Are Diablo III cinematics still classic kind of narrative-story-telling, i'm certain 100% of everyone who watched the cinematic thought they were brilliant (Marius' story to Baal (in disguise).

Btw, any mention of the shard of Diablos soulstone that was left on the road in the teaser trailer for Diablo II? I imagine thats got something to do with Diablos reappearance, or maybe Blizzard forgot about it.

Thoughts?

Those who visited for the recent press tour saw the first minute or so of the intro cinematic, which is done in a stylized 'sketch' look. The idea being it's Cain relating his prophecy via his journal, so it's sort of his journal come alive, if you will. It's also a lot cooler than it may sound (and on that note the voice/music/sfx were temp in the version we showed).

The 10 intro class cinematics (one for each class and gender) take the same style, but beyond that everything is high detail, high realism, holy-crap cinematics we've all come to love. And there's a lot of it. And they are so bad ass. You'll be happy.

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Q u o t e:
So you don't have a nice, out-of-the-gate, kick to the nuts cinematic like D2?

Kind of an odd way to open up a game.
Are you shown the intro cinematic, then create a character, see their cinematic?

What are these in-game cutscenes like?

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Like I said, they only saw the first minute or so of the entire intro cinematic which was the stylized bit with Cain reciting some of his journal. You start up the game, see the intro for the first time, log in, create a character, see the character intro, then start playing. It's a logical flow.

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Q u o t e:
Will the intro cinematic be included in the beta?

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Good question. I'll find out.

[edit] No cinematics will be present in the beta.

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Q u o t e:
Every time you say that, you never return to it. :p

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Can you help remind me of others? :\

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Q u o t e:
I always skipped Diablo II's cinematics cause i was onlineand didnt want to miss the next acts rush or hold up the players. Is there a way to replay them later?

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Indeed! But, they're pretty info-heavy*, I wouldn't recommend skipping them. Personally I'm going to play the game alone for the first run through Normal, you can take your time, watch cinematics, and you get the extra story from having a follower.

*Info-heavy meaning huge spoilers, meaning I would avoid youtube/forums/the world during your first playthrough (once the game is released) if you want to avoid such things.