R.I.P. Blizzard North.

Diablo 1 was my introduction to the genre, I still remember the feeling when the first sword dropped, equiping it and feeling stronger. The rest is history and I've been hooked for 25+ years since.

The original Tristram theme from Diablo 1 is such a masterpiece. Chills every time I hear it.

D2 music still the GOAT

The dopest memory I have of D2 was when my brother and I first played online with my dad and he had the most powerful weapons on his barbarian. He came to help us with Andariel because we were afraid of her. He legit came in, bulldozed through all of the levels and then HULK JUMPED over all the enemies and one shot her! Ever since then, I fell in love with the game

D2 really had a chokehold on me when I was a young. The memories of getting ur first Shako Enigma IK set War travelers Oculous Windforce etc The music of Tristram is just soo nostalgic.

As someone who has played Diablo 2 for 24 years, you couldn’t have said it any better. Awesome video.

D1 has always been my GOAT because it was the only one where I genuinely felt dread and the looming anxiety as you travel down through the levels. The Cathedral was particularly haunting. And then there is the Butcher. That is the scariest experience in the whole series.

D2 was amazing and what got me into playing video games. I had so much fun trying different builds, doing ladder, cow level and magic find runs, etc., that my friends had to nag me into trying World of Warcraft with them when it first came out (and played WoW for a long time as well). I spent enough hours on D2 while I was pregnant I joke with my son that he was a gamer before he was even born. The fact that people still play D2R and WoW Classic shows the impact they had on the gaming industry, IMO.

I'm just watching this because I love hearing someone new to this game speak so positively about it. I literally feel proud even though I did not make the game, i just played it since 2000 hehe.

d2 has the best itemisation ever

As someone who was there to play them both in the moment, Diablo 1 is still my favorite. From the town music to the difficulty making you question every step you make the deeper you go, the game is just perfect to me.

The original Diablo kept me up literally until dawn on many occasions when I was in graduate school - it probably added months to my getting my doctorate. It is still my favorite.

There's one hugely important strength that Diablo 2 has which you didn't talk about. The creature variety is simply incredible, I think it's the best creature variety in any game, period. Maybe it didn't occur to you all that much because you played Holy Fire paladin, but your gameplay changes significantly depending on which part of the game you're at. Every new act's monsters are masterfully crafted to make you feel like you've truly gone somewhere new. It's not just the same creatures with different skins, whose only features are their small/medium/large health pools depending on how large they are like in newer ARPGS. Every mob's attack patterns and abilities feel unique to play against, from Fallen shamans in act 1 to the tiny skeletons in act 3 to the invisible souls that shoot lightning in act 4... it cannot be accused of being repetitive at all. It's in stark contrast to Diablo 4 where every dungeon has the same gameplay.

D1 town music is the most nostalgic feeling I've ever felt in my life. When I hear that music, words do not exist to explain that feeling. Been hooked since D1.

When Diablo came out, I was 21. I had been PC gaming since 82, and “Ahhhhh, FRESH MEAT!” was the first time I had seen a PC game be that immersive. It made me feel it. It may be the top gaming moment of my life. Plenty of games are good (I think my all-time is Star Control 2 which came out when I was in high school) but before Diablo, they were just games. Diablo raised that bar.

When you start hiding behind corners to slowly clear out a huge pack and a rare monster, sweating because you know how easy it is to mess it all up. You start to understand the masterpiece that was Diablo 1 at the time

As someone who, as a 16 year old, went 50km by train, to buy the 2 level demo cd for D1 only to get absorbed by the Diablo - world up until now, it's awesome, to hear, how much your enjoy the 2 old ones. :)

I spent so many years playing D2 before WoW came out, it was not just the game experience, it was also the closed battle net, the countless trading sessions, the hunt for the best item for your character...the simplicity of the game allowed it to be replayed countless of times even if it felt repetitive. A true masterpiece and time sink.

So many years have passed, still nothing beats thrill when i hear, "Ahhh, frsh meat....".

Diablo 1 and 2 were my childhood - local Gaming shop had PC's linked together to play D1, there was a battle for the first one to call and book up the PC's for the day on a Saturday as people didnt have networked PC's at that point. By the time D2 came out this is where it changed, friends coming round with their PC's and playing multiplayer locally

Diablo2 is the gold standard when it comes to loot in any video game, period. Which conveniently enough, it’s a game about the loot. But it has never been replicated since that or anything lateral to that. The execution, hierarchy and reward is just right.

