Lets PlayIMPORTANT NOTE
Maybe it's just because I'm annoyed as fuck with the work I'm doing to reload the LP to another host, but it bears mentioning anyway. Do NOT talk about CD cracks or image mounting programs or any of that shit. Do not winky at people asking for PMs for more info, do not name programs, NONE of that shit.
Thread Updates:
Part 1 - Welcome to Tristram -
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Part 2 - Level 1, Defiling Sanctities -
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Part 3 - Level 2, Demonic Foreplay is Over -
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Part 4 - Water Quest, pH Readings are -666 -
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Part 5 - Level 3, Lets read more books! -
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Part 6a - Level 4, Even the demons get talkative! part a -
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Part 6b - Level 4, Even the demons get talkative! part b -
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Part 7 - Level 5, This shit just got real! -
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Part 8 - Level 6, You've been... THUNDERSTRUCK! -
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Part 9 - Chamber of Bone, or Chamber of Boners? (I've got nothin') -
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Part 10 - Level 7, More of the same... -
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Part 11 - Level 8, Of Madmen -
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Part 12 - Hive Level 1 & 2, Bovine Intermission -
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Part 13 - Hive Level 3 & 4, Udder Peril -
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Part 14 - Level 9, Tristram tells us things -
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Part 15 - Level 10, Ambushed! -
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Part 16 - Level 11, Ramming Tim -
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Part 17 - Level 12, Tim the Snake Charmer -
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Part 18 - Crypt Level 1 & 2, Rogue does it right -
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Part 19 - Crypt Level 3 & 4, In Diablo, rogue plays your game -
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Part 20 - Level 13, The FCC throws a fit -
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Part 21 - Level 14, Lachdananaphone -
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Bonus - Level 14 issues, Where do baby fireballs come from? -
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Part 22 - Level 15, Goodnight Sweet Prince -
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Part 23 - Lazarus' Lair, Lazarus registered as sex offender -
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Part 24 - Intermission, Tim powers up -
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Part 25 - Level 16, And then I woke up. -
Link!What is Diablo?
Diablo is a roguelike (or "action adventure RPG") released by Blizzard North, a now defunct office of Blizzard Entertainment, in December of 1996. The game became widely popular for it's gothic setting and gameplay. In it, the player could pick one of three classes - warrior, rogue, or sorcerer - to explore the dungeon beneath the town of Tristram, where a series of dark events had been taking place. The dungeon itself was randomized game to game, in terms of actual layout, enemies found within, and not the least of all items found. The game was controlled mostly by mouse interface, especially in regard to melee attacks, with supporting hotkeys available on one's keyboard.
Tell me about these classes!
The warrior is the very definition of "take a hit and swing a big weapon or use a sword and shield" type. He has considerably more HP than the other classes, and can use most weapons at fast attack speeds. The drawback for him was that he was slow to cast spells and had the least accessibility to them with his low cap on the Magic stat. The warrior was also more likely to have trouble closing in on ranged enemies. Despite this, he is one of the best characters to grow familiar with the game on.
The rogue was a classic ranged character, excelling at firing bows at a rapid rate and staying out of trouble. This would only persist for the first half of the game however, and in the second it would be easy for enemies to close in on melee range while your damage grows at a slow rate.
The sorcerer had the least HP and gear access of the three, but made up for it with his ability to access every spell in the game and have a large mana pool to back it up. With the mana shield spell, his mana would essentially double as his health. The drawback to the sorcerer was that starting the game would be more difficult than the other two classes, and his development was dependent on being lucky to find the right books or spend enough money for them in town.
Okay, then what's Hellfire?
Hellfire is an expansion released by Sierra Online, now Sierra Entertainment, the following year. The expansion ran as a separate program from the original game, leaving it playable in its original form still. The expansion introduced new items, new spells, two new areas of content with one quest arc a piece, new enemies to inhabit those areas, and a new class - the monk. While the expansion's reviews at the time were favorable, it seems to have been received poorly and with plenty of good reason. The overall setting of the two new areas did not quite match that of the original game, the spells were mostly copy + pastings of existing spells (example: there's a Lightning Wall spell, and a spell that mimics Nova only with fireballs called Immolation), there were many bugs graphically and gameplay wise, and most importantly the new class was not openly received. Incidentally, this was the one and only time Blizzard allowed a third party to work on an IP. Any other times after this were cancelled.
