Shout Out / Diablo III

Diablo III just wouldn't be a Blizzard game without loads of shout-outs to various media.

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• The "Forlorn Farm" random event is a clear Shout-Out to Red Dead Redemption.
• An early quest is called "The Legacy of Cain". There is also a unique Wraith enemy called Raziel, and one type of curvy-bladed sword is called Reaver.
• Another one is called Sword of the Stranger, where you help a nameless swordsman.
• Act 2 has a powerful gold monster named Nine Toads - Terror of the Borderlands. He even drops The Clipper!
• Abd al-Hazir sounds suspiciously like Abdul Alhazred, doesn't it? In particular, they have Shown Their Work, "Abdul Alhazred" is bad Arabic and a common "correct" form of the name is Abd Al-Azrad.
• A legendary bow's name is "Etrayu". Now, exchange the letters "a" and "e": you get "Atreyu", one of the heroes of The Neverending Story, whose weapon of choice was a bow. If you had any doubts about it, the item's description leaves no ambiguity:
  The warrior surveyed the dead and dying arrayed about him. There would be more—many more. He felt as if he were trapped in a tale that would never end.
• The Legendary hammer Odyn Son, which almost needs no explanation.
• The Flavor Text for the Barbarian passive Berserker Rage reads:
  "You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!" — Bannar the Berserker
• As usual, the achievement list yields a whole bunch of references.
  • The achievement for purchasing all the stash upgrades: "Space, I love space!"
  • The Achievement "A Question of Lust" is a reference to a Depeche Mode song of the same name. Its Hardcore version "Lust, Caution" is yet another, this time to an Ang Lee movie.
  • And then there's "There Will Definitely Be Blood." No guesses on which movie they're referencing here.
  • Futurama gets referenced in the achievement for buying one of each type of item from vendors: Shut Up and Take My Money!
  • Iron Maiden's "No More Lies" lends its title to the achievement for defeating Belial in Hardcore mode.
  • Arrested Development is the source of "Her?", the title of the achievement for defeating Adria in Act V, as well as the "I Just Blue Myself" achievement (for using equipment all dyed the same color blue).
  • Queen get a two-part shout out in the achievements for defeating one of each type of Champion enemy in Acts I through IV and in Act V in Hardcore Mode: "We Are the Champions" and "No Time for Losers".
  • The "I am the one who knocks" achievement is a Breaking Bad shoutout.
• The Treasure Goblins - Pesky diminutive midgets with sacks of loot which you literally beat said loot out of — are doubtlessly inspired by a famous hack-and-slash fantasy brawler.
• There's a walking tree called The Old Man.
• A legendary one-handed sword is named Monster Hunter.
• The Witch Doctor has a skill called FireBats, a reference to StarCraft. Another skill is called Lob Blob Bomb, a homage to Arrested Development.
• There's a unique Ghastly Gravedigger with the name Digger O'Dell and the subtitle "must be shoveling off." This is a reference to a 1940s radio sitcom called The Life of Riley. Apparently, nothing is too obscure for Blizzard!
• The Monk has a skill called Exploding Palm. The key feature of this attack is that the victim explodes if the DOT kills them (later edited to apply to any damage while the debuff still applies). Four words only: You are already dead.
• There is a three-bladed legendary fist weapon called Logan's Claw that regenerates the user's health.
• There is a legendary spear called The 300th Spear. There was a shield to go with it called the Phalanx Lock, but it seems to have been removed.
• A Legendary mace is called The Overfiend. Oh dear...
• The ring Justice Lantern. In brightest day, in blackest night...
• Exploring Whimsyshire might have you meet Annie's teddy bear◊.
• Also in Whimsyshire you'll find the likes of Midnight Sparkle, Nightmare is Magic and Nightmarity, Generosity in Death. Upon closer inspection, the color schemes of the Lovely Presents are similar to the color schemes of the other ponies in the show.
• The Three Brothers at the Drowned Temple - Karel, Larel, and Moek - are named in tribute to The Three Stooges. As if that weren't enough, the achievement for defeating all three of them at once is called "Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck!"
• One of the random monsters you can fight is a Rodent of Unusual Size.
• The female Demon Hunter bears a strong resemblance to Selene from the Underworld films, and a number of achievements and runes (such as "Death Dealer" and "Equilibrium") reference those and other movies with an emphasis on Badass Longcoats and Guns Akimbo. There's even a legendary demon hunter cloak called Beckon Sail.
  • "Equilibrium," by the way, is one of the runes of the Strafe skill, which has the Demon Hunter blasting off with both crossbows in all directions like a Grammaton Cleric.
• The dye remover. It's got what plants crave!
