News and Reviews: Diablo the First

So there I was, standing in line at the midnight launch of Diablo 3 with about a hundred other people all eagerly awaiting their chance to explore the world of Sanctuary in a whole new way.  The clock ticked methodically onwards, until finally it was time.  The line marched forward with surprising civility, until my friend and I made it up to the cash at last.  He picked up his copy, and the cashier turns to me. I put up my hands, and back away.

"Oh, no thanks.  I'm not a fan.  I just like things that happen at midnight."


 And with that we were off into the night, to get my good buddy set up for an evening of server bugs and performance issues, interrupted by periods of pure gaming bliss.  But the whole experience got me thinking.  I'm not a fan, but what do these hundred people see in the series?  What about all the thousands and thousands of other gamers waiting in line?  What is it about this series that garners such devotion?

If I want to be a part of this industry, I can't ignore a crucial part of its history just because of how awesome Nox was.  So I started looking into the lore, grabbed myself a copy of the original Diablo, and sat down to work my way through this piece of the great gaming tapestry.

Well, that was a waste of about fifteen hours.

Now, before you get all riled up at how I can't just throw away such an important game in one sentence, hear me out.  It's not that it's bad, per se.  It's that it's disconnected.  You have to look at this work from two perspectives to really get a grasp of it.   And that surprised me, not so pleasantly.

One of those things I did before booting up for the first time was check out Force Gaming's Diablo Lore Series on YouTube. If you don't know the lore, or you just forget, I recommend it.  The guys voice is a little dry, but the story is pretty great.  Obviously, because this narrative has been well enjoyed and expanded for sixteen years.

So loading up the game treats you to a cinematic.  A somewhat confusing cinematic, but it's nice that it's there.  Death, destruction, and a persistent fog abound.  A sword sticks out from the earth.  Crows are well fed.  It is very bleary.  We see a knight in armour.  Okay.  So there's a knight, and... he's a killer?  No, wait, he's just arrived.  So he's... seeking vengeance?  Maybe?  Alright, the cutscene moves on to showcase the labyrinth, and some monsters.  He's fighting the monsters!  Aha, so this is us? Cool, cool.

All in all, not bad.  Gets the blood pumping for you to start playing.  But here's the first time the game hits the breaks like a first-time driver.  You slide through the character select, and are popped into the town of Tristram with no information.  No tutorial, nothing.  That's fine.  It's old school.  Read the manual, I guess.  So you do that. Then you get playing.  Except, there's nothing really to do, in Tristram.  You can 'talk' to people, but they pretty much just gossip.  Odd.  No mention of a huge slaughter?  Giant demons?  Apocalypse, anyone?  No... no everyone's pretty concerned about Wirt and his leg, I guess.

Allllllllright...

Eventually you find your way into the Cathedral and start fighting monsters.  You will do this for the rest of the game.  It is the game.  It is clicky-clicky.  You click till things die, and then you click some more for good measure.

For the record: This is not bad.  In fact, this is pretty awesome.  It's easy to slip into that Tetris-zen we're all familiar with, where the keyboard and mouse slip away and you are one with the clicks.  You zone out and just enjoy the serene simplicity of it all, the quick rewards for clever actions, the delicious jingle sound of picking up gold.

Unfortunately, this does not compute with what I've learned about this world of Sanctuary.  It's a gritty, dangerous place.  You are descending literally into the depths of hell. This does not strike me as a task one should just veg out for.  Dread is not something that is instilled by this game, by default.

Yeah, that about sums it up. Picture from the Diablo Wiki

It's an example of a game that fails to recognise that gameplay itself is a part of storytelling. That mechanics exist to enforce narrative, that they are not a conveyor belt to bring it to you.  I'll be honest, I finished the game by accident.  I killed Diablo himself while thinking "Gee this guy is pretty tough.  Well, thank goodness I brought all these potions.".  It wasn't until the cutscene kicked in (wherein I was suddenly a Warrior instead of a Sorcerer, much to my confusion) that I realised I had killed the dark lord himself.

So what do I think of Diablo the First?  It's pretty simple really.  Despite everything this game is a fun, simple, old school dungeon crawler with some great zen-play experiences.  It can be a hoot to click around, kill baddies and level up for hours at a time, even if it is frustratingly ancient.  It is surprisingly light on its own lore, and does a pretty poor job explaining pretty much anything that happens, but the fans and the wikis have you covered for that.  It did a great job laying the groundwork for greater things to come.

So why do I feel like I've wasted fifteen hours?  Because I had already really accomplished everything I wanted to do in this game before it installed.  I experienced what I love about games, the narrative, all on youtube.  Since the gameplay is so disconnected, it didn't add anything to the experience.  Am I glad that I got to zone out and have a fun gaming moment?  Sure, but it didn't have to be as long as it did.  I could have spent that time doing other things.  Like playing the sequel.  

It's a (not aesthetically) beautiful piece of classic gaming.  If you want to experience the story and be swept into the world of Sanctuary, stick to Youtube.  If you want to look back at where we came from as a medium, dust it off and boot it up.  It takes all of thirty seconds to install, and even less to uninstall. 

Plus, the music is amazing.