"a glimpse into the past and visions of the future"
Diablo I - the first that was about to rule over all
As Diablowiki states,
The game is set in the fictional world of Sanctuary, centred around the town of Tristram in the Kingdom of Khanduras. The protagonist is a lone hero who takes upon himself to find what is causing distress in the town's cathedral and is taken upon a journey that brings him down into the deep caves beneath the cathedral, all the way into Hell to combat Diablo, the Lord of Terror.
An official expansion pack, entitled Diablo: Hellfire, was released in 24 November 1997 (1998 in PAL territories) by Sierra On-Line (developed by Synergistic Software). However, because it was not created by Blizzard Entertainment, the entire game is considered to be retconned out from the lore of the game world.
A sequel called simply Diablo II was released on 29 June 2000 (NA and PAL) and a third game, Diablo III was announced to be in development at WWI 2008."
[for additional info go HERE]
The three character classes of Diablo are:
- Warrior: The Warrior is the most physically able of the three classes. He excels at close quarters combat and can generally take the most physical punishment. The downside to this is that he's not quite as adept at utilizing the arcane arts as the other party members. The Warrior starts with the skill to repair objects in his possession, though this comes at the cost of the overall durability of anything he repairs.
- Rogue: The Rogue is the undisputed master of ranged weapons. While not as strong as the Warrior, she has a keen aim and is quick on her feet, with an innate sixth sense for sensing environmental traps that the other classes are incapable of perceiving.
- Sorcerer: The Sorcerer has a greater understanding of spellcasting than the other classes and is able to make much greater use of magical practice with the ability to learn much more potent forms of spells that the other classes also have access to. Since they are physically the weakest of the three classes, Sorcerers tend to wield magically imbued staves, which need recharging after prolonged usage; an ability that the Sorcerers start with.
- In the expansion set Diablo: Hellfire, the Monk was added.
Possibly the oldest Diablo trailer
Killing the Butcher(tm) - "fresh meat !"
DotA fans favorite... or most hated phrase comes from here
Endgame
Aditional info (source wikipedia):
Diablo is a dark fantasy-themed action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment on November 30, 1996.
Set in the fictional Kingdom of Khanduras, located in the world of Sanctuary, Diablo has the player take control of a lone hero battling to rid the world of Diablo, the Lord of Terror. Beneath the town of Tristram, the player journeys through sixteen dungeon levels, ultimately entering Hell itself in order to face Diablo.
An expansion pack, entitled Diablo: Hellfire, was released in 1997, although it was not created by Blizzard Entertainment. In 1998 Electronic Arts released the Climax Group developed Diablo Playstation this version featured direct control of the main character using the Playstation controller.
Story
The settings of Diablo include Heaven and Hell as real, physical places. Angels and Demons waged a war for centuries, until the ascension of man. Heaven and Hell each tried to compel man to join their cause. A treacherous mutiny forced the 3 Lords of Hell—including Diablo himself—into the world of humanity, where they sowed chaos, distrust and hatred. With the help of Archangel Tyrael a group of magi trapped the 3 Lords of Hell in soulstones. Diablo's soulstone was buried deep in the earth and a monastery was built over the site to safeguard the entrance.
Generations passed and the purpose of the monastery was forgotten. A small town named Tristram sprang up next to the monastery's ruins. A religious king named Leoric then claimed the monastery and rebuilt it as a cathedral for his seat of power. Diablo entered the nightmares of the archbishop Lazarus and lured him to the soulstone, where he destroyed the stone. Diablo possessed first the king, who sent all his knights and priests to battle against peaceful kingdoms, and then possessed the king's son, filling the caves and catacombs beneath the cathedral with creatures formed from the young boy's nightmares.
Tristram became a town of fear and horror, where people were abducted in the night. With no king, no law, and no army left to defend them, many villagers fled. Dark rumors permeated the country, and would-be heroes and demon-hunters came to Tristram and entered the cathedral, but none have been seen again.
