It took me a week longer than I expected when I started this journey, but last night I finished my recent playthrough of the original Diablo. Everything I said about the game in my previous post still rings true- Diablo is a game that remains unique in both its genre and series.
It’s also a game with some awkward edges, some of which are much more apparent towards the end of the game. Unless you really know how to maximize a build, the game gets extremely difficult once you reach Hell, even on standard difficulty. I didn’t really give my warrior build much thought until I got to Hell and was getting quickly demolished by swarms of enemies. As a result, I needed to grind for XP, gear, and money for stat-raising elixirs. It was a slow process of restarting on higher difficulties to get what I needed, but eventually I got there.
The grind was tedious, but also kind of a nice way to wind down at night. I listened to a lot of Ghost, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest during these sessions, which was fitting, and ruled.
Diablo himself wasn’t terribly difficult, but I definitely burned through quite a few potions. While the ending movie isn’t on the cinematic level of what Blizzard would be producing in the 2000s, the “twist” is still quite memorable.
I’m glad I took the time and stuck with my Diablo replay, it’s such a unique and fascinating game. Next, I’ll be checking out Hellfire for the first time… but the call of Diablo II Resurrected is *very* strong…
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