The Cult of Diablo

A long way back in 1997, came a game called “Diablo” which was more or less popular. It did a modest business and gave the parent company Blizzard enough response to keep the series running. Next came the expansion “Hellfire” in the same year, which added to the spice, and once again, gave Blizzard enough response to carry on. Then after three years came the legendary game Diablo 2, with a strong storyline, great graphic effects and a new defining RGB game-play which was to mesmerize the minds of gamers for many years to come. Diablo 2 was completely independent of its predecessors and offered an all new look to the series. Actually apart from Warcraft series, Diablo is the game which established Blizzard as the best fantasy game lord. Later the Diablo 2 Lords of Destruction took the series to higher grounds. After so many years now Diablo stands as one of the most successful games ever and it has created its own cult: The cult of Diablo.

The success of Diablo lies in its make-believe world. The names of characters and cities (and foes for that matter), characters and situations are such that you find yourself entirely engrossed in the world of fantasy. Blizzard pays a lot more attention to the package then any other gaming company. The world of Diablo is so real and convincing that it almost feels like playing a true legend and all of it is reflected in the gaming experience. The Rogue camp, Lut Gholein, Trinstram, The Kurast Docks, Barbarian highlands and City of Harrogath are the major regions where the characters live and all of these specific regions have become almost real for the players to whom they are their second homes. They are not just names; they are more then that, every single town has its own legends and geographical implications. The Rogue Camp lies in the fertile fields with certain caves and plateaus; Lut Gholein is known as the “Pearl of the desert” as it’s the mercantile city supporting a harbor, which makes it the gateway to other regions. Kurast Docks is full of flora and fauna as it is basically a jungle and the Barbarian Highlands are the mountainous regions of Arreat summit and City of Harrogath and so on. But this is just not enough for Blizzard. They go a lot deeper than that as every single region has other sub-territories to be explored one by one. The point is, these are the details which make a defining game, and Diablo is just that.

Blizzards characterization is precise. Everything about the characters is special: their clothes, skills, traits, animations, skill effects and their way of life. No other game has ever been able to define the characters in such details and making them so lively. The martial art skills of Assassin will make you go ga-ga over Diablo and its crew. Sorceress, Necromancer and Druid too support some great animation effects. Every single skill of every single character has a different animation for it, and that goes for the foes too. You will love seeing Baal freaking out at your character in the final chapter.

While talking about the characters, Diablo has 7 major characters on the offing, namely: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Assassin, Druid, Paladin and Sorceress and all of them have their special traits. Diablo over the years has devised a nomenclature of its own for the sub-types of characters. These sub-types emerge form the skills that one provides to every character as there are 30 skills for every character, and depending on the choices one makes, the characters fall into different categories. The funny part is that these sub categories of characters were not devised by Blizzard and were not the part of the real game. Actually, online gamers who were dedicated to the cult created them. Likewise all other characters have their own sub-types, devised purely by the gamers all around the world. This list for all the characters goes on and on and it’s still increasing as more and more gamers are coming out with newer versions of the seven characters. It’s true when they say that, “No two Diablo characters in the world are alike”.

Apart from major characters, NPCs are another asset that Diablo offers. It has a long range of NPCs who are interesting to chat with and are as popular as the enemies and characters. There are specific merchants, mazes and hireling providers which enrich the experience. But more then that, all of them have a specific nature of their own… wonder why everyone goes to Charsi instead of Gheed in the first act? Well its because Charsi has been given a pleasant personality. On the other hand Alkor, Akara, Ashera, Drognan etc. are given repelling personalities. Some other NPCs doubt you in the beginning, but respect you later. It’s as lifelike as can be. Some of them are just fun to talk to and you can always gossip with them. For example Orasmus in Act III is always fun to talk to as he always speaks in riddles and not to forget the drunkard Geglash from Lut Gholein.

As far as the foes are concerned, some of them are almost epic scaled and almost like straight out of Christian mythology. Earlier there was only one main boss: Diablo, who is the replica of Satan as far as the Bible goes. Just like Satan, who was an angel earlier by the name of St. Lucifer, and became a fallen angel later, as he rebelled against God, similarly Diablo was also an angel earlier and later he turned into devil (this similiarity has been devised by the fan stories more or less). So in The Diablo and Hellfire its Diablo you fight against. Later in the Diablo 2 it is shown that the hero, who captured the soul of Diablo inside his body (as Diablo is immortal and cannot be completely eradicated), got corrupted himself as he was unable to restrain the powers of Diablo. So, Diablo tries to rise again, and you follow his trail through different cities and towns in Diablo 2. Later as the popularity rose, there was a need for more material, so blizzard came out with Diablo 2: Lords of destruction and Diablo was given an elder brother Baal (he had another brother called Mephisto (whom you fight in Act III), who is a lot stronger then Diablo.

Apart from all these ingredients, Blizzard has always been great at movie clips that play at major intervals of the games, and Diablo is no exception. The kind of great clips Diablo 2 LOD offers is amazing. The animation before the second act which has a journey through the desert to Lut Gholein is most impressive. Somehow the scene of Lut Gholein seen from a distance in the night with its shining lights enchants the gamer… and the words spoken by the narrator, “no doubt that Lut Gholein was called the Pearl of the Desert” go deep into your soul. These minute movies may seem useless, but they definitely enhance the gaming experience and those who believe in the aesthetics of artistic capabilities, really fall for them.

