Less items drop, but the items that do drop are of higher quality and more tailored to the classes in the party. Speaking of items, the item drop system has been completely redesigned as well for the console version. Inventory management - they are ALL the same size (brain 'splodes) Polearms now take up exactly the same space in your inventory as rings. The console version ditched the whole “size” concept of items to help accomplish this. We all know that a poorly designed console interface for an ARPG can be an absolute nightmare happily, D3’s interface (utilizing radial menus as well as lists) is easy to navigate and use. I played a good amount of Diablo 3 on the PC launch, and while I can safely say that the game’s the same as far as story, classes, etc., the console version has completely redesigned many aspects from the ground up. Players connecting to the game online are not tethered to shared-screen whatsoever. Furthermore, if someone puts down their controller to grab a snack, his or her character will follow around the other party members automatically or teleport to them if he or she gets too far away.

Eventually it won’t be able to zoom out anymore, and players are stuck on that screen, but it hardly ever feels super restrictive. When players start to split up, the camera slowly begins to zoom out. Like all of those games, D3 supports local (yes, optionally offline!) shared-screen co-op with up to four players, but it also supports online and combo co-op as well! While shared-screen can be pretty hit-or-miss in ARPGs, D3 has implemented it fantastically. Playing D3 on the console takes me back to some classic console ARPGs like Gauntlet, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, and Champions of Norrath - all games that have been heralded as great couch co-op games. It’s necessary that I emphasize the weight behind that statement, as someone who still considers herself a PC gamer and has a long history with Diablo 2. Let’s just skip right to the chase here: Diablo 3 ( D3) on the console is, in my opinion, superior in just about every way to the PC version.

Diablo 3 console 4 player co op classes