I remember watching a friend show me Diablo 1 back in high school when it was released. I honestly didn’t get it and found the game boring. I knew that it was a major success from gaming publications, but I just didn’t get it.
Then It All Clicked
When Diablo 2 was near release four years later, I got caught in the buzz and anticipation. I had become a fan of Blizzard games from StarCraft, so in waiting for Diablo 2, I loaded up Diablo 1 again to get into the lore and story. I still didn’t find the game very engaging, actually, it was annoying because I had to click my left mouse button so much. To save my mouse from repetitive-click injury, I used an utility that allowed me to hold my mouse button down.
Then it all clicked when I played Diablo 1 with a friend. Suddenly, the game was exciting and fun. And I also began to understand what Diablo 1 had done for the role-playing genre as a whole. It had distilled all the bookkeeping in RPGs to kill and loot. And it was glorious.
An Unexpected, Personalized Journey
Diablo 2 was one of the first games I bought on launch-day. I rarely ever bought a game without a review and at full price, but I couldn’t wait to play Diablo 2. The best part was I had four friends and my brother join in the fun. For two weeks after Diablo 2 came out, my friends and I worked our day jobs, then joined together in my basement for a LAN party where we traveled through the world of Diablo, fought through hordes of monsters, loaded up with loot, and saved the world. We were the stars in our own epic journey and conquest akin to Lord of the Rings.
The beauty of Diablo 2 was that we all created different characters that suited our play-style. Even for those who chose the same character class, the diverse skill trees, character attributes, and equipment helped personalize our character. Each character had their strengths and we relied on each other to survive.
I spent the better part of two years playing Diablo 2 off and on. I was lucky enough to get invited into the private beta for the expansion. I had created characters of each class—multiple versions of some classes—and repeated through the game again and again to get better stuff. My favorite classes were the sorceress, paladin, and assassin.
Nine Years and Three Kids Later
When Diablo 3 was announced, I was timid to return to Diablo, knowing how addictive it was. Nine years was a long time, and my season of life had changed from college student to father of three. My time is much more limited and I have more important priorities.
Despite all that, I found myself pre-ordering Diablo 3 in the presumption that my friends would be playing it and I didn’t want to miss out. The nostalgia of playing Diablo 2 in my basement was much too strong.
I was also interested in how Blizzard would refine their game design all these years. There were several controversial changes to their formula that had me hesitant and cautious, but I reserved my judgment until I played it myself.
Now, a month after the game launched, I’ve managed to beat the game on normal difficulty with two different classes, monk and wizard. I’ve only scratched the early parts of nightmare difficulty, but have come away disillusioned but content.
Stay A While And Listen
My biggest disappointment was the story. Granted, Diablo 2’s story wasn’t amazing either, and perhaps I have not forgiven Blizzard for blundering StarCraft 2’s storyline. As expected, their story cinematics are amazing, so it only pains me more that the story fails to be memorable. Their twist was actually a twist for me because I had not paid attention to the super-obvious clues throughout.
Beyond the story, I think that Blizzard did an admirable job refining the gameplay to its core: stuff. Many of their design decisions focuses the player on getting better stuff. The skill system simplification is oddly reminiscent of first-person shooter progression styles, where different abilities would unlock given enough play time and progress. This simplification pushes a player to rely on their stuff to personalize and allow a player to also experiment with skills.
I didn’t like the skill system at first because I believe it removed the replayability of the game. No longer do I need to make different wizards to specialize in different skills, like I did in Diablo 2. But as I played through the game, I found myself thankful—I don’t have the time to build different wizards to experiment with different skills. The new skill system allowed my wizard to adapt to specialization I want. The replayability comes in when I want a different character class—and running through the game to get better stuff.
I’ve found myself switching up skills depending on what other classes I’m playing with. If I have another player in my game to act as a tank (someone to take in damage while I deal damage from afar), I use more powerful spells that leave me more vulnerable. If I’m going solo, I have to load up on skills that protect me. I couldn’t do that in Diablo 2 with a single character.
Some called the skill system change “dumbing down” the game for a wider audience. I believe it was a design decision to focus the game more about stuff than skills. And they reached their goal. I’m not convinced that focusing on just stuff was correct, but I applaud them to staying true to that focus.
It’s been a fun romp through nostalgia. Diablo 3 isn’t the same game as Diablo 2, but that’s the curse of sequels—to be similar but different. I feel that Diablo 3 is a bit oversimplified, but in my season of life where I don’t have hundreds of hours to play, it fits just right in my time to game.
Misunderstood Mayhem
As I wrote this blog post, I read an article on Gamespy that paralleled up my thoughts on Diablo 3 perfectly: it’s a great action game that was mistakenly marketed as an action RPG.