I was looking through an old box (found in the loft) and came across Diablo, now I've never played it, is it worth playing? At the moment I'm playing NWN and Wis 8, so don't know how Diablo compairs.

I've read the box, that's all I know about the game, so any advice would be great.
Cheers

Well, I didn't like it much. Very hack and slash - play basically consists of running around holding down the left mouse button. Graphics are poor, from a top-down perspective and there's not really much in-depth character interaction.

Having said that, millions disagree with me ;)

Yeah, Diablo is really a fantasy shooter, not an RPG. On the other hand, as a pure hack-n-slash product, it's good. I enjoyed it myself, but then I knew what to expect and so was not disappointed.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

Interesting, does it matter which of the 3 you pick? Dose one make it easier than the others? Or get better equipment, or is it all random?

3? 3 what?

I assume you mean the characters? It depends on what you want, warrior (melee), rogue (range), mage (magic). As you have played other rpgs, I'm sure you know what their advantages and disadvantages are. ;)

Equipment drops are random. The deeper you are in the game, the better the items become. Each items gots differents mods. With thousands of combination of mods an item can have. It really makes this game stand out from the rest.

If I remember correctly, the warrior is easiest to play, the mage hardest. Mostly because things start to be immune to all types of magic later on in the game but you can still whack them senseless.

Diablo is one of the best games ever made IMHO. It used to scare the crap out of me when I was little, especially the music and the lighting. It's cool because the dungeons are different every time and you may get different quests with different games. It doesn't have as much replay as Diablo 2 or BG2 but it's still fun in its own right.

I was obsessed with this game...er I didn't like it all of that much after one play through, but Battlenet was great fun, despite being the epitome of cheating and verbal abuse.

I remember the classes differently from Legolas. At the higher levels, wizards are much more powerful than warriors and rogues. Rogues are probably the hardest to play because you don't always have room to run away and keep firing. Furthermore, your visual range isn't one you'd really want to be firing bows at lol. Warriors just have the least options in battle. They're either tough enough or not unless they can make clever use of doorways and such.

Warriors could cast magic just like anyone else [img]smile.gif[/img]

True. I actually forgot about that!

But I wouldn't say just like anyone else. It drained their reserves very quickly. The rogue wasn't great at it either. At least mine wasn't at 45 hehe.

[ 07-27-2005, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: Lucern ]

The Rogue was my favorite character. Using the bow took a little practice, along with learning to dance around, but once I got that straight, there was no question of using another character.

Sorcerer can be good once you get the mana shield spell (much nicer than D2, since it gives 100% protection).

Keep in mind that inventory doesn't change much here. The blacksmith's stock only turns over when you gain a level, and it's random. You may want to save the game and see what he has, restoring if nothing worthwhile shows up.

The witch's stuff changes every time you visit her after being in the dungeon, and it's also random, so you may want to save there, too.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

Brings back memories of playing against hacked warriors on battle.net who'd send level 20 firebolts at you the moment you stepped into the dungeon.

Right, so would the warrior be the best one to take for a Diablo beginner? Or Sorcerer?

Can the Sorcerer cast many spells? Was just wondering how they did it, if it was easy in battle?

Warrior is easier for beginner. Just hack hack hack. Sorcerer is a bit like the rogue. Shoot move back shoot move back. But unlike rogue the sorcerer have mana problem.

Sorcerer can cast as many spell as rogue and warrior. It's just that their spells level are higher than those two.

Any good tips I should know about when starting the game?
Cheers

1. Keep all items that raises your intelligent, when you found a spell book that is in red colour, you can wear those items so that you can read the book.

2. You can keep your excess items in the ground. They will not disappear unless you start a new game.

3. Save first before indentifying an item. That way when your indentified item is cursed. You can reload back you game so that you won't waste 100 gold to identify it.

4. If you use warrior, do not use the skill "repair item" it will actually make the durability go lower. Go back to town and repair it from the smith instead.

5. Save first before going down the staircase, sometimes the game may 'sot' .

6. You can use bows for " supressing fire ". You may actually hit any monsters from far away without " activating it "

7. Items that grant resists will be usefull as you go deeper and deeper in the dungeon.

Always fight from a doorway when you can; it will keep monsters from ganging up on you.

Some buildings have barred windows. You can shoot arrows through them and kill enemies without putting yourself in trouble.

As you get deeper into the dungeon, you'll want magic protection; some spellcasting critters can be very nasty.

On tough levels, open a portal in a safe (cleared) location so you can get out quickly if necessary.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

[ 07-28-2005, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: Nightowl2 ]

The upper levels typically have items that aren't worth the price of identfying. That goes for cursed items, but many regular ones also.

Hold down the SHIFT key to attack without moving. Very useful.

Later on, always keep a scroll of town portal ready, or learn the spell and make sure you've a mana potion in reserve. Also learn when to run.

When you're not defending a doorway, keep moving around to keep spells, missiles and charging monsters from hitting you.

Never do something that may trigger a trap if you're low on health.

