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LTTP: Diablo 1 (Spoilers within)

M

mudkyp

Member
Due to being on a big Diablo III kick before and after patch 2.1, I decided to finally play the first game. It's one of my wife's all time favorites and it's fun to see the roots of your favorite game series. So after some quick Google fixes I was able to play the first Diablo over the course of a week.

Pros:
-The loot hunt is strong from the very first game. Love it.
-The music. The tracks in the later parts of the game are really incredible.
-Super great atmosphere. The run down Tristram, and it's equally run down citizens. The horror vibe of the cathedral and the Butcher area. It's all great.
-I found the story and lore rather satisfying. Good to see so much stuff staying consistent up to the most current game. Also loved the ending where the hero shoves the soulstone in his own skull.

Cons:
-No running.
-No skills to speak of. There are spells to learn, but that's about it. Probably didn't help that I played the warrior either.
-The voice acting is pretty bad across the board.
-Most fights boiled down to chugging potions until I won.
-I don't mind random maps, but random quests was a bummer. Didn't get the quest for Leoric or Griswold's anvil. It adds replayability, but the game wasn't lacking in that anyway.

Overall, I enjoyed playing the first Diablo, it's dated as hell, but it was fun to see where the series and that genre started.
 
Diablo 1 was an incredible game for its time, but it only took a few years for Diablo II to come out and eclipse it in almost every way possible.

It seemed like Diablo II took forever to come out, but the 3 1/2 years between D1 and 2 seems pretty small now that it took Blizzard 2 years just to fix Diablo III after it was released.
 
I would've loved to see a Diablo 1 remake with Diablo 2 graphics/engine/whatever. More details, running (and faster walking speed), skills, gems and runes and all that jazz. Would've been great.

I preferred D1's atmosphere and story to D2. Yes, D2 is far more epic and far-reaching, but D1 feels (to me), far more intimate and dark. The mere implication of a gateway to (literal) hell beneath a Cathedral, the actual travel downward (ever downward) defying the laws of physics... it's almost a creeping horror, a slow crawl of madness. It's a shame that the D3, for all its improved gameplay (and it certainly is), lost that vibe and became pretty much cartoonish.
 
Chalk me down as another person who enjoyed D1 more than D2. The game could be down right creepy for its time and I'll never forget my first run in with the butcher - taking one look at him and then legging it.

I think D3 maps/ dungeons aren't random enough. D1 got this just right and the random quests meant the next run through you were genuinely encountering new things not just re-arranged dungeons.
 
score01 said:
Chalk me down as another person who enjoyed D1 more than D2. The game could be down right creepy for its time and I'll never forget my first run in with the butcher - taking one look at him and then legging it.

I think D3 maps/ dungeons aren't random enough. D1 got this just right and the random quests meant the next run through you were genuinely encountering new things not just re-arranged dungeons.
Click to expand...

Don't forget though, only a very small handful of the quests were available in Diablo's multiplayer - just The Butcher, Leoric, Lazarus, and Diablo himself.
 
D1 and the expansion are probably my favorite ARPGs available. The mechanics are just deep enough to matter, but not so deep as to become cumbersome. And yeah, the way you go into the church and begin your descent to hell is so simple yet so damn effective.
 
Love Diablo 1 and its expansion, which if I recall correctly added the running option.
And added additional characters.

Personally I hate the fact that they stopped using the Random quests. I absolutely think that that was the best part of the game, every time you start the game it was always a surprise which quest you would get.
Also I prefer the skill customization in 1 over the skill tree in 2, but I'm sure I'm in the minority. I just liked the way you could mix and match skills over the course of the game.
 
mudkyp said:
Cons:
-No running.
-No skills to speak of. There are spells to learn, but that's about it. Probably didn't help that I played the warrior either.
-The voice acting is pretty bad across the board.
-Most fights boiled down to chugging potions until I won.
-I don't mind random maps, but random quests was a bummer. Didn't get the quest for Leoric or Griswold's anvil. It adds replayability, but the game wasn't lacking in that anyway.

Overall, I enjoyed playing the first Diablo, it's dated as hell, but it was fun to see where the series and that genre started.
Click to expand...

FYI: Running was added in the Hellfire expansion. I've never played it without that (bought the double pack in the gigantic box)

At least you didn't start off with the Wizard lol. That would've been a disaster. Falls over dead if a monster looks at him funny and can't hurt a fly.

What blasphemy are you speaking! The voice acting is phenomenal! It birthed some of the most memorable lines in video games for me! "Hello my friend! Stay a while and listen!" "Aaah, fresh meat!" and I looooved the Book of the Blind for some reason haha.
 
TheMoon said:
What blasphemy are you speaking! The voice acting is phenomenal! It birthed some of the most memorable lines in video games for me! "Hello my friend! Stay a while and listen!" "Aaah, fresh meat!" and I looooved the Book of the Blind for some reason haha.
Click to expand...

