Diablo 4 Builds
Build Planner
Map
Diablo 2 Guides
Forums
Support PureDiablo
Vessel of Hatred

D2 Max Schaefer seems happy about the idea of a Diablo 2 Remaster

Rush

Rush

Administrator
Staff member
Mar 12, 2020
3,755
8
528
113
Cool little interview this with Max Schaefer. Seems to bring up the same problems Brevik brought up about recreating the game. Have to wonder if Blizzard is actually in the process of remaking the game. Sounds like there would be a lot of work involved.

www.purediablo.com

Max Schaefer and Matt Uelmen share their thoughts on rumoured Diablo 2 remaster - PureDiablo

Max Schaefer and Matt Uelman who worked on the original at Blizzard North talk about what they wan to see from a Diablo 2 remaster.
www.purediablo.com www.purediablo.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: Elly, MWLnGa and In The Name of Zod
I totally love what Matt Uelmen said about the violence and gore. Just put Matt in charge of a remaster and it might actually work. Pity the interview was so short. The problem is as I see it that it requires extra-ordinary discipline not to fix things during the process of performing such a task as this. People can not help themselves. I realize now that they should not make it for widescreen either, keeping the aspect ratio locked to 4:3 would be essential to keeping the original feel.
 
Last edited:
I have to admit I would not been keen on a locked aspect ratio. ou are right it would be hard to get the feel of the original but I guess that would be a challenge that would need to be overcome. In a way, there's a part of me that says they shouldn't remaster it. Some classics should remain classics. Trying to "fix" it for modern gaming could open a can of worms. If they do go for it then they need to be damn sure it's right and the only way to do that is develop it with the community. This has worked brilliantly with EA's recent C&C remaster which is really well done.
 
I think they have learned the harsh lessons from D3. I do believe they will try and bring D4 more inline with D2/D1.
 
So no more rainbows?
 
They could leave the rainbows in the game only if they would just add an eviscerated leprechaun or unicorn and the Butcher at the end of the rainbow.
 
I would not mind it if they did a unicorn centipede done in the same way as the human centipede. Maybe they could make the butcher responsible for it.
 
“My only strong opinion is that it needs to have more violence, more gore, and more nakedness. Long as they do that, then they’ll be true to the series, in terms of what we were going for, as artists.”
Words of wisdom from a true dedicated gaming artist. But as Max said – shareholders will probably want this re-whatever censored for snowflake brainded leftists that think black lives matter, pathetic.
 
I don't know that it really needs to be that much darker. You make too many changes and you start trampling on the nostalgia value. That said, D3 did end up quite a bit more "colorful" than it needed to be, even after they toned it down.
 
I am wondering why both of them think a remaster is not possible. We got talented people making workable games such as Path of Diablo, Project Diablo etc. Are you telling me someone at Blizzard is unable to do that? On a side note I just took the Blizzard survey and Diablo 2 got mentioned in most the questions. Odd unless something is being made with Diablo 2, unless they are trying to gather data on how many people are playing D2 compared to D3.
 
  • Like
Reactions: superdave
Well, here's my take on that question. On a technical level, there's no reason why a remaster or remake can't happen. May not be perfect and I doubt any remake of any game will truly reproduce the exact same feelings you had the first time you played the original version, but it's still entirely possible to produce something extremely worthwhile.

The difference between a fan based project and one made by a big developer though is roadblocks such as investors and board members and marketing and the PR department and all those other annoyances that say "How do we make as much money as possible with as little effort as possible?" The problem Duhrau alluded to is also a significant issue, but I'll leave it at that.

Big developers who as a company love the art of making games more than the money are a dying breed. You can very likely still find a lot of individual developers within those companies who love the art, but the company as a whole? It's getting harder and harder to really point one out.
 
d2lover said:
I watched some YT-vid, that says that the sourcecode of D2 and assets(whatever that is) is lost.

They should have asked here how to backup properly :D
Click to expand...

Just FYI, "assets" would be things like textures, 3d models, sound files, etc.

If this was baking a cake, the source code would be the recipe and the assets would be the ingredients.
 
  • Like
Reactions: d2lover
I really understand the point Max Schaefer is trying to make here. Capturing the elusive "Diablo 2 feel" may for me even be down to the framerate, the sound effects, how the AI acts or reacts, the details in the monster graphics... If they simply have a new game engine run on top of a stripped Diablo 2 core, I'm not convinced it would feel like Diablo 2.

If this project happens, this really feels like one of those games that needs so much testing to get the details right.
 
I'm a bit different, the elusive Diablo 2 feel is that any drop can be useful throughout the game. This isn't experienced in any other ARPG besides maybe D1. Most new games require you to reach level cap before items get maximized and most of the new games required a slew of crafting just to be effective (Last Epoch for example) I like knowing that my next item maybe right around the corner for my build.

Honestly whatever Max and Matt say I take with a grain of salt as they lost their touch since TL3 is beyond terrible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hiromant
Log in to Reply / Create Site Account or log in with BattleNet
 Discord
 Twitch
 GoogleGoogle
PurePremium
Remove ads & support the site - Get PurePremium
Top Bottom
Back
Estimated market value
Low
High