There is another cult that Diablo has devised and it’s the cult of no save game option. In Diablo you can’t save the game, if you choose to quit, the progress you have made, will be saved as it is, even if you have died. Many new games follow the same strategy. This gets frustrating at times as gameplay times in Diablo are a lot higher and added the conception that skills once added cant be retraced, this can put all your effort of days and months to no use at all…and you find yourself starting from the beginning again. It is said in the online community that “Every diabloian has two screw ups for every character for sure”. So, mostly gamers plan their characters all the way to 100th level before they start playing. It usually involves lots of paperwork and it is a lot better to do that then to start from the beginning again. This painful aspect of Diablo of no save option is considered as a foe, but this is the very element that makes the game so interesting and addictive. Wonder how many gamers have spent how many human hours on their systems to get higher than the 100th level!

The biggest asset that Diablo has is the online gaming experience. Gamers keep playing till they reach levels of 100 so that they can survive when they play online, which offers a completely different experience. Apart from regular features that mostly every game offers nowadays, in Diablo online you can duel against others, buy and sell your equipments for real money. Real money I say and it’s true that it happens. Many gamers have made luck out of their set items and rare items by selling them at a price. Mostly they go for auctions in online games. It’s a different world they are living there. Everything is accepted from runes, charms, rings, equipment and weapons. Apart from open auctions, there are specific merchants servers, which make you get the money for your equipment without a glitch, but in open auctions you can claim a whole lot then expected, but chances of deceptions are always higher and you can be robbed by members of a group, as you are on your own there. One can find many instances of gamers being cheated by their own friends for certain equipment.

Low system requirements and the audio and visual quality of Diablo are another milestone which another games usually don’t offer. Diablo is a masterpiece; the background score is so rich in its melodies that it sets the adrenalin rush down your veins. Perhaps the best background score runs in the Act V, where a tight war is going on. The effects of blows and skills are another major, not a single aspect has been left without a sound. Even the voice over for NPC’s is worth mentioning. If you have ever talked to Alkor in The Kurast docks, you will understand the quality of I am talking about.

No discussion of Diablo is complete without talking about Horadric Cube which is more then essential to the game. It offers recipes to develop new items, gems, runes and equipment. Latest innovation has been the crafted items, which provide newer version of certain items. You can now convert simple items into socketed items and more. Apart from that, it also work as an inventory and Blizzard is loved for inventing Horadric Cube and it’s true that Diablo wouldn’t have been the same without it.

As literature would have it, every book has to pass the test of time to reveal its real worth, and this goes for the games too. To prove that a game is a real gem, it has to prove its replay-ability over the years and to make it sure that it never goes out of fashion and gamers don’t ever uninstall it from their systems. As far as the replay-ability of the Diablo is concerned, it has already passed the test of time, as it still stands as one of the best games to be played. The factors that add up in the replay-ability are the 7 character types to choose from, which offer entirely different experience while playing. One finds that a foe which was fun to kill with one character has suddenly become a major threat to another. This kind of experience enhances the game. To add to it, you can develop your characters into numerous sub-types. There are 30 skills for every type divided in 3 sections and every skill can be maxed to 20, which can take months to develop.

Other assets are the Charms, Runes, Set items and Rings. The game has a wonderful strategy to keep you interested. As humans are power-hungry by their nature, they always want more powerful equipment, runes and charms. Well this is what you get in Diablo. Specific items can be found in specific levels of games. You can unlock the availability of certain items only by playing at Nightmare and Hell difficulty, and still you have to depend on your luck to find them. Certain items get available after passing a specific level. And to add more spice, some items are available only on online games, and one of them is the eldest brother Uberdiablo who is available only in the hell difficulty…

Diablo is not a game, its an experience of life. To write about Diablo is an uphill task and the details are such that one can write a book about it. Thousands of gamers have written strategy guides for various characters and sub-types. There are guides available for Horadric Cube recipies, set item collections, rune words and charm prefixes. Today the situation is such that if you are a noob in Diablo and you want to make it big, you will have to spent a month reading all the guides and strategies available, otherwise you will find that you have screwed up yourself so many times. All I can say in the end is thanks to Blizzard for creating a new cult in the gaming world. Diablo as for now, has already become a milestones in gaming.

The Diablo Enlightenment that dawned on me:

1. The character of Amazon is based on Anna-Nicole Smith. The only thing I wanna ask is, “Are they real?”
2. Diablo and girls …are two different things.
3. Runes and Charms don’t work in your exams.
4. Drinking red, blue and golden drinks doesn’t help in real life.
5. In the next sequel, Diablo is being replaced by Bush (and he will be immune to insults).
6. Diablo has sued Blizzard for that insult.
7. Kicking your cat won’t get you any experience, clicking the mouse will.
8. Dexterity is not virginity.
9. Oh yes!! Hell has three levels.
10. Churches don’t have Catacombs.

Bobby Sandhu