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When Diablo 3 was first announced there was a gigantic wave of complatins about how the game didn't look and feel as dark or creepy as the first one. The same concerns were also raised with Diablo 2. People blamed the color palette, the music, the monster design, the sounds in general. All in all they were saying the atmosphere of the game wasn't right but it seemed like no one was completely able to put on paper what was EXACTLY different with Diablo 3.
Personally, I never thought the colors were wrong. Diablo 1 was made 15 years ago when 8 bit color palettes were awesome. It's normal that the game wasn't as colored as today's games are. You could even call it a vintage style at this point. I refuse to believe that we have to limit ourselves to 1990s CGI to get the atmosphere right in a game that will come out in 2012. (We could start a release date discussion right here but, let's not).
Fast forward to last weekend; my friend brought his PC over to my house so we can have a little LAN. We played the usual games and I thought we could re-try Diablo 1, just for old times' sake.
As we progressed through the first levels of the dungeons I started noticing gameplay differences with the second and third games. I think it's the combination of these that made Diablo 1 the creepy horror game that it was.
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A. It's Dark, as in Doom 3 dark. You can survive without +light items but they make a serious difference.
B. The music does a good job at setting the mood but after hearing it for two hours, I turned it off. The thick silence that ensued made the game surprisingly eerie.
But I think the single feature that made the game was this one:
C. The loot, and the difficulty.
Diablo 1 was hard. Potions were rare, gold pieces were scarce and monsters hit hart. (We wiped on King Leoric). Dying was awful because your body popped and you would lose all your equipment. I'm not saying I want this in D3 but it had a great effect at scaring the hell out of you.
Last but not least, playing D1 reminded me how special it was to find a simply bigger weapon. For the longest part of Normal in D1, a weapon upgrade is simply a bigger axe. If you have a small axe, and you find a Large Axe, it's cause for celebration. Your damage suddenly doubled.
Magic items come way later and Non-magical items last for a while! If you DO find a magic weapon, there's always a chance that it's a Moronic Cap of Clumsiness but if it turns out to be good, you pause and appreciate how lucky you are to have found a magical helmet. If a unique drops, your break out the champagne.
In Diablo 2, it takes about 15 minutes of gameplay to get rid of all your normal items and from then on you start owning everything until a broken monster 1-shots you because that's their only hope.
So, combine the lack of light, the toughness of monsters versus your own weakness, the scarcity of special loot with the general atmosphere of the game and NOW you have one creepy masterpiece.
I know by the time we get to Inferno difficulty we'll have lightsabers and bows that fire nuclear warheads instead of arrows but we shouldn't forget the importance of non magical items and the slow progression they provide.
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i still remember the time when my friends and i are running around when toying with the Butcher.It was so fucking hard to kill as though its the last boss of the game.We couldnt experience the same when playing D2 and its just like other RPG game ,wasnt exciting.
Good old times T_T...
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You got wiped on Leoric? I already get wiped on the Butcher :S
Good thing D3 will be easypeasy 
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On January 17 2012 01:15 frontliner2 wrote:You got wiped on Leoric? I already get wiped on the Butcher :S Good thing D3 will be easypeasy
Funny enough, we killed the butcher fairly easily. Because there were 2 of us whacking away at him he couldn't recover fast enough to hit us back.
Leoric however, had way too much armor.
We were finished off by a bunch of fire clans in the dungeon. We both died and ragequitted without getting our gear back.
Game over!
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oh Diablo 1...
You're completely right. You start off with a miserable sword and even getting a club that does 3 more damage than your initial weapon is a cause for celebration. I remember when I first got my unique item and I thought I just found the ultimate weapon.
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What made D1 unique?
Battle.net. There were many games like this, but only D1 had massive online multiplayer possibilities that gave it huge advantage over other titles.
What about D2?
It took everything good from D1 (=battle.net) and added many new things people admire till nowadays - and D2 became one of the most award winning and selling games of all time.
I really dont understand why are poeple complaining about old things missing from D1... Nobody ever said they were good. Read some original reviews of D1 back from 97, its just average game that gave people something they never dreamed of before (read again = battle.net).
D2 has real Diablo music. D2 is what started Diablo cult. D1 was just like alpha version, just for testing some stuff, with timeless and outstanding multiplayer.
As for difficulty, D1 is old school game - where you have to learn by yourself without all info and help in game (i.e.D3 beta "you have unequipped inventory slot", "this item is exactly for this", "go visit this NPC"), but games like this are doomed nowadays and will never go back. Back in times where games were still quite rare, you had to accept how it were.
But nowadays its like this, I skip every RTS instantly if it doesnt have minimap in left bottom, simply because thats how Im used to play. I dont need to waste time learning and getting used to new UI just to test game, where I already know good ones... Thats how it work nowadays. Hard games that took time to learn will never come back.
