Diablo 2: Resurrected (remastered)

[Stuka87]

Almost every game on Steam allows you to go offline after you've downloaded and installed it. GoG games are DRM-free so unless they are a multiplayer game, they don't require a constant internet connection. Even games on the PS4 (can't vouch for other consoles since it's the most recent-gen one I own) can be taken offline but you'll just miss out on some features. RDR2 and other Rockstar games really don't like it when you go offline, but you can still go offline and play the single player aspects of the game. Hell, even early access survival games like 7 Days to Die can be taken offline if you play by yourself.

I'm curious what games you're referring to because the only ones I can think of that require a constant connection are multiplayer games or games owned by a company who hates their customers.

Diablo 3 is an online multiplayer game. Just like my example of Final Fantasy 14. Yes, there are tons of single player only games that can be taken offline. I apologize in my assumption that it was obvious that I was referencing multiplayer games. And there are client hosted multiplayer games that can be played offline as nothing is run off a server. But these style games are thankfully slowly going away because anything client hosted tends to be very easy to cheat in, which makes the game far less fun when you have people shooting through walls or duping items. And if the Host leaves the game, the game exits for everybody. And if their internet sucks, it sucks for everybody.

I just fail to see the issue some people have with not being able to take a server hosted multiplayer only game offline.

 

[DeathReborn]

Diablo 3 is an online multiplayer game. Just like my example of Final Fantasy 14. Yes, there are tons of single player only games that can be taken offline. I apologize in my assumption that it was obvious that I was referencing multiplayer games. And there are client hosted multiplayer games that can be played offline as nothing is run off a server. But these style games are thankfully slowly going away because anything client hosted tends to be very easy to cheat in, which makes the game far less fun when you have people shooting through walls or duping items. And if the Host leaves the game, the game exits for everybody. And if their internet sucks, it sucks for everybody.

I just fail to see the issue some people have with not being able to take a server hosted multiplayer only game offline.

What D3 is can be summed up simply: A SP game with co-op where SP is deprecated with each release to further their control & financial gain from it. It is not a MP game with SP included though, easy mistake to make.

 

[Homerboy]

I don't think I've upgraded my PC since D2 was released. So maybe this will work for me

 

[Stuka87]

What D3 is can be summed up simply: A SP game with co-op where SP is deprecated with each release to further their control & financial gain from it. It is not a MP game with SP included though, easy mistake to make.

How do they gain anything at all from people playing multiplayer? There is no monthly cost at all, there arent any micro transactions at all. You buy the game, and play it as much as you want.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I apologize in my assumption that it was obvious that I was referencing multiplayer games.

Almost every game today requires an internet connection to play.

If you were talking about multiplayer games then it goes without saying that they require an internet connection to play but that's not what you said. I remember someone saying (possibly from an E3 conference) that the always online was due to the auction house giving people the ability to buy and sell immediately and if that is true, then there's no reason it needs a constant internet connection to play by yourself now. I could be wrong and just remembering things incorrectly - it has been a fairly long time since the teasers went live - but it still doesn't make sense to keep a single player game gated behind a constant connection. If my ISP is having issues or if I move again, I'll be stuck not being able to play a single player game which is just stupid. Damn near every other ARPG that features online co-op as well as single player keeps them separate but for some reason, Blizzard won't.

You buy the game, and play it as much as you want.

Not if your internet goes out. When I bought my current house, I went almost five months without internet because Comcast couldn't pull their head from their own ass and get someone competent to my house to fix the issue. For months it was non-stop contractor after contractor - some who wanted to start punching holes in my new walls to trace lines, some who said they'd consult their supervisor and call me back but never did, and some who just said my house wasn't able to get cable (despite them standing three feet from an old cable connection in my wall). I was finally able to get an actual Comcast installer to my house and within five minutes he identified the problem and had my internet back up and running by the end of the week. During that time my internet was out, I was able to play most of my Steam library offline with no issues and any of my physical copies without hassle as well. If I wanted to play a single player game that I owned (like Diablo 3), I wouldn't be able to simply because Blizzard says I can't.