Diablo II taught me now to network PCs together. We actually set up a three PC LAN in my small apartment so friends could come over and we would play together. I am not on the hardware IT support side today, but I am a computer programmer

Diablo 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I'm still playing it all these years later with over 2k hours in the remastered version.. that said, you explained exactly why it's my favorite better than I could have. I also wasn't allowed to play it growing up due to "Diablo" being the title in a religious household. So I'd have to stay up in the middle of the night and sneak onto the computer to play. I love that you finally got into it for all it's glory. Its kinda crazy as much as I love you DM that you're finally getting into it and I'm happy you get to show everyone what's so good about D2

Atmosphere in D1 is just out of this world

One of my favorite elements of D1 is when you would switch areas. You had no idea when it would happen but the excitement of going deeper and deeper into the monastery built so much anticipation.

My Diablo memory (as a 37yo): Other kids in my school bus are talking about Diablo. I am around 12-13yo. I get a cloned copy of the game from the sketchy kid on the bus. My friend got the actual legit game. We both install it that weekend, at our separate houses. It's Dial-Up Modem internet, so we call each other instead of trying the online thing. We're talking and separately playing for 2-4 hours, but then... he goes silent. The next morning, I walk 2 blocks away, over to his house. I don't remember how or why, but I walk into his living room, and he's half asleep on the ground and he goes "oh, yeah, I fell asleep while playing on the floor, sorry". Fond memory.

Both D1 and D2 are razor sharp in their design. A singular vision. And it wasn't unending consumerism.

The harem in Act 2 of D2 is one of my favorite pieces of video game music. Incredible track.

I remember when D1 came out, and what I liked a lot about it was its mood, yes it was yet another fantasy setting but with a dark (very cliché) and baroque (not so cliché) tone to it. it was technologically advanced too, although the pseudo-procedural levels needed a lot of time to load, more than five minutes depending on the PC. And the butcher room was specially memorable because they managed to generate a very gruesome and unsettling scene with a bunch of pixels tailored for a tiny resolution, it's a level of maturity in art design that the recent games are lacking.

I'm getting into Grim Dawn, I'm happy to replay on the various difficulty levels, because it is a great game. And each replay more opens up

I liked that you could be a warrior mage in Diablo. Or, maybe not mage, but you now, a sorcerer's apprentice warrior.

Playing original diablo without the hellfire expansion used to be like eating an egg without the yolk. It was insanely good you could never play without it. A complete package indeed. You had more classes with the expansion, extra quests, extra content in new biomes and more. You usually replayed the game in nightmare difficulty afterwards and in hell multiple times to level up and get stronger. This could last you easily for a 40 or more hours with one class. Now add all the other characters and you could easily play more than 200 hours total if not more. And there are incredible mods out there too for both first two games. So even more content and replayability. Crazy. For 90s? this was the real GOAT I liked to play after school lol. And the atmosphere was never surpassed since then. Diablo 2 was very good, but even so, it never reached the hardcore dark atmosphere style that the first game accomplished, making you truly fear the dark corridors. The limited movement in fact made for a more realistic and brutal experience. Loved that. Its hard to put into words. Pure fun too. It was DOPE.

Blizzard really make good cinematics. It was mind blowing the jump between 1 and 2

I still have a brand new disc version of the original diablo with pamplet on PS1. Will never forget hearing "FRESH MEAT" for the first time, duplicating stat elixirs or hunting the Bloodstar skill books.

Basically grew up playing games like Doom, D1, Blood, Heroes of Might and Magic, Gothic etc. Nothing can beat the 90's, nowadays games are drowned in all kinds of shit, from microtransactions, early access, preorder bonuses etc. etc. I can't seem to be able to enjoy a game and whenever I go back to replay one of the classics -- I instantly get reminded why.

I recently just played through D2 having become pretty obsessed with ARPGs this year. I’m 29 so was sort of too young to have caught it at the time, but I’m so glad I did. It’s honestly so much fun seeing your character change as you advance with the different gear and abilities, more so than the more modern ones I have played.

Diablo 2 is probably one of the most important experiences in gaming for it's time ever. It was just so revolutionary and the fact that people still play it over 20 years later really speaks multitudes to its quality.

6:30 Skyrim Soundtrack is also insane.

People forget that voice acting in games coming out in 1996 is absolutely insane.

