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Diablo - 20 years later

Joined
Jul 4, 2015
Messages
920
Diablo's release in 1996 is credited with "reviving" the CRPG genre, or bringing it into the mainstream. It was a mega seller, and established Blizzard as more than a one hit wonder. How did you find the game back in '96? What did you think of it back then? What do you think of it in hindsight? I was only 5 when it came out - was it truly the RPG revolution that its said to have been - did it really make CRPGs popular in the mainstream?
 

Gregz

Arcane
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Jul 31, 2011
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The Desert Wasteland
Honestly? Diablo brought me back to gaming after a 6 year hiatus.

That's how big of an impact it had on me in 1999.

I bought a used Playstation at a yard sale and rented the PS1 version of Diablo from a video store around the corner. After that I started playing counter-strike 1.5, then back to my first love, PC RPGs (Everquest in this case).
 
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octavius

Arcane
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Aug 4, 2007
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Bjørgvin
I liked it, and still do.
I don't agree with those saying it "killed" CRPGs (if anything "killed" (for a while, at least) CRPGs it was Doom in 1993). Diablo was released before the renaissance of the CRPG brought about by Fallout, Baldur's Gate and the revival of Might&Magic.
It created it's own niche of action CRPGs, but that genre was nowhere near as dominant as the real time strategy genre was.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
Mixture between disappointment (because I had expected something completely different, i.e. a proper rpg) and having quite some fun with the game.
The atmosphere was very good and the gameplay, while simplistic, could be rather addicting.
 

Neanderthal

Arcane
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Jul 7, 2015
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Granbretan
Fuck it were a pretty bloody game back in day, pure eye candy, perfect horror atmosphere and soundtrack backed it up, and art and design were restrained and fairly realistic. It just nailed down everythin it needed to, an hinted at so much more than were actually there. Diablo 2 were a let down in comparison for me, wandered too far away, and I don't even fucking recognise third un.

Wish centre o me disc ant crumbled away cos I still fancy a game ocassionally.

As I remember Battlenet back in day were fucking huge, I could always find a game whatever hour even years after release, sign o things to come I suppose.
 

Beastro

Arcane
Joined
May 11, 2015
Messages
7,952
Loved renting i in the summer of '97 and playing it with my brother and friends. Can't recall any game since then with such tense and scary coop as that, especially when the other person died and you had to run the hell away to make your corpse recovery a remote possibility.
 

pippin

Guest
Looking back, I thought Blizzard could do no wrong. I miss those days to be honest.
 

RPGMEN

Barely Literate
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
2
The music and general atmosphere of Diablo 1 is what sets it apart from other games at the time.

The point and clicking was fairly simple and shallow, but the atmosphere is what maintained your attention. Similar to how Planescape Torment has shitty mechanics but the atmosphere keeps you interested.

Games today are about nonstop action, something always has to be going on. The screen has to be flashing with lights and animations. Diablo 1 lacked all that. It was dark, you couldn't see everything, sometimes there was complete silence then you'd hear a slight noise and you'd know an enemy had sighted you. But there was exploration and down time in Diablo 1. Sometimes completely empty rooms. You could never tell if you'd be in a fight or not and that added to the fun. The music stopping is what enhanced the atmosphere beyond what modern games accomplish.

Most games today have non stop music to the point that you just tune it out subconciously as background noise. Like if you have a radio tuned to static after a while you don't even notice the background static. For a game to blend the music well it's not as easy as just turning off the music either, the music has to ease into the silence and then start up again without it being distracting. Diablo 1 accomplished this well.

Diablo 2 didn't have as many of these moments of silence and it was a much faster paced game than diablo 1. This lessened the atmosphere and made it into a rushing game without the need to stop and plan as much. Most games today are made for kids and people who don't like to stop and wait a bit to wonder if something is around the corner. They don't recognize the need for silence to enhance the atmosphere. There is too much flashing buttons, animations, and skill combos to click through for you to be able to get immersed.

Games today are purely mechanical and don't have moments for you to stop and wonder what is out there, what is lurking, what is in the silence. Yes, there are stories put into the games but even the stories have become mechanical which is why nobody respects stories any more. They are just another mechanic that needs to be accomplished so you can get back to the regular gameplay mechanics.
 

Akratus

Self-loathing fascist drunken misogynist asshole
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Diablo 1 and 2 were relatively good games with great atmosphere, art, cinematics and divine music. The gameplay of 2 was the biggest problem. Naturally it was the main reason the series became best-selling and remains succesful to this day. Just another spoke in the wheel of decline.
 

