I must apologize for posting this up earlier than it was meant to. Finishing up the end-of-year lists, along with the final reviews of 2016, meant I had to make this alongside them. Luckily, once they were done, doing this was easier. Anyways, Diablo!
Released during a time when RPGs were on the decline, Diablo was known for two things: action & fun. I remember first playing this game back then, and I still play it today. Since 96, the Diablo line of games has garnered a horde of fans who’ve weathered the storm, through the good times and the bad times. In a tribute to this series, I thought it was only appropriate to take a look at this whole series. So, get on your strongest armor, stock up on health potions, and enjoy my look at the action-oriented Diablo. Let the retrospective begin!
Diablo (1996)(Trailer)
The game was received very well by critics & gamers, gaining a 94 over on Metacritic. People praised the game's addictive gameplay, immense replayability, dark atmosphere, superior graphics, moody musical score, and its great variety of possible magic items, enemies, levels, and quests. That last aspect was praised by GameSpot editor Trent Ward in his review of the game, where he said: “Similarly, although a set number of monsters is included, only a few will be seen during each full game. This means that players going back for their second or third shot at the game will very likely fight opponents they haven't seen before. Talk about replay value.”
Best Aspect? The gameplay is a big plus for Diablo! Whereas many RPGs at the time were complex with how things worked, Diablo opted for a far more simplistic system. You pick your class (More on this in a sec) put your points into 1 of 4 stats (Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Magic), and gain skills through reading tomes that anyone can look at. You’ve got health & mana potions (As well as rejuvenation points that refill both health & mana), potions that enhance your stats, scrolls to cast spells, and there’s a slew of weapons & armor of various levels of power (Normal, Magic, Legendary) for characters to use. There are a host of monsters during your travels in the cathedral & the dungeons below, with unique qualities that make each encounter a surprise.
Another good aspect would be the classes. You’ve got a set of 3: the stoic Warrior, the sly Rogue, and the wise Sorcerer. These three all play the same for the most part, but there are things that separate them so they aren’t identical. The Warrior is a master of melee combat, and he can repair items (Taking a durability penalty in the process), but he’s not great with magic. Meanwhile, the Rogue is a wiz when it comes to bows, and she can disable traps with ease, but melee is not something she enjoys. The Sorcerer is the most extreme: he’s practically dead when in melee, and ranged combat isn’t something he’s good at. However, he’s a master of magic, can recharge staffs (With a reduction in charges), and can obtain more mana than either the Warrior or Rogue. These classes all play differently due to their quirks & abilities, and a playthough with the Warrior will be different than a playthrough with the Rogue & Sorcerer, and vice-versa.
One last positive aspect is the atmosphere, and holy crap does this game nail atmosphere! While the graphic are simplistic now, back in 96 they were certainly something. There was a detail in each of the dungeons that was sublime, and the coat of paint on each of them still look fresh. The Cathedral looks quite religious, the Crypts look old, the Caves came across as natural with a touch of the demonic, and Hell was simply devilish. The sound effects are still awesome, as the death throes of a monster (Or a monster when they’re alive) sound like nothing normal, and the music. OMG the music! There’s only 5 tracks total, and each map has a respective tune on a loop, but there’s a fantastic amount of artistry in each of them, and still sound great today!
Worst Aspect? Much like Quake from this past June, age is this game’s biggest detriment. Compared to the third game, or even the second one, Diablo is incredibly dated. Graphics & gameplay are incredibly simplistic, story is exceedingly bare bones (Although the manual has a surprising amount of lore), and subsequent run-throughs always seem to be faster than the previous one. Not only that, but it seems that Blizzard really doesn’t talk about this game, apart from D2 & D3 story components (As well as the recent “Remaster” event going on for next month). To their defense, the original game wasn’t really compatible with future versions of Battle.net, although I always wonder if that was just an excuse.
Diablo. Maybe a little on the old side, but I still come back to it 20 years later. For people who want their RPG games a little more on the action side of things, this should be the right kind of fix. Next game!
Diablo: Hellfire (1997)(Trailer)
Best Aspect? For starters, the core components have remained essentially unchanged. All of the things that made Diablo great can be found here, and thus I would be repeating myself. However, there are some additions & changes.
