Is Diablo worth of buying?

[Brother Laz]

Well, I don't think it would be a great idea for someone new to D1 to jump into solo-MP, without spending at least some time in solo play.

I personally think that making a 'throwaway character' (only normal diff, so won't last long) isn't fun. Also, the one difference between SP difficulty and MP difficulty is that in MP, the monsters don't die in one hit. SP is just too easy, with crowds of monsters dying to one lightning bolt. To compensate, you can replay levels to level-up, where in SP you are forced forward even if you aren't ready (read: don't have mana shield).

And I don't see why the monsters "look stupid" - they may suffer in comparison to Blizzard's (actually Condor's) characters, but, again, in their own right I don't think they are that bad; why are they are "stupid?"

The monsters are an odd mix of unused CD1 monsters and new crap. The Shredded have a bugged hover size, making it hard to select them; the firebat anim jumps up and down; and the jumping pumpkins are just ridiculous, sorry. The whole thing looks as if they just composed a collection of random monsters and dumped them randomly on the levels (zombies in the hive??).

And the Crypt is much closer to the style of D1 than the Hive; again, why do you think they are "stupid?"

The Crypt is sort of close-ish to D1 style, but again an odd batch of random monsters. The lack of shrines, libraries and bosses makes the levels themselves sort of uninteresting, and there is no point in exploring the level anymore.

"plain AI" - I'd be interested in further elucidation on this point. I guess I haven't spent enough time in the Hive and Crypt to notice the AI patterns of the monsters there.

I believe there are 2 different AIs in both hive and crypt: the generic melee AI and the succubus AI. Even the projectiles of the ranged attackers all have the same speed. Same tactics everywhere, no surprises. Let the ranged monsters come to firing range and wall them for an easy kill, while every melee monster comes to you in a straight line. Zzz.

The difference between monsters is just their stats, and they have been handled very badly, with psychorb types suddenly doubling in damage from one Hive level to the next and ending up doing more damage than freaking advocates, while the leaping pumpkins just melt in one firebolt. The crypt has highly resistant monsters next to completely unresistant ones and widely varying hit points and damage.

4) "You'd better find at least a shrine list before you start playing D1. You'll see why when you start reading said shrine list."

Good point. A trip to the Freshman Diablo site, IIRC, might be in order (I think that link in my list is still valid).

Yep. You don't have to learn much to play D1 (as opposed to D2, learning all the useful skills and builds and item reqs etc.), but the 'FOS' (Fasc, Orn, Sac) shrines and Black Deaths are the two things you better know if you don't want to see your character ruined.