Diablo 1 Vs Diablo 2 Vs Diablo 3 Vs Diablo 4

Diablo 1 Vs Diablo 2 Vs Diablo 3 Vs Diablo 4 - Which Game Is Better

4/21/2023 6:31:01 PM

The first Diablo completely changed the RPG genre back in the day, but now we will have Diablo 4. After getting a chance to play some of that, we want to go through Diablo 1, Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 to see where the series has evolved and how all four of them stack up to each other, which game is better when compared against each other. We consider the gameplay mechanics, graphics and RPG elements.

Diablo 1 Vs Diablo 2 Vs Diablo 3 Vs Diablo 4 - Which Game Is Better

Now we directly compare Diablo 4 to Diablo 1, Diablo 2, and Diablo 3. Find which is better for the first game player!

Diablo 1

In Diablo 1 plus the Hellfire expansion, the classes were Warrior, Sorcerer, Rogue Monk, Barb and Barbarian. Those last two you had to do some odd file manipulation to unlock them, things were kind of weird back then. The most impressive when we jump back into Diablo 1 is that many of the core fundamentals of Diablo were fully figured out way back on this first attempt, and they're still used today. A semi-transparent overview map and menu systems that can be used during gameplay without pausing. Town portals to dip back to the hub area whenever you want. The mysteries of unidentified gear. Those awkwardly combustible barrels we endlessly must smack, holding shift to attack or cast in place. And Deckard Cain doing the Deckard Cain thing.

Now one of the not so great things about Diablo 1 and what makes it kind of hard to go back to is the loot. Things that are dropped can be easily missed since they blend in so much with the ground and you can only highlight things with use of a temporary buff from a search spell or a scroll. For some reason, there's two keys dedicated just to dynamically raising and lowering the brightness during gameplay. The other thing that was kind of hard to get used to is how death works. when you die playing solo in Diablo 1, you don't drop your stuff lose durability or get kicked back to town. You flat out suck at life progress lost, go back to the last time you manually saved. Other thing is the potions which can instantly increase your weapons total damage value. There's no skill trees, so new spells are learned just by finding or buying books. Gold is a hugely important resource in Diablo 1 and we were always trying to save up for some better gear but ended up always blowing it all on restocking potions instead. That along with the more traditional level to level design and high difficulty spikes makes Diablo 1 play more like a survival Dungeon Crawler.

Conclusion: Diablo 1 brought more real-time action to RPGs.

Diablo 2

Then to the year 2000 when Diablo 2 hit and the Lords of Destruction expansion. Almost everything is doubly, maybe Tripoli improved or expanded on over Diablo 1 and this was made in just 3 years after that came out. In Diablo 2 plus the Lords Of Destruction expansion, we had the classes Amazon, Assassin, Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Paladin and Sorceress. The sequel expands out of the confines of dark basic looking dungeons with large above ground areas which could lead you into various underground caves and dungeon systems. Other things D2 added are an AI companion system, multiple skill trees, a loot drop overlay, a stash, also a place to store your things, waypoints, improved shops, multiple Hub towns, socketable items and gems and a face melting 800 by 600 resolution. That hasn't aged too well in Diablo 2 is the stamina system that just kind of annoyingly limits how much you can sprint towards the start of the game, but later on it's pretty much not a thing. In the Diablo 2 Resurrected, they changed it so that it regenes while you're walking which does help. They take up inventory space to provide extra bonuses, so you're kind of accepting annoyance for statistical gain. However, Diablo 2 is still one of the greatest RPGs to this day.

Diablo 3

12 years after Diablo 2 dropped in 2012, we have Diablo 3, and the Reaper of Souls expansion two years later. D3 gave us the classes Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor and Wizard. Diablo 3's main focus seemed to be on raw action this time around, with huge piles of enemies, combo multipliers, environmental traps and power-ups with the health and attack globes. A gory loot theme park is the best way we could quickly describe Diablo 3. The ways in which you can modify your gear in D3 are much deeper than before, which ties directly into your ability to level up the crafting vendors in town. Instead of skill trees this time around, skills and spells are unlocked over time as you level up, and each have different variations which alter how they function. The Reaper of Souls expansion luckily added a true end game with its adventure mode. Adventure Mode was addictive and rewarding and really took advantage of the semi-randomized level generation, especially with riffs. Also paragon levels were introduced in D3, which allow you to further improve the stats of your build by pushing into harder and harder torment levels of difficulty.

Diablo 4

Then 11 years later into 2023 with Diablo 4. The classes we have in Diablo IV are the Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Necromancer and Druid. Diablo 4's major difference this time around is injecting some MMO into its formula and getting back to its RPG focus and tone from the first two games. While Diablo 3 felt Hot Topic dark, Diablo 4 seems to be getting back to its roots being truly brooding atmospheric and serious this time around. Unlike previous Diablo games, the overworld map in D4 is not generated randomly to allow for online players to scramble around in your game. When you head underground into a dungeon, those are instanced and maintain that semi-randomization like the previous games. That's kind of the best of both worlds, path of the game world is solvable with things being in predetermined areas you can purposely seek out while the underground layer is classic unpredictable dungeon crawling. Skill trees are back and are quite a bit deeper than they were in Diablo 2 while also including some of Diablo 3's skill variation ideas. Aspects are another big change in Diablo 4 which are unlocked by completing certain dungeons or by extracting their effect off of legendary items. Once you have an aspect modifier which is essentially an effect usually exclusive to Legendary gear, you can slap those onto gear of your choosing to have more direct control over your build.

However, the main standout with Diablo 4 is how much better boss fights have become. For the fight in Diablo 1, it's just a dude endlessly swinging at you over and over. In Diablo 4, boss fights are actually good boss fights with various phases, summons and unique mechanics, while having a greater focus on dodging attacks rather than just standing in front of them and smashing your DPS against theirs. The overworld map also has giant World bosses out there.

Overall, Diablo 4 seems like a greatest hits of the Diablo franchise, but in the best ways, bringing along the feel and tone of the older games and the deeper gear systems of the later entries while adding in just enough new to make it feel like its own thing.

So that’s the comparison between Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Diablo 3 and Diablo 4. Which game do you think is better? Which do you prefer?