Don't bother dragging every last item on a level to town to make a profit, instead take the more expensive ones if you've room left to carry them and are going to the surface anyway.

Cool, they sound good, ang keep them coming.
Is it worth getting game patches. I've installed the game and it's V1.00 should I patch to (I think) V1.09?
Cheers

Save your game first before touching any wards,tomes or wells. Reload if they gives you bad effect.

Shield can block melee,range and even spells.

If you are of a high level, playing at an earlier floor of the dungeon will not yield you any experience. eg, a lv12 char will not gain any exp from floor 1 ~ floor 3 of the dungeon.

Mana shield can be your secondary hp. Just make sure your mana isn't empty.

Make sure you turn your sound effect on all the time so that you can hear your character "ah!". Which mean something is damaging him.

I've played v1.00 and I don't see any bugs on it. Besides, my tips is based on v1.00. ;)

and all this being said, also look into hellfire. the addon that sierra made. extra class - monk. and a few more quests. not bad.

About the reload on bad effect thing; it's a matter of preference. It won't wreck your game if you don't.

Diablo is a classic. I probably played more of it than any other game apart from Darkstone.

Also, don't forget the Hellfire add-on and the command.txt easter egg which, iirc, also gives the Bard and Barbarian characters and a couple of extra quests.

I still remember my high level Bard running around dual-wielding a bastard KSoH and KSoB slaughtering everything in sight :D

Yeah, I also played the straight v1.0 and also v1.0 with Hellfire. HF installs completely to the harddrive, but you still need the Diablo CD in to play.

HF added some nice features, not least of which was fast walking around town (dungeon speed is unchanged). Really good for those visits to the witch.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

P.S. If I recall rightly, HF also expanded the number of things you can buy from Griswold.

What is Hell Fire? I'm guessing it's an add on...Do you have to buy it or is it free for download? If so where can I get it?
I'm hoping to get some time to have a play this weekend!!

[ 08-01-2005, 05:23 AM: Message edited by: Target ]

Hellfire is an official diablo add on made by Sierra. It adds two new dungeons, more new monsters, some quests, more items, single player game difficulty ( normal, nightmare, hell ), some new spells and few new characters.

You'll have to buy it. Should be as cheap as Diablo.

[ 07-29-2005, 12:07 PM: Message edited by: Kakero ]

If you want some more tips, check out the links at my old Diablo site -- especially take a look at Freshman Diablo.

http://www.geocities.com/daslonghorn/linksnew.html

My two cents of advice are to advance slowly to avoid activing more monsters than you can handle, and to play solo multiplayer once you've gone through single player once or twice. Multiplayer mode allows you to acheive higher character levels, re-do levels at your leisure, and access higher difficulty modes. You can do this offline using Direct Connect games. The major difference is that the MP mode only has the bare bones quests (which is a good thing after a while) and only the things on your character are saved from game to game. So, each time you play you get a fresh set of unexplored dungeons that you can explore in virtually any order. Eventually you'll be playing nothing but Hell/Hell ;)

Let me know if you want to get a game together... It's been too long since I've played.

(EDIT: Left out the link -- doh!)

[ 08-01-2005, 12:46 AM: Message edited by: Darkman ]

Ah, Hell/Hell...that brings back memories. Hanging out with the elitist Diablo snobs in The Black Lodge doing Hell/Hell runs with players far more competent than I thought could be achieved in a relatively simple game. Playing my rogue with the lag that I had, almost everyone complained that it would be easier without my lightning arrows in their back lol. Oops. It's not what it *looked* like.

Now I just realized I'm on the same connection I was on 9 years ago. Not consecutively, but still. Hmm...

Great, thanks.
I've just got down to level 5, where the catacombs start. Glad there is a way back to town from there, saves a lot of walking!!
I’ve had 3 quests so far, killed the Butcher, that was a tough fight!!! The Skeleton king, glad I had a few town portal scrolls for that one!! And now I’m looking for a moon rock or something.
This is a fun game!! No internet at home so no on-line play for me...yet

Well, it has been a week since your last post so I assume you have finished catacombs already. There is a quick way back to town in each of the 4 parts of the game. You should always have a town portal scroll ready, though.

I don't think there's much replayability to this game until you get Hellfire as you can't choose difficulty in original Diablo.

I pumped my char. to lvl. 10-12 in 5 minutes in Hellfire. I created a new character (rogue) and went to hell difficulty immediately, entered the dungeon and lured enemies one by one. They give a lot of exp for a lvl. 1 character. Some people called me a cheater for doing this, but I think it's just a cheesy tactic to pump up char. early.

Barbarian and Bard are available in Hellfire only if you change the command.txt file. They should've been included in the expansion but weren't. I don't recall why, though. I read it in some article on Sierra.
Bard is good because she can carry two weapons (both 1-handed) at once and hit 3 opponents in one blow. Her ability is the best in the game-identify. Saves a lot of money early in the game. And barbarian sucks, it's only advantage is that he can carry 2-handed weapon and a shield. But I don't like playing with any of those two 'cause they were never finished.