• Covetous Shen strongly resembles Big Trouble in Little China's David Lo Pan in mannerism. Unsurprising, considering he is voiced by James Hong himself. Moreover, you initially find Covetous Shen trapped inside a barrel. If you wait long enough before rescuing him to hear all his dialogue, you get an achievement called "Big Trouble in Talking Barrel" which just underlines the reference.
• In the deserts of Caldeum, there's a shipwreck called the Black Rock. You can also get Black Rock Ledger Pages — but only pages 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. And for Fun with Acronyms value, the first letter of each page? Spells out DHARMA.
• There is an event in Act 1 that is titled "The Last Stand of the Ancients".
• There's a giant sandworm in the Desolate Sands in Act II called Shaitan The Broodmother - Great Maker. Yeah, most sandworms are Dune references in some way, shape or form now, but Shaitan and Maker are very specific names for the Shai Hulud. You even can find a corpse called Stilgar which spawns a lovely bunch of sandworms when searched.
  • There's also the event "Wormsign" in one of Act IV's random dungeons, the boss of which is a unique named Fenring.
• One set is called Chantodo's Legacy. One piece of this set, the orb, is called Chantodo's Elemental Seal. Elemental Seal is a black mage ability in Final Fantasy XI, and Shantotto is one of the most fearsome black mages of this universe. However, the orb was renamed with the 1.0.4 patch, becoming Chantodo's Force...
• Azmodan's hellish domain is reminiscent of a realm of Oblivion from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, from the creepy bloodgrass to the towers lined with demon skin. The only new things are the giant demons that hold up the towers, but even they are reminiscent of Mehrunes Dagon.
• Possibly a coincidence or an obvious play on words, but there's an achievement called Imp Slapped. Also a reference to the game Dungeon Keeper, where you could slap your Imp workers.
• One of the possible weapons you can find is the Ancient Bonesaber of Zumakalis. Sadly, it's unknown if the Remonster of the Plutonians appears to use it on.
• There's a legendary weapon named The Burning Axe Of Sankis.
• Random boss Fuad the Cannibal might be a reference to Blood Feast.
• In one conversation, the barbarian mentions that he was born on a battlefield. Another famous barbarian was also born on a battlefield.
• The Barbarian skill Ancient Spear pulls the targeted enemy towards you and slows them for a bit. Someone has to have yelled 'Get over here!' the first time they used this skill.
• One of the legendary Demon Hunter chest armors is the Cape of the Dark Night.
  "Those who seek to do evil are a cowardly and superstitious lot." —Demon Hunter Bayne
• The potentially PS3 exclusive item The Hero's Journey are two scarfs from the characters from the game Journey.
  Khejistan is renowned for its strange mirages. Of these, perhaps the most mysterious are the silent travelers sometimes seen near the crumbling ruins that jut from the desert's shifting sands.
• One of the rune abilities for the RoS Witch Doctor skill "Piranhas" is called Piranhado.
  • And another one is called Wave of Mutilation.
• There are a number of references to The Lord of the Rings:
  • One conversation with Covetous Shen concerns getting lost in the wilderness without food and water:
    Covetous Shen: "I was lost in the Dry Steppes. They don't come by their name lightly! No water, and the sun! An unbearable, unblinking eye!"
  • Boggits are described to be normally peaceful, but can become violent under the influence of magical rings.
  • A unique giant spider boss is called Zhelobb the Venomous.
  • The Horadrim are likely a reference to the Haradrim, Men loyal to Sauron during the War of the Ring.
• One of the whining NPCs in Westmarch is named "Lord Vermillion".
• One mini-boss in the Reaper of Souls expansion is named Clawgane the Mountain.
• The flavor text for the sword Exarian is a clear allusion for a well-known king and his sword.
• The end boss of the Vermin Alley event is a giant rat named Sprynter, enemy of the Foote clan.
• The unique pants called the "Hammer Jammers" bear the flavor text, "These large pants cannot be touched."
• A type of Barbarian-only Mighty Weapon added in Reaper of Souls is called the Hassan Chopper.
• Adria was bound to attract more than her share of "witch" jokes in the boss achievements, but "Really Most Sincerely Dead", which you get for killing her in Hardcore Torment mode without crowd-controlling enemies, takes the cake.
• One fairly common name for an Elite monster is "Zuul".
• The Witch Doctor has a Legendary voodoo mask named Carnevil, with a flavor text making mention of poison taken from the palm tree leaves from around Lake Ymirson.
• In the Reaper of Souls expansion, you can find a legendary potion called "Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid", whose flavor text says "Oh, yeah!". Besides the usual healing effect, it allows you to burst through the walls created by elites with the Waller affix.
  • The German version of the game names the potion "Red Kull" instead, presumably in reference to the Red Bull energy drink brand.
