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Friday 8 February, 2008
Entry #1
SUMMARY:
In Diablo II you choose one of five distinct characters to fight the dark forces of Diablo. You complete quests for townsfolk while customizing your characters fighting style and unraveling the storyline Act by Act.
GAMEPLAY:
From the get go, playing Diablo II made me feel important. The intro sequence involving Diablo’s dark minions burning down then tavern made the situation seem dire. Afterwards, when you take control of your character inside the rogue encampment, a man tells you that there has been a lot of trouble near town and seems relieved that you are willing to lend a helping hand. Everyone in the town has a similar reaction to your presence, hoping very much that you can drive away the demons that have infested the surrounding lands. This narrative made me feel like defeating all the monsters in the “Den of Evil” and putting a corrupted rouge sister to rest was a truly significant act. Each quest gave me a great sense of accomplishment.
The general gameplay of the game is an addictive action based rpg. You start of with just a weapon and some basic “stats” and level up by smashing demons until your experience bar is full. This sounds pretty generic for an rpg, but I like the way Diablo II implements it because it is especially fast paced; there is really no downtime unless you want to sell some of your items in town. This makes leveling up fast and easy allowing for a wide variety of character customization early in the game.
Every character type has “stats” and “skill trees” to chose from, in my characters case (the sorceress) there was fire, cold, and lightning trees. Skills within each tree become available as you level up and most new skills require a lower level skill to acquire, so you have to spend your skill points strategically because you only get one per level. You also get 5 stat points every level, which you can spend, on strength dexterity vitality or energy. These stats pretty much dictate how well your character performs his or her skills. If you want to use a lot of elemental spells you need a good amount of energy to do so, if you want to spin around with a weapon in hand, you’re going to need a lot of strength for damage, energy for usability and dexterity for accuracy. The strategic nature behind placing these stat points and skill points makes for a fun and diverse gameplay experience.
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