Top 50 Video Games: Number 4

#4: Diablo II: The Lord of Destruction
System: PC
Publisher: Blizzard
Released: 2000
Players: 1-8

A group of players about to head down into Duriel's chambers at the end of Act II.

In the entertainment industry there are few things more difficult than following up on a huge success, be it in movies, music or games. Diablo was one of the most popular PC games to come out in a long time, and expectations for a sequel were enormous. Multiple delays helped build the pressure, but Blizzard delivered in spades, as I've come to expect from them. As far as I'm concerned, they did the impossible: they made the original Diablo game seem boring, slow and
drab.

Diablo II wasn't really any sort of unexpected innovation upon the original. What it did was take everything fun about Diablo and perfect it. D2 is bigger, better, and more. More characters to choose from, more enemies, more stuff to collect, etc. Diablo took place in a dungeon in the town of Tristram; Diablo II takes place in several locations across four chapters (including a return visit to Tristram.) The story, while still largely unnecessary, is more fleshed out in D2. The cutscenes between chapters are especially well done. Like it's predecessor, the game can be played through multiple times after finishing it the first time - the difficulty settings are Normal, Nightmare and Hell. I cannot imagine trying to finish the game alone in the Hell setting, particularly with the expansion pack installed (The Ancients in Act V are a killer in Hell.)

Azurauth and Judd Nelson slaying evil in Act I of Diablo II.

The original game allowed you to choose between 3 characters, and there was relatively little to distinguish them. The mage could swing an axe, the warrior could cast spells if you so chose. Though each was predisposed towards certain styles, any character could learn and use most any spell or itme in the game. D2 has 5 characters, each of which plays very differently. Each also has 3 skill trees which the player can spend skill points in, allowing for a very customizable playing experience. Two players could have sorceresses at very high levels that play completely differently; One could focus on fire magic while the other utilized the lightning skill tree. The game also has a shitload of items to find and equip, with one important difference: D2 has sets of items to find, granting the wearer special bonuses for equipping the entire set. I love collectables and games that can be customized. Diablo II is a godsend.

The expansion pack for D2 is one the best expansions ever released, ranking up there with The Conquerers and Brood War in my book. Lord of Destruction adds a fifth act, two new character classes (Druid and Assassin) several new items and sets as well as Runes. Runes are little stones with word fragments on them which can be placed into items in a certain order to produce a very cool item. For example, placing the Fal, Ohm and Um runes (in that order) into a 3-socket claw weapon will create the weapon called Chaos with an entire assload of powerful, cool effects.

Every night at 10pm, Jimbob and I would log on to Battlenet's US East realm and play together as Azurauth the Necromancer and Chubbernuckyll the Druid, respectively. Sometimes joined by his father, we'd play into the wee hours of the morning. This game is one of the best, most addictive games ever. I eventually stopped playing Diablo II when I felt I'd accomplished everything there was to do. I'd finished the game on the Hell setting with every character. I'd tried playing every kind of character with every build. I'd seen and acquired most of the items and sets in the game. I had a character who could mow down crowds of most enemies in the game (my lvl 90 lightning Sorceress Bunglina) and I had a terrific high lvl treasure hunter (lvl 81 Barbarian Chuck Steak) who built an empire of riches for my friends and I. I walked away on top. They've since released patch v1.10, which I've hardly played with but I understand it's whole new game. One day, perhaps, I will return.

My stable of characters on Battlenet were eventually deleted when I failed to login for a couple months. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Diablo II is fantastic. I played this game pretty steadily on Battlenet for over a year. It became a nightly ritual; logon, see if Couch, Jimbob, or his dad were on. Play a few hours and go to bed. In fact, the first time I ever spoke to Kat I called her on the phone and the conversation started like this:

"Hello?"
"Hi. Is this Kat? This is Bryan."
"Oh! Can you hang on for a sec? I gotta pause my game before I die here."
"What are you playing?"
"Diablo II."
"You're playing Diablo II?.....I love you."

I think that pretty much says it all.