Well before I will get to the "but" part, let me explain the title of this post. I wasn't kidding. Diablo (with Hellfire expansion) was my favourite part of the trilogy (far better imo than 2or3). I was so mad there is no way to get original version and I didn't want to pirate it, so when GOG made Diablo 1 possible to buy I was so happy.... but also sad there were no signs of the hellfire anywhere on the internet on in shops.

Now it is here, for a while turns out (almost 3 months I think), and I didnt even have to buy it - it was free to owners of the first part whiich is amazing gift (thank U GOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

But here we get to the "but" part.
While I had no hellfire and didnt want to play bare D1 I found amazing belzebub project (or simply - HD mod). What is it? well unofficial mod made by 1 guy who made the game work on newer systems and with higher resolution. Game looks simply amazing (comparing 1900/1080 from this mod and from naked gog version is worlds apart). But he didnt stop there. He added new classes, bunch of new quests, npcs, items (belts!), chests in town, where u can stash yout crap not on the town floor, one is for your character and the other is shared by all characters on your computer so they can easyli share items and gold!

When I was playing hd mod I was wishing I had hellfire instead, I missed nakrul and defiler, as well as monk class. But now i have Hellfire I played it for a day and... It's not as fun when U can compare it with HD mod. The game without it is a litle ugly, clunky, and less complex.

So yeah - thank U GOG for Diablo and Hellfire I was waiting to have it for over 10 years now.
But.... for everyone not fully happy with this version of the game - check the hd mod. I swear U will never ever look at base D1 or Diablo-Hellfire same way. I am blinded by nostalgia and still I think this game is so much better moded.

So buy Diablo 1 its a legend, not a game. Everyone should have it. But dont play it without trying hd mod - 32 MB that will improve every single aspect of the game. It looks gorgeous, it offers more complex gameplay (6 very distinctive classes - barb look like warrior only red instead of blue armor, necro look like sorc and assassin look like rogue - but each of them plays completly different than the others, only warrior and barb are a litle similar but even them are diferent types of style later)

If anyone played hd mod - help me encourege people to try it. If U didnt play it try and come back here let me know about your impresions:)

And that's the problem I have with these type of mods. I'd love to play in Hellfire in HD with some quality of life improvements. But they don't stop there... they change the game well beyond the balance and vision of Blizzard.

It makes way too many changes to the original game for my taste. Also, a "HD mod" in this case means just forcing the game to a higher resolution, resulting in everything being zoomed out and small. So no, thank you.

I also prefer the game without Hellfire, it is comprised mostly of stuff Blizzard cut out of the game and for a good reason. The game feels much better without it to me.

The only feature I would be interested in are the difficulty options.

Well, there is another mod out there in two parts called The Hell and The Hell 2:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/diablo-the-hell
https://www.moddb.com/mods/diablo-the-hell-2

These have bigger resolutions and other characters, though some are unhappy with the changes made. Maybe try those out. Not sure if the guy will add hellfire support to beelzebub, maybe post him and see as the website is still active.

Well... I did thought so to. But.... isn't spaming autoatack on warrior a litle boring? what is wrong to having like 5 abilities outside of repair U can use in fight when U dont want to play mage?
If U want no one stop U from playing with simple "left click to attack" but I personaly rather "left click to pay some mana and attack with slight aoe (like monk staff attacks) and slightly higher dmg and attack chance. Especialy since game is very chalanging.

As for Blizzard Vision. I love Blizzard games. I really do. Especialy old ones. But U never will understand how waypoints (similar to those from d2) or stash chests (similar to this from d2 but much bigger) improve fun u have from the game untill U try.

If nothing else I recomend to check this mod just to see D1 in true hd resolution and cool new quests (voice acted which mean they were in the game they just didnt finish therefore not unlock them). Now even gilian or priest have cool big quests for our charachter! no useless npc's in entire Tristram!

But trust me after playing classes from HD mod U will not miss old warrior, sorc, rogue or monk. Giving each class 6 unique skills really made them superior to the old gang:)


Edit: I noticed more replies only after I wrote this one and I dont want to spam so here goes -
I know changes to the game especialy not made by Blizzard are something U have to get used to. I know they were salty even towards hellfire even thought all it did was improving the game a litle.

