For what do people play Diablo (and such games)?

[Abelian]

So what makes Diablo 2 less fun than Diablo 1 (as many seems to think), except nostalgia? Basic gameplay is quite similar, except you have lots more options and loot diversity in D2.

I think it's not necessarily an issue of fun, but of popamole gameplay.

D1 had a much more survival-horror atmosphere, where you couldn't outrun everything. D2 became all about doing loot runs, in order to get better equipment, to become better at doing loot runs in more difficult areas, etc. Then players would create all these custom builds that required planning skill-point distribution and specific equipment.

 

[Minttunator]

So what makes Diablo 2 less fun than Diablo 1 (as many seems to think), except nostalgia? Basic gameplay is quite similar, except you have lots more options and loot diversity in D2.

I'd argue that D1 has better atmosphere, but the gameplay is definitely superior in D2.

EDIT: Basically what Abelian said. Bloody hell, I got ninja-ed by 8 minutes - I suppose that's what you get for posting drunk on the Codex!

 

[buzz]

I don't feel Diablo 2's atmosphere was ruined or something. Even the desert and the jungle/marsh acts have a doom&gloom atmosphere, a typical Diablo-style sense of dread, especially in the dungeons. The monsters and bosses are still hellish like always. The music is still hella atmospheric, and so is the voice acting and sound effects. Really, the complaint at this point would be the fact that they had a little bit of variety.
Not that I'd say it's worth playing EITHER of them, but I think they've nailed the atmosphere really well in both games. Easily on top of my wishlist for "settings I'd want to see in proper RPGs".

 

[Jaesun]

I've played (and finished) Diablo 2 times. I loved it as a mindless CLICKY CLICKY. I'm not much into Multi-Player stuff.

I could never (and still to this day) ever finish, or play Diablo 2. It was like the Heart of Diablo was ripped out and just some shell was left....

 

[DeepOcean]

I'm playing Titan Quest lately and it is funny how those games stagnated with the pass of time. I had a huge deja vu of playing Diablo II again, it is a carbon copy of Diablo II on gameplay, including the same fourteen year old problems (Enemies that are just loot dispensers that offer no challenge and aren't fun to fight, having to play the same content three fucking times before getting the ultimate loot, uninspired monster design with just a few exceptions, completely worthless "exploration" of the map where you, 99% of the time, won't get anything valuable by straying out of the beaten path.).

It is a pain in the ass when you find a piece of gear perfect for another build but when I remember what I would have to endure just to make one, I say fuck it that I gona replay this thing just to play with another character that plays marginally different.The ancient world aesthetics is really cool and the only reason I continue playing.

When I was a teenager, had no internet connection and that was the only game available, I played Diablo II to death. Nowdays, that is hard to endure(Why torture myself replaying the same content over and over again just to make some build if I can play another game instead?). Honestly, Diablo II is the result of Blizzard murdering then raping the dead corpse of Diablo I.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Setting aside the atmosphere (which did take a total nosedive in diablo 2, catgirls and hedgehogs and fetish armour amazons hardly fit) the gameplay didn't really improve in diablo 2. Not overall anyways. The class differentiation with skilltrees was nice, but removing the random dropping of spells, quests, and making everything respawn so you can farm it endlessly... these changes all brought serious decline and drew the game away from it's roguelike roots. It also made quests/uniques (which used to be associated with the quests) much weaker. Getting Leoric's crown or Arkaine's Valour was a gamechanger, nothing in diablo 2 is like that. The only uniques you get through quests are used as keys minutes later and they weren't that good to begin with. There's certainly nothing memorable about getting some skillpoints or having charsi turn one crappy item into a rare that you probably can't use anyways.

 

[Lhynn]

I'd argue that D1 has better atmosphere, but the gameplay is definitely superior in D2.

Id argue that D1 gameplay was more fitting for the atmosphere they were trying to evoke, thus making it superior.

