Diablo 1 on GOG?

[T-hawk]

After a New Game, you can go directly to the catacombs/caves/hell entrances if your level is high enough, I think it's character level 13 for caves and 17 for hell.  It's common to full-clear hell levels 13 through 15 (Lazarus's boss group) five to ten times before going for Diablo.

It's more streamlined to do the whole thing in multiplayer, and that's what most players did back in the day.  Most of the quests don't exist in multiplayer, but that's a plus, they just take time and no reward really matters besides the Arkaine's Valor armor and even that's not too hard to supersede.  And recovering after a death in multiplayer (you drop your items and must get in to retrieve them) is actually pretty fun.  Lazarus's boss group is present in multiplayer and is the best chance at finding good magic and unique items.

Items in town are lost on a new game, you can only keep what you can hold on your character.

The way to get high level spells is grind up gold and repeatedly go shopping at Adria for spellbooks.  Fireball and Chain Lightning are the two big ones in terms of damage and useful for every class.  It will take dozens of clears through hell to max them.  Reading higher levels requires a Magic stat that escalates to higher than a rogue's allowed maximum; it's common to keep a set of "reading gear" with +Magic attributes to help with that.

[haphazard1]

Thanks again, T-hawk. Very useful info.

Hmmm, losing my items stashed in town will be annoying, but most of them are more for sentiment (a sort of hall of trophies from earlier in the game) or possible future use and could be converted into cash and spent on elixirs before triggering New Game. My magic reading gear would be a loss, but I could likely carry much of that. Hmmmm.

Another newbie question: when setting up a multi-player game you intend to use for just your character, any particular settings/mode needed?

[T-hawk]

I think elixirs only come available for sale once your character level is pretty high, think it's 26.  Spellbooks will be available though.

Any item you're not using now, you're pretty unlikely to use in the future (except magic reading gear), just get used to selling it and don't get too attached.

I don't think there are any settings other than difficulty level, which unlocks as character level 20 for Nightmare and 30 for Hell.  (For multiplayer, only character level matters, you don't even have to beat Diablo on the previous difficulty.)  What KoP says about a common goal to beat Hell Diablo at character level 30 is true and a good challenge; it depends a lot more on stats and equipment and spells and tactical approach than on character level.

Does it ruin the game if I overexplain too much?  You never did finish Alpha Centauri.

[haphazard1]

Elixirs started showing up when I entered Hell. I also found one elixir on that first level of Hell (level 13) -- maybe that triggered it? Anyway, they are available now, along with possibly some magic books. So spending whatever cash I can raise by selling the gear I can not carry along to the new game should not be an issue.

The computer I was playing Alpha Centauri on (my laptop) had some Windows issues and got nuked for a complete re-install. I should get back to AC at some point, hopefully.

[haphazard1]

A question for the veterans: what do you need to be ready to face Diablo on normal? I am not there quite yet, but am curious as to what people feel is needed for the fight. Enough total to-hit to actually land damage, obviously, and all the healing/rejuv you can bring. But what else? Resistances? Minimum amount of AC or life? Things I am not even thinking of?

I will be working over the hell levels for a while yet, but it is good to be thinking about what I will need.

[T-hawk]

Afraid I don't remember enough to help on that one. I know he's not nearly as scary as in D2. Most of the challenge is in luring out and picking off the monsters around him so you can fight him alone (or else draw him out first and run away with him following you.) The scary part is that Diablo 1 doesn't show any health bar for monsters, so you never know how close you are to beating him, and his health resets if you portal out also unlike D2. Also know that killing him will terminate the current game, so clean up anything left in town first.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the warning about the game ending, T-hawk. Useful to know so I don't lose anything too important. Assuming that I manage to survive and win the fight, of course.

[superdeath]

Afraid I don't remember enough to help on that one.  I know he's not nearly as scary as in D2.  Most of the challenge is in luring out and picking off the monsters around him so you can fight him alone (or else draw him out first and run away with him following you.)  The scary part is that Diablo 1 doesn't show any health bar for monsters, so you never know how close you are to beating him, and his health resets if you portal out also unlike D2.  Also know that killing him will terminate the current game, so clean up anything left in town first.

wait.. the d2 diablo was scary? I always thought Mephisto was the scary one lol

[haphazard1]

Rogue is down to level 15. Cabalists and their lightning blasts are a pain.

[haphazard1]

After clearing some more hell critters, decided it was time to try the New Game option to respawn a fresh labyrinth. Gathered everything I wanted to keep (mostly my magic reading gear), sold the rest for elixirs, and then jumped to a new Tristram. Hmmm, interesting. In single player mode this fully resets the dungeon including the access points for the later sections. I am level 23 but not even the catacombs is available. Looks like I will need to go through all the levels again to get back to hell. Guess this is another reason people play in multiplayer mode.

Oh well, not difficult just time consuming. Everything but the caves should be pretty quick. And hopefully I can find a few useful shrines and magic books along the way.