I SENSE A SOUL IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS
 
Alavard said:
Don't forget though, only a very small handful of the quests were available in Diablo's multiplayer - just The Butcher, Leoric, Lazarus, and Diablo himself.
Click to expand...

Never played it online! Lost count of the number of runs I made through it. It was my go to game for ages.
 
Altazor said:
I SENSE A SOUL IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS
Click to expand...

Too much baggage! I gotta pawn some of this stuff! Can't a fella drink in peace?!

Blizz really had a knack for it back then. Warcraft 2 is full of them as well, but my favorite will always be "Your sound card works perfectly!"
 
I liked D1 better too. D2 is deeper, but I appreciated how straightforward the original was. No class restriction, no skill tree, just pure powering up. Crafting gems and runes in D2 felt like working in the long term.
And the mood in the crypt and the caves was unique.
 
I loved this game. I played it for so many years and it actually holds up pretty well if you can get used to how slow the character moves. I remember reading the instruction book it came with constantly and the art in it was amazing.

Still to this day to I remember all the common duped items like King's Bastard Sword of Haste, Godly Plate of the Whale, Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac and the Arch Angel's Staff of Apocalypse (which wasn't a real item). What a fantastic game.
 
In comparison, (vanilla) D3 was "har har, you'll never foil my plan, hero!" ... ... "...you foiled my plan, hero... but you'll never catch me, har har!" ad nauseum.
 
Celegus said:
I gotta pawn some of this stuff!"
Click to expand...

So that is what he was saying! Years later I get to understand... I thought it was "I got a ton (some) of this stuff" but it didn't make sense.

Of course I remember my first encounter with the Butcher. After getting my ass kicked, I was all "oh really? Then I'll have to use that firebolt scroll I just found, and we'll see who's laughing!"

Butcher laughs...
 
Anoregon said:
hey guys lets all listen to tristram forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFOfSlDCwYw
Click to expand...

one of he best themes in VG history. Oozes atmosphere, and I'd love to hear more music like it... sadly, haven't found anything yet.

though, to be honest, I prefer Diablo II's extended version... but that's just me, I know some people disliked the new parts of the song. I found them quite beautiful and melancholic, like a sorrowful lament for a town that was no more.
 
Celegus said:
Too much baggage! I gotta pawn some of this stuff! Can't a fella drink in peace?!

Blizz really had a knack for it back then. Warcraft 2 is full of them as well, but my favorite will always be "Your sound card works perfectly!"
Click to expand...

Join the army they said...
 
Krakn3Dfx said:
Diablo 1 is a great game, wish they would add it as a freebie on bnet, unless they already have and I just missed it.
Click to expand...

Nope. That being said last year at Blizzcon they said they have a (very) small team devoted to reworking Warcraft 1 and 2 to work properly on modern OSs, kind of like blizzard's own gog-type treatment. I'm hoping that they will do the same with Diablo 1 afterwards.
 
I probably played more Diablo 2 than Diablo I, but count me in the "enjoyed Diablo I the most" boat.

The tension of needing to get back to your corpse to get your gear back after a death was palpable. It took Dark Souls to come along and top it.
 
Altazor said:
I would've loved to see a Diablo 1 remake with Diablo 2 graphics/engine/whatever. More details, running (and faster walking speed), skills, gems and runes and all that jazz. Would've been great.

I preferred D1's atmosphere and story to D2. Yes, D2 is far more epic and far-reaching, but D1 feels (to me), far more intimate and dark. The mere implication of a gateway to (literal) hell beneath a Cathedral, the actual travel downward (ever downward) defying the laws of physics... it's almost a creeping horror, a slow crawl of madness. It's a shame that the D3, for all its improved gameplay (and it certainly is), lost that vibe and became pretty much cartoonish.
Click to expand...

Very well said. D1 has always been my favorite of the series as well.
 
Celegus said:
It was a cesspool of cheaters, dupers, and PKers. In other words, I was one happy 12 year old.
Click to expand...

that's why being a member of alt.games.diablo was so great, you have a cheat free group of people to play with. i wonder what ever happened to all those guys and gals I used to run with. holy shit that was 17 years ago. jeeze. some of them are probably in their 40s and 50s now.

no, your dragon's amulet of the zodiac isn't legit
 
D1 has the best atmosphere of the 3 for sure. They didn't try to mix it up with a crazy epic story, spanning X continents and countless environments. The premise of the game was literally "go to hell" and you did that by going straight down. Love it.

I'd love somebody to go and do that properly again. TL1 tried, but it never carried the same sense of dread that D1 did.
 
Nekofrog said:
that's why being a member of alt.games.diablo was so great, you have a cheat free group of people to play with. i wonder what ever happened to all those guys and gals I used to run with. holy shit that was 17 years ago. jeeze. some of them are probably in their 40s and 50s now.

no, your dragon's amulet of the zodiac isn't legit
Click to expand...

Sure it is! Right along with my Godly Plate of the Whale!

nictron said:
Join the army they said...
Click to expand...

