| Diablo II with Lord of Destruction Expansion Set Single Player Mode Review by The
Siren I have always lived a solitary, reclusive existence as a Sorceress. Content to move amongst the shadows, I call the wilderness and darkened wood my home. At first glance, I, The Siren, might appear frail; fragile ... Lest you pass me by, know this: I not only brave elemental nature, but harness it with my own body and use it! Wielding the fearsome powers of lightning, fire, and ice as weapons in my hands, I both further the causes of good on this earth and attain my own ends. As I wander my vast homeland, I am perplexed and repulsed by the evil spirits beginning to spawn upon it. Where have they come from, and what do they want with my world? The beauty of the richly detailed countryside becomes quickly marred by the bodies of dead Rogues—my compatriots—who attempt to battle these evil spirits as they appear. I hear rumors of other existing warriors against evil, each with their own strengths and attributes, Barbarian, Paladin, Necromancer, Amazon, Assassin, and Druid. Yet, I encounter none of them and travel this vividly colorful landscape alone. Approaching a Rogue encampment (at this moment a darkened, rain-soaked haven), I seek solace for the night at a blazing campfire. Here, I find friends who not only impart wisdom but trade goods. They also detail for me the sordid history of Diablo, the larger devil behind this spiritual blight against mankind that we now face. As daylight approaches, my spell-casting skills as a Sorceress are met with both skepticism and rekindled hope by these entrenched Rogues, who cannot overtake this evil uprising on their own. I am challenged by them to take on varied and ever-changing quests with my magic, to support the causes of right. I strike out on my own to prove my worth and might! Songs of both victory and terror perpetually hang in the air. Each enemy has unique war cries and utterances, and each locale its own distinct audible nuances to aid me in my battles. As I spar with ever-increasing numbers of zombies and all manner of demons and wraiths, my experiences only serve to strengthen both my character and reserve. Mysterious shrines of renewal and magical power dot the landscape, recharging my elemental weapons in time of need. I traverse lush green and golden hills, muted, stony valleys, and bloodied, rotting caves. Light passes into darkness; sun into storm. Cold, fire and poison threaten me, spewed from vile enemies, but I fear not. I meld lightning bolts right in my hands, first throwing them as static to weaken aggressors, then sending out chained lightning to finish them off ... I annihilate rushing herds of mad demons by forming fire bolts into rows of vicious fire hydras that fight for me. I sculpt moving blazes and set them down to protect me and follow in my wake, burning down all evil spirits that might follow ... My survival is assured by fashioning ice bolts into frost novas that, spiraling outwardly in rings all around me, slow and shatter the undead servants of Diablo ... All the while, raiding passed-on souls both righteous and foul, I gather gold, gems, magic items, weapons and armor to strengthen and aid me in my quests or to trade away. I recoup lost items for the Rogues as well, in return for even more rewards! These Rogue compatriots of mine at the encampment finally help to prepare me for their worst local foe: Demon Queen Andariel. It is a long and arduous journey filled with hordes of murderous, otherworldly fiends who attempt to strike me down. Alas, I have hired a mercenary-archer named Gaile from the encampment, and she follows and guards me willingly and fiercely. Going into battle with Gaile by my side, her experience, defense and power growing even as mine do, we fight this poisonous Queen and her onslaught of new terrors together, emerging victorious once again! This outland cleared, a caravan leader from the encampment offers to take us to Lut Gholein, a nearby town also overrun with Diablo's treachery. We go, by now craving the very things that may be our end! The owner of a public house seeks vengeance for the deaths of both her son and husband, and so the first of our new quests begins ... Locked treasure chests and abandoned barrels and jugs pepper the landscape, providing new jewel-encrusted magical weapons, health potions, gold, and magic portals for our emergency transference back to the safety of the town center. Their presence is mixed with the tortured corpses of past Rogues, unrelenting swarms of unique monsters and their masters, and dens and underground dungeons of evil that must be cleared for new treasures, experiences and defenses to be gained. Our journeys, not for the faint of heart or mind, span in all five expansive locales. Gaile and I gather carnage from murdered heroes, forging new and incredibly powerful weapons from them. We ultimately open the sinister gates of hell to confront the most heinous beings behind this demonic plague of our world; both Diablo in his infamy and the unforeseen Baal, the Lord of Destruction. Many traps and deceptions of the eye await us, but for the bravest of brave, true light shall reign once again as we vanquish these horrendous foes and restore peace to our once-wondrous land ... Story A demonically medieval tale woven through perpetual quests involving innumerable battles that carry through straight to the end. Diablo II itself consists of four acts that culminate in a final confrontation with Diablo; the Lord of Destruction expansion set adds a fifth act of gameplay and introduces yet another major boss to defeat in the form of Baal, the Lord of Destruction. Game Mechanics A point-and-click interface allows for strategic targeting of the unrelenting droves of enemies, along with easy manipulation of icon-driven