So glad you voiced this opinion here! I absolutely concur! I played Diablo 1 when it came out and it was mind-blowing. The sense of slow but steady progression, the succinct gameplay loop that both never gets boring and also never becomes overwhelming. I recently played Diablo 4 (skipped 3) and it never gave me that same sense of satisfaction and fun. It feels like a random string of boring side missions and the endgame reminded me why I hate MMOs. The grinding, the screen full of gaudy effects, descriptions and explosions of items every couple of seconds. It gave me nothing, so I stopped and am forever done with the game. Diablo 1, on the other hand, I will return to every couple of years.

Dude!!! I’m so glad you made this video. Diablo one is my absolute favorite because of the pacing and intensity. I feel like your review of one and two was totally spot on and I’m stoked you made this video

Great video, a point you (and many others) glance over however is the sounddesign of diablo 2. And by that I don't mean the music (although its part of it) but all the sounds of monsters, effects, animations, skills, etc. Now that you played the game, think about it, you could probably identify what you kill, where you kill it, with what you kill it and what drops from the monster - without ever looking at the screen. The sound design is a masterclass and gives such great feedback

Love it! Looking forward to watching the full playthrough on KZfaq 🙏

My friends and i had lan partys every time we where allowed and Diablo 1 - 2 was some of the games we would play. Miss the old day when gaming was really social.

The main theme of Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction is probably my favorite symphonic piece ever. Perfect Gothic Horror that could easily be the theme of a vampire movie.

Thanks DM for showing us your first play thru for Diablo 1 and have the same love of it as we all did when we played it so many years ago. D1 and D2 are my favorite all time games and I loved their cinematics and atmosphere before games became overly complicated.

I still remember the absolute MAGIC of playing the D1 demo (up to the Butcher), then immediately going to the store to buy the installation CDs for the full game!! And bringing my computer to a friend's house for LAN parties. I consider myself lucky for having experienced that kind of wonder. Windforce was my first GOOD item in any Diablo game...

Glad to see this, me and bros grew up on d2, era of lan parties and getting your laptops all around a folding table, running each other through hell, power leveling. Good times.

I just started playing D2R again and am planning on doing a FoHdin build. As soon as I started up the game in the rogue encampment the music always gives me shivers it's that good.

Thanks DM, I'm so glad more people are bringing these gems to light. These games are phenomenal and this video brings new players closer to this experience. These games hook you with satisfying progression, dark atmosphere and story and addictive itemization. Wish everyone picks it up and just give it a good try, you won't be disappointed.

Diablo 1 is in fact my fav even now. I love the pace, the sense of danger, the oppressive nature of it. None of the sequels really captured the feeling of descending into hell like og diablo.

Bless you for understanding

Oh man D1 couch co-op on ps1 was awesome played this so much when i was like 15 good times.

This is an excellent summary that captures the many aspects of what truly makes d2 and d1 such immortal classics. Many games today are just as you said so well, "huge puddles, only an inch deep". I played d2 a lot when it came out. It replaced d1 in a respectable way with tons of improvements without feeling like a totally different franchise, sadly d3/d4 did the opposite. How ever, even though i played it more than anything at that time I only scratched the surface. I never tried runewords, I never really experimented with items outside of uniques, never crafted anything and I never tried trading. So when d2r released I got to experience the whole package and boy did it capture me again! D2 was great back in the days but to me it became clear only recently that it's the greatest arpg ever!

I had Diablo 1 on Playstation, not only getting to enjoy that game for what it was, but being able to build memories playing with my dad was amazing and can't be replicated.

Diablo 1&2 and Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 1&2 are my favorite dungeon crawler soundtracks, and I haven't found anything that comes close.

Diablo 1 was my first video game my dad bought it for me when I was 11. We use to play it together when he would come home from work, he never played he would just watch the screen and point at the monsters for me to kill lol. LOVED this game, played it for years and have fond memories of it became a full video game addict from this game alone and I'm sure that's not what my Dad wanted but hey that's how it goes xD

Watching you try to kill a fire immune with holy fire put a big smile on my face lol. Glad you got to finally experience these games Diablo is my favorite franchise of all time and the envy I feel that you get to have that first time experience is insurmountable. Love the content as always DM

Diablo 2 is still the only ARPG that I can just run all the difficulties back to back and not get tired of it. The item hunt and difficulty of leveling up is perfectly balanced and it doesn't get old until you have best in slot items (which if you're playing self found can take a very long time).

I started with Sacred 1 and it's almost the same feeling. Not quite as dark, more fantasy-themed but the right game at the right time. I loved it. Thanks for sharing.