 

[Siobhan]

Diablo 2 was an important step in my transmogrification from a member of the gaming plebs to a snobby lunatic who follows discussions on the Codex: it's the first game that I loathed so much that I felt the need to analyze the depths of its suckitude. As others have mentioned already, all the good things about the first Diablo are gone:

- randomly generated dungeons (random empty overworlds don't count, they always look the same anyways)
- randomly chosen quests
- gothic horror atmosphere
- excellent soundtrack
- a standard single-player save game system
- quotable lines (I sense a soul in search of answers)

Instead we got too-big-for-their-own-good overworlds with barely anything to do, explore, or kill, a skill system that incentivizes saving your skill points until the very end of the game and turning your character into a one trick pony, and quite generally a focus on grinding, loot whoring and multiplayer.

Diablo 1 is a focused game with clear closure. It's deliberately simplistic. Depending on how much of a completionist you are you could finish a run in about 10 to 15 hours, and after two or three runs and a little bit of experimentation with different classes you've seen everything there is. It's a short but dense experience, with plenty of fun along the way.

In Diablo 2 you spend 20 hours as a human lawn mower clearing out one huge overworld area after another, slowly gaining points to learn one shitty skill after another (seriously, zeal and a might aura does not compare to blasting a room of bloodknights and succubi with chainlightning and fireballs before slaughtering the few survivors with your king's axe of haste). And you can't even quit when you're sick of lawn mowering around because saving returns you to town and all monsters respawn. Things pick up in Act 4, at least with respect to enemy density and atmosphere, but it's too little too late. The whole game is just one giant joyless grind, a herald of the MMO-decline that was still to come, and the only way I got some fun out of it was by using trainers to test builds of level 60 characters in 8-player versions of Act 4 on higher difficulties. Oh, and the Back to Hellfire mod also has its moments. And the cutscene for Act 3 is pretty cool.

 

[DDZ]

You are all just a bunch of whiny cunts.

I loved Diablo 2, and I loved Diablo 1 before that.

 

[AMG]

I bet all the babbies who just repeat like an echo chamber boring easy clickfest slot machine blablabla never beat HC in D2 even on normal.

 

[dannyfx1]

First of all, stop spamming. Why do you play clickfest games? I don't know exactly, it is very boring and one of the most obnoxious game concepts, but on the other hand it is very simple and sometimes you are in mood just for that. Having said that, I don't play these anymore, precisely for the same reason. The gameplay is too vague and soon there is nothing to the game, except hunting for loot and destroyed mouse and itching finger and probably few billion of lost nerve connections. The only bearable exception is Dungeon Siege, which alleviates the click doom, but Diablo nerds often complain there is not enough clicky wankery.

 

[DDZ]

Ye men stop spamming

 

[dannyfx1]

All in all, I have played quite a lot of such click fests and these games are so mindless, that you always have to quit after some time. It has almost debilitating feel to it. It lacks substance and form, or more precisely the form might be polished, but the substance is always trivial. It somehow gets better with interesting behaviors and movement patterns, sequenced skills and loot. The pacing is the most important and frankly Diablo 1 did that best and as someone mentioned here, it is about movement speed. In Diablo 1 there is distinct sequence, you cannot run and each monster has its movement pattern, which makes it more interesting.

 

[WalmartJesus]

but I think they've nailed the atmosphere really well in both games. Easily on top of my wishlist for "settings I'd want to see in proper RPGs".

I agree with this. The main story in the 3 Diablo games arent anything special but the setting and background history/lore is awesome which sets itself apart from the typical D&D elves and orcs shit.

Would be fucking amazing for a party based Rpg similar to Divinity:OS set in sanctuary's world during the Sin War or something.

 

[Sensuki]

I play ARPG games when I'm in the mood. Titan Quest is my favorite even if Diablo 2 is superior to it in a fair majority of ways. It's a good style of game if you just want to relax and pass time, throw on some music in the background and mow down some enemies.

Good ARPGs usually have pretty good character systems and the constant quest for better gear is fun as well, but there's a fine line between stuff dropping too much and stuff not dropping enough (a lot of it is luck I guess).

