Game Debate #55: Diablo II

[Reed Rothchild | 9,586]

 

[Gloves | 11,839]

11.

[Sumez | 2,994]

Playing a billion other derivatives of Diablo 2, I've come to realize I maybe don't like this genre much?

But Diablo 1 and 2 just do everything right, and click well with me. In a genre often distilled into soulless number crunching and mindless grind, these games still manage to retain a ton of heart and atmosphere. It's not about the loot. The loot is a nice bonus, but it's about the cathartic experience of clearing out areas as you dive deeper into a hostile world, with enough randomness to make sure you're always facing unexpected challenges.

Compare Path of Exile's uninspiring clicking everywhere through an area until it's exterminated, and then moving on to the next. An otherwise pretty and well made game, there is just some magic in Diablo 2 that its closest immitator lacks almost entirely.

The same tendencies can be found in Diablo 3 which I did "enjoy", but had no compulsion to ever revisit. Meanwhile I have played through Diablo 2... I don't know? 10? 20 times? More?

I know a lot of people do play D2 on a different "level", focusing entirely on min-maxing everything, churning out the most effective grinds and loot runs. Good for them, if they enjoy it, but I see absolutely no enjoyment in mindless repetition and playing video games like spreadsheets.

To me, Diablo 2 is a nice 9/10

[twiztor | 855]

10 hours ago, Gloves said:

11.

easily.

in my Top 2 of all time, with the original Legend of Zelda.

this is my ultimate "sit back and get drunk and kill demons" game, where i've beaten it more times than i can count. ironically (?) i don't play this online, i don't try to find the 'perfect build', and don't get fully into item drops and percentages and all that. I vary which character i play as, and i just go around mauling demons. 'hack & slash' at its finest.

the storyline is an excellent extension of d1. The expansion, adding a 5th Act and more difficulty, was a perfect add-on.

i don't really know what else to say about this game other than that it's fucking amazing. i'm cautiously excited for the remake, even though i still regularly play the original to this day. 

fuck it, i'm gonna get drunk and play d2 all night tomorrow.

[Hammerfestus | 3,886]

Never played it.  I’ve played 1 and 3 (both of which I liked a lot) but never 2.

[Gloves | 11,839]

2 minutes ago, Hammerfestus said:

Never played it.  I’ve played 1 and 3 (both of which I liked a lot) but never 2.

Jesus Christ.

 

[Hammerfestus | 3,886]

2 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Jesus Christ.

 

Nah never played with him either.

[DefaultGen | 5,434]

10/10. Best CRPG I've played until a couple hundred hours of PoE finally convinced me something surpassed D2, but I certainly have played D2 longer. Everything about D2 is rad. Even just the sound effects are the best the genre's ever had.

If I had to complain about anything, the Sorceress is simply overpowered, because teleporting is the single best ability in the game. Hammerdins can teleport (more slowly) too, but how did you make Enigma? That's right, you used your MF Sorceress. Other classes just aren't mobile enough, something fixed in PoE which has all kinds of fast, useful movement skills. But hey, it's 20 years old and still holds up amazingly while everything else in the genre is still trying to be it.

[phart010 | 1,708]

I have given so many hours of my teenage life to this game. Thinking back to it, I actually have a negative feelings towards it because it has taken so much of my time that I should have been spending outside. It was only really fun when there were bugs and hacks

Edited June 24, 2021 by phart010

[DefaultGen | 5,434]

48 minutes ago, Hammerfestus said:

Never played it.  I’ve played 1 and 3 (both of which I liked a lot) but never 2.

How is this even possible. You seriously have to be in one of gaming history's smallest clubs, lol.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,018]

I never played it at release but I'm looking forward to the rerelease coming up. 

[Hammerfestus | 3,886]

10 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

How is this even possible. You seriously have to be in one of gaming history's smallest clubs, lol.

I wasn’t a PC gamer.  We didn’t even have a computer until like 00.  I had my PlayStation and by the end of 02 I wasn’t really playing any video games.  Way more into chasing women and drugs.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Hammerfestus

[Sumez | 2,994]

15 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

If I had to complain about anything, the Sorceress is simply overpowered, because teleporting is the single best ability in the game.

