| Diablo II | |
|---|---|
Diablo II cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Blizzard North |
| Publisher(s) | HanbitSoft |
| Designer(s) | David Brevik Stieg Hedlund Erich Schaefer Chase Clements Max Schaefer Eric Sexton |
| Composer(s) | Matt Uelmen |
| Series | Diablo |
| Version | 1.13d (October 27, 2011) |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Hack and Slash[1] |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | 3 CD-ROMs (Play, Install, and Cinematics discs), Download |
| System requirements
Mac OS |
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Diablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role-playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 video game, Diablo.
Diablo II was one of the most popular games of 2000.[2] Major factors that contributed to Diablo II's success include its continuation of popular fantasy themes from the previous game, and its access to the free online play service, Battle.net.[3]
The game was conceptualized and designed by David Brevik and Erich Schaefer, who with Max Schaefer acted as Project Leads on the game. The main production roles were handled by Matthew Householder and Bill Roper.
An expansion to Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, was released in 2001, and is currently at version 1.13d.[4] A sequel, Diablo III, was announced in 2008, and is currently in beta.
Contents |
The storyline of Diablo II progresses through four acts, with each act following a more or less predetermined path and list of quests. Some quests are optional. The player assumes the role of a hero from one of five different character classes. Players fight monsters through wilderness areas and dungeons in order to level-up their character and gain better items. Combat is in real-time, and shown from an isometric viewpoint. Players also have the option of hiring one of several computer-controlled mercenaries, or hirelings, that follow the player and attack nearby enemies. A powerful boss monster awaits the player at the end of each act. Item drops, monster attributes, and most dungeon layouts are randomly-generated by Diablo II.
In addition to the four acts, there are three sequential difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell. On higher difficulties, monsters are stronger and are resistant to an element, experience is penalized on dying, and the player's resistances are handicapped. A character retains all abilities and items between difficulties, and may return to a lower difficulty at any time.
Players can also create a hardcore character. In softcore, the player can resurrect their character if killed and resume playing, while a hardcore character has only one life. If killed, the character is permanently dead and unplayable, and all items and equipment on that character will be lost unless another friendly character has the "loot" icon checked.
Diablo II allows the player to choose between five different character classes: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress, and Paladin. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses and sets of skills to choose from, as well as varying beginning attributes. The maximum level that any character can obtain is level 99.
Diablo II can be played multiplayer on a LAN or Battle.net. Unlike the original Diablo, Diablo II was made specifically with online gaming in mind.[11] Several spells (such as auras or war cries) multiply their effectiveness if they are cast within a party, and although dungeons still exist, they were largely replaced by open spaces.
Multiplayer is achieved through Blizzard's Battle.net free online service, or via a LAN. Battle.net is divided into "Open" and "Closed" realms.[12] Players may play their single-player characters on open realms; characters in closed realms are stored on Blizzard's servers, as a measure against cheating, where they must be played every 90 days to avoid expiration. Originally these closed realms served their purpose of preventing cheating, as open games were subject to many abuses as the characters were stored on players' own hard drives. Within the last few years, however, many cheats are (and continue to be) used on these closed realms.[13] Hacks, bots, and programs which allow the player to run multiple instances of the game at the same time are not allowed by Blizzard but are very commonly used. Spambots, (programs which advertise sites selling Diablo II's virtual items for real-world currency) run rampant on the service and a player hosting a public game can expect a visit from one every few minutes.[14] Due to the surplus of virtual items provided by the automated bots, which repeatedly kill bosses to obtain items, supply is well in excess of demand, and items which used to trade well are now often given away for nothing.[15] Single player play bears none of these problems, due to only one player being in the game and in control.
As the game can be played cooperatively (Players vs. Monsters, PvM), groups of players with specific sets of complementary skills can finish some of the game's climactic battles in a matter of seconds, providing strong incentives for party-oriented character builds. Up to eight players can be in one game; they can either unite as a single party, play as individuals, or form multiple opposing parties. Experience gained, monsters' hit points and damage, and the number of items dropped are all increased as more players join a game, though not in a strictly proportional manner. Players are allowed to duel each other with all damage being reduced in player vs player (PvP). The bounty for a successful kill in PvP is a portion of the gold and the "ear" of the defeated player (with the previous owner's name and level at the time of the kill).