OK I google some to support what I just said and here is what I found, old review from Feb 97 (2-3 months after release) fromPC Gamer:
http://i.imgur.com/I8Czm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TfqJY.jpg
+ Show Spoiler +
D1 was not original game, mostly just clone
There were even better games of similar kind
Without acces to battle.net, its like 7 out of 10 average game
But with Battle.net - it became huge hit
Battle.net is that ONE THING that burried all other similar games, even those D1 just copied or those better in terms of gamplay or other stuff.
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Diablo I ? Yeah, you could dupe all day everyday in vanilla - at least singleplayer. drop gold pick pot -> double the gold.
i recently (~3months) played through diablo on normal at least as a sorcerer, and it was not hard at all. You can really abuse the terrain for a lot of stuff (kill butcher at lvl entrance or behind gates).
The Item Loot was a PAIN IN THE ASS. Items drop, but you only see them when you hover the mouse over the items...and you dont see shit in that pool of pixels and darkness. The unoffiicial exppack-Hellfire introduced a spell to make the items appear on the minimap for ....10 sek or something. Really painful.
And the argument with the uniques is bullshit - you are equipped with all the boss drops which are uniques. arcaine valor, veil of steel, just to name some that i got left in my mind, and i only played through once.
I really love Diablo I for the excellent experience back in the days, but dont hop on the train with the QQ of how bad Blizzard turned things. Because thats not true. They always improve the important mechanics.
And i just remembered the skills in Diablo....oh god was that aweful....you found a book here, another there, and you just couldnt use it properly...i played till diablo kill with Firebolt and Fireball....oh and holybolt.
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On January 17 2012 02:26 bOOgyWC wrote:
And the argument with the uniques is bullshit - you are equipped with all the boss drops which are uniques. arcaine valor, veil of steel, just to name some that i got left in my mind, and i only played through once.
Calm down buddy, I was just reminiscing on D1.
Besides, if you play multilayer you don't have access to any quests that give you unique items.
The butcher gave me a book of charged bolt.
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On January 17 2012 01:04 Krowser wrote:
Magic items come way later and Non-magical items last for a while! If you DO find a magic weapon, there's always a chance that it's a Moronic Cap of Clumsiness but if it turns out to be good, you pause and appreciate how lucky you are to have found a magical helmet. If a unique drops, your break out the champagne.
I know by the time we get to Inferno difficulty we'll have lightsabers and bows that fire nuclear warheads instead of arrows but we shouldn't forget the importance of non magical items and the slow progression they provide.
This is funny because it is/was true. I loled hard.
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On January 17 2012 01:47 Sek-Kuar wrote:What made D1 unique? Battle.net. There were many games like this, but only D1 had massive online multiplayer possibilities that gave it huge advantage over other titles. What about D2? It took everything good from D1 (=battle.net) and added many new things people admire till nowadays - and D2 became one of the most award winning and selling games of all time. I really dont understand why are poeple complaining about old things missing from D1... Nobody ever said they were good. Read some original reviews of D1 back from 97, its just average game that gave people something they never dreamed of before (read again = battle.net). D2 has real Diablo music. D2 is what started Diablo cult. D1 was just like alpha version, just for testing some stuff, with timeless and outstanding multiplayer. As for difficulty, D1 is old school game - where you have to learn by yourself without all info and help in game (i.e.D3 beta "you have unequipped inventory slot", "this item is exactly for this", "go visit this NPC"), but games like this are doomed nowadays and will never go back. Back in times where games were still quite rare, you had to accept how it were. But nowadays its like this, I skip every RTS instantly if it doesnt have minimap in left bottom, simply because thats how Im used to play. I dont need to waste time learning and getting used to new UI just to test game, where I already know good ones... Thats how it work nowadays. Hard games that took time to learn will never come back. OK I google some to support what I just said and here is what I found, old review from Feb 97 (2-3 months after release) fromPC Gamer: http://i.imgur.com/I8Czm.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/TfqJY.jpg+ Show Spoiler +
D1 was not original game, mostly just clone
There were even better games of similar kind
Without acces to battle.net, its like 7 out of 10 average game
But with Battle.net - it became huge hit
Battle.net is that ONE THING that burried all other similar games, even those D1 just copied or those better in terms of gamplay or other stuff.
Diablo 1 was pretty awesome and certainly NOT a clone of gauntlet like PC gamer suggests. Gauntlet was an awesome game though =]. And im like 99.9999% sure that diablo 1 is what started the diablo "cult." Im not knocking diablo 2. But I played both games a lot growing up and will definitely vouch for diablo 1's awesomeness. It didn't take very long for diablo 2 to come out after diablo 1 so most people think of diablo 2 when they think of diablo nowadays.
I feel like the big difference between the two games was diablo 1 was very horrific/survival while diablo 2 was more arcade like. Both styles have their own advantages and I kind of hope that diablo 3 is a mix between the two.
