A Tribute to Diablo I
Since I'm hooked on Diablo I again, I made a short article on the game to remind people what a great game it is and not to forget about it. I'll stop spamming all my Diablo I stuff after this post. I hope you enjoy it!
A Tribute to Diablo
For those of you who played the original game, take a moment to look back and reflect upon the game that started it all. Remember back to when it was 2:00am and you were entering the catacombs, terrified of encountering the infamous red bat Foulwing. Remember running like a school girl as The Butcher was hot on your heels. Remember what it was like to die, and die you did. While the original game may not have all the features and skills of Diablo II, this game is still a wonderful experience and in many ways exceeds its successor. I ask you to join me as I look back upon the game that started it all.
I still remember the first time I played the game. I was in tenth grade and borrowed the game from my wood shop teacher. I got home, installed the game and little did I realize, I was in for the ride of my life. I created a warrior and embarked on a journey; a journey which I am still on this very day. The first thing I noticed was the gloomy setting of Tristram and its sombre music. I walked around town and talked to all the villagers. I was in awe of the voice acting and how each and every person was truly their own person. I then headed into the Church to begin a quest that I would never quite finish. It wasn’t long before I had my first encounter with a Skeleton. I made quick work of it and said to myself "this isn’t so bad." My next victim was a zombie, which stood no chance either. This continued on for the entire first floor and I thought to myself this is a very easy game. That changed once I got to the second floor.
I proceeded to clear the second floor much the same as I did the first until I encountered a small room filled with the walls and floor smeared with blood, bodies on stakes, hanging off the walls and one on a table near the centre of the room. I’ll admit I was a little reluctant to open the door for fear of what was inside, but nothing would prepare me for the battle ahead. Upon opening the door, I heard a voice which pierced my soul and stopped my heart. Never, will I forget the words of The Butcher. Frightened, I headed towards him and engaged combat. I didn’t stand a chance. Within seconds I was hacked to bits and lay lifeless on the floor. But that wasn’t enough for The Butcher; oh no he kept swinging away as if to continue dicing up my corpse. Coincidently my previous assessment of the challenge of the game was changed.
Let us now take a look at what made the game so successful and how it compares to Diablo II. All my discussions will be based on multiplayer and battle.net play.
Challenge: I’ve probably died more times with one character in Diablo than I have with all my DII characters put together. The nice thing about it was that nothing was impossible; you just had to learn from your mistakes and change your strategy.
Death Penalty: When you died, there was no starting back in town, running back into the dungeon and picking up your body. When you died all your gear rains down onto the ground. You had to go and pick it all back up, piece by piece and re-equip it all; at least what was left of it because anyone could pick your stuff up. So it wasn’t a matter of going back down and retrieving your items, it was matter of collecting what was left over from other players taking your hard earned gear. Some people were nice and gave it back while other kept it. Also if you left the game and could not come back, or got lagged out, then your items were lost forever. The only way to avoid this was simply to not die, and that was no easy task.
Player vs Player: This game is heaven for all PKers. There was no hostility mode, other than a little button to turn player attack on. The scary part is that nobody has any idea you’re in player attack mode. You could be fighting side by side when all of a sudden your “companion†starts hacking away at you without warning. The good news is that when you get PKed that your items do not fall to the ground but stay on your character. You only lost half your gold and your ear.
Friendly Fire: This really made strategy important when playing with Rogues and Sorcerers. Even in player friendly mode their projectiles still hurt you. This forced players to work out team strategy, which is something you almost never see in DII. Warriors took the melee monsters while the Rogue and Sorcerers took the ranged ones. This also limited the Sorcerer to the skills he could use in a given situation. I have been burned alive and electrocuted by Sorcerers who weren’t paying attention, or had no concept of team play and friendly fire.
Item dependency: Personally I find that in Diablo you are less dependant on items and rely more on strategy because there were no super powerful items like in DII. King’s Sword of Haste was probably the best melee weapon in the game, yet yielded far less damage than needed. In fact, most of your damage comes from your character’s stats, not the gear. A level 50 Warrior with 250 strength would do 125-125 damage naked, while adding a Kings Sword of Haste (5-16 base, 151-175% enhanced damage) would only increase your damage to 138-169 at best.
Atmosphere: Diablo has a dark and gloomy atmosphere. I remember when that game would give me the creeps and send chills down my spine. I still fear encountering Foulwing on the 5th floor of the catacombs. Each of the four settings (Church, Catacombs, Caves and Hell) had their own distinct feeling, with wonderful mood setting music to back it up. I found the atmosphere in DII to be bland and didn’t affect me the same way it did in Diablo. The monsters were very fitting for each area and their sound effects, especially the death sounds were absolutely amazing.
As time goes on and new games come out, I think it’s important to occasionally go back and visit this wonderful game. Sure it’s painful to walk everywhere and only run at 640x480 but once you start bashing skulls you forget all about it and remember what a beautiful game this is. Install the game and have some old school fun, I promise you will not regret it.