What was so bad about the Monk?
The monk came with many great ideas behind it. It was intended to be a hybrid character, while also serving as a good introductory character for new players to the game. The monk had exceptional attack speed with staff weapons, and was also able to hit two neighboring spaces beside the targeted swing space. Unfortunately, the monk's ability to cast a wider array of spells than the warrior, while having good melee combat skill, could not solve the problem of the monk's low hit points. It was possibly just as easy to die to barrel explosions on the monk like it would be on the sorcerer in the early game.
That doesn't sound very fun at all!
Hey, I realize I'm being harsh, but the fact remains that anyone who is skilled at the game and who has a good understanding of it should give the monk a shot. It's possible to make him into a decent character despite his crippling inability to take a hit early on. You just have to know what needs are most important at which parts of the game.
What about the actual content of Hellfire?
In all fairness, Hellfire's content was relatively tough, and ends up rivaling that of the endgame of the original. The ranged enemies in it posed far more of a threat than any other in the game, and there were plenty of them available. The quests were fairly straight forward in killing each area's boss, but the rewards were questionable. The first quest yielded an amulet that altered how much gold you could carry (from 5000 per inventory slot to 10,000 - and you had to be wearing it). The second quest yielded random rewards of high quality, making it possibly the first of Blizzard's "farm for goods" encounter in a game.
Don't despair though! The content is still a challenge that can be beaten, and the gold payout is worth it if you need to buy books or elixirs. With the 1.01 patch to Hellfire, there was even a method of altering the first quest and its reward.
Altering the quest? How?!
Fine, but this is going behind a spoiler tag.
After having the patch installed, go to the Hellfire directory and make a text file named "command." Inside the document, you can write one of two things. The first is "cowquest" (without the quote tags) - This would remove Lester and put a man dressed in a cow suit in Tristram near where Lester would be. He gives a quest to find two suits in the first expansion area. The reward is, well, I won't be spoiling that. The second thing you can write is "theoquest" (again without the quote marks). This would place a little girl in town would have you find her teddy bear in the first area. The reward is again a spoiler I won't be revealing.
So where can I get this game?
This is the only part where I'll be letting you down quite a bit - Good luck. Blizzard no longer sells the game, and the game is no longer a part of the Diablo Battlechest. For a time, there was a Diablo + Hellfire bundle. Your best bet is to hit up Amazon or eBay or similar sites.
I've played Diablo 2, but I've never played the first.
If the ability to run as you please or have unique skills to classes, or have a larger playing area, are too important to you, stepping back to Diablo might have negative results. All classes share the same spell access, via books, except for a single ability each (which end up having little consequence in the long run, except the rogue's disarm ability). The level cap is also 50. So unless you are able to put into perspective the era of gaming this game came from, and are interested in seeing the leader in gothic, dark settings in video games, give it a shot.
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Original OP:
Edit - Text in black is outdated, specifically the voting stuff.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Diablo. For those unfamiliar for whatever reason, Diablo is a roguelike released by Blizzard in the late 90's, developed by a studio they devoured. The game places the player in the town of Tristram, where odd things of all sorts are happening. The King went insane and started a random war before dying, his son was kidnapped along with a bunch of children in the town, people of the town were lead into the church to search for the lost prince... and were promptly murdered to hell by a butcher thing. Bad news.
The game has some spells to learn, but for two of the three classes you mostly click a lot to attack. You explore the depths of the church basement, sprawling down into a labyrinth deep below the town. Along the way, more fearsome creatures will make themselves seen, running at you from the dark. What monsters that show up, what quests you undertake, and the very layout of the dungeon are all randomized.
As we go along in the LP, I will introduce you to the game floor by floor (each floor itself being an update). But first, let's meet the villain of the game.
Say hi Diablo.
Hi Diablo. First line and you're already going to blow it with a lame joke?
I'll torture your soul for eternity whelp. Magical! Well, you're the villain of this game and even get the title named after you, how cool is that?
It's hot. Well there are others we must introduce, so let's get to them. First up we have the warrior.
...
A man of few words I see.