Plot
The game starts when the player's character arrives in Tristram. The labyrinth under the Cathedral descends from a simple dungeon to catacombs to the dark caves and finally the fiery pits of Hell itself, each full of the undead, monsters, and demons. Leoric has been re-animated as the Skeleton King, and the hero must kill him so he can be released from his curse. The hero must also kill Archbishop Lazarus, and eventually fight Diablo himself.
[Spoiler Alert - do not read next paragraph if you wanna play the ending yourself :p]
Ending
At the end of the game the hero kills Diablo's mortal form, leaving Diablo trapped in a soulstone once again. The hero then drives the soulstone into their own skull in an attempt to contain the Lord of Terror. Ironically, it is revealed that this is what Diablo had planned, as the hero would be a better host than the prince. Diablo II continues the story, with Diablo having possessed the warrior hero who killed him. As for the other two heroes, the Rogue and Sorcerer, they also become corrupted by the Tristram quest and become Blood Raven, and the Summoner, respectively.
Diablo 2 & Diablo II: Lord of Destruction - a standard to remember
Diablo, the Lord of Terror, has fallen to a brave hero beneath the church of Tristram. Now that hero is gone, replaced by a Dark Wanderer who roams the world of Sanctuary leaving death and destruction in his wake. As a hero of humanity, you must face the minions of Diablo's evil brothers and stop the Dark Wanderer before he fulfills his terrible destiny.
Official cinematic trailer
Indeed, imagine a full movie about diablo 2
Character classes (source: wikipedia)
Diablo II allows the player to choose between five different character classes: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress, and Paladin. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses and sets of skills to choose from, as well as varying beginning attributes. The maximum level that any character can obtain is level 99.
- The Amazon hails from the islands of the Twin Seas, near the border of the Great Ocean. The class is based on the Amazons of Greek mythology. She is akin to the Rogue of Diablo: both primarily use bows, and both make equal use of strength and magic. The Amazon can also use javelins and spears. Many of her defensive skills are passive in nature, especially Dodge, Avoid, and Evade. The Amazon is voiced by Jessica Straus.
- The Necromancer is a versatile death-themed spell caster. Necromancers are the priests of the Cult of Rathma from the Eastern jungles. His Summoning skills allow him to raise skeletons, create golems, and resurrect dead monsters to fight alongside him. The Necromancer possesses powerful poison spells, which rapidly drain life from afflicted monsters. He also has "Bone" skills, which directly damage enemies, while bypassing most resistances. His Curses also afflict the enemy with debilitating status ailments, sowing confusion and chaos in their ranks. The Necromancer is voiced by Michael McConnohie.
- The Barbarian is a powerful melee fighter from the steppes of Mount Arreat. He is an expert at frontline combat, able to absorb great punishment, and is the only class capable of dual-wielding weapons. His Combat Masteries allow him to specialize in different types of weapons, and also passively increase his resistance, speed, and defense. His Warcries dramatically increase the combat effectiveness of him and his party, as well as afflicting status ailments on enemies. He has a variety of Combat Skills at his command, most of which focus on delivering great force upon a single foe. The Barbarian is voiced by David Thomas.
- The Sorceress hails from a rebellious coven of female witches who have wrested the secrets of magic use from the male-dominated mage clans of the East. She can cast ice, lightning and fire spells. Nearly all of these skills are offensive in nature, besieging the enemy with elemental calamity. Her Cold Skills can freeze enemies solid and bypass resistances, but do less damage than lightning or fire. The Sorceress's Teleport spell allows her to instantly travel to a new destination, making her very difficult to hit. The strong point of the Sorceress is her damaging spells and casting speed; her weakness is her relatively low hit points and defense. The Sorceress is voiced by Liana Young.
- The Paladin is a crusader from the Church of Zakarum, fighting for the glory of the Light. To reflect this, the zealous Paladin's combat skills range from fanatical attacks to heavenly thunderbolts. His skills are split into Combat Skills, Defensive Auras, and Offensive Auras. His auras have a range of abilities, such as increasing damage, or resisting magic attacks, or boosting defense. The Paladin's auras affect all party members. The Paladin is highly proficient in the use of a shield, and is the only character that can use it as a weapon. The Paladin also has specialized skills for eliminating the undead. The Paladin is voiced by Larry B. Scott.
