For anyone who doesn't get it, its an April 1st joke that just got delayed due to DWTerminator's busy calendar.

Never been into the endless grind aspect, but I loved the atmosphere in Diablo 1 especially

The addiction factor, item tiers grinding and the multiplayer service popularization are all more than valid criticisms and obvious criticisms of this series and other properties that tried to commercially piggyback on the trends it set. Your comparison with older dungeon crawlers that had more depth, even when they also lacked actual roleplaying, is spot on.

You name dropped Arcanum. But I didn't see that you've done a review of it on your channel. Have you considered doing a review of it? I'd be curious of your thoughts. Especially if you stated that you enjoyed it when you were younger.

Mine 2 cents: I installed & played the demo back in 1998. After 30 mins I was done: couldn’t stand the controls and the constant left-clicking. What I liked though were the monster and item sizes (small and detailed) and animations. What I loved what the music and the sound design. In 2019 - yes, merely 20 years later - I tried the PS1 port. Instantly I was hooked. Turns out - if you’re me - Diablo is only playable with a controller. The sound design, again! Going further and further underground, descending to Hell. Randomized quests. Suddenly I was like: ah, so that’s what they meant back then. Having beaten the game, I immediately went for Diablo 2, remembering how I hated it back in the day and hoping for another redeeming experience. Nope. Still as terrible as I remembered. The keyboard/mouse nightmare returned. And wait: Diablo on the surface? No Hell, no descent? What’s that desert crap? No, thanks.

Honestly the thing I enjoyed most, if at all, from Blizzard was StarCraft, Warcraft III, and especially the fact that there were custom maps like Warchasers, DOTA, or Azeroth Grand Prix that were games within the game.

Where do I find the Notravae Diablo series?

To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen anyone refer to Diablo as an RPG. I've always seen people call it a hack n' slash.

It's a dungeon crawler, inspired by 80's rogulike games, like "Rogue", of which David Brevik was a huge fan of. The industry has the term RPG twisted and turned for decades now, so don't blame the fans for calling it an RPG.

You don't like simplistic games? Back in the 80s and 90s, most games are simplistic. Phantom Slayer, Wolfenstein 3D, etc. Diabolo seems to have stats, quests, inventory etc

A while ago, I managed to figure out a workable definition for roleplaying game: a game in which the story is the result of the gameplay instead of a preset garden path for it.

Ah yes, I remember all the hype. I got a discount on a CD, tried it, and haven't bothered with it since. That was 1998. I was never that thrilled with Gauntlet.

even diablo 2 seems too tedious for me

I'll be the devil's advocate here: diablo 1 aged extremely poorly and the gap between it and diablo 2 is a huge evidence of it. Yes, diablo 1 might have THE best atmosphere of all games in it's genre, but actually playing it is hard to stomach. And I did enjoy diablo 1 way back in the day in the psx. But is not a perennial game like other 90s gems, such as castlevania SOTN, tomb raider 1 and 4 and others.

I believe you've already covered those topics (Diablo-likes, "What is an RPG?", etc.) ten years ago. Redux when?

I think "ARPG" is just a leftover genre name from an era in which differentiating them from CRPGs was useful. Also, the appeal is system, stat and gameplay progression. The loot just facilitates that and adds the RNG spice to keep upgrades exciting. This is what games with live service models shoehorned in fail to realize. What the loot does for you is the most important part. Personally, I like to reach the point at which progression becomes strictly stat gains then just reroll or move on.

Played the PS version of Diablo 1 on my PSP late 2022. Still have fond memories; it was awesome for a single playthrough Tried 2 on PC, the "classic" version which doesn't include the rune powers. I hated Diablo 2 because it wasn't dark enough, and because it was a globe-trotting adventure whereas 1 took place in 1 area with few fleshed out characters The inventory in D2 classic was irritatingly small

It seems like most people's memories of Diablo is Diablo 2's multiplayer with their friends. Which tends to elevate games that can't stand on their own as a single-player experience. I hate Borderlands, I dont even like it as a co-op game. People still cling to the series as some masterpiece multiplayer game. Diablo 3 and 4 left people scratching their heads, without realizing Diablo is a barebones game that doesn't leave much wiggle room without alienating its own design imo

Great video, really nailed why I don't like these types of games. I've for the life of my tried ever since I was a kid. Diablo 1, 2, Titan Quest etc but they've never properly hooked me. I really liked the addiction angle you mentioned too, which I think is the root of the problem, I simply don't have an addictive personality so I get bored of it quite quickly...

