719th played so far
Genre: Action/Role-Playing
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 2000
Developer: Blizzard North
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Three years after Diablo, we decided to play its sequel – mostly to help Before I Kick (write up for this game coming a few months late there),but I guess having a gap similar to the original gap between games works.
In my mind, it’s always been the bigger one – larger, more classes, with more dungeons and cities. It’s exciting, in a way, and I’ve been looking forward to jumping into a bigger game.
Our Thoughts
Diablo II felt more interesting than its predecessor. I don’t know if I got bored too early last time, or if something didn’t connect – I thought I got in far enough. The dungeons are a smaller and there are plenty more of them, with a plotline that takes you around a world, rather than just taking you down a single dungeon for a longer time. The quests cover this as well, creating some additional reasons to go around and visit different dungeons. There’s always somewhere to go and something new to do, with systems unfolding over the early chapters to create enchanting, allow for free identifying (if you do the right quest) and so on – which really helps the loop that keeps you playing.
I think that it’s what keeps the game fresher – there are so many more places to go and adds up each time. Add to that a constant loop of better loot and experience improving your skills leading to you growing powerful quickly and you get something that keeps you hooked, if not addicted. I’m not sure whether features like randomly generated dungeons are necessary for it (that’s more the roguelike legacy), but it doesn’t get in the way of anything.
Playing this in multiplayer really helped the experience too. Having someone else around to support you helps even out the odds, taking some of the edge off the random systems and helping with the big crowd scenes. You spend some more time trading and setitng up items, but it is a lot of fun.
Final Thoughts
My Diablo II playthrough was better than that of the first game and it’s both because of the way I played it and because of the additions that streamline the game and keep bringing in more experiences. It’s refined and expanded and it makes for a better game. Now let’s get back to playing it…