Same here, probably the first at-launch game I'll buy since Kingmaker. The gameplay videos look excellent.
I wonder if good sales/reviews might encourage Blizz to do a second expansion on it. Probably a huge longshot but that would be my hope. Apparently they had planned to do one back in the day.
If nothing else, a patch tweaking some of the items would be worthwhile. There's good reason for them to leave the game in its classic state for awhile after launch. But I really think the game could use some tweaks to item properties to create a little more variety, perhaps a couple of years after launch. Though I can understand much of the D2 community would bristle at that.
In a way that's why I'd welcome an expansion pack. As that would allow them to leave the classic title as is, just as they did with pre-LoD D2. An expansion pack could open up opportunities for helpful tweaks.
All this talk made me continue my Diablo 1 playthrough with the Rogue. Because what is a better time to play it?
I reached the dungeon lvl 10 now ("The Cave") after barely surviving in the Crypt against the pack of poison spitters with their mini-boss. Had to gulp full potions of health in seconds.
But it was totally worth it. Now my Rogue reached a 100% to-hit chance and finally put some scales armour on.
Lead producer Chris Lena said "the door is open for things like balance changes to help keep the game vibrant for a modern community – if, indeed, players indicate that they actually want that to happen. Either way, that process starts with the alphas."
I decided to replay Diablo1 again. No mods, rogue. I forgot how much time each level actually takes to complete. On the first evening I got to dungeon level 4. The quests I got were:
Poisoned water supply (unique ring, empyrial band or something? )
Ogdens sign
No difficulties until here. I found a book of healing which is my go to spell. Some minor books were found in addition and I bumped up some magic to read them. They will come in handy against immune monsters.
The biggest treasure was a bow of the bear which does knock back, very useful in diablo for ranged characters. I went without armour and cap for almost the entire time until I found an armour that gave +12% resistance to all elements.
On the second evening I played to dungeon level 8 and I received the quests.
The magic rock (unique ring,...)
Valor (unique armor, arkaines valor)
The chamber of bone
No difficulties, in the last level I found a helmet with +8% (?) resistances to all elements
I ended yesterday in dungeon level 11 with
The black mushroom, partially done, no brain yet.
I got both forms of the lava monsters in level 10. They were tough to get rid of since they have good hp and have a ranged attack. I used lightning quite a lot if they came in packs. I stopped a level earlier than I would have liked to reach.
Overall my to hit is now 108%. Armor is not that high (forgot how much, but in the thirties). I have reduce damage by 4 from armour and ring which keeps me relatively safe. Knock back is the biggest life saver.
Continuing soon.
I will play hellfire after this run. Could be the same character, but I could also use a hidden class like bard.
I don't like it. While Blizzard approved it as "official" back in the day, it was basically a product akin to a level-pack for Doom. While the walking speed in town in the original can be annoying, the speed in Hellfire feels off. The deliberate pace of the original is part of the game. The 3 archetype classes in Diablo are really all that is needed given how limited the scope is. I dont know what purpose or niche the Monk fills other than it's name. The unfinished Bard even less so. There are some good ideas (like weapon oils), but I think it is just something on the level of Spear of Destiny (Wolfenstein 3D) or Swords of Xeen (Might and Magic). Which is to say, basically a mod that was given the official seal by the developer to sell it commercially.
The original team behind the first two games didn't care for it either, but they were overruled by Davidson, who was publishing their games back then.
I thought the extra concept classes are okay to use once in a while. Extra dungeons and end boss are welcome.
I actually forgot about the oils. The issue I have with them is that they just get hoarded until the end game. No use wasting them on bad gear early game.
Overall I agree, the quality is not really there. I don't know if it was ever considered canon
I thought the extra concept classes are okay to use once in a while. Extra dungeons and end boss are welcome.
I actually forgot about the oils. The issue I have with them is that they just get hoarded until the end game. No use wasting them on bad gear early game.
