Can someone please explain the obsession and fetishizing of D2 for me?

Console Discussion
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I’ve played D3 for about a year and a half and enjoy it, but after seeing the cult-like admiration people have for D2 and getting a taste for it via the Tristram event (If im remembering correctly) in January, I decided I had to try it out. When I did I felt…underwhelmed, to put it politely.

The game was ok and was probably pretty good for a game of its time, but after having played D3 first, it was like going from a complete in-home theater with surround sound and an 80 inch HD TV to a pop-up book read to me by my 7 year old.

The graphics are weak, the gameplay is a bit clunky and non-intuitive, the storyline is fine and the character classes interesting, but there is nothing there to write home about.

I see so, so many posts here and on Reddit about how D2 is the “real” Diablo and is leagues beyond D3 in every way, but I just do not see it. At all.

Its not like im some 17yo kid who sees older games/graphics and cant deal with it. Im 35. I cut my teeth on Super Mario Bros 3 and spent early adolescence playing Sega Genesis cartridge games and installing games like Star Wars: Tie Fighter and Command & Conquer to my PC from 3.5in floppy disks and loving those games. So, no, this is not a young kid who just cant appreciate anything older than Justin Bieber’s first beard.

When I look at D3 i simply see a more advanced, far and away better-looking, much more intuitive game that is a pretty natural progression from D2.

So is this a case of video game hipsters who just want to look cool for liking old, inefficient ways of doing things? Is it too many layers of rose-tint on people’s glasses? Nostalgia clouding minds? Or am I missing something fundamental?

Because, as I see it, D3 was an improvement on D2 and I expect D4 to be better still, but I seem to be in a very small minority here.

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First, why is this in the console section?

2nd, for its time Diablo 2 was incredible. You’re going back and playing an almost 20 year old game for the first time after playing it’s sequel. Of course it’s going to feel dated. You say you can appreciate it, but also say at least twice that it feels super old and clunky. I don’t know what to tell you though. I played D2 on release and it hardcore influenced my gaming and entertainment preferences. I love fantasy, loot grinders and D&D and I think D2 helped set me on the path to that. (Among other things.) That said, I also love D3 as well. Yes, gamers love saying old games are the best and there’s some hipster-esque fans out there, but overall it’s just people generally didn’t want the D3 “version” of Diablo and wanted something more like 2. I assume 4 will far more into this line, especially thanks to the influence of POE as well.

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The TLDR version is, in my opinion, that it’s a combination of genuine love for the game, and nostalgia (which is perfectly valid).

The longer, more rambling answer is that nostalgia can cause us to look back fondly on things from our past while skimming over, or even outright omitting - whether intentionally or not - the things that maybe we didn’t enjoy so much. And that’s a perfectly normal, understandable human reaction, something we all do.

My big game as a kid was Final Fantasy 7, a game I will enjoy, and continue to defend, probably until the day I die. I was absolutely astounded one day to find out the person I’m seeing had never, ever played FF7. Genuinely horrified. ‘How could you never have tried it, it’s a classic, hold on, I’ll dust off my PS1 and I’ll show you, you’ll see, you’ll love it.’ And… they didn’t. They didn’t get it, the game controls were clunky and unresponsive, the graphics were dated, the fights repetitive and itemization disappointing, so on and so forth. A little while later, I had the same reaction, but reversed, with the same person when they tried to get me to try Runescape. ‘What is this garbage, god it’s so blocky, lol you can count the pixels, blah blah blah.’ Because I never got into it as a young (or younger) person, the ‘gap’ was too big for me to bridge. Why play Runescape when there were other, gorgeous looking, MMORPGs out there, with silky smooth animation and ten gazillion different items and so on and so forth? I hadn’t formed that magical bond with it at a time when it was new and cutting-edge and exciting. It just looked old, and tired.

Truth be told, and I hope I don’t get thrown out on my rear for saying this, but Diablo 3 was my first Diablo game. Like you, at some point I went back and tried Diablo 2, largely because so many people continue to speak so fondly about it. I really, really wanted to love it. I set myself a ten hour minimum playtime, in order to give it a fair go. And, like you, I was left feeling disappointed that that magic wasn’t there for me. More power to the people who love it, but I guess I’ve just become accustomed to modern games, and, like I was with Runescape, without that nostalgia factor, I wasn’t able to look past the limitations in audio/visuals, and gameplay.

