Diablo 1

At different times in my life I've tried playing the first Diablo game but always got bored from how slow it is especially with the only walking mechanic or I died too easily and quickly from the Butcher.  But I randomly had the urge to give it another try.  This time I enjoyed taking in the game's atmosphere more, making the walking not feel like a drag but I also had a better understanding of what to expect from seeing more videos over the years talking about the difference in the Diablo games.  I started with Diablo 2 around the time the Lord of Destruction expansion released and have played all the games since and still play Diablo 4 every season since its release.  With it being the 30 year anniversary of the franchise, I guess giving the first game a try seemed worthwhile and so far it has been.  I started a Warrior class so I can have an easier time since I already tried a Sorcerer before but not the more I play the more I learn and want to try a Sorcerer again too.  Of course for the ending and going into Diablo 2, it feels like playing a Warrior is the canonical way to play.  

So I hit a difficulty spike at Level 11 of the dungeon but learned that clicking a new game when playing single player mode allows you to restart the map but keep your character progression.  At first the thought of repeating the dungeon over again was a little annoying but then reading about how it can be fun because you're just powering through all the enemies since your character just continues to progress in level then that sounded fun but also the warlock was released for Diablo 2 so I switched gears to play that and come back after a while.  The game's difficulty ramps up quite a bit by the end with the introduction of the casters you fight who are annoying more than anything because of how much they teleport, especially with all the ones you fight in the end on the last level as you get to Diablo.  But I was able to lure Diablo to the other side of the map and fight him one on one which was easier than half the bosses in the game.  I guess this makes sense for why he is so difficult in the second game.  

But now that I've officially beat Diablo 1, I can say I like it.  What I like so much about it, is that with the mechanics unique to it in comparison to the later games in the series, it has a lot more of its own vibe.  It's much slower and methodical with its pace, and makes you think more in regards to what spells you have in how you want to tackle each skirmish.  I find it interesting to see how Path Of Exile which I always heard was made more to be a spiritual successor of Diablo 2 but seeing how it kind of takes pages from Diablo 1 in the way that each of the classes have a starting point that makes sense for the class but you can expand to make your class more of a hybrid or even more into another class category.  Like I found it interesting how you learned spells by finding the tomes for them.  This means that when selecting a new game, when playing single player and starting the dungeon over again but with your characters level and inventory intact, not only can you do this to farm experience and gear and gold but also have chances for finding more tomes and leveling up spells.  This makes me think of the passive skill tree in POE where the class gives you a different starting place but you can go anyway you want which gives options for making hybrid classes and not having to stay within a strict class dynamic.  Of course with that, it feels that in order to not go insane by the end of the game, you have to learn some spells with the warrior as being just purely a warrior will make the end immensely difficult, especially with fighting the casters.  

But overall, this was definitely a fun experience and one I definitely want to play again especially as the other classes but maybe also play again as my warrior sometime.  I don't know how much I'd recommend this, even to ARPG fans as this one is a much slower pace than pretty much all the modern ARPG's I've seen nowadays.  But for anyone who has the patience and wants to play a different kind of Diablo game, especially fans of the series, I'd recommend giving it a try and time to learn because it is definitely worth it.