Overall I agree, the quality is not really there. I don't know if it was ever considered canon
It was considered "official" at the time, but calling it canon would be a huge stretch. Canon is that the Warrior beat Diablo and was compelled to shove the soulstone in his head. The Rogue fell and became Blood Raven, and the Sorcerer exiled himself to the Arcane Sanctuary and became the Summoner. Hellfire doesn't play into this at all.
My Rogue reached the dungeon lvl 13 now and said "I must be getting close". Haven't encountered much trouble on lvls 10-12 as I'm trying to play very cautiously (this is my first time in Diablo 1). I usually use the healing staff between combat (haven't put points to mana except for a few elixirs and shrines which provided a permanent boost). Griswold finally had something decent in his store (an amulet giving +42 health).
Here is my character (with the knockback bow from early dungeon levels):
It also means most mods will be fairly easy to convert, but with millions active players on the ladder and a expanded shared stash, PlugY won't be nearly as necessary. In fact, it's almost certain the developers added the main quality of life changes (more stat screens and the bigger stash) BECAUSE of PlugY. Seems to me they are actively aware of how many people play the original game in 2021.
That's great though. Now to add a mod loader interface and people will never stop playing, just like Baldurs Gate.
Blizzard has no problem altering their basic systems and UI functions because of mods. Many of the most essential features that deal with QoL that have been added to World of Warcraft started as mods.
This made me laugh. When I read about Resurrected my mind wandered to the Gem activated, thinking if they would perhaps add something new to that old easter egg-thingy. This guy apparently found it on the website, hehe
It also means most mods will be fairly easy to convert, but with millions active players on the ladder and a expanded shared stash, PlugY won't be nearly as necessary. In fact, it's almost certain the developers added the main quality of life changes (more stat screens and the bigger stash) BECAUSE of PlugY. Seems to me they are actively aware of how many people play the original game in 2021.
From an interview they gave, they acknowledged that commonplace muling was the reason they felt comfortable adding the shared stash.
If people take so much time putting stuff on other characters rather than actually playing the game, then yes, that is a problem
It is just intensely time-consuming and pointless 20 years later. To move items "legitimately" by yourself, you literally have to open a game, stay in it for 5 minutes, log out with the items on the ground, log in on another character within 5 minutes, HOPE nothing went wrong, and then pick up whatever you wanted to transfer.
The base stash in LoD can hold maybe 10 items. In vanilla D2, it was even smaller still. I get how this didn't trivialize the experience in 2000, made decisions meaningful. In 2021, it is absolute nonsense, and EVERY ARPG has an infinitely bigger stash. Not making this move would be absurd. The main reason I play is to collect unique items.
I got the anvil of fury quest and that gave me griswolds edge. A nice broadsword with knockback as well.
But.. Magma demons, horned demons, and lightning demons... These critters are slowing down my progress substantially.
And I still cannot find a proper bow outside the one with knockdown. If anything I might actually just find some stats, a shield and use the sword.
If people take so much time putting stuff on other characters rather than actually playing the game, then yes, that is a problem
It is just intensely time-consuming and pointless 20 years later. To move items "legitimately" by yourself, you literally have to open a game, stay in it for 5 minutes, log out with the items on the ground, log in on another character within 5 minutes, HOPE nothing went wrong, and then pick up whatever you wanted to transfer.
The base stash in LoD can hold maybe 10 items. In vanilla D2, it was even smaller still. I get how this didn't trivialize the experience in 2000, made decisions meaningful. In 2021, it is absolute nonsense, and EVERY ARPG has an infinitely bigger stash. Not making this move would be absurd. The main reason I play is to collect unique items.
I'll be curious how big the shared area gets. It was an absolute must-add feature. Another point to note on it, was that in D2 you could create essentially an infinite number of characters online, using multiple accounts, there was no limit by CD-key. I'm sure there's going to be character limits tied to your account on new bnet, harder to get around. They had to do something or the online play would actually less resemble the classic experience. Stash space would be at a premium.
