Diablo II

aka: D2, Diablo II: The Calling
Moby ID: 1878
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Knowing well that Diablo's spirit could never be truly destroyed, the hero of Tristram made the noblest sacrifice of all: he took the spirit of the Lord of Terror into himself, hoping that his strength of will could contain the demon within. He was wrong. Diablo's essence corrupted him, gradually taking over his human nature. He has turned into the Dark Wanderer, a mysterious being whose every step causes destruction and death. A nameless adventurer visits the Rogue Encampment and decides to help its inhabitants by slaying monsters surrounding the area, and eventually pursuing the Dark Wanderer himself.

Like its predecessor, Diablo II is an action role-playing game. The player may choose between five available characters classes: Amazon (a rogue-like class with ranged attacks), Necromancer (can summon undead and inflict status ailments), Barbarian (a powerful melee fighter who can dual-wield weapons), Sorceress (offensive spellcaster), and Paladin (fights with shields and can cast support spells). Much of the game takes place in randomized dungeon-like areas heavily populated by enemies. Unlike the previous game, the environments are not restricted to a single dungeon and include variously themed locations, each with its own town and quests.

The player character gains experience points from slaying monsters, and can be leveled up manually, increasing his or her primary attributes and acquiring abilities. Much of the customization relies on equipment and item combinations. Diablo's magic has been replaced with skills: class specific abilities that can be purchased with skill points as characters level up. For example, a Paladin's skills allow him to cover allies with a protective aura, while a Sorceress can learn to fire lightning bolts and frozen blasts from her hands. Skills can be purchased several times to level them up, and some skills, when purchased, will increase the effectiveness of other skills. A new item type, socketed, has been added as well. Socketed items can be modified permanently by adding magic gems to them, increasing their statistics or adding elemental properties.

Spellings

  • 暗黑破坏神II - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 暗黑破壞神 2 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

1,450 People (295 developers, 1,155 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 64 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 292 ratings with 19 reviews)

Stagnant gameplay but wonderful cutscenes

The Good
Blizzard has demonstrated time and time again that they are a creatively-bankrupt publisher. The entire concept of their first popular game, Warcraft, was lifted wholesale from Westwood's groundbreaking Dune II. World of Warcraft is a shameless EverQuest clone. And while Diablo doesn't borrow from any one particular game, the gameplay is so dull, repetitive, and dreary that we should probably regard Blizzard more as a manufacturer of intro movies and cutscenes rather than a real gaming powerhouse.

Which of course brings me to the sole stand-out feature of Diablo II: the movies. The quality of the CG, the direction, the cinematography, the music, the horror of the demonic antagonists, these all tell me that Blizzard would do well to open a Hollywood studio and concentrate on film. One particular scene with the demon Baal fighting an archangel stands out in my mind as the best cutscene in the history of video games.

The Bad
This is a dull, tedious hack-and-slash affair. The gameplay is more suited to the 1980s when monotony was about all you could expect from a video game. Two years after BioWare released the deep, rich, and compelling Baldur's Gate, Diablo II is a sad reminder that some developers of marque titles really do not put a premium on innovation, as they by all accounts should.

The Bottom Line
With all that in mind, the production values of Diablo II are high, which no doubt explains why it was such a commercial, if not critical success. Still, the fact that we haven't seen a Diablo III speaks volumes: this style of gameplay is a relic of past.

Windows · by Chris Wright (85) · 2007

Mostly fun, strangely addictive

The Good
If you take the time to follow the story of the game, its fairly interesting, if for no other reason than to learn more about the lore of the world of Diablo. The real pleasure of the game comes from finding that new item that's better than what you had before. Item hunting is the name of the game for a lot of people, which isn't surprising, since it's really the only variable in the game that keeps it interesting. There's something oddly addictive about playing for just a little longer in hopes of finding an incredible item that transforms your character into an untouchable engine of instant death.

Player vs. player can be fun; there isn't much skill required and just deteriorates into a comparison of who has better equipment, but there is an element of fun hidden in destroying other people's characters.

The Bad
This isn't really a Role Playing Game technically. Not that every RPG has to be based on GURPS or AD&D or anything, but frankly, having an avatar with a few statistic choices and skill allocations an RPG does not make. There are 7 Classes now, and there are maybe 2 different types of characters within each class. If you're an amazon you either use a bow/cross-bow, or you use a javelin/spear. There's no such thing as an Amazon who uses swords and axes, or is a healer or anything like that. Minor complaint, but it's relevant nonetheless.

The first time you do all the acts, they're pretty challenging in that "click until they die" sort of way. After that they become a chore to endure in order get your character up to a higher level. After beating the game you are presented with the opportunity to beat it once more on a harder difficulty, and once you've completed that, do it again! Such fun has never before been had.

