Diablo 2: Fuck You, Charsi

Sometimes, that woman...

Diablo 2: Smacked down by Duriel

So Knixia received her first half a dozen deaths courtesty of Duriel.

The video shows what my final strategy looked like.  It only failed me the one time shown. Still, it took me a few deaths to realize that trying to use firewall down there was futile, if not suicide.

Duriel is similar to the Butcher of Diablo 1.  They are both the first enemy that smacks you across the face and puts you in your place.  They're also both high damage stun locking melee bosses that punish you if you're not prepared.  Duriel may even be a touch worse than the Butcher because you fight him in an even more confined space and he has an unavoidable frozen aura.  Also, if you have a crappy comp, you might be dead before the pit actually loads up!  Either way, they are both likely administrators of your first deaths.

Onwards!

Diablo 2: The Dark Wanderer

Knixia, the sorceress, is coming along quite well.

I'm playing through at a much slower pace than normal. I've only just reached Jehryn's palace, which is what I used to be able to easily reach in two play throughs.  I'm actually finding the game easier not using the run function gratuiously.  After playing Diablo 1, I guess I just got used to walking and I find the slower pace makes battles more strategic.  I've only used in battle a couple times, including this fight against Blood Raven.



My luck with items has been pretty poor.  I've only picked up Shadowfang for uniques and no set pieces.  Normally I've found 2 arctic horns or 2 arctic furs by now.  At least I've somehow managed to make a perfect topaz which will help with magic finding.

Gheed, my only source of phat lewt.

I thought the gore in Diablo 1 was much more graphic than it's successor, but it seems if I look for it, it's there.  All the extra environmental details of Diablo 2 just hide it better.

Another fun find was what is apparently the bayeux tapestry on a wall in the monastery.

It's a funny comic strip about a silly king, or something like that...

Anyhow, that's the first bit of the adventure, I'm gonna head to the kitchen to make a sammich now.

Diablo 2: The Hunt Begins

It's time for the next stage of Diablo!

I'm pretty stoked about playing through this game.  It's easily one of the top 5 games for time I've spent playing.  I've tried dozens of characters and tons of builds.  The hardcore option in this game makes for some truly unforgettable moments.  Just ask Steve-O, my previous hellspawn slaying comrade.

The goal is to complete all the quests from normal through hell difficulty (on non-harcore setting).  As outlined in my original plan for Diablo 1, I don't want to be playing with others that offer too much help (waypoints, power-levelling, etc.).  Also, I'll keep my level and the game name/pass posted on the side bar of this blog.  Please, it would be awesome to have some demon slaying company.

Once again, I've used a random number generator to choose my toon.  This time I'll be rolling with a...

SORCERESSESSESSS!!!!

I'll probably go with some sort of meteor and glacial bolt build. Freeze em and nuke em!

Diablo Down, Along with My Wrist!

The warrior, Knix, has plundered the depths of the Cathederal and slain the Lord of Terror himself!  But all that mouse clicking sword swinging has cost him his wrist!  Seriously, how did the testers of this game not complain about sore fingers and wrists?  A warning label should be put in the box for this game like they have for seizures.

Anyhow, I did it so quick because I changed up the difficulty completion.  It turns out multiplayer does not support many of the quests and I was more interested in the lore than just the gameplay, so I switched to single player.  However, single player only supports normal difficulty.  Don't mind though, or at least my wrist doesn't.

I really have to give credit to the original Diablo for some fun monster AI and animations.  Many monsters have retreat tactics, including hiding in shadows, teleporting and fleeing when allies die.  One of the monsters also has a pretty hilarious charge attack.  These simple scripts made many battles feel fairly fresh, rather than just levels of suicidal melee beasties. On top of that the death animations for most of them are pretty sweet.  The shadow walkers in particular have a wicked head rolling death.



There were some other nice touches in Diablo, including weapon sheathing and helmet holding when in town.  Considering that each character only had three different armor displays, it was an expensive addition.

A real gentelman lets the lady see his eyes.

Other details include the rather gruesome body hangings in hell.  I'm pretty sure if a game put these in a modern 3D game, it would receive an AO rating.

Sometimes I wonder what the artists are thinking when creating this stuff.  "Damn, need to add another pixel to the nipple."

Anyhow, the big red fatty is dead and it's time to hunt him again in Diablo 2!