It's gorgeous and smooth, with the option to instantly revert to pixeled format if nostalgia hits you, but man. The server issues.

I stopped playing weeks ago due to a different reason though - not getting hooked (first time D2 player). I guess the mechanics are just too dated and the combat braindead for me. The music is amazing, same as the atmosphere (the two go very much together) though.

Worked on Linux smoothly as well. Still, kinda disappointed, and disliking the company these days. Wouldn't mind my money back, but had to go see what all the fuss was about with D2.

I have said it before and will say it again, i have the original since a very long time back both physical or legacy copy so i rather play those and these days i'm just fed up with DRM bullshit heck even 20 year old games can't be free from this crap and ofc rarely can remasters just be an improved version of original so they just had to add not only more intrusive drm which is now client based but also remove TCP/IP multiplayer.

- censorship and general worse-than-old-renders look
- not much improvement gameplay-wise, worse than old mods and plugins
- bugs galore, up to character and stash winding up deleted outright
- no true offline play or LAN/IP because of
- online DRM with customary server issues
Hard pass from me.

Obnoxious DRM aside, it seems the only good remaster Blizzard put out in recent years was Starcraft 1.

yes even alone they are no

I tried it on my brother computer, a real Blizzard fan who bought it without any hesitation. In my opinion (I’m an old time Diablo 2 player, I even played the demo back in the days) this is a really good remaster. I would probably have bought it if it were sold with no DRM.

But of course I am not going to buy any game with DRM. So I’m staying with my good old DRM-free build of the original game.

I personally avoid buying DRM-infested games whenever possible. But I wouldn't want to be without an experience for a principle which, realistically, has practically no impact whatsoever.

The reason I'm currently holding off is that I'm a bit weary of this whole grind-based gameplay.

Sure enough, it is now 25% off on all platforms for the next week. Didn't expect a discount like that so soon.

Basic rule of thumb especially the last 5 years. NEVER buy on day one, and NEVER preorder.

Instead let it release, wait for reviews (from a few trusted sources), and preferably wait for it to be on discount.

But good to hear you don't have to feel regret for a bad purchase.

Keeping the value in it, keeping it real! They don't make them like they used to, nosiree! At least Blizzard had the dignity to leave classic Diablo 2 LOD intact, Rockstar offed the original Trilogy and even went down cracking on modders, who struggled for years to fix their games for free!

no lan no diablo 2

It's not like Blizzard doesn't do that as well. It's one thing to include a proper old version with your purchase like GOG does, but not only now "retro" look is bundled with the overpriced remake with most unpleasant DRM and unnecessarily high system requirements, they also deliberately introduced experience-ruining bugs and other bullshit in patches for old games, and then force people to switch to remake about as pushily as Microsoft tried to update its clients to Win 10. And after that they complained they didn't have time and funds to make the remake perfect, as if they didn't waste a lot of it for player-unfriendly bullshit. And Blizzard are pretty much the poster child for cracking down on modding community and trying to steal their hard work while at it, even if back when Warcraft 3 came out they were one of most modder-friendly developers.

All things serious, sequels like Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 don't even need a remake (although among many there was an interesting attempt by some fan for Diablo 2, dropped because Blizzard wouldn't let it come to fruition and announced their own). They're perfectly playable as is. Games like Warcraft 1 sorely do, because controls are absolutely awful, AI is dumber than a rock, and there's so much retconned lore in it they hardly can make it worse.

Great presentation and right on spot. I am still sad for the sad remake of Warcraft 3, even though i never got it (saw that coming, too). It replaced the original too, but i have my copy of game+expansion on disk (multiplayer folks are screwed). Also, everybody should keep in mind that most modders in active communities, the first of the things they do, is facelift the graphics and boost optimization for modern machines, so there is no worry about a game aging, even if it doesn't do that finely.

On the other hand, the Blade of Darkness remake or should i say, re-release, went smoothly. Devs kept patching and fixing it constantly and they still do, they gave it away for free to previous legit owners of the old game and it feels great to play through it! And people say Shadowman is nice, i have to try that one at some point.

And still, no ladder exclusive content for other game modes outside official B.net server... :@

I hope that modders stop fixing these big budget games, and let them die on their own merit, and instead stick with the classics that were decent.
Games with 3D models could certainly use a minor upgrade with texture/models. Games utilizing sprites on the other hand are fully functional but resolutions don't keep up very well.

Though with more recent games that are fully 3D only need tweaks and/or recompiling (Logically at least, i think).

I really wish Copyright would drop to something reasonable and older stuff go to the public domain.