Review: Diablo

I've enjoyed playing the Diablo games since I was young, and having heard about the bad press about various issues with Diablo II's remaster(which doesn't seem as disastrous as Warcraft III: Reforged), I decided to do a review of the original Diablo, which I purchased through GOG.com some time ago and played for the first time in years. It's a fun game, even if you can tell that it has many noticeable differences from its two sequels. 

Story

At first glance, the story of Diablo is rather simple- you must kill the eponymous demon that lurks at the bottom of the labyrinth beneath the town of Tritstram' cathedral. However, subsequent games, works in the expanded universe and even the manual of the original Diablo reveal that Sanctuary is a surprisingly deep setting in which angels and demons go to war and humanity is caught in between.

Much of the plot-related dialogue is optional. When you talk with the residents of the town of Tristram, some of whom you never need to speak with in order to complete the game, they can be asked about the quests you're working on, or give various randomly generated tidbits of information, from their backstories to their thoughts on their neighbors. It's a good way of helping to flesh out the setting and the characters without wasting much time for those who want to focus on dungeon crawling.

Character Building and Equipment

You can choose one of three classes in the base game- the Warrior, the Rogue and the Sorcerer- who cover the three basic types of characters in an RPG. The Warrior specializes in melee combat, the Rogue specializes in archery and the wizard uses magic, but most of their abilities are fundamentally the same. There's nothing stopping a Warrior from using magic- in fact, it may save your life- but the warrior's maximum Magic stat, and thus his growth potential, are lower than a Sorcerer's.

Speaking of statistics, every time you level up, you are granted five points to divide between your four statistics as you see fit. In theory, this is a good system, but in practice, the system favors those who invest in their primary statistics(Strength for Warriors, Dexterity for Rogues, Magic for Sorcerers) while ignoring the others and Vitality(e.g. health), lest you be penalized for it.

Most weapons or armor have various Strength and/or Dexterity requirements to equip them. For magic items such as scrolls(a one-use item that lets you cast a spell), staves(which have a certain number of charges for a spell), and tomes (which teach the spell), whether you can use them depends on your magic skill.

As weapons and armor are used, they suffer durability damage, which is a mechanic that is likely familiar to those who have played World of Warcraft, but there are two significant catches. The first is that when you repair an item, its maximum durability is lessened. The second is that when an item's durability falls to zero, the item isn't merely unusable, but is permanently lost, which can be an unpleasant surprise to those familiar with Blizzard's later RPG offerings.

Another unpleasant surprise comes with regards to mana. While Pepin the healer heals your health to full for free, he does not do the same for your mana unlike the various healers(e.g. Akara) in Diablo II. Instead, you must restore your mana with potions, which can be relatively pricey for how much they restore.

Throughout your travels, you'll find various magical items, which must be identified to reveal their true nature. Sometimes the weapons will have powerful enchantments, but other times, the unique properties will make the weapons worse, and they will fetch less money when sold than if you'd sold them unidentified. Similarly, Wirt the orphan, an unscrupulous individual with a tragic backstory, gives you the opportunity to peruse his ware, but with a catch- he offers one rare magic item for sale, but you have to pay to even look at it.

Combat

Combat is relatively monotonous compared to the sequels. Warriors tend to hack and slash at their enemies and rogues shoot arrows from afar, while occasionally using magic as necessary.

There's a good variety of enemies, ranging from melee powerhouses to archers and mages, but there aren't many boss-like enemies, save for unique enemies with special abilities. I can count on one hand the number of boss enemies that aren't a palette swap of a normal enemy- the skeleton King Leoric and Diablo himself. Even the iconic Butcher, the first major enemy most players encounter, is merely an Overlord with a bloody apron and a cleaver.

While there aren't many abilities that will one-shot a character, it's easy to be stunlocked and beaten to death if you're careless or outmatched, and if you die, that's it. Unlike the sequels, in which you resurrect in town and must retrieve your belongings, you must reload your game(which, by the way, only has one save slot per character). As such, saving regularly is crucial.

Dungeons and Quests

There are 16 levels in the dungeon, divided into four areas- the cathedral, the catacombs, the caves and Hell- that consist of four levels each. Most of the areas are randomly generated, with a different layout, different enemies and different items available on each playthrough, but certain areas of the labyrinth, such as areas for quests (e.g. King Leoric's tomb) and the final area are preset.

There are 16 quests in the game, but you won't be seeing all of them in one playthrough, no matter how thorough you are. Instead, there are five "tiers" of quests, and the game picks one of two quests from the first and fifth tier and two of three from the middle three tiers. There are three quests that will always be found in any game- the Chamber of Bone midway through the labyrinth, the confrontation with Archbishop Lazarus near the end and the final battle with Diablo in the bottom of the labyrinth. It's a nice feature, but odds are that it will only take two playthroughs for you to see all the quests in the game.

Most of the questions are rather simplistic- either you kill a boss monster, bring a certain item to the right person (derisively called a "FedEx quest") or on occasion, clear an area of enemies.

Those playing multiplayer face a severely abridged list of quests- The Skeleton King, The Butcher, Archbishop Lazarus and Diablo- which is disappointing in comparison to the later games including all story quests in multiplayer.

Miscellaneous

There are a few noticeable quality of life issues. Not only are the graphics grainy, but it's also hard to see at times, even when the game isn't making the labyrinth dark to obfuscate the presence of enemies. Another downside is that the characters walk rather slowly, even in town, which makes it rather tedious to go to places outside of town, like Adria's shack. These aren't overly serious problems, but they can be a bit inconvenient. 

Conclusion

The original Diablo is somewhat darker and closer to being a roguelike than its sequels are. As such, it has its unique charm in some ways that the sequels(even Diablo II, generally considered to be the best in the series) lack, but at the cost of being rather difficult and unforgiving, especially for players used to newer RPGs. As such, I recommend Diablo to anyone who isn't put off by these elements.