I forgot about Heretic Kingdoms. The engine shows its age very badly, but it wasn't bad for its time. Just a little wonky and sluggish, like the control and interface and clarity hadn't caught up to the visual technology yet, or something.

The plot looked really promising. I didn't get too far. I got a little bogged down with the "ability unlock Pokemon" minigame (not an actual distinct minigame, just the thing where you unlock abilities from each piece of gear in the game and then bin it). It's sort of a nice system in some ways, but it is also a bit cumbersome and it sort of encourages you to grind pointlessly just because there's no cost to learning everything.

I guess I should re-emphasize that the plot looks really promising. I only got to and explored the first major city before quitting, but they really did act like they gave a damn about storytelling and choice. I should also add that, roleplay-wise, it seems like a good idea to trust your instincts. There's some guy who seems like kind of a prick, and you basically don't want to trust him in any way ever. They don't put a big black anti-halo around him or beat you over the head with cutscenes of him kicking puppies or anything - he's just sort of generally prickish in that sort of overzealous and prickish sort of way that's generally portrayed in a believable manner.

I am really enjoying Path of Exile with my friends.

I added a big link to the OP, sort of an essay about the ways in which D3 was simply uninterested in being a successor to D2. It's the kind of stuff that lots of people say and think, but gaming sites never cover it.

This will probably be my last bump, both because it's sort of timely at the moment, and because I think I've said it all finally.

Thanks again for helping me find some of those games.

EDIT: I wanted to join any GD discussion of D2/D3 anywhere, but there weren't any from this year. That's why I just went here instead.

I've been playing a mod of Diablo 2 called Median XL Ultimative. It is a complete rework of the game. New skill trees for all characters, new runes and rune words, new monsters, new uniques and sets, new Uber quests. So much content!!!

Basically it's a whole new game.

Only downside is you can't play on Battlenet. However they do have a thriving multiplayer community and secure multplayer servers. Totally rekindled my love for this game!!

Modders would've been the only thing that could have possibly saved D3, but they DRMed the crap out it. Whoops. Good luck with the Adventure Mode DLCs, though (I'm calling it now, I'm like 70% sure in my gut that that's going to happen).

How's the balance on that mod? D2 had a lot of junk skills, some junk stats, too much potion juggling...

I know this is a thread about games you can play instead of Diablo 3 but I just want to say that the new D3 (post patch) is actually pretty damn good. It might be worth a shot if you keep an open mind about it (and don't mind the DRM in form of battleNet).

I'm no fanboi at all. I will say I have been playing it passionately and am really enjoying the ability to customize characters, utilize skills, make vastly different builds. Some of the "Ubers" favor certain builds but it in no way diminishes the mod overall. There are still so many Heroic and other Uber areas to keep me playing for a long long time.

Also it's free, and that is one of my favorite prices!!

For $20, maybe if it weren't a big letdown that was supposed to be D3. My last update to the OP has my feelings on that.

The Loot 2.0 fixes some stuff big time, but also doesn't touch some other stuff I think is even more important, and messes up some other things that should've been left alone. Also, they buffed pretty much everything by a lot, which is a sort of bribe to come back more than anything else, and I felt OP and bored playing it briefly last week.