Dedup

Augur
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Messages
146
Diablo 1 was simplistic fun combined with great atmosphere. I remember a friend bringing his PC over to my house so we could play over LAN. Unfortunately I found that Diablo 2, while still decent, didn't have atmosphere as good as the first game nor did I enjoy the gameplay near as much despite (or maybe because of) the improvements Blizzard made.
 

Neanderthal

Arcane
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Its funny but as I remember I played Diablo straight after Betrayal at Krondor, and you couldn't really get further apart in same genre. I mean BaK was pretty much pure narrative, though reinforced by mechanics, and this is how RPGs are now for me in tabletop. Diablo though was how it all started really, and a perfect representation o that combined wi an atmosphere that lent game a lot more oomph than it really deserved.

Fuck me them were good times, then again I were easily impressed, I remember being chuffed pink that when in Tristram he took is helmet off and stuck it in crook o is arm, little details like that were fucking great. You know Divine Divinity? That's what I thought Diablo would evolve into, rather than staying fairly much same but a bit larger like 2 or becoming like 3. Div Div had samish art style, dungeons shared that stygian gloom, but DD had so much broader scope and so many more features and mechanics that interacted wi gameworld. I wish games would evolve like that, rather than devolve like they're doing.

Funny though D:OS now has big pauldron art like Blizzard went wi after Diablo, when both started wi that minimalist, realistic aesthetic. Wonder if they'll go same route, though obviously turning turn based was pure incline.
 

CreamyBlood

Arcane
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
1,392
I was almost thirty when it came out. Thought it was boring then and still do. I've usually had it installed on a crappy laptop for when I'm on the road and bored in hotel room but I always seem to lose interest a few levels after The Butcher and have never finished it and never will. Never thought much of it and still don't.
 

Shin

Cipher
Joined
Jan 5, 2015
Messages
677
I love me some Diablo, but don't see them as RPG's whatsoever. For some reason other hack n slash titles didn't really resonate with me, but I spend a shitton of hours grinding gear/playing slot machines. I remember how there was a period in D2 where I'd be like a friggin merchant; trading items, sniping good deals etc. This training kinda payed off when Diablo 3 got released with the real money auction house, made a few hundred dollars selling total garbage. I can agree the gameplay is shallow, but I think half the fun is (gameplay wise) figuring out builds. They largely killed that with D3 however :(.
 

Sothpaw

Learned
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
227
I love Diablo. Love Diablo II, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn, even Diablo 3 is fun now. It's a really fun genre; perfect for some mindless fun after a long work day.
 

Alex

Arcane
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Jun 14, 2007
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8,750
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São Paulo - Brasil
I bought Diablo (well, I asked for it as a Christmas gift, actually) because I thought it would be similar to Ultima 8, the only other isometric RPG I had played at the time. I was pretty disappointed when I finally got the game and instead I played much more Daggerfall and Ultima 7.

Eventually, though, I would get an internet connection and start playing online. From then on I would play it much more frequently. Though to be honest I would play it more so I could talk with my guild friends than because I wanted to actually play.
 

Jick Magger

Arcane
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Diablo was one of the few proper games that my dad let me play other than Doom 2 when I was a kid (while mum always got me edutainment games). Even though I was barely 6 at the time and had no idea what was going on, I'd always find myself getting really absorbed into its ultra dark and moody atmosphere. Remember the Butcher and the torture room full of dismembered bodies and gore used to give me nightmares too. In hindsight the gameplay was incredibly basic and the incessant clicking would get tiresome, but I still look back on it rather fondly.
 

28.8bps Modem

Prophet
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Jan 15, 2014
Messages
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The Internet, Circa 1993
I loved the original Diablo, never got in to Diablo 2 at all. As far as I'm concerned, Diablo 1 is a 2.5D version of Gauntlet and is fun as an arcade game. Diablo 2 has pretensions of being some sort of realtime RPG where you have to care about what you're doing. Diablo 1 also had memorable writing that I can still more or less recite from memory, despite not having played it in more than a decade. Nothing at all sticks in my mind about Diablo 2 except for the munchkin things in act one, which suggests how much impact it had on me.
 

MilesBeyond

Cipher
Joined
May 15, 2015
Messages
716
I thought Daggerfall was the game credited with resuscitating the RPG genre.

Anyway, I find Diablo enjoyable. Always thought of it as less of an RPG and more of a casual, action-oriented roguelike. The sequel would plunge headlong into RPG territory but Diablo 1, to me, always felt like it was more about survival and resource management than developing your character.
 

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