kjell1979's Full Review: Diablo 2 - Bestseller Series for Windows
King of the Hill
Blizzard has produced many great computer games of my generation. Warcraft II, Starcraft and more recently Warcraft III, single handedly rewrote the standard for the real time strategy genre, while the original Diablo brought hack and slash RPGs to a new level. These games thrived on Blizzard's commitment to refined and well-tested gameplay combined with fully function network support. Rarely did Blizzard release a game that wasn't ready for greatness. Diablo II is no exception.
What is Diablo?
Your mission is the same as in the first game, which is to kill Diablo. The story starts by showing the warrior who killed Diablo in the previous game becoming possessed by Diablo's spirit. His journey is back to the depths of Hell where he can become reborn in his old form and your job is to stop him from doing that and creating a hell on earth scenario. Along the way you'll meet many new people who can supply you with information, weapons, armor, and other items to aid in your quest. The majority of these characters are located inside the town to start each act.
Diablo II is based closely off its predecessor, Diablo. It's your typical hack and slash RPG. You use your mouse to move your character along a 2D isometric world. There is an over world and a vast array of dungeons for you to explore as well. Each map is randomly generated each time you enter a new game. Saving your game is easy due to waypoints that allow you quick access close to where you left off and to other waypoints you've been to throughout the game. You click on enemies to attack them either physically or by using magic spells. The more enemies you kill, the more experience you obtain. Enemies also can drop an array of goodies ranging from gold, to potions, to weapons, and to armor.
There are 5 different character classes: Amazons, Barbarians, Necromancers, Paladins, and Sorceresses. These character classes are true to their typical characteristics as found in many different RPGs. As each class gains levels you can add ability points to 4 different areas: strength, dexterity, vitality, and energy. Also for each level you gain, you can add a skill point to the classes' skill tree. There are three different skill trees for each character class. Some abilities cannot add statistics until certain prerequisite abilities are assigned a skill point. Also more advanced skills aren't available until a certain level is achieved. The game has well balanced classes as some advance primarily though finding more advanced weapons, whereas others advance solely by the assignment of skill points. Others are a combination of both. This is something that many RPGs have trouble mastering.
Every character regardless of class has a set equipment diagram. You equip weapons and armor by dragging pieces of equipment into their appropriate slot. The equipment diagram has slots for: a helm, boots, armor, gloves, a belt, 2 slots for weapons and/or a shield, 2 slots for rings, and a slot for an amulet. There is also a 4x20 grid for miscellaneous items such as scrolls, potions, etc... Your belt can also hold extra potions for quick access. The more advanced the belt, the more potion slots it has. Each piece of equipment has a durability rating which means that you must repair your equipment every so often or else you cannot use it, but thankfully it won't break.
As you progress further in the game you can hire mercenaries that fight for you. However you have to equip them with weapons and armor. When their health gets low, you have to heal them as well. There is also a useful item later on in the game called the Horadic Cube that lets you transform certain items into greater items. Although the Horadic Cube isn't as useful if you don't purchase the expansion pack, it does add lasting value to the game.
What Makes Diablo II So Fun?
Diablo II exploits the concept of rewarding hard work with interesting and powerful items. Diablo II has the widest array of items and equipment I have ever seen in a video game. There are 6 different kinds of equipment designated by text color: normal (white), socketed (gray), magic (blue), rare (yellow), set (green), and unique (gold). As you go down the list, the more valuable these items become. Socketed items can have gems permanently inserted into them to gain certain types of abilities. Magic items have abilities above normal items; rare items have 4-6 more abilities than magic items. Set items gain more abilities when you equip more items in a particular set. And unique items have abilities more powerful than any other item of its type and are the most sought after. With so many items and abilities, you are pressed to trudge further on in the game to obtain more and more items to help your character.
Add to all these items the option to play for free online through Blizzard's Battle.net service and you add a new dimension to the game. All the items that you can accrue can only be worth so much. In fact you can play the single player game for thousands of hours before you find half the different rare and set items out there. Playing online not only introduces a barter system, but also teamwork to get weaker players through trouble spots, as well as a adversarial player versus player combat. Multiplayer options are also available through a LAN and through a TCP/IP. The multiplayer plays almost identical to when you're playing offline. In fact you won't notice a difference in gameplay if you're playing in a multiplayer game with just yourself than if you're just alone. The major difference is that when more players join the enemies become tougher to beat. The good side to this is that they drop more items as well. This makes it possible to transfer your single player characters to LAN or TCP/IP games. The exception is that you can't use your single player characters in Battle.net games due to how easy it is to bring in a very powerful offline character. However, Battle.net offers many tools to the online community like chatrooms, buddy lists and player rankings. When I play the game I create my characters on Battle.net even if I play alone most of the time.
The gameplay is constantly tweaked through patches Blizzard delivers. This is to ensure that one character class or a group of items do not become too powerful or useless. When you enter Battle.net, it automatically installs the latest patch to ensure a balanced environment.
Some Complaints
Like most games, Diablo II also has its share of problems. The biggest problems come in the multiplayer version of the game. Since the game first came out, Battle.net has been filled with cheaters and hackers. While many patches and actions on the part of Blizzard have cut down on the amount of cheating, you'll still notice from time to time. One of the most common types of cheater is someone who duplicates powerful items. This does two things, one it throws the whole economy within the game out of whack because these powerful items are no longer worth trading for and most characters have the most powerful equipment. Secondly, when Blizzard started to delete these duplicates, if you unknowingly traded for one you're all of a sudden out of luck. As of now, Blizzard has a decent process in place for preventing duplicate items, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen from time to time.