For starters, there’s a new class in the form of the Monk, and he’s a weird one. He’s fantastic in melee like the warrior, but instead of decking himself out with the biggest sword & heaviest armor, the Monk likes to go in lightly armored & bash demons with staves & his fists (The Monk is the only character that has his unarmed damage increase overtime), and his observation skills can perceive items the player might not be able to find. He’s a great addition to the 3 classes already availability, even if he does come across as odd.
There’s also a new section in your spellbook to learn new abilities, and these one are odd. You can reflect projectiles, teleport to the nearest entrance or exit, enrage enemies, and can even call up a wall of lightning (Similar to the main game’s firewall ability). This new selection of abilities gives more variety to an already varied pool of abilities, giving the player even more options to choose from!
A host of new items have been added as well. You’ve got more weapons & armor across the spectrum of rarity, but the most interesting were the oils & runes. The oils altered items in some way, from increasing durability to reducing stat requirements for items. Runes were one-use items like scrolls, but more offensive. You could shock & burn enemies, or your could turn them to stone. There wasn’t much variety when it came to the Runes in terms of abilities, but they were consistent to say the least.
There’s also two new dungeons for the player to explore. The Festering Nest & Demon Crypts can be easily avoidable, but then you’d be missing out. Both dungeons have their own music (Equally as good as the original Diablo, if I say so myself), and their own host of monsters as well. These two places can go by quick, but it’s nice to see the work expanded in some way.
We got one final addition, and it’s a strange one. In the original Diablo, you could only walk around town, and your walking pace was rather slow. In Hellfire, you can now run around town! Granted, it’s just the walking animation sped up, but you’re moving around far more quickly than normal. Hey, sometimes the small things are best!
Worst Aspect? Really getting shoved into obscurity was Hellfire’s only problem. It’s practically been stricken from Diablo’s history books, and the story (as incredibly minimal as it) has essentially become non-canon. I’ve meet a lot of people that know about Lord of Destruction or Reaper of Souls, but rarely have any of them ever heard of this expansion. It’s a shame, as there was a bit more content here than many realize, and even some mechanical & art components were used later on in other games.
However, there are two other things that hamper Hellfire’s fun. For starters, the content in the pack is not multiplayer compatible, and thus everything is purely singleplayer. I liked what they gave for singleplayer, it was fun! However, the additional content would have added some extra spice to the online play. The other thing is the unutilized content, as there was a small amount that was never fully coded in. 2 classes (Bard & Barbarian), quests, and some other stuff wasn’t implemented, apart from clever players finding the code & activating it, although that carried a risk of corrupting your game. Still, if you’re brave enough, you might want to attempt this task.
Hellfire. A sadly obscure entry into the world of Diablo. If you happen to come across this little gem, get it installed as soon as possible, and play your hearts out! Next game!
Diablo 2 (2000)(Trailer)
Finally, on the 29th of June 2000 (July 26th for Mac), Diablo 2 was released to the public. Reception for the game was fantastic: Metacritic gave the game an 88 out of 100, IGN gave it an 8.3 out of 10, and Gamespot gave it a 8.5 out of 10, as well as giving it the 2000 runner-up Reader's Choice Award for role-playing game of the year. Even the Guinness Book of World Records got in on the action, giving it a spot in their “2000 Edition” book for being the fastest selling game of the time: it sold 1 million copies in it’s first two weeks, and by January 2001 it sold 2.75 million copies worldwide. Pretty impressive if you ask me!
Best Aspect? Gameplay has definitely had an overhall. On the surface, it’s much like the original: there’s still the classes (More on them in a sec), stats, abilities, items, etc. However, the system has made a major change.
This time around, there are 5 characters to choose from. There’s the feminine Amazon, master of bow & spear. There’s the masculine Barbarian, muscular & lord over weapons & armor. There’s the Necromancer, a spellcaster with domain over death & the dead. There’s the Paladin, a holy man whose auras can protect or harm. Finally, we got the Sorceress, a woman who’s mastered fire, ice, and lightning. Gone are the spellbooks from the original game, and instead there are 3 lists of skills for each class. Some give out passive bonuses, while others give access to immediate abilities. They don’t have any class abilities like the original Diablo characters did, but their flavor is far stronger this time around. Fortunately, all of them use the same stats as the original classes did, but there’s no focus on any one stat.