Now, if they ever release D3 that doesn't require a constant connection, I'll happily pick it up. But until then, I have plenty of other games to keep me entertained.

 

[BFG10K]

What D3 is can be summed up simply: A SP game with co-op where SP is deprecated with each release to further their control & financial gain from it. It is not a MP game with SP included though, easy mistake to make.

Exactly right. A single player game that requires online authentication is DRM, plain and simple. Especially if it needs a constant connection.

This has nothing to do with "MMO servers", "security" or "cheating" nonsense which people bring up for games that happen to have a multiplayer component. It's done soley to remove rights and to data-mine.

 

[DeathReborn]

Exactly right. A single player game that requires online authentication is DRM, plain and simple. Especially if it needs a constant connection.

This has nothing to do with "MMO servers", "security" or "cheating" nonsense which people bring up for games that happen to have a multiplayer component. It's done soley to remove rights and to data-mine.

It also helps that D3 on the Switch can be played offline, further proving the game doesn't need a online connection for SP or even local co-op.

 

[MalVeauX]

Diablo 3 is most definitely NOT bad.

I'm glad you liked it. I wanted to like it. But it's just not a great game and it's not just nostalgia of D2. And you're right, it took a lot of updates to make the game playable. And yet it still fell apart. There was pretty much no reason to play with anyone online. The single player campaign was fine, I played it many times through. But that doesn't bring you back to the game at all. Now it's easy-button because no one is playing it. Every season you get a complete set for a character and you're instantly in end-game content which sadly is pretty pointless because.... you're already supremely powerful and in end-game content, so it gets old fast and all that is going on is you're getting stuff quickly for your next build which will take a few hours and then you're done with that too. The only thing left in the end-game content of D3 is upgrading legendary gems and g-rifting but you don't even really care about the loot anymore as you're given all of it way early and after that it's just a matter of perfect stats since only the sets matter at the end. The single player game laughably mimics Diablo 2 world; even the environments of the acts are pretty much the same and in the same order which is just silly, like they couldn't even shake it up a bit. The skill system is fine; I personally disliked having to re-do a whole character to try a new build pathway in D2, but that's what we had to do then. Diablo 3 took a lot of elements of WoW and used the Diablo universe to sell itself. And the end result is like all their games at this point: empty and not being played.

Of course everyone who loved D1 & D2 want more Diablo. But that's just not happening. That team is gone. It's just a franchise name. It died. The receiving of Diablo Immortal? Wow, I mean, wow, no wonder they're not even trying. They know they're going to be boo'd off any stage there is at this point. Diablo 4? Pffft, years and might as well just sell it or scrap it. In the mean time? Diablo 2 Remastered! Hah. Let's pull in the 40 year olds with nostalgia and use their modern GPUs. People might try it and play a few minutes and then realize how dated it is when they don't have 2,000 hours a year to devote to Mephisto runs in high resolution with dithering..... No thanks.

I know I sound pessemistic about it. I really enjoyed Diablo series up to this point and put a lot of time into Diablo III as well. And I'm a sucker so I probably will try Immortal and Diablo 4 if they ever release. But I do know at least I probably will not bother with this remaster because its truly pointless. The only way I might even consider any of it is if it had local lan coop and didn't require internet to play and all that. I live rural and internet is not something we rely on so games that require it are just not going to happen these days. Or, if they released it like it was before the expansion and major patches that completely modified the game (skill cool down, items level limits, etc). It would be interesting to play Diablo 2 again how it was before that big change, when you could have a warmth/orb sorc with fast casting spam and stuff. And have the option to play classic Diablo 2 before all the modifications and expansion with the higher resolution options, and being able to of course toggle on the expansion and latest changes to the game for balance and stuff. It's going to be a single player game pretty much unless you have friends playing with you, so might as well make it have a lot of options.

Very best,

 

[RPD]

Seems like a lot of people are passionate about D2, so I'll just leave this here, if you enjoyed D2 and the expansion and don't mind a little modding I found the Hell Unleashed mod for it unbelievably well done - http://arimyth.com/hell.htm

 

[MetalMat]

Frankly I didn't know until recently that there was bunch of hate on Diablo 3. I thought it was great, not my favorite of the bunch but still a fun ride.

