A particularly jarring scene is when the monster at the end literally bites one of the players in half. This type of awesome, shocking and unexpected animation is exactly what takes the game to the next level.

I just wished the general atmosphere matched it. The outside made you believe you were playing WOW or living in a cartoon world. Somehow the dark Gothic feel that Diablo had made it more believable and more fun.

Also giving a game a “darker more gothic feel” is much more then just changing the Gamma setting. Its about believability and making monsters that stay in your mind so that you could actually imagine them in the real world. Similar to a monster in a horror movie. You know its fake, but regardless, you can’t stop thinking about it and vividly picturing it, and worrying that it will appear.
You probably wouldn’t remember the “Alien” monster in the same way if it lived in a bright cartoony world.

-Eric

“Joe King Sep 5th, 2008 at 6:43 am

You got that shit right kratos, Diablo 1 was the only game out of the trilogy that sent chills down my spine.”

I can’t agree more. Most of the people who don’t understand the complaints about a more Gothic atmosphere didn’t play Diablo I, or if they did, they played it after playing Diablo II (which changes the interpretation).

Its incredibly hard to do, to make a game that can actually put a shiver down your spine the way Diablo did.

I still remember the first encounter with the Butcher. It was actually terrifying. You see a half dead soldier at the entrance to the monastery, and you hear his story. On the second floor, you discovered the Butchers hiding place The room was coated in blood, covered with bodies ripped in half and gruesomely displayed. He would come out and kill you before you even had a chance escape.

It was either the catacombs or deep in Hell that were the most frightening. I remember walking to a new room and the first charge of one of those Rhino monsters. I was pushed, and more charged. I died before I had a chance to more.
Worse still were the invisible yellow fiends.

The deeper in the game you went the more horrific it became (except the caves). Hell had an incredibly scary feel to it.
Or that voice, when you read the books which stand on the central pedestals. Learning about the gruesome storyline while simultaneously worrying about an unexpected attack.

Even Diablo, if he started winning the battle,would literally consume you into the darkness.

All I am saying is Diablo II didn’t really have the same “feel”. Its hard to quantify and hard to do, but its deeply intertwined with the monsters looks. Who could ever be frightened of a venom lord? It was so “cartoony” and ridiculous that you just knew you were just playing a fantasy game. I love that don’t get me wrong, rpg’s such as WOW are great fun, But I want __more__. I want that extra frightening “X-factor” that Diablo had, that would actually make you worry and fear for your character.

-Eric