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Good...but it should have been great.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 17 / 21
Date: August 11, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I loved Diablo. My wife and I played it relentlessly for months. We were both extremely excited about Diablo II, and rusjed out to buy it the first day it was released. We've played through it several times as several different characters....and we're disappointed. There are many things the game does well, like great music and voice acting, good quests and locations, good monsters, but there are too many things that obviously just weren't thought through. Many people have complained about the lack of a save system. add my voicee to that. also, the fact that one can only store a limited amount of gold and there's rarely, if ever, anything worth buying. Dying, and then having to make your way back to your corpse without benefit of armor or weapons is just stupid, and really detracts from the pleasure of the game, as does the fact that you can't change camera angles, meaning that your character, or the monster he's fighting, is frequently invisible behind a pillar or something. Technically, the lag time that this game experiences is enough to drive me nuts. After the glacially long wait that we all experienced, I expected much more. Blizzard really blew it on this one.

Excellent game but buyer beware!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

After playing D2 since it's release and closely monitoring the forums I have a few comments to make about the game. First and foremost certain users will encounter less than favorable results. I will list these first.

#1 Dell Computer Users /w GeForce 64mb DDR video cards will be unable to run in Direct 3d until patched.

#2 Those of you that are lucky enough to get Direct3d to run with regular 64mb cards will not be able to play on bnet in d3d due to long load times. (This includes GeForce 2 users)

#3 Some CD-rom owners may not be able to play do to a undetectable CD error.

#4 DVD-rom owners may also encounter these problems.

#5 Battle.net is nowhere near as stable as it was for Diablo I and Starcraft so don't go in optomistic.

#6 Hacking is already apparent in open battle.net games but is unheard of on closed battle.net games (realm games) downfall: realms are slow and frequently offline.

With that out of the way I would like to say that the game is by far improved over the original Diablo with many new skills and features. Graphics, large acts, bosses, and many other new features will keep you engrossed for many hours.

Bottom Line: As soon as the bugs are worked out (currently ver. 1.2) and battle.net stabalizes this is the best game you can spend your money on. Whether you are on RPG fan or not, Diablo II is the creme de la creme.

Improved over the original

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

When I first played Act I, I was mildly impressed, but not terribly.

The graphics weren't that great, and it appeared to be a rehash of Diablo with new character classes and some other doohickies thrown in.

Then, I played some of the other characters, and I played one characer twice.

Whoa!

The game is very subtle, and the character classes are very distinct. The skills are amazing. You can play the same character with many different focuses. It would be possible to play at least two distinct versions of each character, run them through act I and have long hours of entertainment just trying to figure out how to beat the first boss (I've put 2 characters through act I and have 3 more in progress).

But wait! There are *4* acts. Each act is distinct, with unique (and better) graphics, other monsters - each fitting the mode of the level - and things to be careful of.

Then, once you finish all 4 acts, you get to do it all again, with tougher monsters, and cooler items to be got.

Then, you can try it with multi-player. Multi-player is mindblowing. The game scale, and the distinct characters have very real tactical and strategic considerations for interacting. It's very deep and subtle. Or not - if that's not your thing.

It took me about 40 hours to kill Diablo, most of that being in a two player game. And that's only normal level for one character.

In theory there are 5 characters who can pair up with 5 characters - giving 25 different combinations, with different strategies and challenges for beating Diablo. Never mind that each character will interact differently depending on skills. A bone&poison necromancer will play differently from a summoner and bring different things to a multi-player game.

And of course, there are a thousand little subtle things, where the interface was refined and just plain works right. Little things. Like the spread of multiple shots (or teeth). Hold the mouse close, the spread is wide. Hold it far, the spread is narrow. Makes a big difference when you're slugging it out. Target wrong, and the spell is worth less.

All that for the price of a computer game? Sign me up!

I've read reviews where they say the graphics aren't that hot - I run NT, so graphics aren't a big concern for me, I don't get 3D.

