Not even DEATH can save you from ME. Today marks the 20th anniversary of Diablo II

[Firemind]

Twenty years ago, the most celebrated game of its genre was released on PC. It came with a 98 page manual detailing the lore that started with the original Diablo which released three years prior. Players soon became addicted to the harrowing cinematics, the five distinct classes, the loot pinata, the randomly generated dungeons, the online multiplayer and the haunting soundtrack composed by Matt Uelmen. Diablo II was such a success that it spawned countless copycats over the span of 20 years. And to this day, it stands the test of time. Players can still experience the game with fellow players on Battle.net for free. And why wouldn't you? Apart from the small resolution and some archaic systems, there's still a lot to enjoy. For those who want a little bit more spice, the popular mod Median XL exists which offers even more content and customization.

Hopefully the remaster will do it justice. Diablo II deserves it for being a monumental part of many people's lives.

 

[ciddative]

I remember seeing this trailer and being super impressed by how a sequel could follow on so directly narratively with the suggestion that the first game's protagonist was now the villain.

I don't even care about Diablo then or now, but this was frickin cool

 

[Zor]

I played through this for the very first time back in March of this year and absolutely fucking ADORED it. Genuinely outstanding game.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

There was a cyber cafe a block down from my school and after one summer break circa 2004 I went back to school to discover that all the jocks in my class were now regulars, and obsessed with Diablo II. Good Times.

 

[Protoman200X]

I adore Diablo I & II with every being of my fibre, became disillusioned with DIII, and I hope they don't screw up Diablo IV.

 

[F34R]

Man!! I was so excited to be able to play the beta on dial-up 53.6K lol.

 

[carlsojo]

The skies shall rain fire
The seas will flow with blood
The righteous shall fall before the wicked
And all creation will tremble before the burning standards of hell.

What I saw then.. was not meant for mortal eyes.

Now my brother.. it is time for you to take your true form.

Arise... Diablo. Lord of Terror.

Chills Everytime. One of the best cutscenes ever.

 

[Watercolour]

Legendary game. I'd dare say it is the best of the Blizzard universes. It's not even a game developed by Blizzard itself, but its former sister studio, Blizzard North.

Act I will always be the most memorable for me - especially fighting against Blood Raven and exploring the Forgotten Tower..

"...And so it came to pass that the Countess, who once bathed in the rejuvenating blood of a hundred virgins, was buried alive... And her castle in which so many cruel deeds took place fell rapidly into ruin. Rising over the buried dungeons in that god-forsaken wilderness, a solitary tower, like some monument to Evil, is all that remains.

The Countess' fortune was believed to be divided among the clergy, although some say that more remains unfound, still buried alongside the rotting skulls that bear mute witness to the inhumanity of the human creature."

Going by Blizzard's track record of remasters, if they plan to do that for Diablo II, they would best leave it alone.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I love the way the story was told with the Marius cutscenes

 

[Athrum]

Love that game. I'm kinda scared of what they want to do with D4 (all that MP stuff, basically want to turn it into a Destiny), and the fact that it's years away.
With luck we get that D2 remake that's being worked on, if they don't scrap it.

 

[Calvinien]

I've actually been playing through it with various builds all year. I have to use 3rd party programs to replicate the QOL improvements form Diablo 3, but otherwise it is astounding how good it is. I really like testing new, weird builds. I made an archery Assassin that used the venom and speed boost skills to make up for the lack of archery skills, and gave her a runeword with heavy poison damage. Traps soften the enemy up before I use poison to kill them for good.

I also made kick based assassin that attacked with a staff...like a prototype of the monk class from 3. i made a werebear druid with a ton of points in apocalypse, and various synergies that also powered up my fire claws skill. I put my playthroughs on hold until blizzard announces the remaster, but I bet they find a way to invalidate gomule and various mods.

 

[secretanchitman]

Diablo 2 is truly one of my favorite games of all time. I have put thousands of hours into it and I still don't get bored after all these years. I really hope Blizzard learns from their mistakes from Warcraft 3 Reforged because I don't want the eventual D2 Remastered to end up like that.

Random memories:

-Open Battle.net PVPing (eventually this got turned into hacked item duels with whites, blacks, greens, charms, etc)
-Joining a random Act 2 help game and not even 3 seconds later after warping into town, Duriel is defeated with 6 other people so I end up finishing Act 2!
-Gem activated
-TCP/IP with many of my friends
-Someone just dumping their Amazon with all unique items to me
-Seeing Tristram absolutely destroyed for the first time
-You may not pass
-Leaving imbue item for later but never using it
-Cow level was real
-Having a crystal sword made you look super cool
-I didn't like that Ancient armor had better stats than full plate but looked "worse" on my character so I refused to use them :D

 

[Fallout-NL]

Hard to believe it's been 20 years. Though Ive been anticipating this anniversary.

