With the phenomenal success of Starcraft 2, naturally gamers’ thoughts turn to the next big thing that will grace our screens from the Blizzard, games developer with the golden touch. With Diablo 3 eagerly anticipated, a review of the devilishly good classics that have defined the action RPG genre is in order.
I lived and breathed Diablo in freshman year of middle school. Even though it meant sleeping through classes, all-nighters were common: More time to spend at the computer. The game was simple, but addictive. When I clicked on things, they died–and I got rewarded.
Tristram captivated me with its haunting and memorable atmosphere. The graphics were unremarkable, even for the time, and the scenery looked sparse. The chilling background music still resonates with me today. In some ways, it was the music which made me fall in love in the first place.
It was years later that I heard the song again. This time, however, it wasn’t coming from a pair of cheap speakers: It was played by a guitarist, to a live audience, opening Blizzard’s Worldwide Invitational in 2008. Year after year, I had waited for Blizzard to announce Diablo 3, and every year, I was disappointed.
Things were different this time around. They finally announced Diablo 3, and I was ecstatic. With good reason too, feast your eyes on this sneak-peak cinematic:
Diablo was the first “action RPG”, an archetype on which countless games were later based. Some stood on their own, while others failed as unremarkable imitations. The strength of a game rested on its game mechanics. Every monster was a slot machine and every click brought you closer to riches.
Leveling up was just a means to more powerful items, which were in turn a means to fighting even tougher enemies. The tougher your enemies, the better the loot–and killing them was the only way to level up. The game dangled a carrot in front of your face and let you have a few bites every now and then.
Man, that carrot was tasty.
It wasn’t long before a game attempted to replicate Diablo’s success. Released in 1997, Nox was Westwood Studios’ answer to Blizzard. It took a different approach, offering more interactive combat while eschewing Diablo’s simplicity. While it tried to deliver a unique experience, it was largely ignored, disregarded as an imitation. In some ways, they were right–and there would be many more to come.
Many of the games which tried to spin gold from Diablo’s hay were inferior knock-offs. Attempting to feed off of its popularity, there were very few titles which genuinely innovated. Instead, gamers were met with a torrent of trite and spiritless action RPGs, giving rise to the term “Diablo clone”.
Among these were games like Darkstone, Revenant and Soulbringer: Unremarkable, and easily forgettable. After dipping a toe in the imitation water, I went back to Diablo and stayed there.
There were many pretenders to the throne, but only a Blizzard-developed sequel would be worthy of the crown. I had no choice but to wait for Diablo 2′s eventual release.
The turn of the millennium saw a sequel which took the best qualities of the original title and fleshed them out: Five distinct character classes, each with their own skills; expansive, randomly generated maps; an overhaul of the game’s multiplayer mode, which now allowed for 8 players to cooperate online, and a narrative vehicle that carried the player across the world of Sanctuary, and eventually into the depths of Hell. The genre had found its new poster child.
The renewed hype prompted even more copy-cats such as Throne of Darkness, Divine Divinity, Dungeon Siege and the Sacred series. Most of them sounded good in practice, but in reality it was like watering down a fine glass of scotch.
While Diablo 2 could provide you with an individual experience based on your class and immerse you in its exotic environments, these imitators could not.
The same could also be said of the recently released Torchlight. It’s a simple game which strives to take the principles of Diablo and beef them up where necessary, but it only serves to provide gamers with a momentary respite from the long and arduous wait for Diablo 3.
History has proven again and again that any aspirant to Diablo’s popularity is going to suffer unless it puts originality first. Those games which tried to copy the success of Blizzard’s title failed more often than not. They may be fun for a while, but gamers recognize them for what they are and yearn for the real thing.
Any popularity gained from replication is a shallow achievement: High production values must be paired with creativity if a title is going to topple the crown.
As for myself, being loyal to the king has served me excellently thus far, and I doubt any title will cause me to question my faith. At least, not for long.
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