Diablo II

"Chaos is nearing again... it's your turn to stand up."

Note: I’ll be reviewing this from a complete multiplayer view. Why anyone would want to play this single player [unless they didn’t have access to the net] is beyond me.

Welcome to the world of Diablo II. The hero from the previous installment [‘the wanderer’] left the town which had appreciated his efforts, and soon after the whole city was destroyed. You are the one to step up and face the chaos that is now prevalent in the world, end the reign of terror the three prime evils are preparing to unleash, and free the soul of the once great hero known as the ‘wanderer.’ Once you have that first taste of pure action, tension, freedom, and exploration encountered within this game – your mouth will be watering for the next course.

Diablo is an extremely addictive game, filled with everything you would ever possibly want in an online action/rpg. A single player mode is available, but please – do yourself a favour and log on to battle.net. I am sad to hear about the gamers who’ve played the game for five minutes, labelled it as a simple hack-and-slash title and left their level four Necromancer alone with the few skeleton companions he had. This is not the way of a true gamer. To expect to see all the game has to offer in mere minutes is ridiculous. To truly experience Diablo, you experience the online play and have a full understanding of the stat and skill system. You must try the different character classes and be able to fight the lag that may give you the wrong impression on your first online game. And most of all, you haven’t lived until you’ve felt the heat of a good duel.

I could go on for hours ranting why Diablo is such an amazing online game and why it is definitely not a simple hack-and-slash game filled with mindless clicking while stopping to chat with other players occasionally. Of course, if you wish you could play it that way – but that would just ruin the game for you. Every character is different. Yes, although many may look similar – each is unique including your very own. The whole idea behind carefully developing your skills and attributes can make 8 barbarians who started at the same time end up completely different from on another. Your equipment, skills, and stats will determine what your character will be like – so in the end it’s all up to you. The customizability is amazing and goes much deeper then the average gamer may think.

Gameplay

This is where Diablo shines the most. Although it may seem like a fairly simple game, it is not. Slaying monsters is only one eighth of the game. Just looking at the game for a while – hack and slash is a quick way to describe the gameplay. However, I must stress the fact that although it must be done in order to make progress, it is only boring If you make it boring. Team work and cooperation play a big role in online play, so partying up with others is much more fun then soloing the whole game. Socialize a little, trade, duel, lounge around the town. Diablo II is only a hack n slash game if you choose it to be. There are several quests you must complete over the 4 ‘Acts’ of Diablo and you will be rewarded. Hunting for new equipment, gold or potions are also another division. If you wish, you are able to trade items with another player or fight them if that’s your preference. Traits of traditional RPGs are still present, such as hit points, magic points [mana], and you must buy equipment or find your own. There are so many things to do, and it’s even better since the whole thing is very non-linear. Scrolls of town portals and waypoints [which are placed in key areas] allow you quickly escape back to town or warp back to places you’ve been to already. When you play Diablo II – you do pretty much whatever you want.

Characters - these are the different classes you can choose from. Each are very different.

Amazon – A master of the javelin, bow, and spear.
Sorceress – Duh. Ice, fire, and lightning spells.
Paladin – Holy Knight. Various weapons.. and auras!
Barbarian – All melee. Yee.
Necromancer – Waking the dead to serve him is what he does.

Controls

Simple and easy to use. Customizable if you wish as well. You’ll mainly be using your mouse to direct and instruct your character, and a certain set of keys on the keyboard as hotkeys or using potions. There are many, many hotkeys allowing you to quickly bring up a map, open your inventory, see who’s in the game [also allowing you to squelch (ignore) somebody, stop a player from hearing you, allow someone to loot your corpse, or to party up] and more. There are 8 hotkeys that can be assigned to a skill, allowing quick access to the skills you need right when you need them. How this works is there are two squares on the bottom of the screen. One represents the left mouse button, the other represents right. When you click on one box it brings up all of your skills [on the right side] or only your offensive skills [on the left side]. By moving your mouse pointer over one of the skills and pressing a hotkey [the defaults are F1-F8] you assign that hotkey to that skill, and to that mouse button. Besides skills being able to assign to hotkeys, you can also assign Town portals and Identity scrolls.

Equipment/Stats and Skills System

Alright, if you’re going to take on the Three Prime evils, you’re not going to go in there with a cracked short sword and a low quality skull cap, are you? Of course not. The world of Diablo revolves around two very important concepts – equipment and stats/skills. There are 4 classes of weapons and armor. Normal [it’s name will appear white], Magic [blue], Rare [yellow], and Unique [sand kinda colour]. Each weapon has it’s own attack range [e.g. short sword does 2-8 damage] and durability. As you use the weapon, the quality deteriorates and eventually you’ll have to get it repaired [or use your little weak fists if you wish.]