Also I cant remember where but Jay Wilson talked about the lighting in diablo 3 and that its hard to make dark areas because its 3D but birds eye perspective.
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good times!
To kill the butcher just get a ranged weapon and lure him to a gated room and lock him behind the bars.. :D I do miss that game (although I played much more D2 - and most likely won't have the time for D3..).
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On January 17 2012 03:36 y0su wrote:
good times!
To kill the butcher just get a ranged weapon and lure him to a gated room and lock him behind the bars.. :D I do miss that game (although I played much more D2 - and most likely won't have the time for D3..).
Or the staircase to goes down to the next level. He gets stuck on the opening.
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On January 17 2012 02:34 Krowser wrote:Show nested quote +On January 17 2012 02:26 bOOgyWC wrote:
And the argument with the uniques is bullshit - you are equipped with all the boss drops which are uniques. arcaine valor, veil of steel, just to name some that i got left in my mind, and i only played through once.
Calm down buddy, I was just reminiscing on D1. Besides, if you play multilayer you don't have access to any quests that give you unique items. The butcher gave me a book of charged bolt.
alright - sorry i didnt play multiplayer back then. didnt want to sound upset, though. You were still wrong then about single player, at least. 
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havent played D3 yet, but with the general pattern of games, I can agree with OP 100%
damn casuals!
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On January 17 2012 01:04 Krowser wrote:
A. It's Dark, as in Doom 3 dark. You can survive without +light items but they make a serious difference.
Yeah, they make monsters aware of you quicker.
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On January 17 2012 04:13 Mindcrime wrote:Show nested quote +On January 17 2012 01:04 Krowser wrote:
A. It's Dark, as in Doom 3 dark. You can survive without +light items but they make a serious difference. Yeah, they make monsters aware of you quicker.
I noticed that! Monsters have the same light radius that you do.
I remember having the Gotterdamrung, which gave you -40% light and while wearing I could walk into a room unmolested, until I removed the helmet and suddenly a bunch of monsters that were just standing there decided to jump me.
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For me, most of Diablo 1's atmospheric appeal came from its sounds. The music was gloomy and spooky. The rainy, half-deserted village of Tristram had its incredible soundtrack that I still listen to today. The NPCs had very unique voices and accents. I loved talking to Farnham the Drunk, who had turned to drinking after experiencing the horrors within the cathedral himself. Then there were all kinds of memorable encounters or books to be found in the labyrinth. Who doesn't remember the Butcher's "Aaah, fresh meat!" or Zhar the Mad's silly rambling? I think I still know the poem about the Halls of the Blind by heart.
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Great write up. I remember when we unleashed Diablo for the first time, as a toddler, I just screamed until someone ran and shut me up. The feeling that you actually defeated a great evil was immense. Now, more than a decade later, we laugh in the face of the devil "lols what's wrong with his skin"
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hmm I guess no one here played it realy seriously
Anyone remembers Jarulf's Guide? (online) or the Diablo Strategy Forum (DSF - before it was removed by Blizzard)? This game was played, analysed and discussed throughout many many years (and there are still ppl playing it, testing stuff, releasing mods), although it had it's flaws and problems with duping, cheating and bugs. Variants with rule sets were created to make the game harder (a few examples: BNM (Beyond Naked Mage - because mages were overpowered, in this variant a mage has to wear items with negative effects on it), LoL (living off the land - not allowed to visit the town) and especially IM (Iron Man - start with lvl 1 char, no town services, you die = you stay dead (except your companion got a res scroll), and thats were the gameplay comes into effect the most.
The dungeon as a chessboard. Step by step because your light radius activates monsters. The sounds of attacking monsters. Choke points to lure monsters to and fight them one by one. Shot by shot. No friendly fire! your arrows and spells kill your friend!. Exp sharing. Sword for animals, blunt for bones. Heal other. The lack of identification scrolls...and so much more. Btw. I think it was only around 2005 when the first IM team managed to beat Diablo on hell mode. Things like friendly fire and helping your companion/working together also apply to a normal coop game when a high lvl mage can accidently kill you with a few fireballs or when monsters are immune to your spells.
I know that some D1 "veterans" were not pleased with D2 and unfortunately left the scene. D2 is a different game, it's maybe like broodwar and starcraft 2: good, but in another way. If you like one game, it's not certain that you like the other.
Ah I just recognized: It's 15 years now already! wuhu!
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Yeah the atmosphere contributed a lot to my enjoyment of the game.
What I also like was that they kept overall damage/life low, so instead of starting off with a sword that does 1-2 and end up with a sword that does 250-300 you ended up with 8-15 or something like that. I guess it makes the player feel less powerfull but I always thought doing 2k damage/hit was silly, and since they balance the monster HP it doesn't change the overall system.
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EPT
