdy enough to appreciate that.

[@losersbecomewinners2043]

“This ending gag won’t age will it?” XD Well played XD

[@Dijyano]

Isn't the first M of MMORPG supposed to be "massive" number of players on one server?

[@maxmaxwell3785]

As someone from milton keynes i just wanna say yeah you got a point

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom has a point

[@dirakon8819]

​​@@HumanityisEmbarrassingbro did you set up ai to generate your mom jokes on every comment or are you doing that by hand?

[@thepreposterich3553]

@@dirakon8819 Good question. Not sure which of those options is more pathetic.

[@scottwatrous]

So can we have a game now where the main antagonist makes so much sense we can choose to just straight up go "sod it, I'm in" and join them?

[@abuttnugget6753]

Father Elijah from Fallout New Vegas.

[@fgfgmgd]

That bit at the end. Nice

[@ehoffart529]

Honestly I preferred Diablo 3's art style more cause it had more than like 3 colors.

[@Shuizid]

It also had more variety on skills and items to customize your playstyle. But I guess after paying 70 bucks it's important to hold back on all the innovations to dribble them out during seasons.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

​@@ShuizidI payed 70 bucks to dribble your mom 😂

[@alterdnothing1855]

Diablo 3 SUCKED

[@Shuizid]

@@alterdnothing1855 If you say so...

[@Shuizid]

@@cookieface80 The auction house is not a game mechanic. I played D3 without ever engaging with the AH - so how exactly did it supposedly make the game worse for someone like me?

[@hourglass1988]

I always liked the necromancer for the same angle. Everyone else was fighting the dark forces while I was bending them over my knee. I actually kinda hated in D3 when they tried to give the players some actual character they made the necromancer constantly go on about "balance" and "order". "No no no! I'm not raising the dead to do my bidding because I want to. I'm doing it because I must keep the universe in balance!" I think this universe has plenty of undead and abominations running around already I don't think my guy is really helping the situation. Sure my 5 skellies are killing hundreds of skellies so its probably bringing the total skeleton population down but it still all felt like they were trying too hard to make the necromancer into a good guy. I preferred my own characterization where I was slapping satan around so I could be the next big bad myself. But noooooo, I've got to play a guy that comes across as edgy and delusional instead.

[@xBezerkerrr]

I forgot the lookout points were even a thing because theres only like 3 of them early on in the game until the devs forgot about that feature

[@basimaziz]

I will never stop fighting this. If it's online only, I don't buy.

[@SinHurr]

There really is zero reason for it. I think I grouped up with other people on purpose *once* and it was for a world boss. Which, hey, just let me toggle online/offline and we've accomplished the same thing.

[@netulv]

@@SinHurr there is plenty of reasons for it a whole lot easier to patch and fix things, and you can see how angry people get if _any_ issue isn't fixed within the hour but most importantly, it's to protect against, botting, Hacking, piracy, etc. and Honestly as mentioned in the video, an Internet connection is so wide and available nowadays, that's not really a problem well at least that's my experience, I've had a stable internet connection since 2003/2004

[@unixtreme]

@@netulv it doesn't protect against hacking and botting, you know what protects against botting? Single player games, because your actions don't affect other players. It could have a fully single player mode that doesn't interfere with the online mode, just like D2R has, and it's been no issue whatsoever. D3 was fully online and there were bots for it, it also had an offline mode for consoles they added later on and the single player characters were cheated, sure, but the online server was never hacked. There were bots, which were created before there was an offline mode, because creating bots has nothing to do with whether a game is online only or it has a single player mode. I could program a bot for D4 in a week, and having an offline mode wouldn't make it any easier. You are literally eating false Blizzard propaganda about why you don't need an Offline mode. After so many companies recently shutting down servers permanently I don't know how you are so ignorant to say "I've had an internet connection since 2003" sure, what if the server stops existing and you want to play D4? You can't. You can play D3 thanks to the console versions though.

[@ryanm9566]

Same. Not everyone in the world has a fast or reliable internet connection, or wants to play multiplayer all the time. If the game can be played solo then making a constant connection mandatory is pointless and unacceptable.

[@phero2]

getting the expensive china out to eat popcorn by yourself - love it

[@Mark-sz5rh]

Especially liked the Closing Gag. It'll age very well if I do say so myself.

[@CAP198462]

The most splendid trousers of them all.

[@JamesSoult]

The jab at the hellscape known as Milton Keynes was well done.