Just like in the common RPG, as you gain experience [by killing monsters] you’ll gain ‘levels.’ Every level you gain will reward you with 5 stat points, and 1 skill point. It’s what you do with these points you receive that will make every single character you meet different. The basic stats you have the option of improving are Strength [attack damage], Dexterity [defense, probability of connecting with a hit], Vitality [health, stamina points], and Energy [magic points or mana.] For each character, improving one of these stats by a point make a smaller, or larger impact. For example, a Barbarian might get an extra 3 points of life for one point in vitality, while a Necromancer may receive only 1.

Skills. Skills are what enhances the customization even more. Every character has their individual skills, that do different things. Some skills have prerequisites [skills that you must have before you can get another] and almost all level restrictions [you have to be level 30 to have access to some skills.] And the key point here is, you can enhance your skills by investing a maximum of 20 points into them. So, planning ahead is a huge part of the strategy. For assistance on skill investment, check one of the many helpful Diablo II faqs here at GameFaqs.

Online Play

Battle.net provides online play for free, with a maximum of 8 characters for one account. A very user friendly interface and chat system makes the experience all the better. Albeit, there are some topics that must be brought up if I want to be completely honest in this review. Lag. If you don’t know what that means, you’ll soon understand the first time you go online on a Friday night. When there’s a heavy amount of users logged on and playing, the latency can get horrible and result in getting kicked out of games. Occasionally, it’s so bad it makes the game unplayable. Expect some excessive frustration during laggy periods. Cheating/Scamming must also be brought up. Although with the realms your character is stored on the battle.net servers, and not on your computer [which prevents character hacking] people still find some horrible things to do. Before you go out, I suggest you read up a bit on common scams at diabloii.net.

Audio

The music sets the mood very well, but almost seems non-existent when you’re warped into the world of Diablo II. None of the tracks are very memorable, and are usually more of an after thought. The sound effects are amazing. There’s a large quantity of speech in the game [and the voice acting is top-notch] however it’s the sound effects that really shine. Monsters groan, and yell out their battle cries. The flames crackle, the bugs squish, and Diablo roars and kills you. Ahem. Anyhow, everything seems to have the perfect sound attached to it.

Graphics

Apparently, Diablo II has been in the works for ages. The graphics don’t really show that – especially in Act One. But as you progress the environments you explore become dry deserts – or lush forests rather then the plain field of grass with some monsters aimlessly wandering upon it. While the visuals may not impress you even as they progressively improve, they get the job done. Many of the skills [especially of the sorceress] look fantastic such as Blizzard, Hydra, Holy Freeze, Leap, Strafe, Valkyrie, and Bone Spirit – but others are not as impressive such as Bash, or Blessed Aim. The actual character looks rather plain, and no facial details are visible – however your character changes appearance as you wear different equipment which adds a whole lot to the effect. So, if you’re wearing a purple skull cap – you’ll see a purple skull cap. Each class of armor looks different on each character [a hard leather armor will look different on every character class]. Monsters are usually just re-coloured versions of their original selves with a different name – so you’d figure this would turn many gamers off, right? Wrong. From Fallens, to Carvers, to Devilkins, to Dark ones – although they look very similar in appearance; nobody cares that much. Occasionally you’ll encounter enemies you can tell were meant to stand out from the crowd. Mephisto, Diablo, Andariel – these are not your run in the mill skeletons.

Replay

Say goodbye to your family. Say goodbye to your priorities. Day and night you’ll crave Diablo II. Addiction is literally what happened to legions and legions of people, experimenting endlessly with combination after combination of equipment, skills, and stats to try to get it right. Having friends to play with makes the experience all the more addictive. With so much to do, and many demons to conquer, you should get ready to say goodbye to your life, period. At least for a while. I’ve managed to get over my addiction after a nice 4 months or so. The replay value is extremley high. You won’t be disappointed with this purchase.

Overall

Diablo II is one of my favourite online games ever. The gamer really gets the feeling that their character is unique, and different from any of the rest. The graphics could use some polishing, however they manage to suffice, and the gameplay is fantastic. This is one of those games that you can’t throw away if you dislike it after the first 5 minutes. I still can’t get over how much fun it is, to roam around with a friend [Batto!] and give those monsters a good whoopin’ =D. If you’re ever on battle.net, whisper me. My account name is Shadow-Sushi. Hope to see ya online ;).

***
Sushi’s Quick Sheet™

Gameplay : Hack ‘n slash? It goes much deeper then that.
Controls : Excellent.
Online play : Despite some bad lag and scams, this is an experience that should not be left untested.
Audio : Brilliant.
Graphics : While not fancy, they get the job done.
Story : Suprisingly good.
Replay : Astounding. Must… play… more…. yeeeeeeeeessss…..
Overall : Not as simple as it looks. Make sure to look behind the simple hacking n slashing part of it.
***

Ratings

Gameplay : 10
Controls : 10
Online Play : 9.5
Audio : 9.5
Graphics : 8
Story : 8
Replay : 10
Overall : 10
Sushi says : “…why am I typing this when I could be playing…?”

Hot like wasabi – Online play, customizability [is that a word?!]
Cold like seaweed – Lag, scams, annoying people [online].

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/19/01, Updated 01/19/01