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I loved D2, enjoyed D3 Vanilla, but it just became an overly simplified game built for casuals. I played all 3 Diablos day 1. D3 went backwards in my opinion.

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I think C&C has already ported from CD mate, I own the PC version & PS1 version.

D2 for it’s time it was really the best you are not comparing very well to begin with.

it is like you are comparing FFXV Vs FFVI look at those games, till date I would not be surprise if players played FFX FFVII or FFXIII but have NEVER PLAYED FFVI if any players played FFVI they are sure to tell you or defend that game as one of the best FF series (again not all gamers are old school RPG material)

next I have to agree with @smallville3 d3 vanilla was really fun especially I want to push my DH in inferno, this was the time where there are no season, LB I do not want to use 3socket items but really want my DH to run inferno.

D3 is really build for casual no joke so if you like it sure, there be others players say POE is really way better again if you play casual you will hate POE for what it is worth. IMO D3 is here is hammerdin now this is the 13 items you need there you go hammerdin build. POE is build hammerdin with any skill you like to play. look at the LB you see hammerdin rank 1 - 10 question what happens if I like shield bash sorry mate wait for the next patch :frowning:

next go look at POE LB you see all different builds climbing up. We are already at a time where Fifa 11 & Fifa 12 is never the same & Minecraft fornite are 10star titles. Comparing fornite to TLOU is an insult IMO but till this date fornite is 10star game whereas TLOU is 8star game, go figure

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D2 back in the day was utter class, how many games after 20 years still have people playing it? It had amazing and true RNG and loot.

If you feel its clunky and the graphics are bad then a D2 remaster is going to give you what you want…if it is based on D2 I’ll hands down stop playing D3 and will play D2 remastered…assuming consoles get it?

I fear it may not given the “cheating” issue that is on D3.

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Sadly in this day & age…it’s more about the …“Eye Candy”…the look of a game that draws more than in the old days where it was all about the game & experience. No-one can really do a honest compairison…that be everything from characters, loot, action, menus, maps, graphics, sound…between D2 and D3…just can’t…

But for a game like D2 that’s nearly 19-20 years old, to still see Runs, Builds and How To Videos being put out recently is truly a marvel when you look at all the games that’s been put out in that time period…so that alone should answer why all the hype on D2 and why so many are hoping for a remastered…

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Because D2 set the standards for ARPGs… and they set the bar pretty high. So for me PoE and D3 are pretty much the only 2 games i play.

Also the endgame itemization/build options was what made it more interesting in D2. Anybody who says that D2 was all cookie cutter builds and had no options clearly had no knowlwdge about the game. My 2h thunder maul WW barb was geared differently than DW colossus blades WW barb (yes i always had 2 WW barbs). Thats because the mace mastery gave more damage per point of strength than any other weapon mastery, so i wanted the most amount of points possible in str on my mace barb.

Also the game had “in game currency” which were sojs. 10 pskulls=1 soj. So my endgame objective was gaining as muxh wealth as possible!!! Which meant as time went on i made mule accounts with kust gear and sojs ect. Or u could be strictly PvP person fir ensgame… People would have pvp tournaments abd free for alls

Part of the reason i started playing PoE is because it kind of feels like D2. I havent been able to play a 2h WW barb since D3 vanilla. So i made an endgame Coronal Maul Cyclone Marauder that im still working on that wrecks T10+ endgame maps.

I guess im in the minority that plays… PoE AND D3. Hopefully D4 will be something thats in between D3 and PoE…

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Plus with all the strictly ssf players nowadays… D2 did have it to where u clearly benefitted most from 8p games, but ssf players still could compete in ladder.

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Well said… Im hoping as well D4 will be a little like PoE and D3 as well.

Also i forgot r u playing PoE too??? Hows PoE going for u??? Lets just say for the people who say u HAVE to follow build guides for endgame or u HAVE to trade for endgame builds…Dont know anything lol.

My 2h Mace Cyclone is pretty original and doing endgame content… Though i did look at builds for reference and read quite a few discussions on endgame Cyclone builds as well as game mechanics and gear mods as well.

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Well PoE is also set for a big overhaul and upgrade so…with fingers crossed…we all should benefit from having two outstanding games; D4 and PoE2(?) to play…

But yea, PoE has some nice features really like but I detest how their Loot System works…not shared…and pretty much the Trade/Sell Market is pathetic and a joke being ruined by outright greed especially on the console side.

