General Gaming Update - Blizzard announces Diablo II: Resurrected "technical alpha test" for this weekend (still time to sign up)

[GameDadGrant 652]

I've never played a Diablo game. Is the second one a good place to start?

[osxmatt 2,382]

On 2/20/2021 at 4:48 AM, TheLeon said:

Add me to the list of people who vastly prefer using a controller for Diablo. But even then, I get kinda burned out on that style of game pretty easily. I got to Act 4 in D3 once and had enough. 
 

And I hate how much I’m excited for the new Hearthstone changes. I can’t believe I’ve been playing that stupid game for almost 7 years now. 

 

I played Hearthstone daily from early 2016 through late 2018. I probably spent more money on that game than any other in my life.

 

I redownloaded it on Friday night. Back to the well.

[Nokt 328]

2 hours ago, GameDadGrant said:

I've never played a Diablo game. Is the second one a good place to start?

Gameplay wise Diablo 2 is a much better game.

Lore wise you could probably watch a short video to get the important events from Diablo 1.

That said I have a soft spot for Diablo 1. I can't say it runs stellar on modern PC's though, even with the HD mods out there, but there is nothing quite like facing off against the butcher for the first time.

[Commissar SFLUFAN 21,285]

Some more Diablo II: Resurrected info:

 

Here's what's changing in Diablo 2: Resurrected and what's staying the same | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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The devil's in the details.

 

 

The big Diablo 2 Resurrected interview

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

 

[DPCyric 198]

4 hours ago, GameDadGrant said:

I've never played a Diablo game. Is the second one a good place to start?

 

For you I would suggest Diablo 3 on the Switch. It's not as obtuse as Diablo 2 can be and the combat is more engaging.

[Commissar SFLUFAN 21,285]

6 minutes of Diablo II: Resurrected gameplay:

 

 

[Mercury33 1,619]

Yep that’s Diablo 2 alright. God the feels from hearing all those sound effects again. I never tracked it but I think D2 is hands down the game I’ve put the most hours into in my life. 

[Xbob42 4,536]

On second thought, maybe I won't be giving this game a try... Was kind of bored to tears watching that video. I guess it'll never quite click why people like this genre so much to me. A shame, since people put in so many hours, and I like games where I can sink lots of hours when I've got nothing else to play. But it just looks so duuuuull.

[Mercury33 1,619]

1 minute ago, Xbob42 said:

On second thought, maybe I won't be giving this game a try... Was kind of bored to tears watching that video. I guess it'll never quite click why people like this genre so much to me. A shame, since people put in so many hours, and I like games where I can sink lots of hours when I've got nothing else to play. But it just looks so duuuuull.

Its 100% not a game to watch other people play. 
 

What I love about it is how different you can attack the skill tree. You can make such totally different builds all inside the same class. And the most fun is when you find a build that works that isn’t super obvious. The loot was perfect. You got just the right number of high level/legendary stuff per run that you didn’t feel over powered and you never got annoyed that nothing was dropping. It also kept getting better in a meaningful way. So you just kept wanting to keep going. The loot in that game was legit addicting. 
 

That all being said I’m not sure I could go back to D2. The third game evolved it in so many ways, I think I’d get bored going back. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy 1,710]

16 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

Its 100% not a game to watch other people play. 
 

What I love about it is how different you can attack the skill tree. You can make such totally different builds all inside the same class. And the most fun is when you find a build that works that isn’t super obvious. The loot was perfect. You got just the right number of high level/legendary stuff per run that you didn’t feel over powered and you never got annoyed that nothing was dropping. It also kept getting better in a meaningful way. So you just kept wanting to keep going. The loot in that game was legit addicting. 
 

That all being said I’m not sure I could go back to D2. The third game evolved it in so many ways, I think I’d get bored going back. 

I loved Diablo 3, but never played 2. So this makes me wonder if I’ll like 2. 

[DPCyric 198]

7 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I loved Diablo 3, but never played 2. So this makes me wonder if I’ll like 2. 

 

I loved the original and 3 was kinda mediocre on 2... I think you have to be into the PvP to really enjoy it.

[Mercury33 1,619]

19 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I loved Diablo 3, but never played 2. So this makes me wonder if I’ll like 2. 

