Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

The Good
Note: This review is based on v1.10, which was released in October 2003, after years in the making. v1.10 changed pretty much everything, so it would be pointless to review the old versions.

After three years of playing Diablo II LoD, you can imagine that I don't have many complaints about it. It's easy accessible for any gamer - casual or hardcore - and it's incredible replay value bases on one simple thing built into any human: hunting and collecting. You'll get to hunt down more monsters than you've ever imagined, and what's the point? Yes, leveling up your character (which is now quite difficult since on high levels, you get only about 0.6% of the experience, meaning that you'll take ages to achieve level 99), but most important: collect all the godly items and runes! Build runewords from extremely rare runes to make your character even more godly, get the uber uniques like Tyraels Might (unique armor without any requirements besides of level 85) or Stormlash (unique scourge with really impressive stats) - collect, collect, collect. That's the secret behind D2, it always was. The game itself may be pretty much the same every time you play it, but well, who cares if you can collect stuff? There are hundreds of unique items, and the extremely upgraded rare items which can be even better than uniques (but are even harder to obtain).

Also, 1.10 made the game more fun. All characters' skills now have "synergies" (except for the Amazon, they virtually killed the poor girl and made her unplayable, at least when using bows), making the skills even more powerful (and sometimes too powerful). This means: characters from v1.09 are worth crap, since they are obviously badly skilled now. Skills like Blessed Hammer, Meteor or Bone Spirit were almost laughable in 1.09, but now, they are the best you can use (Blessed Hammer now does over 10k damage per hit with all synergies maximized - and it's pure magical damage hurting ANY enemy, there are almost no resistances against it! Meteor can easily go up to 26k damage... go figure).

There are new items, and a new play mode - the ladder mode, where even more new items are available. Also, you get to upgrade runes (only in ladder mode) up to the infamous ZOD rune, meaning that expensive runewords are not likely obtainable, but at least it's possible at all now. New rune words? Yeah. All powerful, many totally uber - like Enigma, giving you teleport skills regardless of the char you use, or Breath of the Dying, which includes a ZOD but makes everything not only indestructible, but also gives up to 400% damage and extreme weapon speeds. Try this in an ethereal colossus blade or berserker axe ;)

So you see - tons of changes, most of them absolutely great, adding more fun to the already 5 years old game (yes, except for rune words and items, this applies to classic Diablo II too!).

Ah, I forgot the Battle.net service. Still free, still thousands of gamers online, still reliable - nuff said.

The Bad
Well, since 1.10, it has some imbalances - Sorceress with fire skills and Hammerdin (Paladin with Blessed Hammer skill) are simply too godly, the Barbarian and bow-using Amazons are no longer really powerful. Also, some of the best items were toned down, like the Windforce for example. But if you simply go "by the rules" (and play a Hammerdin ;), you won't have any complaints.

Oh, one thing: Blizzard randomized the monsters in Act 5 and put up some guest monsters from Act 1-4, which is very annoying for almost every character. Also, archer monsters are too strong, and the bosses are still too weak.

The Bottom Line
Well, if you have Diablo II (LoD), get v1.10 if you didn't already - experience almost a new game. If you don't have D2, get it - it's cheap now, bundled with the expansion and the v1.10 update is free. You'll get the best action RPG ever, and maybe you'll be as crazy as me and play it for years!

The Good
Baal, Lord of Destruction, in a body of Tal'rasha, a powerful mage, was the only one who escaped his doom. As 'we' know from "Diablo II", Mephisto and Diablo were destroyed at Hell's Forge, and there's no coming back from them. And after Ball seized himself, a yellow crystal, he was ready to alter the world as we know it, forever. He set himself on a journey to find that which will make him whole again, a Worldstone, where the balance of power between the good and the evil is stored. That, and the lust for revenge of his brothers' deaths is setting his course for destruction.

Now, for those who had saved games from the ending of "Diablo II", they can easily continue from the point they killed Diablo, the Lord of Terror, as archangel Tyrael will open a new portal that will lead you into barbarian's highlands, a territory with a pretty cold climate. Frankly, I dunno how my Amazon warrior-ess didn't froze to death. Must be from all those slaying and running, adrenaline was high and blood was boiling, so there was no time for being cold ;))

The best thing about this add-on is that it fixes all the bugs I've ever encountered in original game. First, and probably most annoying thing in "Diablo II" was unequal running. Your character was facing north when (s)he was running north-east, or facing south when (s)he was walking south-west. Naaw, there is no such thing in here. And from what I've witnessed by playing the game, they really got a hold onto details in the game. I dunno if there are 8 or 16 sides that character can face now, but it looks pretty darn good, no matter when walking, running, talking or fighting.

