@Coquiton:
Sounds sort of like PSO in some ways.

gamadaya

@gamadaya:
Diablo (and Diablo II, especially) are extremely well done dungeon crawlers.

Are they/were they revolutionary? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But I think it's a little to brash to call it that.

However, they are extremely fun. I recently digged up and installed my copy of Diablo 2 (with all this Diablo hype, it was inevitable!) and the game is still very fun.

It's just how it's made, you enter a dungeon, you keep exploring it and when you get to the bottom and kill the boss, you get some nice loot. Except along the way, you fight literally hordes of monsters, pick up loot and gold that gets dropped left and right, and have some very tense fights.

Add to that formula multiplayer, and you get a game that's still good even by today's standards. They may be a little rusty around the endges, and the interface may show it's age (it's kind of unwieldy), but it's one of the most action-packed RPGS out there, still to this day.

Coquiton

@superbagman: he did voiceover Cain. Just like there is no cow level.

drunkentyger

@gamadaya: why? shoot theres a crud load of reasons...

on the top of my head, it was 3-D, which hadn't really taken off in that time (I think) Starcraft comes into mind, but it wasn't 3-D in the way D2 was. It's sort of hard to explain. Something a physics major can go in depth about. To put it simply, DII STILL looks good even today.

Alot of the reasons I gave were revolutionary. What other games had a good storyline and with it voiceovers that put you in the mood of the story just like a telephone call to a phone-sex hotline? Only one that comes into mind is Half Life (1998).

Just like any other game Blizzard releases, it is addictive, but not in the same sense as WoW. There weren't many "achievements" one could get (compared to MMO's these days). There were item sets that you can farm for, but its not on the same level as other games. (Of course, this could all change with DIII) I think the F2P variable also has something to do with the games appeal to "casual gamers".

drunkentyger

@drunkentyger: Yeah, um...Sean Connery didn't voice Cain...Micahel Gough did.

superbagman

@PsycheE:
Wow. I didn't know it had 40 man raids. I might check it out then, or Diablo 2.

gamadaya

@PsycheE: And destroy all productivity?

Chewbenator

@drunkentyger:
5) Voice-overs were superb. Sean Connery himself played "Deckard Cain"

What?

havoks

@gamadaya: You missed out then. The 40 main raids are nothing like that came before it. You actually had to have a strategy, IMO which is far greater then a snipe fest in the planes.

Just go buy a legit key online for D2+LOD, it costs about a value meal and the community is still healthy. I guarantee we won't see you here for next couple of days.

PsycheE

@drunkentyger:
Shit. Is that the only answer you can give? Why was it revolutionary? Is it super addictive or something, like in the way WoW is? If that's the case, I might not like it very much. WoW just has too much grind for me, and the combat early on seems to monotonous.

gamadaya

3) The story behind it is good (typical Blizzard lore)
4) Yes, the online mode is (was) kick-ass. Free2Play @ Battlenet
5) Voice-overs were superb. Sean Connery himself played "Deckard Cain"
6) There were alot of adult themes present that appealed to alot of people. (blood, gore, sexual themes, etc)

And whats this people "Never having played Diablo I or II?" You call yourself gamers?!?!? You should be ashamed of yourselves!

drunkentyger

@PsycheE: It was as if millions of wallets cried out at once, and were silenced.

InsidiousTuna

It would be great if they released SC2 and Diablo 3 simultaneously on spring of '09.

Just to you know, fuck with our minds.

PsycheE

@gamadaya: 1) it was revolutionary at the time

2) its something you need to play to understand and/or appreciate (and I don't mean this the same way as some games like Eve Online does)

drunkentyger

It's so weird not being a fan of any Blizzard games right now. Why do people like Diablo so much? I haven't played it, but I've seen the gameplay, and it doesn't look all that fun. Does it have a kickass online mode or something?

gamadaya

@futurebiblehero: Could you give an example? I'd love to read some of the hilarity. Damn, Kotaku should make a post just out of awkward Q&A sessions!

Voteforme2020

man that new screeen shot for WoTLK looks like crap : P

taftsearlobe33

@futurebiblehero: Referring to the WoW Q&A session, I mean.

futurebiblehero

That Q&A session was just embarrassing. You have all of these guys that are titans on their home server and thought they were "sticking it to the man" with some of those questions, only to get up there and look like scared kittens.

I think the question about having multiple speclines was the only genuine thing asked throughout the entire segment.

futurebiblehero

I look much more forward to Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 than any MMORPG...

LastRule

Did someone chop of Arthas's head or something?

drunkentyger

Doesn't sound very fun once you get all the details about Diablo III.

Etchroi

Mmmm wish I could be there!

SubKamran

Sweet. Not really.

