Diablo 2 - In Their Own Words

[Silver]

Usgamer has a lengthy retrospective up on Diablo 2. They interview David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer who recount the battles with Blizzard, crunch-time, and the stories behind some of Diablos mechanics. Fifteen years after its original release its a good time to look back at this memorable game.

And when we made Battle.net, we knew the Internet existed and all this kind of thing, but it was like, if someone wants to hack their game, it's fine. They can ruin their own experience. But, then we realized, oh, crap, they can take that hack and they can put in on the internet, and now everybody has it. It wasn't just one person who was going to ruin their experience. So there was a real desire after seeing some of the feedback and seeing what was going on with the hacking to fix this in a real way.

More information.

 

[Silver]

I had forgotten the Diablo people were a separate company to Blizzard.

 

[DArtagnan]

They started out like that, but they became Blizzard North and "normal" Blizzard people were part of that team as well.

From memory:

Most of the Bliz North people left Blizzard right around the release of World of Warcraft.

The "core" of that team formed Flagship Studios which made Hellgate London - which was a failure and the team was shut down.

Most of the key people from Flagship Studios then formed Runic Games, the developers of Torchlight 1 and 2.

David Brevik left Flagship Studios and formed Gazillion Entertainment - the developers of Marvel Heroes.

I can't say I think much of any of those games, with the exception of Hellgate - which had tremendous potential.

 

[Silver]

@DArtagnan

What do you think of Torchlight? I liked the helper mechanic ie dog goes to town to sell your surplus. But I found it pretty boring. Titan Quest was the only real competitor to Diablo and some of the same people are making Grim Dawn.

 

[DArtagnan]

@DArtagnan

What do you think of Torchlight? I liked the helper mechanic ie dog goes to town to sell your surplus. But I found it pretty boring. Titan Quest was the only real competitor to Diablo and some of the same people are making Grim Dawn.

I thought it was a very weak Diablo clone with severe limitations. IIRC, it didn't even have multiplayer - which I consider to be an essential feature in the genre.

Torchlight 2 was not bad, but I didn't care for the classes and I thought the world/writing was haphazard and half-assed. I'm also not really a fan of the cartoonish art style.

I know the writing in Diablo isn't what people want from the game, but I've always liked the gothic setting and atmosphere - and the story delivery/presentation is "just enough" to keep me engaged in that first playthrough.

It seems that a lot of people think the writing and presentation isn't very important to the genre, but I disagree.

Titan Quest with expansion was a very good game and certainly better than Torchlight - but it also suffered from bland writing and quests.

Grim Dawn looks to be much the same, but I can't say I'm too excited about it.

To me, Diablo 3 with the latest patches is the best in the genre as of this moment.

Path of Exile is also a good game, but the setting and the writing are both very bland - so I don't really enjoy it as much as I should.

Hellgate London was fantastic in gameplay terms - but awful in terms of writing.

Dungeon Siege 2 was very good in most ways, actually, but it was closer to a traditional RPG and not quite as intense as a Diablo game should be.

So, in the end, Diablo is still king to me.

The best alternative to Diablo 3, right now, is the Lord of Terror campaign in Neverwinter Nights. Well, in my opinion

 

[Silver]

I was trying to finish Dungeon Siege 2 earlier this year and got most of the way through. It was quite enjoyable and a relaxing experience if that makes sense. It actually made me more annoyed by how Dungeon Siege 3 turned out. I realise they were going for a different experience but I'm pretty sure the existing audience wasn't after the experience they delivered.

 

[DArtagnan]

I was trying to finish Dungeon Siege 2 earlier this year and got most of the way through. It was quite enjoyable and a relaxing experience if that makes sense. It actually made me more annoyed by how Dungeon Siege 3 turned out. I realise they were going for a different experience but I'm pretty sure the existing audience wasn't after the experience they delivered.

I agree DS3 is a terrible Diablo game, that's for sure.

It's also terrible as a multiplayer game. Even during LAN sessions, your characters constantly work against each other, unless you keep very close. It's just very poorly thought out.

But as sort of a light RPG singleplayer "snack" - I suppose it's ok. I just don't think it has anything to do with a Dungeon Siege game, much less a Diablo-clone.

Just another example of how overrated Obsidian tends to be, in my opinion.

Ironically, it's the most polished of their games - but it's also painfully simplistic.

 

[Silver]

Obsidian is definitely over-rated. They are like the promising student that you think will go on and do great things and in 20 years time have only achieved mediocre results. At least there is Larian now.

 

[Brumbek]

To me, Diablo 3 with the latest patches is the best in the genre as of this moment.

Path of Exile is also a good game, but the setting and the writing are both very bland - so I don't really enjoy it as much as I should.

And we agree again! Well, pretty much everybody agrees Diablo 3 with 2.3 is totally brilliant. It is insane how that game has gone from 1.0 garbage to 2.3 awesomeness.

Although I am still perplexed that you don't like PoE's writing…it has amazing writing, I mean quality of the prose and dialogue.

