what happened to the characters from diablo 2

"Many moons have passed since I left the town of Tristram behind me. Since then I've tried to forget the terrors I beheld beneath the common cold earth, and the twisted nightmares that have haunted my every waking moment. There'south something dark within me now; I tin can feel information technology, driving me towards the E, assuring me that my salvation lies within the ruins of ancient kingdoms. Though I know the manner, I know non what perils will arise to hinder my journey, and as I laissez passer through the kickoff gate, I know that the better part of my soul will remain behind... forever."

— The Night Wanderer narrating the cinematic trailer.^(src)

Diablo II
Programmer(southward)	Blizzard North
Publisher(s)	NA Blizzard Entertainment European union Sierra Amusement HanbitSoft
Benefactor(s)	Blizzard
Designer(due south)	David Brevik Stieg Hedlund Erich Schaefer Max Schaefer Eric Sexton Michio Okamura
Series	Diablo
Version	1.14d
Released	NA June 29, 2000 PAL June 30, 2000
Genre(due south)	Activity part-playing game (hack and slash)
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Ratings	M
Platform(s)	PC/Mac
Media	3 CD-ROMs (Play, Install, and Cinematics discs)
Arrangement requirements	Mac Bone G3 processor or equivalent, System 8.ane or later, 64 MB RAM plus Virtual Memory, 650MB drive space, 4X CD-ROM drive, 256 color display at 800x600 resolution Windows 233 MHz Pentium or better, 32 MB RAM, 650 MB drive space, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX uniform video card
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

Diablo Two , the sequel to the popular game Diablo, is a dark, fantasy-themed activeness role-playing game in a hack-and-slash or "dungeon roaming" style. After the Stress Test in spring 2000, it was released for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS in the summer 2000 past Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo II was developed by Blizzard Northward.

By April 2001, Diablo 2 had become 1 of the nigh popular online games of all time. Major factors that contributed to Diablo 2'due south success include what fans found to exist addictive hack-and-slash gameplay and free access to Battle.net. Diablo Ii may be played as a single-player game, multi-player via a LAN, or multi-player via Battle.net, with the last option beingness the most popular i.

The game was conceptualized and designed by Stieg Hedlund, along with Blizzard North founders David Brevik, Max and Erich Schaefer interim every bit project heads for the other disciplines. The main production roles were handled past Matthew Householder and Nib Roper.

An expansion, Diablo Two: Lord of Destruction, was released in 2001.

Contents

• i Story
• two Gameplay
  • 2.1 Respawning
  • ii.2 Grapheme classes
    • 2.ii.1 Amazon
    • ii.2.2 Barbarian
    • two.two.3 Sorceress
    • 2.2.iv Necromancer
    • 2.2.5 Paladin
  • 2.3 Multi-player
  • 2.iv Easter eggs
    • 2.4.1 Secret Moo-cow Level
  • ii.5 Chat Gem
  • ii.half-dozen Special target lawmaking alteration
• 3 Development
  • 3.1 Design Document
  • three.2 Design Teams
  • three.3 Artwork
  • three.4 Classes
  • 3.five Locations and Map Design
  • three.half dozen Story
• 4 Reception
• 5 Video
• 6 Trivia
• 7 See also
• eight References
• 9 External links

Story

The story of Diablo 2 takes place soon later on the finish of the original Diablo. At the end of Diablo, Diablo, Lord of Terror was defeated past a mortal hero. The hero who slew Diablo (i.e. the player graphic symbol of the commencement game) drives the soulstone of Diablo (a magical stone containing the soul of a demon or angel) into his own head in an try to contain Diablo in his own body. Subsequently this event, the hero is rapidly corrupted past Diablo and slowly loses command of Diablo's soul. In the opening cinematic of Diablo II, Marius, the narrator of the story, witnesses the fallen hero (known simply as the Dark Wanderer) totally lose command, unleashing the demons of Hell upon a tavern. Marius is the only survivor (information technology is implied that rather than just being blind luck, the demons were ignoring him), and he feels compelled to follow the Wanderer for reasons he himself does not understand. The new player character is a unlike hero post-obit in the wake of the devastation, chasing the Nighttime Wanderer, hoping to put an end to the demon lord within him. The new hero ultimately catches up to the Wanderer outside the city of Kurast but is unable to end him. The residuum of the story is revealed through the four acts, as the actor faces not merely the demon lord Diablo, but 2 new major villains, his every bit malevolent brothers, swain Prime Evils Mephisto, Lord of Hatred and Baal, Lord of Destruction. Diablo is determined to free them from their soulstone incarceration, which was forced upon all 3 long ago, and from which Diablo managed to suspension free in the first game. The hero travels through different lands to thwart the forces of The Burning Hells from conquering the world known every bit Sanctuary.

The story tells most seven "Corking Evils" (with 7 totalling the number of the powers of hell); five are killed in Diablo II. 3 are directly slain in Diablo III, though all seven are finer slain at once due to Diablo becoming the Prime Evil.

