The PS1 Nostalgia Thread

[FLips]

Diablo

What is it?

Diablo is a Dungeon Crawler in which you pick a typical class (Warrior, Rogue, etc.) and delve through 16 randomly generated dungeons to find and kill the Lord of Terror - Diablo.
The original plays very little like the Diablo games we have now and instead is a much slower paced affair with a lot more focus on inventory management and perfecting your class.

How is it?

This is my first time playing Diablo, having only previously played Diablo III and the beta of IV. I've got to say I absolutely love everything about it.
Graphically it's very similar to the original Fallout games but a lot gloomier, and there's some very lovely lighting and reflection effects that on the PS1 especially look very impressive. I'm not sure what engine it is but I love how it looks in both Fallout and here.

As someone who grew up playing Gauntlet II, this feels like a way advanced version of that. Lots of enemies on screen, secrets hidden on each floor and a lot of looting. It's nowhere near the levels of button spamming nonsense the current games are; instead here you have to strategically swap and change weapons and armour to fight different enemies and really think about whether it's worth rushing in or avoiding things until later. There are also randomly generated missions that you may get on one playthrough but not the other, and the ability to save your character for a New Game+ that you can restart at any time, really encouraging multiple plays.

The music and sound is exceptional. Lore books and NPCs are fully voice acted in that low budget but endearing early PC game way and the Tristram theme that plays when you're in town is some of the best I've heard on the console and even this late on would happily add it to my all time PS1 OSTs.

The PS1 version is also Co-op which sadly I haven't had the chance to try but I'm willing to bet is great fun.

I haven't played Diablo II but will look to get it on PC when I finish this (there's no PS1 port sadly) but I hear it's the best one. I have no idea what happened between II and III but this feels like a proper classic dungeon crawler whereas III, for as fun as it could be, was just mindlessly spamming buttons and not really paying attention. Wonderful game, and I can see why the series got so popular when this is the starting point.

[SuperBacon]

I remember the print ads in the mags for Diablo being really cool. 

Edit: Think I'm thinking of Devil May Cry. I'm getting old.

Edited October 20, 2023 by SuperBacon

[FLips]

Got properly hooked on Diablo. Unbelievably good game and one I wish I’d gotten round to earlier. I got to the final level on my original run and found it was a struggle so I saved my character and replayed the whole thing from the start to grind a few more levels.

Starting what was essentially a New Game+ meant I got brand new quests this time around so it was like playing a brand new game. I also had a good enough feel for my character to properly loot and benefit from stats. When I finally made it to the final level again I still struggled against the sheer amount of enemies and grinded my way slowly through the dungeon. 
Finally I found Diablo and somehow absolutely melted him with only a dozen or so hits. I feel what happened was my character was way overpowered but I had no elemental resistance so all the fire-shooting wizards and succubi were hammering me but then when I got to Diablo who mostly melee attacked he did next to no damage.

Brilliant game. Replayable as all hell, gorgeous (for the time) graphics and an atmospheric soundtrack with interesting NPCs and world-building for essentially what is one town and four dungeon areas. Still have a 2 player option as well if I ever go back to it. May have wormed it’s way into my Top 10 PS1 games of all time.

Edited October 30, 2023 by FelatioLips