I can't speak for the whole world, but it definitely pandered to the video game market in the U.S. which, at the time, was hungry for more realistic blood and guts. The mid-to-late 1990's were a time of moral panics about Satanism and graphic violence in video games (even Mortal Kombat was occasionally getting reference on national news at the time). Consequently, since gaming was something of a counter-culture, all of those things made a game especially "cool" to the late teenagers and young adults who were buying them at the time.

If you look at the games you listed, the one thing Diablo has on them is that it invested way more heavily in a horror atmosphere. They stripped the game itself to the barest of bones, but they didn't hold anything back when it came to shock.

For me, it's the atmosphere plain and simple. It's like a Lucio Fulci (google it) fever dream made into a game. Dark, Gothic, and creepy. Then we get to the music. The soundtrack is phenomenal, including the sound design of the enemies, go ahead a lop off a "hidden ones" head and tell me that's not satisfying! Lastly the voice acting is top notch! Big shout out to Glynnis Talkin.

Then we get to the accessible game play, it's RPG light, yet still gives you control and felxibility. It's the grand daddy of the ARPG game genre as we know it. Dablo 1 is like Black Sabbath - They started it, and yes, some bands took that formula and went faster, bigger, more complex, yet at the end of the day, sometimes you just wanna rock out to some classic Sabbath.

My favourite enemy type by far. The gurgling, followed by two soft thumps of the head dropping on the ground; it never gets old.

Those are definitely another favourite of mine. They make you feel like you're actually hitting very heavy armour and are very gratifying to kill. And they look absolutely bad-ass.
The knights in Diablo 2 are quite a letdown when compared to the old ones, in my humble opinion.

A fair question.

Diablo (one) is one of the first games I played which TOTALLY IMMERSED me. I was a much younger man at the time... and it was a game which resulted in a fair number of literally sleepless nights, where I started playing, intending to play for a couple of hours before going to bed, and was broken out of my game-playing reverie by my alarm clock going off. I literally played through the night, more than once, with no sense of "real time" passing.

Now, for me, I played SINGLE PLAYER only. I tried a couple of co-op games, but never really enjoyed being at the mercy of others... even if (as was the case here) they were people I already knew. Having to wait for someone to get started... hearing their kids yelling in the background on the conference call we'd share... etc... broke the immersion factor for me.

But... playing alone... total immersion. Forgetting the world around me. And this was the FIRST GAME, EVER to draw me in like this. There have since been a couple of others... "Thief - The Dark Project" comes immediately to mind... or the original Deus Ex... but such quality is pretty rare.

And that's why people loved it as much as they did. Sure, online play may have been a big deal too, but I never met anyone personally who was that into the online side of things. Blizzard loved it and promoted it for later games, and thus the later games (to ME) are LESS IMMERSIVE. The idea that if I need to leave for a minute... to go to the bathroom, answer the door, etc, I either have to let the world go on without me (back in camp) or I have to restart a level which repopulates, with all my progress lost... deeply hurt the "immersion" factor.

Walking back up to a staircase, through levels I beat days ago, walking over the dead bodies of monsters I killed, to get back to the next staircase to the surface... with all that CONSISTENT... it's a big deal. I'd also stockpile weapons I wanted to keep, piles of gold, etc, on the ground around Tristram, and they'd still be there even if I came back weeks later to play more. Diablo II, by contrast... unless you have it in your pack or in your chest, it's lost, and all the monsters except "quest monsters" have come back again, as if you'd never been there.

Yes, Diablo II allows you to just replay a level over and over until it's too easy to keep playing, then move along. It allows you to boost your states in ways that Diablo I never allowed. In Diablo I, you had only as much experience as you could gain from the levels you'd played as you went to the lower level. You could not gain further experience and stats by spending time re-killing weaker enemies at higher (or is that lower) levels in the game's progression.

You know, as you go in to face the Archbishop Lazarus that you're BARELY strong enough to survive that encounter... if you're not very, very careful, you will be overwhelmed. Period. And when you go to meet Diablo... well... you have to think your actions through very seriously.

In the later games, people breeze right past the "bosses" in too many cases by just "leveling up" beforehand. The first game gave you no such option... and that made it a LOT more challenging, IMHO.

In reality, Diablo and Diablo II are two very, very different games which just happen to look similar. Diablo I is a horror game, where you are challenged to even survive, much less triumph. Diablo II is more of an "action slasher" game... where, if you play well, manage y our rune-words and the like, trade jewels and rare items in the stores, etc, properly, you can beat any foe without breaking a sweat.

I prefer the first game. Many others prefer the second. You have to judge for yourself. But for me, it was the most immersive single-player game I'd ever played at that point, and remains one of my top six favorite games ever.

It's hard to put into words the feeling I had when I first saw this game being played when it was new. Nothing like it existed, especially the music and content which was for it's day pioneering and daring. Some of my friends played without music because it scared them enough. I fell in love with the game.

Singleplayer was a lot of fun and I did some battle net for a short time. Could be a challenge finding a non-hacked game to play safely, and in one game someone asked how I had my spells at such a high level as a Warrior. I had to explain how Enchanted shrines worked, and showed them my book-reading gear. Yes, it is possible to have decent spell levels as a Warrior (cheaper casting = good).