I agree and I would go as far as to say that Blizzard has never created an RPG ever. Diablo-clones are all about skipping dialogs, killing as much stuff as possible and looting. As someone who played almost 3k hours of Path of Exile, I totally agree that it's just a mindless grind. Similarly, World of Warcraft is also not an RPG - maybe some people create their first characters with some RP in mind, but the main force that keeps you going throughout the game are levels, skills and loot, and after you're at maximum level, it's just more loot and nothing more. You don't need to care about the lore, you don't need to interact with the world, quests are boring and you rarely can learn anything from them or expect them to be thought provoking. It's just a very slow hack-n-slash in a group. I totally agree with your criticism, unironically. I wish there was a different label for games where all you do is kill stuff and get loot. Kill'n'Loot? KNL? I don't know...

Used to keep my Diablo - The Hell 1 HD mod for more than a decade on hard drive(s) to pop in until completely bored with the genre. Couldn't get into further games and still mad for picking D2+LoD over Warcraft3+FT box... Looking at D1 and seeing where genre went makes you think "where devs went wrong".

I liked Diablo. It was my first videogame. Since I couldn't compare it with others, it was the best game. But I see your point. I wouldn't play Diablo again, but I would play Arcanum or Fallout. The deepness differences are obvious.

i have a tattoo of the original warrior scetch from the manual, i love d1 to a fault but i can totally see what you mean. Even i don't replay it, it was the premise and atmosphere that did it for me, also even back then we used to laugh at people calling it an rpg. still, i got a great deal of nostalgia for it, good times. also: good luck, people gonna REEE hard on this one.

This one hurt

In 1997, Diablo was a great innovative game. Your hindsight analysis would apply to most retro games. Consider the original Warcraft and Dune 2 where you had to select every single unit individually.

what a funny guy. hating Diablo . almost got me there

In conversations with gamers, I have included something I call the "Diablo argument" which is something like this: Game X was really awesome for it's time, but since then, many games came out that did things much better...In the case of Diablo, now we have Sacred, Torchlight, Grim Dawn and many more. I kinda feel the same way about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and some others... Also, I heard some critics say that Diablo did for RPGs what Doom did for FPS games...which I thought was pretty Meh. Doom was unique and somewhat fun but never really grabbed me as a gamer. As for Diablo, the game was fun for a little while, but it is showing its age. Even Diablo 2 is doing that nowadays... Thanks for all you do.

I have always said that Diablo is not an action RPG. It's an attrition RPG. Click on what you want to die and hope your build kills it. Wow. What fast and kinetic action. I tried again with Diablo 3 and didn't die for 13 hours on hard, so I put it down.

By any chance are there any Adult Only games that you like? If so do you think you will review any Adult Only games?

Your view on the game and your opinions are valid. A lot of people still love it though.

At least you uploaded something. I also bored the whole day!

Path of Exile review when?

0:10 Noah who?

The gameplay is very simple no argue about that, but i think they at least nailed the music and atmosphere pretty well.

I like Diablo 1, but I could never finish Diablo 2 because the loot grind just really became really tiring to me, so I feel what you're saying. My love for D1 is mainly due to its atmosphere and music. I can still go back to it and have a good time. The whole is/is not an RPG question is a subject to be avoided. I shunned most action RPGs for years due to being autistic on that point. I now like a lot of things that are usually called ARPGs. To me, nothing without visible stats and engine calculations, turn-based combat, and a strong abstraction between player skill and character skill should ever be called an RPG at all. But if you can accept the 'RPG' in 'ARPG' as synonymous with 'has some kind of player-visible character stat component', I think you can be happy. Although I know that's a big ask.

I feel vindicated seeing this. Not too long ago, I tried to replay Diablo 2 (I have hardly any experience with D1) after having not played it since I was a kid, and as I was playing, I slowly realized... I never actually liked Diablo 2. Well, okay, that's not entirely correct. I liked the story, with its really well done cinematics and voice acting. I liked the atmosphere, with the gloomy music and visuals. I liked the characters, especially Deckard Cain and Tyrael, who give you more insight into the game's world and its history. I liked finding loot and gradually becoming more powerful from acquiring stronger equipment. I liked levelling up and being able to invest in skills, thus becoming stronger as well. I especially adored the system of being able to insert gems or runes into your gear, thus customizing it and making it even more powerful. I liked ALL of these things. But you know what I didn't like? The actual freaking gameplay. To me, having to scour the areas and kill every monster within it was nothing more than a chore. Something to get through in order to reach the good parts I listed above. And when what's supposed to be the game's core gameplay is nothing more than an annoying, tedious obstacle that you deal with just to get to what should normally be secondary stuff... then I think there's a problem.