Never been as hyped for a game as I was for this. And incredibly it lived up to my expectations as well. My favorite game of all time.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

An all time great. Perhaps what stands out the most for me is that it's a game that actually lived up to its hype. I remember eagerly following diabloii.net in the lead up, then getting into the stress test and it was... every bit as awesome as I imagined.

 

[Buddy]

Best game ever!!!

I still play d2 every ladder reset for a couple of days. To this day I haven't played a better arpg.

 

[BassForever]

One of the greatest games of all time, still hoping we get a remaster or even just a port to modern consoles

 

[Fallout-NL]

Man, I would have expected some more people here, though I suppose it has been 20 years, lol.

To this day I haven't played a better arpg.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I've played a lot of them, but there is nothing that comes close.

 

[Firemind]

Yeah I expected more people sharing their fondest memories. It doesn't help it fell on a Sunday night / Monday morning. Maybe we can have a proper celebration at the start of next weekend and create a play group of 8? Who still has the game installed?

I remember seeing this trailer and being super impressed by how a sequel could follow on so directly narratively with the suggestion that the first game's protagonist was now the villain.

I don't even care about Diablo then or now, but this was frickin cool

Click to shrink...

Wow, I've actually never seen this trailer before. That's so cool. Back in the day I got my info from magazines like a peasant haha. Thanks for sharing!

I played through this for the very first time back in March of this year and absolutely fucking ADORED it. Genuinely outstanding game.

Click to shrink...

You should play more classes!

I've actually been playing through it with various builds all year. I have to use 3rd party programs to replicate the QOL improvements form Diablo 3, but otherwise it is astounding how good it is. I really like testing new, weird builds. I made an archery Assassin that used the venom and speed boost skills to make up for the lack of archery skills, and gave her a runeword with heavy poison damage. Traps soften the enemy up before I use poison to kill them for good.

I also made kick based assassin that attacked with a staff...like a prototype of the monk class from 3. i made a werebear druid with a ton of points in apocalypse, and various synergies that also powered up my fire claws skill. I put my playthroughs on hold until blizzard announces the remaster, but I bet they find a way to invalidate gomule and various mods.

Click to shrink...

This guy knows what's up. A lot of fun can be had from experimenting instead of going for the cookie cutter builds. One of my favourite builds is the Frozen Orb Paladin with the Rift or Voice of Reason runeword. Stack that with Zeal and the Conviction Aura and everything will melt in your path. Until you reach Hell haha.

The skies shall rain fire
The seas will flow with blood
The righteous shall fall before the wicked
And all creation will tremble before the burning standards of hell.

What I saw then.. was not meant for mortal eyes.

Now my brother.. it is time for you to take your true form.

Arise... Diablo. Lord of Terror.

Chills Everytime. One of the best cutscenes ever.

Click to shrink...

Indeed it is. The reveal that it was Baal all along was also chef's kiss. Now that's how you build a universe. The events that unfolded in D3 was a fucking tragedy.

Legendary game. I'd dare say it is the best of the Blizzard universes. It's not even a game developed by Blizzard itself, but its former sister studio, Blizzard North.

Act I will always be the most memorable for me - especially fighting against Blood Raven and exploring the Forgotten Tower..

"...And so it came to pass that the Countess, who once bathed in the rejuvenating blood of a hundred virgins, was buried alive... And her castle in which so many cruel deeds took place fell rapidly into ruin. Rising over the buried dungeons in that god-forsaken wilderness, a solitary tower, like some monument to Evil, is all that remains.

The Countess' fortune was believed to be divided among the clergy, although some say that more remains unfound, still buried alongside the rotting skulls that bear mute witness to the inhumanity of the human creature."

Going by Blizzard's track record of remasters, if they plan to do that for Diablo II, they would best leave it alone.

Click to shrink...

Very true. Blizzard North was Diablo. It's clear as day that the Diablo universe died together with Blizzard North. It is now Diablo in name only.

 

[Anoregon]

Man I remember all those rumors a month or so ago that we were supposed to get a remaster announcement in June. Too bad that looks to not be the case.

Diablo 3 at least got salvaged into a worthwhile game after its pitiful launch state, but it never became a worth successor the the Diablo legacy imo. Diablo 2 really was a masterpiece.

 

[Voytek]

Definitely one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[Raide]

20 years! Damn, feels like yesterday.