The "Lesser Evils"

• Andariel, the Maiden of Anguish (besides known as the Demon Queen, slain in Diablo II, Act I)

A adequately powerful enemy using mainly poisonous substance-based attacks. She uses homing poison arrows, poison spray and the weak claws on her back in mitt-to-mitt boxing. She is constitute in the lesser level of the monastery behind a large set up of wooden doors, surrounded by her minions.

• Duriel, the Lord of Hurting (likewise known as the Maggot King, slain in Diablo Ii, Act II)

A very fast and very ambitious enemy. His pure physical strength can easily overwhelm an unprepared player. He attacks using his large claws, and may also freeze the player, making information technology even easier for him to quickly dispense of opposition. He is found in the true Tomb of Tal Rasha by placing the Horadric Staff into a pedestal.

• Belial, the Lord of Lies (also known as the Master of Charade, appears in Diablo III)
• Azmodan, the Lord of Sin (too known as the General of Vices, appears in Diablo III)

The "Prime number Evils"

• Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred (eldest of three brothers, slain in Diablo II, human activity 3)

He uses several powerful lightning attacks and doesn't accept a melee set on. He can be found in his lair in the temple city of Travincal in Kurast by destroying the Compelling Orb that locked him in his lair. You must employ a unique flail called Khalim's Volition to destroy it, created after finding the relics of Khalim and transmuting them with Khalim'south flail in a Horadric Cube. Beware of the many allies and minions he has throughout the Durance of Hate-the Quango Members in particular. Maffer Dragonhand is nearly as dangerous equally Mephisto himself.

• Diablo, the Lord of Terror (slain in Diablo II, deed IV, also appears in Diablo I and Diablo Iii)

The Leader of the Three. He uses the fire element. He is a powerful boss, especially in later on difficulties. Beware of his Reddish Lightning Hose attack, which resembles a long red stream of lightning spraying from his mouth, as even characters with good vitality can be killed in one full blast, information technology is the strongest attack in the game. However, this attack is slower than most of his other ones and can be easily avoided. His attacks include Red Lightning Hose, Fire ring, Firestorm (similar to the Druid'south only much stronger, the aforementioned released by Hellfire torch), Bone Prison (bandage on town portals), Cold Touch (freezes you) and a melee attack, in which he will charge chop-chop toward the histrion. He appears after activating the five seals and defeating their protectors, the Lord De Seis (Unique Oblivion Knight), Infector of Souls (Unique Venom Lord) and Grand Vizier of Anarchy (Unique Doom Caster).

• Baal, the Lord of Destruction (slain in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, act V)

He is found in the Worldstone Proceed. After destroying the 5 swarms of his minions, he'll walk into the portal to The Worldstone Chamber, the battlefield. He uses burn down strikes and a common cold attack, the latter of which causes a severe knock back, likewise as freezing, a kind of Inferno that drains your mana and as well a curse that volition damage you if you try to bandage any spell (he only uses it if you have more than mana than life). He besides summons a re-create of himself, capable of using all of his attacks, only adding to the troubles of anyone attempting to slay the Lord of Destruction.

Gameplay

The actor assumes the role of a hero, fighting monsters while traversing over land and dungeons. The storyline of Diablo II is played through 4 acts. Each human action follows a predetermined path with preselected quests, although some quests are optional. Each act culminates with the destruction of a boss monster, upon which the player gain to the adjacent human action. The battle is conducted in existent-fourth dimension, using an isometric oblique summit-downwards viewpoint. Players fight monsters to level their character up and proceeds better items.

Diablo II places heavy accent on combat, and randomly generates many monster properties, level layouts and detail drops. Most of the maps themselves are randomly generated. In single-player mode, the map is randomly generated only locks the setting thereafter; in multi-player mode, it resets every time the dungeon is restarted.

Diablo II allows the actor to choose between five different character classes: Necromancer, Amazon, Barbarian, Sorceress and Paladin. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses and sets of skills to cull from.

In addition to the 4 acts, there are also 3 difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell. A character must complete these difficulty levels in social club; just one time a character completes Normal difficulty can that grapheme play at Nightmare difficulty, and similarly for Hell difficulty. Each difficulty is a greater claiming than the last, with such features as increased animal difficulty, experience penalties upon decease, and other challenges. A graphic symbol retains all abilities, equipment, etc., between difficulties, and may render to earlier difficulties at whatsoever fourth dimension. Upon completion of the game in Normal difficulty, a player may create a hardcore character. While for normal players the game doesn't finish when they die, the game ends when a hardcore grapheme is killed.

Diablo Ii also has a number of other features that enhance gameplay. The thespian has the pick of hiring one of several computer-controlled mercenaries, that follow the thespian and assault nearby enemies. On occasion, the player might find a rare, valuable item, or 1 that is part of a set that becomes more powerful when the entire prepare is nerveless. Items tin be customized using sockets and gems, or transmuted into different items using the Horadric Cube.