Payne_IV

@dowingba: wow do you like being wrong? Diablo is a copy of the game Dark Chambers for the atari 2600

taftsearlobe33

@gamadaya: Diablo invented a genre of video game. Tons of games, including GTA, owe alot to Diablo.

dowingba

@gamadaya: its not liek pso in any way except thats its an rpg and you collect things

kommanderk

I want pics of the Night Elf...

Kanoopy

More excerpts from Kotaku's WWI coverage: Today, Blizzard played some footage. The clips were interrupted as the German forces finally broke through the defensive perimeter. We had to retreat.

Ghede

Neither Diablo I nor II were 3D. They were both 2D isometric perspective with sprites. It was a good call given that 3D at the time wasn't up to snuff to achieve the look they were after.

BigWeather

@taftsearlobe33: Damn you! Damn you to hell!

budash2

@budash2: please everyone knows the creators of Dandy's Dungeon copied Dark Chamber and then used a time machine to go back in time. So there who sounds stupid now!

taftsearlobe33

@taftsearlobe33: Now you look like a prick. Why? Because now you're wrong. Dark Chambers was a copy of 1983's Dandy Dungeon for Atari's computers.

So there. I can use Google too. Anyways, you're wrong now, ha!

budash2

@dowingba:

It didn't invent the genre, it's just one of the best known.

Pezdispenser

@Ghede: Have the French thrown the towel yet?

slomo788

@dowingba: GTA? GTA's most revolutionary things were that you could hijack any vehicle and create mayhem anytime, even during missions. I don't see how that relates to Diablo. Do you mean the top-down view? Or the mature themes? Yeah, I want to believe you mean the mature themes...

slomo788

@Ghede: Wow, I thought I was the only person to find it ironic to see France host an event with the acronym WWI!!!

Damn you for beating me to it!

Arttemis

I never played Diablo before, but now I'm really interested. I doubt I'll play III because my computer is a real piece of shit.

AngelMayLaugh

I'm excited to hear all the great news, although I'm not sure I would call merging with Activision "levelling up". For Activision maybe. Or maybe we need to just forget about that company altogether.

willparry79

I will only get back into WoW if they have that Limbo of the Lost guy as a pet in the new expansion. He should also appear in Fallout 3 as an NPC. Bethesda will just say it is a coincidence.

Zenrick

@chiablo: It'll be the day that Diablo 3 has a definite release date.

In other news: Replaying Diablo 2 like everyone else is.

Rctdaemon

@gamadaya: Forward:(I'm speaking about Diablo II here, because it was the much more enduring of the two). Diablo wasn't exactly revolutionary for it's time, no matter how you slice it. That's not the reason it's a classic. It was a game that was one of the best of it's genre, similar to how, say FFVII wasn't the first rpg, but it's recognized as one of the best ever.

Diablo's graphics are sprite-based with an isometric perspective (I think someone mentioned this already). This gave the developers of the time the ability to craft a lush, rich enviroment with the limited power of the systems available. Thus, we get a game that appeared to be way ahead of its time, and still looks good, even today.

The core of the game is hack-and-slash dungeon crawling. The reason Diablo does this well is because it's so fast. You're forced to think on your feet and play quickly or be overwhelmed, and that makes it half action game, half dungeon-crawler.

The enviroments are gorgeous and immersive, and the enemies are well done and interesting to battle (except Duriel. I hate that fucking maggot). The subject matter may be cliche (hell invades earth) but the story is rich with character, even if thin on plot, and this carries it very far.

Collectors and people that enjoy rewards adore the game, because every game the items you win from defeated foes are randomized, with a few notable exceptions required to finish quests. This makes every playthrough interesting and keeps the game fresh, even when taking your fifth class to Level 99. Having those multiple classes just spices up the gameplay further and adds replay value, especially when they're given awesome skills (like the Druid's ability to transform into a Werewolf).

Fighting monstrous bosses (except Duriel >:() and winning awesome treasure gives the game an extremely rewarding feeling, which is why a lot of players come back, myself included. I think it's addictive qualities are different than WoW, whose main goal is to level up your character, whereas the addiction (at least for me) in Diablo springs from the feeling that you're playing a brand new game every time. It takes it a very, very long time to get old, even when the stuff you're doing is repetitive.

At its worst, the game is cathartic, allowing you to zone out and slice your way through the lower levels with a smile on your face, at its best, its fast paced action and massive spells against the minions of destruction.

And don't even get me started on online play and PvP. :)

Give it a shot. Blizzard doesn't often disappoint, and D2 is merely proof that they're one of the best developers in the business.

