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Diablo II - An Epic Role Playing Game
by By Steve Berlin—NOCCC, and Marc Prado, steveberlin@compuserve.com - June 02, 2001 at 19:33:25:
Diablo II is a wonderful achievement! A worthy follow-up to the original, which offers lush graphics, many varying terrain settings and more monsters than you can swing a sword at. This game is both delightful, fulfilling, and extremely large in scope - something that most games lack. Diablo II delivers a level of fun and replay-ability that is unparalleled in any other game I have played.The game is goal-oriented and allows you to follow along an unfolding storyline by completing quests. Diablo II is divided into four major acts, with each act having different terrain and quests that you must complete in order to proceed on your quest. Between the acts, there are full motion video sequences that chronicle your progress toward the final showdown with Diablo. Upon completion of the ultimate goal of defeating Diablo, the player is given the option of replaying the game at two higher difficulty levels where the monsters are fiercer, but there are rewards to match. While the ultimate goal is to defeat Diablo in Act 4, most of the fun lies in the quests and the overall game play. Diablo stays fresh because each time you play, the game maps of each area will be randomly generated. There are waypoints in the game that allow you to quickly visit and replay an area or skip quests which have been previously completed.
Diablo II is a major accomplishment because it melds fantasy role-playing with the arcade like fun of hack and slash in a perfect balance that is sure to please devotees of both genres. This fact is evidenced by Diablo II surpassing many gaming records, including the fastest game to sell over 1 million copies after release. As a newly initiated member of the Diablo community, I can also say that I am eagerly awaiting the expansion set in June or July 2001 and hopefully Diablo III sometime in the future.
The game opens in the remains of the Rogue camp from Diablo I, where it is discovered that the hero who originally defeated Diablo was unable to completely vanquish him. Diablo has returned to exact his vengeance upon the land and the character types from the first game were no match for him. There are now five all new character classes for you to develop and master: The Amazon, mistress of the bow and spear; The Necromancer, master of the undead; The Sorceress, mistress of elemental magic; The Paladin, blends holy vengeance with steel; and The Barbarian, master of hand to hand combat. Each class of characters has different skill types and as you progress through the game, you can decide which skills to build upon. The interesting thing about this is that each class has over 25 separate skills to specialize in, and because each player has the option to blend them differently, there are an almost infinite number of variations for each class.
I found one of the more delightful parts of this game to be character development through working on the skills. I chose to play a Barbarian and to work on the skills of battle orders, leap attack, and whirlwind. It was quite exciting to test them out and find out how they perform during gameplay. I also tried my hand at the Amazon class. While not as physically strong as the Barbarian, she relies on speed, strategy and a hailstorm of arrows to vanquish her foes. Because each character class has completely different skills, to replay the game through the hands of each, is to play an almost completely different game. Game strategies are developed to fight the assorted monsters using the skills of your character. There are bosses who have dominion over smaller beasts. If you don’t quickly find and kill the bosses, their minions will multiply and swarm you. Thwn you must learn quickly.
While Diablo II can be played in single-player mode, it is on Blizzard’s venerable worldwide multi-player network system that Diablo II fulfils it’s calling as a true role-playing game. It should be noted that Battle-net has been around for many years and Blizzard deserves a medal for keeping it stable and completely free from those annoying monthly access fees so common for multi-player games.
When you first go onto battle-net, you will play the role of the new adventurer—a stranger in a strange land, though you will know how to play the game (assuming that you have played it first in single player, which is highly recommended). You will know nothing of the rules of etiquette, or how to get along in this environment. If you are nice to people or get lucky, your skills and wealth will increase quickly. Soon you will become a force with which to be reckoned, and you will multiply your power by forming alliances with people you meet. You will need to work with people to defend yourself and trade with them to get the really powerful items you will need to survive in this online world. You will meet people from around the nation and around the world here. I have often stopped playing the game and just talked to them about their lives and land. Again, it becomes like a constantly evolving novel.
As more and more players join in multi-player games (up to eight people), the monsters get more difficult, but you are rewarded more experience points when defeating them. It has been quite fun playing along with frozen orb-producing sorcerers and arrow-shooting amazons with my Barbarian since you can interactively watch the damage being done on each monster and watch and see what your party members are doing.
Another aspect of the game that I have found interesting is the ability to trade items with other players. Diablo II offers a secure trade screen within the game that makes trading quite simple. Battle.net also offers great chat options to facilitate interplayer communication. I have met a lot of folks during my many trades and was able to later trade and communicate with them. This aspect of the game just broadens the scope of Diablo and allows you to get the exact items you need. Initially, I was overwhelmed by how many users were playing games and trading each night. Literally tens of thousands of people are playing worldwide each day.
Diablo II challenges you to continually develop your character, find powerful items, and meet new people to play with. You can play Diablo II without ever having played the original Diablo. The story is simply a continuation and is woven very nicely into a new story on its own. I highly recommend this outstanding follow-up to the original.
Diablo II is a product by Blizzard Entertainment and has a retail value of $49. The game can be played on Win95/98/2000 with a P233 or above, 32 MB RAM, and 640 MB of disk space (Multiplayer requires 950 MB.) CD-ROM 4X, Direct X. Please visit the website at www.blizzard.com for more information.
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