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BlizzCon 2011: Studio offers its first panel aimed at illuminating the history of its action RPG franchise, detailing The Eternal Conflict, angels, and demons.
Oddly enough, in BlizzCon's seven-year history, there has never been a panel devoted explicitly to the Diablo franchise's lore. That changed today, however, as Blizzard senior VP of story and franchise development Chris Metzen took the stage alongside Diablo III lead content designer Kevin Martens and senior world designer Leonard Boyarsky.
Metzen began the session with an apology of sorts for the substantial amount of tinkering that has been done to Diablo's lore in advance of the third game's release. He said that the franchise has been developed by three different companies with novels from eight different writers, and as such, "it was kind of a mess." To tighten up the universe, Blizzard had to enact some intentional retconning, but he emphasized that the studio only made these changes to strengthen the property.
As one example of the change, Blizzard gave an identity to The Dark Wanderer, who was the hero of the original Diablo. Moving forward, the universe presupposes that this character is the warrior from the original game, and he has been given the name Aiden. Metzen noted that just one reason for this change is that if the Diablo story were to be told in another medium, this character would need to be the launching point for that. He emphasized that no such development is currently under way.
More.
Oddly enough, in BlizzCon's seven-year history, there has never been a panel devoted explicitly to the Diablo franchise's lore. That changed today, however, as Blizzard senior VP of story and franchise development Chris Metzen took the stage alongside Diablo III lead content designer Kevin Martens and senior world designer Leonard Boyarsky.
Metzen began the session with an apology of sorts for the substantial amount of tinkering that has been done to Diablo's lore in advance of the third game's release. He said that the franchise has been developed by three different companies with novels from eight different writers, and as such, "it was kind of a mess." To tighten up the universe, Blizzard had to enact some intentional retconning, but he emphasized that the studio only made these changes to strengthen the property.
As one example of the change, Blizzard gave an identity to The Dark Wanderer, who was the hero of the original Diablo. Moving forward, the universe presupposes that this character is the warrior from the original game, and he has been given the name Aiden. Metzen noted that just one reason for this change is that if the Diablo story were to be told in another medium, this character would need to be the launching point for that. He emphasized that no such development is currently under way.
More.
