| Subject: Another game review, by Delena |
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Delena
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Date Posted: 23:03:34 06/30/01 Sat
okay, peeps! here it is! the long-awaited Diablo II: Lord of Destruction game review!
in a word.....orgasmic!
LOL! okay, okay, sorry. just had to put that in. then again, i'm a diehard, thorough fan of anything from Blizzard Entertainment. in fact, when Warcraft III comes out, we're getting that too! We own any and everything Blizzard has made, and will continue to buy their games. i mean hell, they've one game of the year with every game they've made by every major gaming magazine and organization. so they've got to be good.
but i digress...
so far i'd have to say that LoD is everything we hoped it would be. it's engaging and detailed in the extreme, challening even in Normal mode, and worth every penny. some people were grumbling that the expansion costs just as much as the original D2 ($39.99 retail), but just look at what you get! this is a very in-depth expansion, not just another patch:
you get two new character classes, 60 new skills (30 per new char) and original chars' skills have been altered and improved with the latest patch 1.08, new monsters, new items, new aspects to the items both old and new, new cinemas, new horadric recipes, added value to socketed items, a whole new Act in the Barbarian Highlands.....*sigh*. It's a whole new ballgame, baby.
the new classes are the Assassin (magekillers) and Druid. i personally began a Druid and i love him. he can turn into a werwolf or a werbear and he looks friggin awesome! he summons a flock of ravens to aid him, a pack of wolves, or if you get high enough in your levels, he summons the aid of a friggin grizzly bear that just packs a lot of whollop with each swipe!
the assassin has neat features about her, utilizing hand-to-hand combat in ways that no other char has: namely, martial arts. she uses these awesome claw-like weapons, doesn't need keys to open locked chests, and is fast as hell.
the graphics are breathtaking as usual. wouldn't expect anything less from Blizzard. there's this one summon skill that the druid knows, called Carrion Vine. what happens is that he summons a sentient plant (vine) to help him. it follows him around and every time the druid (or one of his summoned minions) kills someone, the vine will rise out of the ground and pull the corpse underground. the corpse will explode and the vine returns a certain % of life points back to the druid. but the graphics on that carrion vine are just boggling to watch, and when it eats a corpse, there's an explosion of body parts and blood. in a good melee with a horde of attackers, that vine leaves just a mass of body parts and pools of blood everywhere.
ahh, it's a beautiful thing!
the improvements to the items, and the addition of new unique and set items, make the collecting of items and equipping your char a new art. it was strategy before, but now equipping is an art form. items that players used to kill for (yes, they actually killed other players for these items) are yesterday's news and scorned in favor of these newly introduced, higher-quality items.
and now, in Acts I, II, and III you could hire mercenaries that would follow you around and fight alongside you. however, the nature of hirelings made them nothing more than cannon fodder. now with LoD you can equip them with a helmet, a weapon, and armor. you can heal them at will by giving them a potion (and they say "Thanks!" when you do, lol), and monitor their attributes and levels. yes, they gain levels just like you do! plus, you can resurrect them for a price if they die. people are becoming much more concerned about their mercs now, and are buying them equipment and taking care of them in ways you never saw in D2.
another spectacular thing about the expansion are the introduction of charms, runes, and jewels. jewels act just like gems, in that you place them in socketed items and they give you additional attributes. charms and runes are very coveted because of this one aspect: you don't need to equip them to enjoy their benefits! all you need to do is carry them in your inventory on you, and you can enjoy all the benefits of all the runes/charms you can carry! however, this means that your space to carry fine items you've found is limited because you've got so many charms/runes on you. so be careful, and utilize space wisely!
Act 5 is worth every penny of those forty bucks. the playing fields are expansive. i'm talking extremely huge. the quests are engaging and further the story, so the expansion is not just a cheap exploitation of D2's popularity. plus, there are mini-quests that you can find to complete along the way. you'll know them because they're red portals such as you find to go from Act 3 to 4 after you defeat Mephisto, or to go from 4 to 5 that Tyreal gives you. or, that you find to go to the Secret Cow Level! lol
i just love the Secret Cow Level! moo moo, moo moo moo moo moo! *falls on the floor giggling and kicking her feet*
ahem! okay, back to business.
Lord of Destruction is much more team oriented than before. it's impossible to run through solo in Nightmare and Hell modes because the quests are just too damn difficult. the swarms of monsters are bigger, there are more Champion monsters (and new classes of champs, as well!) and Unique monsters, and they're a hell of a lot stronger. plus, in teams you can utilize the different aspects of each char (i.e. the Sorceress' skill Static Field, the Amazon's skill Multiple Shot, the Barbarian's Battle Cries, the defensive and offensive auras of the Paladin, and the brute strength of the Druid's minions.
plus, there's better chances of finding rare/unique/set items if you're Allied than if you're not. you get the traditional benefits of partying up, plus experience bonuses, and the quantity of found items. clans are going to be much more valuable than before. and it just so happens that Phoenix Night is going expansion! if you want to join up, we'll be more than happy to accept you! remember, you're close, personal friends with the Webmistress and Empress of Phoenix Night! (namely moi...)
the quests are extremely challenging. so it's not as if you can breeze through them. just imagine the expansive playing fields of the Flayer Jungle coupled with the difficulty level of opening the Five Seals that free Diablo. especially when you get to Baal. he's a real snot. not like i'm going to give you any help on what kind of crap he pulls on you!
that's what the strategy guide's for! which is another thing. i very highly recommend buying yourself a strategy guide for LoD because it not only breaks down each char's skills and a full description of their abilities at each level, but it gives you a full listing of new items, their attributes, runes, charms, combinations for socketed items (which kick ass now, btw), etc. it's an in-depth coverage of all aspects of the game. and the expansion is so...well...expanded that you almost NEED a strat guide!
then again, conversation over dinner with the mate is mainly about LoD, or other things of that nature. we're so into this game that we bought a new computer for me to play, a second copy of D2 and LoD, and networked the two computers so we could play together online with our clan members. so if we're going to spend another couple thousand dollars just to enhance our gaming experience, ther'es nothing we wouldn't do.
[btw, storm, the specs on our 2nd computer are as follows:
256 Mb RAM, 20 Gb harddrive, 1.2 Ghz Athlon Firebird processor, Soundblaster 4.1 soundcard, NVida G-Force 32 Mb graphics card, with 52x CD-ROM, cable connection and upgraded programs i.e. DirectX v8.0, etc. the sole purpose of this computer is internet capability and to play D2: LoD. i'm dead serious.]
*more detail in the review as they come
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