And It’s OUT! Playing Some Diablo II Tonight!
I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. My friend bought me Diablo II: Resurrected months ago, and although I was able to play the beta, I’m pretty excited to dive into the game once more.
And as remasters go, I think this is probably one of the better ones I’ve seen. Blizzard went all out bringing Diablo II into the 2020s.
Why Am I So Excited for Diablo II?
I feel like a little kid, actually. I haven’t been this excited since pre-ordering StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. And when it came out, I thought I would wet myself.
This one is pretty close to being on that level.
Sam Has Never Played it Before
My best friend, Sam, has been playing Diablo III with me for a couple of years now. I was shocked to hear that she’s never played Diablo II. So, a lot of the story is kind of lost on her.
Luckily, the flow of Diablo III is such that it can work decently as a standalone title. But, a lot more will become more apparent once she goes through the storyline.
Not to mention how my girls are now old enough to play as well. So, it’s kind of cool to introduce my kids to a game that made an impact on me.
Kind of like when I introduced them to the original Nintendo system – which I still have in working order in my living room.
Nostalgia…and My Disks are Missing
One of the biggest drivers for my excitement is nostalgia. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent playing that game, both by myself and online in a group.
Well, until people started modding. Then, it was kind of a pain in the ass.
Still, I spent an incredible amount of time playing Diablo II.
Unfortunately, I can’t find my disks to load it up. It’s been a while, and I might have lost them. Now, though, it’s linked to my Blizzard account.
I guess that’s one of the positives of buying games online nowadays. No need to worry about typing in CD keys, losing disks, broken copies…it’s all right there, readily available.
Kids today have no clue about the issues we faced in the 1990s and early 2000s.
It Was One of My All-Time Favorite Games
As I said, Diablo II is among my favorites. As such, it’s one of those games that I’ll never really get tired of. Kind of the same reason why I keep grinding out season after season in Diablo III.
The franchise itself is just a masterpiece of storytelling. And storytelling is one of the biggest reasons why I buy games in the first place.
So, when Blizzard announced Diablo II: Resurrected was coming, I instantly fell back on those memories of staying up until 2:00 am when I had to be at work in five hours.
Looking to See All of the Changes
I didn’t get to play as much of the beta as I wanted. I was able to get in and grind out a few levels in the first chapter. But, I am an incredibly busy guy.
What I did get to see, though, impressed me quite a bit. The cinematics looked awesome, the spell effects were great, and some of the background nuances got me a bit too excited, I think.
Like, the reflection of a fireball when you cast it above water.
What can I say, I am a simple man. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.
I Prefer the Necromancer of Diablo II over Diablo III
One of my biggest complaints about Diablo III is how the necromancer works. Personally, I was a big fan of the skill tree in Diablo II, and I rather enjoyed creating different types of undead armies.
It just felt like there was more control over customizing a character in Diablo II.
At any rate, I’m looking forward to seeing all of the different changes in real-time as we play tonight. I’m probably going to wind up streaming it on YouTube.
Unfortunately, I’ll Have to Wait to Play Diablo II Until Later
Even though I’ve been waiting long for this game to finally come out, I won’t get to play it until later in the day. Alas, I have clients who need work done and blog posts to write.
Playing Diablo II doesn’t pay the bills. Well, at least for me it doesn’t.
So, I’ll have to be content with waiting until my work is done before streaming. Besides, I really don’t care if I am the first one with a Diablo II video published on YouTube.
I just want to play the damn game.
But, I do have a few ideas for videos that I plan on uploading in the very near future.
Can’t Wait for Hardcore Play!
Those who know me know that I often play hardcore if any game offers the option. Unfortunately, this also means I often play by myself.
Either no one will play because they get too attached to their toons, or because people are usually the ones who get me killed by making major mistakes.
Still, Diablo II is the game that got me started playing hardcore difficulties in the first place. And I’ve lost a few nice characters during that time.
Yeah, if it wasn’t for Diablo II, I would have no idea how much fun it is for me to play hardcore difficulties.
What Character Are You Playing First in Diablo II?
I think for this first time playing with Sam, I’m going in as a Druid. That’s because I love creating a werewolf. And if I can remember some of my builds from back in the day, I had a fairly nasty Druid.
I’m thinking about digging out some of my old notebooks to find my recipes for rune words and the Horadric Cube. I’m just not 100% sure where it is at the moment.
I mean, come on, that was 20 years ago. Do I even have that notebook still?
If you’re playing Diablo II tonight, what are you starting as? There’s a lot of great classes to choose from. It all really comes down to how you play each one.
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