There's an island, a hop, skip, and a wade offshore of the Terraces. That's where my Merry Gull ran aground.
Watched the locals spit-roast the ship's doctor, but his medicine chest might still be there, amongst the splinters and bones. It'd have everything Nessa might need.
Doctor 'Shaky Hands' Opden was lousy with a scalpel, and even worse with a saw… but he knew his apothecary. Explains the shaky hands, if you ask me.

That's excellent writing combined with excellent voice acting. But we can agree to agree with me.

I am agreeing with you though that PoE lacks content and it's latest 2.0 version actually made the game way worse in many ways. It made map bosses stupidly annoying, and totally nerfed map drops. And Act 4 bosses have way too many hit points. It totally nerfed fun builds. It added tons more uniques that are bland and pointless, making it even harder to get good ones. So PoE…I used to love it…but D3 keeps improving whereas PoE is improving on technical issues but going backward in gameplay at times.

Obsidian is definitely over-rated. They are like the promising student that you think will go on and do great things and in 20 years time have only achieved mediocre results. At least there is Larian now.

Way too harsh. It is good to be able to appreciate diamonds in the rough, those being Alpha Protocol and New Vegas. Both of those are brilliant experiences, with many issues, but those issues are easily overlooked.

 

[JDR13]

Diablo 1 will always be the best to me, but this particular sub-genre really isn't my thing.

There was just something about the atmosphere and soundtrack that made D1 a great experience. D2 didn't grab me the same way, and I hated how enemies respawned after you loaded a game.

 

[luj1]

D2:LoD is the best it gets as far hack and slash is concerned. Path of Exile had potential , but they copy pasted too much and failed terribly in some fields (PC animation, setting, writing)

 

[Brumbek]

Diablo 1 will always be the best to me, but this particular sub-genre really isn't my thing.

There was just something about the atmosphere and soundtrack that made D1 a great experience. D2 didn't grab me the same way, and I hated how enemies respawned after you loaded a game.

Diablo 1 was the best...in 1997 or so. One cannot forget the slow walk of the original. So slow... I'm just saying the genre has improved by huge leaps and bounds. Diablo 1 & 2 were groundbreaking...but one doesn't stay with broken ground...you need to build a skyscraper on it. I'd argue Diablo 3 version 2.3 is that dream, that amazing building.

But I, too, have a special place for the original games. Kind of like my feelings about FF7, a great game for the time...but kind of bad by today's standards.

 

[Thaurin]

But as sort of a light RPG singleplayer "snack" - I suppose it's ok. I just don't think it has anything to do with a Dungeon Siege game, much less a Diablo-clone.

[…]

Ironically, it's the most polished of their games - but it's also painfully simplistic.

I actually really enjoyed it and it's one of those few games that I actually finished. It was light-weight, but that's what I liked about it. The gameplay was relaxing enough to plough through and the game was very well-made.

Of course it's a throwaway game that you'll only play once, but still.

 

[DArtagnan]

I actually really enjoyed it and it's one of those few games that I actually finished. It was light-weight, but that's what I liked about it. The gameplay was relaxing enough to plough through and the game was very well-made.

Of course it's a throwaway game that you'll only play once, but still.

Sounds like a reasonable description.

 

[Silver]

Way too harsh. It is good to be able to appreciate diamonds in the rough, those being Alpha Protocol and New Vegas. Both of those are brilliant experiences, with many issues, but those issues are easily overlooked.

I stand by what I said. Obsidians two best games Fallout New Vegas and Kotor 2 have gameplay systems developed by Bethesda and Bioware respectively. The gameplay of nwn2, alpha protocol, dungeon siege 3 and pillars of eternity was all developed by Obsidian and just doesn't cut it for me.

They produce good writing in there rpgs but that by itself is not enough for me. There are alternatives now so I would rather play those titles. If Obsidian turn around on the gameplay front I will of course reconsider.

 

[DArtagnan]

I stand by what I said. Obsidians two best games Fallout New Vegas and Kotor 2 have gameplay systems developed by Bethesda and Bioware respectively. The gameplay of nwn2, alpha protocol, dungeon siege 3 and pillars of eternity was all developed by Obsidian and just doesn't cut it for me.

They produce good writing in there rpgs but that by itself is not enough for me. There are alternatives now so I would rather play those titles. If Obsidian turn around on the gameplay front I will of course reconsider.

Yes, I agree that the strength of Obsidian is the work they put into writing. Not so much the quality of the writing as simply the AMOUNT of writing and the resulting C&C.

I used to think they were pretty good at mechanics, too, but then Pillars of Eternity arrived.

Nah, they simply don't impress me - and they never did.

 

[Spider_man]

I have d2 installed to my tablet

 

[luj1]

Yes, I agree that the strength of Obsidian is the work they put into writing. Not so much the quality of the writing as simply the AMOUNT of writing and the resulting C&C.

I used to think they were pretty good at mechanics, too, but then Pillars of Eternity arrived.

Nah, they simply don't impress me - and they never did.

Agreed although PoE was Obisidian's B team's project..... industry veterans like MCA had little involvement