My most memorable experience was playing co-op with two friends over a modem connection. I was sorcerer, my buddy was warrior, and our female friend played the rogue. It was a blast and we enjoyed many fun evenings. Had to be careful with friendly fire, and of course my character became somewhat gimped in Hell difficulty due to immunities so the other two characters took the lead in damage and I healed and Stone Cursed, etc.

It was such a memorable experience that when Diablo 2 did finally come out, it just didn't have the same effect, though it is certainly a fun game that I played for several years.

I too spent many a nights playing this glorious game to the chilling soundtrack. (That scream in the cathedral still gives me chills.)

I remember getting Diablo in early '97. I was 16 and my family had bought our first PC roughly a year prior. It was the second PC game I ever owned (and still own). What attracted me to the game was its dark theme, graphics, and gameplay. It was something I hadn't seen before. Not in that form at least.

No, the game is not perfect. Yes, D2 is better in nearly every aspect. But D1 still holds a special place in my heart. And I'm clearly not alone.

The combat mechanics have tension, danger, with moments of impunity as well as helplessness. The game balance is *sharp*, not dull and mushy. Sharp like the really great RTS games, Starcraft, Warcraft, C&C. The game’s simplicity is an asset to the game balance as just that one new spell or item can make you powerful in an area you were previously just weak. Random dungeons and the loot system are super addictive (and we’re a total innovation at the time). amazing mood, graphics, animations and music that stands up today. Can you point to anything in another game as satisfying as hitting a doom guard with a fireball and getting that crisp feedback of the hit, seeing the enemy evaporate in an upward spiral, and the haunting death scream? It was Gauntlet, on steroids, with online play. I really value the simplicity of the game. I fired up Diablo 3 again and there is more going on in the main menu than in all of Diablo 1. And that is not a good thing.

All interesting replies -- I wonder if this was many people's first foray into RPGs... where they found the simplicity making it more accessible?

I actually find it very accessible today. I've been hooked playing D1 since the GoG release and simplicity is the main reason I've been ridiculously addicted to it. I've launched both D2 and Grim Dawn because D1 drew me back into the ARPG funk and I close to go back to my char in D1 ..... I mean, you can have a warrior spell caster and just reading one more book you've been looking for is a huge thing. That one sword you've been looking for with a bit more dex or 'fastest attack' and finding it is super addictive.

The problem with modern ARPGS is there's just too much. Grim Dawn and even Diablo 2 (I refuse to play D3 just because I know how badly they fucked it up living through D2's release), you're forced to grind which isn't bad and I do like that, but the simplicity of Diablo 1 is just crazy. It's weird and I'm not sure i'm properly explaining how I feel about it. But something about simple numbers and finding that one peice of gear you need with just a bit more of that one stat is extremely rewarding—not to mention shrines. It's all very focused and impactful. There's even a dash of survival in the mix.

A simple ARPG like this needs to be made with (ironically to my above graphs) MORE. But all very simple. What I mean is if you play Grim Dawn every item is math puke, there’s just so much shit on each item. Diablo 2 is simple, but there’s just too many items and you might find one very powerful piece of gear once a year (literally) if you’re self finding gear. A modern dungeon crawl somewhere in the middle would be amazing, and that’s basically what Diablo 1 is. But I can envision something better with examples we have now that we’re in 2019.

D1 and D2 are classics--they literally don't make 'em like this anymore. Instead there's all of the crappy server-side DRM and "Auction houses" and micro-transactions to contend with, etc. I've only played each for the single-player goodness. Never bought D3 and never will.

Anyway, the OP played D2 first and so he is seeing everything backwards...;) D1 came first--then later D2. Looking at it that way, the progression to D2 seems normal and expected--walk before you run, etc.

And some like Diablo 1 better then Diablo 2.

Right, but despite the fact that I didn't play Diablo 1 until after 2000 I am looking at it based upon what other games were out at the time and by that standard it was very light on gameplay content compared to other RPGs of the time - one town, one dungeon, three classes -- as I said earlier. Bringing multiplayer to the table is huge but even then Meridian 59 was out in September of 1996 as a sort of Daggerfall MMORPG, so to speak -- granted it had a subscription fee.

From reading people's experiences in this thread though it seems like the simplicity it was made it so successful. Not to say that there weren't immediate fans who were already into the genre but I could see this style of game bringing many new fans to it, as well. The atmosphere -- especially through the music -- was definitely a strength.

Simplicity, gameplay, itemization.

I will upload (pics) some of my gear later for review.

While grinding for a perfect dragons zodiac is always fun, a simple drakes/stars would be enough to get to 50. The over the top end game gear was really only for pvp, pvm could be gotten there.

BALANCE.

The game is very balanced for PvP and PvM. One could argue my favorite class, sorcerer, is over powered, but... doing hell/hell with kings sword and stone curse isn't exactly OP IMO...


All these new MMO don't have the classes like D1, everyone is a mage, everyone is melee, rogue is really the only one who can use bow though.

Just my favorite game of all time.