 

[Santar]

Truly a fantastic game, one of the best ever made. I still think it has the best itemization and progression speed of any loot rpg. Reaching max level was something that took a lot of time and effort and not something you do in a couple of hours like so many modern loot rpg's.
Legendary items were also actually very rare to find and you could end up playing days without ever finding one and if you got one it could be for a class you weren't even playing. I can just imagine all the whining from instant gratification type of players if it came out today.

If we do get a remake I hope it's actually that, a remake where they remake the entire thing in 3d and smooth out the movement and skills a bit. It does feel a bit stiff. Just redrawing everything in higher resolution won't do it for me as I have no problem with how the game looks now.
Maybe they could add some sort of endgame too, that would be awesome as well.

I still have my old saves. The oldest one is from 28 june 2000. Guess we got the game a little early here in Norway :D

 

[Zor]

You should play more classes!

Click to shrink...

Waiting for that Remake ;)

 

[WyLD iNk]

I wish I was getting an hourly wage for all the time I sunk into this. I could probably retire comfortably.

Who still has the game installed?

Click to shrink...

It's never been uninstalled for me. Though I lost all my online accounts ages ago after I was without Internet for a couple months.

I still have a couple of fun - but 100% legit - offline characters...

 

[Firemind]

https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/23459856

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Diablo II, here's a $140 Diablo bust and some cosmetic wings for D3.

 

[Goldenh]

Aw man i got so excited just by reading the title. This game is hands down in my top 3 of all time. I still go back and play it sometimes. Just everything was well made and stands today. The loot, skill tree, classes, atmosphere, quests...
I would LOVE a remaster if they don't fk it up with just a little polish on the graphics and maybe some few qol things like a shared stash or something.

I am excited for D4, the gameplay didn't seem like what i wanted but i'm still confident it can be good.

 

[Kawngi]

One of my favorite games of all time. I don't have a lot of faith in them getting a remake/remaster right, but I'd loveee to play a good version of that.

 

[Acidote]

Can't wait for Diablo IV even if it's going to be a completely different beast.

 

[Phoenix Splash]

The game that introduced me to PC gaming by watching my cousin playing it.

Always to the East.

 

[Dinskugga]

Brought it at launch day here in Sweden. Remember that day really well. I was at my summer place with the family. Me and a friend brought a copy each. He had his computer with him. So we played like hell at his place.

We got stuck at the infamuos bug in act2 when you couldnt clear Arcane Sanctuary. So we had to wait for him to get home and back with the first patch for the game.

I have been playinh this game ever since over the years. I have sank hundres if not thousend hours in this damn game. This and HOMAM3 is probs my most played games

 

[Zlug]

My favorite game of all time, I have so much fond memories of it....
I hope Diablo 4 will be good, I remain optimistic, atleast, I'm trying.

 

[Son of Liberty]

I have fond memories of Diablo II for sure and I hope that the rumored remake will be happening.
I think a whole new generation of players would appreciate the timeless gameplay and atmosphere.

 

[johancruijff]

i bought this game in a now dead currency

 

[FliX]

Stay a while and listen will forever be seared into my brain.

 

[Scarface]

Been playing it off and on for 20 years.

I dont play on botnet anymore but I still play every Path of Diablo reset. Highly recommended to anyone longing for the good ol days of multuplayer. Its such an awesome mod with a great community.

Its probably my favorite arpg of all time (path of exile has likely surpassed it by now, tho)

Ive got probably 10,000-20,000 hours clocked in diablo 2 over its life span. Who knows. I played it a lot in the 2000s. A lot.

 

[Arkeband]

I remember theorizing back in the day that Tyrael was Belial, since he had mysteriously gone missing in the lore and Tyrael happened to both allow Baal to escape and then destroyed the Worldstone, which ultimately benefitted Hell. It would have been as big of a twist as D1's ending, recontextualizing everything including the "I am not Tyrael" cinematic.

Then D3 happened and Tyrael was reduced to an incredibly useless human too stupid to understand how food works, Cain is done dirty, you follow around a girl who refuses to believe in demons while she's being attacked by reanimated skeletons, Belial has been hiding out as a prince for [reasons?] and Azmodan monologues you like a Saturday morning cartoon telling you all his plans.

What could have been with a different writing team, we'll never know. It seems like D4 is thankfully doing the right thing and focusing on someone other than Diablo like LoD did.

 

[Strat]

I'll never forget lending my copy of Diablo II to the weird 20-something brother of a friend, who ended up feeding my girlfriend so much liquor she had to be rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning.

 

[Strafer]

Tomhardybait :P

 

[Olorin]

east -always into the east!"

Intro still gives me goosebumps