TL;DR: I gave it 5 stars because the game, which is rather old, is a lot of fun at a great price. The expansion is a must because of all the great in-game features that it enables.
Let's start with what is included:
First, there is Diablo II disks with the CD keys, and the Lord of Destruction expansion disk (also with CD key). Let's face it, this is what you are buying it for, so it better be there. Then there is a "strategy guide", that honestly is not necessary, but it comes with the package, so I can't complain.
Game play:
If you've done any research, you know that this is a "Hack and Slash RPG" which means you will be clicking with a mouse a lot and your character will level up. It is simple to get the hang of once you try and the early levels are forgiving for new players. On my 2009 Dell laptop (which was not optimized for gaming by any stretch of the imagination) it runs great. It has very short load times, the characters respond to my movements, and I can enjoy the game. The downsides are largely due to the compatibility mode that I need to run it in for my windows 7. It needs XP service pack 3 compatibility to run well, which is no trouble to select, but it contributes to the relatively long time between clicking the icon to start the game and it darkening the screen and playing the Blizzard Entertainment credits. It also has trouble connecting to battle.net for me (which doesn't really bug me as I enjoy the solo quest and don't feel the need to play with others). One last bug that warrants talking about is that if you decide to use something like alt+tab to move to your desktop, then back, you are in for a bad time. The colors go all wacky. The only way to fix this is to restart the game. Annoying? Yes. Intolerable? No. This is in addition of course to the fact that graphics will look bad to a person who is used to playing more modern games. You cannot see the hairs on your character's head, rather you can see the pixels that make up his head (slight exaggeration there). I would recommend conditioning yourself to low graphics if you've been playing graphic heavy games like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Farcry, ect. as it will make it easier to adjust to the low graphic quality of Diablo II. That being said, if you should want to pick up this game for the game play, not the graphics. I'm not going to ruin the story here (the game book can do that for you if you really want), so that is all I'll say about game play, other than install the expansion first and play expansion characters for the best experience.
"Strategy Guide":
Because of how the game is played, and the random map generation that makes this game have such a great replay value, this guide is not what I was used to in a game guide (I'm more used to guides like pokemon's guides that have a map). There are no maps, rather it just says things like: go to the third level of the dungeon, or you'll know the tree when you see it. Honestly this isn't great help. What it is good for is telling you the story (which is not something I support), and giving you tips about how to deal with frustrating bosses (a lot of the time that is "stay away from [boss's name]" or "you should dodge the attacks"). The boss tactics are actually useful, if they sound silly because it tells you some damage types you may want to learn to defend against, or what you need to dodge to live through the fight. Sort of trivial, but until you get overpowered for your difficulty, you are going to need tips to survive boss fights. As far as its item list, character skill development list, and monster lists, I'd call these a swing and a miss. It may have been correct with things like mana costs when the game first came out, but recent patches mean that your best bet for what skills to pick to become powerful lie in checking out the Diablo wiki for in depth looks at the whole skill tree for a given character. (As I mentioned before, this was not a viable in-game option for me, but I learned it on my own time later.) The item list just tells you how the item names will make bonuses to the item (which you could just read the description on the item when you have it as it is way faster). It can't tell much about specific items because they appear mostly randomly just like the maps. The monster lists are sort of silly, because most of the time you just click like crazy to kill the monster. You don't have time to look this stuff up most of the time. To sum up, the guide is nearly useless except to plan a bit for boss fights; however, they send it with the game, so it is not like it is worth worrying about if you should buy it or not.
Summary:
With this package you are getting a great game that will work on systems up to windows 7 (I'm not testing it on 8 until they kill support for 7 or my computer legitimately dies). It will provide DAYS of fun, and nearly infinite replay ability. You may have better luck than I did with minor issues like graphics bugs, and connecting to battle.net for multiplayer. I highly recommend it to anybody who wants a great vintage gaming experience and doesn't want to shell out a lot for Diablo I (which was about $35 (us dollars) when I looked) which may not play at all.
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Product information
| Computer Platform | PC/Mac |
|---|---|
| UPC | 020626717304 |
| ASIN | B0002BQN7Q |
| Customer Reviews |
4.1 out of 5 stars |
| Best Sellers Rank |
|
| Product Dimensions | 6 x 6 x 6 inches; 0.01 ounces |
| Type of item | Video Game |
| Rated | Mature |
| Item model number | 71730 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | Yes |
| Item Weight | 0.01 ounces |
| Manufacturer | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Date First Available | June 29, 2004 |
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