Stop rocking the boat! You're making me seasick!
BLEEUUGGHHHHHHAA!!
 
Nephtes said:
I probably played more Diablo 2 than Diablo I, but count me in the "enjoyed Diablo I the most" boat.

The tension of needing to get back to your corpse to get your gear back after a death was palpable. It took Dark Souls to come along and top it.
Click to expand...

The tension and lack of understanding the game gave me a lot of Souls vibes. I think that sense of dread and consequence is missing from a lot of games these days.
 
Miletius said:
D1 has the best atmosphere of the 3 for sure. They didn't try to mix it up with a crazy epic story, spanning X continents and countless environments. The premise of the game was literally "go to hell" and you did that by going straight down. Love it.

I'd love somebody to go and do that properly again. TL1 tried, but it never carried the same sense of dread that D1 did.
Click to expand...

You know, my favorite Act in Diablo 2 was Act I, atmosphere-wise. Yes, it was a sort-of intentional callback to Diablo 1 but I liked that. I liked this dark, medieval, twisted vibe with gothic touches the Act had: cemeteries, crypts, ruined towers, abandoned farmlands and culminating with a desecrated monastery - the supposedly holiest of places, tainted beyond repair by evil. There's a serious lack of dark fantasy games ATM, I think... and Diablo II's first act was right up my alley. This... blasphemous mix of holy symbols and the profane is something I find quite interesting (though some might consider offensive). Particularly in a medieval setting.

And there's a small place in Path of Exile that I thought might house a reference to Diablo 1. It's also during the first act, and it's an abandoned church near a cemetery. The whole mood is dark and dreary and when I found it I thought "oh man, this really reminds me of the first Diablo - it has to be a reference. Maybe there's something cool inside!". Alas, only
spiders and spiders and spiders, ugh
. In any case, it's the closest thing I've seen.
 
Miletius said:
D1 has the best atmosphere of the 3 for sure. They didn't try to mix it up with a crazy epic story, spanning X continents and countless environments. The premise of the game was literally "go to hell" and you did that by going straight down.
Click to expand...

I also liked how every ten or so levels you went down there would be some sort of cool new shortcut back to town and in between you floors you were stuck without a town portal scroll. In D3 it's just too easy to flip back and fore to town all the time.
 
The best thing about this game is how Matt Uelmen manages complement the tone of the graphics with his music. Truly one of the best composers in the industry.

The worst part of the game is being a warrior class and having to chase after snipers across an entire map before you manage to get close enough to kill them.
 
Whoa! What can I do fer ya?

Hehe azure drakes as the knight guy were funny. Potions ftw! Friend of mine ran rogue and I ran knight. He dies in combat and I tank em down and use my rez scroll. As he's healing I spy a chest nearby. Ooh loot! Pop chest....nova goes off or whatever the circle aoe lightning trap was and kills him again. I'm lmao and he's pissed. So I had to hoof it back to town for another rez scroll. D1 rules! Like others, I spent more time on two but the first had the best atmosphere and story of all. D3 felt like a letdown in comparison.
 
Altazor said:
You know, my favorite Act in Diablo 2 was Act I, atmosphere-wise. Yes, it was a sort-of intentional callback to Diablo 1 but I liked that. I liked this dark, medieval, twisted vibe with gothic touches the Act had: cemeteries, crypts, ruined towers, abandoned farmlands and culminating with a desecrated monastery - the supposedly holiest of places, tainted beyond repair by evil. There's a serious lack of dark fantasy games ATM, I think... and Diablo II's first act was right up my alley. This... blasphemous mix of holy symbols and the profane is something I find quite interesting (though some might consider offensive). Particularly in a medieval setting.

And there's a small place in Path of Exile that I thought might house a reference to Diablo 1. It's also during the first act, and it's an abandoned church near a cemetery. The whole mood is dark and dreary and when I found it I thought "oh man, this really reminds me of the first Diablo - it has to be a reference. Maybe there's something cool inside!". Alas, only
spiders and spiders and spiders, ugh
. In any case, it's the closest thing I've seen.
Click to expand...

I know the place you are talking about. I'd agree that giant spiders were not a great choice there. I mean giant spiders can be creepy, but PoEx doesn't really carry much feeling of dread in the end so there's very little tension. Plus, if the areas we are talking about are the same, the spiders are bright orange, so yeah, pretty different in terms of color palate (until you get to the caves in D1 at least).
 
I played the shareware version for hours as a kid, I was so excited when I got the full retail version. The first time I beat the game was with a Rogue. <3 Windforce!
 
I only ever managed to beat this game with the warrior. My wizard got stuck in the catacombs and my rogue couldn't get past level 14 in hell I think. I swore up and down that Blizzard made the those two weak on purpose so that only the warrior could kill Diablo. Then D2 came out and declared the warrior ending as canon and proved me right.

I'm bad
 
Loved the game. Played it a crap load. Still remember how stoked I was when I identified a dragons ring of wizardry.
 
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