Items themselves are mostly the same. You’ve still got normal, magic, and legendary items, but now you’ve got rare & set items as well to acquire. Rare items are like a bridge between magic & legendary items. They’re far stronger than a magic item, but don’t quite have the strength of legendary items. Set items are a collection of pieces that are fine on their own, but when used together, give benefits that can readily help a player. Each difficulty (Something taken from Hellfire) has their own set of legendary & set items, and they become more crazy the higher you get.
Monsters have gotten an overhall....in a sense. There are a small few original creatures from Diablo that have returned (Skeletons, Zombies, and the Fallen), but now there are far more new beasts & demons to slay. Each act has their own set of foes to give it identity, and it’s fun to see what’s there to kill. Legendary monsters now have wild abilities, from increased durability, all the way to having elemental attacks. There’s now a new variant of monster called Champions. Like rare items, champion monsters act as a bridge between normal enemies & top-tier ones.
Graphics & audio are a big improvement as well in Diablo 2. Though you can tell how old this game is now, it comes across as far more fresh than D1 does in 2016. Granted things look dated now, but there’s still some ascetic value that’s got some hairs on it’s head. The musical score is much more varied now, as there’s multiple tracks for each zone, furthering the face of their identity. The various monsters have great sound as well, and that adds to their identity as well.
The “Acts” structure that Diablo 2 has is a big improvement to the original’s game top-to-bottom structure. Taking place over an arching storyline, the player wanders through places that are far larger than anything that D1 & Hellfire had. There’s the traditional gothic setting that’s the first act, but then you transition into a Middle-Eastern/Egyptian setting for act 2, a tropical jungle meets Aztec temples for act 3, and a return trip to Hell for the concluding 4th act. Not to disrespect the 4 dungeons & Tristram from Diablo, but there is far more detail put into each & every single location. Color, sound, and even background characters bring out more than the original Diablo ever did.
Multiplay is a great final positive aspect to talk about. The original Diablo had multiplayer, but it wasn’t the best, and it was notorious for hacking & cheaters. With Diablo 2, the multiplay is far more stable. There was still some hacking & cheating (It was a sight once in a while to see a player decked out in some of the highest-tier items), but the gameplay made so outside interference was harder to get away with, and it felt nowhere near as slow as D1 multiplayer was.
Worst Aspect? There’s really only 2 things that hamper Diablo 2's fun. For starters, the save function just hampers the experience, as the only way you can save your game is by selecting the “Save & Exit” option in the menu. Yes, as you exit a game, you’re also saving? What!? To be fair, all of your progress is saved like normal, and whatever areas of the map stay explored. The other downside to this is that all the enemies you’ve killed will come back when you reload a character. It’s annoying, but it gives you bonus XP & loot when you kill them again.
The other problem is the game’s difficulty. The “normal” difficulty is exactly as it sounds: normal. It’s not too hard, but it’s not too easy either. However, when you reach the 2nd difficulty known as “Nightmare”, you find that it just seems to be designed to be a bit harder, sometimes to the point of unfair. Things are far worse when one gets to the 3rd difficulty known as “Hell”, where even the smallest of things can potentially make you their bitch. I understand the need for increased difficulty when one gets further into a game, but don’t design your higher difficulties to work against the player. You might get stronger equipment as you get further in, but it sometimes doesn’t help when a pack of monsters can eat you in seconds!
Diablo 2. An improvement upon the foundation that’s it’s predecessor created, and in turn a phenomenal game in it’s own right. If you’ve ever been curious about this entry into the Diablo franchise, this is the one for you. Next game!
Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction (2001)(Trailer)
Taken from the Diablo Wiki:
“Lord of Destruction is listed at Metacritic with an average rating of 87 (with one perfect score from Computer Games Online). It is described at Metacritic as an expansion that "should reinforce the staying power of an already legendary RPG." GameSpot awarded the game an 8.2 out of 10, IGN awarded the game an 8.8 out of 10 and Gamespy awarded the game an 88 out of 100”
Best Aspect? LoD continues the pedigree that Diablo 2 established, but added some new content that’s still remembered today. For starters, two new classes have been added. The Assassin, a woman who’s mastery of martial arts & traps make her an intriguing individual, and the Druid, a man with a dominion over nature that no-one else can obtain. Like the 5 other classes in D2, The Assassin & Druid have 3 lists of skills, split among passive bonuses & active abilities, and they were just as varied as what the other 5 classes had.
Items themselves have remained largely the same. There’s still the standard selection of items (With new additions & affixes), but now there’s class-specific items & ethereal items, charms, jewels, and runes. Class-specific items are exactly as they sound: items designed specifically for each class, and give bonuses exclusively to that class. Ethereal items reduce the stat requirements for an item, but this comes with the cost of reduced durability & inability to repair. Charms give out little bonuses, and the larger the charm, the larger the bonus, but you have to have them in your inventory to gain said bonuses. Jewels are similar to gems in terms of bonuses, but they’re like magic items in terms of what bonuses they give. Runes round out the last group of items: they provide bonuses on their own, but when socketed in a correct pattern (Sometimes in the right item as well) introduce a bonus on par with a legendary item or a set of items.
Lord of Destruction continues the “Act” arc with act 5, and wow it’s a doozy. Baal, the surviving prime evil, makes his way across the barbarian homeland, all the way to the sacred site of Mount Arreat, where the Worldstone lies. The lay of the land is depressive: much of it is covered in ice & snow, the signs of warfare are everywhere, and there’s just a bleak vibe everywhere. This also applies to the monsters as well, as they’re some of the toughest foes Blizzard has sent our way. Even with the smaller monsters like the Familiar, everything is out for blood, and will swarm you if you don’t watch out.
Perhaps the most intriguing addition came in the form of act 5's music. In an interesting move, Blizzard went with an orchestral score. This makes the movie far more grand & sweeping, but capable of having softer & more tender pieces of music. Given the dire nature of act 5, it seems only right for an orchestra to provide a score that fits the theme.
Worst Aspect? Honestly, all of the complaints I would have talked about here are basically the ones I spoke of above, and thus I would be repeating myself. The only additional complaint I could add would be the padded out length. It feels like it takes forever to get through this expansion, as the new maps come across as needlessly long. Reaper of Souls (More on this in a bit) has large maps, but their length somehow comes across as far more organic in how massive they are, and it doesn’t feel like it takes forever to go through.
Lord of Destruction. A nice bit of content for an already fantastic game, and unlike Hellfire, remains quite relevant in the Diablo community. How anyone has missed this expansion, I’ll never know. Sadly, this would be the last time that Blizzard North would ever make a game, as they would close up shop in 2005 due to issues with Vivendi involving a prototype D3, and the dream of a 3rd Diablo game seemed to disappear.....or did they? Next game!
Diablo 3 (2012)(Trailer)
At the time of the announcement, the staff was still focused on act 1. As time went out, the team weren’t moving in a linear fashion, and often revisited previous acts. Graphically, the D3 look would come across more of Warcraft than Diablo (More on that below), and there were a host of things implemented that would later backfire. Worst of all, the release date would constantly be shifted, until it finally landed on May 12, 2012. I remember waiting for the UPS guy to show up with the game, as I was getting a collector’s edition for my 25th birthday that year.
Reception for Diablo 3 was rather mixed upon it’s release. Gaming websites gave the game pretty good reviews, with IGN giving it a 9.5 out of 10, and Polygon giving it a complete 10 out of 10. Player reaction, however, was more on the negative side, with the game’s DRM, Auction House, and lack of PvP mode being the chief complaints. You know things might have been bad when David Brevik, one of Diablo’s original creators, had this to say:
“Honestly, I think that they did a lot of the things the best they could, it was a very different game than I would have created, the team and personalities, the people, the talent and all the design philosophies of the people that worked on it in Irvine, we called them Blizzard South, those people have their own style and the their own way they like to design. It was very, very different from the Blizzard North.”
He would also go on to criticize Blizzard South focused on elements that Blizzard North wouldn’t, and was critical of D3's loot system, reflecting the thought that "some of the decisions they have made are not the decisions I would make."