• One of the unique monsters you can encounter in the Blood Marsh is Lu'ca, the Blight Monster.
• The Shenlong's Spirit set is a reference to the Sheng Long myth from the Street Fighter games, complete with the following: both weapons resemble Ryu's gloves, one glove's flavor text mentions the existence of the myth itself, and the other glove references the quote that spawned the myth in the first place.
• The Barrage rune for the Monk skill "Dashing Strike" causes the last enemy to be hit to crumple from a lightning-quick flurry of blows, in a similar vein to Gen's Zan'ei super move.
• The flavor text of the Eight-Demon Boots is a quote from a certain Yolk Chen.
  • With a reference to the film's Six Demon Bag, no less.
    "Infused with the powers of wind, lightning, all that kind of thing! Then again... a couple of extra demons never hurt."
  • The shoulder piece from that set, the Mantle Of The Upside Down Sinners, recalls the Hell Of Upside Down Sinners from the same film.
• One of the legendary maces is called "Jace's Hammer of Vigilance". The Jace Adama in question was the leader of Kingsport's Wield Warriors.
• A unique Stygian Crawler enemy is "Crabbs, You Can't Have Me Golds".
• The barbarian's Wrath of the Berserker ability clearly turns him/her into Augus for a little while.
• There's a ring called "The Tall Man's Finger" whose lore talks about a man known as the "Tall Man" who once crossed a portal to another dimension and came back changed, possessing the power to reanimate the dead. Does all of this seem familiar?
  • There's also a legendary Wizard focus called the Mirrorball.
    "Summoned from beyond the veil of death, and disposed to send its victims back there, the malevolent intelligence within this silver sphere may only be controlled by someone with intense resolve. Once its power is harnessed, however, the ball acts as a loyal enforcer of its master's will."
• The amulet "The Flavor of Time" is a reference to the rapper Flavor Flav, known for wearing a necklace decorated with a wall clock.
  "This garish amulet, once worn by an over large imp, makes time an insignificant thing."
• One of the rift bosses looks like a giant, bloated rat and attacks by summoning hordes of smaller rats. Its name? Hamelin the Rat King.
• A legendary belt for Crusaders is called the Omnislash, described in its flavor text to be originally from the Patriarch Seph.
• Phyneus the Growler and Fearby the Prowler, Ferocious Mongrel Brothers.
• The "Boyarsky’s Chip" item is a clear reference to Fallout—the name refers to Leonard Boyarsky, who did indeed work on Diablo III, but also was also the art director of the first Fallout and designed the overall gameplay elements of Fallout 2. The item is also a reference to Fallout's main story of the Water Chip. The description also directly mentions an "underground vault", and that "once inserted into a socket, it will never fall out." (Despite saying this, you may remove it from socketed gear just like any other gem in the game.)
• Maghda looks an awful lot like Maleficent.
• The three Brothers of the Inquisition who spawn for the Templar Inquisition event in Act I are Maesters Julius, Gnaeus, and Licinius. They are named for Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, the three men who made up Ancient Rome's First Triumvirate.
• One of the new areas is heavily themed around bestial enemies (including werewolves and crow-themed creatures) and a cult that uses blood as their medium, along with one of the bosses literally being named The Blood-Borne? Definitely a giant reference to the game of the same name.
• While exploring Stonefort, you might find a monster called "Bricktop, Demonic Nemesis". In Snatch., the crooked boxing promoter Brick Top gives a Sophisticated as Hell speech about the concept of nemesis.
• Every season has an objective, awarded for spending Blood Shards at Kadala, called "Hey There Kadala", referencing the song Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's. Someone even made a parody song!
• There is a unique enemy in the Weeping Hollow called Ravi Lilywhite, who drops a cosmetic pet called Liv Moore. Both the monster's name and the pet's name and appearance are a reference to the main characters of iZombie, who have been shown to play Diablo III.
• A unique enemy in the "Eternal Woods" section of the Ruins of Sescheron is named Kashyyk, Bestial Guardian.
• One of the helm designs available for the Demon Hunter bears a strong resemblance to the helmet worn by the Shredder, especially the version he wore in the first film.
• When opening treasure chests, Lyndon might make a joke about his thieves' sense tingling.
• There is a randomly spawning demon in Act II named Pazuzu. He's usually found in the "Oasis" area of the map.
• One of the runes for the Demon Hunter skill Rain of Vengeance, which involves arrows raining down from the sky is called "Shade".
• The Blood Rose pet, a miniature version of the boss from Diablo Immortal, takes design cues from both Biollante and the Demogorgon.
• While exploring the Treasure Vault, it's possible to encounter a unique demon called "Goldenfingers", with the descriptor "Has Oddjob".

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