But back to D2…at it’s it core…with upgraded visuals, some fine tuning and upgrades within the game, I’d love to play it on console and I’m sure it would be a welcomed sight for the PC players as well…in a few more days we shall see.

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Loot is shared… my Marauder is the only 1 doing endgame maps, but i found some pretty OP gear for my Scion still in Act 7. Lvl 50 gear but ilvl was 75+ so it was basically lvl 50 gear with lvl 75 affixes. I took out the Act 7 boss so easily it felt like i was fighting a yellow enemy on a regular map. Main game bosses aren’t special or anything to brag about, but still that gear i found for my Scion will have me doing low tier endgame maps pretty smoothly. Unless League characters cant share loot… I only make 1 character during League.

Also the Loot System can use some a little revision, i agree. And yes the Trade/Market is horrible lol. I went 2h Mace with my Marauder and i was curious about the Coronal Mauls and i couldn’t believe the garbage i seen lol. I str8 up laughed becuase i get the feeling people dont know about item level and mods.
Also have u seen the exalted orbs. People were asking for 500 chaos orbs for like 1 exalt lmoa… Either way i just had 6 socket rare Coronal Maul drop with room for another mod at the craft bench and possibly a 2 mod too. 500 base damage rare weapon aint too shabby… Unfortunatly i need to at least 5 link before before i can use that bad boy and i wont have the fusing orbs til mid week probably. I still play D3 as well as 3 PoE characters…

Yup same here about D2… Honestly id quit D3 100% if they have an upgraded D2 on console. Maaaaan i miss my 2h Mace WW barbs from LoD. I made 3 different versions during different “eras” of LoD.

A Cranium Basher version when LoD was brand new. So new if u would’ve mentioned Runewords i would’ve looked confusted… People litterally talked trash and laughed when they seen a WW barb rocking a Basher. Until they seen it action in Act 4 and 5 Hell. They respected it soon afterwards lol. Then my Ith Thunder Maul until it was gone when i logged in 1 day lol. Then my BoTd Thunder Maul

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If D4 is just as simple/casual as D3 I will stick to PoE exclusively which I have played nearly daily since launch. PoE is too complex for many, so I do not expect D4 to follow suit, but I just would like to see some content geared towards players looking for tough challenges. Not everything has to be accessible for casuals. D3 is more about grinding paragon than anything, which is a joke, and one of the many reasons I do not play it anymore.

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D2 is a classic, I played it for so many hours back in the day. I understand it might feel dated tho but its still one of the best ARPG ever made if not the best IMO. If we get D2 remaster on console and its couch coop like D3 its a day 1 buy, same for D4.

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And u know everyone goes on about the skill passive tree as super complex… At first i thought it was intimidating, but i noticed its not lol.

Also on another note… i personally couldnt restart from scratch on D2 on PC for the outdated feeling and the fact i dont have my main acccount and 3 other mule accounts… Or was it 4 mules??? I dont rmember…

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Sorry about that on the PoE comment…I meant in coop play Loot is Not Shared…sort of like in Borderlands 1-2 where if you played with others, it almost needs to be with friends or some you can trust and have an honor system in place…other than that I like the play and obvious amount of character building you have available. Reminds me a lot of Warframe…

But if D2 Remastered gets announced…being a Diablo Fan since day one getting D3 for the 360…I’ll gladly jump on it…hopefully in next few days we’ll get good news on two fronts; D2 and D4…

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Ohhhhh i got u. I only grouped up a couple times and with people i knew…

Thats why i liked being a WW barb back in D2 lol… Usually first grabs were mine. Lots of sorcs, zons. Buuut with friends though if it was something they needed id let em take it or drop it in town if theyd ask afterwards.

It got to the point if a WF dropped and someone needed the sojs id say sure… Then again i never had that actually happen im just saying tho lol

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It’s a classic game that still has a decent size player base for a 20 year old game. This is what majority of gamers grew up with and knew to be a good game. It has the perfect balance of end game content/farming. Oh yeah, PVP, the big reason to farm.

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i miss nothing about D2

I honestly just want another 10 expansions for D3

I’d rather avoid the D4 debacle that is online only and will include regular micros for gear/cosmetics/trading

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Sorry an outdated game wont bring 10 expansions. Game cant even handle more than GR157 since theres not enough health digits for monster health…

U also wont get a free game with 10 expansions unless they got micros… Fortnite and PoE have proven ppl will pay for transmogs