[@SportyMabamba]

🌳 Greenest City in the UK 😊

[@KingN3LO]

Lmao that closing joke got me

[@jaysmith2858]

"Dee-ab-low" not "Die-ab-low". "Rab-id" not "Ray-Bid". And before anyone says anything, yes I know the pronunciations may have been intentionally uttered in order to elicit the ire of his viewers. If that was his intention, then mission accomplished.

[@ZechsMerquise73]

consider that not everyone speaks American English.

[@jaysmith2858]

@@ZechsMerquise73 He's British, not American. His pronunciations aren't British English either.

[@kobalt_ren01]

I always love how much My Chemical Romance pops up in Zero Punctuation (like the one time Blood - a hidden track of all things) popped up as an end credits theme

[@Jetiko27]

Don't worry, Yatz, that closing joke will be good as new once it inevitably happens again.

[@GldnClaw]

Biden right?

[@guguy00]

@@GldnClaw Who cares who it is all American politicians suck

[@alecty15]

This was my exact experience with the game. The necromancy, the boss fights, the podcasts! Although I respec'd my guy to do blood damage and just have the golem instead of a bunch of skeletons ands I found it more fun and proactive

[@kevingriffith6011]

Diablo is one of those games that practically invented an entire genre, but has long since been supplanted by those who it inspired... and that was when Diablo 3 was new. They'd have to have done something absolutely mind-blowing to bring me back to the franchise, but it seems to me like so far it's just more Diablo 2 with an even higher definition coat of paint.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom invented a mind blowing genre

[@VeritabIlIti]

Hopefully Path Of Exile II can avoid the same fate

[@legitplayin6977]

Yeah, it doesn’t seem better than Grim Dawn or even Titan Quest tbh

[@kevingriffith6011]

@@HumanityisEmbarrassing gottem

[@orangeslash1667]

@@kevingriffith6011 I think it's because there are more action RPG's to chose from now, so Diablo is now irrelevant outside of D3, and even then that's maybe??

[@joshgorham750]

Wow, still going! Congrats! What intro music should be playing?

[@eeWMan]

Hi, i have been a big fan of your reviews for over 10 years now (i even remember your old intro). Glad youre still kicking about man and thank you for the videos! God bless

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom's big fan is old man kicking

[@robotlegs]

The level scaling really sucks the fun out of leveling for me. Sure in theory its great that all content is always relevant and playable. But it entirely erases the feeling of progression and power growth. Which I think is one of the primary catharses that I have always extracted from Diablo I and II. It annoys me in Skyrim as well. Going back to Duriel after you're all runed up and caving his head in as payback for all the oneshot lvl 17 deaths just feels nice.

[@chukyuniqul]

Honestly in this regard I think the zelda games are actually decent. You have very sparse linear growths in power, barring hearts allowing you to make more mistakes, but you get new shit that opens up previously highly difficult to impossoble enemies to your current skillset. That way, you both gain the ability to defeat previously undefeatable enemies AND content around you doesn't grow so much easier it is basically irrelevant.

[@robotlegs]

@@chukyuniqul You know I never really considered Zelda's power management but I think you're right. My mind immediately goes to the Death Mountain Tektites in OOT. As kid Link those things are just obnoxious and you're mostly better to just run past them. As an adult with the bow or hookshot they're still annoying but you can dispatch them much more effectively. You feel more capable without making monster encounters irrelevant. Very interesting.

[@RaxusXeronos]

I feel games should add it in as a toggle. Like the recent Assassin Creed games that had rpg mechanics or a game that came out recently called Cassette Beasts. So you can have the fun of actual progression but if you reach a point where everything is dying fast since you're overleveled, you can turn scaling on.

[@JDelwynn]

@@RaxusXeronos AC Odyssey has mandatory level scaling, the only thing you can control is the range of levels.

[@XperimentorEES]

This is such an understated point, because it is deceptively important. Giving the player a constant challenge sounds like a good idea on paper, but in practice it's an immersion breaking frustration that spurs the question of 'why bother with a level system at all?'

[@breese50]

I legitimately play this game to zone out and listen to podcasts (especially when you complete the story). Bravo Yahtzee! In other news, I miss the days of multiple levels of more challenging gameplay that would also give greater rewards so the metagame became "How quickly can I turn up the difficulty while still moving fast so I can get even more broken equipment to further level up the difficulty until the next new game comes out and I make a new seasonal character in 6 months once I'm bored with everything else."