As far as the D2 remaster..... I already played this game to death 20 years ago so I really dont have much a reason to go back to it. What is with all remasters coming out btw? It seems like every other week some other older game is being remastered/remade to a bunch of fanfare. I can maybe understand it for people that never played them but I just don't ever get excited about games I played and finished years ago coming out again. I know the developers are making quite a bit of $$$$ because far less work is required in remastering a game than making a new one but.... where are the new games? Are they even adding anything new to the D2 remaster besides updated graphics and sound?

I guess as long as people continue to fork over money for the remakes I can't blame the companies for going this path but let's get some new stuff.

 

[MalVeauX]

Frankly I didn't know until recently that there was bunch of hate on Diablo 3. I thought it was great, not my favorite of the bunch but still a fun ride.

As far as the D2 remaster..... I already played this game to death 20 years ago so I really dont have much a reason to go back to it. What is with all remasters coming out btw? It seems like every other week some other older game is being remastered/remade to a bunch of fanfare. I can maybe understand it for people that never played them but I just don't ever get excited about games I played and finished years ago coming out again. I know the developers are making quite a bit of $$$$ because far less work is required in remastering a game than making a new one but.... where are the new games? Are they even adding anything new to the D2 remaster besides updated graphics and sound?

I guess as long as people continue to fork over money for the remakes I can't blame the companies for going this path but let's get some new stuff.

Well, everyone born 20 years ago didn't get to play D1 or D2 unless they had a friend/family member with it because they probably couldn't even find the discs anymore, since these games were all not for download like today. So they read about them as "classics" when they were new when you were doing it. So for them, growing up in a different digital era, they probably see these old games with 800x600 resolution and its stretched on their wide screen LCD and looks dumb so they're like "what?" So I imagine the remaster will appeal to some people who want to play a classic that never did play it to begin with and want it to work on modern displays (resolution wise, not graphics wise, pixel art is all the rage these days).

But yea, lots of remasters to just cash cow for minimal effort. Look at all the old Baldur's Gates and Icewind Dale... all remastered and older than heck, but they're classics and so to play them on a modern display it takes re-work or it looks really dumb as a low res 4:3 image stretched on a wide screen 4k monitor.

Very best,

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Open Beta for all this weekend

Play Diablo® II: Resurrected™ During the Early Access & Open Beta

Learn more about the Diablo II: Resurrected Early Access & Open Beta. Get all the details and answers to your most pressing questions about these upcoming tests!

news.blizzard.com

Link is confusing implies it is a pre order beta but that just started earlier. Further down on the page it say open for all

 

[aigomorla]

]

yeow.... i they really took it up a notch on gfx..

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

I spent some time playing the beta two weeks ago. I played it both in the new graphics mode and in legacy graphics mode.

The thing is an outright mess. Choppy, input is not snappy and feels disconnected. Performance of the new graphics mode is literal garbage. Hitboxes don't seem to be correctly placed or sized.

We went back and forth a few times between Diablo 2 and the remastered version and it's not even comparable. Diablo 2 is very smooth and fluid and responds extremely well to input - they've simply managed to screw that up in the remastered version. This is true even in legacy graphics mode, and in fact makes it even more apparent it's very much not right since it makes it very easy to directly compare to the original.

Not to mention the new "battle.net" they're using for remastered seems to have all the same issues the old battlenet did, except even worse. Frequent massive desyncs, disconnecting all the time, still queues to create a game.

Even if they can fix or address most of these concerns, I have significant doubts they can fix up the choppiness and input issues to the point where it's as good as the original.

I won't be buying it.

 

[aigomorla]

yeah i noticed hotboxes weren't going right, but then i also remembered ah... attack raiting...
as i boosted that, things seem to hit properly.

But i do still get rubber banding like there is some form of lag.
It could be server lag due to people hammering the server.

In all i don't think i'll buy it either.
It was something fun to hold me off from playing around with bless uinleashed, and ultimately waiting on new world launch.

