Few games have as rabid a fan base as the Diablo franchise, so when Diablo III was recently announced, a collective cheer could be heard around the world from the 20+ million people who have played and fallen in love with the Diablo games. But all is not well in the Diablo community — after the announcement and ~15 minute developer walkthrough at Blizzard’s WorldWide Invitational late last month, a petition was started calling for a “…true sequel to Diablo II that is graphically coherent to the universe it belongs to”.

Past Diablo games took place in a graphically realistic gritty universe, full of dark crypts and equally dark enemies. This time around however Blizzard has opted for a more stylized approach using bright and vibrant colors, exaggerated character models, and beautiful outdoor vistas that feel more like World or Warcraft than Lord of Destruction. At the time of writing, the petition has been signed over 46,000 times, and has even gone as far as to offer solutions to renew the artistic direction of Diablo III.

Personally, I have some mixed feelings on the subject. I’m so sick of seeing dark drab games that use more shades of grey then I knew existed. But then again, I can also understand why long-time fans would want the sequel to continue to offer that which made them fall in love with it in the first place. Blizzard is very good at listening to their fan base, so it will be interesting to see how they respond to this petition. The game is still in the alpha stage of development, so if anything is going to be changed, now would be the time to do it.

[See also: Diablo III gallery]