They also make good multiplayer games. I fondly remember many LANs of Diablo 2 and Titan Quest

 

[eremita]

[



Convenient and manipulative pics, nothing else. Those are always pathetic, yet community still uses them (the infamous "RPGs then RPGs now" lame bullshit)

It's not lame, it's the truth ...unless your dumbass is actually implying that DA2's writing/dialogue is on par with Planescape?

As for "D3 looks nothing like WoW" ...lol stop the lies, I'm one of the few people that didnt mind the game and even I'm able to admit that D3's look is cartoony compared to it's predecessor's darker aesthetics.

You're blind, look at the proportions, the colors...It's not same at all.

BTW, Anybody knows how's Path of Exile in case of co op? Also, is it challenging?

 

[DraQ]

So what makes Diablo 2 less fun than Diablo 1 (as many seems to think), except nostalgia? Basic gameplay is quite similar, except you have lots more options and loot diversity in D2.

Keyword being "basic".


There are a couple of fundamental differences between D1 and 2 regarding gameplay:

• D1 has no sprinting, you aren't free to dodge easily or disengage at your leisure, making combat much more threatening.
• D1 has no respawning and resetting, meaning the gameplay isn't about grinding for XP and items, but about making the best of finite and random resources you get.
• D1 is more randomized in terms of areas, loot (due to no ability to grind to eventually get what you want), enemy composition and PC capabilities (due to random spellbooks rather than putting points into trees) making each playthrough unique and strenghtening the above. D2 is about planning character and grinding to build exactly what you have planned, D1 is about flexibility and beating the odds.
• Given above D1 isn't saturated with loot making item drops more rewarding.
  
• D1 has less disparity between the power of individual mob and the PC making the combat riskier

Then there are non-gameplay factors:

• Respawns and resets really undermine the goal of killing the big bad
• Generic fantasy elements (catgirls, ents, amazons, barbs, fucking Kurast) undermine the atmosphere and pseudomedieval vibe that helped root the game's lore in RL religion strengthening the atmosphere.

 

[Lilura]

It's pretty easy to draw out mobs in ones and twos, and you can also outwalk monsters so they stop chasing you.

In this way, you can break down almost any encounter into nice little bite-sized chunks.
Diablo 1 is a slow, methodical plod with generous loot, gold, shrines, potions and scrolls. Providing you don't work at losing your positioning and don't get flanked, it's simple and easy.

I do like Diablo, but I love Diablo 2 (I play online LLD PVP and Median XL:Ultimative or Eastern Sun).

 

[Minttunator]

Anyway, that's why I play Diablo 2. I've learned lots about the depth of the game by LLDing and being a hated pker, and learned lots of insults and threats you wouldn't believe. Game is addictive as crack.

So basically your main motivation in playing the game is to cause butthurt. You, sir/m'lady, are a true Codexer!

 

[Lilura]

Thanks, and here I was thinking no one would understand. I might upload the vids to youtube one of these days...

 

[DraQ]

PvP

Well, yeah, that's probably the only legitimate reason to play something like D2 rather than D1.

 

[Lilura]

Actually, Diablo 2 also has the further benefit of not curing my insomnia.

 

[DraQ]

Odd. It did cure mine.

 

[Darkion]

I still have Diablo 2 installed in one of my computers and play it once a year for purely utilitarian reasons. One day of play and my wrist gets all swollen, so I can go to my doctor to complain about carpal tunnel pains and renew my yearly pre-approved intermittent leave of absence from work. That gives me 480 hours worth of stay at home 'no questions asked' sick time that come in handy when I don't feel like going to the office.

Full disclosure: I don't have carpal tunnel syndrome. So win-win.

 

[granit]

It is for the loot slot machine, designing different characters and builds and play them in order to get more loot so you can build even more interesting things. Also Diablo II had good PvP and PK. Path of Exile is pretty good for the same reasons, but it does not have PK and does not really have the same PvP following or possibilities.