Poll: Play Diablo, or skip to Diablo 2?

[Eclectic Dreck]

Diablo 2 is, without question, the better of the two games. The only reason why you might want to play the first is for the story but the storyline itself was never what made the diablo series a great game. It wasn't even the class or leveling system: it was the loot.

The sequel has better gameplay in any respect you might wish to judge, and handily answer the question as to what happened in the first game.

 

[_Janny_]

I found Diablo 1 way too repetitive, but hella atmospheric. So go ahead and grab it. Diablo 2 is much longer and more varied, but you should start with the first game, just to get the feel of it and meet the characters of Tristram.

 

[Thaius]

Okay, well it looks like I'll be trying the first one. Assuming I can get past the freaking butcher (that guy is just destroying me right now), I'll keep going with Diablo. If it gets too annoying, I'll wiki the story and move on. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Graustein]

What many people here have said is true: Both are excellent games, but Diablo II is unquestionably superior. That said, if you're a story junkie, you will not regret playing Diablo first. What you do NOT want to do is play Diablo II first and then Diablo later. You will have been spoilt by Diablo II's run feature and will find Diablo incredibly irritating without it.

 

[HalcyonUmbra]

If you're interested in getting more gameplay out of the original Diablo, you may want to consider the Hell mod (technically the The Hell mod). It adds a hell (teehee) of a lot of new content, as well as some gameplay help (highlights items, lets you run). You'll need the Hellfire expansion, but I certainly won't tell you to just torrent a .iso of it, because that would be illegal, even if the company that made it is out of business.

You can find the mod here: http://www.thmod.com/

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Go get Morrowind.

and play the games in order.

 

[thiosk]

Seems fitting.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

Only ever played Diablo 2 and didn't finish it, it gave me some tendonitis in my index finger and I couldn't pick my nose for a week.

 

[Thaius]

Seems fitting.

Yeah, sorry. Like I said, I never got the chance. There are a lot of games I'm catching up on, actually. Final Fantasy VI is blowing me away so far. Love it.

 

[HalcyonUmbra]

Yeah, sorry. Like I said, I never got the chance. There are a lot of games I'm catching up on, actually. Final Fantasy VI is blowing me away so far. Love it.

Didja play those in order, too?

 

[Artemis923]

Just wait for Diablo 3 to come out..play WoW until then.

Ignore this crazy man here.

There isn't much to be missed in Diablo I, except the town of Tristram. Just make sure you play through the masterpiece that is Diablo II.

 

[Thaius]

Yeah, sorry. Like I said, I never got the chance. There are a lot of games I'm catching up on, actually. Final Fantasy VI is blowing me away so far. Love it.

Didja play those in order, too?

The Final Fantasy games are each their own, completely separate story (unless explicitly stated, like Final Fantasy X-2 or Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII), so no. I play games in order when it is required for story continuity: that is the case with most games, but Final Fantasy does not fall in that category.

 

[Chipperz]

Diablo 1 is a ludicrously hard game. It's also really good. Play it, love it.

I think I got down to something like level 19-20 (I remember werewolf-things?) before my PC bugged out and deleted all my save games. I haven't picked it up in the last 7 years because of that, just so dissapointed Still a great game, though. Sean Connery is excellent for setting a horror tone...

 

[Klepa]

I play games primarily as a storytelling art, ad form of literature

Skip both.

Absolutely fantastic games, both of them, but definitely NOT because of the storytelling.

 

[Kron_the_mad wants to be deleted]

if you want some pointy clicky action stick to D2, if you are a lore whore then play 1! and get copy of the manual (the artwork and backstory help with atmosphere).
the games cater pretty well to both camps.

 

[HalcyonUmbra]

Yeah, sorry. Like I said, I never got the chance. There are a lot of games I'm catching up on, actually. Final Fantasy VI is blowing me away so far. Love it.

Didja play those in order, too?

The Final Fantasy games are each their own, completely separate story (unless explicitly stated, like Final Fantasy X-2 or Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII), so no. I play games in order when it is required for story continuity: that is the case with most games, but Final Fantasy does not fall in that category.

You differ from me in that respect then. I like seeing a work evolve over time, so I tend to read/play in publishing order. Out of curiosity, where do you put prequels on your reading order? I, like I said, read the after the originals.

 

[xxcloud417xx]

Just wait for Diablo 3 to come out..play WoW until then.

ummmmmm... This is the wrongest of the wrong things any wrong person can wrongly say.

I know there's a LOT of "wrong"s in that sentence, but I want you to absolutely not make a grave mistake by listening to this person.

 

[Thaius]

Yeah, sorry. Like I said, I never got the chance. There are a lot of games I'm catching up on, actually. Final Fantasy VI is blowing me away so far. Love it.

Didja play those in order, too?

The Final Fantasy games are each their own, completely separate story (unless explicitly stated, like Final Fantasy X-2 or Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII), so no. I play games in order when it is required for story continuity: that is the case with most games, but Final Fantasy does not fall in that category.

You differ from me in that respect then. I like seeing a work evolve over time, so I tend to read/play in publishing order. Out of curiosity, where do you put prequels on your reading order? I, like I said, read the after the originals.

I definitely read/watch/play prequels after the originals: they were meant to be that way. I mean all of us were surprised, if not horrified, when we found out Darth Vader was Luke's father: that would not be the case if we watched the movies in chronological order (chronological referring, of course, to in-universe chronology, not publishing date).

Due to Final Fantasy's disconnection from each other, however, I don't apply a similar concept there. I've studied games more than enough to understand the evolution over time, and I'm familiar, to an extent, with the differences between each Final Fantasy game. But the thing here is that some are easier to obtain than others. As a result, I played the ones that were most highly recommended first (for the most part).

But now that I think about it, I may think about that differently than you do. I don't know how old you are or anything, but for me, I never owned a gaming system until I got my PS1 about halfway through its successor's lifecycle. As a result, I have a lot to catch up on. I really enjoy playing a game, then looking back on its roots: playing through Final Fantasy 1 was a blast, largely because I could see the humble beginnings of my favorite game of all time (Final Fantasy VII). I think that, because of the way I entered gaming and the timing of it, I enjoy looking back at origins than I do actually starting at them. In that case, at least: definitely not in terms of story. I like experience stories the way their creator intended, however that may be.