A shared stash is honestly the more elegant solution, allowing them to limit online character amounts and thus be better able to monitor and punish cheating.
I've progressed to the Lazarus chamber. Combat in the Hell became challenging and I nearly always run out of all 8 full healing potions. Twice I had super close calls regarding going nearly 10% of hitpoints without any potions left.
@lroumen The listed damage on bows is deceptive, since the damage is simply added to the Rogue's base damage. A rogue with 100 dexterity might do 25-30 damage with a crappy bow.
This is why it doesn't matter much that you (and I) are still using that knock back bow: what matters is its enchantment.
Seeing a lot of Succubus and Advocate monsters, I bought a new bow from Wirt, that adds +12 to each stat. I swap between this bow and the knock back one. Costed me 80k gold.
Also, reading above about different quests I haven't done, I googled and turns out that some quests are random. I understand now I actually got lucky with getting the Lachdanan quest: he rewarded me with a unique helmet giving +50 resist to everything: Veil of Steel.
Veil of Steel
Great Helm
Armor Class: 18
+50% Resist All
-20% Light Radius
+60% Armor
-30 Mana
+15 Strength
+15 Vitality
Durability: 60
This is so lucky for my Rogue, especially since I haven't found too many unique items during this playthrough. It feels special because getting this quest is random from 2 possible options, and him dropping a unique item is random. And that item being something so useful for the Rogue is an icing on the cake.
I saw a similar bow at Wirt for 72k, but I only have 58k so that means I have to save a bit. Hoping I will not level before it goes away (I think it is tied to level at least. Griswolds is).
And indeed. I hope it dont get the warlord of blood either. Lachdanan is more intriguing and more rewarding.
I have not found any unique item that is not a quest reward already so I hope to score one still soon.
I indeed got the lachdanan quest which was very easy to do. You just search one level down for the item. When I combated those succubi, the boss type dropped a dragons breach unique kite shield.
Not bad at all. Now I will actually fight Diablo twice. Once with bow (with knockback or a second with resistance to all, once with sword (griswolds edge and dragons breach).
Then when I wanted to face Lazarus and walked around town for gossip I actually saw that gharbad was still waiting for his thing. Too bad he didn't drop anything useful.
Only level 15 is left...
And so endeth the run.
Ploink Ploink at 60% resist all and Diablo goes down. Then I repeated in melee and I see my rogue blocking almost all of Diablos attacks. She gets interrupted but she slowly chips away at him.
He does not stand a chance.
I'll check how to cut and upload the end game as a small video snippet
I did it! I finished Diablo 1. The game released in 1997. I finished it only in 2021. The Galaxy client shows 12.5 hours in the game, and those were fine hours.
In a similar way to D2, Diablo 1 provided a feeling of badassery in the end, with all the items I found. Finally, I could use cool-looking armor. Finally, I found a bow even better than I had seen in both stores. Finally, I got a +8 all attributes ring. Finally, I reached some gold text on the character screen.
The fight against Diablo was short but still kept me on my toes. I had to leave the area without any healing potions left at first. Then I returned and finished him off.
Diablo 1 is a short game. It's not full of so many neat systems if compared to D2. But it's a good experience, a unique one. It gives you emotion and leaves something to remember. Exceptional sound design, the feeling of progression, and horror.
In 2021, it plays as an indie game, a good one, and I definitely recommend it.
Comments
I wonder if good sales/reviews might encourage Blizz to do a second expansion on it. Probably a huge longshot but that would be my hope. Apparently they had planned to do one back in the day.
If nothing else, a patch tweaking some of the items would be worthwhile. There's good reason for them to leave the game in its classic state for awhile after launch. But I really think the game could use some tweaks to item properties to create a little more variety, perhaps a couple of years after launch. Though I can understand much of the D2 community would bristle at that.