Respawning

Unlike Diablo I, where the monsters all stay dead once killed, and their corpses remain where they fell all throughout the game, if you relieve-and-exit and return to the game, all of the killed creatures accept respawned. Even the dominate monsters that you lot killed for the quest will accept respawned equally well.

This volition plow out to be rather frustrating for any player who is a completist. The upward-side, notwithstanding, is the newly respawned monster still drops loot and tin keep earning you loads of riches.

Character classes

Amazon

The Amazon is an active skill-oriented fighter. Her skills are oriented around personal protective abilities, the use of a bow and arrow, as well as the spear and javelin.

The Amazon is most similar to the Rogue of Diablo: both are primarily associated with bows, and both make equal employ of strength and magic. The Amazon is different in that she tin can besides apply javelins and spears adeptly. The form is loosely based on the Amazons of mythology.

Barbaric

The Barbarian is a powerful melee-oriented character in Diablo ii, and the only character capable of dual-wielding. His skills are divided into various weapon masteries, state of war cries, and combat skills. The masteries are purely passive and let the Barbaric to specialize in dissimilar types of weapons and to gain natural speed and resistances. His war cries can enhance his and his political party's abilities in combat, reduce the enemy'due south abilities, frighten the enemy into fleeing and fifty-fifty cause considerable impairment to them. The Barbarian's combat skills are attacks that maximize animal force, his greatest asset.

The Barbarians, in Diablo 2, originated from the Northern Highlands, which is where Human activity 5 of the expansion takes place, and can also be hired as mercenaries in that Human activity.

A different Barbarian was planned for Hellfire, the unofficial Diablo "expansion" released by Sierra Entertainment. Though not included in the final version, the character was bachelor as a subconscious grade in Patch one.01 for Hellfire. The graphic symbol had the same appearance and speech as the Warrior merely had altered statistics and different abilities.

The Barbarian, despite beingness a strict melee character, can be very constructive. In Hell mode, the natural resistance for all characters drop and the Barbarian is the merely class that tin passively increment his resistance through a skill.

Sorceress

The Sorceress focuses on ranged elemental spells in three areas: ice, lightning and fire. Her ice spells can chill or fifty-fifty completely freeze afflicted enemies, but practise less damage than lightning or fire. Lightning spells can do both very high and very low damage, whereas fire spells deal more consistent impairment.

The spell Teleport essentially defines the Sorceress, assuasive much faster mobility than any other character. The strong point of the Sorceress is powerful damaging spells and casting speed; her weakness is her relatively low hit points and defence force, enervating that the histrion pay close attention to keep her out of the fray.

Sorceresses are, according to the storyline, rebellious women who have wrested the secrets of magic use from the male-dominated magus clans of the Due east..

Necromancer

The Necromancer is a spell-pulley who relies on summoning spirits of the dead to assist him in his piece of work. His skills are split into curses, summoning, poison and bone spells. The summoning skills allow him to revive various skeletons, golems and any monster killed (Including Diablo). However, it is to exist noted that with the exception of golems, all of the necromancer's summons require existing monster corpses. Toxicant and os skills are the necromancer'southward actual means of straight out damage. Bone skills as well concur means for creating obstacles and such, making for great PVP support. Expletive skills grade an integral office of a necromancer'due south arsenal ability to produce curses and hexes in both PVP and PVE. These powers profoundly alter gameplay for both the caster as well as the target.

Paladin

The Paladin is a religious warrior fighting for all that is good. To reverberate this, the zealous Paladin'southward combat skills range from fanatical attacks to heavenly thunderbolts. His skills are split up into combat skills, defensive auras, and offensive auras, of which, the latter two can enhance personal abilities, lower the corporeality of damage dealt by enemies, or facilitate health recovery. These auras are helpful in a multi-player game as many of them can be used to upgrade all of the political party's stats. Most auras require no mana which makes a Paladin a very economic character as he needs to spend little to nothing on mana recovery. Paladins are highly good in the use of a shield, and they may even use their shield as a weapon. He is the best with defensive skills and is also the best choice if the player wishes to weaken enemies without hitting them or casting any spells. Paladin skills are extremely efficient at eliminating the undead.

Multi-player

Dissimilar the original Diablo, Diablo II was made specifically with online gaming in mind. Several spells multiply their effectiveness if they are cast within a party, and dungeons, although they nevertheless be, were largely replaced by open spaces.

Multi-role player is achieved through Blizzard's Battle.internet gratuitous online service, or via a LAN. Battle.cyberspace is divided into "Open" and "Closed" realms. Players may play their unmarried-thespian characters on open up realms; characters in closed realms are stored on Blizzard's servers, as a measure out against cheating, where they must exist played every xc days to avoid expiration. Online play is otherwise nearly identical to single-player play. The near notable difference is that online maps are generated randomly, with a new map for every game a role player enters. Offline, single-player maps are retained in computer memory.