- In the expansion, the Druid and Assassin classes were released.
More info about Diablo 2 features, expansions, tips & tricks, secret cow level and so on, can be found on the main page of the Horadric Newb, in the "Diablo universe portal" useful links tool (bottom - right side of the blog rlly :p). Also, we recommend you to use the specially designed Search Tool (a.k.a The Horadric Engine), it has been set up to only show material relevant to your needs.
Gameplay D2
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction - official cinematic trailer
Diablo 3 - "and the heavens shall tremble" ?
Diablo III is the upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game in development by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise. The game, which features elements of the hack and slash and dungeon crawl genres, was first announced on June 28, 2008, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France.
There have been tons and tons of news from almost everywhere we look about the upcoming ,new, head choppin, real life killin, anti-social, masterpiece, legend and (from what it looks like) future HIT Diablo 3. When, how, why and most questions about this release are either found on outrblog, The Horadric Newb (http://arreatsummit.blogspot.com), or thru many of the here provided tools, links and feeds that are all meant to be aggregated in this one place, the summit of Diablo 3 news.
To carry on with this page's topic we will go thru only a few, of utter most interest, topics. We invite you further to "stay a while" and check out everything this growing resources blog has to offer.
“Soon” Was Too Soon—Diablo III to Arrive in Early 2012
"We commonly use the term “soon” when referring to Blizzard releases, because we know that no matter how hard we’re working to reach a target, we’re not going to compromise and launch a game before it’s ready. For Diablo III, we were aiming to launch by the end of 2011. As we’re announcing globally today, our new target for the game is early 2012.
While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year. We were too. However, this week we pulled together people from all of the teams involved with the game to decide whether we felt it would be ready before the end of December, and we grudgingly came to the conclusion that it would not. Ultimately, we feel that to deliver an awesome Diablo sequel that lives up to our expectations and yours as well, we should take a little more time and add further polish to a few different elements of the game."
Friends That Slay Together, Stay Together
"In Diablo III, you’ll find it quite easy to switch from playing solo to joining other players in slaying demons that are more powerful and offer greater challenges. The benefits of playing with others co-operatively are legion. When opening a chest, slaying a demon, or rolling over a rotting corpse, each piece of gold or shiny item that may pop out is yours and yours alone. If you’ve decided to forego some killing power for bonuses to find extra gold or magical items, those bonuses likewise only apply to your drops. If you decide to be a generous murderer of demons, you can drop items you’ve found back on the ground and anyone in your party will be able to see them and pick them up. This is of course in addition to the regular trade window and your options to sell, salvage, or put items on the Auction House. Sharing amongst your buddies is the best way to offset someone’s unlucky drops and keep a group of friends on equal ground."
"What is the story of Diablo III ?
The game takes place on Sanctuary, a world of dark fantasy. Unbeknownst to most of its inhabitants, Sanctuary was saved some twenty years ago from the demonic forces of the underworld by a few brave and powerful heroes. Most of those warriors who directly faced Hell’s armies -- and were fortunate enough to survive -- went mad from their experiences. And most of the others have buried their haunted memories and pushed the horrors from their thoughts. In Diablo III, players will return to Sanctuary to confront evil in its many forms once again.
What will questing be like in Diablo III? Will it be similar to Diablo II ?
Our plans for the story and quest mechanics are still under wraps. We’ll go into detail on those elements of the game at a later date. We can say, however, that we expect to have class-based quests in addition to the main story-line quests. "
Official FAQ can be found HERE and many other features (like classes, gems, auction house, talents and so on) are to be discussed in already implemented or future posts of the greatest Diablo 3 blog, The Horadric Newb (c) blog !
Official Cinematic Trailer
IGN Demon Hunter Playthrough
Thanks for reading, cheers and good luck on BETA hunting :D
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