In a way that's why I'd welcome an expansion pack. As that would allow them to leave the classic title as is, just as they did with pre-LoD D2. An expansion pack could open up opportunities for helpful tweaks.
I reached the dungeon lvl 10 now ("The Cave") after barely surviving in the Crypt against the pack of poison spitters with their mini-boss. Had to gulp full potions of health in seconds.
But it was totally worth it. Now my Rogue reached a 100% to-hit chance and finally put some scales armour on.
Lead producer Chris Lena said "the door is open for things like balance changes to help keep the game vibrant for a modern community – if, indeed, players indicate that they actually want that to happen. Either way, that process starts with the alphas."
Poisoned water supply (unique ring, empyrial band or something? )
Ogdens sign
No difficulties until here. I found a book of healing which is my go to spell. Some minor books were found in addition and I bumped up some magic to read them. They will come in handy against immune monsters.
The biggest treasure was a bow of the bear which does knock back, very useful in diablo for ranged characters. I went without armour and cap for almost the entire time until I found an armour that gave +12% resistance to all elements.
On the second evening I played to dungeon level 8 and I received the quests.
The magic rock (unique ring,...)
Valor (unique armor, arkaines valor)
The chamber of bone
No difficulties, in the last level I found a helmet with +8% (?) resistances to all elements
I ended yesterday in dungeon level 11 with
The black mushroom, partially done, no brain yet.
I got both forms of the lava monsters in level 10. They were tough to get rid of since they have good hp and have a ranged attack. I used lightning quite a lot if they came in packs. I stopped a level earlier than I would have liked to reach.
Overall my to hit is now 108%. Armor is not that high (forgot how much, but in the thirties). I have reduce damage by 4 from armour and ring which keeps me relatively safe. Knock back is the biggest life saver.
Continuing soon.
I will play hellfire after this run. Could be the same character, but I could also use a hidden class like bard.
I don't like it. While Blizzard approved it as "official" back in the day, it was basically a product akin to a level-pack for Doom. While the walking speed in town in the original can be annoying, the speed in Hellfire feels off. The deliberate pace of the original is part of the game. The 3 archetype classes in Diablo are really all that is needed given how limited the scope is. I dont know what purpose or niche the Monk fills other than it's name. The unfinished Bard even less so. There are some good ideas (like weapon oils), but I think it is just something on the level of Spear of Destiny (Wolfenstein 3D) or Swords of Xeen (Might and Magic). Which is to say, basically a mod that was given the official seal by the developer to sell it commercially.
The original team behind the first two games didn't care for it either, but they were overruled by Davidson, who was publishing their games back then.
I actually forgot about the oils. The issue I have with them is that they just get hoarded until the end game. No use wasting them on bad gear early game.
Overall I agree, the quality is not really there. I don't know if it was ever considered canon
It was considered "official" at the time, but calling it canon would be a huge stretch. Canon is that the Warrior beat Diablo and was compelled to shove the soulstone in his head. The Rogue fell and became Blood Raven, and the Sorcerer exiled himself to the Arcane Sanctuary and became the Summoner. Hellfire doesn't play into this at all.
I will need to rename my main character to Blood Raven
You may want to name your character Moreina, than
Here is my character (with the knockback bow from early dungeon levels):
But I will start anew in the remaster.
Read the full interview here: https://me.ign.com/en/pc/182380/interview/what-it-takes-to-remaster-a-cult-classic-like-diablo-ii
It also means most mods will be fairly easy to convert, but with millions active players on the ladder and a expanded shared stash, PlugY won't be nearly as necessary. In fact, it's almost certain the developers added the main quality of life changes (more stat screens and the bigger stash) BECAUSE of PlugY. Seems to me they are actively aware of how many people play the original game in 2021.
Blizzard has no problem altering their basic systems and UI functions because of mods. Many of the most essential features that deal with QoL that have been added to World of Warcraft started as mods.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=W2HYFpKHHaQ
From an interview they gave, they acknowledged that commonplace muling was the reason they felt comfortable adding the shared stash.