As the game can be played cooperatively, groups of players with specific sets of complementary skills tin end some of the game's climactic battles in a matter of seconds, providing potent incentives for party-oriented character builds. Up to eight players can be in one game; they can either unite equally a unmarried party, play every bit individuals, or class multiple opposing parties. Feel, monsters' striking points, and the number of items dropped are increased equally more players join a game.

Players are allowed to duel each other with all damage beingness reduced in player versus player. The bounty for a successful kill is a portion of the aureate and the ear of the defeated player's graphic symbol.

Patch 1.10 included the option of playing with a ladder character. The ladder system can be reset at various intervals to allow for all players to start fresh with new characters on an equal footing. Ladder seasons have lasted from equally brusque as ix months to over a year. When a ladder season ends the ladder population is transferred to the non-ladder population with all items that the histrion is holding. Certain rare items and rune words are bachelor only within ladder games, although they can be traded for and exchanged on not-ladder later the season has concluded.

Upwards to twenty-3 patches have been released for Diablo 2. Through the patch history, several exploits and issues have been addressed, likewise as major revamps to the game's balance. Not all patches have affected Diablo Two direct, as several were designed to address problems in the expansion to the game and had minimal effects on Diablo Ii. The game is currently in version 1.xiv. The exact number of patches is impossible to determine as Boxing.net has the adequacy of making minor server-side patches to address immediate issues.

Easter eggs

If a user is to blazon in 'soundchaosdebug' in the chat window on Battle.net or in unmarried-thespian mode, every sound file in the game is played in a chaotic muddle that lasts until the histrion reenters the code.

Surreptitious Cow Level

The "Hush-hush Moo-cow Level" is the outcome of a running joke from the original Diablo that spawned from an Internet rumour nearly a cow that appears in the game, seemingly without purpose. Supposedly, if the cow was clicked on a certain number of times, a portal to a secret level would open (In that location were likewise variations involving Adria's Shack, such equally needing to become (counter)clockwise around information technology a certain number of times before clicking the cow. These were usually used to extend the amount of time that the hoax was believed, as it was normally a high number (ex. 37), and new players could often be convinced several times that they had miscounted in 1 of the steps, reversed the numbers, or both) The rumour was a hoax, but the legend was born, and thespian later player asked Blizzard nigh how to admission the level.

In Diablo: Hellfire, the but expansion to the original Diablo (This "expansion" is actually considered an "add together-on", since it was not an official release, but instead released by Sierra Entertainment), it was possible to change a parameter in a specific text file (Command.txt), and so that the farmer who gives out the "rune bomb" quest was dressed in a moo-cow arrange, with advisable new dialogue ("Moo." "I said Moo!"). This added fuel to the burn. To impale the rumour, Blizzard included a cheat (that automatically won the game) in StarCraft that read "There is no moo-cow level", this being Blizzard's way of officially confirming that there was, in fact, no Cow Level.^[i] Amid online game enthusiasts, this phrase has get an Net joke similar to the phrase There Is No Cabal.

April, 1st, 1999 Screenshot of the week

On April 1, 1999, a Diablo Two Screenshot of the Calendar week featured cows fighting. People wondered if the screenshot was an Apr Fool's joke or if there actually was a Hugger-mugger Cow Level planned for Diablo II. It turned out that there was a cow level. To access the level, 1 must kill Diablo (or, in Lord of Destruction, kill Baal), return to Rogue Encampment in Deed I inside the same difficulty level, and then transmute Wirt'southward Leg with a Tome of Town Portal in the Horadric Cube. This will open a portal to the undercover level (defeating Baal in the difficulty that the actor wishes to enter the moo-cow level in is no longer required, equally of Patch i.11b. One only needs to be able to admission a certain difficulty to enter its cow level). There is an item set named the "Cow Rex'due south Leathers" which may merely be collected in this secret level. However, when a player kills the Cow Male monarch for their get-go time on a difficulty level, the character used to open the portal becomes unable to reopen the portal to the level on that difficulty level.

Chat Gem

In that location exists a royal chat jewel that is simply visible when within of a chat aqueduct. There are many theories virtually the purpose of this precious stone. There is, however, no purpose for this precious stone aside from a meaningless message. The jewel toggles betwixt an active and inactive state. When activated, a chat message appears stating, "Precious stone Activated" and also, a bulletin "Precious stone Deactivated" is shown when it becomes inactive. It can also say "Perfect Gem Activated" but the chances, all the same, are very low. Information technology has also been said that information technology sometimes can be heard lowing.