weapons, inventory, and character skill tree systems. Possibly overwhelming for a novice are the intricacies of the specific character classes and their detailed skill trees, where various types of experience points are earned for victorious battles that can be applied to numerous character traits, such as strength, vitality and energy, and used to broaden and reinforce character specialties such as spell-casting. Once specific experience points are applied, for better or worse, they can never be removed or reused; that said, the neverending battles do allow for constant earning of additional experience points. Each numbered level of character experience requires more and more game play in between to reach, though, and most locations must be played through multiple times (with enemies spawning again and again), or else a character's experience level will not build up adequately enough to win boss fights with. The game manual does little to direct the player towards the better experience point choices or to detail many specifics, so too much experimentation yielding poorly placed points often lends itself to beginning the game again on a better footing. The game automatically saves all progress over itself in the same save slot. Once a quest area is started, if the game is exited before completion of that area, reentering the game will start at the closest safe town and the desired area will have to be accessed via Waypoint portals for transport and then conquered from scratch again. If a playable character dies, that same character spawns again back at the nearest safe town bereft of most inventory previously carried (except that which has been stored remotely in personal chests) and also sans acquired armor and jewelry previously worn. One must only save and exit the game, then reenter it at said town and raid one's old corpse, however, to recover everything intact, except for items carried in personal sashes and any gold the character had on his or her person. If a particularly difficult fight has been won or a large amount of experience points just earned, it is a good idea to exit the game and back up the sole save onto a disk, where it can be reinstalled back into the game over the current save if there is a major mistake made. A saved character from a previous Diablo II game may be converted to an expansion character for use with the LOD, but once converted that character cannot be changed back. Maps randomly change with each new character and game started, and a nice red overlay map showing all entrances, exits, shrines, caves and the like can be toggled on and off. Inventory System The ability to upgrade "socketed" weapons and armor by inserting acquired gems and jewels into those sockets, thereby adding magical attributes, certainly personalizes and enhances the gaming experience. However, there are so many magic items added with the LOD expansion set in addition to the already overwhelming amount of existing magic items, armor and weapons available in Diablo II itself that even the doubling of the storage area in LOD and the inclusion of large, wearable sashes for extra goods can't keep inventory from spiraling out of control. The perpetual required trading and manipulation of inventory can be cumbersome and overly time-consuming. The Horadric Cube, an acquired inventory device used for combining inventory items and morphing them into better items, has vague connotations and can be difficult to use to its maximum potential. Rewards of battle are immediate, and health and mana (fuel for spell casting) refills are abundant. Keyboard shortcuts can be programmed for quick fortifying of characters, as well as for fast access to inventory and character attributes, etc. Constant upgrades for armor and weapons are in almost infinite supply; however, when selling items to vendors, their worth is cut in half compared to what a game character will pay to purchase them, making poor purchasing choices or lack of inventory storage space more costly. Learning Curve To the uninitiated, the amount of character stats, class-specific weaponry, beneficial shrines, and magic items may seem inhibiting at first. With patience it becomes easier to comprehend, and the thrilling battles will quickly draw the player in and render the less-clear points as secondary to some degree. The game can still be completed even if its finer details are not understood and the Horadric Cube's use is not maximized. Graphics Diablo gets a boost with the Lord of Destruction expansion set, bringing its world into the long-overdue 800x600 resolution, with optional (and more enjoyable) 3D. Scenes are bright and richly detailed, if not still somewhat pixelated. The rare in-game movie sequences look stunning, however, and offer decent backstory information. Sound The voice acting of the NPCs is superb, as is the constantly evolving medieval musical score. Sound effects for everything from changing weather to enemies' actions and vocalizations are top-notch as well. Replay Value The wide range of character classes to choose from, the forming and perpetual refining of each character, and the sheer breadth of customizing traits available all serve to solidify the replay value of this immense epic. The fact that maps differ when beginning a new game also adds to replay value. Stability Diablo II with the LOD installed and ran flawlessly
under Windows 98 SE on my Athlon XP 1900+ PC with 512 megs of
PC2100 DDR RAM and an Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 Ultra video card. |
The Verdict
The Lowdown Developer: Blizzard Available for: Four Fat Chicks Links Screenshots
System Requirements PC—Single Player: Additional requirements for Lord of Destruction multiplayer: Mac—Single Player: Multiplayer: Where to Find It
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