Jump to content

Blizzconline '21: Diablo2 Resurrected is coming!


Recommended Posts

After 20 years of fans trying to remake Diablo 2 in other engines, Blizzard is finally doing it.  :D

I saw this late last night and was frantically texting all my buddies.  I'm blown away by the visuals.  Here's hoping it does justice to the original.  I'm sure Warcraft 3 Reforged is still lingering in people's memories.

If I heard that guy right, they're basically recreating the whole thing from scratch.  Even the cinematics are remade, scene by scene, shot by shot.

  • Like! 1
Link to comment
On 2/20/2021 at 9:11 AM, Rotluchs said:

Well, it's now official, Diablo II Resurrected is coming!

 

Now, I've been watching the entire blizzcon diablo day 1 channel last night, and was browsing the new D2 website today, and it looks  absolutely amazing...

here's the official trailer, there's more stuff on the site, I also recommend to re-watch the Blizzcon Diablo Day 1 channel..

 

here's probably the most interesting stuff, not 100% if I understood/read everything correctly:

* New 3D engine(?)  build on top of the original..

* new reworked cinematics

* shared stash, extended stats window (item stats summary)

* all content that was there in the original D2 and it's addon will be there in the new D2 as well..

* all mechanics are supposed to stay the same (droprates, item stats etc)

* you can already apply for  technical alpha access

* they mentioned in a video it's scheduled to be released in 2021 (not sure if they meant the tech alpha or the final release version)

* for the D2 remaster/remake, blizzard partnered with the guys that did a solid job (from hearsay) on the tony hawks remaster/remake..

* planned cloudsave feature, play it on consoles and pick up on PC where you left..

 

 

https://diablo2.blizzard.com

https://blizzcon.com/de-de/?stage=diablo

 

 

all this is some really exiting news, can't wait to try it out!

 

There're many reason why I'm looking forward playing this,

main reason being - I still haven't played D2 at all!  neither the original, nor it's addon or any mods..

I've been playing D1 like about 20 years ago or so, but somehow 'forgot' to try out D2, simply because I went directly from D1 to Sacred1, then Sacred2, then Diablo 3.. you know..

I always wanted to give D2 a try during the years after Sacred1, but there was always something more interesting,

and whenever I fired up D2 on my PC, on my widescreen monitor, I just couldn't look at that  outdated pixel-mess of D2 for long..

 

And while D4 is also looking pretty good already imho, D2 resurrected will help to bridge the gap, meaning the long wait until that one's ready as well..

PLUS, I remember many of you also loved to play the D2 original, which means here's me hoping to finally meet some of you online/ingame again !

 

Cya :)

 

Bob

 

 

On 2/20/2021 at 9:24 AM, Flix said:

After 20 years of fans trying to remake Diablo 2 in other engines, Blizzard is finally doing it.  :D

I saw this late last night and was frantically texting all my buddies.  I'm blown away by the visuals.  Here's hoping it does justice to the original.  I'm sure Warcraft 3 Reforged is still lingering in people's memories.

If I heard that guy right, they're basically recreating the whole thing from scratch.  Even the cinematics are remade, scene by scene, shot by shot.

Bob, awesome seeing your post here! :hugs:

Well..I actually never played D2 myself.. I think I got my computer a year later than when it came out and by then I'd already seen the Sacred Demo as my first online game and got hooked.  Course, Sacred's progenitor game is where the DNA of this game comes from and I'd always been interested in actually "feeling" how it would play... and now with this remaster in the mix.. gotta say I"m just in awe of what they claim is going to be done with the game play... is what we're seeing here actually going to happen... is it possible for a game to be SO improved from something that was published 20 years ago??

Im actually thrilled with the effects and speed of the "feel" ... is this going to be possible to play online with MP?

The new lighting is absolutely sensational

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment

I just watched a 45 min. deep dive panel with the developers.  What I learned blew me away.  They didn't remake the game as I thought.  They rebuilt the graphics engine and it runs on an updated version of the original game code - optimized of course.  In other words this is a true remaster, not a remake.  You can apparently even toggle off the remastered visuals in-game and see the original underlying graphics instead.

This means all mechanics are exactly the same.  The changes are the kind of quality of life changes you would expect from modern RPG's, like item comparison, a "total stats" sheet, and a shared stash between characters.  Also controller support and console releases.

As if this wasn't enough proof of their commitment to maintaining the original D2 fidelity, they also revealed that they used all the original D2 design documents from 20 years ago, including concept art, 3D renders and source models (yes 3D models were used to make the old 2D sprites), and even textures from the original, like hieroglyphics paintings in the tombs.  They call it "video game archaeology."

So, yeah about multiplayer, it will still exist and be on Battle.net like D3 is (global servers instead of regional). Also cross progression, so you can play your same characters on PC and consoles.

All in all I'm super impressed by the Vicarious Visions studio. The project leaders are clearly true faithful D2 geeks.

 

 

Link to comment

I was watching the camera moving over "previous" to "new" ...and its extraordinary! 2d sprites to 3d models... 