 

[DeathReborn]

Seems their decision to use the Open Beta as a server stress test has cost them a few refunds. I didn't pre order it so didn't sample the Closed Beta but the Open Beta was a horrid mess of terrible latency issues & rubber banding. I took a Druid to the end of Act 2 (killed Duriel @20) and it felt like it took forever; on D2:LoD it feels fluid and responsive.

As it stands I think I will buy it in a year or 2 once it's "fixed" (Blizzard don't fix, they nerf & tinker) and 50+% off or something.

 

[RPD]

I spent some time playing the beta two weeks ago. I played it both in the new graphics mode and in legacy graphics mode.

The thing is an outright mess. Choppy, input is not snappy and feels disconnected. Performance of the new graphics mode is literal garbage. Hitboxes don't seem to be correctly placed or sized.

We went back and forth a few times between Diablo 2 and the remastered version and it's not even comparable. Diablo 2 is very smooth and fluid and responds extremely well to input - they've simply managed to screw that up in the remastered version. This is true even in legacy graphics mode, and in fact makes it even more apparent it's very much not right since it makes it very easy to directly compare to the original.

Not to mention the new "battle.net" they're using for remastered seems to have all the same issues the old battlenet did, except even worse. Frequent massive desyncs, disconnecting all the time, still queues to create a game.

Even if they can fix or address most of these concerns, I have significant doubts they can fix up the choppiness and input issues to the point where it's as good as the original.

I won't be buying it.

So since there was a free beta this past weekend I decided to try it out on my PS4, here are my comments.
Having exclusively played on PC, going to console sucked.
Annoyed it was only playable to end of Act2.
They seriously toned down the difficulty, first Act boss was much easier than I remember.
Which leads me to my next point, Act2 boss WTF, I don't know if it was because I was playing on a older system (but really PS4 can't handle load times?) but they kept the stupid load lag for Duriel when you enter his chamber. Not sure if they did this to stay true to the original, but fuck it's annoying. The only way I stayed alive was the feedback on the controller I was getting hit to drink rejuv potions so I didn't load a "YOU DEAD" screen.

The respec stuff they added was nice, but didn't realize it was only one per difficultly or end game you can farm stuff.

My middle son liked it, he was playing a summoner druid, but it was rather humorous when he tried to argue points about the game with me. I'm like do you realize how many hours in this game I've played? So he thought I was some prophet whenever he was stuck and I told him exactly what to do. But it was a very stark contrast in difficulty and ease of getting items compared to his only Diablo experience being D3.

Oh also, it was super annoying when your character would get stuck on shit where he couldn't path, randomly stop or walk or walk REALLY slow (stamina wasn't empty), this was never a thing in the original. There were a few other wtf this wasn't in the game before type control issues but already forgot them.

 

[aigomorla]

I'm like do you realize how many hours in this game I've played?

LOL.... i said this exact comment to my cousins who thought he were the "gurus" in the game.
Then my other cousin starting balling on the floor laughing, as he also told them, that i probably had more then 6k hours in the game, and at one point in time was even on both Hardcore and regular ladder with a lvl 92 Barbarian on hardcore.
I gave up on the game afterwards, as i had not that much time left, near the end of my college years trying to graduate in 4 yrs and not 5 like most do.

Oh also, it was super annoying when your character would get stuck on shit where he couldn't path, randomly stop or walk or walk REALLY slow (stamina wasn't empty), this was never a thing in the original. There were a few other wtf this wasn't in the game before type control issues but already forgot them.

yeah i don't remember this either... if we had this in the normal version on hardcore, i think i would of never made it to lvl92....
Barbarian is all about movement, next to sorceress, and i remember i would leap around the map, and run.

Playing the Amazon tho was fun again.... i wonder if the thunder jav build will pick up in this version, as i remember it was stupidly OP for PvE farming, and many screamed to the please NERF, as it would even give my other barbarian build a good run for its money.

Also i don't remember there ever being a "attack raiting" in the Original LoD.
Was it implemented at the end after i quit?
I remember it being in Diablo 3, but not 2.