It is just intensely time-consuming and pointless 20 years later. To move items "legitimately" by yourself, you literally have to open a game, stay in it for 5 minutes, log out with the items on the ground, log in on another character within 5 minutes, HOPE nothing went wrong, and then pick up whatever you wanted to transfer.
The base stash in LoD can hold maybe 10 items. In vanilla D2, it was even smaller still. I get how this didn't trivialize the experience in 2000, made decisions meaningful. In 2021, it is absolute nonsense, and EVERY ARPG has an infinitely bigger stash. Not making this move would be absurd. The main reason I play is to collect unique items.
But.. Magma demons, horned demons, and lightning demons... These critters are slowing down my progress substantially.
And I still cannot find a proper bow outside the one with knockdown. If anything I might actually just find some stats, a shield and use the sword.
I'll be curious how big the shared area gets. It was an absolute must-add feature. Another point to note on it, was that in D2 you could create essentially an infinite number of characters online, using multiple accounts, there was no limit by CD-key. I'm sure there's going to be character limits tied to your account on new bnet, harder to get around. They had to do something or the online play would actually less resemble the classic experience. Stash space would be at a premium.
A shared stash is honestly the more elegant solution, allowing them to limit online character amounts and thus be better able to monitor and punish cheating.
@lroumen The listed damage on bows is deceptive, since the damage is simply added to the Rogue's base damage. A rogue with 100 dexterity might do 25-30 damage with a crappy bow.
This is why it doesn't matter much that you (and I) are still using that knock back bow: what matters is its enchantment.
Seeing a lot of Succubus and Advocate monsters, I bought a new bow from Wirt, that adds +12 to each stat. I swap between this bow and the knock back one. Costed me 80k gold.
Also, reading above about different quests I haven't done, I googled and turns out that some quests are random. I understand now I actually got lucky with getting the Lachdanan quest: he rewarded me with a unique helmet giving +50 resist to everything: Veil of Steel.
Veil of Steel
Great Helm
Armor Class: 18
+50% Resist All
-20% Light Radius
+60% Armor
-30 Mana
+15 Strength
+15 Vitality
Durability: 60
This is so lucky for my Rogue, especially since I haven't found too many unique items during this playthrough. It feels special because getting this quest is random from 2 possible options, and him dropping a unique item is random. And that item being something so useful for the Rogue is an icing on the cake.
And indeed. I hope it dont get the warlord of blood either. Lachdanan is more intriguing and more rewarding.
I have not found any unique item that is not a quest reward already so I hope to score one still soon.
Not bad at all. Now I will actually fight Diablo twice. Once with bow (with knockback or a second with resistance to all, once with sword (griswolds edge and dragons breach).
Then when I wanted to face Lazarus and walked around town for gossip I actually saw that gharbad was still waiting for his thing. Too bad he didn't drop anything useful.
Only level 15 is left...
Ploink Ploink at 60% resist all and Diablo goes down. Then I repeated in melee and I see my rogue blocking almost all of Diablos attacks. She gets interrupted but she slowly chips away at him.
He does not stand a chance.
I'll check how to cut and upload the end game as a small video snippet
In a similar way to D2, Diablo 1 provided a feeling of badassery in the end, with all the items I found. Finally, I could use cool-looking armor. Finally, I found a bow even better than I had seen in both stores. Finally, I got a +8 all attributes ring. Finally, I reached some gold text on the character screen.
The fight against Diablo was short but still kept me on my toes. I had to leave the area without any healing potions left at first. Then I returned and finished him off.
Diablo 1 is a short game. It's not full of so many neat systems if compared to D2. But it's a good experience, a unique one. It gives you emotion and leaves something to remember. Exceptional sound design, the feeling of progression, and horror.
In 2021, it plays as an indie game, a good one, and I definitely recommend it.