Also, they added 800x600 resolution in which you can see more of a map, and everything is a bit smaller (corresponding to that very resolution), but looks more detailed that way, and you can spot monster from afar. Also, I was amazed by the details in original game (that took them long to make, though), but "Lord of Destruction" has something you would never expect to find in a simple add-on. Not only the story is prolongued with really nice touch and dialogues (even in animations), but the music score by Matt Uelmen is now by far more brilliant than in "Diablo II" (still, Town Theme from first "Diablo" is irreplacible), this time, music isn't just to emphasize the atmosphere, this time it's to bring you an experience of a completely self-standing independent new game. And that's not all they improved... the detail level is amazing, trees, catapults, explosions (and I am mostly playing in 256 color mode, because it looks so good as when I use Direct3D or OpenGL, and works a bit faster that way), background images (for example when you reach the end of cliff, you can see background image of a valley covered in snow they probably just sticked to the background texture), fog effects, lighting effects, lightning effects, fire effects and a helluva lot more!

In original "Diablo II" there were five classes to choose, now they added two more, the Assassins, and Druids, but if you plan on playing with any of them, you'll have to start from the scratch. From very own start of first finishing "Diablo II" and then being able to continue with "Lord of Destruction". Hah, lucky I had save-games kept stored ;))

From the intro of "Lord of Destruction" you become engulfed in the game's atmosphere and surrounding almost immediately. It's hard to avoid that (unless you didn't manage to install the game because it required 1.2GB the least, hehe). Through the entire game I didn't encounter not a single creature and/or beast from the original "Diablo II" (except when reaching the throne of Baal), and not a single place that would point as being taken or even slightly copied from the original. Everything's new, and the feeling of playing another game is complete, so in case you never played "Diablo II", but started with this one, you won't miss a thing. Towns, fortresses, caves, cliffs, everything's new. And when I said there is only new set of bestiary included, I didn't mean you'll have to constantly fight only 3 new creatures through the entire game.. a-a-a, no way. There are at least 10 different ones, and that's not including bosses. Believe me, this game is literally enhanced "Diablo II" for everything it lacked.

For those animaniacs like me, there are two animations only, intro and ending one, about 7-8 minutes altogether. But it's the first one that has a role to surprise/amaze you, last one is merely the conclusion, because everything's solved through the game, so don't expect seeing your character against Baal in the final animation, or anything of such potential, but it's beautiful, nonetheless.

The Bad
Hmm, you got something wrong here. What I mentioned above wasn't describing of a game... it was describing of the game's good sides ;)) Sure you don't expect me to put anything under here, do you? :)

The Bottom Line
When I first tried "Diablo II", its CDs ended as my cup-holders. A year later, I semed to've gotten smart... or not, hehe, depending on who's debutting upon this standpoint. However, I learned to appreciate the very game of "Diablo II" even more than I hated it at first. Difference with this one is that I loved it from the start... because I loved the ending of "Diablo II" too much not to eagerly anticipate this sequel. This is a worthy sequel to the game, and I'm pretty sure everyone who enjoyed "Diablo II" will love this one. Maybe they'll think it's short, but that's only because they put their efforts into extending differences between places, creatures and effects, instead of making it look constant but with bigger maps. The did the game alright, that's for sure... except that small catch in final fight... it's too darn hard comparing to any fight with Diablo do far.

Looking this way -- this game is made for the followers or Horadrim and the warriors who wish to test their mettle in the known world of Sanctuary. For those who didn't yet entered the Diablo universe at all, they should better start from the scratch, then getting this add-on. This is a masterpiece, but not in a way of straying away from "Diablo II".

The Good
The expansion's selling point is its new act, Act IV, set in the Barbarian Highlands, where you must work your way to defeat Baal. It adds a whole new level of gameplay to Diablo, not by graphics or interface, but more fun.

Getting bored with the current characters? Then take a looksie at the two new people to enter the game; the Assassin and Druid. Both have their unique advantages and disadvantages, and both are a blast to play.

The stash has been expanded big time, with triple the capacity. You can now hold tons of items and a huge wad of gold.

There are over 1000 new items, ranging from shields, armor, weapons, gems, and sets. This encourages the player to keep playing so that he/she can get as much stuff as they can.

The Bad
The inclusion of only ONE new act isn't enough. The original Diablo II came with three acts, so I was expecting two acts at a minimum.

The fundamentals of the game hasn't changed. It's the same "target critter, click, click, click, click, dead, loot" throughout the game, with the occasional spell thrown in. A better combat system would've improved things dramatically.

The addition of a 800x600 resolution mode does make the game look nicer, but apart from the new spells for the two new characters, the game looks exactly like D2. The only noticeable difference is the characters look a little nicer and some of the jaggies (pixelated edges) are gone.

The Bottom Line
Lord of Destruction is a great game and should be picked up by all hardcore D2 fanatics. If you are a casual gamer who plays a couple times a week, doesn't really care about what happens to his online persona, then this expansion is not worth your money.