Man, i remember going online on the SEGA ffing Dreamcast with the 56K Modem back in the not so far back days... I found the PS1 Version of Diablo 1 rather amusing, its not a good game. But the controls keep you busy. Or you get stuck, run in the wrong direction or mess up the attack direction and accidentally drink a potion. Maybe Diablo 1 should be described as a slower version of Gauntlet, as in a asthmatic Hippo on its last leg etc. or something. People like the gauntlet type games. And D1 doesn't give you a world just like the gauntlet games, just a ton of samey looking floors till you defeat the boss and get a new high score. That said, it was fun to play with Friends. Over LAN! Remember LAN? I remember LAN. We have LAN at home...

I tired a couple of Diablo like games, couldn't get into them. I remember how slow and unstable 56k modems were. Media does have a bad habit of blindly following trends.

TL:DR man plays diablo expecting baldurs gate/elder scrolls - is naturally disappointed

I agree that these games are loot and click

Thank you. Music to my ears. I could fall asleep listening to this as it validates my unpopular opinion.

I play diablo 1 up til today... i cant play the other diablos without getting bored. but diablo 1 for me works...

I haven’t played the Diablo series, but did play a Diablo-style clone game called Nox, and hot damn was it a good game back in my day. Granted, it’s not a great game, but at least it’s more interesting than most Diablo-style games out there by and large when I saw footage of one of the Diablo games, then instantly got bored of watching it. I still wish there was a sequel to Nox, though and I think it has a lot of potential of becoming a better game than the original game.

I like the style, but it's not an RPG, it's a hack and slash game with elements of abstraction on top of it like leveling. I like it as I like hack and slash games in other styles like Bayonetta and devil may cry, and even some other games like doom, because they are games to shut off your brain and enter the zone while playing.

This game is a legit health hazard to your wrists

April fools joke or not, I could not bring myself to play D and D2 without basic QOL mods. Same goes for Fallout and its sequels - I watched more footage of others playing then experiencing these games myself.

i love listening to your incorrect gaming takes as i drift off to sleep in bed. very comfy and soothing knowing i have the objectively right views and there are those who are very misguided. keep up the great work!

I enjoyed this but because we were a Mac household in the 90's...thems were slim pickin's

Personally I love the game and keep finding excuses to replay Diablo 1 at least once a year, either in vanilla or with mods. I think a problem you have with the game is where your expectations lie. Blizzard North didn't make Diablo to be a die hard roleplaying game made for the hardcore D&D that want the ultimate role playing experience. They wanted to make the pick up and play Solitaire version of Rogue with a story and coop play that was so easy to pick up and play that it was grandma proof and can be virtually played exclusively with the mouse so that the barrier of entry was so small it guaranteed success, and that it did. That's what David Brevik wanted. I think you're dislike or hate for the game shouldn't be aimed at Blizzard or the success of the game, but rather be aimed at the other developers lacking originality that constantly copy it. I'm not the biggest fan of Halo for example, but when other devs started copying it's mechanics it didn't make me hate HALO, it made me call out the developers copying it for the slackers they are. I don't consider Diablo an RPG, but a casual pick up and play dungeon crawler with a decent story that's just slightly more involved than Gauntlet. It's a very arcadey experience for me like Doom 2. I love the gothic dark atmosphere it has and the fact that it's a pretty short experience I can finish in one sitting that doesn't require me to set aside a week just to finish. I love Fallout 1 & 2, Daggerfall, Gothic 1&2, Arcanum, Baldur's Gate, Wizardry 7,8, the Might & Magics and many other more notable RPGs and I wish I had more time to replay them. But they require some serious dedication of my time and much more careful attention to character creation, decision making to not get myself soft locked into a situation I despise that requires me to reroll and start again which is what keeps me from replaying them as often. This is a fear a lot of people that want to get into more complex RPGs have, because to be honest it's very hard to balance a 100+ hour long rpg with hundreds of variables without polishing the fun out of it to such a degree it ends up feeling more like a trial and error puzzle game than a relaxing video game experience. I find it relaxing and comforting knowing that I can just start the game up, pick a premade class and hack away as soon as I start the game. Most complex RPGs get you stuck at the character creation screen for so long that I kinda loose interest in the game the minute the game starts, and then it gets me stuck in long dialogues some more essential than others and hours ahead I find out my character is borked because how the fuck was I supposed to know I needed a certain skill to unlock this thing in a dialogue or in the environment, that while doesn't prevent me from playing the game but it does leave me feeling left out, or underpowered with the urge to restart. And me with the feeling of losing precious hours of my free time that's being contested by my family life, job and other responsibilites. I can equally enjoy a simple dungeon crawler like Diablo 1 as I do Ultima 7, but I don't play them for the same reasons. I play Diablo for the Leveling up Fix, it's like getting a sandwich that while not as healthy as a home cooked meal that's rich in nutritives and proteins, can still feel good on an empty stomach and don't want to spend too much time cooking it.