Cogito

@chiablo:
I'm OK with WoW as long as it keeps Blizzard flush with cash to make more Warcraft / Starcraft / Diablo. =)

BigWeather

I pray for the day that WoW loses it's relevancy.

chiablo

I never played Diablo 2 for more than 3 minutes. I was at an internet cafe back in 2000ish and could either play CounterStrike Ghetto or Diablo 2. I tried Diablo 2 with my friend but I thought it was very gay. So now im gonna give it a try again and see if I can get excited for it. The only game I have played in the same genre would be the Fallout series or even the Marvel RPGS. Before someone thinks im like 12 years old, I been playing PC games since my 486 with the uber turbo 66mhz mode. Running OS/2... meaning i had to put a floppy in to load Dos to play even fucking Zork. I had one lameass Kungfu game but it would crash...

sovietspartan

@username484767:
I don't get the comparisons to WoW. Not all of the areas in D1 and D2 were hellish. Some were nice outdoor plains / forests / deserts. Also I earlier read someone claiming that they had toned down the blood. Take a look at the Barbarian moves and also the gameplay trailer when the big boss at the end bites the Barbarian's head off -- still very graphic, and far moreso than WoW.

BigWeather

You know what? F*CK Diablo! En taro Tassadar!

(I'm kidding, you Diablo fans deserve to be ecstatics as muc as anyone else, you really should be)

pikachumariachi

@drunkentyger: I'm 15 and I've never really played any computer games before. I'm a console gamer and my computer can barely handle GBA ROMs without lag. When I get a new comp I'll try to look into Diablo 1.

AngelMayLaugh

diablo 3 looks like WoW, sad.

username484767

Maybe its because it took so long to announce, or maybe its because I played Diablo 2 to death, but I'm personally not too hyped for Diablo 3. Looks like "more of the same."

HeyApples

@drunkentyger:
Thanks!

BigWeather

@BigWeather: yes you can.

drunkentyger

@futurebiblehero:
Hahahaha yeah. I just restarted D1 with a Rogue and am on him. Pain...

The game holds up remarkably well (D2 I know does, but it had been a loooong time since I did D1) -- though the interface is a bit clunky and the game not quite as responsive as I remembered.

BigWeather

Ok, n00b Diablo II Battle.Net question here...

I've finished D2 a few times with different builds in single-player but never played D2 multi-player (I know, I know!).

I'm cruising through D1 (again) then going to move on to D2 and play some of the classes I've never played (Druid, Necro). Can I play on-line but single-player? So that I have the option to jump in and do all the Battle.Net play (ladder? ranked? stuff is confusing...) if I want, but most nights just grind away single-player -- or do I have to play with others?

BigWeather

To those of you that have NEVER played DII before, how old are you?

It seems to me that as video-game enthusiasts (thats why your registered here, right? besides NSFW materials) it's a bit odd not being interested or have at least seen DII before. I could only see this if you were born maybe sometime in the late '90s and didn't really get to experience these classics.

its weird to categorize DII as a "classic". I feel old.

And for you old farts that were messing around with an Atari in your highschool years, you shouldn't feel old. You should be dead.

drunkentyger

And in regards to Diablo, I started up Diablo 1 tonight for the first time in around ten years. Wow, The Butcher is a total son of a bitch when you're a Rogue.

futurebiblehero

@Voteforme2020: "Are you going to give us the option to choose the sex of our Druid forms?" is by far my favorite, but most of them were (in theory at least) taking Blizzard to task for brilliant things like not being a viable tank as a Warlock.

I believe Wowinsider.com has a transcript somewhere, but there's a certain something lost in it. Seeing such attitude delivered with such meekness was really fascinating. It gives a bit of insight on those that bark at you in-game for not working out some sort extensive formula on damage mitigation before a fight. They're really quite cuddly from what it seems.

futurebiblehero

Leonard Boyarsky is Lead World Designer on Diablo 3?! I knew he was at Blizzard now, but damn... My hype (already high) went WAAAAAY up!

BigWeather

It's unforgivable !
You didn't praised enough the fire dancers from [www.larche-en-sel.com] who were totally loved by the public ! Half of the audience even stood up at the beginning of their performance...
Yeah to go buy expensive ham sandwiches because they didn't care at all -_-;
Where is the respect seriously !!!

Lupin

+ Watch video

JerrD74: RIP George Carlin

@AngelMayLaugh: If your computer can handle emulating GBA it can definitely play D1. It could probably play D2 also, which, in my opinion is alot better. D1 simply lacks diversity, and it is already very, very old. However, D2 is still immensely fun and looks great, it's a game that aged extremely well...

exeprime

@BigWeather:
Well I guess D1 didn't have nice outdoors but it wasn't all hellish.

BigWeather

dude, did Sloth from the Goonies just ask the Diablo III panel a question? I should have gotten a screecap.

