I never used them during combat. If a boss requires me to do that, I'd rather play something else. For me, they're simply for loot runs, and potion stocking runs. To each h-er/is own...
Diablo 2 is one of the best games, and a lot of memories from my childhood come to mind. We were racing with my friends, we did not have internet connection but we wanted to kill diablo as fast as possible! My sorceress nailed it first, I think. She had a lot of trouble with act2's boss, a lot of painful deaths, and to this day I hate that boss more than anything in any other game. Other than that she was strong and I blasted away every enemy with cold spells.
Duriel is incredibly difficult because of he has a freeze aura, he hits like a truck, and his room is the size of a closet. You probably need to open a town portal in his room and run away at least 2-3 times. At least when you first meet him.
This is another thing I always found ridiculous about this game. Town Portal scrolls were literally an integral part of combat. A far more cheesy mechanic than just about anything in Baldur's Gate come to think of it.
Plus he resists ice, I think, and I was a total noob, and low level too, kept throwing glacial spike after glacial spike and watched as its life bar barely moved a milimeter. At the meantime he dined on my hirelings, I threw as many glacial spikes as I could, and when my hireling was killed, fled to town to buy another one. (Yeah resurrecting was more expensive, so..)
The frustrating part about Diablo 2 was, if you lost a boss fight, you had to struggle the whole way back to the fight, battling the same kind of monsters again all the way from the closest spawn point you had unlocked. There was no way to save at a point of your choosing.
The portal system, with starting in town each time you start up the game and being only able to continue by picking a portal, makes the game into something you can't just pick up and quit again if you've had enough or need some Real Life things done. Any progress made that doesn't reach a portal is wasted as soon as you quit, so it was far too addictive to keep going on till you found a portal. It wouldn't fit into my life any more, I can't waste sleep like that, not like when I was in my twenties or thirties.
@Son_of_Imoen - the thing with the Boss fights was a bit frustrating. What I found as a work-around was to set up a Town Portal close to where the Boss fight was "Just in case". I tried not to Portal out in the middle of a fight if at all possible, but if I had one set up close by, I didn't have to slog through hoards of more monsters just to get back to the Boss.
I totally agree with your assessment of the way-point system. it was maddening to not be able to find the next way-point and having to quit and go back again later only to have to search all over again.
Titan's Quest waypoints are actually similar, but they have re-start points that are hard to miss. I've run into cities and failed to activate the appropriate point, which can lead to some long treks back to the city. Still, it's got so many epic win points. My favorite ARPG by far.
I've been looking at similar Diablo-style games, and I was surprised to learn just how many there actually are! Titan Quest, Path of Exile, Torchlight, Grim Dawn, Drakensang. That's hardly even touching the surface. Still, at least I have plenty of games to play from that genre
Anyone played Grim Dawn? I was looking at videos on YouTube. It has pretty good reviews.
My opinion is there are better games you could spend your time on but if you really liked Diablo then maybe you should give it a shot. I loved the first one and played it for hundreds of hours back in the 90s. Diablo 2 not so much. It just felt more of the same, too repetitive, too generic. I don't know it just lacked something for me.
I have the Diablo II discs from a long time ago. I still need to play it since it has a Necromancer class that's supposedly a really good representation of the Necromancer in video game format.
Not a fan of solo-adventures, though. Are there companions of any sort in Diablo II?
@Vallmyr, you get one generic companion, which can be upgraded as the game progresses. They don't have stories or say much, though, and even their names are randomly generated.
If I remember correctly, they're all but useless and get killed in short order upon meeting a tough mob or boss. I preferred summons.
With the latest patch, and with some of the amazing rune words on halberds, (yeah good luck trying to find all of the runes!) act 2 mercs become very very useful. They can even take out mobs reliably in hell difficulty on their own.
For classes who can not have a summon (Sorceress!) a hireling is still a godsend, monsters concentrate on the hireling while you can burn/freeze/electrocute them to death from safety.
I couldn't have defeated Duriel if not the steady soldier supply of act 2. I think I had 20 or more of them slaughtered horribly till I finally killed the overgrown maggot/cockroach monstrosity that is Duriel. Sniff...I never forget their brave sacrifices. (and the fact that what a lousy player I was, lol)
OK, so I downloaded both Diablo 2 and Titan Quest: Immortal Throne. I have to say, Titan Quest is epic. I prefer it to Diablo 2. I love the skill system and the way you have to think about building your character so both masteries work well together. I also love the whole Greek mythology theme it has to it. There's something satisfying about bringing down a giant minotaur after traversing a labyrinth.
I was wondering if anyone wants to start a new game with me on Gameranger. I think it'd be great to play multiplayer.