I've never played Diablo 1. But let me tell you, Torchlight 1 bored me to no end, which makes me not want to try Diablo to be honest.

I feel the same way about any game that requires grinding to get anywhere with it. Have no clue how anyone finds that tedium fun. Diablo looks no better

I always found Diablo 1 more focused on preparation than just being a loot fest like Diablo 2,I like the presentation of the world and setting but I never found the worlds that interesting to explore and the enemies were samey and bland, and the constant back and forth between dungeons and towns just really felt like you weren't really going anywhere. I had no idea Diablo 1 even had multiplayer until this video and to me I think that's kind of what solidified it as a good game simply because you could play it with friends, and the "RPG" part of the game seems to only exist when you're divvying up the loot into who gets what to fit their role. I think Dungeon Siege does a better job at being that simple single player ~ARPG~ which digging through its development a lot of its time was spent thinking of ways to address the problems they had with Diablo that it was enough to make a whole game around.

Years pass but i will never get how you have such a disdain for grinding but managed to keep going with arcanum post Black mountain mines As for this kind of game, idk, only looter kind of game i managed to enjoy was destiny

I love diablo, and i love ARPG's and diablo clones, if you dont thats ok, you're entitlted to your opinion but dont be "too" entitled to your opinion like an elitist.

Brave take.

Yeah i dropped diablo 2 after 20 minuets of playing I played diablo 3 and it was literally garbage. No level design Terrible enemy design Basically no gameplay because all you do is click some buttons mindlessly and get RNG loots. I rather play RPG games that need actual skill and player attention like monster hunter or soulsborne games.

The only good diablo is diablo 2. Remastered can be played with controller and it is very good stuff. D3 and 4 are the really boring diablos.

I don't about you, but even just looking at the gameplay footage, it dosen't appear to be all that interesting let alone fun.

"Game is repetitive and boring." Did it really need to take 20 minutes to just say that? Besides, we already know how you feel on this game.

Is it possible for you to enjoy a loot based game if the gameplay itself is fun? For example: God Of War 2018 focusses heavily on loot, but I find the combat to be fun on it's own.

yes, this game started horrible trend in rpg segment which accelerated even more during 2000s. But this is the worst subgenre of RPG imo. Constant looting and grinding to get slightly better gear and +1% better stat. Gets boring sooo quickly. I dont understand how people find any fun in all this. Storylines in these games usually are very basic and serve only as an excuse to go and kill thousands of mobs in generic dungeons. Maybe coop experience is different, but single mode is a chore to play

yeah, that's it, i can't continue being subbed to you after this. sry bro. bye.

It's called an action RPG because that's what they said it was, it's not because it has action in it, or because it's a role playing game, it's just a name, like "Bob". At least that's where I'm at with genre titles, once we let devs/publishers decide the genre it was all over. They just call them whatever they want these days, "massively multiplayer" games that support less players than Quake, "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena" What the fuck is that abomination? That describes almost every competitive online game ever made...that's when I gave up, the genre is whatever I say it is and the rest of you can go to hell. 😆 I don't really like this game either, but I think you didn't really hit on the reason it stood out at the time. Multiplayer was basically expected in a PC game by 1997 (especially one that's only fun with others...) FPS games were exploding and everyone with a nerd card was awaiting Xwing Vs. Tie Fighter with baited breath. In that climate I'd hardly call the inclusion of Battlenet brave, they'd have been laughed off the shelf without it. It stands out (and it sounds silly to say this today but...) just because the graphics and animation were so different to other games at the time. You compared it to Ultima 8 and even as someone who doesn't like Diablo, I think that's pretty silly. They are not on the same level. It's not even close. While it feels like janky tat today, compared to Ultima 8 Diablo is galaxy fucking chocolate smooth. And even though it's not actually an RPG, it had RPG stylings and unlike pretty much every RPG in existence at time, and let's face it the early days of RPGs was *rough*, it wasn't janky as fuck (comparatively, it still feels weird saying that when it actually is...) and that's why people liked it.