Special target code amending

There is a "crook" for Diablo II and Lord of Destruction. If one correct clicks on the Diablo Ii icon on the desktop and goes to properties they'll come across three tabs: "General," "Shortcut," and "Compatibility." Click on "Shortcut," and at the end of the file path located to the right of "Target," enter a space and a dash after the quotation mark, then the human action to which the character is wanted to get. For example, " -act 5" (without the quotation marks) will have you to Act V. Click "Utilise," start the game, and create a new character. The character volition outset in whichever deed is chosen. Some other interesting thing most this is the grapheme level; depending on which action is chosen, the character's level volition be set to a specific amount. However, this will not touch a character's inventory, which will be express to the standard Act 1 starter items.

Development

This page contains obsolete content This article contains information that is no longer relevant to gameplay, but is kept here for informational purposes.

The idea of Diablo II began in the three-month menses that followed the launch of its predecessor. Blizzard North bounced around ideas for their adjacent game.^[two] At the time, the developers were "kind of ill of Diablo" (according to David Brevik), and wanted to brand a different game. Diablo I had been the longest game they'd worked on, and at the time, Blizzard Due south was shifting from Warcraft Ii to StarCraft, and it was expected that Blizzard North'south side by side game would demonstrate a similar departure. However, as Blizzard North connected to patch Diablo I, and the issue of cheating became apparent on battle.net, the team began to see how the original game could exist improved.^[iii] Over fourth dimension, the thought of a sequel crept into their discussions.^[2] 4th months afterwards Diablo I was released,^[three] Diablo 2 was settled on. Staff looked at ideas they had sought to implement for the previous game and compiled customer feedback. It was intended that Diablo 2 be "bigger and better" in every fashion.^[2] Less than one% of the code and art of the original game were reused for Diablo II.^[4] The first priority was to set the issue of cheating that had plagued Diablo I. The 2nd priority was to update the classes.^[5]

The evolution squad consisted of between 45 and 60 individuals.^[6] New staff were hired to work on the game. A two-year development cycle was estimated for the game. Most of the fourth dimension was spent on perfecting the game's first act, as it would probable be used in a beta test or demo.^[2]

Work on the game began in 1997. The first six months of development were boring and relaxed, as the visitor was burnt out from their work on Diablo I.^[2] It was publically appear on September nine of that yr, with an estimated release of 1998 provided.^[vii] Past the second one-half of the year, the game's commencement deed had been created, including its town hub, surrounding landscapes, and the initial dungeons. By the end of the year, the game'due south feel and await had been solidified.^[ii] Planning ahead during development ranged from periods of one calendar week to ane calendar month.^[8]

Blizzard Southward was active in the game's development over the 1997-'99 menstruum. The sometimes adversarial collaboration led to the creation of "strike teams," which moved betwixt projects to give feedback and advice.^[nine] Strike teams continue to exist used by Blizzard South equally of 2014.^[10]

The game'due south "crunch period" of development began in May/June 1999.^[11] It lasted about 18 months, with staff working 12-16 hr days, 7 days a week. The crunch was so bad that developers were held back to work on the game rather than moving onto Lord of Destruction.^[6] The developers aimed to release the game by the terminate of 1999. In late September/early October, David Brevik contacted Mike Morhaime of Blizzard South to announce that the game couldn't be completed within the yr. Blizzard South took the news in pace and gave the developers an extension of the crunch catamenia, simply urged that the game had to be completed. By this stage of evolution, the game was in a playable state, but the developers had yet to reach the Hell department of the game (which was implemented in Feb/March of 2000).^[xi]

The entire fill-in of the game'southward source code and assets was lost at the "eleventh hour" of the game'south development. The team was able to reconstruct a lot of the code and assets from the version of Diablo II that developers took home to play.^[12]

The game'southward beta began in March of 2000.^[7] The game went gold on June 15, 2000, afterwards a twelve-calendar month "crunch flow" of evolution.^[2]

Blizzard's Classic Games team has expressed involvement in re-releasing Diablo II in some course; to integrate it with the current boxing.net platform.^[13] However, a remaster of the game is unlikely, due to the loss of the original game's assets.^[12]

Blueprint Document

"In that location was no definitive design document [for Diablo Two]. There was a loose structure. 'Hey, I know we wanted to go here for Diablo 1, this is kind of the first act. This is kind of the story we're telling in that location.' And so we go to the 2nd deed, and "Hey, where practise we desire to get," and then, 'Oh, I got this idea for this level, it's going to be in space, information technology's going to exist awesome.' And we'd mock it up. 'Yeah, that's bang-up. Doesn't make whatsoever sense in the story, but what the hell, it's kind of cool.'"