Thugmunk

@exeprime: I'm surprised to hear you say that. D2 was called out for having sub-par graphics even at the time it came out (especially for having such a low resolution), and I found it rather repetitive and somewhat boring (though this may have been simply because it didn't have the newness of the original, and was significantly longer).

Maybe they've updated it to allow higher resolutions, but the gameplay is still a bit dull. It probably was in the original as well, but the first had a few things going for it: the IP was fresh and new, it was just about the perfect length, and it had more memorable enemies (esp. the Butcher).

They're going to have to change things up pretty significantly before I'm actually interested in D3. Namely, they're going to have to move away from the click-to-kill style of simple (and to me, unrewarding) combat.

erlik

"Arthas, it's time for bed."
"NOOOO! Five more minutes, please!"

Not bad. I remember the first time I heard about Blizzcon, and was totally excited about it (first time I was playing Warcraft) until the price tag came up as 100+ dollars... I was not *that* excited to find out about the blood elves. lol

SpearXXI

@erlik:
It's a question of preference, i suppose... D2 came at a time when 3D was already the standard, and most people were surprised to see such a big title still go 2D... And yes, it was 640x480 at first, the LoD brought it up to 800x600, which is still very little, but replaying it today, it honestly didn't bother me for more than a minute. Graphically, D2 has style, and that matters A LOT. Almost any 3D title from 2000 looks lego-ish by now, too few poligons, small textures, etc. 2D has a certain charm that doesn't grow old the same way... Just like Heroes III is still the prettiest HOMM game, it's all about the style.

And about the gameplay - Diablo is unique. Some people can't get into it, some can't let go of it. I don't expect the style of play to change very much - it would stop being Diablo. But more skill-use will probably be incorporated - you could even see that in the assassine's play style in LoD, which i found to be alot more challenging and fun than most classes.

Anywho, can't wait! Now i only wonder how many years till we actually get the game...

exeprime

@exeprime: It certainly looks better in 2D than it would have in 3D, but at 640x480 the jaggies can look really terrible.

It's been awhile, but I don't think I ever tried out the assassin class. Like I said, for me it was a bit dull, so I just played through it once on single-player and put it away.

Kind of a moot point anyway unless I buy a proper gaming desktop, but I'd be willing to give the D3 demo a try. Assuming there is one.

erlik

@futurebiblehero: @BigWeather: The Butcher is easy - just run to an open door with bar walls, close the door, then just shoot him. Been playing that way ONLY with the Rogue since fuck, 98?

Manator Will Show You the Promised Land!

@exeprime: Agreed about the benefits of using 2d. The world is much richer and more detailed than it would have been if done in 3d - perhaps even with current tech.

housewarmer

@AngelMayLaugh: If your computer can emulate a GBA, it can certainly play D1 and D2. Remember they were released in 1997 and 2000, and they are 2D games so the graphics card doesn't matter much.

Narishma

Now, having never played Diablo, was there an option to use a controller to play the game.
From what I've seen you have to click the enemy to attack, is it able to set up the game so you don't have to click and instead just use your attack on whatever is in front of you?

Kanik

Damn I wish I'd bought Diablo 2 back in the day instead of just playing that demo.....then I could understand what all the fuss is about *sigh* ah well c'est la vie

excel_excel

@gamadaya: Yes, it is sorta like PSO, but the battle mechanics themselves go SO FAR beyond simple "weapons and magic spells you throw". There are tons of cool abilities to use, each one with a better effect and cooler use than the other.

Oh, and instead of silly little mazes, huge playing fields.

Ashurahori

@Narishma: NO computer can not lag entering Duriel's cave!

Also, D2 on any voodoo-equipped PC is still the best, yay Glide?

cowondinosaur

The sheer amount of hype going on here is enough to overwhelm even the Hulk.

But I'm sure that Blizzard will deliver when the games are finished.

IF the games are finished.

*DRAMA PIANO NOW*

Polterg3ist

I want that helmet on the picture.

Ganonmaster

@sovietspartan: Gay? Really? You might need to work on your vocabulary.

Anyway i've played DII for well over a thousand hours, so ye... give it to me. Now please. Your not done? But i need it now. GIVE IT TO ME NOW!

The_nub_next_door

Didn't say GTA didn't do anything original, people. Just that it owes alot to Diablo.

dowingba

Is it a bad thing that i've never played any of the Diablo games?
I WAS only 11 when the the second game came out so i'm not to blame. ^_^
These trailers have inspired me to find a copy on ebay!

Yadama

@PsycheE: If they did that, South Korea would shut down and cease to exist within about a month. People would just stop doing anything other than gaming. Actually, when the splash screen teasing was going on, me and a friend were talking about how a simultaneous release of SC2, D3, and WotLK would herald the end of the world and place Blizzard as our supreme overlords.

unruly