The original Diablo I remember being more thoughtful and slower paced. I liked it. Diablo3 turned into just a brainless light show without much tactics. Less rewarding.
I’m two evenings into a D1 (DevilutionX) single player story run though. Can confirm. Definitely much slower and more deliberate, and not just because they hadn’t invented running yet. Nothing respawns, the world is fixed from the start, so everything is a limited resource. Do I really need to buy this sword now or should I try to hold out for something to drop? Much more strategic gameplay… Slow forward exploration, hiding behind doors and corners letting monsters come to you one by one, stuff like that.
In the later games I’d just whirlwind through everything (spin2win, baby!) and hope for the best. If I need more gold or whatever I can always just save and exit and come back in and run through the area one more time. Definitely not doing that here. Every choice matters, so slow down and make it count.
I agree with most of it, but most players generally would just save and respawn a new map in D1 to get more resources?
Shit, you’re right, I forgot all about that, it’d been so long since I’ve played it. Starting a new game with an existing character keeps your stats/inventory but resets the rest of the world.
I guess I’ll go ahead and buy that sword now.
Brevik explains that the hordes of enemies take away the personal nature of the ARPG journey. While the enemy count of the original Diablo games were high for their time, the modern takes on the genre have taken the wrong lesson from those originals.
I have to say that that’s a bit of a turn-off for me in roguelikes, too. Like, mowing through hordes of “explosive breeders” – a property that Moria and some child roguelikes, like Angband, had on some enemies – is mind-numbing.
David “don’t make Diablo real-time” Brevik?
I mean, I agree with him on Diablo 3 and 4. But perhaps he’s not the best authority.