— David Brevik^(src)

The game never had an official design document.^[2] What became the game's equivalent was finer a wish list for features created by Erich Schaefer.^[fourteen] Reportedly, the document was only half a page long, and stuffed in a desk drawer and forgotten almost before long afterward.^[vi]

The squad sought the post-obit additions:

• Four towns, instead of the original game's single i.
• More character classes.
• More dungeons, along with wilderness tilesets.
• An expanded listing of items, magic, and skills, along with a greater variety of appearances that stemmed from which items were equipped.
• Random monster generation.
• Improved graphics, with true transparency, coloured light sources, and a quasi-3D perspective style.
• The story would be factored in from the beginning, and have begetting on the quests.^[ii]

Design Teams

The staff working on Diablo 2 were divided into the following teams:

• Programming
• Character art (anything that moved)
• Groundwork fine art (anything that didn't motion)

The design was largely an open process, with members of each team contributing outside their field. Blizzard Due south also contributed to the game's network lawmaking and battle.net support.^[2]

Artwork

The development team began working on the game's art in mid-1997.^[fifteen] Almost all of Diablo Ii's in-game and cinematic art was synthetic and rendered in 3D Studio Max, while textures and 2D interface elements were created primarily with Photoshop. The programmers wrote in C and some C++, using Visual Studio and SourceSafe for version control.^[ii] Early on comments on the graphics stated that they were likewise pixilated. Erich Schaefer defended the graphic choices but commented that Diablo Two would likely be Blizzard North's last second game.^[fifteen]

Detailed sketches of settings preceded the bodily modelling of the background art.^[2] The environments themselves were constructed using algorithms.^[v] Equally shortly every bit a slice of the mural was painted, it was added piecemeal.^[16]

The developers considered making the game 3D, given that other PC games at the time were taking advantage of new 3D hardware. However, the decision was made to make the game 2D, as according to Brevik, 3D technology "wasn't quite there" (at the time), and it was felt that equally a 2D action game, it could look meliorate and have more than stuff on screen at the fourth dimension.^[3]

When designing the game's locations, Blizzard Northward took inspiration from real-world locations.^[17]

Classes

An case of the game'south grade artwork

Each thespian character in the game is 75 pixels alpine. However, all were modelled and rendered in high resolution for use on the character selection screen and in promotional materials.^[2]

The idea of five classes was hammered out over several months.^[5] During the development of the game, it was originally intended that the classes be archetypes (albeit with slight differences from standard RPG classes)^[8] that boiled down to the roles of fighter, rogue, and spell caster, based on a sub-course principle. The rogue would co-operative out into sisters (of the Sightless Eye lodge) and hunters/rangers, the fighter into a templar/paladin or berserker, and the spell caster into the sorceress or necromancer. Blizzard North decided against the idea because multiple genders would mean animating a total of 10 models, that, combined with the game'south component organization, would make the chore too big to undertake.^[18] The game's skill trees were effectively away to formalize form pathways/builds, and make information technology easier for players to specialize their character.^[eight]

More accent was put on the visual effects of gear on classes when compared to the original game (which had possessed limited visual representation of gear due to a lack of budget). The characters were designed like dolls, in the sense that every body part would be treated as a separate component (from a pattern sense).^[5]

Development of the classes was carried out on the fly; balance concerns were addressed at the end of development.^[8]

Locations and Map Design

"If you lot await at Diablo 2, at that place are a lot of conflicting ideas that happen to click. The game still has a creepy vibe, but it's too much more vibrant than the first game. There are dungeons, simply yous spend most of your time running around outside."

— David 50. Craddock^(src)

Location-wise, Diablo Ii had a ready of locations that were thrown out during development.^[3] The locations of the game were made up on the fly, the evolution squad has the idea of going to a "desert surface area," a "jungle expanse," and then somewhen deciding to enter Hell.^[8] Blizzard Due south originally objected to the game beginning in the "Irish gaelic countryside" (Khanduras), due to the shared location with Diablo I.^[9] just the game nonetheless began in the region.

An idea that never made it into the game was the thought of the "Battle.net Town." The thought was that players wouldn't start in the b.net lobby, but in an actual boondocks, where the thespian's character could collaborate with other players and go to vendors before entering the game's acts. This was partially inspired by Ultima Online, in which members of the development squad were playing over the class of Diablo II's evolution. The team aspired to brand a game where one could walk seamlessly between areas of the earth, just this did not get in into the game, and the act structure was used instead.

Diablo Ii takes place in more open up spaces than its predecessor—the development squad took time to make sure that they weren't completely empty, and that borders were in place around the edge of the maps. In some cases, walls. This caused some controversy within the team at first due to the artificial nature of the restriction, just the business organization disappeared once they started playing it. Much playtesting went into the fields to ensure that there were enough objects to allow position-based tactics to be used, merely not and so many that the areas felt claustrophobic.^[viii]

David Fifty. Craddock has opinionated that Diablo II represents a shift from Diablo I, given the proliferation of outdoor areas. He attributed this to the arrival of new staff to work on the project, and ergo, new ideas.^[6]

Story

"Nosotros didn't really have virtually whatsoever story in heed at all, other than you are post-obit the guy from the beginning game, who stuck the precious stone in his head. You but got to track him down and kill him at the terminate. That was the entirety of the story. Actually, information technology was Blizzard South who was tasked, their flick section, it was chosen Blizzard Flick Section dorsum then, I call up, they were tasked with making cine for the game, and they actually in making the cine invented the story. Nosotros really had very fiddling to do with it. At times, we thought their story was very strange. Only, in the long run, I recollect it was a collaboration between our sort of setting the tone and populating the world with recognizable and unique looking characters and things, and them turning it into a story. Information technology was kind of contentious. At times nosotros hated each other, thought the other guys were screwing upwards the whole game. But in the end, I think information technology was very strange, and probably wouldn't piece of work out very well, but it ended up nearly anybody liked it, and people like yourself just say, 'rich story.' It didn't really. If it were just me, information technology wouldn't have had a rich story at all."