Ironically, Diablo 3 would sell 6.6 million copies in just two days of it’s release, which was the number that the Blizzard sales team expected within a year of it coming out. By May of 2013, 14.5 million players were using the game, and by June of 2014, D3 & it’s expansion had a combined sales number of 20 million copies worldwide.
Best Aspect? Diablo 3 definitely has some of the most interesting components out of all the Diablo franchise. While you still have 4 stats like the previous games (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Constitution), you no longer get to put an increase in any of them. The computer does it for you, and depending on who you’re playing, it will boost stats accordingly. On top of that, the amount of damage done by a character is helped by their respective focused state. Even on top of that, but items in the game no longer have any stat requirements, and instead your only requirement is your level. This is a strange change from the previous games, but it does take one thing off the list of things to pay attention.
Secondly, we’ve got another variety of 5 classes to choose from. We’ve got the Barbarian making a return, but there’s the mysterious ninja-like Demon Hunter, an archer with a mastery of traps & shadow powers. There’s the Monk, but he’s not like the one from Hellfire. This monk is a holy man, able to heal the innocent, and deliver some martial arts to the enemy. The Witch Doctor acts as a spiritual successor to the Necromancer & Druid from D2, calling upon voodoo powers to eviscerate demons. Finally, we’ve got the Wizard, who’s a spiritual successor to the Sorceress. The Wizard can manipulate fire, ice, and lightning like her ancestor, but now can manipulate the arcane as well, alongside time & space. The classes now have a primary stat that increases the damage they deal, while at the same time boosting certain properties. The Barbarian’s primary stat is Strength, Demon Hunters & Monks have Dexterity, and Witch Doctors & Wizards have Intelligence. In a odd but interesting addition, you can now choose which gender to play. It doesn’t really change anything mechanically, but it is cool to see what each gender looks like for each class.
Instead of 3 skill lists, the classes now have two, their active skills & their passives. The active skills are exactly as it sounds. Passives, on the other hand, are class-specific bonuses that player earn over time, and can equip. Unlike the active skills, passives are constantly active, and you can only have a maximum of 3 at a time (4 with the updates from Reaper of Souls). Active skills have the additional benefit of skill runes to equip as you level up. They’re automatically give to you, you can only have 1 equipped to a skill, and can change said skill in a variety of way. Your Wizard could have it’s magic missile split into 3, Your Demon Hunter’s turret can shoot fiery rockets, etc. Each skill gets up to five skill runes, and thus five way to change a skill.
Each of the classes also have respective energy sources, and act differently. Barbarians have Fury, which generates when hit or dealing damage, but drains when outside of battle. Demon Hunters have 2 sources of power, Hatred & Discipline. Hatred is fast generating, and is gained from hatred spenders, while Discipline slowly builds up overtime, and fuels the more defensive abilities. Monks have Spirit, and unlike the barbarian, doesn’t drain outside combat. Witch Doctors have Mana from Diablo 1 & 2, and Wizards have access to the fast-generating Arcane Power.
As with the previous games, the music is still fantastic! Blizzard at this point has access to technology far more advanced than anything from the mid 90s or early 2000s, and as such you’re treated to some of the crispest sounding tracks in video games. The orchestral scores from LoD’s act 5 have made a return, along with the gothic tunes the franchise is known for, but act 2 has Middle Eastern style music both obvious & subtle, and act 4's music is on the ethereal side. This helps the identity of each act, as they’re just as memorable as Diablo 2's 4 acts. There’s the ruins of Tristram & the west that makes up act 1, the city of Caldeum & the surrounding desert of act 2, a return to the ruins of Mount Arreat for act 3, and the player’s first look at the High Heavens as the concluding act 4. They’re all unique & memorable in their own way, and really leave an impression.