:dance2:

 lol maybe this alone will be enough over D4 as well :lol:  Its been years now that group of fans (some! :D) have been venting on how the base dynamics of D3 was not for them and were waiting for this... I love how they keep using words like "faithful remastering" ...they are really paying heed to the community and judging by remarks this is going to  be another of Blizzard's successes

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment
On 2/22/2021 at 5:40 AM, gogoblender said:

lol maybe this alone will be enough over D4 as well :lol:  Its been years now that group of fans (some! :D) have been venting on how the base dynamics of D3 was not for them and were waiting for this... I love how they keep using words like "faithful remastering" ...they are really paying heed to the community and judging by remarks this is going to  be another of Blizzard's successes

I've made my peace with all of D3's departures from its predecessors and actually got several months of enjoyment from playing it.  Once I took all 7 characters through the campaign and got them to max level, I didn't see a lot of replay value though. Rifts and bounties were fun for a time, but once I'd experienced all that content with all the characters I felt kind of full, with not much to look forward to, like I'd finished a big meal.

My only real gripe is the inability to mod it on PC.  D4 will be more of the same.

D2 Resurrected, however, looks to still be just as moddable as the original. And that's really exciting, because there were so many awesome mods for D2 back in the day. Seeing those or mods like updated in the new engine is even more exciting.

Link to comment
7 hours ago, Flix said:

I've made my peace with all of D3's departures from its predecessors and actually got several months of enjoyment from playing it.  Once I took all 7 characters through the campaign and got them to max level, I didn't see a lot of replay value though. Rifts and bounties were fun for a time, but once I'd experienced all that content with all the characters I felt kind of full, with not much to look forward to, like I'd finished a big meal.

My only real gripe is the inability to mod it on PC.  D4 will be more of the same.

D2 Resurrected, however, looks to still be just as moddable as the original. And that's really exciting, because there were so many awesome mods for D2 back in the day. Seeing those or mods like updated in the new engine is even more exciting.

I wish I had your mind set.  To get more delight out of pulling it apart and then rebuilding it back again as your "will" 

:superman:

There is SO much about both games that I adore... did you see that in Diablo 2 there is going to be a "switch" that will let you ON THE FLY switch tween 2d sprites and 3d models? Only Blizzard has such magickery!

And I'm loving how, as you mention, they are focusing on keeping D3 ...Dark

:lol:

I actually loved the animations from Diablo 3...i could never get enough of the effects, they were thrilling, in fact dazzling...but I'm always up for a different flavor profile... I'll do dark atmosphere for years easily as long as that famous Blizzard gameplay is there

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment

It's the same footage from Sunday, but it's nice to see it not chopped up with jump cuts and voiceovers, etc.

I think I've watched some D2R videos every day this week.

Link to comment
25 minutes ago, Flix said:

It's the same footage from Sunday, but it's nice to see it not chopped up with jump cuts and voiceovers, etc.

I think I've watched some D2R videos every day this week.

Me not having story is big draw..and I think I"ve watched the cut scenes all out of order for years since I never really played it. I cant get over how fast the pacing on the battles are ...D2 has sick speed... for sure Im gonna play some kind of ranged!

:viking:

gogo

Link to comment

Yeah, I had seen the announcement of it being 40USD. It's the standard Blizzard milking, they still demand 15 for the same rendition of the original Starcraft.

Has anyone took a look at the minimum requirements? D2R only runs on Windows 10. Not a surprise for a game releasing in 2021 but still, meh.

  • Like! 1
Link to comment
On 2/27/2021 at 8:51 AM, Androdion said:

Yeah, I had seen the announcement of it being 40USD. It's the standard Blizzard milking, they still demand 15 for the same rendition of the original Starcraft.

Has anyone took a look at the minimum requirements? D2R only runs on Windows 10. Not a surprise for a game releasing in 2021 but still, meh.

Im a little non plussed wth the price...then again its blizzard, and they dont charge for servers I guess ... :lol: Ill see if I can find a game card online that someone's selling to get a better price

:)
 

gogo

Link to comment
  • 7 months later...

I am still not sure about it. I always liked to create new builds, follow crazy ideas, .... But if it are only graphic and sound changes:)

Only Windows 10? This means it is coded close to Windows10 routines not the standard Windows routines.  New Windows is on the way for early spring, so I wonder only Windows 10?

  • Like! 1
Link to comment

Actually buying this would be a first class purchase for me as I'm in love with the Diablo franchise, and never touched, played D2 from which Sacred is based... @Flix are you playing solely SP ..is there even a MP option?

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment

Oh there's certainly MP, although it seems to have been a shaky start out of the gate.  It's been in the headlines about some issues with creating and joining games on BattleNet. They are patching in some kind of queue system to alleviate the problem.  Blizzard has apparently suggested large numbers of streamers as taxing the servers beyond what they expected.

The D2 equivalent of Seasons, called Ladders, is currently not activated, until the MP experience can be smoothed out completely.

For myself I play SP, as usual.  Partly to avoid the MP woes but mainly because it's the only way to play with mods, and there's lots of great ones already.  Modding seems much easier to do now as well, I've made a few customizations of my own for my game.

  • Like! 1
Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up