[@Erikjust]

looking forward to him reviewing boltgun and System Shock remake.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Looking forward to reviewing your mom

[@OmegaGamingNetwork]

Basically a perfect summary of why I cancelled my pre-order after the beta's and went back to playing D3. At least with D3's always "online" I had the option of creating a private instance and not having to put up with random mouth breathers. D4 stripping me of that ability and forcing me into a public server was a complete deal breaker. Which is a shame because as you said, the story was actually pretty good.

[@TARINunit9]

I just hope you guys are able to save the 50 or so credits gags in the... I think it was the 2018 era when the KZbin version of ZP skipped the credits

[@ArthurDraco]

At least you can still read them on the wiki.

[@tehbunnyboy911]

Saving the ending clip to appreciate later...

[@bottasheimfe5750]

my understanding of the reason the protagonist opposes the antagonist is that if the antagonist does what she wants, she'll release her much more powerful and demonstrably less kindly father, Mephisto, the Prime Evil of Hatred. Lilith to me would have gotten a pass if she did NOT try to kill her father, something that was doomed to failure and would only make things worse. and Mephisto has been manipulating the story since the beginning. whatever killed the protagonist's horse in the first cutscene? yeah that was Mephisto in the shape of an undead wolf. as for all the other things she does in the story, as far as I am concerned she's very well justified. killing her former lover and Fallen Angel Inarius and his followers the way she did as an example? Inarius killed their son Rathma (who is also the FIRST Necromancer and VERY old) and seeks to eventually destroy Humanity as a mistake. Inarius was NOT a good guy. very few of the Angels in the Diablo setting could really be said to be on Humanity's side, or even just advocate for their continued existence. Lilith is one of the few entities in the setting who's goals would be a net positive for Humanity in the end. the first Humans in the setting were a LOT more powerful, and even had the potential to be more powerful than Angels and Demons combined. The Humans of Sanctuary could have been the third Force, the one to end the Eternal Conflict between Angels and Demons on THEIR terms. but before their potential could be realized, Inarius took away their strength, robbing Humanity of a potential prosperous future.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom is humanity's kindly release😂

[@jordanpickering6912]

Another flaw of Lilith's is the raw amount of innocent civvies she randomly killed for no reason, felt kinda out of character for what she was saying

[@lukeskywalker987]

​@@jordanpickering6912well yeah, that's kind of the point. The game makes it clear that the Horadrim don't disagree with their supposed goals. It's that Lilith and Elias are saying them while standing on top of a MOUNTAIN of people they needlessly murdered (including a lot of people that could be pretty helpful like the scholars) and they're beginning to suspect that they're using the ancient demon magic called "lying through their teeth."

[@SinHurr]

Minor objection: Lilith wanted to *eat* Mephisto, not free him. Also where the *fuck* is my Nephalim character in all this? Just pissing away time back in Westmarch's many brothels?

[@bottasheimfe5750]

@@SinHurr yeah she wanted to free him to do so. she would fail though

[@ElGalloUltimo]

3:30 Looks like you are talking about the fight with Astaroth. I played Necro too and, yeah, he completely devastated my skeletons. It was a huge difficulty spike. I was sure I was going to die. The only reason I didn't is because I had a golem and after a while something started generating corpses again. I switched my build so that most of my damage and healing was coming from my own blood spells rather than my minions after that fight.

[@Factopia776]

I absolutely adore the humor that he has derived from being a summoner/necro. 😂 The way he approached the actors on the ghost ride and requested them to wear less frightening costumes still has me in stitches! 🙌👻 The comedic moments he creates through these interactions are truly priceless. 😄🎮

[@zigzag338]

2:26 I have a feeling that wasn't a made-up scenario

[@zigzag338]

Oh, nevermind. Turns out Yahtzee's eldest daughter is only three, so she would have to have some real sci-fi accelerated biology bullshit to be able to ask that kind of question

[@ranthalling]

Hey, I LOVED the documents stored beside toilet joke!

[@virginiafusilier6981]

I am 100% on board with you on this. The game is, in writing, in character development, and even in some of the settings, beautiful. Sure, all the realms match depressing and miserable (and no I don't just mean outside but case in point) - but I wouldn't be surprised this game makes it on the list of blandest of the year. So much hype, so much... Nothing? The experience itself, while not bad, has nothing exhilarating about it either. We are all forced to face the eternal conflict - not just on Sanctuary but in real life - where we just have to get used to disappointment and live out a life we must choose to face. It's not really rewarding, fulfilling, and while the only part I truly relished was (spoilers!) Inarius' demise, they saved Prava just to have her mind set on Hatred anyway, so what the fuck was the point of that, to share her some sympathy only to stab you in the back. The end game is what they wanted to hook you in for, but at the promise of what? Making it a less shitty place to be? I mean, trying to be a responsible human in the real world helps it be a little less shitty too, but it doesn't knock off anything on the lists of "being motivated or moved to explore self and or scenery, xyz". I love the game but damn if it just doesn't do anything at all for me.

