When I was cleaning up my dorm room one Friday afternoon, I found the CD case to Diablo I. I opened it to put the Diablo I disc back in and the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction disc fell out. I was relieved that I found the disc because it had been missing for years. But then I was curious—could I beat it as easily as Diablo III? So after my last final I tested that theory.
At first, I struggled with the mechanics and graphics of the game because the mechanics were different compared to Diablo III and in some of the darker levels such as the Sewers of Kurast it was hard to see the enemies. This resulted in a few deaths that should not have occured, but I was able to continue on. But over time I began to learn the games slightly different mechanics such as health potion mechanics, which fill up your health globe slowly, but you can use one after another, and spell hotkey mechanics, which use F1 through F5 to switch out spells. Relearning these critical mechanics brought the difficulty level of the game down, and added a new layer of strategy to the game because I could stay alive longer and get to the skill I needed.
A huge reason for me revisting Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was because I had not played Diablo III in a while and it was requiring lots of updates, which took forever on my old laptop. Lord of Destruction had the option of playing online, however it was not mandatory. I could fire up the game and start playing because I did not have to log into the Battlenet service, which meant I can play it when the wifi is not working.
Revisting the game’s five acts led me to discover that certain bosses were not as hard as I thought such as Duriel, boss of Act 2, and that they have interesting lore that I glossed over previously. Playing through the acts also showed me the tough decisions that to be made by you as a player when it comes to character customization. Do I add to strength so I can use this armor? Do I add to vitality so my character does not die as quickly? Do I learn a new skill or do I improve the one I have? Customization of a character’s attributes is an aspect that is lost in Diablo III, and leads to less creative character builds. In Lord of Destruction I can make my Necromancer withstand melee combat or I can make it him a powerful summoner. In Diablo III, the characters learn the same skill at each level and attributes are pre-chosen each time your character levels up, which made many of my characters exactly the same.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is a worthwhile game to get, and will not cost you much as it is old and not in high demand. It challenges you to make tough strategic decisions about your character’s attributes and skills, and has interesting lore surrounding the three Prime Evils—Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal. And best of all no wifi needed!