— Erich Schaefer^(src)

A cinematic shot of the "desert area" of the game (later called Aranoch)

Blizzard Due north barely had a story in heed during the development of the game. The initial idea was that the character would be following the proceeding hero from Diablo I who had stuck the soulstone into their brow, kill him, and finish the game at that place. The Blizzard Film Department (part of Blizzard South) was tasked with making cine for the game, that, in Schaefer's words, "invented" the story^[9] (it has been stated that the general story arc was crafted by Chris Metzen).^[nineteen] These sequences bracket each of the game's acts. The Film Department as well collaborated on the storyline.^[2] The decision was made to utilize the cine to tell a separate but parallel story, which generated some internal controversy,^[15] and contention from Blizzard Due north'south function, whose approach was to employ story simply equally a means of bridging areas of the game (e.g. creating a means of connecting the Act 2 desert area to the jungle in Human activity III).

1 of the game's commencement cinematics was someone serving patrons cocktails in a desert bazaar. At the time of delivery, this cinematic had "no basis in the game whatsoever." This cinematic made no appearance in the final game. However, at times, Blizzard North fabricated changes to the game based on the cinematics produced.^[9]

Reception

"Information technology was the skilful erstwhile days. Men were men, women were women, and elders in robes would tell you everything nearly anything if you'd stay a while and listen. The Lord of Terror was traipsing nearly Sanctuary spreading evil like it was going out of manner, and the merely style to stop him was to fill your pack with identify scrolls and get-go clicking."

^(src)

10-Year Anniversary artwork.

xx-Year Anniversary artwork.

Diablo II was a runaway success for Blizzard. The game has achieved an overall score of 88 on Metacritic.^[xx] Gamespy awarded the game an 86 out of 100,^[21] IGN awarded the game an eight.3 out of ten,^[22] and GameSpot awarded the game an viii.5 out of 10^[23] along with earning the 2000 runner-up Reader's Choice Award for the office-playing game of the yr.^[24] It was awarded a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records "2000 edition" for existence the fastest-selling computer game ever sold, with more than i million units sold in the commencement two weeks of availability, by January 2001, it had sold two.75 million copies worldwide.^[25] At the fourth dimension of its release, it was the fast-selling calculator game in history.^[26]

Over the years, Diablo II has moved in and out of the tiptop xx games of NPD's sales listing and since 2007, sometimes even in the top ten. The game's popularity was additional even further by the announcement of Diablo Iii and Blizzard intends to go on to support the game.^[27] It has also get one of the top thirty all-time selling computer games e'er. Including Diablo Two, the Diablo serial has sold 17 million copies.^[28]

Some negative reception towards the game occurred later on seeing its desert areas—a departure from the Gothic aesthetic of its predecessor.^[29]

Video

Diablo II (2000) - Full Official Soundtrack

Trivia

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

• When the Role player visits Diablo II'southward Tristram, the aforementioned music plays that did in Diablo's Tristram.
• Many of the characters, items and places in Diablo II take the same names equally prominent figures from the game's development team:

• Lord De Seis/Rick Seis;
• Colenzo the Annihilator/Karin Colenzo;
• Shenk the Overseer/Phil Shenk

or are anagrams or other manipulates of such names:

• Civerb's Vestments/surname of David and Peter Brevik, spelled backwards (and replacing the 'k' with a 'c');
• Schaefer's Hammer -- from Erich and Max Schaefer;
• Nokozan Relic, a unique amulet is an anagram of Karin Colenzo
• The Mahim-Oak Curio is an anagram of Michio Okamura
• Bverrit Keep/Peter Brevik
• Rusthandle/(Mark) Sutherland
• Rixot's Great/Erik Sexton
• Skewer of Krintiz/Kris Renkewitz
• Halls of Vaught, an surface area in Act V is named the same as Fredrick Vaught.

• Diablo II likewise uses the concept of undecidable figures to represent the "Arcane Sanctuary" level, since it is an extradimensional, magical construct of the wizard Horazon . Players are able to walk on a flat surface and find their characters below their starting betoken, similar to One thousand. C. Escher'south woodblock print Waterfall. The algorithm for impossible geometry was non difficult to achieve; instead, the program sees the level every bit a plane and the visual representations do the piece of work of creating this consequence. The level plays with and takes advantage of the limits of isometric project.
• There are traces of a deleted outcome/quest in Act 2 that can notwithstanding be heard past playing the graphic symbol speech files. Obviously it involved some kind of invisible, magical barrier that blocked the thespian from venturing further. The player was then supposed to head back to boondocks. The quest was obviously deleted when the palace came to be the identify where the player should be heading. It is unknown what the groundwork of the 'forcefield' was.
• Information technology is the just game in the serial to not exist ported to consoles.