 

[RPD]

LOL.... i said this exact comment to my cousins who thought he were the "gurus" in the game.
Then my other cousin starting balling on the floor laughing, as he also told them, that i probably had more then 6k hours in the game, and at one point in time was even on both Hardcore and regular ladder with a lvl 92 Barbarian on hardcore.
I gave up on the game afterwards, as i had not that much time left, near the end of my college years trying to graduate in 4 yrs and not 5 like most do.



yeah i don't remember this either... if we had this in the normal version on hardcore, i think i would of never made it to lvl92....
Barbarian is all about movement, next to sorceress, and i remember i would leap around the map, and run.

Playing the Amazon tho was fun again.... i wonder if the thunder jav build will pick up in this version, as i remember it was stupidly OP for PvE farming, and many screamed to the please NERF, as it would even give my other barbarian build a good run for its money.

Also i don't remember there ever being a "attack raiting" in the Original LoD.
Was it implemented at the end after i quit?
I remember it being in Diablo 3, but not 2.

Yes it was in the original as I remember items having the +attack rating roll on them. I played a paladin, wanted to make a conviction build as I recalled that was the only way you could shatter "Immune X" prefixes on monsters. The infinity rune word doesn't have a high enough level on it.

 

[DeathReborn]

LOL.... i said this exact comment to my cousins who thought he were the "gurus" in the game.
Then my other cousin starting balling on the floor laughing, as he also told them, that i probably had more then 6k hours in the game, and at one point in time was even on both Hardcore and regular ladder with a lvl 92 Barbarian on hardcore.
I gave up on the game afterwards, as i had not that much time left, near the end of my college years trying to graduate in 4 yrs and not 5 like most do.



yeah i don't remember this either... if we had this in the normal version on hardcore, i think i would of never made it to lvl92....
Barbarian is all about movement, next to sorceress, and i remember i would leap around the map, and run.

Playing the Amazon tho was fun again.... i wonder if the thunder jav build will pick up in this version, as i remember it was stupidly OP for PvE farming, and many screamed to the please NERF, as it would even give my other barbarian build a good run for its money.

Also i don't remember there ever being a "attack raiting" in the Original LoD.
Was it implemented at the end after i quit?
I remember it being in Diablo 3, but not 2.

I just fired up D2 LoD and it does indeed have Attack Rating, no invisible walls either. D2 LoD just plays infinitely better than the D2R open beta did, they should release the handbrake and let it fly.

 

[aigomorla]

Wow i think im growing senile with age... lol....
i swear i don't remember attack raiting....

Then again i recall quitting right before the necromancer got its two handed sword update.

 

[Zeze]

Wow i think im growing senile with age... lol....
i swear i don't remember attack raiting....

Then again i recall quitting right before the necromancer got its two handed sword update.

You noob and you call yourself a classic gamer?

Attack Rating started from Diablo 1, it's not new. It's a dominant feature of the entire Diablo franchise.

You gotta keep your Attack Rating up. It directly calculates against opponent's Armor Class (AC).

Higher your attack rating than enemy's armor = higher chance to hit or 'successfully land a meaningful blow'.

 

[Zeze]

So this game launches tomorrow.

I upgraded my PC to Win10 just for this (from 7.. yea it was out of support).

The battle.net client already pre-loaded the game (about 30 gigs).

They'll start at 11a est tomorrow. CANT WAIT.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

So this game launches tomorrow.

I upgraded my PC to Win10 just for this (from 7.. yea it was out of support).

The battle.net client already pre-loaded the game (about 30 gigs).

They'll start at 11a est tomorrow. CANT WAIT.

It's going to suck. I've been playing Diablo 2 vanilla 1.00 for a few weeks with a friend and it's been infinitely more fun than the time we spent playing the remastered version in open beta.

We just got ahold of some 1.07 expansion CD's to be able to play expansion launch version, as well.

 

[Zeze]

It's going to suck. I've been playing Diablo 2 vanilla 1.00 for a few weeks with a friend and it's been infinitely more fun than the time we spent playing the remastered version in open beta.

We just got ahold of some 1.07 expansion CD's to be able to play expansion launch version, as well.

What's wrong with it? Lots of gaming personalities loved the beta. Especially established old school diablo2 speedrunners.

Unlike the disaster that was Warcraft 3 reforged, this looks to be on the right track based on several indicators.