Diablo (PlayStation) Playthrough
234A playthrough of Electronic Arts' 1998 action-RPG for the Sony PlayStation, Diablo.
In this video I play through the game as a warrior on the normal difficulty level.
I don't remember the 1997 release of the original Diablo for Windows 95 being a particularly huge deal. It was reviewing well in magazines, but I didn't know much about it beyond what I'd heard from a couple of classmates.
But I do remember how within just a few short months it had blown up into a cultural phenom and how Blizzard became a household name seemingly overnight. They were already known for their Warcraft games, but it was Diablo that finally pushed them into the industry spotlight.
Things kick off with the arrival of a hero in Tristram, a remote medieval hamlet that has fallen prey to a series of violent demon attacks. You see, Tristram's church houses the entrance to a series of subterranean labyrinths that plunge sixteen levels deep into the earth and opens directly onto Hell itself. You might think that the people would've anticipated some degree of hardship when they decided to settle on the devil's doorstep, but since the gene pool seems to run shallow in these parts, they didn't, and here we are. Adventure awaits!
The game pairs Gauntlet's D&D-inspired, top-down action with procedurally generated dungeons that became popular with the rise of roguelikes and MUDs in the 80s. You create a hero based on one of three character classes - warrior, rogue, or mage - and as you work your way through the labyrinth, you'll gain experience and horde copious amounts of loot that'll aid you in becoming the ultimate Diablo-slayer. Tristram acts as a home-base where you'll chat with NPCs for quest information and trade for items and equipment, but you're on your own from the moment you step into that eerily-lit church.
The gameplay loop is as straightforward as it is addictive. Enemies are loot piñatas that erupt into fountains of randomized treasure when popped, and since your character's strengths are largely determined by equipment, it can be exciting when a monster drops an unidentified item with a blue (magic) or gold (unique) label. The action becomes incredibly chaotic the further you descend, but if you outfit yourself well, anything can be overcome with some strategy... and a bit of luck.
The PlayStation port is based on the original (pre-Hellfire expansion) PC version of the game, and it's an impressively faithful adaptation. Instead of pointing and clicking to move around and attack, you have direct control over your hero's movements with the d-pad, and the keyboard shortcuts have been remapped to various button combos on the controller. The control scheme can be a little overwhelming at the start, but it begins to feel second-nature before long and rarely gets in the way of the action.
The graphics are different from the PC game's. The screen resolution has been halved so everything looks a bit muddy, but the PlayStation version isn't bound by the PC version's 8-bit color depth, so the the environments have a richer, warmer look to them that helps to offset the grainy chunkiness. A few new graphical flourishes were thrown in, too. Notice how your character casts a reflection in the streams that run through town?
The sound is a closer match. It's a bit muffled and compressed, but all of the original voiceovers, sound effects, and music made the jump to the PlayStation intact.
The biggest drawback to playing on the PlayStation comes with the load times. Loading screens last anywhere between 20-40 seconds when entering a new area, and saving a game - which eats 10 blocks on your memory card! - takes close to a full minute.
But these changes are understandable given the PlayStation's relative lack of power next to a machine that could meet the PC version's minimum required specs, and the PlayStation still offers up an unexpectedly comparable experience.
It's a great game regardless of the version you decide to play, though, and unlike Diablo IV, it wasn't made solely to provide its developers unfettered access to your wallet. On day one, right out of the box, it was a finished, polished, fully self-contained experience with massive replay value, and it was yours for an upfront, one-time cost of $50! Maybe I'm just being a grumpy old man here, but am I the only one who absolutely detests the games-as-a-service model? I sure do miss the good ol' days.
One last thing: Diablo has a lot of lore to bone up on if you want to get the most from the experience. Most of it is doled out in narrated exposition dumps that can be accessed from the title menu. They're dull, but they're read by the voice behind Metal Gear Solid's Col. Campbell, Paul Eiding, so that's pretty neat. If you want to hear these, you can find them after the ending (8:35:33).
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.