Patch 1.10 included the option of playing with a ladder character. The ladder system can be reset at various intervals to allow for all players to start fresh with new characters on an equal footing. Ladder seasons have lasted from as short as six months to over a year. When a ladder season ends all ladder characters are transferred to the non-ladder population. Certain rare items are available only within ladder games, although they can be traded for and exchanged on non-ladder after the season has ended.[16]
On March 3, 2009, Blizzard announced a new Diablo 2 content patch, 9 years after the game's release. From the forums: "We’re in the process of working on Diablo II content patch 1.13, and we want to try to include the Diablo community’s most important changes in our production schedule. To achieve this we’re asking for your input on what you’d like to see in this patch." The community can leave their input on the Battle.net forums.[17]
The game has been patched extensively; the precise number of patches is impossible to determine as Battle.net has the capability of making minor server-side patches to address immediate issues. The game is currently in version 1.13c.[18] The latest major patch was released on March 23, 2010. Through the patch history, several exploits and issues have been addressed (such as illegal item duplication, though it still exists), as well as major revamps to the game's balance (such as the ability to redo your skills and attributes). Not all patches have affected Diablo II directly, as several were designed to address issues in the expansion to the game and had minimal effects on Diablo II.
The story of Diablo II takes place some time after the end of the previous game, Diablo, in the lands of Sanctuary. In Diablo the main body of the story takes place beneath the floors of a cathedral in a small town known as Tristram. It was there that Diablo, the Lord of Terror, was defeated by an unnamed warrior.
The unnamed warrior that vanquished Diablo drove the demon's soulstone into his forehead, in an attempt to contain the monster's essence within his own body. Later in the canon it is suggested that this is what Diablo intended so that, should he be defeated, he had an "escape plan" instead of dying.
The unnamed warrior is ill fated from the moment he does this and is gradually corrupted over the course of the next few days by the demon's spirit. Deckard Cain recounts the story to the next band of adventurers that pass through the Rogue Encampment in Diablo II. It is one of these adventurers that appears in the wake of the destruction caused by the now possessed unnamed warrior, and attempts to find out the cause of the evil, starting with the corrupted warrior (known as the Dark Wanderer throughout Diablo II).
As the player continues through each of the four acts, he faces off against two of the Prime Evils (Mephisto – Act III and Diablo – Act IV, with Baal, the last prime evil, being the main boss in the expansion pack i.e. Act V), and two lesser evils (Andariel – Act I and Duriel – Act II), who act as the bosses for the first two acts. The player learns of the truth behind the corruption and the story of the soulstones. Diablo released Mephisto (Lord of Hatred) and Baal (Lord of Destruction) from their soulstones, as they were taught long ago how to corrupt them by the fallen angel Izual (also a minor boss in Act IV).
In the end, the player eventually reaches and slays Mephisto and Diablo, in their respective Acts. The story continues in the expansion to the game, where the player chases the last of the Prime Evils: Baal, who is going after the mythical Worldstone in an attempt to corrupt it. See the main article on the expansion for more information.
The score has been composed by Matt Uelmen and integrates creepy ambience with melodic pieces. The style of the score is ambient industrial and experimental.[19]
Some tracks were created by reusing the tracks from the original game, while others by rearranging tracks that were out-takes. Other scores are combinations of parts that were created more than a year after the first game's release. A single track usually integrates recorded samples from sound libraries, live recorded instrument interpretation samples specially meant for the game (guitar, flute, oriental percussion), and electronic instruments also, making difficult the tracks for later live interpretations.
While the player visits the town, the game recreates the peaceful atmosphere from the first Diablo game, so for that the theme from Act I called Rogue comes back with the same chords of the original piece, reproducing only a part of the original Diablo 1 town theme. The hometown of Diablo 2 is not the same with the hometown of the previous game. The original Diablo track, called then Tristram and now also under the same name, greets you first in Diablo 2 when you return to the hometown of the strange evil which swept through Khanduras.
For Act II Mustafa Waiz, a percussionist, and Scott Petersen, the game's sound designer, worked on the drum samples. Mustafa played on the dumbek, djembe, and finger cymbals which gave Matt Uelmen a base upon which to build tracks around.
