Game News Spectre of Diablo III

[Fez]

Diablo 2 isn't a bad game, just don't get it expecting a deep role-playing experience.

 

[Jed]

Oh, I don't--which is why I've never bothered over the years. Maybe I might give it a spin--CRPG-dom is dry enough these days. What class(es) is(are) most fun to play?

 

[DemonKing]

I liked D1 very much - it was fun on-line and had great graphics for the time.

D2 wa a bit of a bust for me. I hated the save points (in the original you could save anywhere) and the graphics were disappointing, particularly since it was released the same week as IWD, which had really quite beautiful graphics as well as a far superior story.

I would like to see Blizzard try a full-on party-based CRPG - preferably in the isometric style, although probably it would be more akin to KOTOR (and also a console title), if Vivendi had their way. I'm sure it would sell like hotcakes although long-term longevity might be a problem, since part of Blizzard's success is clearly in developing titles that people keep playing *years* after release - mainly via a strong multi-player component.

 

[Surlent]

Oh, I don't--which is why I've never bothered over the years. Maybe I might give it a spin--CRPG-dom is dry enough these days. What class(es) is(are) most fun to play?

Well I just started playing the expansion.
But vanilla D2, barbarian is your basic fighter. He's good especially with two handed weapon and whirlwind skill. At high levels mana and health drain weapon are big plus.

Sorcerer is your mage. Stay in the background and blast enemies aways with spells. Keep mana potions handy.

Paladin sounds nice but in practise works better in team games than in single player. Still some of his auras give nice bonuses like resistance bonus against elements.

Amazon is bow/javeling and spear type person, which means she is very versatile in both ranged and melee combat if you build her right. I've seen most ppl build their amazonz either way ranged or spear skill tree. At higher levels be sure to pick up decoy/valkyrie, it's lifesaver.

Necromancer is most different of other and IMO entertaining. Summon golems and skeletons to do your bidding. It's relaxing change from sorc or barbarian rapic hack 'n slash. At high levels like near normal end game basic skeletons aren't that tough. Golems and raising fallen enemies rock though. Skull spears and missiles provide good ranged attacks for necro but don't count on them (instead support your raised minions with them)

And what comes to xpansion v1.07... I just started with druid. Wolf shaping destrois most enemies but against tougher enemies bear form is better choice. You can't use elemental spells in shapeshifting form which is shame. But summoning spells you can, healing wine is great.

 

[z3r'0']

Diablo 1 had a much better atmosphere than Diablo 2, and the monster animations were a lot more fluid and better rendered than they were in the sequel. What I liked most about Diablo 1 was the gothic setting, with the basement of the ruined cathedral and so forth. The game felt simply sinister in comparison to the lighter themed Diablo 2.

Exactly!

I can accept new gfx etc. I just wish they would bring some of that old school ::evil:: back.

 

[z3r'0']

It was my first computer game.

:heh: My first PC game too.
Back then I didn't even realize there were genres like RPG.

I was like: "Fuck'n A! A game! Cool." Whereupon I disapeared for days into some dark gloomy room.

Diablo has all these MMO's beat. I mean if you think about it... Gameplay wise technically
most MMO's have basically the same idea, Diablo had back in 1996.

Those first few months online @ Battle-net were great. I remember connecting on my old
28.8kbps modem, praying and hoping I didn't lag. Lag was (is?) a real killer on analogue lines.
A noob in a brave new world. Great fun until all those gay cheaters started fuckin the game
up with shit like "The Godly Plate of the Whale", +200 HP, and other cheat items.
The magic never really returned after that. Todays B-net is a huge but poor recollection
of its past glory. I suppose thats where NWN was supposed to come in.

:disclaimer: Apologies, I just got caught in a nostalgic flashback there.

 

[Sarvis]

Err... pretty sure Godly Plate of the Whale was a legit item, it's just that DUPING it was too easy.

Hrm... all this Diablo makes me wanna play Diablo 2... never got the chance when it came out because my computer sucked.