One fun little addition are the Artisans & Followers. The Artisans are exactly as they sound: craftsman that provide their services in the form of creating items. In the original game there were only 2, and they were the Blacksmith & Jeweler. The Blacksmith would craft items of various qualities & levels, and he would break down items into crafting materials. The Jeweler could take out gems from items, combine lesser gems into higher gems, and craft legendary-grade jewelry. Followers were similar to hirelings from D2, but are far more powerful & useful. While they can’t be fully equipped, and thus don’t deal as much damage as you, but it can still dish out some pain. There’s the Templar, who behaves as a Paladin-like figure. There’s the Scoundrel, who’s ranged attacks & stealth make him like a secondary Demon Hunter. Lastly, there’s the Enchantress, who behaves like a arcane-focused Wizard. You can only have 1 at a time, but you have a constant companion that has it’s own personality & will talk with you from time to time.
Graphics are a final positive about this game. While me & many other players had an issue or two (More on this below), Diablo 3 is easily the best looking title out of the Diablo franchise. Spells have never looked better, characters & monsters are the most fleshed-out they’ve ever been, and each & every single place has never looked more alive. There’s a style to each of the acts that’s separate from one another, but they’re all united by the sheer artistic brilliance. Even the small details look great, e.x. a barrel breaking.
Worst Aspect? Oh boy, where to begin. Let’s start with the obvious...the “Always Online” requirement. When this was first announced, I remembered the rage over on the forums, and when people finally playing the game, the fires of anger roared louder. I remember playing on release night (If I’m recalling right, I got the game about an hour before the UPS/FedEx drivers stopped their deliveries), and the servers were so overwhelmed, there was a crash of sorts that lasted for a few hours if I’m remembering correctly. When the Auction House was around, I get why being online all the time was a requirement. Without the Auction House, requiring the internet to play a game that never need it in prior entries leads to nothing but frustration, as the moments of lag & disconnecting can really ruin your time in the game. Speaking of the Auction House....
That leads to my second point....the Auction House....to me, this was something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I like the gold Auction House. When I amassed a horde of gold, I would go over, look for something I need, and put down the gold required, hoping someone wouldn’t raise the amount. On the other hand.....the real-money Auction House was a joke. I’ll admit I’ve paid for skins & such in other games, but they really didn’t impact the gameplay. With the real-money house? It would definitely leave an impact, and the pricing for items would often be absurd!
Items, especially legendary & set items, were a problem as well. In previous Diablo games, getting a legendary or set item was essentially a rite of passage. Acquiring a item of this quality often gave your character power that nothing else could be compared to. In Diablo 3, the wonder & amazement of legendary & set items was heavily reduced. They didn’t see to offer the player anywhere near as much power & prestige, and really came across more as decorative rather that relics of power.
Difficulty was sometimes an issue as well. In it’s defense, there was always some kind of way to get past everything. Even if you couldn’t see it, there was always a way for the player to get past a situation. That being said, it was often unfair as far as the difficulty was concerned. I remember playing my 1st character (A Wizard, if you were wondering), running away from a group of snakefolk that had the Vampiric & Mortar qualities in Nightmare difficulty. It also didn’t help the fact that they could go invisible, and somehow regain massive amounts of health back due to the Vampiric quality. Bosses could also be incredibly painful as well. Anyone who took on Diablo on Inferno difficulty will know what I’m talking about. I will say this about my fight with him at that point: I had to change my wizard’s build numerous times until I found something that worked, and even then I still had difficulty.
The one point that I’m more neutral on is graphics. On the one half, things don’t feel like Diablo. The gothic undertones aren’t as apparent in this game, as the color pallette comes across more like Warcraft than Diablo. You’d expect the Horde or Alliance to pop out at some point, simply because of how things look! On the other hand, it is the most vibrant of the Diablo games in terms of looks. It’s impressive as to how alive everything looks & feels, and even with the gothic undertones & vibes taking a slight backseat, there’s still plenty of components that carry this quality. Acts 1 & 3 in particular are the most gothic in terms of atmosphere, while Act 2 (And to a lesser extent, Act 4) almost felt like an area of WoW that wasn’t implemented.
Another thing that’s rather odd is health potions. Though there’s now a singular health potion that’s infinite, you used to have to buy them like in the 1st 2 games (Like D2, they'd get bigger overtime), but you had to wait a full 30 seconds to use health points. According to then designer Jay Wilson, players would often stock up on health potions, and just spam them during a boss battle in D2 to stay alive. I call bullshit on this, but given that I did this during a few fights, there might be a sliver of truth in this.