I don't know if it has been mentioned (or if it is still even relevant given the most recent post) but another game in that genre worth looking into is Dungeon Siege. It is the same type of thing and there are a fair number of mods out there worth playing as well. There's even one that converts swords into Lightsabers.
@wraith5461, no, Dungeon Siege 1 and Dungeon Siege 2 are the same genre as Diablo and Titan Quest, with the unique distinction that you can recruit a small party to assist you.
The recruitable characters don't say much, though. They amount to summoned assistants. You can play solo to make it *exactly* like Diablo or Titan Quest, but it is much more difficult to play that way, because monster strength and numbers are balanced assuming you'll have companions to draw part of the aggro.
In Dungeon Siege 2, there are some really unique, interesting, and fun character building choices added in. You can recruit things like dire wolves and ice elementals for companions, and you can "feed" them your junk drops to make them "grow" and get stronger. Their sprites and animations even change onscreen as they grow. The humanoid companions have side quests added that only unlock when you have that particular companion.
Characters have special slow-recharge "powers" that can be chosen and developed in additon to their regular skill tree. Timers can be as long as 60 seconds, but they often amount to "I win" buttons when used - the fun is deciding when to trigger them, since they won't be useable again for a long time.
Shoot, now you've got me wanting to replay both Dungeon Siege games. I bought them both into my Steam library during a sale some time ago.
Oh, there's a Dungeon Siege 3, but I've never played it. Community feedback was that it ruined the franchise by completely messing up the formula for the game by trying to make it console-compatible.
The game I am most looking forward to is Grim Dawn. After watching several videos and reading lots of reviews, it looks like it will become one of my favorite games when they FINALLY get around to releasing the full version.
@BelgarathMTH pretty much nailed the description of Dungeon Siege. It's Diablo but with the potential for a party into the bargain. One of the things I liked about DS was that there were no load times. And it was actually a good deal more 3D than Diablo games. You could ride elevators and shift levels, all seamlessly without having to wait.
And there are a bunch of mods out there to tweak your game play any way you like. You should check it out if you are enjoying Diablo 2 and Titan Quest; at least until Grim Dawn actually fully launches.
@the_spyder Ah, yes. You did. Sorry, it's been a rather long and stressful day, so my comprehension skills aren't at their highest level. Fatigue caused me to take a major hit to my Wisdom score lol.
I'm definitely more likely to enjoy Dungeon Siege if there are good mods. There are supposed to be a tonne of mods for Titan Quest and I intend to test them out after my first playthrough (as an Assassin, in case you were wondering). The Diablo 2 mod had a team working on it for years. I'm sure somebody reading this thread may have played it, and can give us some info on how good it actually is.
As for Dungeon Siege (2), I watched a review on YouTube and apparently the loot is kind of junky, and finding a useful item is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Is that true?
It's been years since I played. My recollection is that it is no harder than it is in Diablo 2 to find something useful. And remember that you have a party of characters so you have a wider pool of classes to select from when assigning items. But again this is recollection from years ago.
I will say that it won't prevent you from (a) completing the game and (b) having a challenge while doing it.
There's a community mod for Titan Quest that is considered almost a "must-have". It doesn't change the game any, it just adds several convenience tweaks and fixes a lot of bugs.
I also highly recomment TQ Vault. It's a utility that lets you organize all your loot drops over time into a permanent collection, with more storage space than you could ever possibly need, in one convenient location, eliminating the need for mule characters. You can bring up your character files in the Vault and equip them as desired, as well as make copies and transfer items from character to character.
And, if you just can't stand your character and want a total do-over without spending the time in the game, there's a good character editor called TQ Defiler:
I actually prefer Diablo 1. Technically it might be inferior but it had more memorable NPCs (The Butcher, King Leoric, Zar the Mad, the betraying goat man, Wirt, Adria, the drunk, the smith with the dwarven accent etc).
It had better atmosphere and it was shorter but more compressed and the areas didn't overstay their welcome.
Also, there's a remake for Neverwinter Nights 1 called The Lord of Terror -Diablo Campaign, which includes the whole game, the expansion, unfinished quests and areas and you can recruit companions and use gameplay from 3.0E.
When I was younger I didn't really consider the difference all that much, but in recent years I find myself enjoying Diablo 1 A LOT more than diablo 2.
The atmosphere, the monsters and the overall dungeon design was just more scary and disturbing.
I mean walking through the catacombs and just suddenly being charged by one of those horned demons out of the darkness, really used to put a chill into me. Not to mention the music theme that plays during the Catacombs is rather creepy as I'm sure you all know:P
O_O never before seen trailer = diablo 1.5 confirmed
A tragic tale where the wanderer, plagued by the growing influence of Diablo in his mind, arrives in Zakarum, only to realize that somehow pulling the soulstone out of his head and leaving it in what looks like Tristram 2 was a horrible idea and the player must guide him through his adventure back.
