Diablo II (2000)

Diablo II is the definition of the RPG genre and the grandfather of all the hack and slash games that followed. It got a solid story, excellent mechanics, great sound and music, good visuals and challenging enemies and bosses.

When comparing Diablo II to its predecessor, it is a huge upgrade. The mechanics have improved, the visuals are much nicer, the spells and skills are way better and there are many more classes and characters to play.

Diablo walks the earth again after a unnamed hero from the previous game slew him and tried to contain his dark essence in his body. It ultimately consumed and corrupted him and gave Diablo free passage to use him as a puppet and spread his evil, including his demon horde and freeing his brothers Mephisto and Baal.

Evil takes over the lands in an alarming pace and a lot of people are either dead or fleeing to small settlements. You start in a camp owned by the Rogue Sisters, an order of fighting women that lost almost all of their members. From here, you start your journey and fight against the Prime Evils.

In terms of graphics, Diablo II looks stunning. It is still 2D, but the art style and the different dimensions and depth the engine uses, make it feel like a fully 3D game. Animations, blood and environments look beautiful and the dark and grim atmosphere the graphics create is just perfect, especially for the open field areas.

Diablo II is split up into acts, each with their own questline, pieces of the story and environments. This is, by far, one of the best aspects of the game, the variety of play. One act you are in forests and plains, then you travel through the desert, then the jungle and lastly, Hell itself. It is just refreshing and stunning to enter a complete new environment every act.

The sound design in this game is one of the best I experienced so far. The blows of your weapon, the hit sounds on enemies, the grunts of Fallen that you kill, the perfect and lifeless sounds the zombies make, it is all perfect. To top it off, the music is excellent. There has yet to be an RPG that can match the atmospheric vibe that Diablo II created with its excellent soundtrack.

The mechanics are great. You got durability on your gear, different quality ratings that your weapons and armor can possess, and, best of all, the crafting system via the Horadric Cube to create more powerful gems, potions and other items. The combat feels more responsive and predictable instead of the one hit deaths that you could encounter in the first game.

The only thing that I needed to get used to, was the fact that you could not save the game without exiting and that the enemies did not stay dead. All the RPG’s that I played, including the first Diablo did save your progress and kills until that point, but as a kid, I was surprised when I saw that all the enemies were back when I started it up again. Nowadays, this is nothing special, but back then, it was a new concept in which you could harvest XP almost infinitely from enemies.

Your inventory has been improved too. There are now many more slots to fill like a belt, gloves and shoes. You can also place gems in socketed items, providing a nice boost on your stats.

The game and its expansion, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction are still played today and the leader-boards remain more active than ever. It is a true testimony for its legacy and rightfully so.

I can only praise Diablo II and would recommend it to everyone.

To me, Diablo II (D2) and it's expansion Lord of Destruction (LOD), is the best game on PC. That's a big claim. But if I had to stop my choice somewhere it would be here without a doubt. Other games are much more modern but few lack the polish and the incredible replayability of DII.

I bought the game when it came out, in 2000 and shortly after bought the expansion. It didn't take long for me to get immersed in this hack'n'slash ARPG classic. I went throught the learning curve on my own, playing, playing and playing some more.

My systems for D2 are some of the most complex or should I say, "in depth" systems among all the PC games that I've played. What I mean here is that I had a plethora of characters, editors, lists, spreadsheets and "house-rules" that I've used. Here a few examples:

-predefined builds for my characters
-about 50 different characters, some mules and some destined to wear a specific set.
-ex: one of my character is Tal Rasha. She is a hardcore sorceress and is designed to wear the full Tal Rasha set.
-I have one character per set and some characters to wear 2 sets at the same time.
-I also have my "main" or "open" characters. They are the furthest ahead in terms of level, my favorite avatars for each of the 7 classes and they are open in the sense that they can wear the gear that they please without restriction.

I could go on talking D2 for hours... But let me sum it up quickly: D2 with no cheating is an incredibly good game that has a lot to offer. It's both very accessible and extremely deep. The sounds are amazing, some of the best out there. The atmosphere is medieval fantastic gothic. The way the game is designed, the loot drops following an exponential rarity curve. So while you will easily drop the low level gear, it might take someone years of playing to drop some of the rarest gear. And the loot is maybe the best part of D2.

So to cut this review short, my final opinion is a 5/5. On 100? Maybe 94%. There's nothing above it. Diablo III was disappointing (still fun and a great game) and just not as good as D2.