Diablo 1 on GOG?

[Boro]

Try it out? Are you planning something?

...I should finish the writeup for Cinderella now that I think of it.

[haphazard1]

Let me know when/if you try out some Diablo 2..

I am planning to give Diablo 2 a try once I (hopefully!) complete Diablo 1 with a victory. Then I can be a complete newbie again and will be confused by everything in Diablo 2.

Completed the Chamber of Bones, now searching for the Halls of the Blind. I did find another of the occasional lore books that show up with background on the world of Diablo; this one was about the Sin War. Title was 'The Realms Beyond.' Wonder if that means anything.

[haphazard1]

Completed the catacombs, now in the caves. Enemies are noticably harder to hit; after reading up on the to-hit formula it looks like this is mostly an effect of increasing monster AC. I have been putting a lot of points into Dex all along, but apparently even more would have been a good idea.

What do people do with things like goat shrines? I have avoided using them, since the effects might be something negative, but maybe the risk is worth taking? There are a lot of positive effects, although many of them would be much less useful not being able to prepare in advance (recharging staves or upgrading potions, etc.).

[KingOfPain]

Completed the catacombs, now in the caves. Enemies are noticably harder to hit; after reading up on the to-hit formula it looks like this is mostly an effect of increasing monster AC. I have been putting a lot of points into Dex all along, but apparently even more would have been a good idea.

What do people do with things like goat shrines? I have avoided using them, since the effects might be something negative, but maybe the risk is worth taking? There are a lot of positive effects, although many of them would be much less useful not being able to prepare in advance (recharging staves or upgrading potions, etc.).

In general, for a normal character, the possibility of a positive effect from a random Goat Shrine is non consequential so do what you feel like at the moment. "Do you feel luck. Punk!?". Some people would rather not touch it at all for the chance it might taint a character's perfect planning/build.

In Ironman where everything can matter.
From the Forge

Goat Shrine and cauldron Random effects [What you don’t know can hurt you] - Don’t touch these without careful planning. Besides that they may not be a desirable shrine, they can be dangerous! A Nova from Cryptic and Phasing from Holy can kill you and the party.

Nystul: Here are the procedures I usually go through. The warrior would be the one doing the touching, although by cauldron time maybe the rogue is unable to use her mana either. In any case the other characters have to be able to stand clear to avoid Nova. Then the character should be carrying all of the party's red and blue potions, important spell staves running low, and unid'd items (the ones with real potential anyway). The small chance of getting a Stone or Glimmering shrine probably is enough to make up for all the risks. To prevent the risk of getting a holy shrine, a wide area around the shrine should already be cleared (if not the entire level).


PS: Not so fast. ;p You can't claim a victory around here until you have at least done a 3@30. That is getting your 3 dots at lvl 30 - Killing Diablo in Hell Difficulty at lvl 30. Lvl 30 is also the earliest lvl you can enter Hell Diff.

[haphazard1]

That is getting your 3 dots at lvl 30 - Killing Diablo in Hell Difficulty at lvl 30.

First I have to actually get to Diablo...and not die fighting him, which could be a problem given how much trouble some of his less powerful minions are giving me. At least my technique is improving -- the lava-flinging pains-in-the-neck in the caves are giving me plenty of practice dodging.

[KingOfPain]

That is getting your 3 dots at lvl 30 - Killing Diablo in Hell Difficulty at lvl 30.

First I have to actually get to Diablo...and not die fighting him, which could be a problem given how much trouble some of his less powerful minions are giving me. At least my technique is improving -- the lava-flinging pains-in-the-neck in the caves are giving me plenty of practice dodging.

Happy Feet comes in handy

Something kind of counter intuitive here - when one run from missiles one has to outrun (or dodge) the missiles for its whole duration. This is especially troublesome when it is something like Charged Bolts with spreading bolts. It maybe a better practice to run/dodge forward, so all one needs is to take one well timed step to avoid being hit.

I will give you a hint that might help dealing with all range attackers. The magic number is 4.

[haphazard1]

The magic number is 4.

That is interestingly cryptic.

I have had fewer problems with the storm riders (I think that is the name) and their lightning attacks than with the magma balls or whatever they are that are being thrown at me. Also, my lightning resist is about 40 points higher than my fire resist, making them a bit less painful.

[haphazard1]

My rogue has entered the hell levels. Maybe it is the layout, maybe it is the opponent draw (steel lords and cave vipers), but the first level of hell felt a lot easier than the last level of the caves. Those big open cave levels with ranged enemies were a lot nastier.

Defeated the Warlord of Blood without too much trouble, got a bunch of weapons and armor I am not likely to ever use. Full plate and great axes are a bit beyond my strength level, sadly. Why couldn't a nice helm or bow drop?

[T-hawk]

Some points that it seems you may need:

Single player and multiplayer do work differently.  SP works like traditional RPGs: dead is game over, but you're expected to save frequently and just reload your last save.  Multiplayer works like Diablo 2 and 3 and everything else nowadays, you respawn after a death (unless you picked Hardcore) minus some stuff, in fact D1 basically invented that.  You can play "multiplayer" by yourself with a SP character; it was D2 that separated those.

The "New Game" option is meant to be used in both SP and MP.  Despite the name, what it does is roll a fresh dungeon while keeping your character intact.  You're really not meant to clear all the way down to Diablo in one trip through the dungeon, you're meant to do a new game and repeat some dungeon levels in order to improve your experience and spells and items.  Particularly Dexterity, you'll start to need 150 or more in that stat to overcome monster AC.  It's normal to grind up gold and then go shopping via repeated New Games to look at Griswold for a good weapon and Adria for elixirs to raise dexterity.

Don't ever hit random shrines, there's a chance for a result that permanently drops your max mana while giving you a trivial +2 to a minor spell, never worth it unless you're deliberately playing a variant for only one trip through the dungeon.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for explaining a few things, T-hawk! I was a bit mystified by what happened after my warrior died, and comments about walking back down to where he was killed; it did not seem to make much sense. The 'New Game' option was also not at all explained in the game manual, and I was not sure why it was being displayed for existing characters.

Being able to re-spawn the labyrinth to make more experience/gold/items available makes a lot more sense. I have reached level 14 in hell on my single pass with my rogue, clearing everything as I go, but have been having increasing trouble with not being strong enough/good enough stats. A chance for more XP and drops would help a lot, particularly magic books; I think I have one spell at level 2 and some others at level 1, with some gaps still in the first couple pages of the spell book. I just could not see how any character was ever supposed to become proficient enough in magic to make much of a difference.

If I select New Game for my character, do the additional entrances to the later section of the labyrinth reset? Or would I still be able to go directly to the catacombs, caves, or hell? And do all my items in town remain intact, or just the gear on my character? I have quite a collection of stuff strewn about Tristram, the locals probably think I am a terrible littering slob.