When I was a teenager me and my friends would play through D2 and the n we would make new characters and run through the campaign again and we just did that to try all the classes. Was a lot of fun

Playing Diablo I online, in 1997, over aol dial-up was a super break through experience. Half of the game is the single player, one time play through...the other half was going into the chat rooms and putting groups together to do the hardest content and build your character up to level 50. Getting someone to drop a Staff of the Apocalypse with 255 charges, in a chat room, was so awesome.

Played D2 when it came out and remember it looking like D2R :D It was so much fun ... all summer of 2004 coming back from the pub playing all night, sleeping all day ... rinse and repeat for two months ... D1 was also fun back in 1997 when I played it

A very good and intelligent breakdown from you and you're mustache. D1 and 2 are masterpieces,. and STILL holds up.

Watching people react to our favorite content is us getting to experience them for the first time agsin by proxy. I love it.

Been following you play these during the mini series and I’ve wanted to try D2. Finally installed and I’m loving it. Only on act 2 but I’m hooked. Might have to try OG diablo just to say I played them all.

3:35 Aw, my favorite, the town drunk! lol I always loved hearing what he had to say.

If you never played WC3 I highly suggest it. If you think the cinematics for D2 were great (which they were), you will be absolutely dumbfounded at how top tier they are in WC3. They might be slightly pixelated now, but they still hold up EXTREMELY well. The thing people miss about games from back in the day is the actual passion that went into the games being made. People can call it nostalgia, but it really isn't. In Today's age where everything is mostly playing it safe, or being cookie cutter, we LONG for the days when game after game was an absolute banger because of the passion being put into the games. Even if some games are your cup of tea, you see it when one of these passion projects comes along on how many people are loving it. Witcher 3, BG3 (I loved their divinity series, but BG3 REALLY put Larian on the map), Elden Ring (not my cup of tea, but I can still see the passion in the game I don't see in many), and a few others, but you get the picture. All of these investors who flooded the market need to take a step back and let the Devs cook. I know it's risky for them, but it would also show you which studios are being held back by Investors who don't know shit about what gamers actually want, and which are being held back by devs with seemingly no passion, on top of Investors.

Use to play D1 as a kid, late into the night alone, lights off. It was something else. It was a good sort of creepy, almost cool. Made you feel like a badass.

What you said about the replayability of D2 being essentially running the campaign on New Game + and then New Game ++ and how it's still EXTREMELY satisfying to do so is actually I think where almost all ARPG's that came after went wrong that barely gets mentioned. It was essentially the last time where people weren't obsessed with "Endgame Content" in ARPGs, which I think has taken up so much importance in devs' minds that they've sacrificed depth and quality of the WHOLE game and gamers' minds that they don't even know what they're looking to get out of it anymore. In short, everything you mentioned is why D2 is still used (by those who know) as the benchmark by which all other ARPGs continue to be weighed against - for that to be the case for such an old game is truly a feat.

This is the first time I see your Channel and I must say I agree with every word spot on🎉 Diablo is one of the greatest! and the music, pure love

Glad you tried it! Most played game for me ever. Play it sine 24 years now, with some breaks in between. It's a masterpiece.

I was a kid playing d2 on my grandpas emachine pc. It had just enough storage to play disk required version. I was so crap at the game I hit level 40s on a paladin before realizing there was another act. Mind you I was still learning to read properly. Loved d2

About replaying D2 on other difficulties - I think the game opens up in a big way during nightmare and hell not only with monsters being stronger and you having more skill points to make interesting builds, but also the whole systems like runewords come into play, the high level uniqs and set items are so crazy compared to what you see during normal, it creates a whole new experience and probably this is where the power creep has begun. And nowadays there are also uber bosses to really test your build.

Absolutely favorite PC games of mine. Started playing from D1 back in the 90s. I (from Asia) learned most of my English from these games too as there weren’t translated version back then. My classmates were always surprised by the number of vocabularies I knew and I always aced the English exams ,lmao.

I first played diablo 1 while i was in my 2nd year of being in the army. Had just saved enough money to buy my first pc and oddly enough a chaplain assistant recommended it to me. Was hooked from there on.