Comments
Aah, good times, good times...
The portal system, with starting in town each time you start up the game and being only able to continue by picking a portal, makes the game into something you can't just pick up and quit again if you've had enough or need some Real Life things done. Any progress made that doesn't reach a portal is wasted as soon as you quit, so it was far too addictive to keep going on till you found a portal. It wouldn't fit into my life any more, I can't waste sleep like that, not like when I was in my twenties or thirties.
I totally agree with your assessment of the way-point system. it was maddening to not be able to find the next way-point and having to quit and go back again later only to have to search all over again.
Emphasis on A and not on the RP part...
Anyone played Grim Dawn? I was looking at videos on YouTube. It has pretty good reviews.
Not a fan of solo-adventures, though. Are there companions of any sort in Diablo II?
For classes who can not have a summon (Sorceress!) a hireling is still a godsend, monsters concentrate on the hireling while you can burn/freeze/electrocute them to death from safety.
I couldn't have defeated Duriel if not the steady soldier supply of act 2. I think I had 20 or more of them slaughtered horribly till I finally killed the overgrown maggot/cockroach monstrosity that is Duriel. Sniff...I never forget their brave sacrifices. (and the fact that what a lousy player I was, lol)
I was wondering if anyone wants to start a new game with me on Gameranger. I think it'd be great to play multiplayer.
Just sayin...
The recruitable characters don't say much, though. They amount to summoned assistants. You can play solo to make it *exactly* like Diablo or Titan Quest, but it is much more difficult to play that way, because monster strength and numbers are balanced assuming you'll have companions to draw part of the aggro.
In Dungeon Siege 2, there are some really unique, interesting, and fun character building choices added in. You can recruit things like dire wolves and ice elementals for companions, and you can "feed" them your junk drops to make them "grow" and get stronger. Their sprites and animations even change onscreen as they grow. The humanoid companions have side quests added that only unlock when you have that particular companion.
Characters have special slow-recharge "powers" that can be chosen and developed in additon to their regular skill tree. Timers can be as long as 60 seconds, but they often amount to "I win" buttons when used - the fun is deciding when to trigger them, since they won't be useable again for a long time.
Shoot, now you've got me wanting to replay both Dungeon Siege games. I bought them both into my Steam library during a sale some time ago.
Oh, there's a Dungeon Siege 3, but I've never played it. Community feedback was that it ruined the franchise by completely messing up the formula for the game by trying to make it console-compatible.
And there are a bunch of mods out there to tweak your game play any way you like. You should check it out if you are enjoying Diablo 2 and Titan Quest; at least until Grim Dawn actually fully launches.
I'm definitely more likely to enjoy Dungeon Siege if there are good mods. There are supposed to be a tonne of mods for Titan Quest and I intend to test them out after my first playthrough (as an Assassin, in case you were wondering). The Diablo 2 mod had a team working on it for years. I'm sure somebody reading this thread may have played it, and can give us some info on how good it actually is.
As for Dungeon Siege (2), I watched a review on YouTube and apparently the loot is kind of junky, and finding a useful item is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Is that true?
I will say that it won't prevent you from (a) completing the game and (b) having a challenge while doing it.
http://www.titanquest.net/tq-forum/threads/29712-REL-Bugfix-patch-1-17
I also highly recomment TQ Vault. It's a utility that lets you organize all your loot drops over time into a permanent collection, with more storage space than you could ever possibly need, in one convenient location, eliminating the need for mule characters. You can bring up your character files in the Vault and equip them as desired, as well as make copies and transfer items from character to character.
http://www.titanquest.net/tq-forum/threads/32999-REL-TQVault-2-3-0-x
And, if you just can't stand your character and want a total do-over without spending the time in the game, there's a good character editor called TQ Defiler:
http://www.tq.soulseekkor.com/
It had better atmosphere and it was shorter but more compressed and the areas didn't overstay their welcome.
Also, there's a remake for Neverwinter Nights 1 called The Lord of Terror -Diablo Campaign, which includes the whole game, the expansion, unfinished quests and areas and you can recruit companions and use gameplay from 3.0E.
Thanks guys.
Ah fresh meat!
The atmosphere, the monsters and the overall dungeon design was just more scary and disturbing.
I mean walking through the catacombs and just suddenly being charged by one of those horned demons out of the darkness, really used to put a chill into me. Not to mention the music theme that plays during the Catacombs is rather creepy as I'm sure you all know:P
That is probably my favorite cinematic, although it's not actually included in the main series.
A tragic tale where the wanderer, plagued by the growing influence of Diablo in his mind, arrives in Zakarum, only to realize that somehow pulling the soulstone out of his head and leaving it in what looks like Tristram 2 was a horrible idea and the player must guide him through his adventure back.