And Quake and Unreal have better engines or whatever. Don't play either, and am not interesting in shoot-'em-up.

Diablo II is a strategy game - in certain senses. Enough so to make it interesting and requiring some thought, but with enough mayhem to make it relaxing after a long day.

It's worthy of the hype... almost

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: July 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I just got Diablo II yesterday and I can tell you it's very good. It's just as addictive and fun as Diablo 1. I LOVED the first Diablo and this game improves upon everything in it. Now, I've only played the game for a couple of hours, and I'm still in Act 1, I'm on the last quest to defeat Andariel.

The graphics are sharper and better animated, the characters in town are more life-like and don't stand in one place, and there is NO loading time. The game only loads when you start it, but from then on, everything is seamless. Example: You can run out of town and enter the wilderness without loading. The game tells you when you've reached a new area. It will say stuff like "Entering Cold Plains" and stuff like that.

The characters are varied and interesting. I've sampled the Paladin and Necromancer and they are awesome. Each character has 30 different abilites to learn and you choose how to develop them. When you gain a level, you can use 1 skill point on your skills. The more skill points you use on a certain skill, the more powerful it gets. You can also distribute 5 points to your character's stats each time you level up, as in Diablo 1.

The game has a more RPG feel to it. You talk more with townspeople and learn more about them and the situation. (For instance, Gheed, a travelling caravan merchant, wants to go east to the Lut Gholien, but he can't becuase of the demons in the area.) The plot so far is kinda basic but still interesting, but I won't spoil anything.

Combat is much more fun. You can use different strategies when fighting enemies. You now have a run button which lets you escape from a horde of enemies. Your MANA bar also replenishes itself so you don't have to worry as much about Mana Potions. The areas range from caves to large fields to churches.

I can't comment on multi player cause the server keeps crashing on me. Hopefully Blizzard will fix it. I can already say that multiplayer IS fun, from what I've sampled of it.

In conclusion, if you enjoyed Diablo 1, hurry and buy this IMMEDIATELY. Everything has been improved and expanded upon in the sequel, and I for one am pleased at Blizzard's work.

A ton of fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 22
Date: June 16, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I was a serious Diablo fanatic when it came out in 1997, and I'm not teenaged boy -- I'm a 39 yr old professional woman. When I got the chance to participate in the stress test during the final phase of testing for Diablo II, I was very excited. My first glimpse of the game had me calling all of my gaming friends telling them how *awesome* it was. This game is WAY better than Diablo and I cannot wait until the product is released! I'm even saving my last vacation days for when I get my (pre-ordered) copy. See you on Battlenet!

Great Sequel... a few misses...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: January 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First, let me tell you what I like in a RPG computer game. I like a game that takes very little time to get going. I like games that follow the premise of AD&D, but not the exact structure. I prefer hack-n-slash to complicated spellslinging and it has to have growth in experience and items/armor.

So how did Diablo II do? Very well. It lets me be the hack-n-slash monster that I want to be. I found that as I moved up in experience, I was able to incorporate the appropriate upgrade in weapons and armor. The monsters were tougher overall, the gameplay has improved and the sound and graphics are awesome. Also, the emphasis on gold is gone. There's plenty of it and you're able to sell tons of items, so you won't starve from lack of funds.

But...

You can't save you're game and return to that exact point. They claim they wanted add an element of dread to the game and not allow you to keep saving/returning until you defeated whatever you were up against. Good idea, bad implementation. It basically means that even if you just want to quit playing for the night, you will have to start over on that chapter and re-fight the same monsters again to get to the same point. But its not a show stopper, just incredibly inconvenient. Also, the game is just too linear for my tastes. I liked Diablo I where you had quests but you basically were there to clear out all the dungeon nasties at the same time. But again, its such a great game that I got over it.

Bottom line: If you like the first Diablo, you'll like the second. If you like RPG's in general you'll like it. If you like more of a strategy game, you will not.

