Diablo | Cheerful Ghost

The History of Diablo

"The History of Diablo" is a great 15 minute video giving some details about the history of Diablo in time for Diablo IV's release. I think it's a must-see for Diablo fans.

Let me know what you think about it and if you're getting into Diablo IV today.

It's The Time For The Great Video Game Company Aquisition Fest of 2022!

Microsoft is acquiring Activision for 69 billion, Take Two acquired Zynga for 13 billion and just today word broke that Sony acquired Bungie for 4 billion. I'm not sure how I would have guessed 2020 would start but it wouldn't be with some of the biggest tech acquisitions.

I can't really speak for Take Two, but generally speaking I don't mind these acquisitions as I'm hopeful Microsoft would do well with Activision/Blizzard and I'm not sure there would be much of a change with Sony acquiring Bungie beyond us getting more games from them. With that, consolidating all of the main game franchises in a handful of companies isn't great and I wonder how long multi-platform... Read All

The original Diablo is on Good Old Games!

Well, I did not see this coming, but the original Diablo is up for sale over at GoG.com, DRM free!
I missed Diablo during it's first run, is it worth looking into now?

Edit: It appears there are two versions available through GoG.

"Travelers looking for the authentic Diablo experience can play the game as it was in 1996, with period-appropriate 20 FPS SVGA graphics, and the ability to matchmaker through the classic version of Blizzard’s Battle.net online-gaming service.
For those wanting something a bit more modern, Blizzard and GOG.COM have collaborated on an updated version of the game tuned for today’s gaming PCs, which includes out-of-the-box Windows 10 compatibility,... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 03/08/2019 at 03:43am

Ha, I just came here to post this. DRM Free and FINALLY working on modern versions of Windows!

In addition, they're releasing Warcraft 1 and 2 later.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/11/2019 at 12:00am

"I missed Diablo during it's first run, is it worth looking into now?"

I'm going to answer this with another question. Did you play Diablo 2? If you haven't then I'd say skip Diablo and when the Diablo 2 remake comes out, get that.

Two reasons.

1. You move painfully slow in the original Diablo. It wasn't a problem at the time because Diablo was such a unique and fresh game but compared to anything more modern the movement speed is painful for many.
2. Diablo 2 improves on it in nearly every way and the remake will come out in the next couple years.

If you want to play a slice of gaming history OR you played Diablo a ton and want to relive it then i'd say it's an easy pickup. For me, Diablo is a classically incredible game and the $10 price tag is very cheap but certain aspects of it might not make for the most smooth play through. I never owned the original but had the demo and I played the HELL of out that demo.

Diablo sets a great dark tone and because you move so slowly the dread of having monsters swarm your is felt when you are caught off-guard.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/11/2019 at 12:01am

That said, I wish it had a Mac and Linux port. But you know... dreams

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/13/2019 at 03:12am

Apparently Diablo is now on Good old Games but also a good parent: https://twitter.com/GOGcom/status/1105591602351927297

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Good News Everyone Battle.net Is Called Battle.net Again!

Good news everybody, Battle.net is back and it's... the same?

Back in September Blizzard announced that it's Battle.net online game service would be called "Blizzard." It was an interesting idea but one that was a bit sad and strange because they didn't seem to consistently stick with it. That and most people still called it Battle.net. Well it seems Blizzard is heading back to calling Battle.net Battle.net and I think that's a really good idea.

"Battle.net is the central nervous system for Blizzard games and the connective tissue that has brought Blizzard players together since 1996. The technology was never going away, but after giving the branding change further... Read All

Funkmastermp Speeds Through The Original Diablo at AGDQ 2016 in 20:35

I just watched a very impressive Diablo Summer Games Done Quick 2016 run by Funkmastermp where he blows through the game in 20 minutes. This is pretty impressive considering the very slow character run speed in the original Diablo and that Funmastermp never gets his character over level 3. Funkmastermp uses a frame timed item dupe to get a ton of gold to buy enough mana potions and items. At one point he needs to get a teleport scroll tome and has to talk to reload the game and talk to Adria over 50 times.

This is a really good run and if you are a fan of Diablo something you should watch.

Today I Learned Diablo Was Released On The Original Playstation

After Diablo became a huge success on PC, Blizzard partnered with EA to port it to the original Playstation. This bit of retro knowledge wasn't something I was aware of until I saw RetroSnow's recent review of Playstation Diablo. From his review, the port seems to be very well done if not a bit dark in certain levels. It's nice to see Diablo III make a strong comeback on modern consoles and if you have a PS3, PS4, 360 or XBone I seriously recommend you download the Diablo III demo to see how well it plays.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/05/2016 at 12:47am

I have Diablo III for PS4, and I almost hate to say it (almost), but I think I prefer it there than on PC. Of course, Diablo is much better suited for console play than some of their other games, but even then, they did an amazing job with the console builds (for the PS4, at least).

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/05/2016 at 01:04am

I'm relatively a newb when it comes to Diablo, I didn't start playing until the third game. That said, I was surprised to hear familiar music and see Tristram in this video. I really enjoyed Diablo III, which makes it a tempting game to get on a console. I'm glad that it does well on there and that Scrypt amazingly says he thinks he prefers it on the PS4 instead of the PC. Wow!

Travis Admin wrote on 07/05/2016 at 03:05pm

Yeah they use some of the same themes throughout the series. The Tristram you see in this game is the destroyed Tristram thats a little outside of New Tristram in Diablo III. I *think* some events at the end of the first Diablo destroyed it, but it may have been something that happens off-screen between the first and second games. I honestly don't remember.

Or alternatively: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8rFnefnKhA

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/05/2016 at 04:34pm

Hahaha

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/06/2016 at 03:13am

That's awesome :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/06/2016 at 04:47am

That's awesome. Dorkly makes some really cool videos.

hardeyez wrote on 07/09/2016 at 08:01am

Yeah, the playstation version was pretty fun, but not quite as good as the pc... for Diablo 3, I really like the console version especially the local multiplayer and the dodge roll mechanic

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/10/2016 at 04:10am

Yeah, up until loot 2.0 and Reaper of Souls on PC I thought the console game was __WAY__ better but then the PC got most of the updates exception the dodge roll. That said, the console port is pretty darn good and the ability to couch co-op is pretty awesome.

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Freeablo is an open source engine for Diablo 1

If you've tried to play the original Diablo on a modern PC you know how tricky it can be. Even if you get it working for one area, moving to the next can throw all kinds of graphical problems, and modern resolutions just make it look wacky. That's a technical term, by the way.

Since it seems Blizzard has (reasonably) long abandoned this game, we've been basically out of luck, but if a new project called Freeablo comes to fruition, we'll get to play the game in ways we never imagined back when it first came out, like playing it on Linux or in 2560x1440 resolution: http://wheybags.netsoc.ie/freeablo.png

It's important to note that this is just the engine. You still need... Read All

Have you ever wished Tristram was more.... metal?

This is playing on repeat while I code.