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Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

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Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#12
post #9

I remember going on vacation with my parents and all I had was the Diablo game manual, because I got the game 1 hour before we left. I read the manual about 100 times in the car... good memories

Same thing happened to me with Diablo 2. It came out while my family was visiting my aunt on the other side of the country. My parents bought it for me, but my aunt and uncle didn't have a computer that could play it, so I spent the week looking through the manual.

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#13
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's such a shame there's no modern spiritual successor to Diablo / Diablo 2. The aesthetic and gameplay was great.

Torchlight? Although it is a few years old.

...and Torchlight 2.

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#14
post #9

I remember going on vacation with my parents and all I had was the Diablo game manual, because I got the game 1 hour before we left. I read the manual about 100 times in the car... good memories

I remember trying to play Diablo multiplayer through a 55.6 kbps modem. It was nice for like 5 minutes but then the connection lagged and I couldn't control my character. When the connection quality improved, I saw my character dead with all his (high level and very diffucult to find) gear stolen by other players.

I was so frustrated I removed the cdrom from the drive and threw it on the wall; the cd broke and that was the last time I played Diablo...

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#15
post #9

I remember going on vacation with my parents and all I had was the Diablo game manual, because I got the game 1 hour before we left. I read the manual about 100 times in the car... good memories

haha! I remember borrowing my friend's WarCraft 2 manual before I could play the game (wasn't yet out for Mac), and imagining the epic gameplay. Back in the days when games actually came with a manual and often included tons of awesome artwork you wouldn't see elsewhere. :) Actually reminds me I scanned some of the artwork and printed them out so I could color them -- still have a couple of those!

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#16
post #9

I remember going on vacation with my parents and all I had was the Diablo game manual, because I got the game 1 hour before we left. I read the manual about 100 times in the car... good memories

For me it was the Starcraft game manual. I took that thing everywhere!

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#17
post #3

There is a slowly but steadily progressing engine being developed at https://freeablo.org/

It's such a shame there's no modern spiritual successor to Diablo / Diablo 2. The aesthetic and gameplay was great.

Grim Dawn is pretty darn close -- definitely check it out. Torchlight and Torchlight 2, while a bit lighter in atmosphere, have music composed by Matt Uelmen (Diablo & Diablo 2 composer)! Very nice stuff indeed.

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#18
post #3

There is a slowly but steadily progressing engine being developed at https://freeablo.org/

It's such a shame there's no modern spiritual successor to Diablo / Diablo 2. The aesthetic and gameplay was great.

David Brevik, the creator of diablo is currently working on an indy game pretty much by himself called It Lurks Below. It's kind of like if terraria merged with diablo. You have to survive by growing crops and you get items by venturing lower and lower into the world using your pickaxe. It's still in pre-release on steam, but even at this stage I played it for quite a number of hours and found that it had a surprising amount of depth.

It's certainly not on the same level as diablo, but it is worth checking out if you are into those kind of games.

I really wish Blizzard would not have shut down Blizzard North and would have let Brevik continue working on his vision for diablo 3. That's life I guess though.

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#19
post #3

There is a slowly but steadily progressing engine being developed at https://freeablo.org/

It's such a shame there's no modern spiritual successor to Diablo / Diablo 2. The aesthetic and gameplay was great.

Isometric ARPGs are niche now, but there's still games being made. Off the top of my head:

- Titan Quest (just got an update and a new expansion!)

- Grim Dawn

- The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

- Victor Vran

- Path of Exile

- Warhammer 40000 Inquisitor - Martyr

- Torchlight 1 & 2 (I wish Runic games hadn't imploded...)

It is unfortunate that most of these don't have the same level of randomness than Diablo has, but they're pretty good games in their own right.

Re: Diablo devolved – magic behind the 1996 computer game

#20
post #9

I remember going on vacation with my parents and all I had was the Diablo game manual, because I got the game 1 hour before we left. I read the manual about 100 times in the car... good memories

I did something similar with the Starcraft manual...the art work alone was awesome.
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