Since I'm hooked on Diablo I again, I made a short article on the game to remind people what a great game it is and not to forget about it. I'll stop spamming all my Diablo I stuff after this post. I hope you enjoy it!
A Tribute to Diablo
For those of you who played the original game, take a moment to look back and reflect upon the game that started it all. Remember back to when it was 2:00am and you were entering the catacombs, terrified of encountering the infamous red bat Foulwing. Remember running like a school girl as The Butcher was hot on your heels. Remember what it was like to die, and die you did. While the original game may not have all the features and skills of Diablo II, this game is still a wonderful experience and in many ways exceeds its successor. I ask you to join me as I look back upon the game that started it all.
I still remember the first time I played the game. I was in tenth grade and borrowed the game from my wood shop teacher. I got home, installed the game and little did I realize, I was in for the ride of my life. I created a warrior and embarked on a journey; a journey which I am still on this very day. The first thing I noticed was the gloomy setting of Tristram and its sombre music. I walked around town and talked to all the villagers. I was in awe of the voice acting and how each and every person was truly their own person. I then headed into the Church to begin a quest that I would never quite finish. It wasn’t long before I had my first encounter with a Skeleton. I made quick work of it and said to myself "this isn’t so bad." My next victim was a zombie, which stood no chance either. This continued on for the entire first floor and I thought to myself this is a very easy game. That changed once I got to the second floor.
I proceeded to clear the second floor much the same as I did the first until I encountered a small room filled with the walls and floor smeared with blood, bodies on stakes, hanging off the walls and one on a table near the centre of the room. I’ll admit I was a little reluctant to open the door for fear of what was inside, but nothing would prepare me for the battle ahead. Upon opening the door, I heard a voice which pierced my soul and stopped my heart. Never, will I forget the words of The Butcher. Frightened, I headed towards him and engaged combat. I didn’t stand a chance. Within seconds I was hacked to bits and lay lifeless on the floor. But that wasn’t enough for The Butcher; oh no he kept swinging away as if to continue dicing up my corpse. Coincidently my previous assessment of the challenge of the game was changed.
Let us now take a look at what made the game so successful and how it compares to Diablo II. All my discussions will be based on multiplayer and battle.net play.
Challenge: I’ve probably died more times with one character in Diablo than I have with all my DII characters put together. The nice thing about it was that nothing was impossible; you just had to learn from your mistakes and change your strategy.
Death Penalty: When you died, there was no starting back in town, running back into the dungeon and picking up your body. When you died all your gear rains down onto the ground. You had to go and pick it all back up, piece by piece and re-equip it all; at least what was left of it because anyone could pick your stuff up. So it wasn’t a matter of going back down and retrieving your items, it was matter of collecting what was left over from other players taking your hard earned gear. Some people were nice and gave it back while other kept it. Also if you left the game and could not come back, or got lagged out, then your items were lost forever. The only way to avoid this was simply to not die, and that was no easy task.
Player vs Player: This game is heaven for all PKers. There was no hostility mode, other than a little button to turn player attack on. The scary part is that nobody has any idea you’re in player attack mode. You could be fighting side by side when all of a sudden your “companion†starts hacking away at you without warning. The good news is that when you get PKed that your items do not fall to the ground but stay on your character. You only lost half your gold and your ear.
Friendly Fire: This really made strategy important when playing with Rogues and Sorcerers. Even in player friendly mode their projectiles still hurt you. This forced players to work out team strategy, which is something you almost never see in DII. Warriors took the melee monsters while the Rogue and Sorcerers took the ranged ones. This also limited the Sorcerer to the skills he could use in a given situation. I have been burned alive and electrocuted by Sorcerers who weren’t paying attention, or had no concept of team play and friendly fire.
Item dependency: Personally I find that in Diablo you are less dependant on items and rely more on strategy because there were no super powerful items like in DII. King’s Sword of Haste was probably the best melee weapon in the game, yet yielded far less damage than needed. In fact, most of your damage comes from your character’s stats, not the gear. A level 50 Warrior with 250 strength would do 125-125 damage naked, while adding a Kings Sword of Haste (5-16 base, 151-175% enhanced damage) would only increase your damage to 138-169 at best.
Atmosphere: Diablo has a dark and gloomy atmosphere. I remember when that game would give me the creeps and send chills down my spine. I still fear encountering Foulwing on the 5th floor of the catacombs. Each of the four settings (Church, Catacombs, Caves and Hell) had their own distinct feeling, with wonderful mood setting music to back it up. I found the atmosphere in DII to be bland and didn’t affect me the same way it did in Diablo. The monsters were very fitting for each area and their sound effects, especially the death sounds were absolutely amazing.
As time goes on and new games come out, I think it’s important to occasionally go back and visit this wonderful game. Sure it’s painful to walk everywhere and only run at 640x480 but once you start bashing skulls you forget all about it and remember what a beautiful game this is. Install the game and have some old school fun, I promise you will not regret it.