One last problem me & most of the fanbase had was the story. Wow, was this not written well! I’ll admit I wasn’t keeping a close eye on my 1st playthrough, as I was so absorbed by everything that it didn’t really matter! However, upon playing the game a few more times, I saw how shoddy things were. Hell, even by the end of the 1st playthrough. I was already seeing the cracks in the wall. When all is said & done, D3's story is weak at best, and contains a plothole or two as well. To list them would take up more space than necessary. Suffice it to say, they all make no sense, and smacks of lazy writing. Characters can also be applied to this as well, although considering that they revisit a few & make others window dressing, it’s pointless to talk about it.
Diablo 3. Flawed upon launch, and definitely worthy of criticism, but it wasn’t quite an abomination as many of it’s detractors said it was. A fun but flawed entry in the Diablo franchise, and one you should pick up. Next game!
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls (2014)(Trailer)
Best Aspect? Even before RoS came out, Diablo 3 was updated with a huge overhall! The Auction House was removed, legendary items received huge updates (Although legendary items before the update didn’t change, and became known as Legacy items), class skills were reworked, difficulty system became more reasonable but still providing a challenge, and Cursed chests & shrines act as quick mini-events that often gave awards. Again, this overhall came out before Reaper of Souls, and acted as preview of what’s to come.
Now we come to the new stuff added. First off, we’ve got a new class in the form of the Crusader. A spiritual successor to the Paladin, this holy individual is more impressive in melee than the Barbarian is (A passive trait allows the Crusader to hold a two-handed weapon in one-hand), and has holy powers that his D2 predecessor wished he had. Like the Barbarian, the Crusader’s primary attribute is Strength, increasing it’s damage across all it’s abilities. Wrath is the Crusader’s resource for skills, and acts much like the Monk’s Spirit resource. The Crusader is a satisfying class to play, as it’s presence can level swaths of foes, and is a fantastic homage to an iconic class.
In relation to classes, everybody now has a level extension & new skill. Beforehand the maximum level was 60, but now was raised to 70. At 61 each of the classes (Including the Crusader) gains a new active skill (And skill runes with it), and a couple passive skills. In addition to the level increase, a character at 70 gains another passive slot. While not the biggest addition of skills, you’re still given new options for how your character plays, and that’s always appreciated.
Next up is the new episode in the form of act 5. Taking place sometime after the defeat of Diablo, Sanctuary is under attack from Malthael, the fallen Angel of Wisdom. Seeing an opportunity to rid the world of humanity, who he sees as a reminder of the Eternal Conflict. Your character begins at Westmarch, one of the numerous cities under attack. You eventually make your way to the Blood Marsh, a primal wetland filled with hostile wildlife, and the signs of a recent foe. These signs lead to the ruined city of Corvus, where a long-lost civilization raised it’s hand against heaven & hell. After that you take a momentary trip up to heaven, but then immediately make your way to Pandemonium, the leftover ruins from the creation of Sanctuary. After wandering that wasteland, your final destination is the Pandemonium Fortress, which you briefly visited back in Diablo 2. It’s insides have been altered to suit Malthael, and it is there that the final battle happens. This 5th act almost feels like an entire campaign was crammed together, given all of the locales you visit, and that’s awesome.
An artisan added to Reaper of Souls in the form of the Mystic. Though it was originally intended for the main game, the Mystic was taken out for mechanicals reasons, and there’s certainly some legitimacy to this. She has the ability to change the appearance of all your items (Apart from rings, amulets, and belts) and hold your cosmetic items, but her biggest strength is the change the property of items. By exchanging money & materials, you can change a single property of an item into something potentially more useful. You can only change one property at a time, but you can change it as many time as you want.
Another artisan added is Kanai’s Cube. Maintained by Zoltun Kulle, the cube has a host of functions, from extracting powers from legendary items to use, to re-rolling an item so it might spawn as a Legendary item. There’s a host of other functions as well, but every ability requires the use of special materials that can only be obtains through bounties. Speaking of bounties...