Super cool :)) 😀🤘🏼

Diablo ruined rpgs, before diablo you had to have a good story, diablo and its clones almost never have any. Before diablo you had to design good environments and well crafted dungeons, with diablo the level design is randomly generated. Before diablo you had to design good weapons armors, spells and enemies and useful items like keys and other items used in puzzles and quests. After diablo, all of that gear is randomly generated crap. The reason why fallout 4 sucks is obviously the bad writing but the entire gameplay is a skinner box of repetitive grindfest with randomized loot and "elite" enemies that have 10 times the healthbar. I actually liked how fallout had unique areas and didnt rely on dungeons much and every item was unique, there was one hunting rifle and one combat armor, now with newer fallout games and "action rpgs" in general there are a bazillion of "numbers" items that you have to spent time to figure out which items you should keep and drop. Diablo is why fallout 4 and starfield suck, diablo is why borderlands and destiny exist, diablo is why every indie game dev makes a diablo clone and calls it a "rpg" so every time i see a new rpg new or old i have to check to find out if its a diablo clone or a souls clone, it is rare that i find it is not either of those things. diablo is the laziest rpg ever and its randomized crap has ruined gaming in generla, its like a game made by a AI, no its not a game its a skinner box. I dont get how this type of games has so many people playing it for so long? Why? Just why?

after all these decades... finally... one man speaks the truth

Calling one of the greatest video games ever made "boring" is a very obvious troll, no actual person would ever hold that opinion or that game wouldn't have made Blizzard millions of dollars and sold FIVE TIMES better than Doom did in the same period of 6 months after launch (Doom was 65k after 6 months, Diablo was 660k). Nobody would ever say Diablo is boring, for a troll post to work it has to actually be believable.

To me Diablo 1 is the equivalent of Solitaire. Mindless clicking until you win. I do play it from time to time but I get bored quite easily. I prefer D2 and D3 mostly because they have a better presentation and atmosphere and are a bit more complex. But I only play them for mindless fun and when I want something a lot lighter inbetween more demanding games.

The first Diablo is so bloody awful compared to 2.

This has to be bait. You just want the engagement, and I guess I fell for it because here I am, commenting.

Edge lord alert.

I thought this was a joke but nah.. this dude really hates Diablo. Bro what games do you like? I swear to god if I watch your Tekwar video and it's full of praise I will explode.

ragebait video? xD

Im think that this video is basicli a guy who normaly eat in TOP best restaurants basicli naging about people who eat mcdonald ... Sory dude the game was revolutionary exactli for the reason how easi accesible and sipmple it was. You didnt need to build complex character and spend hours to trategize your progress you just started it up and powned some monsters. it have exactli what gamers want totaly forget about real world and dive down whit out thinking about stuff. For people coming tyred from work for example this was AWSOME.

You enter into this dark world in search of loot and glory, slowly understanding the horrors that happened in this city as you go down the dungeon. Unveiling the story by piecing together the sparse npc's dialog of the quests. OF COURSE IS A RPG, wtf

It’s a slot machine. If you like slot machines you will like Diablo. Making a game addictive isn’t bad, but predatory practices that came about years later are very bad. You would do better to do a review of the game with fleshed out analysis than ranting. People would be more open to the analysis. But I get the feeling you just like getting people to fight you on a topic you’re certain you’re right on. For context I played d2 until I beat hell and dropped d3 pretty quick because it was awful.

You don't have a clue what RPG means but I agree that diablo 1 aged like dogshit, what a terrible game.

Gatekeep us harder daddy lol Diablo is absolutely an rpg, get over yourself.

played the DEMO years too late doesn't get how to autoattack within a range of 25 years didn't get one of the best storys a video game had back then .. seems you don't get a lot of things. ...