In all fairness to the game, Hardcore can truly add to the game, making it challenging in that your character is actually mortal, it dies, it's dead forever. It injects another level of strategy that is absent from normal play.

PvP, as I said before, it's an unskilled exercise in click-ology. It's fun to show off your character's stats/equipment, but nothing more.

The Bottom Line
Action Adventure game with light sprinkling of RPG elements. Play it once for fun, then play it again to find better items, play it again...and again...lose yourself in making your character better than anyone else's...then bring yourself back and go to work, you slob.

Windows · by MA17 (252) · 2001

Best Game To Appear In Years!

The Good
This is one of the greatest games ever made! Sound effects are great. Cinematics are outstanding. Very addictive. Easy to learn and play. Great spells. Huge variety of weapons, spells, armor, etc. Mutliplayer has an awesome concept involving a party to play the game together and for players to show off their characters. Multiplayer trading is very cool. The five main characters are unique with their strengths and weaknesses. This game almost has no limits!

The Bad
The game puts a big footprint of your hard drive at full install (1.8 GB). Multiplayer has some major problems involving lag, not being able to connect, being kicked of or losing connection for no apparent reason, and many other problems. Blizzard promises to fix this, but I'm still skeptical and pissed! Graphics are way dated. The AI of the enemies is pretty bad (they run to you for you to slaughter them). Gameplay can get old after a while.

The Bottom Line
Even with it's many flaws it makes it on my top 10 list and should be conidered an instant classic. This is the best game to appear in years!

Overall Rating: 95%

Windows · by MasterAbyss-ESB (11) · 2000

[ View all 19 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Why am I addicted?.. Unicorn Lynx (181788) Jul 2, 2013

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Diablo II appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Dungeons & Dragons

Diablo II was adapted into a set of two D&D rulebooks: Diablo II: Diablerie, published in 2000, and Diablo II: To Hell and Back, published in 2001, in addition to which a Diablo II set for the Dungeons & Dragons boardgame was released by Wizards of the Coast in 2000.

Promotion

Blizzard itself produced an action figure line, with figures depicting the Barbarian, the Unraveler, and of course, Diablo. They also released a whole stack of merchandise, including Zippo lighters, wristwatches and mouse pads, all in limited edition.

References: Diablo

The much rumored and non-existent secret "Cow Level" from the original game was actually added to Diablo II. It is just a flat plain, populated by bipedal cows, which go "Moo! Moo!" in deadpan human voices. The level also features a boss, "The Cow King", who looks just like all the other cows.

In Act I, the player can enter a portal to the town of Tristram, now destroyed by demons. Some characters from Diablo can be seen there. Decard Cain and Griswold the Blacksmith are alive; the former will help the player with his quests while the latter is possessed by evil powers. The remains of Wirt the Peg-Legged Boy can also be spotted; his leg allows the player to enter the cow level.

References

Once in a great while, one of the zombies can be heard uttering "brainsss". This is a reference to the numerous Living Dead movies, in which zombies hunger for human brains.

Awards

  • Computer and Video Games
    • 2005 - #25 "101 Best PC Games Ever"
  • Destructoid
    • 2009 - #7 "Top Video Games of the Decade"
  • GamePro
    • 2008 - #11 "The 32 Best PC Games"
  • GameSpy
    • 2000 – Special Award for Cut-Scenes
    • 2011 – #7 Top PC Game of the 2000s
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2001 - Best Game in 2000
    • Issue 02/2001 - Best Multiplayer Game in 2000
    • Issue 03/2001 - Best Game in 2000 (Readers' Choice)
    • Issue 12/2008 - Special mention in the "10 Coolest Levels" list (for the secret level "The Moo Moo Farm")
  • IGN
    • 2009 - Issue 12/2008 - One of "Gaming's Top 10 Easter Eggs" (for the secret level "The Moo Moo Farm")
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2005 - #16 "50 Best Games of All Time"
    • 2007 - #82 "Top 100 Games"* PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2001 - Best Online Game in 2000
  • VideoGamer.com
    • 2009 - #49 "Top 100 Games of the Noughties"

Information also contributed by Ajan, Kasey Chang, Patrick Bregger, PCGamer77, phlux, Tibes80, and Scott Monster.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MAT.

Macintosh added by Xoleras.

Additional contributors: Blackhandjr, Zovni, Unicorn Lynx, Indra was here, Brian Jordan, Vaelor, Ajan, Pseudo_Intellectual, SharkD, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added July 4, 2000. Last modified March 23, 2024.