No, it's...
Yes?
Everyone makes fun of me about doing a bad Batman impression.
Don't worry, this LP is in screenshots only! Nobody will hear your terrible voice.
Next we have the rogue!
Hi everyone. I actually have unique aspects to my class unlike the warrior.
...
It's true. I can detect traps and disarm them. Oh, and fire bows at a ridiculous rate. What can you do?
I'm Batman. OKAY let's move on! Next is the sorcerer!
That would be me.
Now the sorcerer kinda has things harder than the other two...
Excuse me?
Excuse who?
What's that supposed to mean, I have things harder?
Now now, no need to make this awkward.
We'll see about that, honkey.
That wasn't very nice.
Why don't you narrate about how I learn magic from books and depend on mana like dear life?
But you just did.
... Bitch.
Okay, now that we're all acquainted with the classes I'd like to move on to-
*ahem*
Did you guys hear something?
Nope.
Uh uh.
Nothin'.
Not a thing. Well as I was saying, I'd like to move on to-
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!
Why look everyone, it's our friend the monk from that bastardized 'expansion' Hellfire, developed by Sierra Online, which added two dungeons, some items and spells, and a crapass class. What's wrong Monk?
Aren't you going to introduce me?
Oh monk, you make me laugh.
Now, I'd like to move on to the first two choices you readers get in this. First, I need you guys to decide if I should play Diablo, the core game, or play Hellfire. To make it easier on myself put your vote in yellow text.
The second thing to choose would be which class gets to go through the game! Don't worry, I'm sure the others would love to stick around to give out advice. Or give snarky remarks. Sounds like I win either way.
For some posterity, here's the beginning stats for each class, and a brief description on those stats.
Strength - Determines what kind of armor and some weapons you can use. Also adds to your damage at a slow rate.
Magic - Determines what kind of scrolls you can read, your mana, and what books you can learn spells from.
Dexterity - Determines some item requisites (bows), adds to your armor, and even adds to your hit rate.
Vitality - Adds to your health.
Cast your class votes in cyan to help me pinpoint them!
I'll check back on votes at a later time to be determined (depends on how fast / slow this moves).VOTING OVER
Sorcerer won, monk came in second, and rogue + warrior were distant third. Hellfire vs. Core vote was close but Hellfire won, and it's for the better in hindsight.
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It's the only true way to go.
I bet you think you're funny, don't you Goomba?
Oh wow, that is quite the resemblance.
Looking forward to this.
Edit: if it wasn't clear this is my vote too.
"It's hot down here."
Nintendo Network ID: PhysiMarc
Ironically I never played Sorc when I played D1, but this seems like the most interesting playthrough to watch. Also hellfire sux.
It was amazing.
I'm gonna have to vote on this as well.
As I do not know anything about the monk, or any of the expansion stuff, it therefore makes it the most interesting option for a Diablo LP. For me atleast.
Fireballs are the best balls.
I remember watching my brother play through this many moons ago as a rogue... on the PSX version.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
I've never played the expansion so I'm pretty eager to see whats the big deal.
I'd like to see Rogue and Hellfire myself. Early sorcerer was always brutally hard, and late game sorcerer always seemed kind of boring.
Ka-Chung!
Ka-Chung!
*in the background, Monk is jumping up and down shouting "PICK ME!"*
...Sorcerer.
"SONUVA-"
I played the expansion for about five minutes so you should play through the rest for me.
MOD THAT SHIT, YO
Cause monk sucked.
It's a PA LP so it's not like all of us are expecting a lot.
Those were simpler times. Also I was a douche and potion duped the hell outta some spectral elixers for maxed stats without outside apps
No, I'm not doing that. I'm also not going to power play this necessarily; if I'm dumb enough to click on a shrine with bad results, I fucking do it.
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Core Game: 10
Hellfire: 8
Sorcerer Votes: 10
Monk Votes: 5
Warrior Votes: 1
Rogue Votes: 2
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
This.
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Probably as an extra event at the end of this. I'm hoping maybe we'll get people who abandoned the game long ago or just got it to play, so we can point and laugh at them.
thhhhi s
Think I played a monk a total of 5 minutes back then and all the other classes way too much so I gotta go monk.
thirded