[@JessieShadowhold]

I appreciate the ending gag dating this one dramatically, it's a good bit

[@BadgunmusicII]

My gf and I have been playing cooperatively. She picked a Necro and literally has this problem with just mindlessly clicking. She also had an undead army. Since it took up half her skill slots, she was only ever just clicking 3 things. While I, on the other hand, have created a hack and slash Barb that whirlwinds, stomps, stuns, crowd controls, leaps, and slashes my way through the hoards. I’m constantly having to position myself around the hoards, I’m constantly needing to jump from enemy to enemy to keep my weapon swap bonus’s up, and I’m literally clicking all 6 skills in different combinations, almost like I’m playing God of War with my Xbox controller. My point is; the summon necro can be kinda boring. He picked a boring build that even my new-to-Diablo gf eventually switched off of because it was boring and easy.

[@xxXXRAPXXxx]

Well reanimating/summoning a fucking army SHOULD MAKE LIFE EASY BECAUSE YOU HAVE A FUCKING ARMY. You know, compered to some illiterate barbarian that just has his ax and could bicep curl a small elephant. Thats why most games do Necros wrong, because they try to balance shit. Donno about diablo 4 because for me it ended at 2 but there Necro could have a proper army and fuck shit up like someone having a private army can. Thats why Necros are often Villains as it is easy to snowball when you can reanimate any living animal/peasant and make it into a strong warrior (well stronger than some village idiot).

[@SinHurr]

Downside is there's basically ZERO support from items for Sacrifice Necro. I think there's 1 legendary that increases Sac's bonus effects by like... 20%.

[@elhazelrah]

Love the outro gag!

[@Starfals]

Yeah, you are sooo right Yahtzee. I got some of the best net in my big city... and it was down 2-3 times a week during the games launch. Having D4 being online only is just as bad as D3. I dunno why people stop caring about it, i sure didn't. If i buy a game, i expect it to play it whenever i feel like it. What about village houses for summer vacation? F those right? Its not like you can get net everywhere. Thank god i have plenty of singleplayer games to enjoy, or my summer vacation would be a lot different. Also, F Blizzard & Activision.

[@sarahleonard7309]

I know he meant it as something so absurd you would never want to do it, but I find the idea of breaking out the finest china to eat popcorn an oddly attractive idea. Like putting the fine china in its place after it gets uppity.

[@vigorouslethargy]

Diablo 4 has convinced me that Lilith was right from the start. She just wanted the Nephalem to be raised strong so that in the best case scenario they could stop the Eternal Conflict on both sides and at worst be able to keep Sanctuary guarded from collateral damage between the warring demons and angels. Inarius arguably did more harm to humans than any of the Prime Evils.

[@HumanityisEmbarrassing]

Your mom's harm to humanity has convinced me from the start 😂

[@BloodyArchangelus]

it was expected that they would make Inarius bad and lilith not so bad lol. boring

[@vigorouslethargy]

@@BloodyArchangelus Well Inarius was always a paranoid and scheming character. He tied the Worldstone to himself without the renegade angels and demons on Sanctuary knowing, and even before he helped make the Nephalem we was worried the angels would find him and kill him for his betrayal. And then he was tortured in Hell for a few millennia. So we kinda knew he'd be way off his rocker before Diablo 4 dropped. Prior to this game we only knew a bit about Lilith, though. 1) When she heard some of the renegades considering genocide of the Nephalem she outright slaughtered them before they could act on it. 2) When she got out of her first trip to the Void she had Uldyssian carry out what she had planned for the Nephalem at the start and proved that they *could* drive unwanted angels or demons from Sanctuary, and also brought an end to both the Triune and Cathedral. Lilith isn't what I would define as "good" overall, but she's by far the most empathetic demon we've seen.

[@khululyp]

Diablo 4 is all about making bad choices and having to deal with it.

[@pitfriend]

The last gag warrants a Zero Punctuation episode about Zero Punctuation about how you try to use "topical" gags.