 

[Fez]

It's been a long time since I've played either of them, but I remember some Diablo fans arguing that the graphics/art was superior in the first game. Perhaps something to do with the animation? Any Diablo fanatics here know better?

 

[Spazmo]

A lot of people here talking about Diablo 2... perhaps a resurgence of POWAR ARMOR MANS D2 is coming?

 

[Fez]

MAYBE. If the gods will it so...

 

[merry andrew]

I played through Diablo I with all four characters, had a lot of fun, but then never got around to playing Diablo II.

Please make another Diablo like Diablo I so I can be cool again.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I actually found a King's Sword of Haste legitimately, unfortunately it was a sabre and not a Bastard Sword.

I did find a Lord's Sword of Speed, which is second best to KSOH, though. That made my day.

 

[Pegultagol]

I like the skill progression scheme in Diablo II. I think some of it could even be implemented in a conventional RPG. The graphics were behind its times, but the upped resolution in the exp pack made up for it more or less. It really is multiplayer oriented, and I hope some refinements would be made to Battle.net to make it easier to form groups and such like Guild Wars.

 

[Killzig]

A lot of those King's ... I found just by talking to wirt, reload, talk to wirt, reload talk to wirt. King's Axe of the Heavens was my favorite, none of the axes in D2 looked that bad ass either which was a shame.

 

[xemous]

diablo 2 has better graphics than diablo 1.

 

[Jed]

More stupid questions: If I decide to play, is D1 a must, or is it okay to skip to D2? If I only play D2, should I play it first, then the expansion, or play D2 with the expansion already installed?

 

[Sol Invictus]

It's fine to skip to Diablo 2 without playing D1. The manual will explain what happened thus far. If you play Diablo 2 be sure to install the Expansion AND the 1.10 patch to get the most out of the game. The Expansion adds a 5th Act to the pre-existing 4 acts of Diablo 2, as well as Elite Items, 2 additional classes (Druid and Assassin), rune words and a bunch of other stuff.

 

[Jed]

Thanks for the info, Rex!

 

[Halenthal]

Personally I don't care if Blizzard develops another Diablo, Starcraft 2, more MMO stuff or anything else at all. What I'd *like* to see them develop is a full length feature movie or two. My favorite part of every Blizzard game has always been the cutscenes (well ok repeatedly clicking peons and grunts in Warcraft 1 and 2 was also really really fun).

If you can still find it, I'm sure it's out there somewhere, watch the DivX trailer for Warcraft 3. Watch the cutscenes in Diablo II's Lord of Destruction. Really awesome cinematics, so awesome that I think they should stop making games and start making movies.

 

[RGE]

Yeah, the cut scenes in Diablo II were great, and really did a good job of setting the mood for the whole quest. I still remember the "east across broken lands...always to the east" narration.

 

[Flink]

Diablo 2 should DEFINATLY be played with the 1.10 patch. It really makes the game better as well as more accessable to newbies. The new synergies makes it a lot harder to build a broken character that wont work later on, etc.

Diablo really did have a better style then D2. D1 felt spooky as hell. D2 never had that effect on me, although it was a lot of fun...

Damn it, now I feel like replaying it too. :/

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Diablo's hell was kind of a let down for me. I liked the hell in Diablo 2 much better. Other than that, though, I think the tileset in the first game was much, much better. Diablo 2, even though demons were infesting everything and murdering people and running amok, didn't have the tortured and butchered human tiles like the first game did. Without seeing the evidence of the demon critter rampaging, Diablo 2's atmosphere just felt rather sterile. At the very least, the Rogue Monastary should have been a bloodbath like the catacombs in Tristram from Diablo.

The Rogues would have fought, and they would have lost. I don't think demons really would care to clean up after themselves in that event, either.

 

[Astromarine]

My take on that was that the Rogues didn't *fight*, they were largely corrupted and joined the enemy. I saw plenty of that bloodbath stuff in Act 3, in Mephisto's Lair.

 

[Killzig]

I'm going to go with Saint on this one. There definitely wasn't the same gore/horror of it all vibe in D2 as in D1.