The Let's Play Archive

Diablo

by fleshweasel

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Original Thread: Let's Play Diablo: The sound of 1000 mice clicking forever.

 

Introduction


Video Playlist
Wikipedia link
A huge cool picture of the original box foldout
The manual
After seeing the newest footage on Diablo 3, I was compelled to revisit this classic milestone from my youth. Released in late 1996, this game practically pioneered a whole genre of action (as opposed to turn-based) RPGs often called Diablo clones.

In this game, you explore a dungeon, fighting monsters and finding loot as you go ever deeper. Every once in a while you go back to town to see what the merchants are offering and you decide whether to keep or sell the things you’ve found to afford something they’ve got. You can talk to the townspeople and receive quests, usually to retrieve something in the dungeon. It’s a relatively small and self-contained game; rather than the epic acts of Diablo 2, there’s just the one town of Tristram and 16 floors of the labyrinth that transition from the dank dungeon of a cathedral to the pits of hell.

What gives the game so much replay value is the procedural generation of dungeons; the general layout of levels, what enemies, treasure and quests appear are changed each time you play. It’s well known for its multiplayer feature, which allows 4 players to cooperate. However, since it wasn’t added into the game until fairly late in development, most quests weren’t made available in multiplayer. Because of this, and simply because of the logistics of it I’ll be playing single player. I hope to show off the multiplayer in a bonus video with whoever’s interested in joining me.

Check out this cool retrospective with Diablo series footage and interviews! Contains spoilers.

If you’re trying to play the game on Windows Vista or 7, you’ll find some issues with the color palette bugging out. You can fix it using this batch script that kills explorer.exe when you launch the game (don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt anything.)


Early artwork of the 3 classes, Sorcerer, Warrior and Rogue
I’ll be playing as the Warrior because he’s the default and the best at surviving solo for most of the game. I want to show off the other classes, and I figure the multiplayer videos would be the best opportunity. I’m also going to do my best to make him well rounded; being able to use a little magic is really important in the late game.

The Music
This plays in the title screen. Pretty cool, pretty short-- of course, you're not supposed to stay in the title screen for long. That huge organ swell at the end has probably remained undiscovered by many players.


This has got to be one of the most famous tracks in video games. People hear it and immediately know "that's Tristram." I think it really outdoes a lot of what was happening in game music at the time. There's a lot in it that really qualifies it as a serious stand-alone piece of music.


The dungeon music. This is where you start to see more use of demon cries and choir and so on. Pretty much defines Diablo. It's a very cool thing to examine as a composer and think-- what is it that makes something sound creepy?


The catacombs is where you start hearing beastly guitars way down in the mix, making you feel pretty while slaughtering demons.


The caves is where the guitar element probably peaks-- far out wah-wah and shred lines. We also start to hear a different, timpani as well as conga sort of heavy drumming.


And finally, hell. The scraping of metal and haunting choir is contrasted with a resolute flute and drumline.


Multiplayer
Hey! Let's All Play this game! I definitely want to make a few videos showing off the multiplayer mode, so please post if you'd like to join me. Add me on Skype! My name is fleshweasel.

IntroYouTube
Level 1: Getting Our BearingsYouTube
Level 2: Tainted WaterYouTube
Level 3: Trying New ThingsYouTube
Level 4: Talking AnimalsYouTube
Level 5: ValorYouTube
Multiplayer Levels 1 and 2YouTube
Multiplayer Levels 3 and 4YouTube
Level 6: Boners of Eternal DeathYouTube
Multiplayer Level 5YouTube
Multiplayer Level 6YouTube
Level 7: Goats Ain't ShitYouTube
Level 8: Zhar the MadYouTube
Multiplayer Levels 7-8YouTube
Level 9: Wirt the Peg-Legged BoyYouTube
Level 10: Anvil of FuryYouTube
Level 11: Asses of FireYouTube
Level 12: The Tale of the HoradrimYouTube
Level 13: A Soul in Search of AnswersYouTube
Level 14: Cleaning HouseYouTube
Level 15 Part 1: Lazarus's StaffYouTube
Level 15 Part 2: The Unholy AltarYouTube
Multiplayer Levels 9-11YouTube
Level 16: DiabloYouTube
Extra Quests 1: The ButcherYouTube
Multiplayer Level 12YouTube
Multiplayer Level 13YouTube
Extra Quests 2: Skeleton KingYouTube
Extra Quests 3: Sign, Blind, MushroomYouTube
Multiplayer Level 14YouTube
Extra Quests 4: Warlord of Blood and ApocalypseYouTube
Hellfire IntroYouTube
Hellfire 1: The Hive or Nest or WhateverYouTube
Hellfire Levels 2-3: The Hork DemonYouTube
Hellfire Level 4: The DefilerYouTube
Hellfire Level 5: The CryptYouTube
Hellfire Level 6: Paul McCartney's Solo CareerYouTube
Hellfire Level 7: BlaklokYouTube
Hellfire Level 8: Na-KrulYouTube
Hellfire command.txt: The Reject's RejectsYouTube
Multiplayer Level 15YouTube
Multiplayer Level 16YouTube

My boy Professor Booty is also doing an Ironman run, which means no buying anything except with the 100 gold you get in the very beginning. Can he manage to get all the way down and defeat Diablo?? Only one way to find out!

People these days are really busy. Who has time to watch LPs? Just watch this 3 minute speedrun instead:
http://speeddemosarchive.com/Diablo.html
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