If you never played 2 at all I’d say give it a shot. I’m someone that put hundreds of hours into it. So after the initial wave of nostalgia I think my insane familiarity with the game will make it get stale. But the story and levels are fun so if you never played it then go for it!

[Commissar SFLUFAN 21,285]

Diablo 2: Resurrected singleplayer test runs this weekend | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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There’s still time to sign up for a shot at getting in.

 

[osxmatt 2,382]

*refreshes email furiously*

[legend 4,286]

Signed up.

[Bloodporne 2,146]

On 2/21/2021 at 10:38 PM, Xbob42 said:

On second thought, maybe I won't be giving this game a try... Was kind of bored to tears watching that video. I guess it'll never quite click why people like this genre so much to me. A shame, since people put in so many hours, and I like games where I can sink lots of hours when I've got nothing else to play. But it just looks so duuuuull.

I've always been thoroughly intrigued by Diablo but I remember trying a demo of D2 back in the day and couldn't wrap my head around the fact you just click on enemies to attack. Maybe I don't understand the lineage or something but it baffled me that it's a point & click including the combat. Looked like an Action Adventure in screenshots. 

[legend 4,286]

6 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I've always been thoroughly intrigued by Diablo but I remember trying a demo of D2 back in the day and couldn't wrap my head around the fact you just click on enemies to attack. Maybe I don't understand the lineage or something but it baffled me that it's a point & click including the combat. Looked like an Action Adventure in screenshots. 

 

You end up swapping between a bunch of skills rapidly and a chunk of the combat plays more like a twin-stick shooter than point and click, which is why D3 was able to focus on that aspect and make it translate to controller pretty well. 

[Keyser_Soze 11,787]

Seems they did a better job with this than they did Warcraft remastered. Looks pretty nice and you can switch between the classic look and new look on the fly.

[osxmatt 2,382]

Just got my email! Hell yeah. I never get randomly selected for stuff like this.

[Chris- 2,536]

2 hours ago, osxmatt said:

Just got my email! Hell yeah. I never get randomly selected for stuff like this.

Will the alpha have controller support? If so, mind giving it a whirl and letting us know how it feels (especially compared to D3)?

[osxmatt 2,382]

26 minutes ago, Chris- said:

Will the alpha have controller support? If so, mind giving it a whirl and letting us know how it feels (especially compared to D3)?

I’ll give it a look later this afternoon.

 

To be fair, I only played D3 on PC, and just with keyboard and mouse, so if it does support controller, I won’t really have a good frame of reference. I’ll certainly let you know how it feels though (if it does).

[Keyser_Soze 11,787]

40 minutes ago, Chris- said:

Will the alpha have controller support? If so, mind giving it a whirl and letting us know how it feels (especially compared to D3)?

 

It has controller support yeah.

[Commissar SFLUFAN 21,285]

Some hands-on iimpressions:

 

Diablo 2: Resurrected hands-on: still the satanic lord of action RPGs | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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What we like and don't like about the Diablo 2: Resurrected technical alpha.

 

Diablo 2: Resurrected is the game I remember, until it isn’t

WWW.POLYGON.COM

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A classic gets a new look

 

Videos:

 

 

 

[Chris- 2,536]

@osxmatt abandoned us but from what I’ve read/watched, not only is the controller support good, but it arguably controls better in a lot of respects. 

[Chris- 2,536]

Did the other Blizzard remasters have collectors editions? I want a sick ass collectors edition of this. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN 21,285]

53 minutes ago, Chris- said:

Did the other Blizzard remasters have collectors editions? I want a sick ass collectors edition of this. 

 

No, they didn't.

[osxmatt 2,382]

1 hour ago, Chris- said:

@osxmatt abandoned us but from what I’ve read/watched, not only is the controller support good, but it arguably controls better in a lot of respects. 

I'll share a few quick thoughts, and really want to stress that Diablo III was one of my first ARPGs, as I only got in to PC gaming during the late 00s.

 

I only played about 2 hours during the entire weekend, but during the time I played I enjoyed it. I needed a few days to think it over, because my first impressions weren't great. Again, not so much a reflection of the game, but due to what I've come to expect from the modern ARPGs I've played. The 1-2 skills mapped to your mouse, and the 8 directional movement really rubbed me the wrong way at first.

 

I think part of me went in wanting a "new" Diablo game, and initially feeling disappointed. But those thoughts have largely subsided and I'm definitely excited to play some more before release.