02-03-2004, 09:25 PM
Here's the best way I can describe the walking thing. Since Diablo uses large tiles for positioning (kind of like a chess board tilted on an angle), there are only 8 directions you can walk in a straight line. To go any other direction than in these eight straight lines, the game has to make a decision on what route to take the character. In all version of Diablo except 1.08, the character will move diagonally first and then orthagonally to get to the spot (I'm speaking with regards to the game tiles and walls, not the computer screen). In 1.08, the character moves orthagonally and then diagonally.
Now, both of these options get the character to the same spot in the same number of steps, so it's not a case where one system is really superior to the other. However, the 1.08 system caused 2 problems from a practical standpoint. The first problem is, some of us had been walking characters through this game for many years and thousands of gaming hours before 1.08 came out. The original way of walking had become intuitive, and 1.08 just seemed very awkward in general. The other problem is kind of a specific example of this awkwardness. In 1.08 if you want to make a quick diagonal move, you have to click on a square that is exactly diagonal from your character. This is not as easy as making an exactly orthagonal move, because you can't use the walls or lava rivers as guides. The result is that people trying to run around a monster often got sent on a path than ran them right into the monster instead.
Now, both of these options get the character to the same spot in the same number of steps, so it's not a case where one system is really superior to the other. However, the 1.08 system caused 2 problems from a practical standpoint. The first problem is, some of us had been walking characters through this game for many years and thousands of gaming hours before 1.08 came out. The original way of walking had become intuitive, and 1.08 just seemed very awkward in general. The other problem is kind of a specific example of this awkwardness. In 1.08 if you want to make a quick diagonal move, you have to click on a square that is exactly diagonal from your character. This is not as easy as making an exactly orthagonal move, because you can't use the walls or lava rivers as guides. The result is that people trying to run around a monster often got sent on a path than ran them right into the monster instead.