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

Why play diablo-style games?

  • Grinding/looting

    Votes: 102 48.1%
  • Simple but catchy gameplay

    Votes: 127 59.9%
  • Interesting setting/design in particular games

    Votes: 65 30.7%
  • Other (specify) in your post

    Votes: 23 10.8%

  • Total voters
    212

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
I think I'm going out on a limb and stake all my KKK: I actually enjoyed both Diablo games.

But they aren't turn-based party RPGs!

:whatho:
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Median XL, the most monocled epic-as-all-fuck mod for D2:


That is normal game-play speed, not fast-forward. Also, that Sin is merely walking (so as to maintain max block).

A general trailer for Median XL, shame the uploader (coder that took over from Laz) used such an over-used track:


MXL:U Bloodmoor is probably the equivalent of /players 8 Hell Chaos Sanctuary - enemy density, speed, variation and lethality is really impressive in this mod, and it takes lots of time investment and planning to get godly. The mod also implements many crafting mechanics so that success doesn't solely rely on finding uber-gear or High Runes.
 
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shihonage

Subscribe to my OnlyFans
Patron
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
7,157
Location
location, location
Bubbles In Memoria
I get what you're saying, but what Codexists need to realize is that Diablo 2 is a multi-faceted game that can be played in many ways and on different levels (SP, hardcore, PvP, PK, coop).

If you deem Diablo 2 "simple, mindless fun", then that's fine because you admit it's just a narrow, personal view of a game that isn't restricted to the mode of casual play.

But what we have in this topic is a few noobs with monocle delusions spouting shit about a game they really know nothing about because they've judged it on a superficial level that reflects their own degenerate playing habits, and that's always funny.

Yeah, Diablo 2 isn't Planescape: Torment or Fallout 1. IMO, it isn't even a RPG and this topic should be in general gaming. But Diablo 2 is also pretty deep in the mechanical sense, if you bother to scratch more than the surface.

100% agreed.

Also, if I could punch Jay Wilson in his smarmy face, I would. But I'm afraid the impact would largely dissipate in the rippling shockwave of fat.
 
Unwanted

a Goat

Unwanted
Dumbfuck Edgy Vatnik
Joined
Jun 15, 2014
Messages
6,941
Location
Albania
If you deem Diablo 2 "simple, mindless fun", then that's fine because you admit it's just a narrow, personal view of a game that isn't restricted to the mode of casual play.

I do realise it because my friend played diablo 2 like 5 years straight so it's not like I've didn't heard about it.

It's just the fact that I've played them rather casually, didn't sperged out about them(like I do when it comes to some strategy games), so the answer on the question "why do people play it?" is also the fact that you can turn of the brain and watch enemies being cut to pieces because well - that's why I've played it. And Dungeon Siege. And Loki. And Torchlight. And few others I've forgot(I don't count Divine Divinity or Inquisitor because they're kinda different thing).
 

Psquit

Arcane
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Messages
1,921
Location
Ushuaia
I always enjoy diablo 2 because it allows me to have my very own army of skeletons, demons and a golem. Gang bang diablo with 50 summoned units never gets old.
 

roshan

Arcane
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
2,426
What's the best merc to use in Diablo 2? I usually stick to the act 1 normal difficulty cold merc.
 

bloodlover

Arcane
Joined
Sep 5, 2010
Messages
2,039
The merc with the Holy Freeze if I remember right. Though there's also a good one that gives Might, but almost nobody uses him.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Most people roll with Act2 Nightmare mercs, but as you can see from this guide, other mercs are viable. It really depends on your build and what you're setting out to do.
 

roshan

Arcane
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
2,426
Is there any single player enhancement mod for Diablo II? I've just tried the game and towards the end it becomes pretty much unplayable due to lack of stash space, and the inventory being filled up with charms.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
PlugY, The Survival Kit

Exe installer seems to work best for most, then just run Diablo 2 from PlugY.exe, located in ..\Diablo II\Mod PlugY

Also there's GLIDE3-to-OpenGL-Wrapper , the game looks better and runs smoother. You can even have perspective effects in Windowed mode, though for that you need to use -w -3dfx switches on whatever exe you run the game from.
 

otsego

Cipher
Joined
Aug 22, 2012
Messages
229
The Diablo 1 (best Diablo) modding scene is still very active, and this is something I've recently come across:



Very cool. Takes a bit away from the atmosphere because you aren't so up-close-and-personal like in the original, but this sort of update can really bring some fresh meat to the original formula.
In its current state, it seems to borrow and implement a lot of D2 features while updating the original formula and visuals, plus a few creative tweaks.

It's way too easy at the moment, so The Hell mod is still scratching that D1 itch while keeping things difficult and interesting.
 

Lonely Vazdru

Pimp my Title
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
6,656
Location
Agen
this sort of update can really bring some fresh meat to the original formula.
The_Butcher_(Diablo_I).gif

Aaahhhh.... Fresh meat !
 

Jarakka

Learned
Joined
Jun 4, 2013
Messages
59
I don't know how it was with everyone else, but I remember I never got into Diablo II. It just felt so repetitive, boring and just dull dull dull. Everyone else loved it, I tried myself, but just... No. Didn't click with me.

Then for some reason I played PoE because someone suggested it to me. And I loved that game. Why? Beats me. Maybe it's the skill system or something, maybe it's something with how the combat pans out, but I can't put my finger to it.

Simple games, but subtle changes seem to make a world of difference with this genre.
 

Lonely Vazdru

Pimp my Title
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
6,656
Location
Agen
What about the Hellfire expansion?
I liked it well enough, not too crazy about the alien-like hive part but the rest is rather good and doesn't feel off, even though it's Sierra and not Blizzard material. As for the new character, the monk, it's rather fun to play. The two "hidden" characters, bard and barbarian are using the rogue and warrior sprites, so it's not that entertaining to play those if you already played them in the vanilla game. Dual wielding bard can be fun though.
All in all I'd say give it a try if you liked Diablo.
 