Ah.. the good old days. Diablo was the first game I ever played online. Back then, we could only multiplay over a telephone modem. [img]smile.gif[/img] Btw. what's the deal with that Hidden Cow level in the original Diablo (Hellfire included)? Has anyone seen this site ( http://web.archive.org/web/200010111....cowlevel.com/ ) about it? It's quite hillarious. ;)

LOL Dreamer...

I saw a different one, in the Diablo days of yore, that had you stand in a certain spot in town (near a cow), drop all of your items on the ground, and exit the game. People fell for it. :D

That taught them to not believe everything they read on the 'net at least hehe.

I gamed with the guy who created one version of that.

I've not been able to get much gaming in this week so not progressed much. Hopefully I will soon but things are pretty busy at the moment.
No hellfire, which is a shame, sounds like it improves things a little.
Just out of interest what is the Monks ‘special skill’?

The Rogue can use h2h weapons just like the warrior (but with better spell use) and is a decent melee-er (not great, but ok) and I find her trap detection more useful that either the mages ability or the warriors. I found her to be the easiest to use personally.

Sometimes you have to replay a level a few times before you can move on (ie restarting a game to get high enough level to beat the Butcher).

Always keep town portal ready. (with a mana potion if you have the spell memorized)

Keep in mind that if you want to access the higher difficulty settings in the original Diablo, all you need to do is play in Multiplayer mode. You can play by yourself offline using the IPX or Direct Connect options. If you ever decide to play with another person, this "solo-multiplayer" character would be available to use for a coop game. Regular Single Player characters cannot be transfered to Multiplayer.

BTW, most shrines in the game are very benefitial to your character. There are however three that you should never use. Ever. These are FOS: Fascinating, Ornate, and Sacred. They grant you a spell level bonus to a weak spell (Firebolt, Holybolt, & Charged Bolt respectively) at the cost of a permanent reduction of 10% to your overall mana. Throughout the game you will also encounter Goat Shrines and Cauldrons. These give out random shrine effects and should be avoided because of the potential for FOS effects -- unless you're feelin' lucky of course. On a similar note, you should be very careful when confronting Black Death zombies. They can be found in the Church and Catacombs and you'll recognize them from their bright yellow color. Every time they hit you, you will lose 1 hit point permanently. Use a bow or spells such as Holy Bolt to deal with them safely from a distance.

As for the Hellfire characters, the Monk is fun to use for a while, but is not particularly strong at higher levels IMO. The "hidden" characters are easily unlocked and they are both solid contenders in my opinion. The Bard has great offensive potential with dual-wielded swords. A very popular setup is to have a sword with haste paired with a sword that steals life or mana. The Barbarian can dish out alot of damage as well, but only if you use axes for the sweep ability and have items that help your low chance to hit. Unfortunately, Hellfire is a tough game to find in stores these days, so if you don't have it already, you're probably SOL...

My favorite character was always the rogue. With proper items she can do very well in melee and can cast spells fairly effectively to boot. Obviously she is good with a bow, but IMO her best asset is her versitility. Rogues have the highest Dexterity which is the stat that determines blocking percentage as well as chance to hit. Armed with a shield of fast blocking and a powerful weapon, rogues can melee with the best of them! Throw in a few +mana/+magic items and Mana Shield becomes useful as an added source of hit points. I would usually carry both bow and sword/shield with me and switch between them as needed, using magical attacks to soften the mobs.

PS. The Monk's special ability is Find Items. Using it will highlight all the dropped items on the screen. Kinda cool, but I think you can also cast this new spell from scrolls as well, but I may be wrong...

PSS. You should patch your version of the game to v1.09 if you haven't already. Some crash fixes as well as game play changes have been made, and you'll need the latest version if you ever want to play online.

[ 08-10-2005, 05:27 PM: Message edited by: Darkman ]

I don't like diablo very much... :(

then get out of this thread then :D

the first time i tried diablo, all i could think was "ewwwww! this is a boy's game!!". i put it away, but finally retried it a few months later. boy, i loved it. [img]smile.gif[/img]
gotta run now. time to reinstall it and hellfire.

V***V

"There is a game which seems like the dumbest thing in the world when one describes it. You go around and click on the enemies while they go 'ugh', 'ahh'. But still that game made me not call or see my girlfriend for a week and I almost lost my job..."

This was the description of the game in one of Croatian game magazines. Yes, it seemed like just another pathetic game. When I read the full recension though and saw the screenshots of the game I just had to try it. I never actually regretted playing it. It's a classic (better than the sequel IMO). I still have my first character ever (a rogue) stored somewhere.

Damn you all. Now I'll have to install it again and finish it 2-3 times to satisfy my gaming needs.

Wasn't that a quote from Damir Rukavina? Might have to check my old Hacker numbers... Well, in the meantime, he has lost the girlfriend, and his job is to rate games [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Oh, and zdravo Flaming Fist Enforceru! [img]smile.gif[/img]