The town theme from Act II, called Toru makes strong statement of departure from the world of Act I while also maintaining a thematic connection to what had come before. It is the first time in the series to be used some radically different elements than the guitars and choral sounds that dominate both the original Diablo and the opening quarter of Diablo II.
The foundation of the Toru piece is found in exciting dynamics of a Chinese wind gong. The instrument radically changes color from a steady mysterious drone to a harsh, fearsome noise, that gives exotic feeling and at the same time the pacing of the second town.
In all sequences of Act II with deserts and valleys, Arabic percussion sounds dominate.
The composer was impressed by two of the Spectrasonics music libraries, Symphony of Voices and Heart of Asia. He uses samples from Heart of Asia in the Harem piece from Act II. The Crypt track uses a sample from Symphony of Voices; the choral phrase Miserere.
Voice samples from Heart of Asia, Heart of Africa, and Symphony of Voices by Spectrasonics. The Harem track samples from 'Heart of Asia' the Sanskrit Female 1 samples.[21]
Recorded in Redwood City, Oakland, and San Mateo, California, April 1997 – March 2000.
The "Secret Cow Level" is the result of a running joke from the original Diablo that spawned from an Internet rumor about a cow that appears in the game, seemingly without purpose. Supposedly, if the cow was clicked a certain number of times, a portal to a secret level would open. The rumor turned out to be a hoax, but the legend was born, and player after player asked Blizzard about how to access the level.
In Diablo: Hellfire, an add-on for Diablo created by third-party developer Synergistic Software, it was possible to change a parameter in a specific text file, so that the farmer was dressed in a cow suit, with appropriate new dialogue ("Moo." "I said Moo!"). To stop the rumors, Blizzard included a cheat in StarCraft that read "There is no cow level", adding to the official denial of the cow level.[22]
On April 1, 1999, a Diablo II Screenshot of the Week featured cows fighting. People wondered if the screenshot was an April Fool's joke or if there really was a Secret Cow Level planned for Diablo II. It turned out that there was a cow level in Diablo II.[22]
The "Secret Cow Level" is considered one of gaming's top ten Easter eggs according to IGN.[23]
The game was also released in Collector's Edition format, containing bonus collector's material, a copy of the Diablo Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper campaign setting, and promotional movies for other Blizzard games. The Diablo II: Exclusive Gift Set (2000) similarly contained exclusive collector's material and promotional videos, as well as a copy of the official strategy guide. The Diablo Gift Pack (2000) contained copies of Diablo and Diablo II, but no expansions. The Diablo: Battle Chest (2001) contained copies of Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the official strategy guide, and the original Diablo. Recently however the Battle Chest no longer contains the original "Diablo".
The announcement of Diablo III has renewed the interest in its predecessor and brought more attention to the many mods available for the game.[24]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 88.58%[25] (PC) 83.00%[26] (Mac) |
| Metacritic | 88[27] (PC) |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| GameSpot | 8.5/10.0[28] |
| GameSpy | 86/100[2] |
| IGN | 8.3/10.0[29] |
Diablo II had a positive reception. The PC versions of the game achieved an overall score of 88 on Metacritic and 88.58% at Game Rankings.[27][25] The Mac version achieved 83.00% on Game Rankings.[26] Gamespy awarded the game an 86 out of 100,[2] IGN awarded the game an 8.3 out of 10,[29] and GameSpot awarded the game an 8.5 out of 10[37] along with earning the 2000 runner-up Reader's Choice Award for role-playing game of the year.[28] It was awarded a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records 2000 edition for being the fastest selling computer game ever sold, with more than 1 million units sold in the first two weeks of availability.[30] Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm have since surpassed Diablo II's record to become fastest-selling computer games ever at their times of release, according to Blizzard.[38][39] As of August 29, 2001, Diablo II has sold 4 million copies worldwide.[31] The game has received the "Computer Game of the Year", "Computer Role Playing Game of the Year", and "Game of the Year" awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at the 2001 Interactive Achievement Awards.[31]
Copies of the Diablo: Battle Chest continue to be sold in retail stores, appearing on the NPD Group's top 10 PC games sales list as recently as 2010.[40] Even more remarkably, the Diablo: Battle Chest was the 19th best selling PC game of 2008[41] – a full seven years after the game's initial release – and 11 million users still play Diablo II and StarCraft over Battle.net.[42]
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