Applypoison

Numantian Games
Patron
Developer
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
120
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Serpent in the Staglands Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Diablo 2 had an emergent metagame based around duping items and exploiting magic find/boss drop rates and waypoints to accumulate an ideal item build.

So Diablo 2 was primarily about character building - making and testing interesting builds and item combinations. I do NOT believe it was about grinding.

It also had a very active PvP scene.

By contrast, with Diablo 3, the developers outright declared that the reason anybody played Diablo 2 was because they loved loot - the only reason they played was to find more loot, they needed more loot, and if they didn't have loot to get they wouldn't play. So the resultant game was a series of experiments, some flawed, in engineering skinner boxes to see what can get the player base to continue clicking buttons. It's an extremely degrading experience in cheap entertainment, and by entertainment, I mean engineered attempts to poke out some reaction in the lizard brain.
This, although I remain convinced that RoS made huge leaps forward in terms of converting D3 from fun-ridden cashcow, into a respectable ARPG.

Also, multiplayer is fun. These days it is abused by game publishers and all too often hurts the single player experience, but I have fond memories of BG: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath binge weekends. The grind/loot, fluid medieval action w/defend mechanics and accessible char customization in a co-op environment was where it was at.
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
Patron
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,512
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Diablo 2 had an emergent metagame based around duping items and exploiting magic find/boss drop rates and waypoints to accumulate an ideal item build.

So Diablo 2 was primarily about character building - making and testing interesting builds and item combinations. I do NOT believe it was about grinding.

It also had a very active PvP scene.

By contrast, with Diablo 3, the developers outright declared that the reason anybody played Diablo 2 was because they loved loot - the only reason they played was to find more loot, they needed more loot, and if they didn't have loot to get they wouldn't play. So the resultant game was a series of experiments, some flawed, in engineering skinner boxes to see what can get the player base to continue clicking buttons. It's an extremely degrading experience in cheap entertainment, and by entertainment, I mean engineered attempts to poke out some reaction in the lizard brain.
This, although I remain convinced that RoS made huge leaps forward in terms of converting D3 from fun-ridden cashcow, into a respectable ARPG.

Also, multiplayer is fun. These days it is abused by game publishers and all too often hurts the single player experience, but I have fond memories of BG: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath binge weekends. The grind/loot, fluid medieval action w/defend mechanics and accessible char customization in a co-op environment was where it was at.
Dark Alliance on the highest difficulty was morbid fun. Champions of Norrath was also fun in four player co-op. Although, the Norrath games were not as good as the dark Alliance games.
 

mastroego

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
For some reason I got the itch to play it again.
I found this Sebish mod somewhere and I gave it a try.

Basically you level faster and you can store an incredible amount of items, which can be shared between characters.
No new skills or anything like that, although the caps are raised somewhat.
All runewords are unlocked and runes can be purchased (this is actually going too far, I guess)
So now I've started with Normal (not that I have a choice!) and yes, it generally seems easier (might be different for the other difficulties, and I have to consider that I started using hot-keys thanks to Torchlight).
But the thing is, I can keep EVERYTHING I find and I can store it for future characters.

Still makes little sense and I feel compelled to list this under "degenerate" gameplay, but the loot can be really exciting in this game and I finally can envision having a few sets... sometime.
One might just assume the characters get luckier the longer you play...:roll:;)
Not perfect, but I'd say this is a mod that makes SP "viable". You'll never be able to try out the really high tier stuff without a mod like this.
 
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Abelian

Somebody's Alt
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
2,289
Not perfect, but I'd say this is a mod that makes SP "viable". You'll never be able to try out the really high tier stuff without a mod like this.
There is a another way by playing the game in LAN mode or through Hamachi and transferring save game files.

Many years ago, I did just that. I was able to drop off set items and give them to mule characters, then created another mule character for runes and gems. The rune mule could create new runes using the Horadric cube recipes then give them to another character, then I would restore a backup copy of the rune mule, restoring all runes that were used up. When the mule had every rune, I was set to create all rune words I pleased.

Then I stopped playing SP because it wasn't fun anymore.
:negative:

Then I stopped playing online because I got sick of loot runs and grinding.

Oh, well. It was fun for a while.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
The easiest way is to just use PlugY which gives you "infinite" space for personal stash and shared stash. Whatever you place in shared stash can be accessed later by any character, who can then be twinked to cakewalk the next run. The shared stash is stored in your D2 save directory as _LOD_SharedStashSave.sss. Simply back the stash up, use the items, then copy over the stash with your backup to have those used items back. Obviously, this makes cubing up High Runes quite trivial and is a slippery slope of cheese and cheating, but there you have it.

You can also use a separate app called GoMule which is far more versatile and powerful, since you can basically build a massive database of categorised items of every kind, and do specific searches and shit like that. This app can detect dupes and is used by tight-knit online SP communities who trade with each other over forums or email.

I reject the idea that SP isn't "viable" without cheese or cheating, plodding or modding. I've capped off Hell SP with clvl75 builds (no-grind/no-farm, totally untwinked, without using /players x, maphack, shared stashes, duping or any cheese or cheating shit), the lvlcap of D2 is 99...

Skill and knowledge, ftw.
 

mastroego

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
It's not unplayable, but I personally see little point to it since you cannot have access to high tier items, half the content is actually blocked, and you can't realistically hope to acquire sets of items and such without endless grinding.
That mod provides a solution - sub-optimal for sure, but a solution. It does require PlugY but other than that, you just play, no need for "off-game" shenanigans, which I prefer as a general rule :)
 

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