DOS days are here again

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 21 / 31
Date: July 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The game has many flaws in it making it almost unplayable. The most notable is the Anti-copy feature on the CD's themselves making it impossible for some CD and DVD drives to read. At present Blizzard has no plans to fix this feature. Also the graphics and lag time in both online and single play are bad. In order to get the game to play you will need to tinker with the drivers and system options to get it to work. Reminds me of the old days of DOS where a Boot Disk had to be created to change your memory options. The box reports a minimum of 32Meg of memory, I would think it is closer to 64Meg. If your character incounters a large amount of monsters it will bog way down and the monsters will kill you before you get a hit in. If you must absolutely have the game I would wait a month for the problems to be fixed. There are already 2 patches in less then 2 weeks with number 3 in the works.

Worth the wait, but system and memory hog

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: August 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

For those of us who enjoy fantasy role-playing adventure games, this is an excellent choice. Featuring astounding graphics, fantastic cinematics, and exciting play, I feel this title was worth the 2 year wait.

The game is much more exciting and scary than the first one, and the addition of ambient sound effects really give it a feeling of atmosphere. The 5 character classes in this game are much more distinct than Diablo 1, with differing skills that can only be gained if you are that class. The game is much longer and the terrain and monsters are varied enough to keep it interesting.

Cons: Huge memory hog. The full install with all of it's multi-player capabilities requires nearly a gig of space! Even the bare minimum install is about 650 megs. Also, the game is a little buggy, and sometimes crashes or stalls, even on power machines. Go to blizzard.com to download the latest patches (including Direct X 7.0) and watch out for DVD software conflicts.

Fun, Can Be Very Addictive Though

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: August 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Overall Diablo II is a very fun, immersing game. What it lacks in terms of a story is made up by the fantastic gameplay, great sound effects, and above average graphics.

I believe that, if you are going to get the most out of this game, you should play it online. Not only because of the other people that you can interact with, but also because you can level up much faster; assuming you have someone to help you through the game. I guess I should first explain how you go about "beating" this game. The first time you play through the game is known as "normal" difficulty. After you complete this, you also have to beat the game in "nightmare" and "hell" difficulties. Naturally, these are much harder than normal; and thus they require your character to be a higher level to have a chance. Nevertheless, there is a way around this. You can get a high level character to "rush" your low level character through the entire game; thus avoiding the tedious and time consuming procedure for leveling up. After you are rushed through the three difficulty levels, then the best way to level up is to join "cows games". Basically, the designers created a "secret level" where you, well, fight bipedal cows with what look like pole-axes. Naturally, the advantage to doing this is that you level up very quickly, as the cows, when killed, give out enormous numbers of experience points. Thus, you can turn your low level character into a fairly high level one much quicker than if you went through all the difficulty levels yourself, killing everything and gaining experience points the "right" way.

Naturally, nightmare and hell difficulties also have some "other" features that make them harder than normal. First, in nightmare, your resistances drop to -20. In Hell, they drop to -50.

Resistances are just the defense that your character has against the elements. Each one is ranked separately; so therefore you could have a resistance of 75 in fire but only 25 in Lightning. At the beginning of the game you have no resistances at all -- you have to find armor or other things that give these resistances to you. Also, you may not raise your resistances above 75 unless you have items that let you add points to your "maximum resist".

Speaking of items, they are the most important thing in determining how powerful your character is. I've had characters that would be awesome (meaning they had the right skills and stat points) but they turned out awfully because of my lack of good items. Therefore, trading with other players to get what you want is very important. This is accomplished by one player going up to the other (in a town area, where no fighting can happen) and clicking on them. Then it will give them a message asking if they want to trade, and if they do then a screen will come up where you can both place items in. When you're done putting your stuff down, then you press the little check mark (accept) button, and when you both press it, the trade will go through. This system is great, since there is no way someone can cheat you out of something (unless of course you don't know what you're trading for, or what you have is worth; then they can obviously rip you off, but it will never be because of the trading system).