My first playthrough of the game when it came out was with an ice Sorceress, and even though she'a glass cannon, I wouldn't call her overpowered. Playing solo, there are a lot of individual places in the game where she'll be almost powerless, and be ready to die like a trillion billion times against Duriel, lol.

As a part of a team of course, she's invincible, but that's pretty much any character.
In my experiences, a Javazon is more powerful with fewer weaknesses.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Sumez

[Reed Rothchild | 9,586]

I've played through the first game about 20 times.

I've only played through 2 and 3 once apiece.  Guess I got most of my fill for this type of game right up front.

[Tanooki | 4,952]

I've played better, but not much, and definitely not in this specific style of genre.  As good as Diablo III is I find #2 still the better game despite being a much older release.  I for one can't wait to hit it again as it has been 2-3 years once that Switch/PC HD remaster pops up in a few months.  I know I've knocked it off quite a few times over the years, 5-10, I do other things, but still...last time I found the Hellfire add-on at a goodwill, so I had to do it again for that which was the last.

[Brickman | 4,015]

Very high 9/10. So many great hours sunk into this game and I’m looking forward to doing it all over again.

[sp1nz | 615]

To quote myself from here:

"Diablo II - I had played Diablo before but Diablo II took my interest to a higher plane. I was 12 at this point in time in the year 2000. I had 90+ LVL characters in softcore, I had 60+ LVL characters in hardcore that succumbed to my PC getting long-ass lagspikes that would conveniently end when my character had died in the game. I had a shared 88 LVL PvP necromancer with a friend. I lost my first account for downloading some sketchy program and it being a keylogger (lesson well learned), and with that account I lost the legendary name "Executioner" that I had gotten reserved in the early days on my barbarian. This game made me get into online socializing, I was friends with 20-36 year old guys and we played HC together and stuff, one of them was the one I shared the PvP necro with, he had 99 LVL HC Assassin too."

To expand on that I must've played Diablo II Lord of Destruction almost daily for like 2 years. For me D2 was the penultimate hack and slash until Path of Exile came around and Path of Exile exists mainly due to the developers being such big D2 fans. The character classes all have great personality and uniqueness to them, the game's atmosphere and ambient soundtrack are kick ass, the world is grimdark and gruesome - worthy portrayal of demons roaming the earth, the story and cutscenes are alluring and amazing, plenty of fun skills and synergies, the random rare items had potential to be amazing - not to mention charms, jewels, rune(word)s and powerful uniques AND the game even had a fun exp farm area in the form of the cow level. Even the battle.net online lobbies were rad. I was super hyped for Diablo III but that game was a flop for me when it launched and beyond - thank the heavens for Path of Exile swooping in and saving the day for me. Regardless of that I'm interested in the D2 re-master and new _PC_ Diablo and hope they deliver.

[Webhead123 | 687]

For its very simplistic, repetitive game loop, D2 was basically perfect for its time and genre. It took the proof-of-concept that was the first game and dramatically improved it in every conceivable way. It isn't a genre of game that I overly enjoy anymore but back in its day, it was rightfully among the top-tier of PC gaming and its influences have impacted the hobby to the present day.

A personal 8/10 when looking back on it today but back when it was new, I would have given it an easy "10".

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

I've only played three, which is sad.  I can't wait for the remaster to come out, I think this fall. 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

Never played it, but it seems interesting.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 586]

9/10.

 

Killer. Fucking. Game. Everyone should play it.

[peg | 372]

I played Diablo 1 for like 1000 hours, so much so that I completely burnt myself out to the series and entire genre.  Clicking the mouse 1 million times a second was like a coke rat pushing the button. 

[Tanooki | 4,952]

Diablo 2 removed that stupid design choice, you just click and it keeps going until you click elsewhere or its dead, then targets anyway the next near by.  It's why while I have D1 I play the PS1 release because you have direct gamepad control, not the death of a thousand clicks.