This leads into one of the other big things added with Reaper of Souls: Adventure Mode. After completing act 5, you’re given access to a sandbox-like alternate mode. You’re given free reign to explore each & every single act in the game, and there are bounties in each of them as well. 5 in total, these bounties once completed yield caches that have gold & gems, magic items of various qualities, recipes for the Blacksmith & Jeweler, and the special materials I mentioned earlier. Each act has it’s own specific material, and if there’s a bonus in a specific act, said material given is doubled thanks to a 2nd cache given.
Worst Aspect? Honestly, not all that much is wrong with Reaper of Souls. With all of the things that this expansion fixes, it’s kinda hard to find something bad. One strange thing of note is it’s length. Despite having larger areas to explore, it can definitely feel like it goes by much quicker than expected. I want to say it takes about 5 or 6 hours to complete RoS (Maybe more if you’re a slower player), although a highly dedicated Diablo fan could theoretically complete it sooner.
Perhaps the one bad aspect that Reaper of Souls couldn’t fix is D3's reputation. Make no mistake: RoS fixed hordes of D3's problems, redeeming the game in the process in many fans. However, the damage caused by D3 might have been done. As fantastic as it is now, it almost seems like they’re just trying to keep this game going with all of the updates (Since RoS’s release) instead of releasing a new Diablo game....or at the very least a second expansion. The addition of the Necromancer next year & the Diablo 20-Year Anniversary event (Which is happening next month...go figure) are nice nuggets of content, but something more would be better at this point.
Reaper of Souls. A massive band-aid that healed real & perceived wounds in the minds of fans, and a great title in it’s own right. Simply put, you need this. Next game!
Diablo 3: Rise Of The Necromancer (2017)(Trailer) ***
Best Aspect? The sheer nostalgia factor is definitely a strong point. Even when this DLC was first announced, the echoes of Diablo 2 came through strong. Though he was not voiced by the original Necromancer voice actor, the new necro's personality is just as dry, witty, and sinister as the old one. I admit I'm showing some heavy bias, as the Necromancer was the 1st character I picked when D2 first came out. I'm also show heavy bias because I was invited to the DLC's beta test, and I thoroughly enjoyed that experience.
Next positive aspect is the Necromancer's skills & resource system. Even during the beta, I was surprised by how well he was constructed! Blizzard really kept the nostalgia in with this new iteration of the Necromancer, as many of the old skills came back for us to play with again. At the same time, they introduced a horde of new skills that made the class feel new and exciting. Even the way that the Necromancer pays for his skill usage is fun: instead of just Mana, the class now uses a combination of Essence (Basically a new kind of Mana) & paying with your own life force, which reinforces the "Blood & Bone" theme that Blizzard was going for with this iteration of the class. The Necromancer even returns with his signature sickle & scythe, not to mention new phylactery focuses that further enhances his power, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
The last positive point of Rise Of The Necromancer is it's pricing. From the moment this DLC was first announced, Diablo fans were absolutely dreading how much this was going to cost, with a majority of players suspecting that it was going to theoretically cost 20 dollars & over. Low & behold, everybody was effectively surprised when it was announced that the price would be $14.99, and with the tax included, made the whole package just past 16 dollars in price. This is a surprisingly pleasant surprise, and while I do have issues with buying this (More on that below), at the same time this doesn't break the bank by any means.
Worst Aspect? The fact that we had to pay for this really is Rise Of The Necromancer's only fault. Again, $14.99 isn't bad pricing for this, but even then it's still silly that we have to pay money for what is essentially 1 new class with some cosmetics, and nothing that really changes the overall story apart from the cutscenes. In that regard it's disappointing, as fans have been asking for another story expansion since the end of Reaper Of Souls.
Rise Of The Necromancer. Maybe a bit of a cashgrab, but when it's crafted so well & it's filled with such nostalgia, I don't really mind. Not necessarily needed to enjoy the Diablo 3 experience, but definitely not a waste of money.
And that concludes my look at the franchise known as Diablo. An interesting series from an interesting company. If you like your RPGs more on the action side of things, then give this one a go. So with that said, I look forward to seeing all of you in 2017. Until then, happy holidays.....and screw you 2016!
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Updated on April 6, 2018 (11:53 A.M., Easter Standard Time)
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