The best part about this game, though, is the character development. Literally every time you play the game your character could be a little different, depending on the way you allocate skill points, of course. Basically, skill points enable you to pick what spells you want to develop. Since you won't get enough skill points to develop every spell you want to, you may have to pick which "core" spells you want to develop. This is why it is important to find out what spells are good before actually building up your character. Although you'd think that all spells should be equally good, well, they're not. For example, the level 30 Paladin skill (meaning you can't get it until your character is at level 30) Fist of the Heavens is just horrible. It does barely any damage to the harder enemies in the game, and it only attacks one enemy at a time. Trust me, in hell difficulty you need spells that affect more than one enemy at a time. Also, in order to get to the level 30 skills, you may need to put points into a prerequisite skill (or skills). This is where the strategy of the game comes in -- you need to know not only what skills are worth investing points into, but also if they're worth spending all the prerequisite points just to get them.

The one fault with this game is that there is a lot of slowdown (lag) if you choose to play online. Granted, this is true with any online game, but because you can have up to 8 people in a game at one time (and you usually do, especially if you're playing Hell cows) then the game tends to lag. This wouldn't be too bad, except for the fact that, if you die in Hell difficulty (and nightmare too) you lose experience. Given that it takes more than three hours to level up when you get past level 80, losing experience can be a major annoyance. I once had all my 45 minutes worth of experience erased because I got too close to a cow and then the game lagged. Frankly, here I'm not blaming the lag, I'm blaming the game designers for putting that stupid feature in the game.

Other than that, though, this game is wonderful. It can be VERY addictive, however, so watch out. Still, if you have the time to spend on it, this game can be a very rewarding and fun experience. There's just no words to describe the satisfaction that you feel once you get your character up to the highest level that you've ever acheived, and that's really what this game is about; leveling up. That may not sound that great, but after awhile the concept grows on you, and you get drawn into the great world of Diablo II.

The Best Role-Playing/Action Hybrid out there

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: December 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First the good news. Diablo II is an incredibly well-made game as are all of Blizzard's products. It expands what made the original Diablo so good (randomly generated maps and magic items plus lots of intense combat) and provides an addictive, fun game that lots of people can and do enjoy. Blizzard even expanded the original 3 classes to give the game even more replayability; now you can choose from the dual-weapon wielding barbarian, the archer/spell-slinger amazon, the sorceress (who obviously is the best magic-user in the game), the paladin (a spell-using warrior) and, my personal favorite, the necromancer who can raise armies of undead to kill his foes. Each one of them can choose from a class-specific skill tree when they level up which means that individuals from each class will be highly customizable as well. In other words, every character you meet on Battle.net will be slightly different which makes for a very enjoyable, and tense, gaming experience (especially if you want to frag them). Unfortunately, it also has some rather big flaws. First, Battle.net is so lagged that this game is virtually unplayable in multiplayer. This is a shame, because the customizable skill trees would make multiplayer gaming a much more enjoyable experiene than Diablo I. Unfortunately, I can never get into an active game (I use the Eastern Realm server--maybe it's different out West) to try it out. Secondly, the graphics are nothing to write home about. They're good, but not great. However I didn't mind that so much because the levels were extremely interesting without all the bells-and-whistles that other games seem obligated to cram in. Lastly, and this is my primary problem with it, is that Diablo II doesn't have any depth to it. I understand that it's designed to appeal to a wider audience than say Baldur's Gate II, but I get sick of killing endless waves of screaming minions after awhile. It simply get's boring and the new goodies and powers you get don't make up for it--at least in my opinion. So it boils down to this: if you want a game with dialog and a more complex story--get Baldur's Gate II; if you want a simpler, pure action game with some character variety--get Diablo II but don't count on being able to play it multiplayer unless you've got a cable modem and/or Blizzard finally fixes their server problems.

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