DAY 113 / GAME 113
Diablo II
I remember everyone being pretty excited about the launch of Diablo 2. Now, at the time I didn't really know what Diablo was and I hadn't really played anything like it before either. So with the launch upcoming a friend of mine lent me his copy of part 1 while I eagerly awaited for my preorder to be fulfilled. So, shortly after, Diablo 2 was released and I popped by EB to pick it up. I got home, started the install and flipped through the case and instruction booklet as I waited for the progress bar to reach 100%. Then, the fated moment arrived. I went to start up the game and it prompted me for the 'play' disc and the serial number, neither of which were in the box where they should be. Good job EB.
I went into the store and explained the situation. Luckily they didn't dispute the convenience of it all, but unfortunately they were right out of stock and I had to wait a week for a replacement copy. So, in the meantime I made my way through part 1 until it came in.
Diablo 2 was just this solid solid title that both chewed through your mouse and your free hours. At a time when a lot of games were moving into realtime rendering engines, Diablo 2 instead stuck with prerendered backgrounds and sprites. Since the isometric 3rd person camera was fixed and the sprites never had to scale, this worked perfect. It meant Blizzard could use high quality sprites that looked fantastic, but didn't have to worry about them loosing fidelity if the camera zoomed in closer, or the characters moved in towards the camera. But of course, the only issue with that method, as always, is that you are limited to a particular maximum resolution. In this case 640x480 pixels, which is terribly low-def, or 800x600 with the Lord of Destruction add on, which is a much more acceptable.
Regardless, it still stands the test of time in my opinion. When Diablo 3 was released, it came with a copy of Diablo 2 on a custom flash drive. Since it turned out I couldn't run 3 without a video card upgrade, I ended up reinstalling Diablo 2 to play while I waited for my new hardware order to show up. Though I don't have the biggest screen out there, (19.5" Widescreen LCD) I still found that the SVGA graphics held up and my romp through Tristram brought back old memories. Heck, for a game released in the summer of 2000 it sure plays great. Everything worked out quite well. The inventory system was solid and simple, the game offered a myriad of different classes and skill trees to level into and the soundtrack by Matt Uelmen is in my opinion better than that of Diablo 3.
There was so much that was fantastic about this game. The Battle.net online mode was nice and separate from the single player offline mode. Playing with other friends was quick and easy, plus, spamming my one friend with hydra spells that brought his computer to a halt because of his video card, was always more fun that it should have been. The different locations of the 4 acts were full of personality. The rainy plains near Tristram, the dangerous tombs of the eastern desert, the creepy shamans and demons of the tribal jungle and of course facing off with Diablo himself in hell. Blizzard of course has some of the finest artists in the industry and Diablo 2 shows this well. The creature design is absolutely fantastic and is only limited by small sprite size and resolution. The location design is unique and memorable, showing both care for visual style and playability.
Diablo 2 represents the height of Blizzard games for me. I certainly appreciate other releases since then, but I've always felt that this was their finest hour and that it best represented the brand throughout it's long lifetime. I still absolutely adore the soundtrack and the game's playability almost 15 years after it's release. I haven't even beat Diablo 3 yet, I put it down and haven't picked it back up yet. I'm not sure if there's something about it I don't like, or if it just came about at the wrong time in my life. Either way, I've always got more time for some Diablo 2.
Diablo II
I remember everyone being pretty excited about the launch of Diablo 2. Now, at the time I didn't really know what Diablo was and I hadn't really played anything like it before either. So with the launch upcoming a friend of mine lent me his copy of part 1 while I eagerly awaited for my preorder to be fulfilled. So, shortly after, Diablo 2 was released and I popped by EB to pick it up. I got home, started the install and flipped through the case and instruction booklet as I waited for the progress bar to reach 100%. Then, the fated moment arrived. I went to start up the game and it prompted me for the 'play' disc and the serial number, neither of which were in the box where they should be. Good job EB. I went into the store and explained the situation. Luckily they didn't dispute the convenience of it all, but unfortunately they were right out of stock and I had to wait a week for a replacement copy. So, in the meantime I made my way through part 1 until it came in.
Diablo 2 was just this solid solid title that both chewed through your mouse and your free hours. At a time when a lot of games were moving into realtime rendering engines, Diablo 2 instead stuck with prerendered backgrounds and sprites. Since the isometric 3rd person camera was fixed and the sprites never had to scale, this worked perfect. It meant Blizzard could use high quality sprites that looked fantastic, but didn't have to worry about them loosing fidelity if the camera zoomed in closer, or the characters moved in towards the camera. But of course, the only issue with that method, as always, is that you are limited to a particular maximum resolution. In this case 640x480 pixels, which is terribly low-def, or 800x600 with the Lord of Destruction add on, which is a much more acceptable. There was so much that was fantastic about this game. The Battle.net online mode was nice and separate from the single player offline mode. Playing with other friends was quick and easy, plus, spamming my one friend with hydra spells that brought his computer to a halt because of his video card, was always more fun that it should have been. The different locations of the 4 acts were full of personality. The rainy plains near Tristram, the dangerous tombs of the eastern desert, the creepy shamans and demons of the tribal jungle and of course facing off with Diablo himself in hell. Blizzard of course has some of the finest artists in the industry and Diablo 2 shows this well. The creature design is absolutely fantastic and is only limited by small sprite size and resolution. The location design is unique and memorable, showing both care for visual style and playability.Diablo 2 represents the height of Blizzard games for me. I certainly appreciate other releases since then, but I've always felt that this was their finest hour and that it best represented the brand throughout it's long lifetime. I still absolutely adore the soundtrack and the game's playability almost 15 years after it's release. I haven't even beat Diablo 3 yet, I put it down and haven't picked it back up yet. I'm not sure if there's something about it I don't like, or if it just came about at the wrong time in my life. Either way, I've always got more time for some Diablo 2.
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