See also

• Diablo II: Lord of Destruction - expansion pack.
• Diablo (game) - the predecessor.
• Diablo II version history

References

1. ↑ "The Hush-hush Moo-cow Level". http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/ The Arreat Meridian.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 two.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 ii.09 2.10 2.11 two.12 2.13} Schaefer, Erich (October 25, 2000). "Postmortem: Blizzard'southward Diablo 2". Gamasutra, archived on November 30, 2018
3. ↑ ^{three.0 3.one 3.2 iii.3} 2017-07-thirty, twenty YEARS OF DIABLO: AN IGN RETROSPECTIVE. IGN, accessed on 2017-08-04
4. ↑ 2000-x-25, Postmortem: Blizzard'due south Diablo Two. Gamasutra, accessed on 2015-07-04
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 v.ii 5.3} 2018-06-29, Designing Diablo 2: Building Blizzard's Iconic World. US Gamer, accessed on 2018-07-08
6. ↑ ^{6.0 half-dozen.1 6.2 6.three} 2019-06-28, Diablo ii Legacy Recounted past Stay Awhile and Heed Author. Diablo.cyberspace, accessed on 2019-07-03
7. ↑ ^{7.0 vii.one} Diablo Anniversary, Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed on 2017-01-xiv
8. ↑ ^{8.0 eight.1 8.2 8.three 8.four viii.5} 2015-09-08, Page ii: In Their Own Words: An Oral History of Diablo 2 With David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer. United states of america Gamer, accessed on 2015-09-13
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 nine.2 ix.3} 2015-09-13, Page 3: In Their Own Words: An Oral History of Diablo II With David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer. US Gamer, accessed on 2015-09-15
10. ↑ 2014-10-03, THE Iii LIVES OF BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT. Polygon, accessed on 2014-10-04
11. ↑ ^{xi.0 eleven.i} 2015-09-xiii, Page 4: In Their Own Words: An Oral History of Diablo Two With David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer. US Gamer, accessed on 2015-09-15
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} 2019-eleven-eighteen, How Diablo 2 Was Nearly Lost, And Why A Remaster Is Less Probable
13. ↑ 2018-x-19, Speculation: Diablo II: Remastered at BlizzCon 2018. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2018-10-22
14. ↑ 2015-09-08, In Their Ain Words: An Oral History of Diablo Two With David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer. U.s. Gamer, accessed on 2015-09-11
15. ↑ ^{xv.0 15.i 15.2} 2000-10-25, Postmortem: Blizzard'southward Diablo II. Gamastura, accessed on 2015-07-05
16. ↑ 2018-08-07, How Diablo 2 Evolved from Gothic Horror to Ballsy Fantasy. Shack News. Accessed on 2018-07-08
17. ↑ 2021-02-xx, BlizzConline 2021 - Diablo II: Resurrected Deep Swoop. YouTube, accessed on 2021-02-21
18. ↑ 2012-10-12, Diablo Was to be Classless, Diablo Ii About Received a 2d Expansion. GameBanshee, accessed on 2013-09-ten
19. ↑ 2008-08-12, Designer: 'Diablo 3' Rounds Out Trilogy, Just Not The Terminate Of 'Diablo'. MTV, accessed on 2016-01-23
20. ↑ http://world wide web.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/diablo2?q=diablo%20II
21. ↑ http://archive.gamespy.com/legacy/reviews/diablo2_a.shtm
22. ↑ http://pc.ign.com/objects/010/010629.html
23. ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/diablo2/review.html
24. ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/pc/bestof_2000_rc/p6.html
25. ↑ "Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade". Official U. S. Playstation Mag.
26. ↑ Blizzard Northward: Condor and Diablo, Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed on 2017-07-10
27. ↑ 2009-05-08, Blizzard Volition Dominate PC Market. Inc Gamers. Accessed on 2009-05-18
28. ↑ "Introduction to Vivendi Games". http://www.vivendi.com/ Vivendi'south online website. Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
29. ↑ 2011-eleven-29, Diablo III feature: Blizzard'southward plans to satisfy their fanbase and still deliver a fresh experience. PC Gamer, accessed on 2014-eleven-x

External links

• Official sites (archived versions):
  • pre-release, 1999 (blizzard.com/diablo2)
  • release, 2000–2008 (blizzard.com/diablo2)
  • modernized, 2009–2020 (blizzard.com/games/d2)
• The Arreat Tiptop (Official Strategy Guide)

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Source: https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Diablo_II

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