The difference between designing a game with the sole purpose of creating an experience for the love of gaming. Versus creating a game for the sole purpose of extracting the most amount of money possible in several different ways is what the difference between D2 to D4 was. Just look at the itemization on how there are 6+ affixes on items with so many options vs what D4 has. The thought that went into D2 is not even close to comparison to D4. This is why new gamers have to experience D2 and really dive deep into it to finally see why D4 gets so many complaints, and hopefully start raising their standards because we have become numb to what games are these days. Aside from a select few games that still are made for the love of the gaming. DM said going through the campaign 3 times doing the same thing is still enjoyable with every hour that passes being better then the last is the sum of why it’s an iconic gem to this day. D4 people wanted to never see the campaign again right off the bat of release. It’s got to tell you something right there. So much more to say but who’s going to read it all anyways lol. “Hello my friend, stay awhile and listen”

Been playing through again too. I freak'n love that game. I played it a ton on PS1 in the 90's. Playing on pc now to try the expansion.

Dude I love D2, enjoy coming back to it every few years and enjoying the linear campaign. Have been blasting it for the last month.

So many memories of Diablo 2 but my biggest was how I obtained it. Asian mother against violence and blood so she wasn't going to let me buy it. Halo was about all she accepted because the blood wasn't red and we were shooting aliens. BUT there was this one employee at Tower Records who I was pretty familiar with as I went there often and chatted. Asked him if it was possible to buy it for me or come as my brother/guardian. He was just about to go to lunch so he said he was down for it since he was also a gamer.

Playing Diablo 1 online back in the day with my friend via a dial-up connection was a magical experience.

D2's atmosphere is impossible to replicate. Ambient sounds, music, the tension of the story... You really feel the world is ending and you might be the one who could save it.

I think you've managed to articulate what made D1 and D2 so special very well here. Not easy to do. Bravo.

Glad to hear you enjoyed Diablo 1!

Dude you're SPOT ON with the D2 soundtrack comment. 100%!

damn you made me replay the D1. I remember watching my dad playing it and I was scared af. Completed years back and now I am playing it again. It´s like a hug from my childhood. The art, music, enemies... And fun fact... the Butcher´s iconic line "aaah fresh meat" is also said by Metzger, leader of slaver in Fallout 2, in Den. And Metzger means butcher in german.

Good takes. I grew up with D2 and later D2 LoD. Played it on 56k dial up modem, lol. If the phone rang at home, i screamed ”DONT PICK UP!!!!!” Because if someone did, i got disconnected from the internet lol. Good times. Awesome games.

That’s a hell of a mustache brotha! Paired with the Dave Mustaine hairstyle 👍. D1 was amazing back in the day and still brings back memories, glad you enjoyed it.

I don't want to know how many hours I've put in D2. Still to this day I vividly remember an Unidentified Lacquered plate drop from Pindleskin and jumping up and down as a kid. Sold it for 45 Soj

I've played through all the versions and I really really really love two and three. That was why at least for me I was so disappointed and D4. Expectations are everything when it comes to games. My son still plays D1

I jumped back in to play some D2 and wow it's still good!

I played so much Diablo when it came out that I ended up having to get glasses. Too much staring at the computer in a pitch dark room. I have to do continuing education for work and one of the companies that provided training used to use the first few guitar strums from the town music. It was like an instant teleport to high school lol.

Diablo 2 was SO MUCH FUN! Never played anything like it. Remember getting the collectors edition at Electronics Boutique at the mall, and the manager pointing it out, and deciding to give it a try. Miss the cow level.

I grew up playing D1. I still play D2. Crazy thing about D2 is I still haven't found every item in the game and haven't played every character build, never mind there's still theory craft builds on top of that. I bet if blizzard added more content or more end game, D2 would blow up again. I would pay for another expansion for D2. Only if they kept it to the original game though.

I’ve spoken with the composer of Diablo 2’s music, Matt Uelmen on multiple occasions over the years and he is a genuine great guy and loves that his music was able to impact an entire generation of PC gamers.

Mr.Llama would be proud.

I still have all my saves stored (some with access to the cow lvl). I even found mang songs lesson (I don't remember what the variable stats were at though). There's storage characters for runes, gems, rings...all sorts of things. Some just for socketed items.

Diablo 1 is my Core Memory for Gaming. I didn’t have a PC but my best friend had one. And he got Diablo as a gift and introduced it to me. We played it together even, he did all the keyboard stuff and i managed the mouse. It was hilarious. And of course i played all 4 diablos and the first is my favorite.

Collecting Ears in Diablo 1 to level up ranks in my clan/guild was so crazy. When you were able to kill a hacker who was ya know hacking like you was also amazing. Bone Spirit!