Diablo III: Eternal Collection (NSP, XCI) ROM + v2.7.7.92380 Update + All DLCs

Diablo III: Eternal Collection is a 2012 online-only hack-and-slash action role-playing game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the Diablo franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2014, and Nintendo Switch in November 2018.

Set 20 years after the events of Diablo II, players control one of seven character classes – Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor, or Wizard – and are tasked with defeating Diablo. An expansion pack, Reaper of Souls, was released for PC in March 2014. It was released for consoles as part of the Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition version in August 2014.

The Rise of the Necromancer pack was released for Windows, macOS, and PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in June 2017. Diablo III: Eternal Collection, combining Reaper of Souls and Rise of the Necromancer, was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June 2017, and for the Nintendo Switch in November 2018.

The game received positive reviews, although its always-on DRM feature was criticized. The game set a new record for “fastest-selling PC game” by selling over 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, and became the best-selling PC game of 2012 by selling over 12 million copies. As of August 2015, the number of sales had grown to over 30 million. A sequel, Diablo IV, was announced in 2019 and was released on June 5, 2023.

GAMEPLAY

Much like Diablo and Diablo II, Diablo III is an action role-playing game with fast-paced real-time combat and an isometric graphics engine. The game utilizes classic dark fantasy elements and players assume the role of a heroic character charged with saving the world of Sanctuary from the forces of Hell. Many role-playing elements are present, such as choosing a character class, gaining experience and leveling up, and acquiring more powerful equipment. The quality and attributes of equipment are randomized. In addition to base stats (such as damage and attack speed for weapons or armor points on armor), higher-quality items have additional properties such as extra damage, attribute bonuses, bonuses to critical hit chance, or sockets, which allow items to be upgraded with a gem.

Magic-quality items have up to three random properties, rare-quality items have up to six, and legendary-quality items typically have up to eight with varying degrees of randomness. Set items are a subtype of legendary items that provide additional, cumulative bonuses if multiple items from the same set are equipped at once. Higher-level monsters tend to drop higher-level items, which tend to have higher base stats and bonuses.  The proprietary engine incorporates Blizzard’s custom in-house physics and features destructible environments with an in-game damage effect. The developers sought to make the game run on a wide range of systems without requiring DirectX 10.

Diablo III uses a custom 3D game engine to present an overhead view to the player, in a somewhat similar way to the isometric view used in previous games in the series. Enemies utilize the 3D environment as well, in ways such as crawling up the side of a wall from below into the combat area. As in Diablo II, multiplayer games are possible using Blizzard’s Battle.net service, with many of the new features developed for StarCraft II also available in Diablo III. Players can drop in and out of sessions of cooperative play with other players. Unlike its predecessor, Diablo III requires players to be connected to the internet constantly due to their digital rights management policy, even for single-player games. An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are used to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed. Unlike previous iterations, gold can be picked up by touching it, or coming within range (adjusted by gear) rather than having to manually pick it up.

One of the new features intended to speed up gameplay is that health orbs drop from enemies, replacing the need to have a potion bar. The latter is replaced by a skill bar that allows a player to assign quick bar buttons to skills and spells; previously, players could only assign two skills (one for each mouse button) and had to swap skills with the keyboard or mouse wheel. Players can still assign specific attacks to mouse buttons. Skill runes, another new feature, are skill modifiers that are unlocked as the player levels up. Unlike the pocketable runes in Diablo II, skill runes are not items but instead provide options for enhancing skills, often completely changing the gameplay of each skill. For example, one skill rune for the Wizard’s meteor ability reduces its arcane power cost, while another turns the meteor to ice, causing cold damage rather than fire.

PLOT

The game takes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world of the Diablo Series, twenty years after the events of Diablo II. Deckard Cain and his ward Leah are in Tristram Cathedral (the same cathedral that was the setting of Diablo) investigating ancient texts regarding an ominous prophecy. A mysterious star falling from the sky strikes the cathedral, creating a deep crater into which Deckard Cain disappears.

Act I – The Nephalem (the player’s character) arrives in the town of New Tristram to investigate the fallen star. They accompany Leah to the cathedral to rescue Cain. After rescuing him, they learn that the only way to the fallen star is to defeat the Skeleton King (who was once called King Leoric). The Nephalem defeats him and finds a stranger where the fallen star landed. The stranger’s only memory is of a sword that shattered into three pieces as he fell.

The Nephalem recovers two of the sword pieces. But Maghda, leader of the Dark Coven, recovers the third piece and tries to make Cain repair the sword. Leah, however, kills the cultists with a surge of magical power, forcing Maghda to attack Cain fatally and flee with the stranger. Before dying, Cain repairs the sword discovers it to be of angelic origin, and tasks the Nephalem with returning it to the stranger. After freeing the stranger from the Butcher in the dungeons beneath Leoric’s manor and returning the sword, the stranger’s memories are recovered, and it is revealed that he is the Archangel Tyrael, the Aspect of Justice. Disgusted with his fellow angels’ unwillingness to protect humanity from the forces of Hell, Tyrael cast aside his divinity to become a mortal and warn Sanctuary about the arrival of the demon lords.

Act II – The Nephalem, Leah, and Tyrael travel to the city of Caldeum. The Nephalem leaves to track down Maghda. At the Khasim Outpost, demons in service to Belial, the Lord of Lies, have imprisoned and replaced the guards. When the Nephalem freed them, they reclaimed the outpost, and the Nephalem was given access to Alcarnus, then fought and killed Maghda. The Nephalem then returns to Caldeum to rescue Leah from Belial’s forces, disguised as the guards of the young Emperor Hakan II, after which they escape into the city sewers. Leah reveals that her mother, Adria (the witch of Tristram from the original game), is still alive. The Nephalem aids Leah in rescuing Adria from her imprisonment in the sewers.