Diablo II

[Metathron]

I got this game for free recently, and I must say I can't see what's so good about it.

I chose to play a barbarian and all I've been doing so far is going around clicking on wandering creatures. Sounds like HoMM?

I really don't see what the big deal is. Does it get better later on? What do Diablo players like about these games? Plus the graphics are pretty ugly.

I'm wondering if this game is a diamond in the rough and I'm just being impatient/too critical, so I'd appreciate any input.

[wimfrits]

Graphics are outdated ofcourse; I think most of the current players can look past that because they got addicted to it years ago.

What I enjoy most about the game:
- story/concept. You should have played D1 to fully enjoy D2 though
- collecting items. Lots of interesting combinations to acquire; with difficult choices about what to use
- careful character building. If you want to get a succesful hero; you should have in mind what you want your lvl 40 hero to look like; but can still create a lot of useful combinations.
- varied and interesting skills to use in combat.
- hell difficulty. After the first game you come to realize that normal is just something you need to pass through, nightmare has some exciting moments, but hell is crazy.

[darknessfood]

Graphics are outdated ofcourse; I think most of the current players can look past that because they got addicted to it years ago.

What I enjoy most about the game:
- story/concept. You should have played D1 to fully enjoy D2 though
- collecting items. Lots of interesting combinations to acquire; with difficult choices about what to use
- careful character building. If you want to get a succesful hero; you should have in mind what you want your lvl 40 hero to look like; but can still create a lot of useful combinations.
- varied and interesting skills to use in combat.
- hell difficulty. After the first game you come to realize that normal is just something you need to pass through, nightmare has some exciting moments, but hell is crazy.

Agree with that, also:
- the setting is just brilliant, it's gory, but still has his charm. The gameworld is also random geneated, so each time, stuf is somewhere else.
- people love the game because it's easy to control, it has addictive gameplay, and like stated above, the character creation.
- music, it really does the game good, it's not at all anoyying (some games have terrible music), and it's changing really smoothly while entering new area's and stuff like that.

[Lord13]

I agree with wimfrits and darknessfood. Although I am not
big diablo-fun we must not forget is a game serie that born
a whole new game category(with dozens of terrible diablo
clones games sadly, but that's another story). Also at harder
game difficulties if you just click on wondering creatures you
will..die, has its own "tactic". The most adictive part ofc was
to explore every little corner the game had to collect all the
items/sets etc. And even for today has one of the best
"dark" atmospheres(music helped at that) I've seen at
computer games.

[ThunderTitan]

Plus the graphics are pretty ugly.

compared to the current 3D that goes out of style in 2 years they're fine 10x.

[Angelspit]

I'm nearly done with the first Diablo and after a playing session or two I didn't have any problem with the graphics.

[Zubbus]

I got this game for free recently, and I must say I can't see what's so good about it.

I chose to play a barbarian and all I've been doing so far is going around clicking on wandering creatures. Sounds like HoMM?

I really don't see what the big deal is. Does it get better later on? What do Diablo players like about these games? Plus the graphics are pretty ugly.

I'm wondering if this game is a diamond in the rough and I'm just being impatient/too critical, so I'd appreciate any input.

Yes. From your perspective things are a little extreme. Apart from a high level skill that (can) hit a few monsters and 2 skills that hit 2 monsters, all the the barbarian's attacks do consist of hitting 1 mob at a time. That's what he's all about - dealing and taking hte hardest hit.

If you can't wait. Roll a necromancer and put a few points in summon skeleton and you'll have loads of fun - until the first boss, that is.

The BIGgest DEAL about Diablo II does come a lot later. It's itemization is completely top of the world, even after 10 or 11 years of competition.

How's this for an appetizer:
http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/it ... mortalking

There's plenty more about this game, but I suspect the more I type, the less you will want to read.

[TheUndeadKing]

Diablo II is all about item finding (and of course building a decent character). If you don't have any goals in mind, then chances are you'll get bored really fast.

The game looks ugly, because you can't increase the screen resolution to more than 800x600. Which sucks greatly, as it would look much better at 1024x768 and above.

But, if you do like the gameplay and desperately want better graphics, then I recommend playing Titan Quest.

[darknessfood]

Titan Quest is awesome as well ...

[ThunderTitan]

Diablo II is all about item finding (and of course building a decent character). If you don't have any goals in mind, then chances are you'll get bored really fast.

Or you could patch it only till 1.09, and then it's just about having fun...

[TheUndeadKing]

Yep. Playing v1.09 is a pretty fun experience (excluding Multi-shot Lightning Enchanted ).

[Pitsu]

In my personal opinion Diablo I was better than Diablo II both in single player and multiplayer. Two main problems that i had with D2 is that it requires a lot of time to be invested to be interesting. As said before you need to play the normal level that offers nearly no challenge, good items are exceptionally rare and so forth. Second reason why i liked D1 more is the action speed, which has been increased and makes micromanaging and executing your tactics more difficult.
But if you have lot of free time, then the character development is great. Item hunt can be fun too, but hunt for a very certain item is usually frustrating, because it never appears.

[TheUndeadKing]

Diablo I had better role-playing game elements, I agree. Also loved its dark atmosphere. Overall, the game even looked (and arguably still looks) better than Diablo II (at 640x480). But the thing Diablo II did better was the action part, actually. Diablo II's simpler, more streamlined action approach was what made the gameplay so addicting and successful. The easier control of the character made the game more "accessible", yet at the same time very challenging and fun in the long run.

[Humakt]

Diablo is a hackfest, hardly an rpg. Fun for a while but gets boring really fast (even in multiplayer) unless you are an extreme materialist. Sacred 2 has the same problem but at least it looks prettier and has more stuff going for it than first 2 Diablos (where the second was downgrade of first graphics-wise IMO).

I prefer real computer RPG's like Arcanum, Betrayal at Krondor, The Witcher, Torment and the like. For action I want something that requires more skill and tactics like any good fps (Unreal Tournament 3 for example), platformers (like Prince of Persia trilogy) or arcade racing (Trackmania Forever United). Diablo requires hardly any skill or thinking so I get bored with it.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Hmmmmm. I would disagree that Diablo requires little skill or thinking. Of course if you play a hammerdin there is little need to do much but spam hammers. And multiplyer lets you rely on others. Oh, and normal isn't too challenging, but the difficulties are supposed to scale.

Try playing hardcore single player if you think you can play without thinking or strategy. And throw in untwinked. You can also ramp up the difficulty by in single player by setting the game to simulate a higher player count.

I like Sacred 2 also, but I don't think there is as wide a variety of builds possible in Sacred 2. And of course it has better graphics-Diablo has been out for a long time and Sacred 2 just came out.

Now, a more fair comparison for graphics will be to compare Daiblo 3 when it comes out with Sacred 2.

[Orfinn]

Gotta agree with that. Diablo 2 is one of the best and most mindless hack and slash rpg out there, even today. That reminds me.... gotta play Necromancer on hell soon, focusing on spawning minions as crazy.

Also I agree with most fans, DIII looks... to bright and colorful, they could at least tone it down a little.

[Holly]

I just started to play again (Diablo II) and am having a lot of fun even after all these years. It's even more fun when you roll with your friends in multiplayer. Although the game has it's disadvantages, such as item hunting, it's really good to just relax and enjoy. At least it is to me.