[@adamloga3788]

A great review, as usual. BTW, I know that you've made your distaste for Halo and all its imitators well known, but have you ever considered reviewing the original Halo game, from before the story got way too far up itself, as a kind of study of what could very well be the start of gaming switching from Boomer Shooters to the Spunkgargleweewee model? And also, debated, one of the the first signs of the tidal wave of zombie games that we're only now pulling out of?

[@mattflowers9548]

You must be new here

[@thekrispiestkreme5609]

the voice acting with some characters were really good too, like that lotheran guy, i want that guy to read me bedtime stories

[@SinHurr]

Lorath's VA also does Cid in FF16 if I recall, and yes god build me a bedsheet made out of his vocal cords

[@meapickle]

So before it came out, the story gave me the impreasion that this was the biggest domestic feud in history with the kids (people of sanctuary) caught in the middle. Is that how it ended up going?

[@ckhayne2]

The Lilith take is the same one I had. Based on the current state of the world, church, and Inaris; what she is offering sounds 10x better than the current state. I never felt like I was doing the "right" thing by opposing her.

[@DmitriStormblood]

Right?! I feel like this game should've given us the choice to join Liluth cause, let's be fair...Inarius is a douche who is angry his folks don't want him back home after he got to bang such a babe and make a new species with her and takes it out on everyone else.

[@RacingSnails64]

That's how demonic cults get ya. Faustian bargain 101. Of course, it's obviously a valid critique of the story if they failed to make the villain villainous.

[@jai_the_guy]

You get it dude (gender neutral term). Why would you stop her?

[@Fakan]

If you're siding with the church, can you really say you're the good guy?

[@fourdogsleder]

I dont think making her villainous was really the point. Or at least outright villainous. What she says may make sense, she wants to change the world and combat the prime evils. But the outcomes of her actions are, let's say, questionable. She decides that power at any cost is the answer and therefore throws in her lot with, or attracts as allies, murderers, thieves, and cannibals. And its not like the game portrays the church and inarius as good guys, hes a missguided twat who is willing to sacrifice all in his own personal quest and the church is so far up his ass they cant see what is in front of them.

[@zodiacfml]

3:45 LoL, good point that I haven't put into words! Last class I tried during Beta is the Barbarian, no amount of skill, leveling, dropping down difficulty helped beat Vhenard until I went to the forums that I have to change my build. Beat Vhenard on first try with a new build and lower difficulty but then it already lost the immersion of the game. They also nerfed Vhenard just the other day.

[@leftovernoise]

Glad the hear the mention of cookie clicker. Thats exactly why i can't play games like this. Its cookie clicker with extra steps to me. Oh wow, this new weapon will function exactly the same but with .693 extra blue damage? What a brilliant gameplay experience.

[@Mick0Mania]

I'm a huge fan of Bastion. The camera point of view, gameplay customization and the focus on real time action made me think the Diablo-esque games might be something I enjoy. So I picked up Torchlight to play with a few friends, and I was shocked at how horribly boring the experience was, simply due to the problem you described: It's a cookie clicker with extra steps. Just mindlessly clicking on stuff is so un-engaging. This sort of game would be amazing if the combat was built more like Bastion, and you actively performed dodges/blocks/attacks instead of hammering at your mouse.

[@leftovernoise]

@@Mick0Mania yeah bastion, as simple as it is, Has more engaging mechanics in my opinion. Each upgrade feels meaningful. It plays more like an action game than a cool down simulator

[@sreyn237]

'The story is engaging' is definitely not what I expected coming here

[@grubkiller2809]

please review dave the diver I think you would enjoy it

[@macrussell78]

4:40 first character i made was a necromancer named Tim (montey python refrence though in hindsight I should've made him a sorcerer.)

[@price8346]

The part with the tacky GOLD chandelier at the end is so clever, the reference will go over most peoples heads but those of us who don't have their heads in the sand know exactly who he's talking about.

[@JaredNumber13]

It goes over your head when you're taking a shit, duh...

[@fyngolnoldor4891]

Sooo what tier of Nightmare dungeons can you solo clear with your minion-based Necro ? Have you killed Uber Lilith with it? Didn't think so...

[@speedracer2please]

Possibly one of your best yet! I think I'll enjoy Diablo 4 some day when I have more time, fewer bats, and it doesn't involve giving $70 to Blizzard.

[@choggi]

I'm enjoying D3, got it on sale a couple weeks ago for $12 or so :)

[@speedracer2please]

@@choggi I think I got 2 Resurrected during the same sale, it's a good idea!