Yea in practice the game isn’t very difficult. It’s an aRPG.
It’s knowledge intensive and deep with hidden features that’s not obvious to new players at first. “difficult” is relative to who’s playing.
The atmosphere and nuances of the game made things feel more challenging,
Magic finding holy grail items is a grind, but not difficult or challenging. The effort is in knowing the game as well as you can. In character item builds, theory crafting, game mechanics.
Its not as actually difficult to perform in the game as for example high-level 500+ apm starcraft or ultra-reactive first person shooters.
But with everything combined it strikes a nice balance between chaotic, and too easy.
There’s a very satisfying pace to the game that I haven’t really found replicated in other aRPGs.
The copy of D2 I bought around 09ish came witha pretty thick manual. I remember being surprised by it, it was like an actual book compared to the little manuals most games came with.
Maybe having 108 page manuals was more common for pc games though, I mostly played ps1 and ps2 games back then.
Really? Take random person who never played it and tell them to finish hell without looking for info on web. Or tell them to play hardcore. You will change you find. I am pretty sure that you think game is not that hard only because you have years of experience in it.
Also multiplayer is easier, if you are solo on SP, game is not easy at all.
Do you remember games where you had to use the manually, literally, to play at all like the ones with code words to even unlock “Play?” Like, for example, “on page 4, the 3rd paragraph, 5th word.” This info, obviously, became available online in walkthroughs and such… so, either use the manual or call the game support hotline, at $9.99 a minute after the first 2 or whatever.
So the game originally came with an explanation of some of the hidden details of the game, but it was in hardcopy. Back then, it was easier to provide information in a booklet than to add a mechanism in the game to provide the same information.
How is an NPC explaining something different from a book explaining something? It doesn’t even break the 4th wall because they live in the world that you are trying to understand. But picking a booklet up off the desk does break the 4th wall.
This video is every reason why I’d like to find a group environment that isn’t what the purists are describing. It’s funny, but in a way that I, personally, grew tired of years ago. On the other hand, there is so much more to love about the game and working in a party beyond that kind of antagonistic environment.
I want the game to challenge me and I want the people I connect with to be adults in temperament. Private games don’t work for people who have lives filled with enough other pursuits that they can’t really commit to being online at predetermined times. I play when I find the time, and it’s not that high on my priority list so the times will be somewhat unpredictable.
Diablo 2 is a lot of things and the classic environment wrt online hostile play is only one of many aspects of the game that might attract or deter some gamers. You can’t please everyone, but something like open games with or without hostility is a pretty big personal taste factor that isn’t a necessary component of the game itself. So why not provide the choice and let the playerbase/market decide?
“All games should allow hostile mode” isn’t really protecting the purity of the game, it’s protecting a particular social environment that some players like. “No games should be hostile” is taking things too far the other direction. Just provide a choice, like SC vs HC. “Open vs Coop”…
Never got into codes like that or even called a lifeline lol, but like janes f18 and other janes fighter sims came with maps and a book type manual
Some of the ships/subs games also had books for manuals
It depends on the style of each game, but it somehow feels less immersive when text and text bubbles in a game tell you to do this, do that, “click” this and that, press this button, etc.
In Diablo, you did not get that.
You had to step in to the world with some knowledge before entering.
The game greatly penalized those who did not do their reading.
It was a different time and had its charm. IDK why you are trying so hard to deny this subjective experience of individuals who describe D2 exactly this way.
People with this fantasy they are going to relive 2000 are going to be sorely disappointed.
Youtube exists, walk throughs exist, the player base of 2021 is a totally different breed of gamer. Everyone will cookie cut the best builds and complete the game quickly. Sub 5% of the player base will even try pvp of any kind.
Lmao! Stuff like this is exactly how you learned in vanilla, I’m pretty sure most vets fell for the outside town/tele neck drops scams, the torch drop scams, trade swap scams… you live n learn it sucks but looking back at it you’re like ah F got me good!
Also NEVER EVER EVER accept ANY download links, Drophack was incredibly brutal.
Playing D2 in any way is like reliving that nostalgic feeling, which this whole remaster is predicated on. It’s to invoke that novel feeling.
The people who have continually been playing though, probably don’t really care, and just want the updated graphics as promised.
And PvP is 50% of the game, so you’re wrong there.
Almost all the most valuable items in the game revolve around pvp and pvp viable builds.
People don’t max out their characters to click on Baal all day.
What use is there for godly items?
Dueling allows players to test the limits of their character builds, theory crafting, and game mechanics.
Idk but I’m sure its more than 5% like Rhax is suggesting.
It’s a major aspect of the whole game.
IMO, 50% is pvp, 50% is pvm, finding items, trading, etc.
I honestly enjoy both, but pvp is the end game.
The fact is pvp is the other largest time sink in the game for players, other than hunting for those ultra rare items. And pvp items are the most valuable and sought after.
Most of the effort spent by players in the game is gearing up their characters to perfection to duel against other players. We don’t spend massive amounts of effort to have 45 Life skillers, 3/20/20 small charms, perfect min/max gear, sometimes taking years, just to kill monsters.