I was pissed about so many changes myself. Thats why I kept waiting for hellfire while playing. But now comparing both... U call it changes I call it improvements. U say all hd mod do with graphic is forcing higher resolution making everything zoomed out. I personally like to having bigger area around my character in my sight.
If U gave hd mod a chance and it failed your expectations I am sorry to hear it, guess tastes in people are more different than I thought. But to me and many other people Hd mod is the best D1 incarnation. And for me personaly favourite Diablo game. I do have d2 and d3, havent play them in years. I played hd mod half a year ago. I missed it so I play again^^
All I can do is recomend everyone to give this mod a chance. Many changes seem pointless at first but tbh playing game without them now... feels so hollow...

It has a zoom feature, so you can choose exactly how small or large things are.

I just started playing it for a bit and I must say I'm impressed. It really feels like an improved version of Diablo so far, and I didn't really see many unnecessary changes to the game itself. Many features can also be disabled. I recommend everyone to give it a try and see for themselves, maybe they'll be surprised.

The major features can't be disabled, and there are changes to the gameplay and content, don't get me wrong. But so far, nothing feels unnecessary or like it doesn't belong there. Granted, with some of the features it plays a lot more like Diablo 2, but that's not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned. And it still is Diablo 1, just a bit more modern.

Hellfire sucks. Diablo is honestly better without it.

I like your aproach to this mod, probably because I have the same. There is a lot of changes to swallow so it may feel weird at first, but after playing for a hour or two U know those aren't bad changes but improvements.

Few advices I can give to the new players in the mod:
Sorc - only atribute he needs is magic. Mana shield is class skill only he poses.
If U want to play melee char - I recommend a barbarian. Lack of magic may seem bad but it mostly mean his skills are free! So on low levels when other clases have to worry about mana he can spam his cleave atack from lvl 6 like there is no tommorow.
Warrior is more mana dependant so better play him after getting some better gear for him on other class playthrough (barb. sorc recommended) + mana and + mana leach help him a lot, but he need 2-3 items with it at least.
don't be surrpised with new quests - they are very well designed and give U new locations (as well as bosses to kill - Izual, Andariel and more:) )also some old quests are changed a bit but for the better (like butcher - it's not simple "open the door and slay him" quest, there is actualy a litle ridle u have to do to find him:P)
Last but not least - I mentioned waypoints (very nice change) belts (1 more slot for bonuses and help carry more items), chests (personaly I use only trade stash because it's shared between all my chars, with the exception of crafting materials which are bound to character who turned magical item into them - but crafting comes into play after anvil of fury quest much later), but there are also few other nice changes - when u press "alt" it shows items on the ground kinda like in d2 (colecting loot in Diablo Helfire was confusing at times) - simple but great feature! Also on the ride side of the screen (somewhere to inventory button) there is -> symbol under which there are few interesting options unawailble in the game menu (like run speed in town - set it to 100% boost)

To me if they offer a choice of what improvements to use and which not to use they are okay in my book and welcome(as I can play purist or play with the changes).

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=========As that movie dude said: Opinions, man.....

Ok, I must admit there are a lot more changes and additions than I originally thought. It seems to get more and more the further you get. Many things seem to be directly influenced by Diablo 2, including some of the quests that have been added. However, there seem to be voice files for all of them, at least the ones I've encountered so far, and they sound exactly like the ones from vanilla Diablo, so they may actually be deleted quests which later found their way into Diablo 2.

In any case, it looks like there are a lot more quests in the later parts of the game, where the original Diablo didn't really have much to offer in this regard, so I'm ok with that. There is also crafting, which gets enabled after a certain quest, but it seems like it can be completely ignored because you need to salvage ingredients from magic items, and if you don't do that, you probably won't ever see any of them, because it looks like they can't be just found or bought normally. Looks like the only crafting related things that can be found are recipes, but so far I have only found one.

I still think it is a very well made mod, and it's nice to be able to play the game again in a modernized and enhanced version, but the changes might be too extensive for some people.

Hell fire goes beyond Blizzard's vision too being an unofficial expansion to Diablo. I like the belzebub mod for Diablo because it add so much new content to the game and makes it so much better but thats just me. To each their own.

I love Hellfire...without mods. Still proud to say it. But ty OP and nightcrawler for linking to some, for those interested.

And let's face it, Diablo's balance is pretty awful. The sorcerer is extremely overpowered, and with mana shield he doesn't need any attributes besides Magic. He's also by far the most fun to play.