Another downside to this game is that to play it online you really should get the expansion pack. While not necessary, you'll find that most players now use players with the expansion pack. This creates a much smaller variety of weapons found in this version.
In general gameplay I found that combat isn't implemented very well. Simply pointing and clicking doesn't quite react as well as it should. When you put your mouse cursor over the enemy you wish to attack it becomes highlighted, but not very much and it isn't very visible. In addition, in large groups it becomes hard to tell which creature you're attacking. This is tricky in a situation where there's a group of 8 monsters where one of them is really powerful. Also, when using a character with a ranged weapon like a bow, if you click on a moving enemy and miss you'll end up moving to the point where you missed with your pointer. A stickier interface would have been better here, or an button to auto target.
This complaint is somewhat of a nitpick, but that's ok. I noticed that there are some advanced skills that aren't available until you have a very high level. What that means is that by the time you've reached that level you'll probably have already beaten the game. The only redeeming part is that there are 3 difficulty levels where you progress onto the next one after you've been the game with one. You keep your equipment and money and just move on.
Finally related to that point, later on in the game when you've gotten to the final difficulty level, it's possible that you developed your character wrong and cannot progress farther in the game. This is especially true for characters that grow more powerful based on leveling up rather than certain weapons. If you do not optimize your skill points you won't be able to beat any of the bosses or even some of the lesser creatures as well in the last difficulty level. This is one of the least forgiving features I have ever seen in a game.
Graphics and Sound
Blizzard isn't known for its cutting edge graphics and Diablo II is no different. The graphics you see in this game are sprites plain and simple. However, there are a few tricks that Blizzard plays to enhance the graphic realism. First, the game is optimized to run even faster and better on 3d graphics cards. This allows you to play on the 640x480 resolution even clearer with faster frames per second (fps). There is also an option in the graphic settings to turn on perspective for people with 3d graphics cards and that support Open GL. While this doesn't turn the game into a polygonal wonderland, it does give the background more of a perspective look. For instance the background and enemies that appear at the edge of your computer screen will be slightly smaller and get bigger as you approach them. It's almost as if they tilted the isometric setting you're used to, when really they haven't. It isn't a valuable feature, but it does add to the game if you're a veteran like me and just found out about it last month.
Aside from the basic graphics terminology, the game provides a decent feel even though it's in 2D. The worlds are colorful but it doesn't go wild. There is plenty of detail from insects, to animals, some of which you can squash if you step on them. If you pass in back of an object, it fades well so you can see what you're doing without missing a beat. I have to give a lot of credit here to Blizzard who did a ton of work with what little resolution they had to work with. Character models are dressed in their proper medieval style armor and clothes and even change depending on what you put on them. Sorry, guys but if you undress your amazon or sorceress she won't be nude in the game.
Cut scenes are good, however they just aren't up to par even in their day. They are entertaining, but as far as the raw sight of them, they just seem outdated. The characters look more blocky and cartoony in their CG representations. That doesn't mean the cut scenes do not do their job. They are great and they really are a good addition even though you only really watch them once or twice.
The sound effects are good, but they aren't memorable. Sound effects are somewhat detailed when it comes to a weapon hitting its mark or when an enemy drops a weapon. Certain sounds like when a ring falls to the ground I can immediately recognize. Since I normally don't play with a bow, I know when to skip over certain sounds. This is very useful. However, the environment sounds aren't all that great and detailed. At times I'm not sure whether the background sound effects are just part of the music or not. Much of the time they are repetitive. I wish there were sounds to hint at approaching enemies, however I only hear them when they're on the screen.
The music isn't toe tapping or memorable. It seems as if it serves the purpose of simply background music, if not just simply noise. Recently I found out I muted the music, but I never noticed for about 3 weeks. The music does change from setting to setting rather seamlessly. The whole theme is a rather subdued medieval theme, which changes from act to act depending on the setting. The desert act sounds more middle eastern, and the jungle act seems more African, etc ... The music doesn't change depending on the situation you're in though. There is no boss music, and no I'm in trouble music. Overall it's a minus and most people I know don't keep it on.
What Kind of Computer Do I Need To Play This?
Luckily unless you bought your computer in the early 90's, chances are you'll be ok. Blizzard is known for being good about minimizing their system requirements. The screen resolution is just 640x480, which means that you don't even need a 3d graphics card, however it does support 3dfx cards. You can get away with a processor speed around 233 MHz and 32 MB of RAM. The hard drive space required is a bit hefty at around 600-900MB. In addition to that you'll need at least a 4x CDROM drive and just about any version of Windows going back to Windows 95.
If you wish to play on Battle.net I first recommend using a broadband connection like a cable modem or DSL. Dialup will work, however when my connection gets too laggy the game can be almost unplayable online. Frequently I'll get booted from a game and sometimes even Battle.net itself with a laggy connection and have to work through the same parts all over again. In addition to a fast internet connection I recommend boosting your RAM up to 64 MB.
Overall
I found this game to be very fascinating and it has an incredible amount of replay value depending on how much you want to get into it. The graphics are good, and the sound is decent as well. However, if you decide to jump into this game I recommend getting the expansion set. It appends the story, so you really don't miss anything important from the non-expansion version and it adds even more items and such. Anyone who is into computer gaming should check this out if they already haven't.
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